by Dojyomaru
“...Right,” I said slowly.
I dunno. I felt like I had been the future balance of power between the two of us get decided right there.
Liscia had shown so much spirit. I couldn’t keep pathetically waffling any longer.
I walked over to Aisha. Aisha, the fearless warrior of the battlefield, had eyes that were trembling with uncertainty.
Oh, geez, don’t look at me like that, I silently pleaded.
“Aisha,” I said.
“Y-Yes!”
“So... will you marry me?”
She inhaled sharply. “Yes! It would be my pleasure!”
I refrained from any quips about how her response made her sound like a server responding to orders at a Japanese-style pub. My face was burning with embarrassment.
In among all the smiles, I could see Sir Wodan’s face dripping with all the complicated feelings of being a father.
I said to him, using not the tone I would usually use as king, but a tone used towards those above you, “...This is how it turned out. I’ll come to formally give you my regards at a later date, Father.”
“Yes,” he said, smiling. “I will be waiting. Son.”
Thus, Aisha became my second fiancée.
With a second primary queen chosen...
“Finally, that’s one less burden on my mind,” Marx said with an expression of relief. Marx had felt a sense of crisis about the shortage of royals brought on by the succession crisis after the reign of the king before the last one. That was why, with my formal marriage to Liscia not having taken place yet, he was constantly badgering me, “Get more wives, make more babies.” He didn’t even seem to care if they were conceived out of wedlock.
That aside... what was I going to do with the kochiji title I’d come up with now? I couldn’t very well make one of my queens act like a personal bodyguard.
When I said that to Aisha, though...
“Leave it to me! Even if I become your wife, I will always protect you, sire!” Aisha declared with a broad smile, so I ended up letting her keep it.
For me, I knew Aisha was tough, so I figured it was all good, but the previously-elated Marx was immediately holding his head in his hands. I wanted to put the Second Primary Queen he had finally managed to get into a position that was synonymous with danger. I had to feel bad for the guy, only having new things to worry about.
Juna watched all of this with a slightly lonely smile on her face, but none of us realized it at the time.
...Juna. You...
With the exception of Excel.
With the very eventful reward for Wodan out of the way, it was finally Juna’s turn.
I offered her some words of commendation, then asked, “Is there anything you want of me?”
Of course, I knew what Juna’s response would be. She would likely ask that all of her achievements be counted as her grandmother, Excel’s. If Excel wanted to save Castor and Carla, she needed to have as much merit to her name as possible. This was the gentle Juna. I was sure she’d do it out of consideration for Excel.
Juna looked me straight in the eye and opened her mouth, “Your Majesty, I ask that all of my...”
“May I have a word,” Excel cut her off before she could finish speaking. “Forgive my sudden interruption. I would like permission to speak.”
“Hm? ...Granted,” I said.
“Thank you.” Excel bowed and began to speak slowly. “As you are aware, Your Highness, Juna Doma is my granddaughter. However, Juna’s father, my son, has been married into the Doma family of merchants in Lagoon City. In other words, Juna is a commoner.”
I had heard that when Juna had disclosed her ties to Excel to me. However, why was she bringing up Juna’s low status now?
Excel continued. “I gave her a rank in the military because she is my granddaughter, but that doesn’t change the fact that Juna is the child of a common family. She has no connection to the doings of any noble house.”
“...What are you getting at, Duchess?” I asked.
Excel turned not to me, but to Juna. “I am sure you mean to use your achievements for my benefit, but that will not be necessary.”
“But, Grandmother...”
Excel silently shook her head. “It’s fine. You have nothing to do with the House of Vargas You mustn’t use your achievements for people you’ve never met. Use them for your own sake.”
“Grandmother...”
“I can’t sacrifice my granddaughter’s happiness for the sake of my son-in-law and my other granddaughter,” said Excel. “You don’t have to worry about us. You should have your own wish granted.”
As Excel turned her gentle gaze on her, Juna lowered her eyes and seemed to struggle internally for a moment. When she finally raised her eyes, she stepped forward and kneeled.
“Your Majesty. I have a request.”
“...What might that be?” I asked.
“If it is at all possible, then like Aisha... I wish to continue singing at your side.”
Could she mean... No, there was no doubt about it, Juna meant for me to take her as my bride, too.
“Sire,” Marx said gleefully, “if you take Juna Doma, it will be as a secondary queen. If you wish to take her as a primary queen, you will need to have her adopted into a noble or knightly family first.”
He must have been more than happy to have another candidate for the position of queen appear. When I looked to Liscia, she nodded, accepting it.
But...
“I’m sorry, that’s not possible.” I gave a clear refusal.
Liscia’s eyes went wide, while Excel asked “Why...?” looking at me pleadingly. Juna continued to look down at the floor, so I couldn’t see her face.
The air in the room grew heavy, but... I hoped they’d wait to hear everything I had to say.
“I can’t do that now,” I said. “You’re the central pillar of Project Lorelei, the project to create a music program using the Jewel Voice Broadcast. You are the Prima Lorelei. You’re popular with the people, too. What do you think would happen if I announced you and I were getting engaged? There’d be riots.”
