How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 3

by Dojyomaru

  I considered that. “Pi*min tactics, huh... but you still blew them all away when I did that, didn’t you?”

  “Which means what you did was even worse than that, I suppose?” said Liscia.

  “Urgh...”

  When Liscia pointed that out, I slumped my shoulders. Since Pik*in tactics wouldn’t work, I’d tried using a composition based on an adventuring party, like Juno’s, the one I’d gone adventuring with using Little Musashibo, but... the result had been a miserable defeat.

  “In an adventuring party, they’d have a mage, after all,” Aisha said without seeming to care too much. “If those shields had been reinforced with magic, I would’ve had difficulty punching through them, and if I’d had spells flung at me instead of arrows, it would have been more difficult to respond to.”

  That she said it would have been “difficult” for her, rather than that she “couldn’t” do either of those things, only served to show how ridiculously powerful Aisha was.

  “We can talk about mages all you want, but I can’t use elemental magic or reinforcement magic...” I said. I couldn’t use any magic whatsoever, so there was no way I could use it to give the weapons carried by the dolls I controlled with Living Poltergeists an elemental alignment and make them shoot fire or ice.

  “If I went to a magic school, or some place like that, to train, could I learn how, maybe?” I said.

  “No, not possible.” Liscia quickly shot down the idea. “I mean, I’ve never heard of someone with dark-type magic being able to use another element.”

  She proceeded to explain.

  “The four major elements, fire, water, earth, and wind, manipulate magicium found in the atmosphere to produce various phenomena, and the light element interferes with magicium inside the body to do things like speed up the natural healing process, or strengthen the body. The dark element doesn’t have any sort of ability like that. So... just give up.”

  It looked like I could train all I wanted, but I’d never become a mage.

  This, after I had the good luck to be summoned to a world with magic, too... somehow, I’m disappointed. I slumped my shoulders dejectedly.

  “What’re you moping about?” Liscia asked, with an exasperated look. “The dark alignment isn’t that common, you know? I’ve only ever seen three people with it.”

  “Three?” I asked. “Assuming two of the three are Tomoe and me... who’s the third?”

  “Mother, or so I hear. She’s been never willing to tell me what her power is, though.”

  Hmm... Lady Elisha can use dark magic, huh, I thought. Lady Elisha is Liscia’s mother. If I recall, Lady Elisha was the one who actually inherited the throne, but she left managing the country to her husband, Sir Albert, right? We haven’t had much occasion to talk, but she’s always smiling and seems like an amiable sort.

  “But with the abilities I have, I can’t see any way to defend myself...” I said.

  “Rest at ease, sire! I will always be there to defend you!” declared Aisha, thumping her chest with pride. While she seemed reliable, I was starting to feel pathetic myself.

  “It’s pretty lame for a hero to need girls defending him...” I said.

  “What are you saying after all this time?” Liscia said bluntly. “You were never much of a hero to begin with.”

  I mean, she was right... but couldn’t she have sugar-coated it just a wee bit more? I was thinking she could have, but then she said, “Besides, isn’t delegating the tasks that you can’t handle yourself one of your strengths, Souma? You’re protecting all of us in ways that only you can.” She smiled tenderly.

  Aisha nodded in agreement. “The princess is right! You protect the country we all live in, sire, so let us protect you in turn!”

  When they said it like that, I still felt pathetic, but I was a little happy. I might be an unreliable king, and a hero in name only, but I just need to protect them in my own way... no, I want to protect them. I felt that way from the bottom of my heart.

  “Your Majesty!” a voice called out, and I turned to see Juna in her marine uniform bowing to me with one hand at her chest.

  “Sire Hakuya has been looking for you,” said Juna. “He wishes to discuss the districting of the city, he says.”

  “Okay,” I said. “I’ll be right there.”

  I stood up and brushed the dirt off of myself. Leaving the clean-up to the soldiers, I brought Liscia and Aisha with me to the governmental affairs office. It was time for me to do what I was able to do now.

