Because of the military focus, the people suffered greatly and domestic issues weren’t addressed. Whether or not Lihnea would’ve even been able to win the war was another matter entirely, though.
All in all, Lihnea’s national power was at an all-time low as a result. I hoped that they’d be able to avoid conflict with the Palouf Kingdom, but given that the north had suffered a poor harvest and a few other issues, it didn’t seem like either side was in a condition to fight. They’d likely continue their relative peace for the foreseeable future.
“Still, I wonder if I’ll be able to build friendly relations with the Palouf Kingdom. It may be difficult to heal old wounds, but I think it would be worthwhile.”
“Yeah... Oh, what’s the former king been up to?”
“Father has been spending every waking moment with Mother. He’s basically doting on her in every way he can. I think he’s trying to atone for not being there for her during Wardack’s treachery.” King Cloud was sitting in Brunhild’s conference room, chatting with me.
After the incident, I ended up investigating how the country had received the news, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the people felt pity toward the king for Wardack and Dacia’s deception. They regarded him as an unfortunate man who had been treated cruelly and misled. The king’s image seemed to be well-preserved, and the hatred of the people was more focused on Zabune, Dacia, and Wardack.
Zabune’s hedonistic behavior was also well-known by the people in the castle town, and apparently popular opinion in the country was that Lihnea would meet its end under the reign of King Zabune. When it was revealed that he was an impostor prince, and would be duly punished by the law, the citizens were positively exalted. The hatred for that idiot clearly ran deep.
“So, what happened to those three in the end? Death penalty?”
“No, actually... They were given a much harsher fate. Their victims wouldn’t be able to rest in peace if I’d let them off with something as final as death.”
“...Th-Then what did you do?”
“The slave collars that Zabune had with him, well... I repurposed them. The three of them were fitted as slaves, and sold to a merchant from Sandora. They’re likely laboring under a harsh master by now.” That’s... hardcore.
Apparently Sandora had some pretty heavy excavation going on, and the operation was manned almost entirely by slaves from all over the place. From what I understood, most of those slaves were heinous criminals, forced to work from the crack of dawn until late at night. It was basically like a prisoner’s life, an inescapable hell.
“Zabune never lifted a finger in his life, so I imagine it’s especially bad for him. Still, this was a necessary punishment. If he died without tasting a fraction of what he inflicted on others, the deceased could never be satisfied.” I guess it’s a matter of perspective... whether that’s cruel or generous. On the one hand, it’s hellish labor, but on the other... they’re still alive. It would ultimately come down to personal philosophy.
They were criminals, so it was fair that they experience a portion of the suffering they’d given others. I had no sympathy for them.
“Touya my boy, shall we begin?”
“Oh, right. Sorry, I was thinking a bit.” The king of Belfast cleared his throat and stood from his chair. Looking over the other world leaders gathered in my conference room, he went over the day’s agenda.
“Please raise your hand if you disapprove of the Lihnea Kingdom joining the western alliance.” Not a single representative objected. Belfast, Refreese, Mismede, Regulus, and Ramissh were all in favor. Obviously I didn’t object, either.
“Then we’re all in agreement. Let us welcome Lihnea to our fold.” Cloud, the freshly-crowned king of Lihnea, bowed his head. Everyone gathered around and applauded. His formal induction into the alliance would mean the other members would be able to support him properly. Though obviously nobody expected anyone to go out of their way to support Lihnea.
“Well then... today’s agenda is formally closed, so...”
“We should see about deepening our bonds as rulers, aye!”
“Hoho, I won’t lose this time!”
This again?! Pssh... it’s bad enough once a month, but I wonder if they called the meeting early just to play instead of dealing with the Lihnea situation... Well, maybe it’ll be fun.
I made my way out of the conference room with the king of Mismede and the king of Belfast.
“Touya, lad. Are they at the stadium?”
“...Yeah, but it took a while. Please warn me in advance next time...” I stared at the two and let out a small sigh.
“There’s a match between Mismede and Belfast today, you know? You should come too, young king.”