When I said it that way, everyone seemed satisfied with that explanation. It was fresh in their memories that the Congress of the People had sent petitions saying, “Show more of Juna on the Jewel Voice Broadcast.”
It was common for flame wars to break out on an idol’s blog if she was discovered to have a lover in my old world, but in the current situation, I worried Parnam itself might get torched. The Kingdom would be burning with jealousy... Yeah, not a funny joke.
That was why I said, “Could you wait, just for a little while?”
Juna gasped.
When Juna raised her face, I thought, Well, this is awkward, as I told her, “I need your strength as the Prima Lorelei for producing our broadcast programs. That’s why, for now, I’m asking you to stay the people’s songstress. When more songstresses have gathered, and we have trained enough people that can keep the program on course, I swear, I will take you then.”
When I said that, Juna rubbed the tears from her eyes. “I’ll wait longingly for that day, sire.”
When she spoke those words, she wore the smile of a pure, innocent young girl.
Intermission 2: What the Black-Robed Prime Minister was Doing Then
That day, when Souma the provisional King of Elfrieden welcomed new candidates to be his queen, there were two people in other places holding talks over the Jewel Voice Broadcast.
Elfrieden’s Prime Minister Hakuya Kwonmin was speaking to the image of the younger sister of Empress Maria of the Gran Chaos Empire, Jeanne Euphoria, projected by the simple receiver on a desk.
“Your signal is clear,” said Hakuya. “It looks like the simple receiver you sent us is in good working order. Thank you very much, Madam Jeanne, for going out of your way to have it delivered by griffon.”
“My sister understood how important the hotline Sir Souma was talking about establishing will be,” Jeanne said. “With t
his, the Kingdom and Empire can coordinate as need be. It’s only natural we would hurry to get things in place.”
The Jeanne on the screen smiled broadly.
After the conference with Amidonia, Jeanne had reported back to her sister, Empress Maria, about Souma’s proposals: A secret alliance with the Elfrieden Kingdom, establishing a hotline between the two countries, and the exchange of plenipotentiary ambassadors from each country, as well as the establishment of embassies for them to be stationed at.
Hakuya had assumed that Maria wouldn’t refuse these ideas, and, as he’d expected, Maria had gladly approved all of them. In fact, she had even rolled around in bed laughing as she did.
“I’ve never seen my sister like that,” Jeanne said. “She must have been very pleased.”
“Pleased...?” Hakuya asked.
“To find someone who shares her values... a person who understands her, if you will,” said Jeanne. “There aren’t many of them inside the Empire. People who are able to understand my sister, that is.”
“I see.”
Geographically they were west and east, ideologically they were an idealist and a realist, and yet Maria and Souma, who appeared to be polar opposites, understood one another.
That might be interesting, thought Hakuya.
“With a response like that, I want to arrange for my sister and Sir Souma to be able to talk over the broadcast as soon as possible,” said Jeanne.
“They’re both very busy people at the moment, and it’s hard to make their schedules agree,” Hakuya said. “When things eventually settle down, let’s arrange a time for them to talk.”
“Yes, absolutely.”
After that, they made small talk (Including venting their frustrations about their respective leaders) for a little while, then Jeanne said, “By the way, there’s been something bothering me for a while now. I see many books behind you there, Sir Hakuya. Where are you now?”
“...Oh, these are books we have on loan from Amidonia as collateral against the war reparations,” he replied. “There are a good number of them that I want to have copies made of before they have to be returned. I was working on categorizing them until just a little while ago.”
“The Prime Minister himself is sorting them?” Jeanne asked in surprise.
“Of course, I have people to help, but it’s something of a hobby of mine,” said Hakuya. “I actually like to sort books. I divide them into categories, line them up in order, sometimes flipping through one that catches my attention, then derive pleasure from looking at the well-ordered bookshelf when my work is complete. Books are human wisdom. The progress of a country. When I think of them arranged before me on a shelf, available for me to read whenever I please...”
When she saw Hakuya wax eloquent about books, Jeanne’s eyes opened wide.
If you mentioned the name Hakuya, the pride of the kingdom, the Black-robed Prime Minister, he was famous as one of the geniuses discovered by Souma, the man who had used his trickery to make sport of Gaius VIII of the Principality of Amidonia.
Having met him herself, Jeanne had had an impression of him as a clever individual. However, when Hakuya spoke about books, his eyes were those of a young boy. That gap made Jeanne’s heart skip a beat.
“...I take it you like books?” Jeanne asked.
Hakuya came back to his senses. He quickly regained his usual clever expression, but the tips of his ears were a little red. “...Pardon me. I can get carried away when it comes to books, you see...”
“Hee hee. I feel like I’ve seen an unexpected side of you...”
“Is it that unexpected?” Hakuya asked. “I think I would make a better librarian than a Prime Minister, personally.”
The reason Hakuya had received an audience with Souma to begin with was that his uncle had said, “At your age, you need to stop sitting around doing nothing but read books. Go do something useful to society!” and entered him into the If You Have a Gift event’s Gift of Wisdom section without asking for permission.