  ◇　◇　◇

  When I reached the governmental affairs office, Hakuya and the Captain of the Royal Guard, Ludwin, were waiting for me.

  I sat at my desk, while Liscia, who had been acting as my secretary for a while, and Juna, who had been doing the same because we had a shortage of people lately, stood behind me, on either side. Aisha stood by the door, acting as a guard. Lately, it had become the norm for us to work in this formation.

  Once I confirmed everyone was ready, a somewhat sleepy-eyed Hakuya laid out a map of the divisions of Van that he had prepared. “I have completed my proposal for the redistricting of Van, so I will have you take a look.”

  At Hakuya’s behest, I looked at the map. The square walls of city were vertical, while lines representing the main roads were running towards the princely palace in the center. Each of these main roads had side roads running off of them at a right angle in regular intervals, giving it a grid of squares, like a Go board. It was like a map of one of the ancient capitals of Japan, Heijo-kyo or Heian-kyo, that you might see in a history textbook.

  The nobles’ residences were clustered in the northeast, while the workshops were clustered in the southwest. Garrisons for the guards were distributed evenly throughout, and it looked super efficient.

  I was silent. I leaned back in my chair, looking up to the ceiling, and sighed. “...Hakuya.”

  “Yes, sire,” he said.

  “This goes too far,” I said.

  What’s with this efficiency-focused layout? I thought.

  Ane san rokkaku tako nishiki... I felt like I needed to chant the Kyoto road song, or I was going to get lost.

  Actually, if we’re going to change so much, it’d be faster burning the entire castle town to the ground and starting from scratch, I thought. Are you trying to turn me into Emperor Nero?

  “I’m sorry,” Hakuya said. “When I saw what a chaotic mess the town layout was, I was impelled to make it more efficient...”

  Hakuya seemed to understand that what I’d meant. He smiled wryly and pointed to the main streets. “However, as a measure against fires, the city must be split into districts. Laying down these main roads is a necessity, I would think.”

  “I agree, but... for everything else, I’d like the changes to reflect the will of the people who live here,” I said. “What sort of city they want to make this, how they want to make it more livable for them. I want the people who live here to think about that. I mean, if we just decide everything ourselves, they’ll probably resist it.”

  “I have already reached out to some of the architects who live here, but... you want to make the locals think?” Hakuya asked skeptically. “With the atmosphere in the city now, they’re likely to turn it into a piece of avant-garde art...”

  “An artful city, huh... that could be interesting in its own way,” I said. It might be good to try building art galleries and museums, too.

  ...Wait, huh? The marketplace already looks like it’s going to turn into something like Ameyoko. If I build a bunch of galleries and museums on top of that, I feel like Van is going to end up more and more like Ueno. Maybe I ought to build a zoo and call it a day.

  If I borrowed Tomoe’s power, it would be easy to accomplish. I could already recreate Monkey Mountain.

  However, Hakuya shook his head. “Van will be the city on our front line with Amidonia. At this juncture, we cannot allow them to have too much fun with its design.”

  “...I suppose not,” I said. We can’t c
ount on an artistically-designed city to be particularly defensible, after all. In that case, I guess we’ll have to maintain Van’s function as a military city, while making it easier to live in.

  “I guess that’s how it has to be,” I said. “Take things in that direction, please.”

  “Understood.” Hakuya bowed and left the room. Next, I turned to Ludwin.

  “How is progress on rolling out the transportation network?”

  “Sir,” he said. “The Army and your directly-controlled forces in the Forbidden Army are making every effort to realize that goal. A highway from Van into the kingdom’s territory has been completed, and we are beginning work laying road to the smaller nearby villages that are presently under our control. Also... we’ve built eight bridges over the rivers, but...”

  “But what?” I pressed. The man was sounding evasive.

  Ludwin gave me a look like he didn’t understand what I meant. “Sir. Right now, is there any reason for rolling out a transportation network for Van? I understand the importance of setting up military supply routes, yes. However, if we build roads and bridges to the smaller cities around Van during a time when the Empire doesn’t acknowledge our sovereignty here, won’t it have been pointless when we’re pushed to hand it back?”

