“Father! What is the meaning of this?” Liscia demanded, raising her voice at the sight before her.

The king’s bedroom. It was a room large enough that the king-sized bed did not dominate it, and each and every piece of furniture was exquisitely designed. Originally, this bedroom had been meant to be the private quarters of the royal couple, so it should have been turned over to Souma when he ascended the throne, but Souma hadn’t wanted to go through the trouble of moving in, so he had given permission for the former royal couple to stay, and they were still using it. Souma, incidentally, had brought a simple bed into the governmental affairs office and slept there.

When Liscia ran into that room, out of breath, she was greeted by the sight of her parents not only elegantly enjoying tea on the attached balcony, but dipping scones in cream, raising them up to each other’s mouths, and saying:

“Say ah, darling.”

“Ah.”

and feeding each other.

Liscia fell to the ground, but quickly stood back up, and marched up to the former king, Albert, with anger in her eyes.

“Father, when I heard your throne had been usurped, I hastened back from my patrol outside the capital! So, why is it that I now find you two feeding each other without a care in the world?!”

Liscia, in addition to her title as a princess (though, following the abdication, she was now the new king’s betrothed), had also graduated from officers’ school and held an officer’s rank in the army. She was not especially high in the ranks, but due to her high birth, she was often tasked with attending royal army funerals, or with other missions of a special nature. This time, she had been on a regional patrol, so upon hearing of her father’s abdication, she had rushed to the capital.

“There was no usurpation, really. I abdicated of my own will,” her father said calmly.

“Why would you suddenly do that?!”

“I had become certain that that man would make a better king for this nation than I. This is a decision that I came to as the one entrusted with this country, and I take full responsibility for it. I will tolerate no objections.”

In that one moment, Liscia saw the dignified authority of the man who had, until just recently, carried a nation on his shoulders, and found herself unable to object any further. “Urkh... But how could you decide my engagement without even consulting me?”

“You may discuss that between yourselves. The betrothal was something I forced on him to begin with. If you do not want it, I doubt Sir Souma will force the matter.”

“Motheeeer!” Liscia shouted. She turned to her mother for help, but Elisha just smiled.

“Meet Sir Souma for yourself first. This is your life, so you must decide what you will do with it yourself. Whatever your decision is, we will respect it.”

With not even a straw to grasp at, Liscia’s shoulders slumped.

She departed the room of the former royal couple and walked quickly across the palace.

It had been some weeks since she had left this palace for her regional patrols. Something about the palace she had been away from for a few weeks caught her attention. Many of the servants were running around... The guards, the maids, the bureaucrats, even the ministers... anyone and everyone was running. The sight of pudgy ministers running about and gasping with sweat beading on their foreheads was so surreal that she could only stare, dumbfounded.

It hadn’t been like this before. The castle she remembered had been a place so relaxed that it felt as if time just flowed slower there. The maids, the ministers... everyone would walk slowly, and it was so quiet you could hear the palace guards training in the courtyard from anywhere in the palace. Hadn’t Liscia joined the officers’ academy because she had been sick and tired of that atmosphere?

But what now? No matter where she went in the castle, the sound of footsteps echoed.

Liscia called out to one of the maids who was rushing past. “Can I have a moment?”

“Why, Princess! How may I be of service?” the maid asked, slowing.

“Um... Everyone in the castle seems to be in an awful hurry. Is there something happening?”

“No? Nothing in particular.”

“Are you sure? It felt like everyone was rushing to do something...”

“I am. Ah, but, perhaps it is our new king’s influence. When we see how that man works, it makes us feel bad if we don’t work, too. I couldn’t stand to be slow myself, either... Ah, I’m in the middle of something right now, so I will take my leave!”

“I-I see... Do your best.”

As she watched the maid speed off, Liscia was dumbfounded.

For him to make even the maids feel this way, just how hard does the new king work?! Just what kind of guy have I gotten myself betrothed to?!

Liscia found herself wanting to bury her head in her hands all the more.

At last, she came to the king’s governmental affairs office. When she opened the door, the first thing that she saw was a mountain of paperwork. On a desk large enough that two fully-grown adults could have slept atop it, the papers were piled high and looked ready to spill over. That was not all. When she looked around, she saw a number of bureaucrats sitting at another long table, fighting a losing battle with yet more bundles of paperwork.

As Liscia stood there, dumbfounded, a young man spoke to her from the other side of the mountain of paper.

“You, whoever just came in.”

“...Huh?! What?!” Snapped back to her senses, Liscia had let out a strange cry, but the speaker didn’t seem to care at all.

“Can you read? Can you do math?”

“D-Don’t mock me! I’ve certainly been taught that much!”

“Well, perfect. Get over here and help me with the work.”

“Just who do you think you are, asking me to help...?”

“Just do it. That’s a royal order.”

Saying this, the person behind the paper mountain stood up.

Now, finally, for the first time, the two came face to face. This was the first meeting between the new king, Souma, and his betrothed, Liscia.

Liscia would later describe her first impression of him as “a young man with tired eyes.”

◇　◇　◇

In stories where a hero is summoned to another world, the hero sometimes gains powers as a result of being summoned. It seemed the people in this world all had some ability to use magic, and so where was the harm in hoping I might have gained the ability to use magic, too? Technically, I had been summoned here as a hero.

So, right after I had had the throne ceded to me, some priestly-looking guys carried out an inspection of my abilities.

Apparently there were various types of magic that people could use, and they had devices that could test it. This one looked kind of like a stone slate. When a person touched the slate, that person’s magic type and abilities were displayed in that person’s head. Not even the people of this world understood the principles behind how it worked, but it seemed there were a fair number of these sorts of out-of-place artifacts in this world.

So, I got my diagnosis, and here was the power I’d gained:

[The Power to Transfer Consciousness Into an Object and Manipulate It]

It was an ability that let me transfer my consciousness into objects I touched, and I could manipulate up to three of them simultaneously.

It sounded more like a psychic power than magic, but the lighter the object, the more freely I could control it. I could get an overhead view of whatever I was controlling, as well. What was more, in addition to my own consciousness, I could have that object move under an independent consciousness, as well. Using an object as a medium like this, I could think about multiple things at the same time.

While there was the limitation that I could only move around things close to me, being able to make things move around at will was neat. Like I was triggering a poltergeist effect.

So, that was why I named my ability “[Living Poltergeists].” Sounds like I have a case of middle school syndrome, maybe?

Having gained my [Living Poltergeists], one thing immediately came to mind:

“This is going to be so useful for doing paperwork!”

...Yeah. Copying my consciousness into three pens, I could review multiple documents simultaneously with parallel thinking, and by manipulating those three pens, I could sign off on them. Man, ever since I learned I had this ability, I’ve gotten so much more work done. Actually, without that ability, the giant mountain of paperwork that had piled up in the confusion since I had been given the throne would probably have buried me in an avalanche by now.

...Yeah. I know what you want to say. I get an ability, and it turns out to be mostly good for handling deskwork more smoothly?

While I was getting good use out of it, whenever I thought about it as a hero’s power, I could only think, “How did things turn out like this?” I mean, even if I hadn’t gotten super powerful magic that would let me take on hordes of enemies at the same time, I’d have liked some defensive magic that would at least let me protect myself.

...Well, wishing for things I couldn’t have wasn’t going to get me anywhere. And it was, as a matter of fact, a useful power to me.

Today, as usual, I was fighting the mountain of paperwork with my [Living Poltergeists]. While I was doing so, someone entered the room with a thunderous noise that sounded like they’d tried to kick down a perfectly good door. When I peeked through a gap in the paper mountain, I saw it was a young woman in a military uniform.

With her regular features, skin so pale as to be translucent, and silky platinum blonde hair, she was so gorgeous that at any other time I would have been captivated by her beauty. However, having pulled three consecutive all-nighters, I saw not a beautiful girl but just a new source of labor.

After calling her over and practically forcing her to sit next to me, I pushed two stacks of paper in her direction. “Please compare these two sets of documents and look for places where the values, or the number of items, don’t agree and mark them.”

“Huh? What? What kind of work is this?”

“What, you ask? Digging for buried treasure. That’s what.” I explained to the perplexed girl in uniform. “For ‘unaccounted-for expenditures,’ to be precise. One pile is requests for budgetary appropriations, the other is income and expenditures reports. Even if the amount requested and the amount spent match, if the number of items differs, that can be indicative of either wasteful investment undertaken to fully use up their budget, or embezzlement disguised as investment. We’ll check those, and if any laws have been broken, we’ll make each of the responsible parties pay to make up the loss. If we uncover personal embezzlement, we will mandate repayment, and in the event they cannot pay, we will arrest the offender and seize their assets.”

“U-Understood.”

Perhaps she had been intimidated by the threatening air of a man who had gone without sleep, because the girl nodded along as I talked.

Good.

Perhaps around two hours passed with her working quietly next to me.

At last, the girl in military uniform spoke to me, her hands never ceasing their work of checking documents as she did. “...Hey.”

“What? If you’re tired, you can take a break whenever.”

“No, that’s not it... I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Liscia Elfrieden. The daughter of the former king, Albert Elfrieden.”

I stopped moving my pen. “...You’re the princess, huh?”

“I don’t look like one?”

“You were in uniform, so I didn’t notice. But... Yeah, maybe you do look princess-y.”

At this point, she finally made me take note of how attractive she was.

“I’m... Souma Kazuya. Technically, I’m the new king.”

Liscia turned to face me. She was pretty close, and we looked into one another’s eyes. Unlike me, who was just taken aback, her golden eyes seemed like they were trying to evaluate me. After we looked into one another’s eyes for some time, Liscia slowly opened her mouth.

“I’m not a princess anymore. Because you usurped the throne, my current position is a little unclear.”

“Usurped...? Your father pushed the throne and all his duties off on me, I’ll have you know. Honestly, why do I have to go through all this pain and hassle?”

“...Seriously, what happened? I know you’re the summoned hero, but how did that suddenly turn into you taking the throne?”

“You tell me. I just did what I felt I needed to in order to protect myself...”

I explained what had happened around the time of the summoning ceremony to Liscia.

When I had been summoned to this world, I’d been on the verge of being handed over to the Empire. The king hadn’t seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but, seeing as he had no other plan, if the Empire had put pressure on him to do it, he probably wouldn’t have had any other choice. There had been no telling what might happen to me if I was turned over to the Empire, so I had asked the king to choose the “do not hand over the hero” option.

My proposal to the king and prime minister was that they pay the war subsidies to buy time, and with that time, push forward with policies that would build a strong and prosperous country. If they were saying “hand over the hero in place of war subsidies,” all we had to do was pay the subsidies. If we did that, they would lose any justification for interfering in our affairs. It was not an actual threat, no matter what it seemed like. To keep up appearances, the Empire would not insist on it any further. That was my reasoning. We would use the time bought this way to pursue country-strengthening policies which would let us stand on equal terms with the Empire.

The two of them had had objections, of course. They had said this country had no means to pay the war subsidies. But, after inspecting the materials they brought me, I was able to show that if we sold off some state-owned facilities, enacted caps on government spending, and the king turned over some of his “personal assets,” it would be possible to pay.

I had gotten into the university’s School of Socioeconomic Studies (with the subject I had selected for the socio- part of the entrance exam being World History, by the way), and my dream for the future had been to become a local government employee. This was all within my field of expertise.

Hearing this plan, the king had taken on a ponderous expression, but the prime minister, Marx, had been enthusiastic. He must have ultimately decided that, rather than turn over the hero to preserve the status quo, enacting economic reforms was more likely to leave the country with a future. The king became more enthusiastic as we went on.

As the guy who suggested it, I knew I’d probably be expected to put in a lot of the work on those reforms, but only as a single bureaucrat in the finance ministry... that was what I had thought.

“And then he pushed the throne off on me.”

“Um, well... Sorry.”

“It’s nothing you need to apologize for. If anything, you’re a victim in all this, suddenly finding yourself engaged to me.”

“Well, yeah... Wait, huh? Which of us is higher-ranked now? Do I need to be super polite and formal?” She looked unsure of whether she should speak to me as a commoner would to a king, or as a princess who was candidate to be queen.

“...We can keep it casual, I guess?” I said.

“...Sure.”

“Also, don’t worry about the betrothal thing. I’m just holding onto the throne for now. I’ll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years, anyway.”

“Huh? Why?!”

“Because I only ever planned to work hard enough to earn the subsidies for the Empire so that I wouldn’t be turned over. Now that I’ve been handed the throne, I’ll do enough to get this country on the right track, but after that, I’ll leave it to the people of this country to handle the rest. Of course, we can tear up the engagement then.”

I gave Liscia a reassuring smile.

◇　◇　◇

“I’ll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years anyway.” My eyes went wide when I heard Souma say that.

He makes it sound so simple. Does he even realize how difficult that would be?

Even someone like myself, who had focused so much on military matters that my political knowledge was a bit weak, could see the situation our country was in. I believe the word was “checkmate.” Food shortages, economic malaise, the influx of refugees caused by the invasion of demons, plus pressure from the Gran Chaos Empire. We had nothing but uncertainty bearing down on us.

For that reason, I could somewhat understand my father’s decision to immediately abdicate the throne to someone he sensed was more capable. But still. Considering all that, was it even possible to get this country back on track? Even supposing he somehow could, would the people allow a king who had accomplished such a great feat to retire so easily?

“...So, do you think you can secure the funds for the war subsidies?”

“Hm? Yeah. I’ve already secured the funds to send to the Empire.”

“...Huh?”

“Right now, I’m trying to squeeze out the funds for my reforms. They’ll cost even more than the war subsidies, after all.”

Wait... Wait, wait, wait, wait! He’s already secured the funds? The amount the Empire requested was so massive that it was equivalent to the national budget, from what I heard!

“Where did we have that kind of money...?”

“I sold off, like, a third of the treasure vault.”

“The treasure vault... Our national treasures?! Don’t tell me you sold off our national treasures! You didn’t, did you?!” I closed in on Souma, who looked very blasé about the whole thing. “The national treasures belong to the whole country! Just arbitrarily selling them off is a betrayal of our people!”

“Now, now, just calm down. If you say they’re the property of the people, I’d say selling them for the benefit of the people is all good.”

“Even so, there must have been objects with historical and cultural value...”

“Ohh, if that’s your concern, I had those set aside. All I sold were jewels and ornamental objects that had material value.”

Souma looked through the paperwork for the treasure vault inventory. “Treasures were divided into three categories: Category A (items with historical or cultural value), Category B (items without historical or cultural value but with monetary value), and Category C (everything else). We only sold items from Category B. Rather than sell the stuff in Category A, if we put it on rotating display in a museum, it’s likely to serve as a more permanent source of income.”

“Well, maybe... What about Category C?”

“Magic tools, grimoires, and the like. Honestly, I’m not sure how best to handle them. You could say they’re like weapons, in a way. We can’t sell them off or put them on display without the proper precautions. That full set of Hero Equipment looked like it might fetch a nice price, though... Mind if I sell that?”

“Please, don’t...”

Technically, you’re supposed to be the hero... Ah, wait, you’re the king now, aren’t you?

“But, if we have all this money, shouldn’t it go to the military? In officers’ school I learned ‘Spend always on defense, never on tribute.’”

“Let me answer that pithy saying with another one. ‘Time is money.’ Which is to say, by offering the war subsidies as a sacrifice, we can gain the one resource our country most needs right now: time.”

“...Why do you have to talk in such a roundabout way?”

“Don’t worry about it. Anyway, even if we were able to strengthen our forces, it would all be for naught if we can’t also get domestic issues under control. Until the food and refugee issues are resolved, we’re only going to continue losing the support of the people. Once that happens, we’ll be left with a fragile state that’s easily thrown into riots with a little agitation by foreign actors.”

“No... The people love this country, too. They wouldn’t riot...”

“You’re being idealistic there. ‘Only once one is clothed and fed does one learn manners.’ In the end, you can’t have morals or patriotism on an empty stomach. If you’re too busy looking after yourself, you can’t afford to look after others.”

Souma’s eyes were cold as he said this. It was a harsh and realistic view. That alone made me feel he was on the mark. From the look of him, you would expect him to be a weak man, yet somehow...

...he looked so reliable.

◇　◇　◇

After spending another day, I was finally able to secure a certain amount of funds. While I wasn’t exactly flush with cash, I would have the money I needed for my reforms for the time being. I managed to extract all of this money from just my direct holdings, without having to touch the Three Dukedoms, so I’d have liked some praise for that, at least.

Looking around the room... It was a disaster. Bureaucrats were passed out on their desks, others were leaning back asleep in their chairs, their faces looking skywards. On the sofa, Liscia had lain down and was snoring softly.

I moved over to her quietly, sat on the sofa’s armrest, and watched Liscia sleep. In the end, this girl had stayed up until close to dawn helping me with my work. Even though she must have wanted to say a thing or two to say about being forced into an engagement with me...

I patted her sleeping head. Her silky hair slid smoothly between my fingers. The excitement from being set free after such a long job must have been affecting me. Normally, I’d have been too embarrassed to do this sober, but just sitting here like this made me happy.

“Mrm...”

Liscia groaned, so I pulled my hand out of her hair. The next moment, Liscia opened her eyes and sprung up. Maybe she was still a little groggy, since she was looking around all over.

With a wry grin, I bid her good morning. “Good morning, Liscia.”

“M-Morning... Huh? Did I fall asleep...?”

“We’ve hit a good stopping point now. Do you want to go back to sleep?”

“Oh, no. I’m fine. What about you, Souma? You haven’t slept, have you?”

It looked like she was fully awake. I was happy to see her showing concern for me, too.

Lifting myself from the armrest, I stretched my arms wide.

“I plan to have a good long rest after this, but... could you come with me for a bit first?”

“Hm? Where to?”

“For a before-bed walk,” I said.

In the light of near-dawn, Liscia and I bounced along on horseback.

While breathing in the morning mist, Liscia’s horse sped along with a clip-clop, clip-clop, not bothered in the least by the weight of two people. Liscia sat in the front holding the reins, while I was behind her with my arms around her slim waist, holding on for dear life.

“Hey, don’t squeeze my belly so hard,” she objected.

“No way. This is pretty scary.”

“Pitiful. Normally shouldn’t you, as the man, be the one holding the reins?”

“Well, it’s not like I had a choice. Since I’ve never ridden on a horse before.”

In modern Japan, there was rarely any chance to ride horses.

At best, I’d ridden on a pony at the petting zoo as a child while someone else led it on a leash.

“In this country, pretty much everyone from peasant farmers to the nobility can ride, you know?” she told me.

“In my world, there were many more convenient vehicles.”

“Your world... Tell me about it, Souma.”

“Hm?”