“Hm? A match? You mean fencing or something along those lines?”
“It’s a baseball match! Never heard of it? Don’t worry, I’ll teach you all about it!” The emperors of Regulus and Refreese both descended on King Cloud like vultures. The pope followed quickly behind them... but I wondered if that was out of concern for Cloud or the game.
When the hell did they even have time to arrange a game? It’s kind of annoying that I had to transport all the players here on short notice... What am I, a goddamn bus?! I was a little miffed, but it was no big deal.
I told the royal knights, and they all seemed pretty eager about it. I wondered if the ones with free time on their hands had already gone to the stadium.
Hm... a baseball match... Wonder if I should whip up some popcorn. Caramel popcorn sounds good right about now... I can probably make a ton at once if I use magic, too. Popcorn’ll make everyone hungry, so I should probably see about getting some beer coolers, t— Hold on... this is getting pretty business-minded...
As I thought about such things on my way to the kitchen, I suddenly heard the pitter-patter of little feet running steadily in my direction. Wait a minute... that noise... “Touuuuyyyyaaaaaa!!!”
“Gwaugh!” As if from nowhere, I was struck with a ferocious side-tackle. O-Ow! That really goddamn hurts.
“Father told me everything, Touya! You beat him... You beat up that wicked old prince just for my sake! Ah, you’re amazing, Touya! Truly astounding! You’re husband material, Touya! I just knew it!”
I had collapsed. The next thing I knew, Sue was cuddling my head. Well... Cloud was the one that beat him up.
“W-Well, I mean... I definitely wouldn’t let an idiot prince like him have you, but I’m not so sure about being husband material...”
“F-Father said you’d approved of me already... A-Am I truly that worthless to you?”
Guh... Please don’t start tearing up like that. If you go on like that, you might end up being one of the nine brides Babylon saw...
Five brides was daunting enough, that was for sure. Though it was true everyone had approved, somehow... Guh... It’s more of a burden than anything!
Sue was definitely cute. She was bursting with energy, and her face was... well, more than pretty enough, to be fair. She was a little bit of an airhead at times, but not in an intolerable way. I was certain that she’d be a great beauty once she finished growing up.
Right now, I can’t view you as anything other than a little sister, Sue... But I mean... I feel like I could end up seeing you like I see the others, given time. No, not could... I probably will. The same thing happened with Yumina, anyway.
“Hic...” Crap! I gotta say something or she’ll start crying!
“...Th-Then... just like the others... I won’t marry you before I turn eighteen. Is that acceptable?”
“Y-Yes... I don’t mind at all. Thank you so much, Touya!” Sue’s tiny arms pulled my head into a warm embrace. ...Well whatever, at least she’s happy.
I clambered back up and took Sue to the kitchen to make some popcorn. In the end, the popcorn and beer ended up being a huge success. I prepared salted popcorn and caramel corn. The former ended up being the best seller initially, but over time the caramel flavor became more popular. I lea
rned that popcorn was a common snack in this world, but caramel flavoring was something new. I was surprised, since it wasn’t like sugar was uncommon here or anything. Felt a little weird, but I rolled with it.
In the beer’s case, I prepared wooden cups, and offered a one-third discount to anyone that brought their own cups. I decided not to use paper or plastic cups because it could’ve caused a surge in litter. Wooden cups were better all-around because you could take them home and reuse them, so there was no waste. Everyone won that way.
It actually went so well that I considered making hamburgers or hotdogs for the next time.
Just as such thoughts were running through my head, Olba appeared as if from nowhere, popcorn in hand and grin plastered on his face. The man’s trading senses were insanely on-point.
He was a proper merchant, and he always sold well, so I had no reason to mistrust him. He wasn’t formally employed by Mismede either, meaning he could do as he pleased.
I wanted to go and see the match itself before negotiating trade, however. I went up to the transparent VIP booth high up in the stands. The leaders of Lihnea, Regulus, Refreese, and Ramissh were already there, chowing down on popcorn no less.
