by Dojyomaru
I took off my shirt, too, and pulled Liscia who was now in nothing but her white underwear close to me.
Was I the one trembling, or was it her...? It might have been both of us. Neither of us were used to this, and we embraced each other awkwardly. We kissed once, and then...
“Well, do you want to take this somewhere else?” I whispered in Liscia’s ear.
When I did, Liscia grinned and silently shook her head. “No. Here is good. I mean, this is...”
...the place where you and I first met, after all.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Nngh... Hm?” I murmured.
When the light shone in through the window and woke me, Liscia’s face was right in front of mine.
We were sharing a single pillow, so it was pretty close. She was sleeping peacefully.
With each shallow breath Liscia took, her soft chest rose and fell under the covers. Just the sight of her like this left me with an indescribable mixture of glee, embarrassment, and love, and I reached out to touch her cheek.
When I did, “Murgh...” Liscia twisted as if something was tickling her and then slowly opened her eyes.
She was probably still half-dreaming. She didn’t seem to know where she was, and she started looking around restlessly. Then she noticed my face right next to her own.
“Oh... Souma. Morning...” she said with a grin. It was a smile as gentle as the morning light that was shining in.
Her reaction was unbearably cute, so I hugged her close and placed a kiss on her half-closed left eyelid. Still groggy from sleep, Liscia let out a ticklish laugh.
“Geez, Souma, what do you think you’re doing?”
“Hmm, I’d love to keeping looking at you like this, but... Sorry, Liscia, get up, please.”
“...Huh?” she asked.
As I gave her a gentle shake, this time Liscia’s eyes opened fully. The moment her eyes snapped open, Liscia’s face turned red so quickly, I could almost hear the comedic exploding sound effect as it did. Most likely, when she’d gotten a handle on the current situation, all of her embarrassment had flared up at once. Of course, that included enough for last night, too.
I softly patted Liscia on the head. “Good morning, Liscia.”
“M-Morning. Ohh... Don’t look at me so much.”
“Don’t look at you? I saw a whole lot last— Mmph!”
Liscia shoved a pillow in my face.
“That doesn’t make it any less embarrassing!” she cried.
Liscia hugged the blanket to herself and glared at me kind of resentfully.
Yep, she sure was cute. I almost wanted to jump her right there. But instead, I just pushed the pillow aside and stretched.
“Yeah... I don’t think I ever want to do it in the governmental affairs office again.”
“...Why not?” she asked.
“Because this is our workplace, so I’ll have to ask them to clean up after us right away. I want to flirt with you more, and it’s a pain having to get up.”
“I-I see...”
I got out of bed and slipped on the clothes I had been wearing yesterday. I hadn’t brought a change of clothes, so I would have to go back to my room to get one.
After quickly getting dressed, I asked Liscia, “So... are you feeling okay?”
“Y-Yeah... I do feel a little sluggish, though...”
“Okay. Let me be the one who asks the maids to clean up, then.”
“Yeah,” she said. “Could you do that for me?”
I planted a kiss on Liscia’s forehead and then left the governmental affairs office.
When I left through the door, I was met by a red-faced Carla, who was averting her eyes, and a gently-smiling Serina. I understood why Carla was there, since she had been standing guard, but why Serina?
Serina showed a slight, impassive smile and said, “You two had fun last night.”
Wow... That line, when someone actually says it to you in real life, it’s really frustrating.
“...You’re up early, Head Maid,” I said.
“I am the princess’ personal maid, after all.” With that answer, which I wasn’t sure qualified as one, Serina gave me an elegant bow.
I thought, Oh, yeah, she’s definitely having fun with this... but I knew if I said anything, there would be three times as many verbal daggers coming my way, so I stayed silent. It was better to let sleeping sadists lie. If you could turn a blind eye to her bad habit for bullying cute girls, she was extremely competent at her work.
“Serina, Carla... Take care of Liscia and the room for me,” I said.
“Understood,” Serina said. “Let’s get to it, Carla.”
“Y-Yes, ma’am!”
Serina and Carla bowed to me and then entered the room. A moment later, from inside...
“S-Serina?! I’m still naked here!” Liscia shouted.
“We need to clean up, so please, get out of bed already. If you don’t, I will have Carla carry you out of this room, bed and all.”
“Hold on, Carla! Don’t lift the bed!”
“...Sorry,” Carla said. “If I defy the head maid, I’ll be humiliated myself later...”
“Eeeek!”
...Well, I heard those voices and a lot of banging.
Okay, Liscia. Live strong, I thought.
“Now, then...” I slapped my own cheeks. It was time for a change of mindset. With my relationship with Liscia having grown deeper, I felt like I needed to be ever more determined.
In order to defend my beloved family, I was going to put one over on the theocracy.
“Well, off to scheme with Hakuya, I guess.”
I skipped off down the corridor.
◇ ◇ ◇
—Days later.
I had sent a message to Saint Mary who was staying at the Lunarian church in Parnam to inform her that I would be holding another meeting with her. Mary had responded that she would come to the castle at once.