“Did you... leave behind any family, a lover maybe, in the other world?” Liscia asked me hesitantly. Was she trying to be considerate of my feelings?

“No, nobody. My last relative, my grandpa, just passed away the other day... yeah.”

“...I’m sorry.”

“It’s nothing to apologize about. Grandpa had had a full life. That’s why, well... Nobody’s waiting for my return, so I guess I don’t feel the need to go back in any hurry.”

“Oh... You don’t.” Liscia seemed somewhat relieved.

As we talked, the horse kept clip-clopping along. It was around six in the morning, maybe. The time when people finally start to stir. As we passed through the shopping street, no shops were open yet and there was almost no one out. Passing through the castle town, we reached the wall that went around the capital. We came up to a massive gate, the likes of which I had only seen in foreign fantasy films, and after speaking to the guards there, we went outside through a small door beside it.

Liscia did all the talking here. If the newly-ascended king had told them he wanted to go outside the city without any bodyguards, I doubt they’d have allowed it. So, Liscia, who held an officer’s rank, told them, “I have been dispatched outside by order of the king,” and played it off as part of her duties.

Once we safely passed through the gate, Liscia added, “Since I said it was a royal order, there’s going to be a record of it. Who knows what Marx is going to say to us later...”

I ignored her complaints.

After a short trip through the city streets, we finally reached our destination. “...Stop here,” I said.

As she stopped the horse, Liscia looked at me questioningly. “This is where you wanted to come? All I see are farmers’ fields.”

Indeed, there was nothing but verdant fields of green leaves here. Green fields, wet with the morning dew, as far as the eye could see. This was the place... No doubt about that.

“This is the place I wanted to show you, Liscia.”

“These fields? I suppose they’re pretty when they’re wet with the morning dew like this...”

“Pretty... huh. Even though it’s because of this that people are starving to death.”

“Wha?” Liscia’s eyes widened in surprise.

I sighed. “Take a close look. These ‘inedible fields’ are the root of this country’s food crisis.”

◇　◇　◇

Inedible fields... That was what Souma had called the fields spread out before me, looking at them bitterly. Souma had said he’d wanted to show me these fields, but I still didn’t understand why.

“...What do you mean?”

“Exactly what I said. All of the fields you see here are cotton fields.”

“Cotton fields... Ah! That’s what you meant by inedible!”

Cotton flowers were grown to produce cotton thread. Sure enough, these fields didn’t grow anything you could eat.

Souma sat down there, resting his elbows on his thighs. “Jumping straight to my conclusion, it’s the excessive increase in the number of these cotton fields that has caused this country’s food shortages.”

“...Come again?”

Did he just sort of off-handedly say something incredible now? The cause of our food shortages?

“While I was sorting through the paperwork, I noticed it. With the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the demand for clothing and other daily necessities has skyrocketed. Of course, the demand for the raw materials has shot up, too. With the selling price of cotton flowers rising, and being able to sell as much as you can produce, the farmers have entirely stopped growing the food crops they had produced up until that point. Crops grown to sell to others instead of to eat are called cash crops. Which is to say: our farmers have turned to growing only cash crops, which has led to a lowering of this country’s food self-sufficiency rate.”

I was speechless. The cause of this country’s food shortages...

I had always just assumed it was bad weather, or that our country had just had poor soil to begin with. Here was a concrete reason, and yet I, who had lived in this country for more than ten years, hadn’t seen it. Meanwhile Souma, who had been summoned here only a few days prior, had managed to.

“If I were to go a bit further, I could say it’s the cause of this country’s poor economy, as well. When the food self-sufficiency rate drops, you have to import from other countries to avoid starving. However, imported food involves transportation costs as well, so the price of food rises. That puts pressure on household budgets, but you can only cut food costs so far. If you don’t eat, you’ll starve, after all. Of course, if you’re going to trim the fat somewhere, it’s going to be in nonessential and luxury goods. This change in spending practices is causing a downward spiral in the economy.”

What had I been looking at? Had I just been a private citizen, it would have been fine to just laugh scornfully at my lack of insight. However, I was a princess.

The ignorance of those at the top kills those at the bottom.

“I’m... a failure as a royal.” I lost all strength, falling to my knees there. In all my life, I had never so keenly felt a sense of powerlessness as I did now.

Seeing me like that, Souma let out an “Uh,” and an “Um,” scratching his head, before resting his hand on my head.

“Don’t let it get you so down. We’ve secured the funding we’ll need. It’s not too late for agricultural reforms.”

“...What are you planning to do?”

“Place limits on the growth of cash crops, bring back the growing of food crops, and improve our self-sufficiency rate. The country will pay subsidies to help support that transition. First we’ll replant the fields with beans, which have a wide range of uses, and potatoes, which are resistant against famine, and over time I’d like to increase the number of paddy fields. After that...”

Souma spoke eloquently of his plans for agricultural reform. He used a lot of words like “paddy fields” that were unfamiliar to me, but as I looked at his face in profile, he seemed so radiant.

I felt I could understand why my father had abdicated the throne to him. He was what this country needed most right now. We had to do whatever it took to keep him tied down here. Our betrothal had probably been meant as another chain with which to bind him.

I guess I can’t afford to be upset about the engagement being decided without my input.

Souma had said that once he got the country on track, he would return the throne, but we couldn’t let him do that. It would be a loss to the country to have a man of such rare talent leave. It needed to be prevented at all costs.

He says he has no family in his old world. If I were to become his family here, could I keep him in this country? I wondered. As his fiancée, if I can just make the marriage a fait accompli... Wait, the best way to make it a fait accompli... would basically be... doing that with him...

The thoughts that came to my mind left my face flushed red.

“So, in the mountains we’ll... Hey, Liscia, you listening?”

“Eek! Wh-Why, yes, I’m listening.”

“Hm? Your face is all red, you know.”

“It’s just the sunrise! Think nothing of it!”

My cheeks were on fire. I was ready to just die of embarrassment.

From there on, I don’t think I heard a single word of Souma’s explanations.

“If you wish, I can.”

“Sure. This scene is being broadcast around Elfrieden right now through this jewel. Could you sing a little song to cheer up our countrymen?”

“A song to cheer them up... is it?” Juna seemed troubled. “Most of the lorelei songs passed down in my family are sad love songs, you see...”

“Ohh, if there’s some code or something holding you back from singing one, that’s fine.”

“No, I just don’t know any. If I could hear one, I could learn it right away, though.”

“Hmm... Ah, how about this, then?”

I pulled out my smartphone. It was one of the few things I had had on me when I’d been summoned to this world. I opened up my music folder, picked a song that jumped out at me, then walked up to Juna and put the earbuds in for her.

“What might this be?”

“Something like a machine that plays music, I guess? Anyway, I’m playing it now.”

Juna’s eyes widened.

The moment I pressed the button, Juna’s body shuddered. She seemed bewildered at first, but she was getting used to it, as her body gradually got into the rhythm. Then, five minutes later, she pulled out the earbuds.

“I have it memorized.”

“Already? You really can memorize it the first time you hear it?”

“Yes. Now, let me sing it for you.”

I returned to my seat and she began to sing.

The song was Masashi Sada’s “Ganbaranba.” This cheerful song, which had even had a Minna no Uta short made for it, was distinctive for using rap in Nagasaki dialect mixed with the Kyushu children’s song “Denderaryuba.” Grandpa was a fan, so I had listened to it with him together a lot.

Still, I was impressed with this lorelei. She was even managing to sing the rap parts in Nagasaki dialect. These were completely incomprehensible to people from the Kanto region, but she sung them flawlessly.

By the way, Liscia told me later that she couldn’t understand the lyrics. I could understand the language people in this country speak, and they could understand my Japanese, but it seemed that was part of my power as a hero. I could even write in the world’s language. What I tried to write in my head got translated into the language here, so even though I couldn’t read it afterward, I could write it.

So, the Japanese (in Nagasaki dialect) that came out of Juna’s mouth was in an unknown language for the people of this country. Still, even without knowing the words, if a song is good, you can still get into it. Everyone listened to that catchy tune and enjoyed it.

A few minutes later, amidst roaring applause, Juna finished her song and bowed.

“That was a fun song. Thank you.”

“No, I should thank you,” I said. “Your singing was wonderful.”

“If possible, I hope you will teach me more of the songs of your country, Your Majesty.”

“I’d very much like to have you sing them. ...Oh, I know! Hopefully we can increase the number of jewels, but even if that’s not possible, we could eventually convert the Jewel Voice Room into a recording studio so that the people can hear your songs all the time.”

“My! That would be like a dream come true, sire.” Juna wore a smile of heartfelt bliss. It was a marvelous smile.

“I’ll be counting on you when the time comes,” I said. “You did a great job today.”

Juna stepped back, and now it was the fox-eared little girl’s turn.

“Next, Madam Tomoe Inui of the mystic wolf race, step forward.”

“Y-Yesh!”

Her voice breaking, the young girl with animal ears who looked to be around ten stepped forward with her right arm moving at the same time as her right leg.

The mystic wolf race... I thought. I guess those aren’t fox ears, they’re wolf ears.

She was adorable with her suntanned skin and cute little round eyes. The clothes she wore were just a little shabby, though. They were torn in places and, perhaps because she was tense, the fluffy tail that stuck out from her rump was standing up straight.

Yup, I want to stroke it.

“Young though she may be, this one has the exceptionally rare gift of being able to talk to birds and beasts. When we brought her to the stables, she was able to correctly tell us everything from the horses’ current state of health to their history. According to her, the horses told her these things. Truly, it is a godly ability.”

The gift of talking to animals, huh? Looks like we have an astonishing little beastman on our hands here.

As I thought about it, next to me Liscia quietly whispered, “The country of the mystic wolves is far to the north. There shouldn’t be any in this country.”

“...A refugee, huh,” I murmured. Ah, that would explain the beat up clothes then, wouldn’t it?

With the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, a number of countries and villages had been destroyed. Those who had lost their lands had fled south, becoming refugees in other nations, and they were starting to put pressure on the economy. Different nations dealt with them in different ways. Some proactively took them in, while others moved to expel them. Though, that said, even when it came to the countries taking them in, most either forced them into hard labor such as mining or sent them out as additional manpower to fight against the demons, so both types of country were hell for the refugees.

Even in my kingdom, refugee camps had sprung up outside the capital Parnam. At the moment, the decision on what to do with them was still “on hold.” If we helped the refugees when we didn’t even have enough food to feed our own people, riots might well break out. If we expelled them or forced them into hard labor, we would have to deal with the refugees’ resentment. If they went into hiding and turned terrorist on us, that would be terrible. As things stood, they were causing a decline in public safety, but we had no choice but to maintain the status quo.

In order to offer a helping hand to others, we need to be in a good place to help ourselves first, I thought.

“I said if they had a gift, I would put it to use, and I don’t intend to twist those words,” I said out loud. “If she has a gift, it doesn’t matter if she’s a foreigner or a refugee. We’re in no position to be particular about such things, after all.”

“You’re right.”

When I said that, the mystic wolf girl who had just been introduced hesitantly opened her mouth to speak. “Uh... Um... King Souma...”

“Hm? What is it?”

“Um... Well... Uh, I also... have something I’d like to say...”

Because she was extremely tense, she spoke as if forcing the words out. It was hard to make out what she was saying.

“Did you have something you wanted to say? I don’t mind. Please go ahead.”

“Yesh... Um... Actually...”

“Hm? What? You need to speak up, or I won’t be able to hear you...”

“Um... I...” Tomoe had tears in her eyes. She was still young enough to be called a little girl, so it was painful to see her with a face like that.

“...I understand. I’ll come over to you, so don’t cry anymore,” I said.

“Awoo...”

I walked over to the girl’s side and crouched down next to her, putting my ear next to her mouth. As the one in charge of guarding me, Ludwin had a disapproving look on his face, but I ignored him.

“Now I should be able to hear you,” I said. “Say whatever you like.”

“Yep. The truth is...”

What she whispered to me next made me doubt my ears. I stood up and stared at Tomoe’s face.

“...You’re certain of this?”

“Y-Yep.”

“Have you told this to anyone else?”

“N-No... Nobody but my mom...”

“I see...”

I breathed a sigh. It was half of relief and half of worry when I thought about what was to come. This was more than just some rare gift. This girl had the potential to be a “bombshell” to this world.

...Calm down. Breathe. Don’t let anyone here notice how agitated you are.

“Whew... I’m a little exhausted. I’d like to take a little break here.”

“Souma?”

When I said that, looking around, Liscia looked at me dubiously. The others had about the same reaction, but I ignored them, boldly raising my voice.

“I would now like to take a thirty minute break. The presentation of awards to the remaining two, this girl included, will take place after that. Madam Juna.”

“What is it, Sire?” When I called her name, the lorelei songstress stepped forward.

“Right now, our countrymen are watching us over the Jewel Voice Broadcast. It would pain me to make the people just wait during our break. So, could I ask you to keep them entertained with your singing for half an hour or so?”

“Of course, sire. Our songs are the pride of my family. I will sing my heart out for them.”

With those words, Juna gave an elegant bow.

Our eyes met for just a moment. It felt as if she were checking with me: There’s a reason for this, isn’t there? But, even so, she chose not to ask, doing as I had requested.

Even without her beauty and singing, I would want a considerate person like her among my subordinates.

While Juna was buying time for me, I gathered those I could trust in the governmental affairs office. This included myself, Liscia, Marx, Ludwin, and Tomoe. That was all. As for Aisha, who didn’t want to be separated from me now that she had sworn her loyalty, I had her stand outside the door to ensure no one was listening in.

“Is all of this caution really necessary?” Liscia asked in bewilderment, to which I responded with a nod.

“We are in a very bad situation. Did anyone hear what Tomoe said earlier?” I checked with the other three, but all of them shook their heads.

“...I didn’t hear. Her voice was so quiet.”

“Neither did I.”

“Me either.”

“...Then, is there any risk people heard her over the Jewel Voice Broadcast?”

“That should probably be fine,” Liscia said. “It’s not that sensitive.”

As soon as I heard that, I felt as if a great weight had been lifted from my shoulders.

“Is it that bad?” she asked.

“Yes. It was literally a bombshell statement.”

Everyone’s focus narrowed on Tomoe, causing her to shrink into herself even more. It seemed like it would be hard to get her to talk, so I answered on her behalf.

“She can converse with animals. You all heard that, right?”

“Yes. It’s an incredible gift, isn’t it?”

“She used that power to talk to a demon, apparently.”

The moment I said that, the room went cold. Everyone was speechless, just mouthing voicelessly like a bunch of goldfish. Before I go into detail about it, there are some things you need to know first.

What people in this world thought of when they talked about demons or monsters and what people in the world I came from thought of when they talked about demons or monsters were slightly different. In the world I came from, monsters were not “people” or “plants and animals,” they were seen as aberrations.

However, in this world, the words “person” and “animal” were defined very broadly.

To be more specific, humans, elves, beastmen, and dragonewts were all “people” and fell under the category of “mankind.”

In the categories of “plants and animals,” even at four meters tall, a red grizzly was still a mammal. Even if it looked like a dinosaur, a monitor lizard was still a reptile. Even if it was as big as a person, a giant ant was still an insect. And even if it ate people, a maneater was a plant. Furthermore, gelins, the slime creatures that did things like merge together, split apart, melt, and more, also fell under the “plants and animals” category, for some reason.

By the way, dragons and the like were called “god-beasts,” and they were categorized separately.

The reason none of these creatures were called monsters was because they were native to this world. Because they have been part of the ecology of this world all along, each of them had their own habitats away from where humans lived. As a matter of fact, the eight-legged horses in this country would all be Sleipnir by the standards of the world I came from, and the livestock such as cows and chickens all looked like they had been designed to look more monstrous.

However, if you asked what monsters were, the term referred to things like chimeras, which were a mishmash of different animals fused together, zombies, skeletons and other undead types, as well as goblins, orcs, and ogres, which looked almost like people, but no one would mistake them for sentient beings.

Ever since the Demon World had appeared, there had been a large outbreak of these monsters in the north of the continent, but even before the Demon World’s appearance, they had inhabited areas known as dungeons that were all around the continent.

Dungeons were underground spaces with a mysterious ecology. I was used to seeing them in games, but they actually existed in this world. Incidentally, I had heard that in this world there were people called “adventurers” who explored these sorts of dungeons, protected merchants, eliminated dangerous beasts that tore up the fields, and slayed monsters that come out of the dungeons as their way of making a living.

Before the Demon World appeared, monsters had been thought to lack intelligence. As a matter of fact, the monsters in dungeons, even the almost humanoid ones like goblins, only possessed intelligence on the level of animals.

However, among the monsters in the Demon Lord’s Domain, there were those that behaved as if they were intelligent.

These monsters acted in groups, used weapons and magic, and could put together strategies. These acted almost like “people” do. When mankind had failed in its invasion of the Demon Lord’s Domain, their lack of fuller knowledge about the existence of these monsters was the biggest factor in their defeat. Mankind had chosen to call these intelligent monsters “demons” to distinguish them from more animalistic monsters.

Now, let’s get back to the story. Basically, Tomoe said she had spoken with one of these demons.

Apparently, up until now, no one had ever succeeded in talking to a demon. With the sudden appearance of an army that spoke a foreign language, and with hostilities ongoing no less, understanding one another just wasn’t going to happen.

Liscia drew in closer to Tomoe.

“Just what did you talk to, and what did you talk about?!”

“W-With Mr. Kobold. They’re different from us... They’re short, and their whole faces, not just their ears, are doglike... On the day before our village was attacked, he said, ‘I can’t bear to see those with the same scent as me attacked. Hurry and flee.’ It was a miracle I could understand what Mr. Kobold said, but... thanks to him, we were able to avoid trouble...”

“So, to sum it up... Demons have a clear will of their own, is that it?” Ludwin said, as if groaning.

The people of this world only thought of demons as slightly smarter monsters. Like locusts swarming over the land, or barbarians that delighted in slaughter. From what I had heard, that wasn’t a mistaken impression when it came to monsters. However... For demons, perhaps another viewpoint was going to be necessary.

If demons had their own will, like Tomoe was suggesting, mankind might have been fighting a “war” against the demon race without realizing it. A war with no channels of diplomacy, at that. With their families being killed, their houses razed, and their countries stolen, mankind held great resentment towards the monsters and demons. If this was a war, it was possible that the demons resented mankind in the same way.

“If this knowledge spread to all of the other countries...” I began.

“...there would be chaos,” Liscia finished.

Liscia and I both slumped our shoulders.

I didn’t think dialogue would be possible with each and every demon or monster from the Demon Lord’s Domain. Those we could talk to, like the kobold who had let the mystic wolves escape, might only be a small portion of them. However, if people were to find out that even some of the demons are like that, the demon race would stop being the common enemy of all mankind.

