How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 5

by Dojyomaru

  “Ha ha ha,” Souji laughed. “Good for you. Let’s drink again sometime.”

  He parted ways with the old man, and before he made it another ten steps, an old lady in fine clothing called out to him. “What, you still haven’t been fired yet? I don’t know why Lady Lunaria would go and make someone like you a bishop...”

  “Hey, I thought I heard someone being nasty, but it’s just you, Granny,” Souji bantered back. “You’re still kicking? You sure Lady Lunaria isn’t trying to tell you not to stay away from her?”

  “Hmph! If I die before you, you’re going to pray for me, right?” she shot back. “If an awful monk like you is the one saying my prayers, I’ll get lost on my way to the realm of the dead! I don’t want that!”

  “Ha ha ha. Well, live as long as you can then, you old bag.”

  They were saying horrible things to each other, but they were both so animated. It was the sort of conversation they could have because they knew one another so well.

  Next, a woman in highly revealing clothes called out to him. “Sou, baby, you haven’t been coming out to play lately. The girls at the shop have missed you, you know?”

  “Right, I’ll drop in next time I get the chance,” Souji promised.

  “You say that, but I’ve been hearing rumors that you’ve found a special someone.”

  “Heh, you think any woman’d come near me with this head of mine?” When he said that and slapped the top of his smooth, tanned head, everyone nearby erupted in laughter.

  He was treated as a nuisance in the main church, but here in the pleasure quarter, Souji was a popular guy.

  While walking through the pleasure quarter like that, Souji suddenly came to a halt. Then, turning around, he spoke in the direction of a dark alley.

  “Why don’t you just come out and show yourself already? I’m not into having guys follow me around.”

  When he did, a man who was posing as a pilgrim with his whole body covered by a dirt-covered hooded cape stepped out of the darkness. His face was covered by the hood, but the pointed nose of what looked to be a male beastman was visible from beneath it.

  The man bowed to Souji without pulling back his hood. “My pardons for that. When did you notice?”

  “You’ve been following me since I entered the pleasure quarter, haven’t you? I’m a former adventurer, and detecting enemies was one of my roles in the party. I’m sensitive to the presences of others.”

  “What is a man like you doing as a bishop?” the hooded beastman asked.

  “I messed up in a dungeon one time and got hurt badly. It was in this country, and while I was helping out the old bishop who took care of me... It just sort of happened naturally. I built a connection with the believers then, and I’ve kept it up ever since the old man passed away.”

  “I see...” The hooded man nodded in satisfaction, then walked toward Souji. Then, putting a hand in his pocket, he tried to pull something out.

  Souji readied himself, thinking it was a weapon, but he was less tense once he saw the proffered item. The man held an expensive bottle of wine.

  “I would like to share a drink with you. Somewhere quiet, if possible.”

  “...Hmm.”

  The man didn’t seem to be an assassin sent by one of the higher-ups in the church who wanted to get rid of him, so Souji let his guard down. There weren’t many beastmen in this country. If he wasn’t an assassin hired by the church, this man likely came from another country. What business could a foreigner have with him?

  Souji laughed. “Well, you wanna come back to my place, then?”

  The hooded man said, “Yes, certainly.”

  And so, the two of them walked through the marketplace at night together.

  Souji lived in a ramshackle house on the edge of Yumuen.

  When they entered the dark room with no one else in it, the hooded man’s nose twitched. “This smell is...”

  “Does it stink?” Souji asked with a laugh as he lit the candles. “I’m a man living on my own, so sorry about that. Well, just try to put up with it.”

  “No, I think the place is well kept.”

  In fact, for someone of Souji’s lighthearted and open-minded personality, the room was meticulously clean. There was no trash left lying about, and no dust piled up in the corners, either. What caught the man’s attention more than that was...

  “Is this smell... medicine?”

  When the hooded man pointed it out, Souji stopped laughing. He stared at the man for a while, then, as if giving up, he shrugged. “You’ve got a good nose on you.”