And so, once again, Mary and I faced one another in Parnam Castle’s audience chamber. It was an audience with the same faces, and standing in the same places, as the last one. I hadn’t been able to focus during the previous one because something had felt off about Mary, but now that I knew the trick to it, I could look at her with a clear head.
Seeing her again after a few days, Mary was still beautiful, and still doll-like. I exchanged brief pleasantries with her, then decided to get straight down to business.
“Now then, regarding the matter of making Lunarian Orthodoxy our state religion...”
She waited silently.
“If you can accept two conditions, I don’t mind doing it.”
“Conditions...?” Mary tilted her head to the side questioningly.
I answered her in as light a tone as I could manage. “Oh, it’s nothing too difficult. The first is that you not make me the Holy King of Lunarian Orthodoxy. I don’t want you one-sidedly starting to call me that, either. I want a firm agreement on this point.”
“Why is that? If you became our holy king, you would stand above adherents of Lunarian Orthodoxy in every country, you know?” Mary looked perplexed.
I shook my head with a wry smile. “That’s because I’m not an adherent of Lunarian Orthodoxy myself. Even if someone like me was suddenly named holy king, I’m sure there would be resistance from the believers. I’m sorry, but I’ll have to decline the position.”
“Oh... I see.”
Though Mary acted disappointed, she meekly backed down on the point.
Of course, the reason I’d given her was just a front. I had no desire to be their holy king, or anything like that, and I couldn’t let us regress into a country where the church controlled education, either. My goal here was to prevent the Orthodox Papal State from naming me holy king and making me carry the flag in their conflict with the Empire.
“Now, as for the second condition... I’ll have Prime Minister Hakuya explain this one,” I said.
Hakuya brought a hand to his chest and bowed before taking one
step forward. “Allow me to explain. The other condition we are presenting is that we want to invite a bishop from the Orthodox Papal State to come here and manage the believers of Lunarian Orthodoxy within the country.”
“Of course we can do that,” said Mary. “I had intended to come here myself.”
Hakuya replied, “Oh, we could never ask that of you,” and waved his hand. “We have no desire to impose on a saint. We have a specific individual we would like to invite here as our bishop.”
“You have someone you want to invite here? Who might that be?”
“Bishop Souji Lester.”
Mary was silent. The moment she heard the name, her brow furrowed just a little.
I only saw it for that one instant, but it was a look of revulsion. It was the first human reaction I had seen from doll-like Mary.
Mary asked Hakuya with a slightly stiff expression, “Sir Hakuya, are you... aware of what kind of man he is?”
“Yes. I have heard that he is very sharp.”
“No, he is just cunning,” said Mary. “I cannot say... that I would recommend him. He extorts large amounts of money from the believers, drinks heavily, toys with women, and engages in many other such indecent behaviors. Normally, as a man of the cloth, he would have sworn off such desires, but that man is mired in the secular and does as he pleases. His Holiness and the cardinals view his behavior as an issue. I, myself... also find him unlikable.”
It was a firm rejection. He was a man that even this doll-like girl would hate, it seemed. Now I was interested.
“How did a man like that become a bishop?” I asked.
Mary’s lips drew taut. There was a short pause before she opened them again to say, “This is... an embarrassing thing to talk about, but we in the priesthood are supported by the donations of the followers. There were cardinals who defended Bishop Souji because, regardless of his methods, he was able to bring in large donations...”
Ah... I was starting to see how it worked.
Most likely, this Souji was paying bribes to a number of the cardinals. Even if their saint wasn’t, the upper echelons of the church felt very human, and very rotten. That was why even if they wanted to remove him, they couldn’t.
“However,” Mary said to Hakuya, “there are now voices in the church saying that he should be expelled. I believe it is only a matter of time until he is excommunicated. Do you want to invite a man like that here?”
Even as she looked at him with clear opposition in her eyes, Hakuya never broke his quiet smile. “That sounds just perfect to me. If you mean to expel him, we will take custody of him here in our country. His Majesty is quite fond of gathering talented personnel, you see, and he has told me that if there is a bishop like that, he wants to meet him.”
I had no recollection of ever saying such a thing. I didn’t know a thing about this Souji, or even what his name was, after all. However, I had been told in advance that this Souji would be a key player in Hakuya’s plot, so I nodded as if it were true.
Mary looked at Hakuya with apparent displeasure. “If he is to come here as a bishop, that would place him at the head of all believers of Lunarian Orthodoxy in this country. I cannot see how he would be up to the task.”
“If he is insufficient, we can simply have another person come at a later date,” said Hakuya with a chillingly cold look in his eyes. “If he does not live up to our standards, I would not object to disposing of him personally.”
Wow... Hakuya sure had one villainous look on his face. He had a clever-looking face to begin with, so the cold smile fit him well. Honestly, he was pretty scary.
Mary was overwhelmed by his intensity for a moment, and then found herself unable to say any more. “...Very well. If, under any circumstance, he is unable to come, I will take his place.”
Hakuya inclined his head. “Yes, if that happens, please do.”
