by Dojyomaru
“Hee hee, those two are probably even more popular with the people than the loreleis right now,” Juna added.
“Well! When all’s said and done, the people love us,” Roroa said with a cheerful smile. “Big Sister Cia’s popular with folks in the Elfrieden Region, and I’m a hit with people in the Amidionia Region. Juna’s famous as the Prima Lorelei, and Big Sister Ai and Nadie are well liked ’cause of all the exposure they’ve gotten on the Jewel Voice Broadcast. I’m sure there’s some jealousy towards Darlin’ now he’s gone and snatched us all up for himself.”
Then Roroa winked.
She was probably right. I was surrounded by all these marvelous wives. I’d have to willingly accept a little envy.
But... we were loved by the people, huh?
“That scares me, just a little,” I whispered.
“Souma?” Liscia cocked her head to the side.
I smiled wryly and adjusted the way I held Cian.
“It means that the people here, celebrating with us, they’re just that willing to express their emotions. You could say they easily go with the flow.”
I focused my eyes on the crowd as I spoke in an undertone.
“If I rule poorly, and betray their expectations, their blessing will turn to resentment, and their applause to ridicule. I was thinking they might condemn our family with the same fervor that they celebrated my coronation, our marriage, and Cian and Kazuha’s birth.”
When I said that, the others got pensive looks on their faces.
Just as I had taken on the heavy burden of ruling this country, they had taken the burden of being its queens, so they surely had their own thoughts on the issue.
But...
“Relax,” Carla murmured in my ear.
At some point, she had moved to stand right behind me.
“If you go down the wrong road, Master, I’ve been contracted to risk my life to stop you. If it comes to it, I will stop you before the resentment can turn on your family, too.”
Carla was whispering that so only I could hear. It made me laugh despite myself.
“Ahaha... So you’ll kill me if I go astray? Is that anything to be saying on such a fine day?”
Carla responded with exasperation. “It’s your own fault for being so pessimistic on this fine day.”
“...You’ve got a point there.”
“Yes. So, please, be a good king, so that day never has to come.”
With that said, Carla smoothly moved away.
Serina was always messing around with her, but Carla was a sword hanging above my head. She was an ever-present danger, a deterring sword that forced self-reflection. If a time ever came when I went astray, that sword would fall.
Conversely, she was also a guarantee that something would stop me if I went too far.
In my position as king, that deterrent and guarantee were reassuring.
“It’s going to be okay, Souma.” Liscia approached me with a soft smile.
Seeing that, the people cheered.
“We’ve managed to overcome everything so far. From here on, no matter what happens, with this family, we can overcome anything.”
Aisha, Juna, Roroa, and Naden nodded in agreement.
I felt like they were giving me courage, and I said, “Thank you,” then turned back to the people and once more I resumed waving.
“But I think we could do with more family.” Still facing the people, Liscia continued to talk. “That’s why, from today on, you’ll be sleeping in our rooms.”
“Um... Liscia, that’s...” I began.
Did she mean... what I thought she did?
That I wouldn’t be able to sleep in my own bed, or the bed in the governmental affairs office for awhile...?
Still smiling, Liscia declared, “This is already decided. You’ll be in Aisha’s room tonight, by the way.”
“I... I know I have my shortcomings, but please take good care of me,” Aisha said bashfully while still waving to the people.
It seemed they had each reported on their plans and current physical condition to one of the court ladies at the beginning of the week, and using that information, they had put together a schedule of who would sleep with me when.
Tomorrow was Juna, then Roroa, Naden, Liscia... and so on.
Incidentally, no one had asked me what my plans were.
“Stay strong, Souma,” Liscia said teasingly.
“...Right,” I said nervously.
I’ll work hard. And I mean that in many ways.
That was when the crowd let out another loud round of applause.
Huh? Why cheer now? I was thinking, and then...
“Souma, look at that!” Naden pointed straight up and shouted.
I looked up to the sky...
“Wha?!”
High in the sky above, I saw a large white shadow flying between the clouds.
That fur which shone in the daylight, and those great wings that seemed to rend the sky... There was no mistaking her.
“Lady Tiamat?!” Naden cried, because that form was unmistakably that of Mother Dragon.
Madam Tiamat would, on rare occasions, take a sightseeing flight around the continent, and Mother Dragon worshipers believed catching sight of her was a good omen.
Liscia and I had seen her before, too.
“Souma, we did send Madam Tiamat a wedding invitation, right?” Liscia asked.
I nodded. “Yeah. Through Princess Sill of the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom. But, because Madam Tiamat doesn’t interfere in the world below, I didn’t expect she could come.”
Since I was marrying Naden, it would have pained me not to invite Madam Tiamat, the mother of all dragons, so I’d sent an invitation just in case. But, as expected, there had been no response.
I put a hand on Naden’s shoulder as she stared, dazed, into the sky.
“No way... It’s Lady Tiamat... Why...?” she whispered.