  “We beastmen do have quite sharp noses when compared with humans, yes.” The man pulled back his hood to reveal the face of a wolf. He bowed his head. “I am known as Inugami. It is a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

  Souji brought a hand to his chin and asked, “I don’t mind us becoming acquainted, but... is that your real name?”

  “As you have inferred, the name is an alias.”

  “Of course it is. If a guy’s gotta hide his identity to sneak into the country, there’s no way he could honestly give me his real name, now is there?”

  Even as he said that, Souji was getting things ready so that they could drink. On a narrow table, he laid out two glasses, along with bread and cheese. The two men sat across from one another at the table, and started with an easygoing toast.

  Souji poured the contents of the bottle he’d gotten from Inugami into the glasses, and sipping away at it a little at a time, he asked, “So, where are you from?”

  “Elfrieden... though I suppose I should say the Kingdom of Friedonia now.”

  “The place with a hero from another world as its king, huh?”

  Serving as a bishop in a closed-off environment like the church tended to make one a little ignorant of happening in the outside world, but even Souji had heard rumors about the Hero King of Elfrieden. He had been ceded the throne immediately after he was summoned, then he’d pulled the Elfrieden Kingdom out of its gradual decline, eliminated threats to his rule by both internal and external actors, and now he had even annexed the Principality of Amidonia, turning his country into a powerhouse that could even stand up to the Empire.

  Even just hearing this much, they seemed like the accomplishments of a man of many talents, but little was ever actually said about King Souma’s personal contribution to all of it. In other countries, all they heard about were the Silver Captain of the Royal Guard and the Red-haired Strike Force Captain from the military, the Black-robed Prime Minister and Lord Ishizuka the God of Food from the bureaucracy, and all the other people doing great things around him.

  If they could have seen the Jewel Voice Broadcasts, things might have been different, but the only achievement of King Souma’s that was spoken of in other countries was his having the wisdom to hire these men. That was why Souji didn’t know how to judge the hero king.

  “The country itself seems to be prospering, but what kind of guy is your king?” Souji asked.

  “Well... I do not really understand him myself.”

  “Oh, come on...”

  “His martial abilities are no different from those of the common people,” said Inugami. “Even with training, he would only be at the level of a rank and file soldier. In terms of his ability to command, he leaves that to his subordinates, so I couldn’t say. He seems to have a good degree of ingenuity, but he uses it for creating new systems for the country, and to do other things that are not immediately noticeable.”

  “He doesn’t sound that great to me,” Souji said.

  Inugami grinned. “However, if I can say one thing about him, it would be that, without fail, those who underestimate His Majesty always seem to find themselves led by the nose into a nasty situation. Even the saint of Lunarian Orthdoxy was no exception.”

  “A saint? Did one of the higher-ups do something?”

  Inugami told Souji about what had just happened.

  He mentioned that the Orthodox Papal State had offered the Kingd
om of Friedonia a deal where they would name King Souma a “holy king” in exchange for making Lunarian Orthodoxy their state religion. Because of the danger of them inciting followers of Lunarian Orthodoxy in the country to rebel, the kingdom had found itself in a position where it would be difficult to refuse.

  In response to this situation, King Souma had declined to be named holy king, and had chosen to recognize Lunarian Orthodoxy as a “state religion.” Then Souma had addressed all religions in the country, notifying them of his intention that “Every religion which registers and passes an investigation by the country will be recognized as a state religion,” thereby declaring that religions operating in the country would be under his management in the future.

  Souji was a little taken aback at first, but he soon let out an enthusiastic laugh. “Ha ha ha, good for him! The higher-ups’ scheming sure went awry there!”

  In a way, he was laughing off the way his compatriots had been beaten. Then, after draining the rest of his glass, he put it down on the table.

