How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 4

by Dojyomaru

  He’d said it was dark-type magic, but it could even do stuff like that? Oh, but all that was inherited were the memories, so it wasn’t as if the person’s consciousness returned to the past.

  If those memories were truly being transferred into the past, that should have created a time paradox. Because the Sir Albert sending the memories had no memory of having them sent to him.

  In that case, could it be that Elisha’s power was one that let her intervene in an alternate dimension that was highly similar to her own? Less like the “Life Do-Over Machine” and more like the “What-If Phone Box,” huh? To put it simply, that would mean this world wasn’t the past of the sending world, it was an alternate dimension.

  Though, even if I brought this up, I doubted the two of them would understand. They probably didn’t have a concept of other dimensions to begin with, and I couldn’t exactly say I understood it that well myself.

  Aw, geez, this place wasn’t just a simple world of swords and sorcery? I thought.

  While I was busy being confused, Sir Albert took a sip of his tea and sighed. “Honestly... it must have been hard on the one who sent me the memories, but it’s not easy being the one to receive them. From my perspective, I feel like I’ve lived a life in which I made you my prime minister, acted like a fool, and then turned back time. If I hadn’t heard Elisha’s explanation on the other side, I would have thought time had just turned back. I, myself, haven’t done anything, but the guilt I feel toward you won’t go away. I apologize on behalf of the former me. I’m terribly sorry.” Sir Albert bowed his head deeply.

  “No, apologizing to me doesn’t help... I mean, I have no recollection of any of it...”

  “I know that... This is only for my own self-satisfaction. I want to apologize. Please, let me apologize.”

  “...Well, if that’s how it is...”

  If he said he wanted to apologize, the best thing to do was probably to let him. The situation was well beyond my understanding, so I couldn’t put myself in his shoes.

  Sir Albert looked me straight in the eyes and said, “And so, to keep things from turning out the way they did in my memories, I ceded the throne to you. I believe this should answer your first and third questions.”

  “...I’d have to agree with you,” I said.

  The answer to my first question, “Why did you give your throne to some kid you just met?” was that, actually (though, this wasn’t correct, strictly speaking), it wasn’t the first time we had met.

  The answer to the third, “Why did it take so long for you to meet with me?” was likely that he hadn’t been sure whether or not to reveal the existence of this ability. It might have been because he’d wanted to see for certain that we had reached a different future from the prior world first.

  That left my second question. The issue of Georg’s loyalty...

  “Don’t tell me you told Georg about all this?!” I cried.

  “...I am weak,” said the former king. “I wasn’t strong enough to carry this burden alone.”

  Sir Albert looked out the window. It had started to cloud over a bit. It might start snowing.

  “I couldn’t believe that, with my power alone, I would be able to call forth a different future. I told everything to the one man in this country I could trust, Georg Carmine, and asked for his help. That was why he came up with a plot to exterminate the corrupt nobles who had become your enemies in that time. It was our fault that Castor grew suspicious of you. However, because the plan was already in motion, we couldn’t reveal it, and I apologize for the undue suffering that put you through.”

  That had been... Georg’s reason for the staged treason, then. To have all of my potential opponents taken down in one fell swoop, and for him to fall alongside them. That plan had coincided with the one Hakuya and I had been working on to keep Amidonia under control, which had turned it into a grand stage none of us had expected. It looked like Roroa had been planning her own script of events, too, so it had become a grand stage with many playwrights.

  Those who’d thought they would be making others dance had been forced to dance themselves, and though we’d felt like we were cutting our own paths, we had actually just been walking atop the rails someone else had laid for us.

  “I dunno what to say... It makes me lose confidence in myself,” I admitted.

  “There’s no need for that,” Albert said. “The fact of the matter is, you managed to reach a different future, no? You annexed Amidonia, and you rebuilt this kingdom which was nearing its end into the Kingdom of Friedonia. I can say with confidence that I was not wrong to give the throne to you.”

  “I’m glad to hear you say that and all, but... in the end, where do you think the future changed?” I asked.

  “The very beginning, no doubt. Because, this time, from the very start, you had Liscia by your side.”

  “Liscia?” I asked.

  It was true, Liscia had been supporting me from the very beginning, but why was her name coming up now?

  Here, Sir Albert put on a slightly sad expression. “Liscia was at your side in the future where I made you my prime minister, too. She was serving as Georg’s secretary, so the two of you met through him. In that world, just in this one, Liscia recognized your true talent and fell in love with you. Even when I dismissed you from your post, she came to appeal directly to me to reinstate you. However... that time, I didn’t heed Liscia’s advice. Disappointed, Liscia returned to Randel where you were. To Castle Randel, which the nobles burned to ash. I’m sure she spent her last moments... together with you...”

  Liscia... had died at my side, huh. Now that he mentioned it, he did say that the king of that world had “lost everything.” That had included his own daughter, then.

  “What about the other comrades that I’ve recruited?” I asked.

  “They were never there to begin with. In that world, you never used the Jewel Voice Broadcast. I listened to the voices of those who valued tradition, and I never allowed you to use it. That was why you never gathered personnel, or did the sort of productions that you do now.”