Right now, even if it was only on the surface, all of the other countries were united against the Demon Lord’s Domain. If this information were to spread, what would happen to that? If it meant they tried to sue for peace with the demons, that would be great, but it would be completely unsurprising if some of them put their own country’s interests first, siding with the demons in order to invade other countries. If that were to happen, mankind would fall to pieces.

“Do you think the Empire knows?” I asked.

“...I’m not sure,” Liscia said. “It was only with Tomoe’s unique gift that someone was finally able to communicate with them. Even if they do realize it, they’d have no way to verify it.”

“So, basically, our country has a monopoly on this information for the time being. Good grief...” This was one hell of a thing to have fall in my lap.

She’s like a bomb. I can use her as a trump card, but if I mishandle her, it could all blow up in my face.

“I-I’m sorry...” Tomoe was wincing, so Liscia poked me.

“Oh, no, we aren’t blaming you,” I said quickly. “Actually, I’m glad you came to this country. It chills me when I think what might have happened if you had gone to another country instead.”

“Still, are you going to conceal this information?” Ludwin asked. “If people find out we hid such vital information, isn’t it possible we would be condemned as an enemy of all mankind?”

“...You have a point.” I wanted to clutch my head when Ludwin pointed that out. “Doing a bad job of hiding it and then having people think we’re harboring ambitions as a result isn’t a great plan. Besides, if this is a war, the current situation where both sides are fighting a war of extermination is not good. In order to make sure the war doesn’t continue until one sided is wiped out, we need to leak the information out little by little.”

I need to resolve myself. I continued to speak, looking at those around me. “‘Maybe there are those among the demons we could talk with.’ We’ll leak something that sounds like nothing more than a hypothesis to the other countries. If we do that, they should be a little more cautious. At the very least, they should try to discover if there’s any truth to the rumors.”

“As part of that process, isn’t it possible they will reach the same information that we have? Wouldn’t that eliminate the value of concealing it?”

“You’re wrong, Marx. Our trump card is Tomoe herself.”

“M-Me?!” she squeaked.

I nodded firmly to Tomoe, whose eyes were darting about in bewilderment. “Even if the demons do have a will of their own, there needs to be some means of communication to negotiate with them. For instance, while the other countries are still searching for a way to negotiate with the demons, we can talk to them using Tomoe as a mediator. That is a huge advantage.”

I didn’t know how much our kingdom would be able to negotiate for on its own. However, by having our own independent line of communication, we could prevent a situation where another country monopolized the right to negotiate and refused us any opportunity for dialogue. In exchange, we would be taking a burden on ourselves, but that was far preferable to leaving our kingdom’s fate in the hands of another country.

“So, Tomoe, our country needs to do everything it can to protect you,” I said.

“P-Protect me...?!”

“Yes. It’s no exaggeration to say that, right now, you’re far more important than some guy like me. Honestly, if this information leaks out, the moment you get abducted, this country is ruined.”

“No way... you’re making that up... right?” Tomoe looked around restlessly, but no one denied it.

It was no exaggeration to say that Tomoe held this country’s fate in her hands. While I would never do it myself, another country might have pretended they had never heard any of this and “disposed of” her. That was just how important Tomoe’s existence was.

“So, in order to keep you under the highest level of guard we can, I want you to live here in the palace. If it comes down to it, we might not be able to protect you in the refugee camp.”

“Awoo...” Tomoe moaned.

“Hold on a moment,” Marx raised his hand. “If we have someone not of royal blood living at the palace, might that not draw unwanted scrutiny?”

“Hmm. Well, tell me how we can welcome her as royalty, then.”

“You say that like it’s so easy... There are a number of ways a common person can become royalty. One would be for you to adopt her, sire. However, as the wedding has not been held yet, this is not possible. Your wedding ceremony will take more than a year to prepare, after all.”

“You heard him, Liscia,” I said.

“Hey, don’t throw this over to me.” Liscia quickly looked away.

Living with Liscia as my wife and Tomoe, who’s already around ten, as my daughter, huh... Yeah, I just can’t imagine it.

“Anything else?” I asked.

“You could take her as a secondary wife, sire.”

“That’s... all kinds of messed up.”

She’s young enough to be in elementary school, pal. It brings to mind that image of Backbeard saying, “You damn lolicon.”

Marx cleared his throat. “She is just barely within the acceptable age range for a political marriage, I believe.”

“Souma... Ten years old is a little young...”

“Why are you blaming me, here?!”

Now Liscia’s looking at me coldly. I’m not into that stuff, okay?!

“Hey, wait, the former royal couple can just adopt her.”

“Hmm. I believe that would be acceptable.” Marx was snickering.

That bastard, he said all that stuff when he already knew that was possible!

“That sounds good! I’ve always wanted a little sister!” Liscia said.

“Whuwhuh!” Tomoe cried in confusion.

Liscia hugged Tomoe tight, causing her to sputter and panic. As for Liscia herself, she had a more relaxed look than I had ever seen on her face before.

Come to think of it, since Liscia’s my fiancée, Tomoe’s going to be my sister-in-law. A wolf-eared loli sister-in-law... That’s too many character attributes.

“But, but... I have a family. My mom and little brother are waiting for me in the camp,” Tomoe said, breaking free from her (prospective) big sister’s excessively touchy-feely embrace.

“Ohh, the adoption is only for appearances’ sake, so you don’t have to worry about that. If you become my sister-in-law, your mother and brother will be family, too, so I don’t mind if they live at the palace, as well. We’ll provide some funds for them to live on, and if they want to work, we’ll give them something to do in the palace.”

“Well... in that case... okay,” Tomoe accepted somewhat timidly.

Good. That doesn’t quite wrap everything up nicely, but I think I’ve done what I can for the moment. I’ve somehow gained a sister-in-law in the process, but, hey, she’s cute, so it’s all good.

“Now then, let’s get back to the hall,” I said. “We’re keeping Madam Juna waiting.”

It’s been almost thirty minutes, after all. She probably can’t draw things out much longer.

“For now, we’ll only give Tomoe the prize money as her reward. If the former royal couple were to suddenly announce they were adopting her, that would be like telling everyone that something’s up. We’ll let some time pass and then announce it another day. I’d like you all to act with that in mind, got it?”

““““Yes, sir!””””

◇　◇　◇

Thirty minutes after King Souma called for a break, the award ceremony resumed. Right now, the mystic wolf girl was being praised.

As that scene unfolded, I stood with the other prize winners watching.

“Your gift is remarkable,” he told the wolf girl. “I hope you will put it to use for our country.”

“Y-Yesh! I undershtand!”

...She’s stuttering all over the place, I thought. How adorable.

What could that adorable little girl have said to alarm the king so badly that he had called for a break? What’s more, that little girl was the only one who had been called aside during the break. It was clear that it had been something important, but there was no way for me to know what it was at the moment.

From the time I came here, I had been observing the king in question. He looked ordinary. I had heard he’d been summoned as a hero, but he looked exactly like any of the common townsfolk. He didn’t wear a crown, carried no scepter, wore no cape, and though their design was unusual, when he stood there in those casual clothes, he didn’t look like a king even while standing in front of the throne.

If I looked for it, once in a while his eyes took on a statesman-like appearance. He was a very hard man to pin down. From the way he had acted so far, you might say he was a passable king, I suppose.

With the dark elf warrior’s direct appeal, he had shown magnanimity and, even without intending to, he’d found a solution to her problem. From what had happened with the mystic wolf girl, it seemed he could ad-lib where necessary, too. It had been a little awkward, but, well, I’d give it a passing grade.

However, his real trial would start here.

The fat man beside me was sweating profusely, though I couldn’t tell if it was cold sweat or greasy sweat. I turned to look at him. It was his turn to receive his award next.

On the way here, he had told me himself what his gift was. And, as far as I was concerned, his was “the gift this country needs most right now.”

When he sees him, what will that young king’s judgment be?

Will he look down on the man’s appearance (a big round belly and a pudgy face), which no one would call attractive, even as empty flattery?

Will he make a laughingstock of him in front of the entire country?

Even if he doesn’t go that far, will he miss the importance of the man’s gift?

If he does any of those things, I...

“Next, Poncho Panacotta of Potte Village, step forward!”

“Y-Yes, I’ll do that, yes!

When Prime Minister Marx called his name, the fat man named Poncho walked forward with heavy steps, his round belly wobbling. The comical way he walked drew laughs from all around. Even Princess Liscia was struggling to suppress a smile.

When I looked to see the king’s reaction, his face was serious. Not smiling, not displeased, just looking at Sir Poncho with a serious expression.

“This one’s gift, as you may have guessed from the look of him, is for eating,” Marx said. “During the application process, a number of people claimed to have the ‘gift of being a big eater,’ but none could defeat him. Furthermore, his stance towards his pursuit of food is unusual. He has traveled the world, eating the famous and bizarre dishes of each region. In his own words, ‘If it was edible, I ate it.’ However, it seems he has spent his entire fortune on traveling and eating, so he is not as well off as he might appear... Ahem. Regardless, it can be said that he has a gift that is unique in our country, so...”

“I’ve been waiting for you!” The king was moving before Marx could even finish reading the explanation. When he reached Poncho, he took his hand with both hands, not hiding his elation in the slightest. “I’m so glad you responded to my call! You’re the sort of person I’ve been waiting for!”

“Huh... uh... What?” Sir Poncho’s eyes darted around. His brain couldn’t keep up with the situation.

Eventually, his mind caught up, and his face stiffened.

“M-Me, Your Majesty?”

“Exactly! You’re the one this country has been waiting for! More than any of these other gifted people, I’m glad that you came! I always thought that if someone like you was among the civil officials, it would be worth recommending they apply!”

“D-Do you feel that strongly about me, yes?”

“Yeah. Your knowledge from wandering around eating famous and bizarre foods will be the key to saving this country!”

When the king said that, Sir Poncho cried a flood of tears. “I-I... Everyone’s always called me a fatty... An idiot wasting his money on food... As for me, I only went around eating because I wanted to eat, so I thought they were right... Can even my gluttony be of service to this country?”

The king tapped the crying Sir Poncho on the shoulder. “Let them say what they want about you. No matter how trivial something is, if you master it, it’s a gift. Be proud! The appetite you didn’t hesitate to spend your fortune on will save this country! Please, share your wisdom with me!”

Hearing his king’s earnest request, Poncho wiped away his tears with his sleeve. “Y-Yes! If my knowledge can be of help, please use it, yes!” he responded cheerfully.

When I looked around, most of the audience were standing there, mouths agape, unable to digest the situation. In the midst of that, King Souma returned to the throne, then turned to Marx and said, “In this country, there is a tradition of the king rewarding meritorious servants, or those for whom he has high hopes, with a new name, isn’t there?”

“...Ah, yes. That is correct, sire.”

“In that case, Poncho, I bestow upon you the name Ishizuka. In my homeland, this was the name of an ‘insatiable seeker and evangelist of food.’ Work hard, so as not to bring shame upon that name.”

“Ye... Yes, sir! Thank you, yes!”

This was the explosive moment in which Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta was born. The first person King Souma had personally welcomed as one of his retainers was the rotund man with the vigorous appetite, Sir Poncho.

I wanted to cry out for joy. Splendid! This was a king who had his priorities straight!

Whether he would hire Poncho or not had been a touchstone for this king. I had thought that if he failed to recognize the man’s value, but hired him on the potential he might someday be of use, that would be a pass. If he had chosen not to hire him solely based on his appearance, that would be a failure. I never dared to imagine he would welcome him so enthusiastically. This was a happy miscalculation for me.

This man may well save this country.

I felt something welling up from within me.

...It looks like I won’t be able to just watch any longer.

“King Souma, a word with you, if I may,” I said.

◇　◇　◇

“King Souma, a word with you, if I may.”

With the awards all handed out, just as I was about to declare an end to the ceremony, the young man in black robes, Hakuya Kwonmin, stepped forward and took a knee. Now his sleepy eyes were wide open. Just by doing that, he mysteriously had an entirely different air about him now.

Feeling something like a slight premonition, I turned to Hakuya and asked, “Do you have something to say?”

“Indeed. Though I stand here on the recommendation of another, it is now my wish to recommend myself.”

A self-recommendation. Does he want to sell me on his merits himself, then?

“Hmm... I’ve already promised you the position of librarian to the palace archives. If you want to make a self-recommendation, does that mean you’re dissatisfied with the post? What is it you seek?”

“Should it be at all possible, I wish to place myself in your service, Your Majesty.”

“But not as a librarian?”

“Correct. With my wisdom, I seek to support your supremacy.”

“M-My supremacy?”

Supremacy is a bold thing to claim, I thought. If he means to support that with his wisdom, what does he plan to become? A general, handling military and foreign affairs, or a prime minister handling internal affairs...?

I looked straight at Hakuya. “Amusing, but do you have a gift great enough to accomplish that?”

“I humbly submit that I do.”

“You can do more than recite the law from memory, then?”

“With all due respect, I believe I have told you as much. ‘Law, literature, technical manuals, I’ll read anything,’ I said. I have information on every field of study stored inside my head.”

“I see...” Now I knew what had been bothering me before. Though he could recite the law from memory, he had said he read all sorts of books. That meant his knowledge wasn’t limited to just law. For him, the laws he’d memorized were just one small fragment of the diverse knowledge he possessed. “Why didn’t you say so earlier?”

“I sought to judge whether you were a ruler worthy of my service.”

“Then, does this mean I’m worthy?”

“You receive a passing mark, I suppose.”

What insolence, I thought. Still... He’s amusing. Is he boasting, or does he have the skill to back it up...? Either way, there’s no way to know just yet, I guess.

“I’ll leave you to Marx!” I said. “Judge this one’s gift and give him a position suited to it.”

“Very well, sire.”

“Thank you very much.”

Marx and Hakuya both bowed.

A few days later, Marx would rush into the governmental affairs office, crying, “Sire, would you ask me to teach a wyvern to fly?!” It was an idiomatic expression from this world for trying to teach someone who knows more than you.

At this time, I had no way of knowing that this had been my first meeting with the man who would come to be known as the Black-robed Prime Minister.

◇　◇　◇

In history, there are some scenes which are easily dramatized by later generations. There are some conditions for this:

First, it must be the turning point of an era.

Second, it must have a certain flair when dramatized.

These are the two conditions.

In Elfrieden history, the scene most dramatized in later years was “King Souma’s Gathering of Personnel.” It is said that there are three main characters in this scene.

Seen from Souma’s perspective, this was one of his great accomplishments. From the perspective of the man who would come to be called the Black-robed Prime Minister, Hakuya Kwonmin, it was to become “the turning point of an era.” And from the perspective of a certain other person, it was the turning point in the Cinderella story of their life.

However, there are different theories on who that third person is.

Some say it was the Warrior of the Eastern Wind, Aisha Udgard, who, despite being a dark elf who lived in the forest, swore her loyalty the king, and from that point on was always at his side serving him.

Some say it was the Prima Lorelei, Juna Doma, who was recognized by the king, learned the songs of his country, gave birth to the concept of a lorelei, which was the word that came to mean an idol singer in Elfrieden, and was loved by king and people alike.

Some say it was the Wise Wolf Princess, Tomoe Inui, who, despite being a refugee, was instantly adored by King Souma and Queen Liscia, and taken in as the queen’s adopted sister.

However, the one most featured in dramatizations was Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta.

Mocked by all around him for his weight, this unspectacular glutton of a man was, through “The King’s Gathering of Personnel,” able to turn his life around. For the people exhausted with their daily lives, this true story moved them and gave them energy, and so it came to be dramatized many times.

It seems odd to call the tale of a rotund man a Cinderella story. Yet, despite being a little scatterbrained, he was hard not to like. He was loved by all, and so they said it suited him perfectly.

In addition, because the King’s emotional welcoming of Poncho was broadcast throughout the kingdom, it had the unexpected side effect of many gifted people gathering in Elfrieden, thinking, “If even a guy like that can become important, so can I...” From this event, in later years, a new proverb meaning “start with small things” was created.

“Start from Ishizuka.”

When a dark elf pledges their loyalty to someone, they pride themselves on staying by that person’s side and protecting them until the day they themselves die, apparently. That was why Aisha had appointed herself as my bodyguard, and whether it was work time, meal time, or sleep time, she tried to follow me everywhere I went, even into the bath and toilet. I thought it was problematic to have someone who hadn’t even officially been hired yet so close to the king, but she was beautiful, highly loyal, and her skills were well known, so Ludwin and the royal guards turned a blind eye to her. As for Hakuya, who had taken over the post of prime minister from Marx, he said:

“Is it not lovely to be surrounded by such beauties? The princess, Madam Aisha, Madam Juna... it matters not to me which you choose, but please hurry up and give us a child. It will bring stability to the royal house.”

That’s a hell of a thing to say so easily. Good grief.

While I was thinking about that, Liscia came over and poked me in the back.

“I bet you don’t actually mind the attention, do you?”

“Give me a break. Just when I was finally able to get some rest... Wait, huh? Come to think of it, where’s Tomoe?”

“Tomoe is over in Mother and Father’s room. Mother’s taken a liking to her...”

Just a few days ago, Tomoe had come to the castle to live as Liscia’s adopted sister. Of course, as we had promised, her family had come with her, too.

Incidentally, Tomoe’s mother worked at the palace daycare facility, which we had set up as an experiment to help encourage the advancement of women in society. She stayed with the wet nurses, caring for other people’s children at the same time as her own. This daycare facility was a hit with the young maids, who said, “Now I can get married without worrying.”

With maternity leave being nonexistent at present, women were often dismissed the moment they got pregnant. That was why, unless they became a king’s mistress, most of the maids spent their entire lives single.

But I digress. Basically, it meant Tomoe had two mothers in the palace. She had seemed a little bewildered at first, but now both of them adored her.

Liscia stood up and, resting her hands on the back of the sofa, she peeked over my shoulder. “Still, when you have time off, you sew...? Is that a doll?”

“Oh, this? It’s Little Musashibo.”

I finished sewing up the doll’s back, presenting it to Liscia.

“Little Musashibo?”

“Yeah. He’s from my world... Something like a rare and exotic beast, I guess?”

Little Musashibo was a cute super-deformed mascot based on Musashibo Benkei from the city I lived in. A white silk face. A Buddhist priest’s stole and prayer beads. Big bushy eyebrows that looked imposing, but adorable acorn eyes underneath. People liked that gap, so he was well received.

By the way, the city where I had lived had absolutely no connection to Musashibo Benkei. So why Benkei then, you might wonder? Well, “because long ago Saitama Prefecture was known as Musashi Province.” That was the only reason.