The two of them looked straight at one another, each trying to suss out the other’s motives. The doll and the villain stared one another down, and not only did sparks seem to fly, a chilling air descended on the whole room.
This air was off-putting for both Liscia and me, and Aisha, who wasn’t used to this sort of atmosphere, looked a little sick. Regardless, that was everything settled.
To summarize what had been decided here, it would come down to these three points:
The Kingdom of Friedonia would accept Lunarian Orthodoxy as its state religion.
The Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria would not name me holy king.
Souji Lester would be dispatched by the Orthodox Papal State as a bishop.
With the matter settled, Mary bid us farewell and departed. She hadn’t been able to make me into their holy king, but she had been able to get Lunarian Orthodoxy adopted as our state religion, so it was a decent result for her. I figured that with this, she ought to return to the Orthodox Papal State quietly.
I waited for the report that she had left the castle, and then I was finally able to feel a little less tense.
“Whew... Do you think that more or less handled it?” I asked.
“Most likely,” said Hakuya. “The saint believes that she has accomplished something, I’m sure.”
Then he laughed.
Just as planned... was what Hakuya’s laugh seemed to say.
I shrugged and told him, “Hakuya, you’ve still got your villain face on.”
“...Pardon me,” he said, and resumed his usual nonchalant expression.
I asked him, “So, have you made preparations for welcoming that bishop, Souji, or whatever his name was?”
“Yes. The Black Cats led by Sir Kagetora have already infiltrated the Orthodox Papal State. I am sure they have already accompanied Sir Souji to a place near the border. I assume that they will have brought him back to the royal capital within a few days.”
Looking at the intelligence-gathering ability he’d demonstrated by knowing about the bishop named Souji, as well as the preparedness he’d shown by taking steps to protect him, this was the sort of meticulous attention to detail that I had come to expect from our Black-robed Prime Minister.
“But did you really need to send the Black Cats to escort him?” I asked.
“From the saint’s reaction, it seems they are hesitant to dispatch someone who seems likely to embarrass their country as a bishop,” Hakuya said. “In order to secure our promise that we would recognize Lunarian Orthodoxy as our state religion, she accepted our conditions here, but once she returned home, there was the risk that she would renege on them for ‘some reason.’ For instance, we might be told that Souji was injured in an accident, and so they’d be sending someone else... or some other such story. That’s why I decided to have the Black Cats go and bring him back first.”
Injured in an accident... huh. In my mind’s eye, I could imagine the Orthodox Papal State doing it. There was no guarantee he wouldn’t “go missing” into a prison, or “die of a sudden illness” that was actually an assassination, either. If he had taken that much into account, I had to hand it to Hakuya.
“Honestly, I’m impressed you can scheme as much as you do,” I said teasingly.
Liscia, who was standing next to me, gave me a cold look. “You’re quite the schemer yourself, aren’t you, Souma? I mean, in a way, you’re deceiving that poor, innocent saint.”
“Don’t make me sound so bad,” I said. “I haven’t told her any lies.”
There had been no lie when I’d told her I would make Lunarian Orthodoxy our state religion.
“However, we might be working under different definitions of what a ‘state religion’ is,” I added.
“Honestly... It’s all in how you word things.” From the exasperated look Liscia gave me, I must have had a pretty villainous look on my face, too.
◇ ◇ ◇
A few more days after that...
The royal castle in the Kingdom of Friedonia announced that all faiths and religions were to be registered with the state, and that all religions that recei
ved recognition in this way would be considered state religions. In other words, the meaning of a state religion in the kingdom was changed to be the same as a religious corporation.
King Souma appeared on the Jewel Voice Broadcast for the first time in a while to address his people.
“In this country, up until now, every person, every family, and every race has worshiped whatever gods they pleased,” he announced. “In addition to the faiths with the most believers, those being Mother Dragon worship and Lunarian Orthodoxy, the dark elves worship the godbeast said to protect the God-Protected Forest, and there are those who worship sea and mountain gods, as well. We all come from different races and have grown up in different environments, so it’s very natural that things have turned out this way.”
The people who lived in inland cities, in mountain villages, and in seaside towns all nodded in agreement with his words. They lived in different places, so it was a given that the things they feared and the things they worshiped would be different.
The image of Souma continued speaking to the people of his country.
“This is a multi-racial state. In our country, the customs of many different groups have melted and mixed together, creating new forms of culture every day. I believe faith should be the same way. What this kingdom needs isn’t unity under one god. I think it’s the harmony that comes from recognizing the freedom of individuals to choose what they want to believe in. Just as you have beings in which you believe, so do others. I would like for all of you to accept that, and to please be tolerant. If you are, I am sure that others will be tolerant of your beliefs, as well.”
The people only half-believed what Souma said.
In this country where the media had not yet developed, they had limited knowledge of other religions. Basically, they had no idea what was taught in the churches of other faiths. That was why they were doubtful. Suspicion gave birth to ogres in dark places and turned dried pampas grass into ghosts.
Even if a group were simple mountain worshipers, those who were suspicious of them might think they were a secretive evil organization. Souma was well aware of that.
