Chapter 2: Meeting on a Street Corner in Van
Late in the 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Princely Capital Van.
A little more than three weeks had passed since the army of the Elfrieden Kingdom had come to occupy Van, the capital of the Principality of Amidonia.
The people of Van had looked harshly on their conquerors when they’d first arrived. However, with Souma keeping a tight rein on his soldiers, public order had improved, and with the lily root dumplings being distributed, the people were no longer at risk of starvation. Their distrust of the soldiers was gradually fading as a result. The fact that the nobles and knights who would normally have worked to foment a rebellion had all fled the city likely helped, too.
An air of calm was beginning to take hold in the city.
Though, that said... while it would have been nice if it had been purely calm, it seemed that the music program Souma was broadcasting had the people of Van burning with a passion for the arts. On every street corner there were minstrels, street musicians, and street performers of all kinds plying their trades.
On top of that, there were those who wanted to repaint their homes to be more colorful, and even those who wanted to produce wall murals displaying the beautiful countenances of Juna and the loreleis, Chris the newscaster, and Aisha, who was known for her part in hosting the program. Things were beginning to get out of hand.
Who would have believed this had been the capital of a militaristic state merely one month ago?
Souma called this period of Van the Amidonian Renaissance.
Sudden changes were always fraught with confusion, and in Van there were daily conflicts over the best places to hold street performances. The Forbidden Army troops who had been left to occupy the city were sent out to mediate, and the soldiers of the Army and Air Force who were camped outside the city looked on them with pity. Still, such disagreements never led to a major riot, and Van was more or less peaceful.
However, this day began with Aisha shouting noisily. “P-Princess!”
“Eek!” Liscia shrieked.
It was morning. Liscia had been getting dressed in the room she was using as her own when Aisha had barged in without so much as a knock at the door. It was so sudden that Liscia froze in surprise, but when she remembered she was in the middle of getting dressed, she continued putting on her uniform and asked, “Wh-What is it, Aisha? Why are you so flustered?”
“Th-That’s... His Majesty... His Majesty is...” Aisha sputtered. Perhaps because she was out of breath, she was having a hard time getting the words out.
“Calm down,” Liscia said. “Take a deep breath.”
“R-Right.” Aisha took a deep breath, as instructed. She swung her arms up and down in time with each heaving breath.
Once she was sure Aisha had calmed down, Liscia tried asking again. “So, what’s going on with Souma?”
“Right,” Aisha said. “I went to the governmental affairs office to greet His Majesty like usual this morning, but he wasn’t there. Instead, I found this note he left.” Aisha passed the piece of paper to Liscia.
Liscia took the piece of paper and read it over. It said, “I am going on a journey. Please, don’t look for me. - Souma Kazuya.”
Liscia pressed a hand to her temple and sighed, while Aisha returned to freaking out.
“Wh-Whatever shall we do? We must search for him at once!”
“I’m telling you, just calm down,” Liscia said. “Souma’s taking the day off.”
“Huh? A day off?” Aisha stared at her blankly.
“Right,” Liscia said, with a nod. “He’s with Tomoe. It looked like he’d been getting pretty close to the breaking point with his workload lately, so I suggested he take some time off. I even cleared it with Hakuya. When I did that, Souma said, ‘Well, maybe I’ll just laze around in some room making dolls, then.’ It didn’t sound healthy, so I asked Tomoe to drag him outside for me.”
“I heard nothing of this!” Aisha exclaimed. “I am His Majesty’s bodyguard, you realize?! Why didn’t he take me with him?!”
When she saw Aisha with tears forming in her eyes, Liscia gave a shrug. “You stand out too much. This was a primarily human country, so dark elves stand out to begin with, and with your recent fame from the broadcast, you’re not exactly going to be able to keep a low profile.”
“This was enemy territory not that long ago, you know?!” Aisha complained. “If anything were to happen to His Majesty and Tomoe...”
“Have no fears,” Liscia assured her. “They’re in disguise, and Juna and a number of elite marines will be watching over them from the shadows this time.”
“Madam Juna is accompanying them, too? Well, in that case, he should be safe...” Aisha got that far before Juna’s mature smile flashed through her mind.
To Aisha, Juna was the ideal woman. Gorgeous, graceful, gentle... She would have given anything to be like her. However... setting that aside, when she imagined Juna’s smile, every instinct Aisha had as a woman began setting off alarm bells.
If we let our guards down, she’s going to run off with all the best parts, she thought.
“He will be safe... won’t he?” she asked.
“...”
In truth, Liscia had been thinking the same thing, so she had nothing to say in response.
“The weather sure is nice today, huh, big brother?” Tomoe asked.
“It sure is, Tomoe,” I agreed.
I was on Van’s shopping street walking hand-in-hand with my honorary little sister, the mystic wolf girl Tomoe. There had been a nigh lethal amount of administrative work to do lately, so Liscia, unable to watch me torment myself any longer, had suggested that I take my first day off since that time I’d patrolled the royal capital.
I figured if I had time off, I’d rather use it to laze around, like a father on vacation, but Liscia had said that was unhealthy and ordered little Tomoe to drag me into the castle town.
It was a place that had been enemy territory until just recently, so we were lightly disguised today. My facial features were supposedly similar to those of humans from the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago, so I was dressed like a traveler from there. I wore a traveling cape and conical straw hat, making me look like Kitakaze Kozou. Tomoe, meanwhile, wore a white robe with a hood, like a white mage from some game. Honestly, I’d wondered if it was worth the trouble of disguising ourselves to go out, but...
“Wowwie, there are so many different shops, big brother!”
...when I saw Tomoe so excited, nothing else mattered anymore.
“If you see one that catches your fancy, why don’t we go inside?” I asked.
“Okay! ?” she sang.
When Tomoe gave that energetic reply, I patted her on the head. The hair between her two wolf ears was fluffy and soft to the touch. It felt amazing. Ahh... So soothing.
I tried talking to the person who was on the opposite side of me from Tomoe, too. “Juna, are you okay with that?”
“Yes,” Juna said, giving me a soft smile. “If it pleases you, Master Kazuya.”
For this undercover vacation, instead of Aisha, I was supposed to have Juna and around ten of her marines watching over me from the shadows.
...Yes, from the shadows.
“Um, Juna? Why are you wrapping yourself around my arm?” I asked.