Now, you might ask, “Then, wouldn’t Musashi Miyamoto or Musashimaru have worked just as well?” or, “If it’s because of Musashi Province, doesn’t that cover all of Saitama?” but to do so would be boorish.

You don’t think, you feel. That’s just how mascot characters are.

“Urkh... It makes me mad how surprisingly cute it is,” Liscia said, looking at the Little Musashibo doll. “Still, why would you make something like this?”

“Well, actually... turns out my Living Poltergeists works really well with dolls.”

With those words, I focused, and Little Musashibo began to move before our eyes. He used his short little arms and legs to break dance. That he was good at it only made it more surreal.

Liscia stared, dumbstruck. “What is this...?”

“When I use it on a pen, all I can do is make it float around, but with a doll, I can move it around almost as if I were inside it. What’s more, with dolls, the limits on distance go away.”

Up until now, I had only been able to manipulate objects up to 100 meters away, but with dolls, I was able to send them not just into the castle town but beyond the walls.

“That’s certainly impressive, but... What are you going to do, become a street performer?” Liscia looked exasperatedly at Little Musashibo.

“Ha ha, now there’s an idea. Maybe I’ll quit being king and make a living on the road.”

“Don’t be silly. I won’t let you abandon the job halfway.”

“...I know that. Anyway, here’s the important bit.”

I gave Little Musashibo two short swords. When I did, despite being made of felt and stuffed with cotton, Little Musashibo managed to hold two swords that would have felt heavy in the hands of a grown man. Little Musashibo posed like Musashi Miyamoto with his two swords.

Liscia’s eyes went wide. “No way... It’s a doll, right?”

“It seems that when a doll holds something, its counted as an optional item for the doll. What’s more, it can use any items I equip it with freely. As a test, I gave another doll some weapons and tried sending it to fight monsters. It managed to fight just fine.”

“A doll fighting monsters. Wait... The mannequin from the rumors!”

“Yeah. I used a doll I happened to find around the palace to experiment.”

I had never imagined there would be rumors about it, though. I had tried to do my tests at night when there wouldn’t be people around to see, but maybe that had just made it feel even more like something out of a ghost story.

“Thanks to that, I found out they can hold their own against monsters. On top of that, the more experience they gain, the better the dolls get at moving.”

As I said that, Little Musashibo spread the arms he was still holding the short swords with wide, spinning in circles fast enough that you almost expected a “whoosh” sound effect to pop up. He looked like a big spinning top, but he was actually like a revolving saw turned sideways, so he was more dangerous than he looked.

“Is the training done by the dolls reflected on your main body?” Liscia asked.

“If it were, that would make it one broken ability. Sadly, no; even if the doll learns to use a technique, I can’t reproduce it myself. Maybe it’s because I don’t have the muscle strength for it? My body’s still weak.”

“Hmm... Why not work out?”

“I think it’s a more effective use of my time to improve my ability to control the dolls than to try to get stronger myself. No matter how much I work out, I’m not going to get tough enough that it’s better than keeping three strong dolls around me.”

“That’s not how a hero fights.” Liscia said, exasperated.

Sadly, I had to agree with that assessment.

In fantasy works from my old world, my job class would have been Doll Master or Puppeteer, probably. Those sorts of jobs tended to be mid-range support types. That’s a long way away from the mid to close-range attacker type impression that most people have of a hero.

“When I watch you, I can feel my image of what a hero is falling to pieces...” Liscia said.

“Ha ha ha...” I chuckled. “Don’t worry. I feel the same.”

In roughly a month since I was summoned, all I had done was domestic politics. Since all I planned to do for the next few months was domestic politics as well, could I really call myself a hero? No, I could not. (Rhetorical question.)

Suddenly, a knock came at the door.

“Excuse me,” someone said, entering with a bow.

It was the palace’s head maid and Liscia’s personal attendant, Serina. An intellectual beauty who was five years older than Liscia, she was as talented as she appeared, a woman who knew how to get her job done.

When Serina saw my face, she lowered her head reverently.

“Your Majesty, Sir Hakuya sends word that ‘Sir Poncho and the others have all gathered.’”

“They’re here, huh? I’ve been waiting!” I rose from my seat eagerly, taking Liscia by the hand. “Let’s go, Liscia.”

“Huh? What?!”

When I suddenly grabbed her hand, Liscia blushed.

“Oh, my word, Princess,” Serina said. “To think you would blush just from holding hands... With such innocence, how will you ever attend to your nightly duties with His Majesty?”

“Serina?! What are you saying?!”

“Please, let me hold your child soon. You do know how babies are made, yes?”

“Augh! You’re always teasing me!”

...Serina was a capable maid, but she had a bad habit of being downright sadistic to cute girls. Her master Liscia was no exception to that. Well, I guess that meant their bond of trust was strong enough to allow it. So long as she didn’t turn that sadism towards me, she was a very capable worker.

“Well, we’re heading off,” I said.

“Hey, wait, Souma,” Liscia objected.

“Take care!” Serina called. As we left the room, she saw us off with a bow.

We picked up Aisha along the way, and by the time we arrived at the meeting room, all of those who had been summoned had gathered.

At the round table in the center of the room sat Hakuya the prime minister, Tomoe my sister-in-law, Juna the lorelei, and Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta. If we excluded Ludwin, who was occupied with another matter, and Marx, who had relinquished the title of prime minister to Hakuya and now managed the palace, everyone who had been present for the gathering of personnel was here.

“Your Majesty,” they all said, rising.

“Please, remain seated,” I told them, holding out my hand. “I’m the one who called all of you here.”

Liscia and I took our seats, as well. Aisha was the only one who remained standing, hovering behind me so that she could act at once in case anything should happen. Honestly, it was bothering me having her stand there, so I asked her to sit, but she stubbornly refused.

Weren’t you supposed to follow your master’s orders? I thought with annoyance.

...Well, we’ll set that aside for now.

“Everyone, thank you for coming,” I said. “I give you my heartfelt thanks.”

“N-N-N-Not at all! I-I-I-It was nothing!” Poncho stammered.

“Sire, do not bow your head so easily,” Hakuya said. Beside the flustered Poncho, Hakuya had a disapproving look on his face. “If the one at the top abases himself so, there may be those who come to look down on him.”

“Any dignity I can only maintain by acting self-important is dignity I don’t need. Besides, all of the people in this room I think of not as retainers or citizens, but as comrades.”

“You’re too kind, Your Majesty.” Juna gave a slight bow. Those little gestures of hers always made for such a pretty picture.

Tomoe, on the other hand, was so nervous she was stiff. Her clothes last time had been falling apart, but now she wore what looked like a miko outfit with a miniskirt, which was apparently a traditional outfit for mystic wolves. “A-Am I your comrade as well, my king?”

“No, no, Tomoe, you’re my sister-in-law, remember?”

“Oh, right.”

“Yep. So don’t call me your king, call me ‘Big Brother Souma.’”

“Ah, no fair! Call me ‘Big Sister,’ too, then!” Liscia cried.

“Um... Big Brother Souma. Big Sister Liscia,” Tomoe said with upturned eyes.

““Nice!”” Liscia and I both gave Tomoe’s cute reaction an enthusiastic thumbs up.

Thwack! Thwack!

We got whacked upside the head with a paper fan. It was Hakuya who did it.

“You two, it’s taking us forever to get on with things, so please cut that out.”

““We’re sorry...”” we both earnestly apologized.

By the way, that paper fan was something I had given to Hakuya when he had taken the position of prime minister, saying, “If I act too far out of line, don’t hesitate to slap me upside the head with this.” It had been a joke to try to get the too-serious Hakuya to lighten up, but as you would expect from a man who was the greatest genius in the history of Elfrieden (or so Marx claimed), he was putting the paper fan to brilliant use.

“So how does a retainer slapping his king with a paper fan factor into the royal dignity?” I asked.

“It pains me to do it, sire, but this is a royal order, you see,” Hakuya said with a cool look on his face. “That aside, sire, you’ll have to explain to everyone why they’ve been called here.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right... Poncho.”

“Y-Yessss!”

With the conversation suddenly turning to him, paunchy Poncho stood up so vigorously he almost knocked his chair over. He was as rotund as ever, but he was more suntanned than he had been during the royal audience the other day.

“Have you prepared what I asked you for?” I asked.

“Y-Yes! With your cooperation, sire, I was able to visit all the places it took me eight years to go around to before in a matter of two weeks.”

“Cooperation... What did you do for him?” Liscia looked at me dubiously.

“Oh, he means how I cleared things with the countries involved and let him use one of the royal family’s royal visit wyverns to get around.”

Royal visit wyverns were used by the king when he traveled abroad. The Forbidden Army had only a handful of them. Poncho’s task had required speedy transportation, so I had loaned him one. Most wyverns belonged to the air force, but with their general, Castor, being uncooperative, asking him to loan us one of theirs probably wouldn’t have worked. ...It was such a headache.

“Well then, Poncho, show us what you’ve gathered,” I said.

“Y-Yes! In here, sire, I have the ‘ingredients there is no custom of eating in this country’ that you requested, yes!” With those words, Poncho pulled out a big sack.

When Liscia saw it, her eyes went wide. “Hey, that’s the Hero’s Sack!”

“Yeah. It fits a lot more than it looks like it should, and, on top of that, food put inside it doesn’t rot as easily. I thought it’d be perfect for gathering ingredients, so I lent it to him.”

“Even so, you shouldn’t... Oh, whatever.” Liscia slumped her shoulders in resignation. “So, what was it? Ingredients there’s no custom of eating in this country?”

“More precisely, it was ‘Ingredients eaten in foreign countries and select regions of our own country, but which there is no general custom of eating in this country,’” I said.

Different places have different foods, and different people have different tastes. You often hear of things that are thrown away as inedible in one place being appreciated as a delicacy in another. Even in Japan, in some regions you could find things that would make you say, “Huh? You eat that?” To the point that there have been programs like Ken**n Show that have focused on the subject.

“Right now, our country grows things like cotton, tea, and tobacco, so we’re replacing them with food crops,” I explained. “However, we won’t see the effects of that until autumn, at least. So in order to keep the people from starving until then, a plan with immediate effects is needed.”

In order to resolve the food crisis, serious reforms over a long period of time would be necessary. However, during that time there would be people starving, and there was the worry some might starve to death at this rate. What was more, the first to die would be babies of nursing age, with their weak constitutions and high need for nutrition.

Children were a national treasure. I couldn’t let them starve to death.

That said, even if I wanted to deliver food to all the starving people of the country, there were limits to how much support the country could offer. That was why, alongside longer-term strategies, short-term countermeasures with immediate effects would be necessary.

“And that’s these ingredients we don’t have a custom of eating?” Liscia asked.

“They’re eaten in other countries, but we don’t have a custom of eating them here,” I said. “If we develop those customs, it will make it harder to starve. It simply increases the food supply, after all.”

“Is there going to be anything so convenient?” she asked doubtfully.

“That’s what we’re checking. ...Now then, let’s change locations.”

“Change locations? Where to?” Seeing Liscia tilt her head to the side quizzically, I responded with a laugh.

“We’re deciding whether we can use these ingredients or not. We’re off to the cafeteria, obviously.”

“Hey, Souma. I understand why you want to use the cafeteria, but... don’t we have too many people?” Liscia asked.

As she had pointed out, the cafeteria was noisy, but in a different way than usual.

In this cafeteria which was used by the guards and maids (and recently, even the king), there were usually more than thirty long tables set up in order to accommodate a large number of people eating at the same time. However, at present, all but one of the long tables had been taken away to make a wide open space. Despite this, the cafeteria was full of people and equipment, and there was only a little free space around the long table.

The massive jewel floating in the room was eating up a particularly large amount of space.

“Another Jewel Voice Broadcast?” Liscia asked.

“It’s a horrible waste that they only used a handy thing like this to read out declarations of war,” I said. “I’ve got to put it to better use.”

This Jewel Voice Broadcast was kind of like television. It could relay information to the people immediately, so airing some entertainment programs was bound to help win the support of the people. I supposed it did have a couple of faults in that the lack of recording technology meant all broadcasts had to be live, and that the video was only available in larger towns and cities (though apparently sound-only broadcasts were available in even the smallest of rural villages). That was just one thing where I would have to wait for the technology (magic?) to advance.

I had been thinking of starting with Nodo Jiman, the amateur singing contest, as our first entertainment program. Through the singing cafe where Juna worked, I had been calling out to the people who had come to show off their “gift of singing” during my gathering of gifted people, and we were making preparations to have them debut as singers and idols.

Elfrieden’s first public broadcaster, huh... I thought. The dreams are limitless.

“What’re you grinning for?” Liscia asked coldly while I imagined the possibilities. “You look creepy.”

I coughed. “Ahem. ...For our current project, the goal is to introduce the custom of eating foods that are not commonly eaten in this country. Advertising them to the people at the same time will be more efficient, right? That’s why I brought some beautiful ladies here, as well.”

“Like Juna?”

“You too, Liscia. Oh, and Aisha and Tomoe, as well. They say the ABCs of drawing viewership are animals, beauties, and children. That’s why I have Liscia the orthodox pretty girl, Juna whose mature charm belies her young age, Aisha with her healthy dark skin, and Tomoe, who is animal-eared, a beauty, and a child, as well. With this many beautiful specimens here, the people’s eyes will be glued to the screen.”

“M-Me, too...” Liscia was blushing scarlet. As for the other three:

“It’s an honor, sire,” said Juna.

“Yes, Your Majesty! I will endeavor to meet your expectations!” Aisha added.

“Yesh! I-I’ll do my best!” Tomoe cried.

Each of them showed their enthusiasm. Meanwhile, Hakuya was quickly getting things in order for the broadcast, and Poncho was hastily double-checking the ingredients. When I saw them like this, I felt like I had gotten a good group of people together. Of course, I still wanted more.

I gave the order to everyone. “Okay, let the broadcast begin.”

◇　◇　◇

That day, every city deserving of the name in Elfrieden was packed with people.

When word spread that the young king who had stirred up the country with his personnel gathering the other day would be using the Jewel Voice Broadcast to do something again, people rushed to the fountain plazas in the cities. (The systems which dispersed mist into the air to project the Jewel Voice Broadcast on were generally installed on the fountain in the central plaza.)

People who lived in villages that could only receive sound went out of their way to come to nearby cities so they could see the video as well, so there were even more people gathered around than usual.

In this world where the only forms of entertainment to speak of were exhibitions, drinking, and gambling, the Jewel Voice Broadcast was beginning to be recognized by the people as a form of entertainment.

And when people gather, money moves. There were already stands out in the plazas of each city. It was beginning to take on a festive atmosphere. Everyone laid out mats or sheets in front of the fountain, waiting impatiently for the broadcast to begin.

“Hey, hey, ith jewel voith going to do thomething again?” a child lisped.

“Yes, darling. I wonder what it will be,” a mother smiled, answering her little girl with the slight lisp.

“Everyone seems to be having fun. Times sure have changed,” another person said.

“They certainly have. Why, back in our day, we would never have thought of the Jewel Voice Broadcast as something enjoyable.”

The elderly people, who knew the Jewel Voice Broadcast had only been used by generations of kings for declarations of war and public announcements of the current military situation, closed their eyes in silence. In those times, the country had had nearly twice its current territory, but only half its current population.

The Jewel Voice Broadcast had always been things like “We have won the battle of X” or “We must overcome the brave death of X and continue to fight!” For those over a certain age, the Jewel Voice Broadcast carried an association with death.

“May our new young king be a man who will not make that image—”

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The old man’s voice was drowned out by raucous cheering.

A man and a woman in uniform appeared in mid-air.

“Hello, people of Elfrieden,” the woman said.

“H-Hello,” the man added.

“Coming to you with the latest from Parnam Castle is our new program, The King’s Brilliant Lunch, or The King’s Brillunch for short. We are your hosts, Juna Doma...”

“...a-and P-Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta, yes!”

“...Poncho, there’s no need to be so tense.”

“W-Well, you see, I don’t have any experience doing this... Madam Juna, you’re so confident at this. I’m envious, yes.”

“Well, I sing in front of customers all the time. If you visit Parnam, please come see our singing cafe Lorelei.”

“Don’t blatantly advertise, please!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” The contrast between the playful beauty and the flustered fat man brought laughs to fountain plazas around the nation.

“Now then, this gentleman will explain the purpose of our program.”

“Th-The (provisional) 14th king of Elfrieden, His Majesty Souma Kazuya, yes!”

Ohhh! a cry went up in the plazas.

The young king they had seen during the gathering of personnel appeared on the screen. “I haven’t been crowned yet, so I’m not king yet, strictly speaking, but... Oh, hi. I’m Souma Kazuya, the guy who’s currently acting as king. Now, to cut to the chase, I’d like to speak about the state of this country.”

“He’s not very kingly,” said someone. With the way he was acting, you could hardly blame them.

Not seeming to realize this at all, Souma stood in front of a board that had been prepared for the occasion, explaining things with charts and maps. He was especially thorough about the causes of the food crisis.

“...In response to this increase in demand, it created conditions where you could sell as much as you could produce, so farmers shifted from growing food crops to growing cotton, and that is the cause of our current food crisis. Of course, this isn’t solely the fault of the farmers. Responsibility also lies with the merchants who coerced them to do it in order to sell their products, the soldiers who benefited from those products, and the royal family for ignoring this until it became a problem. For this, I deeply apologize.” With those words, Souma bowed his head.

For a king to bow to his subjects and retainers... this was unheard of. The situation hadn’t even been caused during Souma’s reign.

“At present, our kingdom is making the switch from cash crops back to food crops. However, I don’t expect to see the effects of that until autumn or later. We are considering the importation of food from other countries, but the situation there is not favorable, either. One reason is that we have nothing to replace our primary export, cotton, and so we can’t secure foreign currency. The other reason is that every country is in a similar situation. They can’t sell us what they don’t have.”

Souma’s words were more than enough to depress the people. But they were more surprised that Souma had released this information to the public. Normally, those who stood at the top didn’t disclose such information to those beneath them. Sometimes it was because that information included mistakes they themselves had made; many times, they also believed that those below them wouldn’t understand even if they were told about matters of national policy.

As a matter of fact, the king’s explanation had been simple enough that a middle-schooler from Japan could understand it, and yet only around three-tenths of the people of this country could. However, this young king had disclosed the information.

The more educated a person was, the greater their surprise. Why had he exposed such a national disgrace, one that could lead to his own loss of power, to the people?

“Um, er... Is that something that’s okay to tell the people?” Poncho hesitantly asked the question everyone was thinking. However, Souma’s expression didn’t change in the slightest.

