How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 8 (Premium)

by Dojyomaru

  For Julius, the Principality of Amidonia was his homeland, and his only family was his younger sister Roroa. His last memories of each were bitter ones, but they hadn’t faded away and disappeared entirely.

  He’d heard the Principality of Amidonia was now incorporated into the Elfrieden Kingdom and Roroa was King Souma of Elfrieden’s fiancée, but...they did certainly both still exist.

  “You’re right... If it comes to it, I suppose I’ll bow my head to my sister,” he said. “It will be humiliating, but if it gets us reinforcements, my self-respect is a small price to pay.”

  To encourage Julius, who was smiling faintly, Jirukoma slapped him on the lower back.

  “Ow! What was that for?!”

  “I only know you as you’ve been in this country. No matter what type of person you may have been in the past.”

  Julius was silent.

  “But the way you are now, you’re not that disagreeable,” Jirukoma went on. “When we first met, you had the eyes of a lost man, searching for answers, but now you seem full of life to me.”

  Hearing Jirukoma assess him that way, Julius let out a “Hmph,” and looked away from the man. “The House of Amidonia is a house of warriors. I must have regained my true self while fighting these monsters.”

  “Hmm... Is that really all it is?”

  “What are you trying to say?”

  “Couldn’t it have been someone else’s influence? Look, it seems you have someone waiting for your return.”

  Jirukoma directed the upset Julius’s attention to the castle gate.

  In front was a charming young girl wearing a light-colored dress that resembled a knee-length Tyrolean dirndl, and she was waving at Julius. Her attire was common, but, on closer inspection, a pretty tiara was sitting atop her head.

  The lovely girl had short, airy hair and a face that retained traces of youth.

  “Lord Julius! I’ve been waiting for you to come back safely!” The girl waved her hands as if expressing her joy with her entire body as she called out to him.

  In that moment, the soldiers smirked, and their jealous gazes all focused on Julius. This girl was Lastania’s princess, Tia Lastania.

  When she called out to him in front of all the soldiers, Julius held his head in his hands.

  “Princess Tia... Why is she at the castle gate? It’s dangerous.”

  “That must simply be due to how much she’s missed you. Be on your way now, quickly.”

  Jirukoma gave the horse Julius was riding a hard slap on the rear. The way the horse suddenly began running nearly made Julius fall, and he shot Jirukoma a vengeful look for a moment, but he quickly continued the race to Princess Tia.

  “Those two make a cute couple, don’t they?”

  When Jirukoma turned back to the voice behind him, Captain Lauren was standing there with a smile.

  “Sir Julius is royalty too, so there can be no complaint about his pedigree,” she went on. “More than that, Princess Tia is very fond of him, so the king fully intends to take him in as her groom.”

  “Julius says he’s ‘not ready for a family yet’ though.”

  “Oh, the princess doesn’t stand a chance then?” Lauren asked.

  “No, I think it’s a matter of determination. Julius seems to have been saved by the princess’s cheer, so if he just finds the resolve to live here until his dying days, the rest may go quickly.”

  The two of them watched as Julius reached Princess Tia and immediately began scolding her about something. Princess Tia covered her ears as if to say, “I’m not listeniiing,” and looked away peevishly. They were like a close pair of siblings.

  Frustrated, Julius picked up Princess Tia by the arms and sat her in front of him. From there, the two of them rode into the castle together.

  Princess Tia was tucked snugly in front of Julius and leaned back against him with a soft smile.

  Jirukoma and Lauren watched the two of them, grinning.

  “They sure do get along well, don’t they?” Lauren asked.

  “Haha! You may be right.”

  “...U-Um... Sir Jirukoma,” Lauren ventured. “We’re both single, so would you join me for drinks tonight in celebration of our victory?”

  “I couldn’t ask for more. Let’s drink together.”

  “Okay!”

  With that said, the two of them passed through the gate. And, having the well-liked Lauren to himself for the night, Jirukoma was subjected to jealous stares from all the single soldiers.