The commander-level knights from every nation were also present, presumably for bodyguard duties. Gaspar, the one-eyed knight from Regulus, was wielding the flaming spear he’d won in the bingo match a while back. Though I’d set it so magic was nullified within the VIP box, so the spear was just a regular spear.
“How’s the game?”
“Ah, Grand Duke! It’s very interesting... I hope that one day, when my country is in a better state, that we might have a national team as well.” Prince, er, King Cloud’s eyes glimmered with excitation and hope.
“I wonder who’ll win...”
“I bet that Mismede will win since they are up 3-2 in the bottom of the 7th inning. Beastmen have exceptional physical prowess, after all. For them, what would normally be a triple would turn in to an in-the-park home run.”
“Don’t underestimate Belfast, my friend. They have that pitcher who is an ace with curveballs. Once he’s on the field, Mismede won’t be able to score again.” The two emperors discussed their opinions on the situation. Belfast needed one more run somehow. While they chatted, Ramissh’s pope sat quietly, chomping her popcorn noisily.
“Ah, Lord Touya...”
“Hey, no need to be so formal, remember?”
“I-I know, but... I can’t simply refer to God’s messenger as a common man, but that aside... This ‘caramel,’ I think you called it? Would it be possible to make it in my country too?”
“Of course. It’s pretty simple, actually. I’ll put the recipe down on paper for you, so just give it to your cook. I made some regular caramel candy in the kitchen a while ago, too. Wanna try some?” I pulled several sheets of the candy out of [Storage] and handed them over. Her Holiness popped a little piece into her mouth, chewed it a little, and adopted an amazed face.
“It’s amazing...! Ah, I know children will just love this. I’d love to have this included in our orphanage care packages...”
“Oh, that’s great. I’ll put down the recipe for this one as well. It’s good to hear it’ll go to needy ki—” At that moment, I felt a gaze upon me from behind. Three gazes, to be exact. Three greedy people...
I gave the caramel over to the emperors and Cloud, as well. They popped it into their mouths at once, and chewed on it happily. I also handed out bits of the candy to all the men on guard duty... Though, that was only because I could feel their gazes forming on me, too.
The match carried on until the ninth inning, three to two all the while. Belfast was at bat, with one out. They had a runner on first base. If they could manage a home run, they could easily make it a comeback win.
Suddenly, some commotion stirred outside the VIP box. The guards were briefly on edge, but they quickly calmed down upon realizing who it was. Laim, my butler, charged up to see us. That he’d come all this way was rare in itself. What was even rarer was the fact that he was running.
“Something going on?”
“S-Sir... the Gate Mirror... from Belfast...!” His breathing was haggard, so he’d clearly ran to the stadium full-sprint. He passed me a piece of parchment, and I hastily opened it up. What I saw shook me to the core.
“This... Oh no!” I tried to use a [Gate] to reach the Belfast bench immediately, but in my haste I forgot that I’d nullified magic in the box. Rushing out into the regular stands, I tried again and moved there immediately.
Standing just like a team manager, side-to-side with his brother, was His Majesty the King of Belfast. He was intensely focused on the game, but quickly snapped out in surprise when he saw me appear out of nowhere.
“Whoa, Touya? Is something going on? You here to fix the game?”
“N-No, not that! L-Labor, Your Majesty!! Labor!”
“Huh? Labor? You mean like, work?”
No, damn it! While His Majesty the King didn’t understand what I was talking about, Duke Ortlinde clearly understood right away.
“Y-Your wife is in labor, is what I’m trying to say, Your Majesty! A message just came through from Belfast! Your child’s coming!”
“Oh, I see. WAIT. WHAT?!” Talk about a slow reaction! I was thinking the baby would be due soon, but this timing is bad!
I sent the flustered king through a [Gate] to Belfast, then told the duke to carry on with the game. The game would end as I expected after two more outs, but that wasn’t important.