Juna had wrapped herself around the arm I wasn’t using to pat Tomoe’s head. She was incredibly close. Right now, Juna was wearing a longsword on her back, with breastplate armor over top of her clothes. With her dressed up like a typical female adventurer, I didn’t feel those voluptuous things pressed up against me. Still, I could feel Juna’s warmth directly on my arm.
Juna seemed to see how flustered I was, and she flashed me a mischievous smile. “Oh, is it wrong for me to do this?”
“It’s not a matter of right or wrong... Weren’t you supposed to be protecting me from the shadows?” I asked.
“We’re protecting you like we’re supposed to,” Juna said. “Right now, my elite marines are protecting you in the shadows. They’re circling ahead of us to watch for any potential blind spots, too.”
“No, but... isn’t your face out there, too?” I protested.
The people of Amidonia should know Juna’s face from the music program. Even if she wasn’t as recognizable as the dark elf Aisha, Juna wasn’t hiding her face at all right now. Wasn’t someone going to notice her?
When I asked her that, Juna giggled. “It should be fine. I was wearing makeup then. I should have given off a very different impression.”
Now that she mentioned it... Juna was only wearing the bare essentials of makeup today. Whenever she stood on stage or before the jewel as a lorelei, she must use charming makeup that would be recognizable from a distance. The Juna I saw now had a natural beauty, but just taking off her makeup made her look younger than usual. Right now, she actually looked her age.
“That’s right,” Juna said, as if reading my mind. “...The reason I look like a mature adult is because of that makeup, got it?”
“No, I’m pretty sure the way you act is part of it, too...” I said. “So it did bother you?”
“I am a girl, after all,” she said. “Does it bother you linking arms with me, sire?”
Juna wore an expression that seemed somewhat uncertain. That face... She just wasn’t playing fair.
“It’s not that it bothers me,” I said. “Bring it on.”
“Hee hee,” she giggled. “Thank you.”
“Whew... You sure are amazing, Juna,” Tomoe said. “I wish I could be like you.”
“...Don’t you think you’re fine just the way you are, Tomoe?” Juna said pointedly to the girl who was looking up at her with great respect. Tomoe was cute, and she might develop into a beauty like Juna as she grew up. Once she grew up and learned how to play games with men, it could be the birth of an incredible little tease.
While I was thinking about that, I ended up walking with Tomoe’s hand in mine, and Juna wrapped around my other arm. Nobody realized our true identities, but the jealous looks from passing men and the whispering of housewives trying to guess at the relationship between the three of us started to make my stomach hurt.
In order to distract myself from it, I tried talking to Juna. “Well... Where to? Unlike in Parnam, Van doesn’t have much in it, so there aren’t many places I want to go patrol.”
“When you’re out on the town on your day off, I don’t know that you should be thinking of it as patrolling.” Juna laughed wryly at my workaholic thought process.
Sorry for being so work-obsessed, I thought.
Then, Juna took a peek over at Tomoe before whispering in my ear, “How about giving Tomoe some new clothes as a present? Since she’s your honorary little sister, you can call it a gift between family.”
“Ohh, there’s an idea.”
Now that she mentioned it, ever since I’d accepted Tomoe as my little sister (though, technically, she was Liscia’s adopted little sister and my future sister-in-law), I had been busy with administrative work and hadn’t been able to act like a proper big brother. Tomoe had been working hard on negotiating with the rhinosauruses and shoujou, so it might be nice to spoil her rotten today.
“Juna, do you know a good place for that?” I asked.
“I’ve done my research,” she said. “Leave it to me.” She placed her hand on her chest, bowing slightly.
Juna recommended a clothing store on a street corner.
The little sign out front had words meaning “The Silver Deer” written on it in a stylish font. From what was on display in the show window, it looked like it dealt not just in clothing, but in shoes and apparel, too. It was hard to judge with my untrained eyes, but the products on display all appeared to be of high quality. It was very much a high-class shop. The sort of place a guy like me, who had always bought his clothes on sale from the major retailers, would never come to.
Incidentally, ever since coming to this country, I had worn whatever I could provide myself or we already had on hand. Lately, the work I’d done creating and maintaining the Little Musashibo dolls had improved my sewing skills, so I was making everything but my underwear myself. I technically had what would be considered a highly-paid position, so I could afford to make custom orders, but I had no interest in indulging myself with luxuries now. The shirt and pants I had on under this traveling cape, as well as the hooded robe that Tomoe was wearing—both of them had been made by me.
“You can even make stuff like this. You’re amazing, big brother,” Tomoe said.
When Tomoe showered me with that look of respect, I could feel my head swelling with pride. “I can’t buy the clothes I was used to wearing in my own world here, after all. Though I’m doing it half as a hobby,” I said to hide my embarrassment, then looked to The Silver Deer. “Still, this is a surprise. A stylish store like this in Amidonia, of all places.”
“I hear it originally dealt in men’s clothing and apparel,” said Juna. “After that broadcast, when women started dressing up, they began stocking clothing and accessories for women as well.”
It seemed their selection changed in response to customer demand.
“Still, it’s quite a selection, don’t you think?” I asked. “Where do you suppose they order it all from?”
“There are trade guilds,” said Juna. “While they may not be able to do much about food, which is in short supply, the guild can arrange for them to buy any other kind of goods. For the merchants, Elfrieden and Amidonia are both sources of goods and also valued customers.”
“How crafty...”
Of course, it was those crafty merchants who maintained the balance of supply and demand... but that was neither here nor there, and I figured we shouldn’t loiter out front forever.
“Well, how about we head inside?” I asked.
When I went inside, gesturing for the two of them to follow, a man with ash gray hair who was dressed like a bartender was arranging products on the shelves. He seemed like the sort of middle-aged gentleman that the aroma of black tea would suit well. When he noticed us, he stood with his feet together, brought a hand to his breast, and then bowed. “Welcome. Are you travelers, perhaps?”
“Ah... Erm...” I stuttered a bit. While revealing my true identity was out of the question, how was I to explain the combination of a man in a conical straw hat, a beautiful female adventurer, and a wolf girl in a white hood? While I was wracking my brains to come up with something, Juna stepped forward.