  “That’s right... of course, I’m sure the Empire will request the return of Van,” said Liscia. “It’s a bit galling to think that Julius and his lot will use the roads and bridges that we build.” She furrowed her brow.

  “That will not be the case.” Hakuya immediately rejected Liscia’s opinion. “Even if we return Van and Crown Prince Julius returns here, he will never use infrastructure built by the kingdom. If anything, he will work to eliminate all traces of the kingdom’s influence from Van. He can’t afford to keep them out of convenience, as they might ingrain a fondness for the kingdom into the people of Van.”

  “Me, I’d use whatever I could, Amidonian or not,” I said.

  “Hee hee, I’m sure you would, sire,” Juna piped in with a smile. “You used that female commander with the husky voice as a singer, didn’t you?”

  “Oh, you mean Margarita Wonder,” I said. “She was a good find.”

  I had hired Margarita as only a singer initially, but lately she’d been hosting the amateur singing competition, too. Making full use of the grit that had let her rise to become a commander in this patriarchal country despite being a woman, the way she spoke frankly, even to men, was making her popular with women all over.

  Oh, I got off track there. Let’s forget Margarita and focus on Julius and his followers for now.

  “I know...” I said. “If that’s what’s going to happen, let’s try messing with them a bit.”

  “Messing with them?” Liscia asked.

  “We’ll put our names on the bridges,” I said. “There were eight of them, yeah? Well, we’ll carve the names Souma Bridge, Liscia Bridge, Albert Bridge, Hakuya Bridge, Ludwin Bridge, Poncho Ishizuka Bridge, and Aisha Bridge into their railings. If the bridges themselves say ‘This bridge was built thanks to the Elfrieden Kingdom,’ the anti-kingdom faction is sure to bust them up, don’t you think?”

  “...You can be a real piece of work, you know that, Souma?” Liscia said with a sigh, half impressed, half aghast.

  However, because there were no objections, this idea was carried out as proposed. Also, so that it wouldn’t matter if they were destroyed, we confirmed that they should be built only to be sturdy, not fancy.

  That was everything that needed to be sorted out for the time being. Once we had seen Ludwin and Hakuya leave the room with the plans and policies we had just decided on, Liscia asked me, “If the Empire demands we return Van, do you still think it would be difficult to refuse?”

  I could only nod in response to that question. “Well, yeah... I have no intention of changing my overall plan, but I can’t see us being able to strong-arm Madam Jeanne. It would be a huge loss of face for the Empire. We don’t have the power to fight it out with them right now, So if the Empire sees us as hostile to them, that would be a diplomatic failure.”

  “You were saying you met Jeanne Euphoria, right?” Liscia asked. “Is it true? That the hero summoning was their way of showing some consideration to our country?”

  I said, “Yeah, kinda.”

  “When did you realize that?” she asked.

  “When I heard Empress Maria was called a saint,” I said. “I figured anyone being called a saint wouldn’t do anything too improper. That said, from what Madam Jeanne told me, Madam Maria isn’t overly fond having that title.”

  “You trusted in the title?” Liscia asked.

  “People adopt titles because they’re convenient,” I said. “And because they’re convenient, they’ll try to maintain them, too.”

  In a nation like the Empire which covered a vast swathe of territory and incorporated many people of diverse racial and cultural backgrounds, a title like “saint” must have been useful for accumulating power. Because it let her hoist the flag of a united human resistance in response to the threat from the Demon Lord’s Domain. That was why Maria had chosen to act like a saint, continuing to carry a title she didn’t care for.

  “Interpreting the Empire’s request in a positive light, and taking all of that into account, it would probably be something like that... I figured,” I said.

  Not that I could have been sure until I’d talked to Jeanne. But after talking to Jeanne, I was certain.

  The Gran Chaos Empire wasn’t an evil empire, like the ones that show up in stories, or even a prideful superpower. They were just another powerful country, desperately trying to maintain themselves.