“The more you hide, the more people doubt you. There are things we need to hide when it comes to foreign affairs, but for internal policy, I intend to continue disclosing such things. You see, I want my fellow countrymen to use their heads. What is best for this country? Are my policies correct? I want them to think along with me.”

“I’ve never seen a king like this before...” someone whispered.

It was unheard of for a ruler to ask his people to think about politics with him. Technically, even in this country, there was a Congress of the People which represented their will, but it was, to put it simply, “a place to decide on the people’s pleas to the king.” The king was free to implement or not implement them as he saw fit, and the content of these congresses was limited to things like requests to correct the inflation in prices for X or requests for public works spending. It was about as useful as having a suggestions box, and it was not a place for debating political decisions.

The feudal system was also still strong in this country. To put it at its simplest, the political system in this country was “Those below pay their taxes. Those above protect the lives and property of those below.” That was all there was to it.

Commoners paid taxes to their lords, and the lords guaranteed their lives and property. Their lords (the nobility) paid taxes to the king, and in exchange for them serving in the military in times of crisis, the king guaranteed their lives and property. It was a society with a complete class system.

When there was rot at the top, the rot risked spreading throughout. However, to look at it the opposite way, so long as the people above them were on the level, the people didn’t need to think about national policy; they could think about nothing but themselves. So it was an easy system to be part of in that way.

However, this young king had asked the people to use their heads. He had asked them to think about his policies with him.

There was no clear path yet for political participation from the people. And even if they were to be given that right, it was clear to see that the uneducated citizenry would descend into mob rule. However, even so, he sowed the seeds.

“This country’s going to change...” someone said.

“I envy young’uns who’ll be able to see that change,” an old man added.

“Oh, we’re not done yet,” another one said.

While looking at the young king, the old squinted their eyes, as if blinded by his radiance.

Without any way to know this, Souma continued his explanation.

“As you see here, we will have to wait until autumn for a fundamental solution to the problem. It goes without saying that we intend to provide support, but there are issues of volume and geography preventing us from reaching every person in the kingdom with it. Not everyone lives in the flatlands, after all.”

This was a country with many races living together. From the dark elves who lived in the forest, to the dragonewts who preferred to live at high altitudes like in the mountains, to the dwarves who lived in underground caves, there were those who lived in places supply lines did not pass through, and it would be difficult to deliver relief supplies. It was the same for those who lived in marginal villages deep in the mountains.

“That is why I come to you, my countrymen, with a request... no, an order.” Here, Souma stopped. Then, after a breath, he said clearly: “Everyone, survive until autumn.”

When they heard those words come from the young king’s mouth, the people gulped. The words’ meaning was simple. However, his intent behind them was inscrutable.

“Because we have no cards to play, you will all need to survive for yourselves,” the king said. “Go into the mountains, into the rivers, into the sea, in search of food. Cooperate with each other and bow your heads to others if necessary, no matter how humiliating it is, because I want everyone to survive until autumn.”

Those words could have been heard as an abdication of responsibility. He was telling those who were suffering to go work hard on their own, after all. However, it was also true that only those who worked hard would be saved.

The young king bowed his head sincerely. “Please. When I say everyone, I mean every last one of you. Don’t lash out at others because you’re suffering; don’t send away children because you have too many mouths to feed; do not throw away the old and frail. I want you all to greet the bounty of autumn together. This broadcast is something we’ve put together in the hopes that it will be some help with that.”

Souma went into the objectives of the current broadcast. As a means of buying time until the food crisis could be solved, they would introduce ingredients not commonly eaten in this country and show the ways to prepare them. These ingredients could be obtained cheaply (or freely where they grew in the wild). Furthermore, by eating those ingredients on air, they would demonstrate that they were edible.

Even those citizens who had been indignant at his earlier statement, which had seemed to abdicate responsibility, felt their anger cooling as they listened to Souma’s explanation. Because this king truly was thinking about them. They could feel that keenly.

“...So, there you have it. Now then, I’ll hand the show back over to your hosts, Poncho and Juna.” With his explanation complete, Souma returned to his seat.

Souma couldn’t have known this, but at that moment, roaring applause erupted through plazas around the country. It was spontaneous applause from those citizens deeply impressed by Souma’s words. Without knowing it, Souma was slowly beginning to gain recognition as their king.

The video returned to Poncho and Juna hosting once more.

“Now then, let’s get right to it,” Juna said. “Poncho, what’s our first ingredient?”

“Y-Yes! Our first ingredient is right here!”

With that, Poncho brought over a cloth-covered box, placing it on the table where Souma, Liscia, Aisha, and Tomoe were seated like guest commentators.

It was a box big enough to hold a largish aquarium.

Pausing a moment for dramatic effect, Poncho pulled back the cloth.

◇　◇　◇

We were in the cafeteria at Parnam Castle for the live broadcast.

“Urkh...”

“Eeeeeeeeek!”

“Wai— What?!”

When they saw what had appeared on the table, Aisha, Tomoe and Liscia each let out their own cries of shock.

Juna, on the other hand, looked at it and seemed to be thinking, “Ohhhh, so that’s it.”

“That’s an octopus.”

“It sure is an octopus.”

The thing in the box in front of them was the eight-legged wriggly soft-bodied creature you all know to be an octopus.

While many of the creatures in this world had a touch of the fantastic about them, such as even the cows and chickens having armored carapaces, this was just a straight-up (though rather large) octopus. Well, even in fantasy worlds, giant octopuses are often a thing, so I guess it’s okay?

By the way, in this country, they called octopuses “ocatos,” but that’s just confusing, so we’ll stick with octopuses. I mean, with my mysterious translation ability, the word sounded like “octopus” to me, anyway.

“Huh? You people don’t eat octopus in this country?” I asked.

“We do not! Hold on, Souma, have you actually eaten one of those creepy things before?!” Liscia looked at me incredulously.

Come on, it’s just an octopus, you know? I’m having a hard time accepting this reaction.

“Well, considering how they look, I’m sure they’re only eaten in some coastal regions. My hometown is one of them, though,” Juna gently explained.

Well, even back on Earth, in Europe (excluding Italy and Spain) they’re called “devilfish,” and in some countries people refuse to eat them... I guess? I thought.

“But they’re so tasty...” I said.

“A-Are they?” Liscia asked.

Once she heard they were delicious, Aisha was ready to dig in. Her being my bodyguard meant we often ate together, so I already knew this, but this girl was quite the glutton. She had a special weakness when it came to sweet foods (like the snacks that came as offerings for the king and maids), and she would munch away at them to the point that the maids jealously grumbled, “How does she eat so much and still maintain that figure...?”

“Yeah. There are divergent opinions about how good it is raw, but if you just rub salt into it, wash off the mucus, and boil it, it’s good like that. Cooked, fried, served with rice, it’s delicious any way you like it.”

There was silence.

“Aisha, you’re drooling,” I added.

“Whoops... Pardon me.”

“Honestly, it’s high-protein, low-calorie, so it’s great if you’re on a diet, too.”

“High-pro? I-I’m not sure what that is, but my ears pricked up when I heard the word ‘diet’...” Liscia seemed to be ready to dig in now, too.

Honestly though, I thought Liscia could stand to put some more meat on her bones. Maybe it was because she was in the army, but she was pretty slender.

“I don’t think you need to worry so much about your weight,” I told her.

“Souma... A girl stops being a girl the moment she stops caring about her weight,” Liscia admonished me with eyes that seemed to be staring off into the distance.

Since Juna and Tomoe gave firm nods as well, I guessed that was just how it was. Aisha was the only dissenter, with a face that seemed to say, “Forget that, I want to eat already...”

“Okay, then... For now, shall we get to cooking?” I asked.

We moved to the kitchen attached to the cafeteria and began to prepare the octopus. The cooks who worked there protested, “If you had just said something, we would have done it for you ourselves...” but I liked cooking, so I decided to do it.

First, I put the octopus in a large bowl, cutting out the guts, ink sack, and eyeballs with a kitchen knife. (This elicited an “Uwah...” from the girls, but I ignored them.) Then I rubbed salt into it, waited for the slimy surface to harden, then washed it well with water. I cleaned the suckers thoroughly, as well, because there can be mud in them sometimes.

After that, I brought water to a boil, dropped it into the pot legs first, and then that very octopus-shaped creature (I mean, it was an octopus) boiled up. Watching until its yellowish-brown flesh turned a firm reddish-purple, I pulled it out, and a fine example of a boiled octopus was ready. After it had cooled a little, I cut the legs into bite-sized pieces. It would already be delicious like this.

“Eh, good enough. Time to eat,” I said.

“Wha?!” Liscia and the others were shocked to see me nibbling at it already with zero hesitation.

When I popped a bite in my mouth, yep, it sure tasted like octopus. That slightly salty taste was great. And because it was so great, I couldn’t help but lament that there was no soy sauce in this world yet!

“...Is that really edible?” Liscia murmured.

“Come on, Liscia. You could just try it and find out, you know?”

“Uh, no... I’m not emotionally prepared just yet...”

“You sure? It’s delicious.”

Ignoring the hesitant Liscia, Juna popped a slice in her mouth.

“Ahh, no fair, Madam Juna!” Aisha cried. “Fine then, me too!”

Seeing that, Aisha went chomp, and—

Hey, wait! Don’t just bite right into the head! Just how much of a glutton is this dark elf?!

“Oh! It’s crisp and delicious!”

“...Is it now?”

...Okay, time to get back in control of things.

I coated the bite-sized pieces of octopus in wheat flour, egg, and white flour, putting them on skewers three at a time. Then I put the whole skewers into a pot of hot oil. I let them fry until the batter was light brown and crispy. I pulled them out of the pot, and once I had put on the finishing touches with Worcester sauce, which they had even in this world, and a homemade mayonnaise I had made with eggs, vinegar and other things, they were done.

“‘Fried octopus skewers’... is what you’d call them, I guess. Go on, try eating them.” I offered each person one skewer.

Liscia and Tomoe timidly brought them to their mouths. The moment they took a bite...

“What is this?! It’s delicious!”

“It really is... very delicious, Brother.”

Their eyes went wide at how good it was.

Nice! I thought, giving myself a mental thumbs up.

“It really is delicious. The octopus hidden inside the crispy batter is very juicy,” Juna said.

“I-It really is! Even I didn’t know octopus would go this well with Worcester sauce!” Poncho cried.

“This white sauce goes well with the octopus, too. Splendidly done, sire,” Juna added.

“Y-You can cook, too, sire! That surprised me, yes.”

Juna and Poncho gave commentary like professional food critics. Since both of them had eaten octopus before, they could both take the time to properly savor it. Meanwhile, Aisha was chomp, chomp, chomping away and producing a massive pile of empty skewers.

...There’s nothing more I can say about that.

◇　◇　◇

“It really is delicious,” the broadcast said. “Wrapped outside in a crispy batter, the octopus inside is very juicy.”

“...Hey, Daddy?” a child asked.

“Yeah. If you want octopus, a lot of them got caught in our nets today,” the father answered.

“Really?! I want to try it!”

“Sure thing. Normally I throw them back, but let’s try it.”

It seems there were a lot of conversations like this one in many villages by the sea.

◇　◇　◇

“Our next ingredient is this.”

After we had finished eating the well-received octopus skewers and returned to our seats, Poncho opened a new box in front of us. When we saw the thin brown ingredient covered in dirt inside...

“Are these... roots?” Liscia said.

“I think they’re roots...” Juna added.

“They don’t look so good... Are they really edible?” Tomoe asked doubtfully.

Liscia, Juna and Tomoe all acted like they had question marks floating above their heads. Aisha and I, on the other hand, were completely unsurprised.

“Oh, burdock root, huh?” I said.

“That’s burdock root,” Aisha agreed.

Well, I had heard burdock root was seen as a strange thing to eat in the West, so I didn’t find it strange that it wasn’t eaten here, but that Aisha, who looked like a Westerner, knew about it surprised me.

“In the forest, we have to eat everything we can, otherwise we would succumb to malnutrition in no time,” Aisha said, staring off into the distance.

Perhaps that food situation was what had made her the hungry dark elf she was today.

“Since they’re being introduced here, that means you can eat them, right?” Liscia asked, to which I nodded.

“You can eat them. But rather than enjoy them for their own flavor, you enjoy the flavor of the broth they were stewed in, or their texture. They’re mostly dietary fiber, which you can’t digest, but they have a medicinal effect and can help keep your bowel movements regular. They’re a good friend to those who are constipated.”

“...I wish you wouldn’t talk about bowel movements and constipation while we’re eating,” Liscia said.

“It helps expel waste products from the body. Of course, it’s good for your health and beauty.”

“Urkh. When you say that, it sounds tempting, but...”

Well, now that Liscia’s been talked into it, shall we get down to eating? I thought.

This time, I kept it simple. After scraping off the dirt using the back of a knife, I cut the burdock into long, thin shavings, coated it with potato starch, and put it into the pot of oil we had used earlier. Once it was properly fried, I took it out of the pot and split it into two bowls. One of these, I sprinkled salt on, while the other I sprinkled with sugar. With that, the burdock chips (potato chip-style and rusk-style) were complete.

As for everyone’s reactions after eating them...

“Huh, they’re crunchy and delicious.” said Liscia.

“These... would probably go well with beer,” Poncho said.

Liscia and Poncho were munching away at the salted ones like a snack.

“The oil that comes out when you bite into them melts the sugar, and the sweetness spreads through your whole mouth,” said Juna.

“I’d sure like to let both my moms try this,” said Tomoe.

Juna and Tomoe, who were eating the ones with sugar, gave comments that were worth full points as a food critic and a child respectively.

As for Aisha...

“If you eat them together, they’re salty-sweet and delicious!” she announced, munching away at both.

Yeah, sure, I guess it’s okay to eat them that way, too.

The next edible ingredients were red bear’s paw (bear paw), sword tiger’s liver (tiger liver), and whole cooked salamandra (whole cooked giant salamander), but we only went as far as introducing them.

It was true that they weren’t customarily eaten in this country, but rare delicacies that only an adventurer could hope to catch weren’t something I wanted people going out of their way to acquire. If they happened to get their hands on them by some chance, I just wanted them to know to please eat them, not to throw them away. Besides, even I don’t know how to prepare bear paw.

Ah, by the way, at the ingredients selection stage I removed blowfish, poisonous mushrooms, and anything else poisonous from the list. I knew they could be eaten if prepared properly, but if starvation-stricken amateurs were to try their hand at them, it was clear it would only end badly.

Mind you, even the poisonous parts could be eaten if you really wanted to. In Ishikawa Prefecture, there’s “blowfish ovaries pickled in rice-bran paste,” and in Nagano Prefecture, there are regions where they eat the famously poisonous fly amanita mushroom.

...The human appetite sure is something, huh?

Getting back to the story, the next ingredient shocked all of us.

“This here is our next ingredient, yes.”

“““““Th-This is...”””””

This time, all of our eyes went wide.

Inside the box Poncho opened, there was a bluish-green gelatinous object.

“That’s... a gelin, right?” I asked.

It was one of the soft-bodied slime creatures that could be found in fields everywhere. They looked and acted just like the enemy from RPGs. Their defining characteristic was how weak they were. If you cut them, they’d die. If you smashed them, they’d die, too. They attached themselves to living (or dead) creatures and sucked nutrients from them. There was no male or female: they multiplied by division. They were probably what you’d get if you had an amoeba or other single-celled organism grow to a gigantic size.

Huh? We’re eating that? Or, rather, can we even eat that?

Then I noticed Aisha seemed to be cocking her head to the side in confusion.

“Hold on. Is that gelin dead?”

“Yes. This gelin has already been finished off,” Poncho said.

“That can’t be. I’ve never heard of a gelin corpse before.”

“Oh, that’s right. Now that you mention it, it is strange,” Liscia agreed, seeming to have noticed something.

I, on the other hand, didn’t get it. “Liscia, could you just tell me what’s up already?”

“What’s with that tone...? Gelins are weak. They have a thin membrane, and if you cut them just a little, gush, out flows all their bodily fluids. It’s the same if you splatter them with a club. All you have left is a bluish-green puddle.”

“Is that how it is?”

Aisha nodded, as well. “Yes. That’s why such a neatly preserved corpse seems impossible.”

I see... Aisha as a warrior and Liscia as a soldier have experience fighting gelins, so they noticed something was odd here.

“So, what did you have to do to get the slime like this?” I asked.

“Well, you see, there’s a slight trick to it. This is a technique I learned from a tribe that lives far to the west, in the Empire. They use a thin pole-like object to strike the nucleus without breaking the membrane. If you do that, the gelin will maintain its shape in death. In that area, they called it ‘ike-jime for gelins.’”

Ike-jime? Come on, this isn’t like draining blood from fish... But, still, that makes sense now. It looks like I wasn’t wrong to think of them like single-celled organisms.

“The fluids of a gelin gradually lose liquidity and harden once the core is destroyed,” Poncho added.

“Like rigor mortis, I guess,” I said.

“Yes. If you leave it longer, the fluids will evaporate and it will turn into a dry husk, but around two hours after death, while it has hardened somewhat but the flesh is still supple, it is possible to cook it. That would be the state this one is in, yes.”

Hmm... I get that you can cook it, but isn’t that a separate issue from whether you can eat it? As I was thinking that, Poncho took out a knife and began making a vertical cut in the gelin.

“When the gelin is in this state, you can insert the knife vertically and cut it into pieces without the body collapsing. The fibers of the gelin’s body run vertically, so doing it this way gives it the best texture, yes.”

Poncho skillfully cut the gelin into long thin strips, like making ika somen. It was turning into noodles with an udon-like thickness. Poncho took those and put them into a pot of boiling water.

“Now, if we boil them in a pot of water with a little salt, the flesh will firm up more.”

Now it was seriously starting to turn into something like soba or udon. As they were boiling, that vibrant bluish-green color had darkened, starting to look something like green tea soba, too. Then Poncho added things like dried mushrooms and kelp to the pot with the boiling gelin.

Is he boiling those to get broth out of them?

Lastly, after adding more salt to adjust the flavor, he served them to each of us in a bowl of soup.

“Here you go. This is Gelin Udon.”

“He’s even calling it udon!” I exclaimed.

“I-Is something the matter, sire?” Poncho asked.

“Oh, no, nothing.”

I heard this country’s language as Japanese. “Udon” was probably some other word that had gotten translated into that. How confusing. Though, well, setting that aside, what was laid out in front of us looked exactly like Kansai-style green udon in a clear broth.

Red Fox and Green Gelin, is it? I thought. Yeah... Now’s not the time to escape reality by remembering old commercial jingles for instant udon. Huh? Wait, I seriously have to eat this?

When I looked around, everyone was looking at me as if to say, “Go ahead, go ahead.”

I haven’t put up my hand and said “Okay, I’ll eat it,” yet, you know!