“Yes. These two personages come from a kingdom in the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. They are Kazuya, the heir to a crêpe fabric merchant in the Echigo Kingdom, and his younger sister Tomoe. I am their humble servant, Silvia. Master Kazuya will one day inherit the family business, and so we are traveling across many countries to broaden his horizons.”
She was very eloquent.
Nice work, Juna, I thought. And, wait, I’m impressed you actually remembered my nonsense backstory about being the heir to a crêpe fabric merchant in the Echigo Kingdom. Even I had completely forgotten that backstory. Also, who is Silvia supposed to be?
The middle-aged man didn’t show any particular interest. “I see,” he said with a gentle nod. “I apologize for taking so long to introduce myself. I am Sebastian, the proprietor of this establishment.”
With that name, are you sure you aren’t the butler, rather than the proprietor? I thought for a moment, but I reminded myself that not all Sebastians have to be butlers.
Smiling, Sebastian asked, “And what may I help you with today?”
“Well... do you have anything that would look good on my little sister here?” I asked,
“Whuh?!” Tomoe reacted with surprise.
I put my hand on top of her head, patting her from over top of her hood. “Well, that’s how it is, so if you see anything you like, let me know, okay?”
“Um... But...”
“It’s fine. Let me act like a proper big brother every once in a while.”
With those words, I pushed Tomoe off towards Juna.
Juna nodded to me, taking Tomoe by the hand and going to look at the wares on display. Tomoe was stiff at first, but she was a girl. As she looked at the different items with Juna, I could feel her gradually getting into shopping.
Now, this left me as a man with little to do. I enjoyed watching the beautiful woman and little girl enjoying themselves shopping for a while, but I got tired of just waiting, and wandered around the store myself.
They had clothing, shoes, accessories, and even makeup. There was a really wide selection of items here. Truly, it was the 109 of Amidonia... Well, not that I’d ever been to 109, or even to Shibuya, for that matter. Perhaps because the women of Van had begun awakening to fashion, more than eighty percent of the sales floor was devoted to women’s products. This shop had supposedly catered only to men before, but now it had coats for them, and that was about it.
As I was looking around, I found a number of products that interested me.
The first was lipstick. It was a color lighter than light pink.
The second was a hair accessory. It was made with gold and little stones, making it seem like a quality piece, but it had a ladybug motif, making it seem incongruously childish.
The third was a choker. It was made of blue leather with silver foil scattered around like stars. The clasp was made of gold, with a design like a bird spreading its wings.
They all looked good.
Then, finally... the last thing that caught my eye was a pair of tiny loafers meant for a young girl. They had clips with a ribbon motif on them, and were absolutely adorable.
These loafers... I think they might look perfect on Tomoe, I thought.
“Hey, Tomo—”
“Master Kazuya.”
Just as I was about to call out to them, Sebastian stopped me. I turned around, thinking it suspicious, and Sebastian said, “Pardon me for the sudden interruption,” with a bow. “There was something I’ve been wanting to ask you, Master Kazuya. Would that be acceptable?”
“...What is it?” I asked.
“Let us suppose that, on the battlefield, the generals had gathered for a war council.”
...What? Battlefield? War council? Why’s he bringing this up all of a sudden? I thought.
“Let us also suppose that the first idea brought up at that war council was a good one. If you were the supreme commander of that army, would you immediately adopt that idea?”
“...I wouldn’t,” I said. “I’d think there might be better ideas.”
“Precisely,” he said. “That is why, if you were one of the generals, and you wished to have your idea adopted, rather than submit it at once, you should wait until the council comes to an impasse.”
“I see... I see...”
“What I mean to say is, the games played between men and women are also a battle.”
“...Ah,” I said. “I get you.”
I finally understood what Sebastian was trying to say. He was saying I should wait a little longer before pushing the loafers I thought would look good on Tomoe.
That was fair enough, because Juna and Tomoe were enjoying looking through the other products. If I brought them something good now, it would be like pouring a bucket of cold water on them when they were having a good time. If they chose to go with it, their fun time would end, and if they choose not to, it’d be awkward for me. Neither of those was what they wanted.
I was deeply grateful for Sebastian’s consideration. “You, sir, are a wonderful tactician.”
“I am honored by your praise.” Sebastian placed his right hand on his belly, respectfully bowing to me. It was a theatrical gesture, but it was smoothly delivered, so it didn’t offend me.
Then, something occurred to me.
“By the way, you just used a war council analogy...” Could he be aware of our true identities? I brought it up because I thought he might be, but Sebastian hurriedly shook his head.
“Oh, my... Pardon me for that. Until just the other day, I had only dealt with the nobility, you see. I can’t seem to break the habit. If I offended you somehow, I apologize. I have a regular customer who is fond of such banter.”
“...No, it’s no big deal,” I said. “Is that regular of yours a soldier?”
“No, no, more like an adorable little tanuki,” Sebastian said.
A little tanuki, huh. Between the proprietor I couldn’t get a read on, and this person he called a little tanuki... I was intrigued. But, setting that aside for now, I bought a few things quietly so that the other two wouldn’t notice. After that, I waited for the two of them to finish looking things over, then recommended those cute loafers to Tomoe. Tomoe was hesitant to accept, as I expected she might be, but she seemed like she liked them, so I half-forced them on her as a present.
Tomoe held the box with the loafers in it tight to her chest. “Th-Thank you... big brother... I’ll treasure them...”
As she said that, tears formed in her eyes, so I patted her head gently. Maybe now we’d been able to act a little like brother and sister. If I thought about it, the only ones I’d been able to call family before were my grandparents. But now there was Liscia, there was Tomoe, and there were Aisha and Juna.
...Yeah, it’s nice being able to feel connected to people. As I patted my little sister’s head, that thought really began to sink in for me.
Juna was standing next to us, watching with a smile.
“Ah, Juna,” I said. “Hold on a second.”
It was just past noon when we left Sebastian’s store. While we were on the move, looking for some place to maybe get lunch, I had Juna stop for a second.
“Is something the matter?” she asked.
I handed Juna a little bag as she looked at me quizzically. “I wanted to give this to you.”
“To me?”
Juna accepted it, opening it up, and inside was that ladybug shaped accessory. It was one of the ones I’d secretly bought earlier.
“Huh?!” she cried. “Um, what is...”
“You’re always doing so much for me,” I said. “It’s my way of saying thanks.”
“No, I couldn’t possibly accept something like this. I don’t have the right...”