  “Hmm... But will the higher-ups really stay quiet after that? Those guys’re persistent. Even if it’s bought you some time for now, they’ll come up with a new move soon enough, don’t you think?”

  “Yes,” said Inugami. “That was something that His Majesty was also concerned about. That brings us to this.” He pulled a letter from his pocket and offered it to Souji. “That is a letter addressed to you from Prime Minister Hakuya.”

  “To me?”

  “If you read it, I believe you will understand why, but our prime minister wishes for you to come to the kingdom and become the bishop who manages the Orthodox believers there.”

  “Me as the kingdom’s bishop...” When Souji skimmed through the letter, he found more or less the same thing that Inugami had said written out in polite wording. He finished reading the letter and put it down on the table. “That makes sense. In other words... by putting a corrupt person like me as your bishop, you want to sever the followers of Lunarian Orthodoxy in the kingdom from those in the Orthodox Papal State proper.”

  When the Orthodox Papal State gave directions to their followers in other countries, they first went through the local bishop who represented the believers in that country. From there, that bishop would convey the homeland’s directions to the individual churches throughout the country. So, if the kingdom could fill that bishop’s seat with a person who was not-so-loyal to their homeland and the main church, one who could be easily won over to their side, it would be possible to shut out any directives from the homeland.

  I see. They’ve thought this out well, Souji thought.

  “Was this the king’s plan? Or the prime minister’s?” he asked.

  “It was the prime minister’s plan to invite you, Sir Souji.”

  “I see. They’re both crafty... No, they’re total fraudsters, aren’t they?”

  Souji crossed his arms and thought about it.

  It’s true, there’s probably no one out there who fits their criteria better than I do. I hear rumors Cardinal Gold will finally be getting expelled soon, too. If that greedy cardinal goes down, I just know the court of inquiry will take that as their cue to censure me. When that happens, it’ll be time to pay the piper. So it’s not a bad time for me to be getting out of the country... Still, though...

  Souji had one concern. “What happens if I refuse?”

  “I find this hard to say, but it would be unwise,” Inugami said. “We have already had the saint communicate our desire to take custody of you to the upper echelons of the Orthodox Papal State. I am sure those in charge here will have no desire to see you placed as the representative of Lunarian Orthodoxy for all who live in the kingdom, so...”

  “...I’m in danger, then.” Souji sighed at Inugami’s observation. “Well, shoot. I never had a choice to begin with, did I?”

  “I am sorry,” Inugami said. “However, if you will agree to it, we will escort you safely to the kingdom, ensuring you are not harmed in the slightest.”

  “That’s not the problem...” Souji scratched hard at the back of his bald head. After thinking for a while, he looked Inugami straight in the eye as if he had made a decision, then asked him something. “I seem to recall you saying King Souma is crazy about collecting talented personnel, right?”

  “I would have to take issue with you calling him crazy,” Inugami told him. “Is it not the natural duty of any ruler to search far and wide for excellent personnel to serve under them?”

  “Ohhh, sorry if I offended you there. I didn’t mean to insult your king. It’s just... I wanted to check if King Souma will really hire excellent personnel. No matter who that person happens to be, if they have some gift, will he put it to good use?”

  When Souji asked him this with a seriousness that seemed unlike him based on their interaction up until this point, Inugami thought about it as he answered.

  “Well... this is only my personal view, but I do believe His Majesty makes his decisions based on whether the person does or does not have some gift. He is not fixated on race, age, gender, history, or physical appearance, and looks to draw talent from a wide range of people.”

  “Really? Would that hold true even for someone declared a ‘witch’ by Lunarian Orthodoxy?”

  “A witch?” Inugami repeated the ominous-sounding word with a questioning look.

  The door suddenly flew open. When Inugami turned around, there stood a woman wearing a brightly colored cloth draped over her head.

  Wearing plain clothes with a beautiful cloth draped over one’s head was the mark of a prostitute in this country. It had started with prostitutes covering their faces with cloth to prevent them from being seen as they entered a man’s home, but once vanity had been added into the mix, they’d begun wearing more vibrant pieces of cloth.