...Well, I guess I’ve been making Liscia eat things she’s not used to. It wouldn’t be fair for me to be the only one who runs away! Time to dig in!

Slurp...

“?!”

“W-Well, how is it, Souma?” Liscia asked with a worried look.

“...This is surprisingly good,” I responded.

Yeah. I wonder what it is. This is completely different from what I imagined.

I had been imagining something like ika somen, with a slimy texture and fishy flavor, but these were smooth and chewy, no fishy flavor at all. Rather than udon, it was like kuzu-kiri that you cook in a pot, or Malony noodles. However, when you bit into it, there was a unique squeaky texture. Was that fiber, maybe?

If I were to describe it as a whole, I would say, “It looks like udon, tastes like kuzu-kiri, with the texture of a regional dish from Kyushu.”

Yeah, it’s not bad. Not bad at all.

“You’re right... It’s surprisingly good,” Liscia said.

“It’s delicious the way they’ve absorbed the flavor of the broth,” Juna agreed.

“Is this really gelin? I’m shocked,” Tomoe said.

“SLURRRRRP.”

That was Aisha.

It seemed everyone who ate after me had a good impression of it, as well. Well, of course they did, because it was delicious. If you were to ask which tasted better, this or normal udon, I would say the question was nonsense. It would be like asking which was more delicious, soba or udon: it’s just a matter of personal preference.

“By the way, what sort of nutrients are in this stuff?” I asked.

“Nutrients... I don’t know what those are, but I suspect that its similar to the gelatin you can extract from bones,” Poncho said.

“Collagen, huh.”

So they have the protein you find in animal bones with fiber like you would find in plants, huh. It really is hard to decide whether gelins are plants or animals.

“Anyway, it sounds like it should be fine nutritionally,” I said. “Gelins are everywhere. If people eat them, it should alleviate the food crisis a fair bit, don’t you think?”

“Yes, I suppose so. Raising gelins is easy. If you just give them raw garbage as food, they’ll grow and multiply on their own,” Poncho said.

“...Uh, no, I don’t want to give weird stuff to something I’m going to be eating,” I said. “I don’t want to eat a gelin that’s absorbed toxic chemicals and have it give me food poisoning.”

“I-I suppose not.”

“Anyway, let’s try raising them as an experiment. Hunting them in the wild is fine, too, but I wouldn’t want to reduce their numbers too much and have it impact the local ecosystem...”

“I think that would be for the best,” Poncho agreed.

All of that aside, we greatly enjoyed the rest of the gelin udon.

◇　◇　◇

“Are they really edible?” someone asked.

“Well, the king and the others seemed to be enjoying them,” another person responded.

“I think I’m going to request a gelin capture quest at the adventurers’ guild.”

“Oh, me too, then.”

It seems there were conversations like this in fountain plazas everywhere.

“Elfrieden’s signature dish is gelin.” Who could have predicted that people would be saying that in the not-too-distant future?

◇　◇　◇

“Now then, on to our last ingredient. I have something already cooked and prepared.”

When we saw what was inside the container Poncho opened after saying that...

““““Uwah...””””

...was our universal response.

Because inside it were “insects.” What was more, this sort of dish existed in my world... In Japan even, as well.

“This is inago no tsukudani, isn’t it?” I asked.

“Yes. This is large locust tsukudani.”

“Yeah... They certainly are large.”

With the inago no tsukudani I remembered, each one was about the size of a cricket. With these, on the other hand, each one was the size of a kuruma prawn.

Though the color suggests they have that spicy-sweet flavor boiled into them and have the flavor properly seeped all the way in... Wait? Tsukudani?

“If these are tsukudani,” I said, “that means...”

“Huh? Souma, you’re going to eat them?”

Since I had suddenly stabbed my fork into one of the big locusts, Liscia was now looking at me, shocked. Fair enough; they did look like the sort of thing you’d normally hesitate to eat. If I were more calm, I might have eaten it a bit more timidly. But, right now, there was something I was more interested to find out.

Munch, munch...

“?!”

The texture was like shrimp with the shell on, but there was something more important.

This taste... there’s no mistaking it!

“This tsukudani... is made with soy sauce!”

“Soy sauce?”

Soy sauce.

Yes, soy sauce.

The flavor of the Japanese heart.

You can’t have sashimi or nimono without it. It’s the magic sauce that can turn ramen, hamburg steak, spaghetti, and any other foreign dish into a “Japanese” one. It was the flavor I had probably longed for most since coming to this country. The mystic sauce that, due to its fermentation process, I couldn’t recreate as easily as I had mayonnaise. Now, a dish made with it lay before my very eyes! Locusts or not, they were looking like fine cuisine to me.

“What? No way, Souma, are you crying?” Liscia exclaimed.

“How can I not?! This is... the taste of my homeland.”

“The taste of your homeland...”

“Brother, they have large locust tsukudani in your homeland, too?”

When I looked over, Tomoe was crunching away at the large locust tsukudani and clearly enjoying them. Come to think of it, when everyone else had been recoiling in shock, this kid had been the only one who was unsurprised.

“Could it be, this dish is...” I said.

“Yes. I ate it a lot back in the mystic wolf village.”

“Then do the mystic wolves make soy sauce?!”

“Soy sauce... do you mean hishio water, maybe?”

“Hishio water?”

“Hishio water is a sauce that the mystic wolves are fond of using, yes,” Poncho jumped in to explain. “Originally, the mystic wolves would coat soybeans in salt and allow them to ferment, creating a sauce called ‘bean hishio.’ When they take the clear liquid that is created in that process and let it ferment, that produces hishio water. Both are sauces with a unique flavor not found in this country, yes.”

“I see.”

After that explanation, I was certain of it. I had read in a book somewhere that soy sauce was born from the process of making miso. So, basically, bean hishio was miso and hishio water was soy sauce. (The reason I didn’t hear those words as miso and soy sauce may have been because they were similar to, but distinctly different from, modern soy sauce.) Maybe the mystic wolves had eating habits similar to the Japanese... Wait, hold on. This flavor permeating through the locust is...

“Hey, Tomoe. Alcohol is used in making these, too, right?”

“Ah, yes. It’s an alcohol made from the seeds of a plant.”

“What kind of seeds?”

“Let’s see... It’s a plant that grows in marshy areas, it has ears that look like the end of a broom, and on them, there are lots of little seeds like with wheat.”

No doubt about it! Those are rice plants! My hope for the future!

For the transition from cash crops to food crops, I had wanted to grow rice, because I had heard that paddy fields didn’t degrade the fertility of the soil, unlike wheat in dry fields, but because the all-important rice plants didn’t exist in this country, that plan had ground to a halt.

Now I see. It grows further north, huh? I’d very much like to bring some here and try cultivating it. Still, these mystic wolves... Between the soy sauce, miso, and now rice, their race has a lot of the things I’ve been wanting.

I paused.

“Okay, that settles it! I’ll give the mystic wolves among the refugees a district in Parnam.”

“Whaaaa?!” Tomoe exclaimed.

I wanted them to produce this bean hishio and hishio water there. We had plenty of soybeans, since we had planted them as part of the soil restoration process.

“Hold on, Souma, are you serious?!” Liscia seemed confused and flustered, but I was as serious as serious gets.

“With soy sauce and miso... I mean, hishio water and bean hishio, I can recreate most of the dishes from the country I came from. It sounds like there’s rice here, too. Don’t you want to try the tasty foods of another world?”

“Th-That’s...”

“Yes! I really want to try them!” Aisha raised her hand with gusto.

“Ha ha... while they may not feel as strongly as Aisha, I’m sure our people would like to try them. If I publish the recipes, they’ll either gather the ingredients and make them themselves, or go to a restaurant that serves them, I’m sure. Either way, it will cause a lot of movement in the economy.”

Huge market liquidity would bring prosperity to this country. That, I firmly believed. That was why I said this to the people watching:

“My search for the gifted is still ongoing. If people have a gift, I will use them even if they are refugees. This race has superior food production techniques, so I have no reason not to accept them. Oh, I know... For the next five years, I will grant the mystic wolves a monopoly on bean hishio and hishio water. We will clamp down on illicit production by any other parties. However, five years from now, I will lift the monopoly on bean hishio and hishio water to create a free market, so I recommend the mystic wolves create a firm economic base for themselves in that time. That is all.”

◇　◇　◇

After this pronouncement, a mystic wolf quarter was built in the capital Parnam, and bean hishio and hishio water were produced there with assistance from the country.

In this world, there had been many cases where refugees had been given a district of their own and it had turned into a slum. That was because the refugees faced economic limitations (lack of jobs, being used for cheap labor, and more) and struggled with poverty.

However, in the case of the mystic wolves, because they had been given a monopoly on bean hishio and hishio water by the king, they were able to build an economic base for themselves, and so their quarter did not turn into a slum, instead becoming an integrated part of the capital by the time the five-year limit was up.

Furthermore, even after bean hishio and hishio water had been renamed to “miso” and “soy sauce” and the monopoly had ended, they continued to study it. The miso and soy sauce that the mystic wolves put out under the Kikkoro brand, marked with a hexagonal logo with a wolf in the center, would continue to be loved for a long time after that.

◇　◇　◇

Cheery background music and the soft voice of Juna Doma echoed through the fountain plaza.

“Now, it is time for this program, The King’s Brillunch, to come to a close. How did you feel about hosting, Poncho?”

“Y-Yes. If my knowledge has been able to help our countrymen in the slightest, that would make me very happy. Still, I think hosting was too great a burden for me, yes. Please, have someone else take my place next time.”

“I wonder, will there be a next time? What do you say, sire?” June asked.

“If the people demand it.”

“Well, there you have it. I hope they do demand it, Poncho.”

“I-I don’t think I want there to be a demand for me, yes!”

“Oh, don’t say that. Do this with me again sometime!” Juna cried in a singsong tone.

“Eeek! Please, spare me!” he yelped.

“Now then, thank you all for watching. This is your hosts, Juna Doma...”

“...and Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta, signing off, yes.”

“Now everyone, I bid you good day.”

The music cut out, and the video faded away. It seemed that the program had ended.

From here and there around the plaza, sighs could be heard.

“Aww... It’s over, huh.”

“That was more interestin’ than I expected. Wish I coulda watched it a bit longer.”

“Yeppers. It don’t hafta be every day, but I do hope they’ll make the broadcasts semi-regular.”

“If there’s demand, they’ll do more, yeah? Well, how’s about we send in a request to the Congress of the People?”

“Oh! Now that there’s an idea that wouldn’t’ve occurred to me! I’m gonna go talk to the mayor about it right now.”

Conversations like this one happened in towns everywhere.

The people were completely taken with this new form of entertainment called the “variety program.” Souma had intended it as an “information program” about the food crisis, but with Juna and Poncho playing off one another, the cooking program-like aspects, and pretty girls squealing over and then eating bizarre ingredients, you couldn’t blame them for seeing it that way.

Later, the Congress of the People submitted a “request for the regular holding of Jewel Voice Broadcast programs.” With Souma’s assent, a time for a public broadcast that would take place every evening was established.

There were those who took a different view of this from society at large.

“When the new king suddenly took the throne, I suspected usurpation, but that young king seems to be a surprisingly affable fellow,“ said one old man.

“You’re right,” another responded. “I can see why King Albert chose to abdicate in favor of him.”

“The princess seemed to be in good spirits, too. I had suspected she was forced into the betrothal.”

“They were very natural together. They didn’t seem to be on bad terms.”

“Ho, ho, ho, we may have an heir by next year, I reckon.”

“A child between the wise and gentle king and the dignified princess, huh. The next generation will be one to look forward to.”

“It really will. Ho, ho, ho.”

The old men laughed quietly together.

A wise and gentle king... that was how they had evaluated Souma. However, about half of that evaluation was wrong.

Souma was not purely a gentle king.

◇　◇　◇

Sitting in my chair in the king’s governmental affairs office, I spoke to Hakuya, who stood across from me.

“Give me your report on the surrounding countries.”

Right now, Hakuya and I were the only ones present in the room. Liscia and the others were elsewhere, probably having a great time at the party to celebrate the launch of the Jewel Voice Broadcast. Even Aisha, who usually stayed at my side at all times, claiming it was to guard me, was busy with the food that had been prepared for the occasion.

We had left the celebration partway through, coming to the governmental affairs office for a secret meeting.

Hakuya spread out a map of the world on my desk.

“I will now make my report. First, I will review the surrounding countries. Our country, which is situated in the southeast of the continent, shares a border with three countries: the Union of Eastern Nations to the north, the Principality of Amidonia to the west, and the Turgis Republic to the southwest. Also, across the sea to the southeast there is the Nine Headed Dragon Archipelago Union. In addition, to the west of Amidonia, the mercenary state Zem could also be called one of our surrounding countries. Of these, zero are friendly, four are neutral, and one is hostile.”

“We’re pretty isolated, huh,” I said.

“With all due respect, given that these are troubled times with the Demon Lord’s Domain expanding, this is normal. In these days where each nation eyes the others with suspicion, the only countries on friendly terms are those in the relationship of suzerain and vassal state.”

“You call that a friendly relationship?”

“If there is no fear of betrayal, it is friendly enough.”

He said the most outrageous of things with a cool face. What he had said meant, basically, that he felt a relationship of control and subordination which allowed no room for complaint even if one nation was used like a tool and then thrown away still qualified as friendly, didn’t it? Sort of like the alliance between the Matsudaira and Oda clans when Nobunaga Oda had still been alive.

“So, which is the hostile one?” I asked. “Amidonia? Zem?”

“Not Zem. Certainly, that matter has worsened their impression of us, but not to the point where they would be considered hostile. That said, if Amidonia requested reinforcements from them, I have little doubt they would dispatch mercenaries on their behalf.”

“Amidonia, huh... If I recall, they sent us an ‘offer of assistance,’ right?”

“Yes. ‘The stability of our neighbor Elfrieden is directly tied to our own national defense. If a request is made, we will dispatch forces to help subdue the Three Dukedoms,’ is what they offered.”

“Ha ha ha ha... That’s pretty straightforward.”

It was plain to see that they wanted to take advantage of the discord between the Three Dukedoms and myself to expand their territory.

“It is. The Three Dukedoms have likely been told something similar.”

“‘Let us strike down the usurper Souma together,’ is it? Hard to laugh at that.”

Well, I could probably count on the Three Dukedoms to see through Amidonia’s scheme. They wouldn’t let foreigners run roughshod over this country just because they didn’t like me. Of course, Amidonia knew that too, so basically...

“By making offers of aid to both sides, they want to give themselves a cause to mobilize their troops,” I said.

“While seizing cities in the west, they’ll send reinforcements to the side that ‘won,’” he agreed. “Then, they’ll come up with some reason to assume de facto control of the cities they occupied, integrating them into their country. It’s an orthodox strategy, but an effective one, I would think.”

Well, yeah. There were many examples of it in my own world’s history. Like So’un Hojo with his “Borrow a deer hunting trail, steal a castle.” The simpler the strategy, perhaps the more likely people were to be deceived.

Amidonia was blatantly trying to deceive us, Zem was tilting towards hostility, and the Elfrieden Kingdom was unable to achieve national unity because of my conflict with the Three Dukedoms. Difficult problems to solve, all of them.

“However, this is all part of the scenario you wrote, isn’t it?” I asked, staring hard at Hakuya.

Hakuya remained unperturbed.

“Yes. At this moment, everything about the situation is shifting as it should,” he declared. That cool expression of his made me scratch my head vigorously.

“You... do realize, right?” I asked, referring to the number of people who would be sacrificed by Hakuya’s plan.

The scenario Hakuya had laid out would mean great losses for our foes, and great gains for our allies. It was true that I needed a move, no matter what it was, that would let this country rise to be a strong nation. However, to bring it to fruition, this country would also need to shed a fair amount of blood.

Despite that, Hakuya declared this without showing any guilt: “Yes. I believe we should take everything that this opportunity offers us.”

I was silent.

“Sire, you should understand, the result will save many of your countrymen.”

“...I know that. But, still, I’m only going to accept doing ‘this’ once.” I looked Hakuya straight in the eye. “A political thinker from my world, Machiavelli, wrote about it in The Prince. If a ruler does ‘this’ just once, and in doing so finishes everything, never doing it again, he will be regarded as a great ruler. On the other hand, should the one time he does ‘this’ fail to be decisive, he will sooner or later face his end as a tyrant.”

“...This Machiavelli had a terrifyingly realistic view of things.” Hakuya was slightly taken aback.

Yeah. That was why I liked him. I had been enthralled by the endless realism of Machiavelli, and reread The Prince many times. Though I had never expected the knowledge to come in handy like this someday.

“Regardless, I have deemed your plan to be an example of doing ‘that,’” I said. “So...”

—If we are to do it, let it be in one stroke.

Do you remember how before, when I talked about how the technology of this country was all messed up, I mentioned that there were steel battleships, only they were drawn by massive sea dragons? When Liscia and I arrived at the planned site for the new city, we were greeted by one of those steel battleships.

Battleship Albert.

Bearing the name of the former king, it was the sole battleship in the possession of the Forbidden Army, and the flagship of the Royal Navy.

Its shape was similar to the Mikasa, which was the flagship of the Combined Fleet at the time of the Battle of Tsushima. There were two main batteries, one each at the fore and aft, for a total of four guns, with auxiliary guns along the sides, although the main batteries and auxiliary guns were all loaded onto the vessel, not fixed artillery. Also, because it wasn’t loaded with an internal combustion engine, the lack of a smokestack was another difference between the two.

Its power source was a sea dragon. (These looked like plesiosaurs, but with short, thick necks and goat-like horns.) With a giant sea dragon pulling it, this battleship could run through the water. For an ordinary ship, one dragon was enough, but this ship was a two-dragon model.

Now seems like a good time, so let me explain about some of the imbalances in this country’s technology.

You might find it strange that a country which hadn’t even reached the industrial revolution had these sorts of near-modern warships. However, thanks to this world’s magic and mysterious creatures, they were able to do things they otherwise couldn’t.

Even if something is made of iron, if it’s been built with the proper calculations for buoyancy, it can be made to float. In other words, the outer frame of a battleship can be built even with Middle Ages technology. The reason they hadn’t been built until after the industrial revolution was because the engines that would be needed to move them didn’t exist. In an era where your only means of propelling a boat are catching the wind with sails or rowing with oars, an iron ship wouldn’t be able to do anything but float there.

However, in this world, there were powerful sea dragons that were strong enough to tow an iron ship. By training them to pull the ships, ocean navigation became possible. That was why iron ships were built.

It was the same for the large cannons aboard the battleship.