“Pass it here.” I took the ladybug from Juna, fixing it in her hair.
Yep, it looked just like I’d imagined it would. It was far too childish a design for the usual mature Juna, but when the younger-looking Juna of today wore it, she looked like a young girl trying a little too hard to be mature. It was cute.
“It really suits you, Juna,” I said.
“Ohh...”
When I acted like I was the more mature one, Juna uncharacteristically blushed. I felt like I’d finally won a small victory over her, the one who always seemed more mature. Juna whipped her head to the side and looked away.
“Sire. If you are going to give presents to women, make sure you give them to the princess and anyone else simultaneously. In your position, you’ll probably end up taking multiple wives. If that happens, you can’t play favorites. You have to either love all of them equally, or accept that marriage is just another political tool and love none of them. Anyway, not causing discord between the women in your life is another of your duties, okay?”
Juna spoke rapidly, trying to distract me. That she spoke so much was proof of her embarrassment.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I have something for Liscia and Aisha, too.”
When it came to accessories, Liscia tended to prefer ones she could wear in battle over ones that were just pretty. I’d chosen the blue leather choker for her because it was stylish, yet wouldn’t get in the way. For Aisha, who, like Juna, was always helping me out, I planned to give her that lipstick I found which would go well with that healthy brown skin of hers. While hosting the music program, it seemed like she’d been worried about how feminine she was.
“So you don’t need to worry about that,” I explained.
“I-Is that a fact...?” she asked.
“It is. And by the way, Juna?”
“...What is it?” she asked.
“It’s not ‘sire,’ it’s ‘Master Kazuya,’ remember?”
“Ah...”
For a little while now, Juna had been calling me “sire” instead of “Master Kazuya.” It looked like when she started talking fast at me, she really was trying to hide her embarrassment.
Juna had a sullen look on her red face. “Master Kazuya... is a surprisingly big bully.”
“Is he now?” I asked.
“Yes. And quite the ladies’ man,” she said, wrapping herself around my arm again. Even more tightly than last time.
Over my shoulder I could see Juna’s embarrassed smile, with that hair piece shining above it.
“Wow... there are lots of little shops out, big brother!” Tomoe cried gleefully, seeing all the street stalls lined up in the plaza.
In our search for a place to get lunch, Juna had led us to the plaza with the Jewel Voice Broadcast receiver. This place had been an open field only a month ago, but now it was packed with stalls selling food and assorted goods. We had only just set foot in the plaza, but we could already hear the owners of stalls calling in customers, and customers haggling for a better deal.
The faces in the crowd were diverse, too. Housewives were here to buy ingredients for dinner. A group of craftsmen was here for lunch. Even off-duty soldiers from the kingdom’s forces were here to buy snacks.
Must be from the Army, I thought to myself. The Army and Air Force soldiers camped outside were allowed to enter the city when they were off duty.
I could also see a large number of non-humans who looked like travelers or adventurers. Race, job, nationality... none of it mattered here. It was one big hodgepodge of people of all ages and genders.
“...How did it end up like this?” I wondered.
“Thanks to Sir Poncho, Van’s food crisis has been alleviated considerably, but only so many people can produce food good enough to support a restaurant,” Juna explained. “However, the people who think they can manage a food stall gather here. This is the largest marketplace in all of Van now.”
“In an out-of-the-way place like this?” I asked. “Wouldn’t they be better off on the main street?”
“It’s because the receiver for the Jewel Voice Broadcast is here.”
“Oh, I get it...”
Ever since that music program had aired, as a test, we had been broadcasting Chris Tachyon’s news program during the day and the singing program at night. The customers hadn’t gathered because there were stalls here; the stalls had gathered because there were people here waiting to watch the Jewel Voice Broadcast.
It’s kind of like the black market in post-war Japan, I thought. Maybe it’ll end up like Ameyoko someday.
Juna and the loreleis only appeared on the music program on weekends. On every other day of the week, we ran a program where contestants hoping to become loreleis competed. The Jewel Voice Broadcast was always live, so if the loreleis had been the only ones who ever appeared on the program, it would have put too much stress on them.
If anyone who appeared on that contest program was deemed to have a gift for singing, they could be newly instated as a singer like Margarita, or, if they were attractive, a lorelei. If they were male, they could debut as one of the new class of male idols: the singing knights, orpheuses.
The program was simulcast in two countries, Elfrieden and Amidonia, and it could be seen in any city where there was a receiver. The reaction might be different in Amidonia, or the cities in Elfrieden might be reacting similarly to this.
I’ll need to estimate the economic impact of this later, I thought with a grin. That was when Tomoe pulled on my coat.
“Big brother, I’m hungry,” she said.
“Oh, right,” Juna said. “Well, how about we get something from one of the stalls?”
“Yeah! ?” Tomoe sang.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” said Juna.
The three of us looked around the different stalls. Forty percent of the stalls sold food, twenty percent sold various accessories, twenty percent sold equipment, while the remainder dealt in other things.
It looked like a lot of the food stalls were selling skewers. Van was a long way from the sea, so they could only get their hands on river fish, and with the food crisis, grains and vegetables were in short supply. For meat, on the other hand, all they had to do was hunt wild animals.
They were likely selling meat that had been hunted outside the city walls. Because of that, none of the stalls openly stated what kind of meat they were selling. This was worse than them mislabeling their meat to sell it at a higher price; it was a total mystery what creatures any of it came from.
“It feels like a gamble buying any of the skewers...” I muttered.
Horned rabbit meat, I could probably handle, but giant rat and lizard meat, well... I think my sanity stat would take some serious loss from eating that. Besides, if they had just hunted whatever they could get their hand on from the nearby fields, there was no telling what diseases or parasites it might have. There were no food sanitation laws in this world, and none of the cooks were licensed.
I’ll need to institute all of that, too, eventually... I thought.
“It’s fine,” Juna said with a very lovely smile. “I had the marines come here ahead of us and serve as poison tasters. Allow me to guide you to a safe stall.”
“Poison tasters?! Not taste testers?!”
“If anything were to happen to you, it would be a national crisis,” she said. “It’s only natural that we would test anything from the market for poison. Your body is no longer yours alone, you know?”
What, am I pregnant now? I wanted to quip, but I got what she was trying to say. I didn’t know if I’d be able to use Living Poltergeists if I was sick from food poisoning. If I couldn’t, that would mean the country’s administration would be short several instances of me.