  Chapter 1: The Road to the North

  —Late in the 9th month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar—

  “It’s been a while, Sir Souma.”

  On this day, I was in the Jewel Voice Room in the castle, speaking to a beautiful woman on the other side of a simple receiver whose distinctive wavy hair left me entranced despite myself.

  It was Empress Maria Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire.

  Behind me I had my prime minister, Hakuya, and behind Maria was her little sister and general, Jeanne, standing by.

  That the heads of each country and their seconds-in-command were all present at this meeting signified how important it was.

  Looking, perhaps, to start off with some friendly chat, Maria smiled. “I hear you will be having a child. Congratulations.”

  I smiled back and returned the greeting. “Thank you. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet though...”

  “Hehe! If it’s Liscia’s child, I’m sure it will be cute. I hear you’re a year younger than me, Sir Souma, but it seems you’ve beaten me to it, haven’t you?” Maria said teasingly.

  If I recalled correctly, Juna, who was the same age as me according to this world’s calendar, was actually a year older by Earth’s calendar, so that would mean Maria, who was a year older than me, was actually two years older.

  Well, I was too afraid to bring up the matter of age with a woman, so I decided to let it go.

  “But, well, now Liscia and I will both be set free from Marx constantly begging us to ‘hurry and produce an heir!’ so that’s a relief.”

  “I envy you,” Maria said. “I’m still being told to ‘hurry up and take a husband!’”

  “You don’t have anyone in mind?”

  “When you are an empress, it’s difficult. It needs to be someone who can carry the weight of an empire on their shoulders after all.”

  “You’re...a little too far out of everyone’s league then, I guess.”

  Very different from how my engagement to Liscia had been arranged by the former king, Sir Albert. It seemed it was quite hard for an empress of the Empire to get married.

  Then Madam Maria gave me a teasing smile. “Hehe, maybe I should have you take me as your wife, Sir Souma? It would be a big help if you could handle all of the Empire’s troubles for me like you did for Princess Roroa, you know?”

  “Wh-What are you saying, Sister?!” Jeanne raised her voice before I could get a word out. “You carry the weight of the Empire! You mustn’t say such things so carelessly...”

  “Don’t be so angry, Jeanne,” Maria said. “It was just a little joke.”

  “There are things you can joke about and things you can’t!”

  Oh, Maria... You’re just playing around and teasing Jeanne, I thought.

  Jeanne had a straightforward personality, like Liscia, so it must be amusing to have her react every time.

  “I would be honored to have a wonderful woman like you as my bride, Madam Maria... But I must say, I don’t have the confidence to rule a vast territory like the Empire on top of my kingdom. Managing Elfrieden and Amidonia is the best I can manage, I’m afraid.”

  “I don’t think that’s true, but...if you wouldn’t mind, I’d be happy to take that Black-robed Prime Minister of yours instead. I’ll relinquish the throne to Jeanne, so would you consider marrying Jeanne and becoming emperor?”

  “Sister?!” Jeanne cried.

  It looked like Maria had turned on Hakuya now.

  Hakuya himself looked unperturbed,
touching his chin thoughtfully before he responded. “I do think Madam Jeanne is an attractive woman. However, I will have to pass on being emperor. If you would send her to this country to be my bride, I will gladly have her though.”

  “S-Sir Hakuya, you too?!”

  “Boo,” Maria pouted. “If you’re not gonna let me retire, you can’t have her.”

  “Sister, would you please shut up?!”

  With the two of them jerking her around, Jeanne’s face was bright red.

  Maria aside, Hakuya wasn’t the type to toy with people like this, so, surprisingly enough, he may have meant it seriously.

  Well, whatever the case may be, we didn’t have time to waste talking about silly things.

  “Now then, Madam Maria,” I said, “isn’t it about time we got to the topic at hand?”