This world already had gunpowder. Now, that in and of itself wasn’t strange. Even on Earth, there are traces of gunpowder having been used that predate the appearance of black powder, which was one of China’s three great inventions. In the second century, during the time of Romance of the Three Kingdoms, the general defending Chencang used an explosive weapon (something like a firecracker) to pulverize the invading army led by Zhuge Liang’s weapons.

However, in this world, there were no arquebuses.

Because they had magic for their long-range attacks, they had never developed firearms. Earth mages could fire off stones like a machine gun, fire mages could drop attacks that were like napalm bombs, wind mages could launch a vacuum slash from incredible range, while water mages could, at shorter range, penetrate obstacles with water pressure.

Furthermore, there were what were called “attachable spells.” By attaching spells with various effects to an object, it could be made stronger or able to cut better. Because of these, weapons with higher mass, which could have more spells embedded in them, tended to be more powerful.

Thus, an arrow was stronger than a bullet, a spear stronger than an arrow. To explain further, with a bullet’s small mass, even if you embedded an attack spell in it, it couldn’t pierce a suit of plated armor with a defensive spell embedded in it. It could be said that this was why they’d never developed guns.

However, while they didn’t have rifles, they did have cannons.

This was because, over the water, the use of other elements was limited, so they’d been developed as a means of making long-range attacks.

This world’s magic was said to come from mixing special waves emitted by people with a substance called magicium in the atmosphere to produce a variety of phenomena. Magicium had an elemental alignment (with the exception of darkness), and the composition of the magicium in the atmosphere was greatly influenced by the terrain. Over the water there was mostly water magicium, meaning magic from the other elements was weakened there... and so on for other areas.

Because of this, if they were to use magic in naval battles, all elements but water would be weakened, and they would end up in a situation where water elemental magic didn’t have a long enough range. (But it could still be used to control the currents for steering, so water mages were assigned to the navy).

Which was precisely why cannons had been developed as a way to attack ships. Ultimately, technology only develops where there’s a demand for it.

End of digression. Now let’s get back to the Battleship Albert.

When I saw the Albert, here is what I thought:

What am I supposed to do with one ship? It’s only when they’re defended by destroyers and cruisers that a battleship or carrier can exhibit their true power. What I have here is no more than a scarecrow.

“Well, you know, it was assumed it would be operating alongside the navy.” Liscia’s words only made it sadder. Clearly, this thing was a white elephant.

“In that case, if we leave the flagship to the navy, don’t you think that would save us some of the upkeep costs?” I asked.

“B-But... we were able to use it to transport materials, weren’t we?” she asked.

“Well... Yeah, I guess...”

We had used this needlessly big battleship to transport materials for the coastal city. Once we had removed the armaments from inside it, that had freed up a good amount of carrying capacity. With the transportation network not in place yet at this stage, it had allowed us to ship the materials here many times faster than we could have sending them by land.

“But, in that case, it would have been even more effective if we’d built it as a transport ship to begin with,” I said.

“Ugh! Don’t be so negative about everything!” she protested.

“I’m fighting with the budget, so when I see something gobbling up funds, I can’t help myself...”

Then Aisha came along, bringing Ludwin with her.

“Your Majesty, I’ve called Sir Ludwin for you,” she said.

“Your Majesty, Your Highness, I welcome you to the planned site of the new city.” The handsome captain of the Royal Guard, Ludwin Arcs, saluted with a smile. At the castle he always wore silver armor, but here he was dressed more casually. With the white shirt and leather vest he was wearing, he looked like a handsome sailor who might show up in a pirate movie.

I was using the Forbidden Army to work on constructing the city. Of course, I was hiring a large number of craftsmen from the civil engineering and construction guild, too, but with the scale of the project, they couldn’t handle everything.

That’s why I was using the Forbidden Army, thinking I would wrap this up quickly with human-wave tactics. After I’d gone to the trouble of teaching the soldiers combat engineering skills, it would have been a waste not to use them. I had two-tenths of the Forbidden Army’s standing forces here, with the remaining eight-tenths building the transport network that would connect all of the cities.

“So, how is progress on the construction?” I asked.

“We’ve already finished roping off the site. Work is going steady... or was...” Ludwin said hesitantly, a bitter smile on his face.

“I keep telling you, you need to stop construction!” one person shouted.

“Listen, old man. We’re building this city on the king’s orders, get it?” another answered.

I heard voices arguing inside the tent that served as the construction office.

“I’m telling you this for the king’s sake! You mustn’t build a city here!”

“You just don’t get it, do you, old man? It’s not like we’re trying to evict you or anything.”

“You’re the ones who don’t get it!”

...No, it wasn’t an argument, it was more like this old man was one-sidedly yelling at them.

I spoke to Ludwin. “So, basically, an old man who lives in the area is vehemently opposed to us building the new city?”

“Yes. A local fisherman. Mr. Urup.”

“...I did tell you not to aggressively buy up land or anything like that, didn’t I?” I asked.

“Of course. We’re looking for residents to apply anyway, so the prior residents can stay right where they are. We won’t charge them for the land, either. When we work on the landscaping, we plan to rebuild their houses at no cost.”

“Hmm... Those sound like good conditions to me,” I said.

As far as I could see, there were nothing but deserted-looking fishing villages around here. It had to be hard just to eke out a living in a place as rural as this. If a city were built, with the influx of people, many of the inconveniences of living here would go away. Not only were they not being chased out of a place that would offer them a better future, they were even having their houses rebuilt for free, so what was there to be opposed to?

“Why is that old man opposed to it?” I asked.

“Well...”

“I’m telling you, you’ll incur the wrath of the sea god!” I heard shouting from inside the tent again.

The sea god?

“You see, he says this is the sea god’s domain and building houses will anger him, or something like that.”

“What, you even have sea gods in this world?” I asked.

Liscia and the others all shook their heads vigorously.

“I’ve never heard of one before,” Liscia said.

“I, too, am unaware of one,” Aisha agreed.

“It’s probably just an old man’s nonsense...” Ludwin added.

It seemed nobody had heard of one.

A sea god, huh? I wondered.

“I’ve never heard of this sea god in my life,” a voice said from inside. “Would you please not interrupt construction with your strange religion?”

“It’s no religion! The sea god is real! If you violate the sanctity of his holy land, eventually you will anger him and be destroyed! In fact, the sea god goes on a rampage once every hundred years or so!” the man shouted.

Hm?

“When I was a boy, the sea god went on a rampage once. At the time, all of the people who had built homes in the sea god’s holy land were swallowed up by him!” he added.

Could he be talking about what I think he is...?

I entered the tent. Inside were a young Forbidden Army soldier and a tanned old man wearing a towel twisted into a headband.

“I’m sorry, sir. Could you tell me in detail about what you’re talking about?” I asked politely.

“Who’re you?” he demanded. “I’m busy talking to this fellow...”

“Wh-Why, Your Majesty!” the soldier stuttered.

“His Majesty?!” When he saw the soldier stand and salute me, the old man let out a bizarre cry.

“Hey there,” I said. “I’m the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya.”

I went to shake his hand.

“...The name’s Urup,” the old man responded with a tense look on his face.

Once we had finished greeting each other, I immediately dove to the heart of the matter. “Now then, Urup. Back to what you were talking about before.”

“Hm?! R-Right! Your Majesty, please, reconsider building this city!”

“Old man, are you really going to trouble His Majesty himself with your nonsense...?” the soldier demanded.

“No, I want to hear him out.” I gestured for the soldier who was trying to stop him to stand down. “Can you tell me more about it?”

“B-But of course.” And so, Urup explained the local legend to me.

Apparently this land had originally belonged to the sea god, but he had lost it after being defeated by the land god in battle. However, the sea god still believed this land was his, and when people built houses on it, he would destroy the people who lived in them.

This was why there was a rule in the nearby fishing village that no one should build houses here.

Once they had heard Urup’s story, Liscia said, “It’s too vague. I don’t really get it.”

“Listening to him was a waste of time,” Aisha added.

Both of them seemed exasperated, but I felt differently.

Partway through his tale, I’d had Ludwin bring a map, asking just how far the sea god’s holy land stretched. Then, once I had narrowed down the range of “the sea god’s holy land” enough, I looked at the map and told Ludwin, “We need to make major changes to the city plan.”

“Hold on, Souma, why are you saying that all of a sudden?!” Liscia demanded.

“Do you believe what this old man is saying, sire?!” Aisha cried.

“If we make changes now, there will be a major delay in construction...” Ludwin protested.

I could understand how they felt. I didn’t want to do something so bothersome, either. However, when I considered the peace of the new city, it had to be done.

“Souma, you can’t mean to tell me you really believe in this sea god?” Aisha asked.

“No, there’s probably no sea god,” I told her.

“Then...”

“Liscia, legends are people’s memories.” I pointed to my temple. “Legends are something we hand down. So, why do we hand them down, you might wonder? Because our forefathers decided it was important to do so. Worthless stories won’t be handed down. If this one has been handed down, there’s a ‘lesson’ to be found in the legend, or ‘wisdom for everyday life’ in it.”

“And you’re saying this curse of the sea god is like that?” she asked.

“Yeah. In this legend, the ‘lesson’ is don’t build houses in a specific area. If people ignore that lesson and build houses there, they’re sure to be destroyed.” I looked straight at Urup and added, “By a tsunami, right?”

Urup’s eyes went wide, and he suddenly began to tremble.

“Y-Yes! By a tsunami! Everyone in the houses there, they were washed away, houses and all!”

“Was there a big earthquake before the tsunami came, perhaps?” I asked.

“H-How did you know?!” Urup cried, as if he had just remembered that now himself. Perhaps the sight of people being washed away, houses and all, was so shocking that he had unconsciously been suppressing the memory.

“In other words, the sea god’s true identity is ‘a tidal wave triggered by an undersea earthquake,’” I said.

Even on Earth, it was only recently that the mechanism behind earthquakes had been discovered.

We had had to wait until the 20th century, when the interior structure of the Earth had been discovered. Until that point, even if we’d experienced an earthquake as a phenomenon, we had said it was because of reasons like “volcanic activity” or “underground water turning into steam and causing a hollow cavity to form.”

I used my hands to demonstrate one plate subsiding under another, like you often see on news programs’ earthquake coverage, but all I got was a bunch of blank stares.

“Ummm... Sorry. I don’t really get it,” Liscia said.

“Plates? Vibration? Are you talking about magic, sire?” Aisha asked.

“I’m lost, too,” Ludwin added. “When it comes to things that advanced, I don’t know if they teach it even at the Royal Academy.”

Not one of them understood. It was ahead of their time, so I couldn’t blame them.

“Okay, forget the mechanism behind how it works, then,” I said. “The important thing is, when there’s an earthquake underwater, sometimes it causes a tsunami. In other words, Urup’s ‘wrath of the sea god’ doesn’t occur because people build houses there; it’s a periodic thing.”

“My word... It will happen even if we don’t build houses there?” Urup’s eyes were wide.

I traced the contours of the coastlines on the map and showed them. “I could also mention, this country’s coast is in a < shape, and this spot is in the corner of it. Places like this will be damaged more heavily than other coastal areas in a tsunami. The reason for that is... something you wouldn’t understand even if I tried to explain it to you, so just accept that that’s how it works.”

If I’d built a miniature model of the coast and poured water in so they could see the waves converging, they might have been able to understand. That’d take effort, though, so it could wait.

“Still, if this place is so dangerous, won’t the new city be at risk?” Liscia pointed out.

I groaned. “Hrm... Some spots might be better than this, but all coastal regions are about the same, and I can say for sure that this is the closest port to the center of the country. From what I’m hearing, there’s a long period of time between them, and they only happen once in a hundred years, so if we design the city assuming it will be hit by a tsunami, it should be okay.”

With that, Ludwin and I looked at the map, hammering out the details of our plan.

“First, we should pile up dirt and raise the ground level,” I said.

“Right now? If we do it by hand, it will take quite a while,” he answered.

“Have earth mages in the Forbidden Army prioritize working on it. It will have an impact on the building time, but there’s no other choice.”

“Understood.” He nodded. “Now that I think of it, I’ve heard that Duchess Walter’s coastal city has these things called seawalls. Should we make those here as well?”

“Seawalls, huh... It’ll hurt the view...” I gave that some consideration. “If possible, I want this trade port to be usable as a tourist destination, as well. Besides, they wouldn’t be able to stand up to an unprecedentedly large tsunami, anyway.”

“We shouldn’t build them, then?” he asked.

“...Let’s see. Actually, I’d rather build a city that doesn’t rely on seawalls. It seems like the civil engineering and construction guild has an expert on flood control, so let’s summon him and get his opinion.”

“Understood,” he said. “Now, as to the specifics of the city plan...”

“Thanks to old man Urup, we know roughly the area that the tsunami can reach,” I said. “We’ll avoid it when we place the residential, commercial, and industrial districts. Of course, that goes for important facilities like consulates, as well.”

“You’re not going to develop the area that the tsunami reaches?” he asked.

“The fishing harbor and wharf can’t go anywhere else. As for the rest, we’ll develop it as a seaside park.”

“I see. You’ll develop on the assumption that it’s going to get washed away.”

“Yeah,” I said. “Oh, one other thing, old man Urup.”

“Hm? What is it?”

“I’m going to make you a state-registered storyteller, so see to it that the Legend of the Sea God gets handed down, please. I’m going to make it a public service job that requires a certification, so work hard to train the next generation to tell the story before you die.”

“M-Me, a public servant?!” he exclaimed.

“Yeah. In addition to the ‘Don’t build houses where the tsunami can reach’ lesson from earlier, work in ‘If you feel an earthquake, assume there will be a tsunami,’ and ‘Because a tsunami is coming, evacuate to high-ground,’ as well. You can blame the sea god’s wrath, just make sure the tale is one that’s easy to hand down.”

“...Understood! I shall spend the rest of my life on it!” he cried.

“Good. By the way, about the castle wall that will surround the city...”

Three men talked enthusiastically about the plan for the city. Liscia and Aisha watched them with wry smiles.

“His Majesty... looks like he’s enjoying himself,” Aisha commented.

“He is enjoying himself,” Liscia nodded. “Compared to hunting for funds, at least.”

“I wonder why it is, but I think I’ve finally seen the youthful side of His Majesty.”

“Youthful... huh. The reason Souma doesn’t seem youthful is almost certainly because...”

“Hm? What is it, Princess?” Aisha asked.

“No. It’s nothing. ...Hey, Aisha.”

“What is it?”

“Aisha, do you... like Souma?” she asked hesitantly.

“Yes! I have great respect and affection for him!”

“...I see. Well, then. Let’s work to support Souma so he can keep smiling.”

“Yes! But of course!” Aisha cried.

At the time, I didn’t realize at all that a conversation like this had taken place.

◇　◇　◇

Thirty years later, an earthquake and unprecedentedly large tsunami struck this area.

The land was inundated by turbid waters and many boats were washed out to sea, but surprisingly few lives were lost. Because everyone in the area had grown up hearing the Legend of the Sea God from the storytellers, they were able to begin evacuating as soon as they felt the earthquake.

After the disaster, a statue titled “The King and the Old Man” was built in the seaside park.

It was a statue to commemorate the old man who, at the time of the new city’s construction, had risked his life to make a direct appeal to the king and tell him how to prepare for the tsunami, and the wise king who had listened to his plans. If the two of them could have heard, they’d have laughed wryly, saying, “That’s over-embellishing it.”

Particularly for old man Urup, who had once been the storyteller, but now appeared in stories of his descendants as the Legendary Old Man, what sort of expression did he have on his face while he watched over them from the next world?

This time, there were close to fifty (hundreds once you considered the units to follow) humans coming to provide relief, and we would be entering the forest, but this was by request of the chief’s daughter, Aisha, so it would be treated as a special case, apparently. The dark elves lived in the forest, defended their independence, and hated outsiders.

As a matter of fact, despite the catastrophic landslide they had suffered, they apparently hadn’t sent a request for aid to the capital. If Aisha hadn’t been contacted, we might never have known the disaster had happened at all. It was admirable of them to try to solve their problems on their own, but it was stupid for them to let the number of deaths shoot up because of it.

“They’ve become hardheaded because they don’t even try to look at the outside world,” Aisha spoke sadly as we walked through the God-Protected Forest. “Because I made contact with you, sire, and you listened to my opinions, there were signs of that beginning to change, but...”

Her voice became indignant.

“This isn’t an era where we can live in the forest alone. With the threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain, we never know when they’ll begin to move south! If we shut ourselves away in our forest, do they believe the god-beast will really save us when the time comes?! The god-beast is the protector of the forest, it’s not the protector of the dark elf race!”

“Y-Yeah...” I said, taken aback.

“That’s why we dark elves should study and learn about the wider world!” Aisha was impassioned. It felt like the first time she’d looked so respectable in a while.

“Besides, if I stay in the forest, how would I eat Your Majesty’s delicious foods?!” she added.

...I take that back. Aisha was still Aisha.

Well, it’s better that she’s like this than to have her be tense and anxious, I thought.

Soon after we arrived in the dark elf village, we were met by a handsome man who looked to be in his twenties.

“Oh, Your Majesty!” he cried. “How good of you to come.”

His handsome face bore a certain resemblance to Aisha’s. Could he be her big brother?

He was tall, probably at least 190 cm. I could tell from the accessories he wore on his head and arms that he was of a high rank, but the fine-looking robe he wore was covered in dirt. He looked a little tired, as well.

As she stood before that young elf, Aisha thumped her hand on her chest once. “Father, I have brought His Majesty here with me.”

“Well done,” he said. “Your friendship with His Majesty must have come about through the guidance of our god-beast.”

“Father?!” I exclaimed.

My surprise brought a smile to the young elf’s exhausted face.

“My king, it is a pleasure to meet you. I am the chief of the dark elves and Aisha’s father, Wodan Udgard. Thank you for taking such good care of my daughter.”

“Oh, sure. Um... You’re awfully young.”

“Pure-blooded elves stop aging once their bodies mature to a certain point,” he explained. “We live three times longer than humans, too, so while I may look young, I’ve still lived 80 years.”

I see, I thought. That’s about the same as the elves and dark elves you see in stories, huh? Those say that elves’re long-lived, stay youthful for a long time, and that they’re all beautiful. Though, my chamberlain, the half-elf Marx, was an old dude, wasn’t he? Do half-elves age differently, I wonder?

Setting that aside, I whispered to Aisha, “He seems welcoming. I thought dark elves were supposed to be xenophobic?”

“My father is the head of the cultural liberalization faction, so he’s understanding of cultural exchange with the outside. Father was also the only one who approved of me going to make an appeal to you.”

“I see. The reason you don’t worry about the rules is because of his influence, huh?” I said. I shook hands with Wodan. “I am the (acting) king, Souma Kazuya. I am here by the request of Aisha to provide relief.”