...Yeah, it looked like poison tasters were going to be a necessity, for my people’s sake. I’d just have to accept it.
“And? What was the result of the poison tasting?” I asked.
“One person complained of stomach pain and dropped out.”
“Dispatch a messenger to the castle!” I exclaimed. “Whenever a dish including meat or fish is sold, the ingredients must be listed in the store! Inform them that if they fail to do so, or if there is an error in the ingredients displayed, their business will be shut down!”
“Understood.” Juna sent one of the marines who were guarding us to run off that message to the castle.
This was the moment the Elfrieden Kingdom saw the beginnings of its first food safety law.
I intended to expand the range of things that required their ingredients be posted in due time, but before that, I wanted to clamp down on meat fraud. If there were bacteria or parasites, it could be a matter of life and death.
“O, fallen marines,” I mourned. “I will not let your deaths be in vain.”
“No, they’re not dead. It’s just food poisoning,” Juna said, rolling her eyes.
No, no, even food poisoning can be a matter of life and death, I’ll have you know, I thought. Once, my grandfather had eaten some raw eggs that were past their expiration date. He got salmonella, and was hospitalized for days. Fortunately, it wasn’t too serious, but his refusal to throw out a few eggs that were ten yen apiece had cost him tens of thousands of yen in hospital fees. Grandma had teased him about that for a good long time.
Well, setting that aside for now, we bought our skewers from a place Juna suggested, along with some mixed juice from a fruit seller, and sat down on a simple bench to eat.
Tomoe chomped right down on her skewer. “Yeah, this is delicious, big brother.”
“Yeah. This meat is pretty good,” I agreed.
“The juice is delicious, too, Master Kazuya,” said Juna.
The meat was nice and juicy. It wasn’t that far off from the beef skewers that were sold at festivals, so I asked what meat it was. It turned out it was from a bigbull, a big, buffalo-like animal.
The juice wasn’t chilled, but it was getting to be late in autumn now, so it didn’t feel too warm. It was a bit sour, but that was refreshing after eating the greasy meat skewer. With our stomachs now full, we took a breather and relaxed for a bit.
Tomoe started nodding off next to me, so I decided to let her have a nap. Tomoe rested her head in my lap, she curled into a ball, and her breathing became shallow. When I petted her head, it was silky smooth, like a real dog’s fur.
“Hee hee, isn’t she just the cutest?” Juna said as she peered at Tomoe’s sleeping face. Then, moving in close enough that our shoulders touched, she quietly whispered with a sad look on her face, “I hope these peaceful days last forever...”
“Please don’t go saying things that trip event flags like that,” I said. “You know that can’t happen, right?”
Juna nodded. “The Imperial Army is almost here. They number nearly 50,000.”
“50,000? That’s fewer than I thought,” I said.
We had a force of 45,000 troops from the Elfrieden Royal Army gathered in Van now, so our forces were more or less equal. Of course, once Amidonia’s troops were added into the equation, they’d no doubt had the superior force, but I had expected them to come with three times our number.
For the Gran Chaos Empire, which had called for mankind to unite against the threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain, I highly doubted that they wanted to open a new front against us, but if they’d brought enough troops to make it possible for them to take Van, it would have worked to intimidate us.
And yet, Juna shook her head. “Most likely, the Amidonians were hesitant to allow that. They must have been worried that if the Empire came with a huge army, there was a risk they’d take this country for themselves.”
“As the country that issued the Mankind Declaration, I somehow doubt the Empire would do that, though, you know?” I said.
If they said they wouldn’t recognize any changes in borders on one hand, and then launched a war of invasion on the other, the Mankind Declaration wouldn’t be worth the paper it was written on. If that happened, they would lose the trust of the countries in their alliance, and the Empire’s strategy of uniting mankind in the face of the Demon Lord’s Domain would collapse.
“I mean, that’s exactly why the Empire offered to mediate,” I added.
“Amidonia has already circumvented the Mankind Declaration,” said Juna. “Having betrayed the trust of the Empire themselves, they may be nervous about being betrayed in turn.”
“...Like being caught in their own web of lies, huh.”
They had been caught in their own trap. The principality had acted against the wishes of the Empire, but they had to cling to its authority now that they had found themselves in a crisis. They must have felt somewhat guilty about that.
On top of that, nobody respects opportunists, so they had lost the trust of other countries. They had to be trembling with fear that the Empire would abandon them.
“It makes you want to roll your eyes a bit... but it’s convenient for us,” I said. “If there’s a rift between the principality and the Empire, there may be room for us to act.”
“Hee hee hee, it’s time for our king to show off his skills,” said Juna.
“...I wish you wouldn’t put so much pressure on me, you know?” I asked.
“Oh, my, and here I thought you were Master Kazuya right now?” she responded playfully.
She probably wanted to get back at me for earlier. That was Juna for you—just when you thought you had a leg up on her, she’d turn things back around.
“Good day, everyone. It’s time for News Elfrieden.”
Then, suddenly, we heard Chris Tachyon’s voice.
It looked like it was time for the afternoon news broadcast. When I looked up, the image of Chris reading out the news was displayed on the mist in the air.
Wow... So this is what our broadcasts look like to the people in town, I thought. This was my first time seeing it on one of the fountain receivers. With the screen being as big as a movie theater’s, it made quite an impact.
“Now, our first story of the day. The new coastal city under construction in Eastern Elfrieden, Venetinova, is currently nearing completion. With Venetinova in place, shipping by land and sea will become more efficient, allow for the faster delivery of commodities to...”
This news would had been gathered from all around the Elfrieden Kingdom (which included Van), using messenger kuis like the one Aisha used to stay in contact with the God-Protected Forest. (Messenger kuis were birds, like messenger pigeons. Using their homing instinct and their ability to detect the waves emitted by their master at long distances, they allowed a specific individual and location to contact each other.) Their strength was that even mountain villages that didn’t receive Jewel Voice Broadcasts could still receive information. However, unlike the Jewel Voice Broadcast, which could communicate information in real time, that information would come a day or two late.
