Genjitsushugisha no Oukokukaizouki - Volume 11 - Chapter Ep

Epilogue: Intentions 

At the same time, in the fruit parlor at The Cat’s Tree.

“The important thing was to have the loreleis dress up like that,” I explained, pointing to the loreleis reflected in the distance. “We talked about how mankind may have been created earlier, right? Well, just like there are beastmen, dragonewts, elves, and a variety of other races on the side of mankind, demons may be another race created by someone, one that mankind simply hadn’t encountered before.” 

“Now that you bring it up, we did talk about that,” Liscia said as if she had just remembered, and I nodded. 

“Someday, when mankind re-encounters the demons, how strong a sense of taboo we feel towards them, and, conversely, how willing we are to accept them will decide whether the negotiations succeed or fail. Appearances will be one of the big things. I’m sad to say it, but first impressions mean a lot to people.” 

“My first impression of you was ‘An exhausted young man.’ You even had bags under your eyes.” 

“...Well, that’s an impression from external appearances, too, right?” 

It told me that bags under a person’s eyes left a strong impression on Liscia. 

“Since coming to this world, I’ve been surprised by the many races I’ve encountered, since humans were the only intelligent lifeforms in my old world. But I got used to the way other races looked relatively quickly. As for why that is... it’s because I was used to seeing them.” 

“Used to seeing them? But there were only humans, right?” 

“Yeah. In the real world, sure. But in the worlds of stories, there were lots of different races.” 

I imagined the residents of fictional worlds. 

“The was a hero show with a protagonist who had a lion’s head like Georg. There was an adventure story with an elf like Aisha as the heroine. And even more stories with characters like Tomoe, who had animal ears and tails, than there were stars in the sky.” 

I stuck the wolf ear headband I had with me on Liscia’s head before continuing, “There were a lot of accessories like these for ‘roleplaying,’ too. If you went to a place that sold fashion accessories, or to that gigantic leisure facility that was like a land of dreams, you could buy them easily.” 

“Land of dreams?” 

“Oh, don’t get caught up on that. It could land us in trouble, in a lot of ways.” 

“Huh? Uh, sure.” 

The wolf ears slid when Liscia nodded, so I poked them. 

“That’s why, even when I actually met beastmen, or any other race that looked different from my own, I just thought, ‘They’re like something out of a story.’ Thanks to that, I got by without developing any weird prejudices. So... I wanted the people of this country to get used to seeing demons.” 

Those outfits the loreleis wore were made based on eyewitness reports that were left in the empire. The incursion into the Demon Lord’s Domain by the combined forces of mankind led by the Empire ten years ago. 

The forces of mankind were met with an attack (counterattack?) by the demons who lived deep inside the Demon Lord’s Domain, and wiped out, so they definitely encountered demons then. I suspected that, in the Empire which led the war, there would still be eyewitness reports of the demons from survivors. That’s why, on that day, I explained the situation to Empress Maria of the Empire, and asked her to tell me if there were any remaining descriptions of the demons’ physical traits. Maria agreed with my thinking, and provided the information. 

The result was that, in addition to kobolds, there was an ogre-like race with horns on their foreheads, and a devil or vampire-like race with bat wings. There were also reports of “ones that looked like giant suits of full-mail armor,” but I couldn’t trust the veracity of these, so I set them aside for the time being. Regardless, I now knew the general features of the demons. 

“Beings that look like ogres and devils are a source of fear for people in this world. In the Republic, I saw gorilla-like ogres attacking people myself. Those ones lacked intelligence, but they were pretty scary. The reason we gave Hal that oni headband, and people carve devil faces on their shields is because of the preconception that they’re scary, right?” 

“Yeah.” Liscia nodded. “That kind of equipment exists to intimidate the enemy.” 

There were things like onigawara back in my old world, too. 

“I want the people in this country to adopt a different set of values. Look, isn’t Nanna’s little devil costume cute?” 

“Sure. I bet it’d fit Roroa nicely.” 

“Nyaha! You want me to try puttin’ it on for you some time, Darlin’?” Roroa poked her own cheek and smiled. They were right, it would look good on her. 

“Let’s, uh, set that aside for now. I was thinking that if people see devilish looks or oni horns as just another fashion accessory, then maybe if they show up on someone they meet in the future, it won’t feel as wrong to them. This is preparing for that.” 

“Ohh, so that’s why you asked me not to participate,” Juna clapped her hands together as she got it. 

I had thought it was risky to dress one of my queens up in a monster costume, so I had her sit this one out. Once the fashion was more established, and the Ghost Festival was an annual event, it would be fine for her to join in. 

“I want to see the people’s reactions first, and if they’re all right, I’d like you to participate next year.” 

“I like it. I want to wear an outfit like that, too,” Juna said with a happy smile. 

...If Juna wore something like that, she’d come off less like a little devil, and more like a succubus, wouldn’t she? Just the thought of it was, um... Yeah, pretty awesome. 

While I was thinking about that with a wry smile, Liscia got a dubious look on her face and asked me, “Do you think making people look at demons as fashionable is going to be able to eliminate prejudice?” 

“...I don’t think we can get rid of it entirely.” I shrugged. I knew things probably wouldn’t go that well. “In the world I came from, we only had humans, but there was still discrimination and conflict there. Human history is a story of people finding differences between themselves and others to fight over, then reconcile, and then do the same thing all over again. So, I want to shorten the time it takes to reconcile, even if we do end up in a conflict.” 

The tragedy of ten years ago could only have ended with the annihilation of one side or the other. Mankind couldn’t tell demons from monsters, and wasn’t thinking of the possibility of dialogue. Maybe things were similar on the demons’ side, too. 

I heard somewhere that war is one means of diplomacy. If you go into a war with no means of negotiation, all that’s left is the dirty act of killing one another. Even if it comes to conflict, we must never stop looking for common ground. In order to find that, we must know all we can about the other side. 

“I’m hoping this project will help with that.” 

“I get how you feel, but... don’t you think that only a small number of the people will understand it? Even I didn’t get it until you explained that was what the project was about.” Liscia’s frank opinion made me smile a little. 

“That’s fine. I mean, it’s just annoying when those on top try to force their values on you.” I put my hands on the terrace railing and looked out over the capital. “Soft power, the power of culture, works little by little without you noticing it. Even if they don’t understand, it’s fine if they sense it somehow. So...” 

Let them just enjoy it for now. When I imagined the innocent smiles of Tomoe and her friends enjoying the Ghost Festival in the castle town, I thought that with all my heart.