“It’s good of you to come,” he said. “Also, you’re the king, so please, you don’t need to be so formal with me.”

“...Righty-o. Is this better?”

“Yes. Still, I never expected the king himself to come here.”

“I happened to be doing an inspection at the time,” I explained. “I’ve brought the fifty members of the Forbidden Army who were at hand as an advance party. A few days from now, a second group with relief supplies should arrive.”

“I’m grateful. The truth is, I’d love to have the whole village come to welcome you, but given the circumstances, I hope you’ll understand.”

“I know,” I said. “It really is an awful situation.”

The dark elf village was in the center of a thick circle of warding trees. There were villages like this dotted around the forest, and the dark elves lived in them. If you were to look at the God-Protected Forest as a country, this village would be the capital, and there was an order of magnitude more dark elves living here than anywhere else.

The eastern third or so of that village had been carved away by the landslide. It looked like a slightly elevated slope on the eastern side had collapsed. Perhaps due to the long spell of rain, there was a large amount of water flowing over the exposed surface. The ground might have loosened a fair bit. Our one salvation was that it was sunny now. If it had been raining, we would have had to worry about another collapse while we worked.

“What are the damages like?” I asked.

“We’ve recorded nearly one hundred casualties already. There are still more than forty missing, as well.”

That’s a lot, I thought. It’s going to be a battle against time to see how many we can rescue.

“Let’s begin the relief operation immediately,” I said. “However, there’s a risk of secondary disasters, so it would be a good idea to have the women evacuate. Also, have some people keep an eye on the mountain, please. If the mountain moves in the slightest, or there are any weird noises, have them report it. If it were to collapse again while we’re carrying out relief operations, that would be a serious issue.”

“I will do that at once,” he agreed. “Is there anything else you would like to ask of me?”

“Please compile a list of the missing. We’ll erase them from it as we manage to ascertain their safety.”

“Understood.”

Once I worked things out with Wodan, I gave orders to Aisha and the Forbidden Army.

“Aisha.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Have the women evacuate to a place that doesn’t look like it will collapse. Consult with Wodan to decide where is best. You will escort them and ensure they’re delivered there safely.”

“Yes, sir! Understood!”

“Good,” I said. “Starting now, the Forbidden Army will begin operations to search for those whose safety is unconfirmed. You guys have a lot of skill at digging, I’m sure. Listen closely, and if you hear voices calling for help in the dirt, carefully rescue them!”

“““Yes, sir!”””

“However, be absolutely sure that you don’t do anything you can’t handle. If it looks like there may be another collapse, retreat even if you’re in the middle of saving someone. The rescuers cannot be allowed to take even a single loss. Understood?”

“““Yes, sir!”””

Nodding at the Forbidden Army soldiers’ response, I shouted an order. “We will now commence relief operations!”

The relief effort was an all-out battle.

Everyone came together, doing everything they could. They called the names of the missing, listened closely, and if there was even the slightest response, they would carefully move the dirt and sand aside.

It didn’t matter who was a soldier and who was a man from the village, they worked together moving the earth and cutting apart fallen trees, then pulling out the people trapped underneath. Kaede was using her magic to move huge rocks, too, while the women from the village were feeding the displaced and tending to the wounded.

As for me, I had teamed up with Hal, and we were carrying out search operations.

“Hal, under that thick tree! Someone’s still breathing!” I called.

“Huh?! I don’t hear any voice,” he said.

“Well, they’re there! Just dig!”

Hal had a doubtful look on his face, but when he dug where I told him to, he found a little girl’s hand. “Seriously...? Just you wait, we’ll have you safe soon!”

Hal moved the earth aside, pulling the dark elf girl out.

She already had brown skin, so it was hard to tell, but her complexion was looking bad. After being trapped in the moist earth for all this time, that was to be expected.

It was a good thing that the summer heat was still lingering. Were it a little later in autumn, she might have died from the cold while she’d been buried.

When I came back with a blanket, Hal was holding the girl and patting her on the back. “You did well. You’re going to be okay now.”

“...Wah... Wahhhhhhhhhh!”

“It’s okay! You’re okay now!” Hal desperately tried to calm the wailing girl.

If you ask me, men are useless at times like this. Hal and I were both at a loss for what to do, just repeating “It’s okay,” over and over.

I wrapped the girl in a blanket, waiting for her to calm down before calling over a nearby Forbidden Army soldier. “Take this girl to a safe place.”

“Yes, sir! As you command!” the soldier said.

Once we had seen the girl off, Hal said to me, “I’m amazed you knew she was there. I couldn’t hear her voice at all.”

“Even while we’re talking, I’m searching,” I said.

“Do you know some sort of searching spell?” he asked.

“Not quite... This is what I’m using.” When I stretched my palm out to Hal, a little thing burrowed out of the ground and jumped up onto it.

Hal looked at it, blinking. “Is that... a mouse?”

“A wooden one, yeah.”

It was a mouse carved out of wood, about 10 cm long. I had been manipulating it with my Living Poltergeists ability to search for survivors under the rubble. My ability was able to operate at long distances if I used dolls, but it seemed they only needed to be shaped like a living creature, not necessarily a humanoid one. Even as I was showing this one off to Hal, there were another four wooden mice moving around almost like real mice and looking for those in need of rescue.

“It’s a wonder that you were carrying around something like that,” he said.

“I found them in a shop while I was on my date with Liscia,” I said. “I thought I might use them for something, so I put them in the rolling bag with my other self-defense items.”

By the way, that bag had also held two small-sized Little Musashibo dolls which I now had on patrol in the area. Even in places where the landslide had damaged the roads, those lightweight little guys could jump around easily enough.

“Your ability is more amazing than I’d ever have thought,” he said.

“Yeah. I feel like this is the first time outside of administrative tasks that I’ve gotten some use out of... Urkh!” I crouched over and started vomiting.

“Whoa, what’s this, out of nowhere?!” Hal called out to me, sounding concerned. “H-Hey, Souma.”

“Blech...” I managed, then coughed violently.

“A-Are you all right? Why’d you suddenly start puking?”

“...S-Sorry. While it was searching, one of my wooden mice... it suddenly found a really badly damaged body...”

“Damaged...?”

“The eyeballs were—”

“No, stop! I don’t want to hear it!” Hal looked away and plugged his ears.

I looked at the dirt in front of us.

When the news covers disaster areas, they focus on the tragedies of the affected and the hopes of the survivors. However, now that I was actually experiencing it firsthand, it was a hell greater than I had imagined. This reality was too harsh for a general audience. It would break their hearts.

Still, I didn’t have time to be thinking about that.

“Hal! I’ve found two people in need of rescue, in the shadow of a rock 50 meters ahead of us and to the left.”

“On it!”

—For now, I just had to kill my emotions.

We diligently continued with our relief efforts. We managed to dig a great many dark elves from the earth and rubble.

All of them were injured in one way or another, and many had serious injuries that couldn’t be taken lightly even once they had been rescued. Often, by the time we managed to dig them out, they had already expired.

At first, the ratio of living to dead among the rescued was half and half, but now it was leaning more heavily towards the dead. When I considered that, of the close-to-one-hundred casualties Wodan had mentioned when we had first arrived in the village, only two-tenths had been dead, it was clear that things were getting worse as time passed.

The searchers were showing signs of heavy exhaustion, as well. They had been resting in shifts, but it had now been three days since the disaster had occurred.

It had been hard on the dark elves, of course, but also on the soldiers who had come a long way and then spent a full day searching. They had already dug out a fair number of those in need of rescue (some alive, some not).

I thought it would be wise to check in with Wodan to confirm how many people were still missing. If we could narrow down the number of victims, we could focus our manpower on searching the area where we thought they would be.

As I was thinking that...

“O Godbeast! Why have you let this happen?!”

...I heard a desperate cry.

When I looked, I saw a young (?) dark elf man who resembled Wodan wailing as he struck his fists and head against the ground.

Aisha had returned from evacuating the women and children, so I asked her about him. “Aisha, who is that?”

“That’s... my uncle, Robthor Udgard, He’s my father’s younger brother.”

“From the way he’s crying and wailing, I guess that means...”

“Yes,” she confirmed. “His wife and child, in other words my aunt and her daughter, have yet to be found.”

“That must be... difficult. Are you okay, Aisha?”

“Well, you see... If my father is the head of the liberals, my uncle is head of the conservatives. I didn’t have much contact with them... His daughter was still young and cute, though, so it pains me to see this happen to her...”

“I see...”

We were well past the 72 hour deadline. If she hadn’t been found yet, that meant...

Then, Robthor looked in our direction. When he saw us, he walked over towards us, stumbling as he did.

“King... O, king... Why?”

Robthor grabbed me by the lapels, causing Aisha to yell at him, but I motioned for her to stand down. Rather than gripping them tightly and trying to lift me up, he was just grasping at them, as if clinging to me. If I simply brushed him away, he would probably collapse.

“O, king. I have done all I can to protect this forest. So why has it taken my family from me...?”

I was at a loss for words. I looked over to Aisha.

“My uncle opposed the periodic thinning,” she said. “He said it was unthinkable that dark elves, as protectors of the forest, should cut down trees needlessly. The place that collapsed was one where we couldn’t do periodic thinning because of my uncle’s objections,” she explained.

That’s... I don’t know what to say...

“O, king! Tell me why! Why would the forest I protected destroy my family? If I had cut down trees like Wodan and his lot, would my family have been spared?!”

“There’s... no way to know that,” I said.

“No!” he howled.

“True, if you carry out periodic thinning, take care of the undergrowth, and increase the land’s ability to hold water, it’s possible to create conditions that reduce the likelihood of a landslide. However, it only makes it less likely. In a case like this, where heavy rain over a long period was the cause... It could have happened anywhere.”

“No... You’re saying we just had bad luck, then...” he murmured.

“In terms of where the landslide happened, yes. However, periodic thinning means there’s always work going on in the forest. The workers may hear strange noises, see the forest seeming to shift, and notice other warning signs that a landslide is about to occur. If they notice, there are things that can be done. People could have been evacuated.”

This has also been said to be an advantage of using mountains for terraced rice-fields.

You would think cutting down the trees to make room for rice paddies would make landslides more likely, but it actually reduces the odds of landslides that result in human casualties. Because people have to go into the fields all the time, they quickly notice the warning signs, and that makes it easy to respond. The strongest countermeasure against landslides is to watch the forest at all times. The elves didn’t have debris flow detection systems like in modern day Japan, so that made having people on watch all the more important.

“I’ve protected the forest all this time... was I wrong to do that?” he moaned.

“Your belief that you were protecting the forest was wrong,” I said. “Nature’s not so fragile that it needs people to protect it.”

Aisha had told me before that the trees in the God-Protected Forest were long-lived. That was why they hadn’t noticed it had turned into a beansprout forest and the ground had been weakened. Even though they had simply been lucky that nothing had happened yet, they’d convinced themselves they were protecting the forest.

“If it’s egotistical for man to destroy the forest, so, too, is it egotistical to try to protect it,” I said. “Nature is meant to go through cycles of death and rebirth, yet we’re trying to keep it in a state that’s convenient for us. All people can do is manage things through periodic thinning, keeping the forest in a state where we can co-exist with it. Trying our best not to wake it from its slumber.”

He seemed speechless.

At that moment, one of my wooden mice discovered something.

“There! I found a parent and child!” I cried.

“Wh-Where?!” he stammered.

“Hold on... They’re in a collapsed house ahead and to the left of us, two meters from the mountain ridge!”

We rushed to the spot, moving the sand and dirt aside. When we did, we found a little girl and a woman I assumed was her mother in a gap between the collapsed lumber. The mother was holding her girl tightly, trying to protect her. When Robthor saw them, he let out a breathless sigh. Clearly, they were his wife and daughter.

When we pulled them out, the woman had already expired.

Just as I was thinking all hope was lost... Aisha raised her voice. “Sire! The child is still breathing!”

“Get her to the relief team, immediately!” I shouted. “Don’t let her die!”

“Understood!”

After wrapping the child in a blanket and seeing her and Aisha off, I looked to Robthor, who was crying beside his wife’s body. I thought maybe I should let him be, but this man still had things he needed to protect. I couldn’t have him stopping here on me.

Placing a hand on his shoulder, I said quietly, “She protected your daughter to the very end.”

“...Yes...”

“Pull yourself together! It’s your turn to do it now!”

He seemed startled. “Yes... Yes...!”

Speaking through sobs, Robthor nodded again and again.

Some time after that, the second relief team that Liscia had gone back to call for arrived. With the search for all missing persons completed, the advance team was relieved of their duties.

For the reconstruction work, the more numerous and better-equipped second team would take over.

After offering one last silent prayer for the fallen, the advance team returned to the capital. The mud-covered and exhausted members of the advance team were packed into the container cars like frozen tuna about to be shipped out. Right about now, Hal was probably resting his head in Kaede’s lap and taking a good rest.

I was in a similar state myself, riding in the carriage with Liscia who had come to pick me up.

We had left Aisha behind in the village. With her homeland in that awful shape, there was no way she would have been able to focus on her duties. For the time being, I had told her to wait in the God-Protected Forest.

As I leaned against the window, dozing off...

“I wasn’t able to do anything this time,” Liscia said sadly.

“You went to call a relief party, didn’t you?” I asked. “Everyone worked their very hardest. Actually... if there’s anyone who was unable to do anything, it was me.”

“Hardly. I hear you were a great help out there,” Liscia tried to reassure me, but I shook my head.

“I’m the king. In times of crisis, giving commands in the field isn’t the king’s duty. A king’s duty is to prepare for a crisis before it happens. I... didn’t do enough of that.”

“That’s not...”

“I think the Forbidden Army worked well as a relief unit. Still, there were more places where I came up short. Means of communication, long-distance shipping, accumulation of aid supplies in each area, medical teams attached to the relief party, psychiatrists to treat patients with PTSD... I came up short on all of those things. Because I was so focused on the food crisis and the issue of the three dukes, I was lax in my preparations.”

I looked at my reflection in the window, covered in mud and wearing an expression of exhaustion.

Liscia was looking at me with concern, but I pretended not to notice.

Allow me to explain. For Little Musashibo’s “skin,” his well-paid creator had used his wages liberally, having nothing else to spend them on, and so it was made of special, high-quality, bladeproof, bulletproof, cold-resistant, heat-resistant, acid-resistant fibers.

For a moment, Dece was struck dumb. “Ha ha ha...! Okay, in another ten seconds, we’ll run, too. Get ready... Three, two, one.”

On the count of one, both of them turned on their heels and ran off. The salamander gave chase. However, perhaps due to the size of its massive body, it wasn’t very fast.

Just as they were thinking We may be able to escape! ...the salamander swung its tail once more. Because it did it while running this time, the mucus splattered all over in random directions.

“Ugh!” Juno howled.

“Juno!” Dece shouted.

The mucus didn’t hit Dece or Musashi, but unfortunately it did graze Juno’s leg. Juno crouched down, holding her leg tight. It looked like she couldn’t move through the extreme pain. At this rate, it was going to catch up to them. That was when...

“...!” (Little Musashibo ran forward.)

“Uwah!” Juno yelped.

...Little Musashibo lifted her up in his arms, throwing her into the wicker basket on his back. Then, with Juno still in the basket, Little Musashibo ran off with slow, easy steps. Juno poked her head out of the basket, looking at Little Musashibo’s face in profile as he ran.

“Uh, um... Thanks.”

“...” (Little Musashibo gave her a thumbs-up.)

Then, just in the nick of time, Dece and Little Musashibo ran through a narrow hole.

Having made the difficult escape from the salamander and returned to the surface, the adventurers made their report to the guild. While they hadn’t succeeded in slaying the salamander, their sighting report was deemed valid, and they were paid a hefty sum for it. It sounded like a subjugation force would be dispatched to deal with that salamander soon. Regardless, the quest was now complete.

With their reward in hand, the party set out to divide the spoils among themselves. However, for whatever reason, Little Musashibo made no attempt to take any for himself. Dece was at a loss for what to do.

“That’s not fair, we owe you for saving Juno! Please, take your reward,” Dece pleaded.

“...” (Little Musashibo silently shook his head.)

“Are you really, really sure you don’t want any?”

“...” (Little Musashibo nodded. Then he waved, “Goodbye.”)

Little Musashibo walked away from the party with slow, easy footsteps. Julia and Juno, who had already changed into fresh clothes, watched that man (?) go with bewildered looks on their faces.

“I wonder, what was that person (?) really?” Julia asked.

“Don’t ask me,” Juno said. “Was that thing even a person?”

“I’ll bet there was a little fairy insiiiide...” Julia teased.

“I doubt it,” Juno said. “But, if there was... I’m sure...”

I’m sure it was a good fairy, thought Juno.

Little Musashibo departed, leaving behind only a mystery. Was the mage right, and was he a fairy?

And thus, another urban legend was born in the capital.

◇　◇　◇

Within the large communal bath inside Parnam Castle...

In here there was the torso of a large-sized Little Musashibo soaking in a tub, Souma who was washing the acid and mud off of it, and Liscia who was watching him with a cold look in her eyes.

“...Is it just my imagination, or is it even bigger than when I saw it last time?” she demanded.

“That was a prototype,” he explained. “I used it as a model when I sent out the job request to craftsmen in the castle town.”

“Ah! Don’t tell me the ‘Kigurumi Adventurer’ they’re talking about all over town is...”

“Yeah, it’s probably this guy... Wait, Liscia? Why the scary look?”

“First the mannequin, now this! Are you trying to convince people that Parnam is the demon capital?!” she shouted.

“Ow, that hurts...! Wait, whoa!”

When Liscia threw a bucket at him, Souma ended up diving, clothes still on, into a cold water bath. While in the water, Souma thought back on everything Little Musashibo had experienced today.

I never would have imagined there was a giant creature like that under the capital. I’m glad we were able to find it before damage reports started to come in, but I put Juno and her friends in danger...

He had optimistically assumed that even novice adventurers ought to be able to handle the wild animals living in there, so he had messed up and set the difficulty level too low. It had nearly meant adventurers dying needlessly on a quest that he himself had set. The reason he hadn’t taken the reward at the end was that he felt it was the least he could do after the trouble he’d caused Juno and the others.

...Though the biggest reason was that it would be wrong to accept the reward for a quest he set himself.

Regardless, I really do have to reflect on what happened today. Though...

“Uh, um... Thanks,” Juno had said.

When he recalled Juno’s face when she shyly said that as Little Musashibo carried her, the corners of Souma’s mouth naturally rose a little.

...The adventure itself was fun. I hope I’ll get the chance to do it again.

That was what Souma thought as he sat there soaking in the dirty water.