For instance, if an incident occurred in Lagoon City in the far northeast of Elfrieden, the information wouldn’t be directly delivered to Van. Instead, it would wait for the kuis that carried news to each city at regular intervals. Then, when the kui carried the news to another city, other kuis would leave that city to bring the news to other cities. The kuis had to fly long distances, so this was to protect against communication being cut off if a kui was attacked by a predator en route. By the way, urgent news would be delivered not by messenger kui, but by wyvern riders.
Because of that, it wasn’t possible to deliver all the news that happened in a day on that same day.
“Now, onto our next story. In the early hours of yesterday morning, a minor fire broke out in Van...”
From there, Chris reported the various accidents and incidents that had occurred in the kingdom, followed by information on how to cook lily root dumplings and other useful information for people’s daily lives.
As for myself, I thought it would be convenient if we could incorporate a weather forecast into the program, but that seemed like it would be quite difficult. There was a certain amount of weather lore in this world, and there were people who could predict the weather by reading the clouds based off many long years of experience. However, as I just mentioned, without a high-speed means of communication, we couldn’t transmit that information in real time.
News about typhoons can be a matter of life and death, so I’d like to figure out something... I thought.
As I was thinking about that, I heard a sudden sigh.
“To think they’d use the Jewel Voice Broadcast like this...”
In front of me, a girl dressed like an adventurer stood with her back facing me. She stood with her back straight, her airy golden ponytail swaying behind her. For a moment, I thought she looked a lot like Liscia, but this girl had her hair tied back in a higher position, and Liscia’s hair was medium-short now. The girl turned to show me her pretty face in profile.
“We absolutely must implement this system in our country,” she said. “When I return, I’ll draw up a proposal for it. Still, just how would you come up with such an advanced idea?”
She asked me that with a straight face.
What’s this, out of nowhere? I was thinking, when Juna stood up beside me. Then she placed herself between the girl and me.
“Juna?” I asked.
“Be careful,” Juna cautioned as she stood there to protect me. She had a grim look on her face, and it was apparent from her tone of voice that she was worried. “This girl is an accomplished warrior. It’s regrettable that Aisha isn’t here. Even if I were ready to die taking her down, I don’t know that I could stop her...”
“Is she that strong?” I asked.
Seeing the cautious reaction from Juna, the girl with the ponytail grinned. “You needn’t worry, I have no hostile intent, Lorelei Juna Doma.”
Juna inhaled sharply. “You know me...”
“Of course,” she said. “I approached you because I’m aware of who you are. We have agents of our own, after all.”
That means she knows who I am, too, huh, I thought.
She must have planned to make contact here knowing that I would be coming in disguise. This had happened because the establishment of an intelligence corps for the kingdom had been delayed by my doubts in the personnel I had to run it.
But, if she says she has no hostile intent...
“You’re with the Empire?” I asked.
“Yes,” the girl said, bringing a hand to her chest and bowing her head. “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Sir Souma Kazuya. I am the younger sister of Empress Maria Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire, and the one who handles military affairs in her stead, Jeanne Euphoria.”
I whispered to Juna, “What happened to our guards?”
“It seems she has guards of her own, so they can’t move,” answered Juna.
“That would be why she came alone, huh,” I said. “...Take care of Tomoe for me.”
I left Tomoe, who was groggy from being suddenly shaken awake, with Juna and stood facing Jeanne Euphoria. She had been in the reports I’d received. There was a princess who handled military affairs under the Saint of the Empire, Empress Maria Euphoria; and, as Maria was currently unwed, she was also the first in the line of succession. This must be her sister, I reasoned.
“Does Madam Maria’s younger sister have some business in our country?” I asked.
I made a point of talking down to her. Because our country hadn’t signed the Mankind Declaration, I didn’t have to pay respects to Empress Maria as my leader. In other words, as both of us were leaders of independent nations, my rank was equal to Maria’s. And seeing as Jeanne was the younger sister of the empress, her rank was that of a vassal, and so I was above her. I had no desire to put on airs with my own vassals, but when dealing with foreigners, it was important that our positions be made clear.
Jeanne responded as if that were perfectly natural. “No particular business. I simply wished to see how the person I’ll be negotiating with rules for myself, but my agents received information that you would be sneaking into the castle town today, so I thought I might as well come introduce myself.”
So she hadn’t originally planned to meet me. She’d just happened to learn I was taking a day off while she was here, so she’d attempted to make contact.
“Still, it was quite bold of you to come into Van while we’re occupying it,” I said.
“I’m the type that only believes what she’s seen with her own two eyes, after all,” Jeanne replied. “The rumors about you have reached as far as the Empire, many of them unsubstantiated, so I wanted to find out for myself.”
Rumors? There are rumors about me in the Empire? I thought.
“What sort of rumors would those be?” I asked.
“They say things like: you’re ‘the brilliant ruler who rescued an economy on the brink of collapse,’ or that you ‘invented ways of preparing foods that there had been no custom of eating before and saved the country from a food crisis,’ or that you ‘demonstrated unparalleled strength in battle, mowing down swarms of enemies one after another’... and more.”
“There’s been a lot of embellishment along the way, huh,” I commented.
Not one of those things had been accomplished by my strength alone. The economic restructuring had been the bureaucrats’ hard work, and gathering the ingredients and teaching us how to prepare them had been Poncho’s accomplishment. As for the war, I’d only set the armies in motion, then left the fighting to stronger people. In the end, if you were to name one thing I’d done, “I delegated tasks to people who could handle them” would be it.
“Oh, and there were rumors that you were an ‘insatiable sex fiend,’ too,” Jeanne added.
“Wait, hold on!”
Who’re you calling a sex fiend?!
“Where did those rumors come from?!” I exclaimed.
“The rumor says: ‘Despite being betrothed to the beautiful daughter of the former king, he gathered beauties from around the kingdom to select a concubine,’ or something like that. Is Madam Juna here not the one chosen to be your concubine?”
What a horrible misunderstanding! They must have been talking about the Elfrieden Pretty Girl Grand Prix I’d run as part of my search for talented personnel. When I’d said I was searching for people with any gift, there had been a lot of applications in the fields of martial arts, beauty, and arts. All I’d done was create a tournament format for them to compete in.
I hadn’t even come up with the plan for Project Lorelei at that point. Come to think of it, at the time there had been rumors that “The beauty tournament might be for the king to find mistresses,” and the nobles had all tried to send their relatives to participate. Had other countries seen it the same way?