  “I suppose it is.” Her gentle smile vanishing, Maria put on a serious expression and said, “King Souma Kazuya of the Kingdom of Friedonia, in accordance with the pact forged between our two countries, I would like you to provide reinforcements to the Union of Eastern Nations.”

  “Does this involve the Demon Lord’s Domain?” I asked.

  Maria silently nodded.

  The secret pact between the kingdom and the Empire stated: “In exchange for not joining the Mankind Declaration led by the Empire, in the event that the eastern side of the continent (the side with the Union of Eastern Nations) is menaced by the threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain, the kingdom will handle it in place of the Empire.”

  “As I told you while you were in the republic, there has been an increase in attacks against the northern countries by monsters from the Demon Lord’s Domain,” Maria said. “Their numbers and frequency rise by the day.”

  “Just monsters? What about demons?”

  In the Demon Lord’s Domain, there were monsters that weren’t thought to be intelligent, as well as demons that were. That was Maria’s and my common understanding.

  The ones indiscriminately attacking mankind were the monsters, and if we tried to deal with them and the demons in the same way, pest extermination would turn to war, and it might lead to a repeat of mankind’s terrible defeat over a decade ago.

  Our hope was to maintain the status quo, and, if possible, make contact with the demons.

  However, Maria shook her head in disappointment. “Only monsters are attacking. There have been several cases like this where a massive number of monsters have appeared and pushed south. We call these ‘manami’ or ‘demon waves.’”

  “Manami...” I repeated.

  That sounds like a woman’s name, I thought. I knew it wasn’t going to be anything so easy to deal with though.

  “Looking at the records of past demon waves, it seems this surge of monsters and increase in attacks is a temporary phenomenon. If we can exterminate the attacking monsters, things should return to a state of relative calm for some time.”

  “I see...” I mused. “It really is like a wave then.”

  “Still, there are a great many of them, putting the threat at a level that a small to medium-sized country can’t handle alone.”

  Maria had Jeanne unfurl a map they’d prepared and show it to me. Then Maria pointed to each country on the map as she spoke.

  “We will protect the west of the continent and those countries that are subservient to the Empire. With the powerful dragon knights they possess, the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom can handle themselves, I’m sure.”

  True enough, the Empire, which was the strongest of mankind’s nations, and those countries aligned with it, along with the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom, which had powerful dragons like Naden or Ruby, could easily defend themselves.

  Then, with a strained look on her face, she pointed to the countries in the east.

  “The issue is the Union of Eastern Nations, which is a large alliance, but made up of medium to small countries. While they have the United Forces, consisting of manpower provided by each country, by its very nature they are unevenly distributed. If the small-scale countries don’t receive enough support, there will be places that fail to hold the line.”

  “I see your point,” I nodded. “You’d like us to send reinforcements to those smaller countries, right?”

  Maria nodded. “Please do. I leave the location and methods to you, but please work with all due haste to save people’s lives. There have been many refugees since the coming of the Demon Lord’s Domain. I don’t want to see the pain of people being driven from their homelands spread any further.”

  “That’s what our pact is for. Though, since we’ll be supporting you by dispatching troops, please don’t go asking for war subsidies for the time being, okay?”

  “Of course not.”

  War subsidies were paid by countries that were distant from the Demon Lord’s Domain to the countries that were bordering it. It was a considerable burden, but from a humanitarian perspective, and from the practical perspective that, if the north fell, we would be directly affected, it would be hard to refuse resuming payment if it were requested.

  It was much easier if we could get by without payment being requested.

  With that settled, Maria began using a pointing stick to point at a new map of the Union of Eastern Nations that Jeanne had prepared, explaining where reinforcements should be sent.

  “There are two places in the Union of Eastern Nations that will be especially in need of reinforcements. The first is on the western edge of the Union of Eastern Nations’ border with the Demon Lord’s Domain, the Kingdom of Lastania, which also borders the Nothung Dragon Knight Kingdom. It is a small country, but has an alliance with the Dragon Knight Kingdom, and they can call for help in times of need. But the Dragon Knight Kingdom is also being attacked by monsters from the current demon wave, so it is expected that any assistance from them may be delayed.”