“She can’t intervene in matters on the land,” I said. “But I’ll bet she was worried about you and Ruby, since you’re marrying into a country other than the Dragon Knight Kingdom. That’s why she did it like this. She went on a sightseeing flight, and ‘just happened to pass by her two daughters on their big day.’”
“Souma...” As tears pooled in Naden’s eyes, I clapped her on the shoulder.
“Come on, why don’t you give your overprotective adoptive mother a response?”
With a sob, Naden said, “Okay!”
Naden waved up toward the sky, emitting the roar of a ryuu while still in human form.
There was a similar roar from the castle town at the same time, so Ruby must have noticed, too.
Then, as if she’d heard their energetic voices, Madam Tiamat let out her own cry, like that of a whale. It would no doubt remain in the record that her cry was like a blessing on the entire country.
“It was a good wedding,” Liscia said.
I agreed with her from the bottom of my heart.
Midword
Thank you very much for purchasing volume 10 of Realist Hero. This is Dojyomaru, who bought himself a road bike, and who has been physically unable to drive less than 40 kilometers on any day with clear skies since.
Road bikes: They’re the vehicles of the devil. I chose a bike because of cost efficiency, but I never thought I’d get this hooked...
That aside, let’s talk about the main story. In this volume, Souma finally officially ascends the throne as king, and marries Liscia and the other girls. I suppose you could call this the end of the second part.
Oh! But the story goes on, so please stay with me.
To tell you the truth about the romantic parts with the side characters in this volume, I hadn’t originally planned to go into them so heavily.
I thought it would be fine to do the coronation and wedding ceremony, and just present the information that those characters were now married, too.
However, from readers following the story in real time, I heard they wanted me to conclude all of the
other romances properly, so the wedding ceremony became its own independent chapter. It’s an unusually in-depth romance plot for this story.
Well, that’s fine occasionally, right? This is the tenth volume milestone, so please overlook it if I let loose a little too much.
Though, from here on, we won’t be able to dawdle.
With the appearance of Fuuga, the movement of the world is accelerating.
Souma has to prepare for the moving times, and if he does something to prepare, I’m sure that will agitate Fuuga, and push him to act even faster.
The way they influence one another will make the era move forward at an accelerating rate.
Although the next volume is of the internal politics kind. This is preparation, too.
Now then, after this midword, we have an extra story.
There were about fifty pages left to spare, so I went into detail depicting something that I hadn’t yet, but wanted to eventually.
In terms of the timeline, it’s a little before the coronation. I considered placing it between the fourth and fifth chapters of this volume, but while this one is also a love story, it has a different atmosphere to it, so I separated it from the main story...
When I write these sorts of new stories, instead of a plot, I create a list of scenes I want to depict, and then as I depict them, they have a way of turning out feeling somewhat different from how I imagined. It’s mysterious.
Now I give my thanks to the artist Fuyuyuki, who is the illustrator, to Mr. Satoshi Ueda of the manga adaptation, to my editor, to the designers, to the proofreaders, and to all of you now holding this book.
This has been Dojyomaru.
Now, please stay with me through the extra story.
Bonus Story: The Happiest Queen of All
It happened on a day when Sir Souma’s coronation and wedding to Liscia and the others was closing in.
“Cian, Kazuha. Grandmother is heeeere,” I said, peeking into their crib.
“Dawoo?” asked Cian.
“Ayee!” squealed Kazuha.
As our eyes met, Cian’s face froze with his fingers still in his mouth, while Kazuha moved her arms and legs around excitedly.
They were different reactions, but both very babyish, and so cute. I brought my hand to my cheek and stared at them, charmed.
“Oh, goodness me, your children are cute,” I cooed to my daughter.
“Mother...” Liscia, who was beside me folding baby clothes, said with a somewhat wry smile. “It’s true these two are cute, but what’s with this ‘Grandmother’ business? You’re not Excel, you know?”
“Oh, what’s the harm? Being called Granny makes me feel old.”
Liscia had given birth to Cian and Kazuha before turning twenty, and I had given birth to Liscia in my teenage years, too. That was why I was still just shy of forty.
(Author’s note: The year is slightly longer in this world, so by Earth reckoning, she would be slightly over.)
I giggled at the look of exasperation on Liscia’s face and told her, “In another twenty years, you’ll know how I feel, you know?”
“I’d... really rather not think about that.” With a sour look on her face, Liscia put the folded clothes into the dresser.
There was a knock on the door, and when Liscia answered it, one of the maids, Carla, came in.
“Liscia. The master wishes to speak to you regarding your dress for the ceremony.”
“Souma does? Okay.” Liscia looked over at me. “Sorry, Mother, could you look after the children for a while?”
“Certainly,” I smiled. “I wouldn’t want you to keep our son-in-law waiting. Take care.”
Liscia smiled back and left the room.
Carla, who had taken her place as a result, saluted and said, “Give me any command.”