  Working without the Jewel Voice Broadcast, huh... That would have been hard. Now that I thought back, most of the current members of my staff had been gathered through the the Jewel Voice Broadcast. Without the Jewel Voice Broadcast, I wouldn’t have met Aisha, Hakuya, Tomoe, or Poncho. Also, if I had just been the prime minister, I doubted Excel would have dispatched Juna, and I wouldn’t have met Ludwin, Halbert, or Kaede through the military, either.

  That being the case, the Jewel Voice Broadcast was starting to feel like the turning point.

  And the strongest thing pushing me to use the Jewel Voice Broadcast had been Liscia, who’d given legitimacy to the royal title I’d been given. Without that, I might not have been able to shut up the people who were against me using the Jewel Voice Broadcast. When I thought of it that way...

  “...Well, damn. Liscia’s starting to feel like my goddess of victory.”

  “I want you to take good care of her,” Albert told me.

  “Of course.”

  She was a goddess who had never abandoned me, no matter how adverse the situation. If I didn’t treasure her, I was probably in for some serious karmic retribution.

  Sir Albert rose from his seat. “Well, I have told you all I know. Now, my role truly has been played out to the end. The rest... I leave to you and the others.”

  With that said, Sir Albert stood next to Lady Elisha, hugging her around the shoulder.

  “I think we will leave the castle, and live quietly in my old domain in the mountains.”

  I inhaled sharply in surprise. “Why?!”

  “If the old king stays too long, people will begin to get bad ideas,” Albert said. “Now that I have seen the changing future, I will withdraw. This is another thing I had decided on from the very beginning.”

  Here, he wore not the face of an unreliable king, but the eyes of a loving father watching over his children. Those eyes... was he directing the
m at me?

  “You’ve already made up your minds, I see,” I said slowly.

  “I can trust you with both Liscia and this country,” said Albert. “Elisha and I both believe that. I ask you to do this for me, my son.”

  “My son.” When he called me that, I rose from my seat and pounded one fist on my chest.

  “You have my word. Father, Mother, thank you for everything.”

  I bowed my head deeply to Sir Albert and Lady Elisha. Sir Albert nodded when he saw that, while Lady Elisha continued watching with a smile until the end. I bowed one more time, and turned to grasp the handle on the door to leave... then stopped.

  “I have just one last thing to ask.”

  “What?” said Albert.

  “In the world where I became the prime minister, were our bodies ever found?”

  “...No. As I told you, they were reduced to ash. Nothing was ever found.”

  I see. They’d never found the bodies, huh. Well, then...

  “In that case, Liscia and I might have still been alive.”

  “What?!”

  I smiled as Sir Albert’s eyes opened wide in surprise. “If I were alone, I might have died. But Liscia was there, too, right? If the me from that world cared for Liscia as much as I do here, he would never have let her die. When danger closed in on them, I’m sure he would have taken Liscia and fled, not caring what people would say about them. It’s possible they were struck down by enemy soldiers in the attempt, but in that case, there would have been bodies. If you’re telling me there were none, I’d say that means they got away.”

  Perhaps Georg had been using himself as a decoy to buy them time. Though this was probably on the same level as believing in the theory that Yoshitsune had survived. But, what did it matter? If it would help my father-in-law to assuage his guilt even a little.

  “...Thank you, son-in-law.”

  I heard those quiet words behind me as I turned to leave the room.

  “What are you doing here?”

  I was on the terrace of the governmental affairs office, looking out on the castle town at night, when Liscia came out with a blanket.

  “I’m surprised you knew to find me here,” I said.

  “Hakuya told me where you were,” she said. “Everyone’s in a frenzy trying to get things together for the singing contest, you know?”

  “...Sorry. Let me stay here a little longer.”

  “Geez... In that case, try wearing something a little warmer,” Liscia said, then threw the blanket she was carrying over me, sliding underneath it herself, too. The warmth of her body touching mine felt very comforting. “Whew... It sure is cold out at this time of night.”

  “Well, yeah, it’s winter.”

  “Ah! It’s snowing!” she cried.

  “Whoa. You’re right.” I noticed there were snowflakes falling here and there. Even though I could still see the moon off in the distant sky.

  It started as powder snow, but gradually gave way to larger snowflakes.

  The lights of the town and snow on a moonlit night. It was like a scene out of fantasy.

  “It’s pretty,” Liscia murmured, standing next to me.

  “...Well, damn. Liscia’s starting to feel like my goddess of victory.”

  The words I had said then came back to me.

  When I looked at Liscia, staring entranced up into the snowy sky, I couldn’t just stay put any longer. I got out from under the blanket, then hugged Liscia, blanket and all.

  “Wha, Souma?!” Liscia cried out in surprise. I didn’t let that stop me from holding her all the tighter.

  “...The truth is...”

  It was cold out, but for some reason my entire body felt hot. I could see my breath, but my face was burning. I might even have been crying.

  “The truth is, this is something... I really ought to have told you before Aisha, before Juna, and before Roroa...”

  She was silent, questioningly.

  “Liscia... I love you. Please, marry me.”