Since the queen was already deep into labor, we weren’t allowed inside the room. I could understand why I was forbidden, but ended up being pretty surprised that the king couldn’t go in as well. Keeping the husband out was something I just found confusing. I wondered if it was a royal custom or superstition or something. Either way, it’s not like my presence would help anything.
For the time being, we waited in the room next to the next room. We stayed so far out of consideration for the queen’s voice, but now and then her screams would travel through both rooms and reach our ears...
The king started pacing back and forth, so I briefly left him behind and opened up a [Gate] to call over Yumina and the others. It was the birth of her younger sibling, after all.
Yumina immediately went through to see the queen, as did the rest of my wives-to-be, so really it was just me and the king again after all that.
I couldn’t do anything to help, so I left Kohaku behind in case of an emergency, then briefly returned to Brunhild.
As it turned out, Mismede won the match three to two. I sent back each player and world leader to their respective countries. I was really anxious about the birth, so I decided to return to Belfast right away. I promised I’d send a letter through the Gate Mirror when the child was born.
I went back with Duke Ortlinde and Sue, only to find the king still pacing back and forth.
“It sure takes a while, huh...?”
“Actually, Yumina was born fairly quickly. It’s a case-by-case sort of thing, I think.” Not even an hour had passed, but it felt like an eternity. Every time we heard a pained groan from the queen, I frowned. We men were powerless to prevent her suffering. It was honestly a little disheartening.
I wasn’t so sure I’d be able to endure hearing that if it was the birth of my own child.
Wait, hold on... If what Doctor Babylon said is true, then does that mean I’ll have to experience this kind of anxiety at least nine times?!
“I can’t believe it...” His Majesty the King paced back and forth with little rhyme or reason. I followed him with my eyes, wondering if I’d be in his position before long.
I was wondering how long childbirth lasted on average, but before I could search it on my smartphone, I heard a baby crying from nearby.
With a start, His Majesty charged out of the room. I hastily followed after him.
Still, as it was before, the king was still not permitted access to the birthing room. We waited for someone to c
ome out and tell us the news. After a while, Linze peeked her head out.
“The child has been born. It’s a healthy baby boy. Both the mother and child are well.”
“Wh-What?! A baby boy?! And they’re both okay?!” His Majesty merrily walked over to the door. Duke Ortlinde and I thought it wouldn’t be appropriate to go and see the queen immediately after childbirth, so we waited outside.
“A little boy... that makes him a prince. That means you’ll no longer be in the running to become king of Belfast, Touya... What a shame.”
“Come on now, don’t worry about that at a time like this.” Joking or not, what the duke said actually made me relieved. With the prince’s birth, everything was settled.
After a while the door opened up, and out came the king holding a precious little baby bundled up in white cloth.
“He’s here! The heir to Belfast’s throne!”
“Congratulations, big brother!”
“Congratulations.” The newborn child was wrinkly, kind of like a monkey. He was teeny, that was for sure. Looked fragile enough to break at a single firm touch. Yumina jokingly called me big brother because the little guy was basically my younger brother-in-law. It was kind of weird to consider.
“By the way, Touya. We’d very much like for you to become the boy’s godfather, so... can you think of a good name for him?”
“What, me?!” Strange thing to saddle me with, but I guess I can oblige... Hm... If his older sister is named Yumina, then...
“Yamato... I think that’d be good.”
“Yamato... Hm, yes. Yamato. Yamato Urnes Belfast. A strong name indeed. I like it! Very well, the boy is Yamato. Prince Yamato.” Yumina was just a string of three basic syllables, so I figured Yamato would work just as well. It was a pretty solid name, too. Well... if we took the battleship of the same name, then maybe it’d be more of an ill omen, but... this is a different world, so it’s best not to fret.
His Majesty the King lifted his son high, smiling all the while.
“Whoosh... Woooooh...”
“Waaah!!!” The prince started crying, which made the king freak out and run back into the birthing room. He’s definitely overreacting... It was kinda cute, though. Is this just what people become when they have kids? Children sure are amazing...
In Another World With My Smartphone_Volume 6 Page 9