“A-A concubine, am I...? Well, yes, I did know there were rumors to that effect,” Juna said, her face turning red.
Was she serious?
I hadn’t known there were rumors like that... and it was kind of hard to accept it. Ever since I had taken the throne, I had been struggling under such a murderous workload that even my relations with Liscia had stayed completely chaste. Actually, it was a bit late to say this now, but my relationship with Liscia had skipped over a lot of important steps, hadn’t it? We were betrothed to be married, and yet we hadn’t even been on a proper date, let alone kissed.
While I was thinking about all that, Jeanne looked at me pensively. “Hm... If that rumor was false, I suppose I can’t use that method.”
“What method?” I asked.
“Well, if you were a lecherous king, I thought if I had my gorgeous sister welcome you and ask really nicely, you might accept our requests quite easily.”
“What were you planning to make the Saint of the Empire do?!” I yelped.
“It seems my sister is not overly fond of that ‘saint’ title, but... maybe men find her being a ‘saint’ quite appealing?” she asked.
“Well... I can sort of see that,” I said. “The Saint of the Empire, Maria”... The words themselves had an incredible impact. For one thing, if a woman is being called a saint, it makes you want to see her. It raises the expectation that she’s beautiful and noble.
...Wait, I had that title of “hero,” too, now that I thought about it. Even though I’d been summoned as a hero from another world, I hadn’t done anything particularly heroic, so I’d totally forgotten.
“Titles, hm?” Juna asked. “Do you think they find ‘lorelei’ appealing, too?”
“Why are you getting in on this, Juna?!” I cried.
“Oh, no... I just wondered...”
Jeanne giggled. “Hee hee! You’re more fun than I thought you’d be.”
Jeanne was watching us banter with a smile.
“We’re not doing it because we want to amuse you, though,” I said.
“No, no, the closeness between you and your vassals is a mark of the stability in your country, I’m sure,” she said. “We couldn’t get away with that back home.”
“...It’s different in the Empire?” I asked.
“Our territory is needlessly large, and the empress’s power is great,” said Jeanne. “They call her a saint and half-worship her, so everyone is very reserved around her. About the only people she has that she can talk with casually are our family. On top of that, my sister takes being an empress entirely too seriously, so she tries to treat everyone equally, which leaves her in a position where she can’t open up to anyone.”
Jeanne shrugged her shoulders and looked at the crowd in the plaza.
“It was the same with this. Even though there’s no benefit to us in helping Amidonia after they ignored the Mankind Declaration...”
“For the younger sister of Madam Maria, with all the ideals she tries to uphold, you take an awfully realistic perspective,” I said.
“If the elder sister is a dreamer, the younger needs to be firmly grounded,” Jeanne said with a wry smile.
Hm... It felt like Jeanne was closer to my way of thinking than Maria. Instead of embracing lofty ideals, she was the sort who could come up with pragmatic solutions.
When you hold up ideals, people gather around you. However, if you hold up those ideals for too long, sooner or later, you lose your path. Someone has to be there to keep an eye on the ground in front of you. Having the more realistic Jeanne by her side must have been what let Maria keep holding up her ideals.
The Empire had the largest population on the continent. I didn’t know how many extremely talented people they had there, but in terms of relative numbers, they must have had far more than my country.
Jeanne pointed to image of Chris projected in the air above us. “By the way, that’s an incredible way of using the Jewel Voice Broadcast. By releasing information regularly, you use it to help alleviate the fears of your people. Do you mind if we do the same back home?”
“...Do as you please,” I said.
I mean, it wasn’t like it would be hard to imitate. It wasn’t something I could forbid her from doing, either.
“Thank you,” said Jeanne. “How do you come up with such advanced ideas?”
“This is advanced?” I asked. “It was pretty normal in the world I came from.”
“The world you came from... Of course.” Jeanne’s smile suddenly vanished.
As I was wondering what was up, Jeanne straightened her posture and bowed deeply. She bent over until her hips were at a right angle. It was a deep enough bow that, if the custom existed in this world, she might have done a formal kowtow instead.
I was befuddled by her suddenly lower profile. “Wh-What’s wrong? This is so sudden.”
“You’ve been horribly inconvenienced because of us,” said Jeanne. “In my absent sister’s place, I apologize.”
“You’re apologizing?” I asked, startled.
When Jeanne raised her face, she bore a pained expression. “This is about the hero summoning. It was our request that caused the Elfrieden Kingdom to summon you to this world. My sister Maria deeply regrets that you, who had done us no wrong, were cut off from your homeland and called to this world. Please, forgive us.”
With those words, Jeanne lowered her head once more.
...Oh, is that all? I thought.
“Raise your head. It’s all in the past.”
“But...” she said.
“Yeah, at first, I was mad, and I worked my hardest not to get turned over to the Empire,” I said. “Now, though... when I think about it more calmly, the Empire has no reason to want a hero.”
At first, I thought they’d wanted a hero to fight back against the threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain, but the more I came to understand this world, the more I realized that probably hadn’t been it.
Right now, the Demon Lord’s Domain had stopped expanding. The expansion of the border meant that the monsters that came south were spread further, and the various countries could handle them. It was a stalemate; with neither side able to push forward, the situation was more or less stable.
In other words, the Empire wasn’t in a situation where it would want a hero. A superpower like the Empire had had no need to cling to a summoning ritual that the kingdom itself wouldn’t have been sure they could pull off in the first place.
Besides, when they’d summoned a hero, they’d gotten me.
While a guy who could use incredible magic with power comparable to a weapon of mass destruction would be one thing, or a guy who could equip invincible sword and armor, a guy from another world with a power that happened to make administrative tasks a little easier wasn’t going to be of any interest to the Empire with its massive population and the large number of personnel it had as a result.
However, that being the case, the Empire had asked the kingdom to perform the hero summoning. After considering the matter with Hakuya for some time, we had come to a certain conclusion. It was...
“That was an attempt to show consideration, right?” I asked. “Towards a kingdom that couldn’t pay the war subsidies.”
Jeanne reacted with startled surprise. “...Yes,” she said with resignation.
...I knew it.
In the Mankind Declaration, which the Empire had proposed, it said, “Countries that are distant from the Demon Lord’s Domain will provide support to those nations which are adjacent to it and are acting as a defensive wall.”