  When the woman who came in noticed Inugami’s presence, she said, “You were in the middle of talking, I see. I apologize for my rudeness.”

  She bowed her head, then went to leave at once.

  Souji stopped her before she could go. “Hold on, Merula. You don’t need to worry about this guy. He’s fine.”

  The woman stopped, then slowly turned. “...Is he really?”

  “Yeah. If anything, he’s on the side of people fighting this country.”

  The prostitute looked taken aback. “You’re supposed to be a bishop of this country, Souji...”

  Why are you drinking with a man like that? the woman seemed to say as she slumped her shoulders. Then she walked over to the table and sat down in an empty chair. While Inugami was still confused, she took off her cloth. When she did...

  “Wha?!” Inugami shouted.

  From beneath the cloth appeared a beautiful twenty-something woman with white skin so pale as to be translucent, golden hair, and pointed ears.

  Those pointed ears were the mark of an elf. In addition to them, there was another thing that stood out about her: Her eyes were ruby red.

  “A high elf... No, it can’t be! Is she really one?” Inugami gasped.

  Deep crimson eyes were characteristic of the high elves. Elves and dark elves had a dislike for contact with other races, but in multi-racial states like the Kingdom of Friedonia, there were individuals who lived mixed in with the other races. Some of those individuals even married members of other races and had children. Souma’s chamberlain Marx was a half-elf who’d been born to parents who were a light elf and a human.

  However, high elves were even more extreme in their hatred for having contact with other races. Because of that, the high elves were only found in their own country, the Spirit Kingdom of Garlan, which was situated on two islands, one large and one small, to the northwest of the continent, and which other races were barred from entering.

  The high elves also engaged in their own unique form of spirit worship, which made them the ones who had the least to do with a theocracy like the Orthodox Papal State of Lunaria.

  That was exactly what made Inugami so shocked. He couldn’t believe th
at here, in a country that was the center of a different faith, he was seeing a high elf dressed in the guise of a prostitute.

  When he saw Inugami at a loss for words, Souji smiled wryly and plopped his hand down on top of the high elf’s head. “Allow me to introduce her. This is Merula Merlin. As you’ve already noticed, she’s a high elf. I know she doesn’t look it, but she’s an old woman who’s lived twice as long as me, so be careful.”

  “How rude,” said Merula indignantly. “For a high elf, being one hundred years old is the same as being just under twenty for a human, you know? In the Spirit Kingdom, if I told people I was a hundred years old, they wouldn’t treat me as anything more than a kid.”

  She then began to converse naturally with Souji.

  “Um... what sort of relationship do the two of you have?” the still-bewildered Inugami managed to squeeze in.

  Merula and Souji looked at one another.

  “What are we...? Housemates, maybe?” Merula asked.

  “No, no, I’m the owner of the house,” said Souji. “I’m acting as your guardian here, okay?”

  “Hold on! Who looks after whom here?! If I don’t clean up after you, you leave things everywhere!” Merula shouted.

  “You’re just too sensitive about that stuff!”

  The two of them launched into something like a fight between a middle-aged couple.

  Inugami squeezed his temples, then sought an explanation. “Um, could I ask you start from the beginning... and explain what a high elf like Madam Merula is doing here?”

  “Hm? Oh, sorry, sorry.” When Souji calmed down, he crossed his arms and looked to Merula. “Do you mind if I explain?”

  “Hm... Please do.”

  And so, with Merula’s permission, Souji began to tell her story.

  ◇　◇　◇

  Merula the high elf had been born around one hundred years ago in the country of the high elves, the Spirit Kingdom of Garlan. The Demon Lord’s Domain hadn’t appeared yet at the time, so the high elves had defended the two islands that made up their Spirit Kingdom of Garlan, one big and one small, and lived without contact with the other races.