I answered her with a smile, then returned to peering at the babies in their crib.
“It’s... like a dream,” I whispered to myself so quietly that Carla couldn’t hear.
◇ ◇ ◇
I was twelve when I first gained a proper understanding of my magic.
I, who was born to the King of Elfrieden and his third primary queen, lost my mother at a young age. I was raised by my adoring father, and became quite the little tomboy as a result.
I was unfortunately gifted with a talent for martial arts and horse riding, so I joined the castle guards on rides, and spent my youth covered in constant scrapes and bruises.
One day, I had heard there was a wild horse in the stables that wasn’t used to people, and convinced myself, “I will break it in!”
Ignoring the attempts of my maids to stop me, I tried to ride the horse.
“...!!”
That was when it happened.
Suddenly, “memories” that were much too vivid flowed into my head.
Of me, recklessly mounting the wild horse.
Of me, calming it, despite some resistance.
Then of the horse, going wild the moment I got full of myself and let my guard down.
Of me, thrown from the horse, falling head-first to the ground.
Intense pain, the ground appearing much too close, and a spreading pool of my own blood.
That vision spread inside my head, and I had a realization.
These were my memories. The memories of a future “me” who had gotten on that horse.
“...Let’s not do that, after all,” I whispered.
I decided against riding the wild horse, returned to my room to the relief of my maids, and lay face down on my soft bed.
Up until then, I hadn’t known what my magic was.
This was common for those with dark magic, which was any magic that wasn’t healing light magic, and that didn’t belong to the four elements: fire, water, earth, and wind.
Because dark magic as a category was special, and often included magics that could only be used by one individual, it wasn’t uncommon for that person not to understand it all that well.
However, after my experience that day, I understood mine clearly.
“The power to send memories back to my past self when in mortal danger.”
That was my personal magic.
It was an ability that, when faced with a threat to my life, allowed me to send regrets such as, I should have done this back then or I never should have done that to myself as I stood at the branching point that led to that future.
My impression, having received the memories of that future “me,” was that it was like I, myself had made that decision, and time had rolled back from that future to the time I was in now.
However, I also had the sense that it wasn’t my own future.
I had not, after all, made that decision yet. It was like being shown the result of an entity that was identical to myself making the decision I was about to make.
In addition, because of the requirement that I had to be facing a threat to my life, it was also an ability I could only use once in my life. Because the odds were high that death would await me not long after I sent the memories.
It felt like a divine revelation or a sixth sense when I was on the receiving end, but when I was the sender, it would be like leaving a will to my past self.
When I realized that, it made me shudder.
It was fine to be the receiver. But when I thought of being the sender, I felt nothing but fear.
It was also difficult to explain this power to others, and if I was not careful, they might think I had gone crazy.
I wanted to know if I could send memories to people other than myself, but this was a magic that came with risk to my life, so I couldn’t test it.
Unable to talk with anyone about this magic, I got depressed.
Whenever I thought about receiving more memories of my life being in peril, I couldn’t be as rash and reckless as I had been before.
When those around me saw how ladylike I had become, they welcomed it, saying, “I know she is only the daughter of the third primary queen, but maybe she’s begun to recogniz
e her role as royalty.”
All I could think in response was, You people have no idea what I’m going through.
“Sigh...”
When things got like this, I couldn’t muster the will to do much of anything, and I spent a lot of time staring off into space.
I spent my days gazing out the window, looking at the flowers in the garden, and so on.
Then, one day, it happened.
I was wandering through the garden in a daze, and I heard a voice.
“Hmm, I see, I see.”
I poked my head out from behind a hedge, and there was the old gardener and a young noble enthusiastically talking about something.
“That is why you need to prune the flowers during this season,” the gardener was saying.
“I see,” said the noble. “You’re teaching me a lot here.”
It seemed that the old man with the pruning shears was teaching the young man, who seemed to be a noble, about gardening as he worked. The young man was better dressed, and likely of a higher status than the old man, but he was enthusiastically taking instructions from the old man.
I snuck closer to the two of them, and observed that man.
He was likely somewhere between eighteen and twenty years old, and had a somewhat exhausted look about him, making him seem older than his years. His face was average and lacked impact, and though he seemed kind, he didn’t look like he would be able to move up in the world in future.
Patting his own lower back, the old man said to the young man, “Is that all you wanted me to teach you? Was it any help?”
“Yes! Thank you for your tutelage,” the young man said happily.
It looked like they had finished their conversation.
The old man left to move on to his next task, and the remaining man sat down. Producing some paper and a portable pen with its own ink bag, he began to write something down.
I approached the man and asked him, “What are you doing?”
“Just a moment,” he said, writing without looking up to see who was addressing him. “I’m taking a summary of what I heard just... Huh?!”
As it suddenly hit him that someone was talking to him, he jumped a little. He looked kind of silly like that.
“I’m sorry to call out to you so suddenly,” I said.