He had won that competition, and when he’d had his audience with Souma, he had been charmed by the young king. Thinking that, just maybe, Souma could get this country that was on the verge of failing back on its feet, Hakuya had given up being a bookworm and volunteered his services, only to find that at some point he had become the Prime Minister.
The truth of the matter was, while Hakuya did want to support Souma’s reign, he had meant to do it as an advisor to Souma and the then-Prime Minister Marx. However, that Marx had gone and recommended him as a better Prime Minister than himself. Thanks to that, Hakuya couldn’t read the books he wanted to, and his days had become very busy.
“Hmm... Then if we were to arrange a post for you as Chief Librarian of the Imperial Archives, would you come to our country?” Jeanne asked. “I imagine our archives have a more extensive collection of books than the kingdom’s.”
“Ahh. That is an alluring proposal, yes.”
“But you can’t do it?” Jeanne asked.
“Had you asked me before I volunteered my services, I’m sure I would have jumped at the offer without a moment’s hesitation,” he said.
Nowadays, Hakuya thought these busy days weren’t so bad. There had been a time when, for Hakuya, history was a thing to be found in books. However, now he felt it was a thing that they themselves would make. When he was serving under Souma, the one trying to push this country forward, he felt like he himself was one of the characters in history. It wasn’t a bad feeling.
“But now, I wish to move forward into a new era alongside His Majesty and the others,” he continued. “Then, once I raise my successor, I hope to become a historian and record what happened in these times.”
“A comfortable retirement, huh...” Jeanne said. “That may be a luxury in the times we live in.”
She was most likely right. The times were too hard to allow for an easy retirement.
The threat of the Demon Lord’s Domain was slowly encroaching from the north, and various countries were forging alliances to advance their own goals, or opposing one another. For Hakuya to have his quiet retirement, all of that would have to be resolved. As for whether that was possible, even with all of Hakuya’s wisdom, he couldn’t see the answer to that.
“Well then, I will be looking forward to our next talk, Sir Hakuya,” she said.
“Yes. Let’s speak again sometime, Madam Jeanne.”
The transmission cut out on Jeanne’s side.
Whew... Hakuya exhaled, then rose to his feet. He reached out to the pile of Amidonian books.
These precious books had been paid no attention while they were in Amidonia, and were now sorely in need of repair. If Hakuya hadn’t taken custody of them, some of these books might have been lost forever.
With a sigh, Hakuya reached out and picked up one book. As soon as he did...
“Prime Minister.”
There was a man in black clothes kneeling in one corner of the room. There was a black cloth wrapped around his face as well, and he looked like he was melting into the darkness of the closed off, dimly lit room.
Hakuya asked the man, “How are the preparations?”
“They proceed apace. However...” The man seemed to hesitate.
Hakuya furrowed his brow. “Did something happen?”
“The thing is... I feel as though things are going entirely too well,” said the man. “Almost as if there was the will of another actor in play here...”
“I see...”
Hakuya dismissed the man, then flipped through the book he had picked up.
When he had taken the books in Amidonia’s archives as collateral against the war reparations, Hakuya had had a certain expectation. He had expected there would be family registers and materials regarding rights and ownership. Those sorts of writings tended to be in the archives in a nation’s capital, after all. To have those books in hand was to grasp the heart of the nation itself.
When he’d advised Souma to take the books as collateral
, it had been because the Amidonian royal family was more inclined towards military matters, and he’d hoped they wouldn’t realize the importance of them. However, contrary to Hakuya’s expectations, there was only one book of that variety in the collection he’d seized.
That book, the one Hakuya held now, was on the recent genealogy of the royal family of Amidonia. When he flipped through it, there was a folded piece of paper stuck between the last page and the cover.
When Hakuya unfolded the piece of paper, he saw there was a drawing of a small animal with black circles around its eyes holding down one of its eyelids as it stuck its tongue out at him.
When he saw that, Hakuya blinked a few times, then chuckled to himself. “I see. There would have to be someone like this in Amidonia, yes.”
“What is it, teacher?” a sudden voice asked.
Hakuya turned and saw Tomoe there, looking at him blankly. He was embarrassed to have been caught with his guard down, and he cleared his throat loudly to mask it.
“Why, little sister, I’m sorry I didn’t notice you there.”
“No, I just got here,” Tomoe said. “I came in because it seemed like you were done talking. You looked like you were having fun, right? What were you looking at?”
“Oh, this?” Hakuya showed Tomoe a picture with a little animal drawn on it.
Tomoe held the piece of paper up to her face, then held it at a distance, then held it up to the ceiling to look at it, before finally tilting her head to the side. “Was this animal what you found so funny? I’ll admit it’s cute.”
“It’s a drawing of an animal called a bronze raccoon.” Taking the piece of paper back, Hakuya patted Tomoe on the head and said, “They are commonly said to play tricks on people.”
Chapter 8: Crime and Punishment
Early in the 11th month, 1546th year, Continental Calendar - Midnight
It happened in the domain of a certain noble within the Elfrieden Kingdom.
In the manor of the important noble who was lord of that domain, twelve shadowy figures were holding a secret meeting in the darkness.