  “That’s why we can’t let our guards down,” I said. “When facing an earnest opponent, there’s no room for carelessness or pride.”

  “True,” said Liscia. “We need to face this with resolution.”

  Liscia and I both nodded, grave looks on our faces.

  I would be tomorrow that Jeanne Euphoria would come, accompanying Julius, Crown Prince of Amidonia, as an envoy to negotiate the return of their territory.

  ◇　◇　◇

  21st day, 10th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — The Walls of Van

  “Oh, what a view! What a view!” I cried.

  Looking down from the castle walls, there were a little over 50,000 troops from the Elfrieden Army in formation around Van. Opposite them were, at a rough estimate, over 50,000 troops of the Imperial Army in formation, with roughly 5,000 more from the Amidonian army next to them, for a combined total of somewhere around 60,000. There were an even greater number of troops here than during the last engagement.

  “Is this the time to be impressed? What if that army attacks us?” Liscia asked exasperatedly. She was standing beside me.

  “There’s pretty much no question that we would lose,” I said, then looked over at Hakuya, who was also standing beside me. “Yeah?”

  “Indeed, that is correct,” he said with a nod. “In number of troops, number of commanders, equipment, training, morale... no matter which of those you choose to look at, our country is behind the Empire in all of them. If it comes to war, our forces stand no chance of winning.”

  The flow of war is said to be decided by the heavens, earth, and people. That is to say, the temporal advantage of heaven, the territorial advantage of the earth, and the harmonious unity between people.

  The temporal advantage lay with the Empire, lead proponent of the Mankind Declaration, while the territorial advantage lay with the forces of the principality. If I were asked whether the kingdom had a harmonious unity that could stand against those two, I would have had to say no. It had not been long since the Army and Air Force had pledged allegiance to me, so while they might be motivated to fight the Amidonian invaders, it would be difficult to maintain their morale against the far superior Imperial forces.

  In short, we were not superior to the combined forces of the Empire and Amidonia in any of those three categories.

  �
�I wish we could have at least had the equipment advantage...” I said.

  One type of troop the Imperial force had that I could see from here was rhinosauruses carrying cannons. I had heard of rhinosauruses being used as siege weapons, but it seemed the Empire was using them as mobile artillery platforms.

  In fact, I’d had the same idea, but before we could load cannons onto the rhinosauruses, they needed to be trained not to startle when they heard the sound of them firing. Our rhinosauruses had been gathered with Tomoe’s negotiation skills, so with no timetable for when the training could be done, that plan had been shelved.

  It was frustrating to see that a type of troop I’d come up with was already being used by the Empire, but, well, it was something a military amateur would be able to come up with a little thinking. If there was a demand for them, most ideas like that would have been put to practical use already.

  Well, anyway, with things as they were, we couldn’t fight.

  I’d never intended to fight to begin with, but if we’d been in a position where we could, it would have been one more card on the negotiating table. Put the other way around, the force spread out before my eyes which could easily defeat us was a card in the other side’s hand.

  While I’d known this would happen, it was still a tough situation to be in.

  “Sire, there is a type of troop I am unfamiliar with,” Aisha, who was surveying the enemy forces from a distance, said.

  “A troop type you’re unfamiliar with?” I asked.

  “There is a group clad all in black full-plate armor!” she declared.

  “All in black?” I asked. “...Wait, wow, I’m amazed you can see that.” The people looked as small as grains of rice from this distance.

  “Dark elves have good eyes!” Aisha puffed up her chest with pride. “That black armored group are carrying rather long weapons of some sort.”

  “That is most likely the ‘Magic Armor Corps,’ I believe,” Hakuya explained.

  Now there was an unfamiliar word.

  “Magic Armor Corps?” I asked.

  “You could call them the anti-magic version of the heavy pikeman, I suppose,” said Hakuya. “That black armor endlessly produces a barrier that blocks any and every type of magic. When they form ranks and advance, it’s said that every step they take is another step that the Empire’s territory expands. They are the treasure of the Empire, which is fiercely proud of them.”