  Liscia was dumbstruck by my sudden proposal.

  “...It sure took you long enough to say it,” Liscia said, then gave me a shy smile that made me feel ticklish. Then, gently pushing me away, she put her hands on my chest and stood on her tip toes. As the blanket fluttered to the ground, Liscia’s face slowly approached mine. “I love you, too, Souma. I hope we can be together forever...”

  Our lips intertwined.

  The clock passed midnight, and it became the 32nd day of the 12th month, New Year’s Eve.

  We stayed that way for a while, listening to the approaching footsteps of a new year.

  Midword

  To everyone who bought volume four of Realist Hero, thank you very much. This is Dojyomaru, having just the other day finally updated my Ichitaro word processor to the newest version. Thank you for everything, 2006 version...

  For this afterword—or midword, rather—I was given three pages. This volume marks the end of the first part of Realist Hero, so I secured the extra space because there’s a lot I wanted to say.

  In terms of the story, this volume concludes the calendar year 1546 CC, the year in which Souma was summoned. It may seem strange to say this myself, but the composition of this story is pretty strange. The first volume is all internal politics, the second volume is all war, the third is the post-war process, while volume four is the continuation of that process and resolution to the remaining problems.

  I think you’ll understand, now that I’ve put it that way, but volumes one through four of this series form one larger story. It was written as one long serialization online.

  Basically, I’ve spent one volume on each of the four stages of the ki-sho-ten-ketsu (introduction-development-twist-conclusion) structure. That was why the foreshadowing often stretched across volumes. The intentions of the three dukes become apparent in the second volume, the intention of the Empire in the third, and the reason why the throne was given to Souma back at the very beginning in this fourth. That’s the sort of thing that brings reviewers to tears, huh? I think it makes coming up with an opinion on each volume very difficult.

  I spent a decade sending my work in to newcomers’ awards and failing to win them. If I had sent a book with this composition to a newcomers’ award contest, I doubt it would have passed the first screening. If I’d sent one volume’s worth, it would have just been an incomplete manuscript. If I’d sent it all in, I would have gotten screened out by one of the contest criteria (word limit), and they wouldn’t have even looked at it. I’m kind of amazed it’s been able to see print myself.

  I think a large part of why I have been able to get this novel printed was because it was a web novel.

  I was able to write what I wanted, without having to worry about word counts, and there were readers out there who would read the long text. Thanks to that environment existing, the story was able to be well rated, and I was approached by a publisher. People often point to the benefits of advance advertising and rankings, but I think this may be where the true value of releasing as a web novel lies.

  I couldn’t be more grateful to the old home of this novel on the web, the people who followed the web novel version there, as well as those who are still following the ongoing serialization on Pixiv. Thank you all very much.

  Now, on that note, I’ll talk about this novel, which has reached a good breaking point. For me, I had been thinking of this volume as a sort of cancellation line. That is to say, if I could just make it this far, then even if the series was canceled, I would at least have something worthwhile to show for it. That’s because, in the web version, this is where the title changes from How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom to How a Realist Hero Redeveloped the Kingdom. It looks like I’ll be able to keep writing, though, so I’m relieved to hear that.

  By the way, because I’m told a title change after only a few volumes would cause confusion, the plan is for the next volume to be How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom V.

  ...Though the rebuilding is pret
ty much done at this point, you know.

  Still, there are a lot of long-running programs that have titles that don’t really match what they do anymore, aren’t there? Like a certain show that hardly ever talks about law, but still has Consultation Office in its title, or that show that went to the ends of the world, then stopped doing quizzes, but still has the Q in its title. While taking advantage of the same jinx used by those long-running programs, I hope I’ll be able to keep writing for the time being.

  Now then, if you’re wondering why we have a “Midword” this time, that’s because there’s another short story after this. People who have been following me from the web novel days might recognize it. This short story that takes place after the end of volume 4, on New Year’s Eve, was posted not as part of the main text, but through my activity updates. It was in the middle of this story that I announced the series would be getting a print edition, too.

  I liked the fluffy feeling of that short story, and I wanted to fit it in somehow, but it felt slightly redundant after the conclusion to this volume, so I decided to mark an end to things with this Midword, and then include it as a sort of bonus.

  I do hope you’ll stick with me until the end.

  Now, I give my usual thanks to Fuyuyuki, who draws the illustrations, my former editor, who I congratulate on being promoted to assistant chief editor, my new editor, who will be looking after me from here on, the designers, the proofreaders, and everyone who now holds this book in their hands.

  This has been Dojyomaru.

  Bonus Story: The Beginning of 1547, Continental Calendar

  —Just past 11:00 PM, 32nd Day, 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Souma’s Room

  The spur-of-the-moment project that was the “First Friedonia Kouhaku Year-end Song Festival” had, partially due to it being the first time it was held, had a shortage of singers and ended at 7:00 PM after only three hours.

  The cleaning was now done, and the five of us, Liscia, Aisha, Juna, Roroa, and I, were in my room relaxing at the kotatsu. We had been up nearly all night the night before working (though we had taken naps somewhere in the middle), so everyone was as tired as you might expect.