The Empire had wanted the Elfrieden Kingdom, as a country that was distant from the Demon Lord’s Domain, to provide support to the countries adjacent to it. If they hadn’t, there would have been complaints from the other signatories to the Mankind Declaration.
However, at the time, with the food crisis and financial crisis slowly pushing the kingdom to the point of collapse, it would have been nearly impossible to find the money for war subsidies.
“That’s why the Empire had the kingdom perform the hero summoning, to give them the appearance of having provided support,” I said. “In order to keep down the complaints from the other signatories.”
“...That’s exactly it,” said Jeanne.
“Hold on,” Juna protested. “This country never signed the Mankind Declaration. Were we ever obligated to provide support to begin with?”
I shook my head. “It’s a fact that this country was benefiting from the defensive wall the Empire built with the Mankind Declaration. Because we have the Union of Eastern Nations to the north of us, we didn’t have to share a border with the Demon Lord’s Domain.” It was also a fact that the Union of Eastern Nations was being propped up by war subsidies under the Mankind Declaration. “If we benefit from it, but refuse to fulfill the obligations set out under it because we’re a non-signatory, that’s going to breed resentment from the signatory countries. With that as a pretext, Amidonia might have been able to create an alliance of several nations to invade the kingdom. With the Empire taking the lead.”
“No...” Juna said, at a loss for words, but this was the truth.
In the recent war, because the only nation plotting to invade had been the Principality of Amidonia, we had been able to induce them to do so under conditions that were favorable to us, and defeat them.
From Amidonia’s perspective, I was sure they’d wanted to make all of the land they occupied their own, but if they had roped in the mercenary state Zem, the Republic of Turgis, and some portion of the Union of Eastern Nations, along with the Imperial Army, there would have been nothing the kingdom could have done to avoid a total collapse.
I looked Jeanne straight in the eye and said, “With your goal of uniting all mankind to prepare for the menace of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the Empire wanted to avoid that. That’s why you demanded war subsidies from non-signatories, and for those that couldn’t pay, you tried to find a workable substitute to appease the signatories, right? In the kingdom’s case, that was a hero.”
“...I have no words,” said Jeanne.
“To be brutally honest, the Empire didn’t even expect the hero summoning to work, did it?” I asked. “Okay, this being a world with magic, you might have thought they’d summon something, but you can’t have had high expectations for something the kingdom itself didn’t think would work. Even if the summoning had failed, you would have been satisfied by the fact it was performed.”
“That’s right. But, as a result of that, you were summoned,” Jeanne said, looking troubled. “What’s more, ever since you were summoned here and given the throne by Sir Albert, you’ve worked actively to rebuild this country, even finding the money to provide war subsidies. While my sister was grateful, she also regretted forcing such a heavy burden on you when you were called here at our convenience. We truly are sorry.”
Jeanne bowed once more.
I sighed, saying, “I already told you, it’s in the past. Now that I now the situation, I don’t resent you for it. It’s not like I don’t have a lingering attachment to my old world, but... but...”
I glanced from Juna, with a tense look on her face, to Tomoe.
There was nobody left who would wait for me to come home in my old world. Since coming to this world, I had found people here who would. Whenever I returned to the castle, Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and Tomoe would be there to say, “Welcome home.” Having felt the loneliness of solitude, that was something I never wanted to lose again.
“I’ve found people here I want to protect,” I said simply. “That’s why I’m not too hung up over it. Mind you, if you feel bad enough about it that you’ll recognize my sovereignty over Van, I’m not gonna complain.”
When I said that jokingly, Jeanne raised her face quietly shook her head. “...Sadly, I, too, have a family to protect.”
Neither of us averted our gaze. We each looked the other straight in the eye.
“I see... well, we’ll have to negotiate, then,” I said.
“Yes,” Jeanne said. “Please, go easy on me when the time comes.”
With an “I’ll take my leave,” Jeanne turned her back and faded into the crowd. She vanished as quickly as she had appeared.
“The presences I felt surrounding us have vanished, too,” Juna commented. “It looks like Jeanne’s bodyguards have withdrawn.”
“She really did just come to say hello, huh...” I looked in the direction Jeanne had left. “Jeanne Euphoria... the pragmatic younger sister who supports the idealistic saint.”
If it had only been Amidonia’s crown prince, Julius, I’d have to contend with, I felt there was no way I could have lost at the negotiations. But with Jeanne mediating, I wouldn’t be able to rely too much on his weaknesses. If I tried to get too crafty and they saw through it, there was the risk that they might turn things to his advantage by pointing it out.
I’ll have to let Hakuya know he’s going to need to give his all at the negotiations, too...
I slapped my cheeks, trying to psyche myself up for it.
That evening...
“Liscia, Aisha,” I said. “I brought souvenirs for you two.”
Having returned to the castle, I gave Liscia and Aisha the gifts I’d bought for them. Liscia got that choker made of blue leather with silver foil scattered around like stars, while Aisha got the pale lipstick.
Liscia immediately put the choker around her neck, fingering the bird clasp with a satisfied smile. “Thanks, Souma. I’ll treasure it.”
The slightly shy smile wasn’t like Liscia, and I couldn’t help but stare at her, enthralled.
Whew, I was relieved that she liked it. It suited her well, and I was glad I’d bought it.
Meanwhile, Aisha...
“Ohhhh, Your Majesty! To think you would bestow a gift even on one such as me, I am awed and delighted! When you left me behind, I felt down, but this has lifted my spirits as high as the heavens!”
“W-Well, good for you... Aisha...” Juna said.
“Yes, Madam Juna! With this lipstick, I swear I will polish my femininity! Then, His Majesty will never let me leave his side... heh heh heh.”
“G-Good luck with that...”
Aisha was a little too thrilled. The happy aura beaming from her entire body seemed to be enough to seriously weird Juna out. Juna, by the way, was also wearing the hair piece I’d given her.
“Sire! Sire!” cried Aisha. “How is it? Does it look good on me?”
Aisha put on her lipstick and started acting flirty right away. If Aisha hadn’t been a dark elf, and she had been a mystic wolf like Tomoe instead, her tail would have been wagging like crazy.
When she saw how overexuberant Aisha was, Liscia traced the outline of her choker with one finger, looking to me. “Don’t you think the collar would have been a better match for Aisha?”
“...Let me go with ‘no comment’ on that one,” I said.
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