  “The Kingdom of Lastania...” I murmured.

  That’s the country where Jirukoma and the former refugees who decided to return north are staying, I thought. There are reports that that man is in that country too... No, that doesn’t matter now, I guess.

  Next, Maria pointed to a spot near the center of the border with the Demon Lord’s Domain. “The other is the Duchy of Chima. It is a small country founded by Duke Chima, who was a noble in a medium-sized country until he gained independence. It’s a country that, in a region full of small- to medium-sized countries, has skillfully joined different camps depending on the situation and managed to maintain its independence.”

  “They’re good at bargaining and strategy, I suppose.”

  Just like the Sanada Clan under Masayuki, who had skillfully negotiated their way through a situation of being surrounded by the major powers of the Tokugawa, Houjou, and Uesugi and still maintained their independence. The Duchy of Chima was a small country, but its leader was no doubt highly capable.

  Then Maria giggled. Had something amusing happened?

  “Is something the matter?” I asked.

  “Oh, no... It’s just that this Duchy of Chima apparently happens to be doing something interesting with this situation.”

  “Something interesting?”

  “It seems the current Duke of Chima has seven children, and they’re all beautiful, boys and girls alike. I’ve heard they’re each skilled in a variety of areas too. People from all over the Union of Eastern Nations have been requesting those seven as marriage partners or vassals.”

  They were a distinguished family indeed. Since our country was looking far and wide for people of talent, I was interested in what exactly those seven’s gifts were, but...what was so interesting about the situation?

  “When Duke Chima sent out a request for aid in response to the current demon wave, this is what he said: ‘For countries which send us reinforcements, in response to your performance, I will give each of you one of my six children, other than my eldest son, who is my heir, to serve as your retainer...’”

  “He’s using his children as collateral to get reinforcements?!”r />
  That was a rather bold thing to think of. What was more, since he was lending them out as retainers, not hostages, he was just that confident in the children’s abilities.

  Also, since it was per country, corresponding to their performance...that meant he was sending his kids to serve only in influential and large countries.

  Even in a crisis, he was craftily trying to increase his influence inside the Union of Eastern Nations. Duke Chima... He was apparently a shrewd one, and not to be taken lightly.

  While I was thinking about it, Maria smiled in a way that implied something.

  “Of the six, the eldest daughter, Mutsumi Chima, is a beautiful woman and an accomplished warrior. I hear many countries have sent reinforcements out of a desire for her. Though, in her case, it seems they want her as a bride, not a retainer.”

  “I see... I suppose even the masters of nations can have a weakness for pretty women.”

  “What’s this?” Maria teased. “You’re not interested, Sir Souma?”

  I shrugged and joked, “If she’s just beautiful and strong, I already have plenty of brides-to-be who have that covered.”

  Maria giggled. “Hehe. I see what you mean.”

  Rather than Madam Mutsumi, I was more interested in what gifts the remaining five may possess. But if reinforcements were pouring in, there was no need to send troops to Duke Chima’s domain immediately. In which case, my policy had to be...

  I thought for a little while, then told Maria, “I understand. Our country will send reinforcements to the Kingdom of Lastania. I have acquaintances there, so it’s not as though we have no ties to the country. If we still have strength to spare when the problem there is resolved, and if things still aren’t taken care of in the Duchy of Chima at that point, I will have my forces head there as well.”

  Maria smiled softly and bowed her head on the other side of the screen. “Thank you. We will be counting on you.”

  Thus, it was decided that my Kingdom of Friedonia would dispatch troops to the Kingdom of Lastania in the Union of Eastern Nations.

  Once I was sure that the communication with Maria had been terminated, I took a breath and spoke to the person behind me.