by Dojyomaru
Finally, Souma closed out his Jewel Voice Broadcast with the following words: “Now then, O gifted ones, come shake my hand in the capital, Parnam.”
Liscia glared reproachfully at him after the broadcast ended. “What was with that last line?” she demanded.
“Just going with the flow,” Souma said with a laugh.
Now, how will the people react? Will the people he wants come? she wondered. Here’s hoping lots of people come...
◇ ◇ ◇
In history, there are some scenes which are easily dramatized by later generations. There are some conditions for this:
First, it must be the turning point of an era.
Second, it must have a certain flair when dramatized.
These are the two conditions.
In the Sengoku Period, it would be the scene where Oda Nobunaga performs part of the Noh play Atsumori before the Battle of Okehazama.
In Romance of the Three Kingdoms, it would be the scene where Liu Bei recruits Zhuge Liang after paying three personal visits to him.
In Roman history, it would be the scene where Caesar says “The die is cast,” as he crosses the Rubicon.
Then, if one were to ask which scene from the era in which the throne was abdicated to Souma was most often dramatized in later years, the answer would likely be this gathering of capable people.
Before Souma, who had sought those with gifts, five gifted young people were summoned. Of them, the king would welcome just one with wholehearted joy.
Seen from Souma’s perspective, this was one of his greatest accomplishments. From one other person’s perspective, it was the turning point in the Cinderella story of their life. And from the perspective of “one who watched that scene through eyes unlike those of others,” it was to become “the turning point of an era.”
Yes. In this scene, there were three main characters.
◇ ◇ ◇
I had worried about how many people would come, but the response was far greater than I had anticipated. Not placing any limits on the type of gift and offering a cash prize had probably helped.
Now the capital was packed so full of people, we’d had to place restrictions on the number of people allowed access to the palace. The situation was so overwhelming that the officials, including Marx, had been running around like mad since morning.
It felt to me like way too many people had turned up, but apparently, since I had put out such a wide call, the masses had rushed to the capital to see what kind of people would catch the king’s attention.
When people move, things move, too.
Merchants who sensed a business opportunity had gathered to set up shop, so the castle town looked like there was a festival going on. It was an unexpected shot in the arm for our economy, but, at the same time, it also meant more work for the officials.
Now, as for the all-important recruitment drive, the response to that was massive, as well.
A multitude of diverse gifts, some immediately useful, some of no apparent use at all upon first glance, were on display at the judging station. There, five officials judged whether the participants’ gifts were unique. If they were acknowledged to be, prize money was awarded, no matter what that gift was. Liscia and I were in a separate room, reading the reports from the judges and picking out any people we liked.
There really were a lot of applicants, but that also meant a considerable amount of overlap in their gifts. The competition was particularly fierce for the “Gift of Martial Ability,” “Gift of Talent,” and “Gift of Beauty,” so they were deciding on a number one for each category at another site.
At each of these sites, named “Best in the Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament,” “Kingdom of Talent,” and “Elfrieden Pretty Girl Grand Prix,” spectators enjoyed watching the proceedings.
...By the way, after this, by request of the merchant’s guild, these tournaments became a yearly event in the capital Parnam and attracted a large number of tourists.
Also, the Elfrieden Pretty Girl Grand Prix invited rumors that it was actually being held by the king to choose his mistresses. As a result, all of the nobles who wanted to tie their own lines to the royal family sent their relatives to participate, but that’s not relevant at the moment, so I’ll skip over it. Though, when Liscia heard the rumors, I did get some cold looks for it later...
The judging process had originally been planned to last for one day, but instead it lasted for three. Those with gifts that made me think, “This is what I’m looking for” were brought before me on the fourth day.
I was seated on the throne, with Liscia standing at my side. (Technically, while we were betrothed, the marriage hadn’t been held yet, so she wasn’t allowed to touch the queen’s throne.) One step down from us, Prime Minister Marx stood to the right of us, Captain of the Royal Guard Ludwin to the left.
By the way, we had hauled the jewel from the Jewel Voice Room into the throne room, so this scene was being broadcast around the kingdom.
Five young people were brought before us:
One had silver hair and elven ears, a girl who looked like a warrior with some muscle showing through her brown skin.
One wore a black robe which covered his whole body, a thin young man with a somehow listless look on his face.
One looked distinguished, but in a different way from Liscia, a beautiful blue-haired girl with a gentle air about her.
One had little fox ears sprouting from her head, a rustic-looking girl of around ten.
And, finally, one was a fat middle-aged man drenched in sweat.
“Your Majesty. The many gifted people of this country who came in response to your summons have been recorded in a ledger. These people here are those possessed of especially rare gifts.”
When Marx said this, the fat man prostrated himself before me, jumping to do so with the speed of a grasshopper. The blue-haired pretty girl did the same, her every move filled with grace, and the fox-eared little girl awkwardly followed suit. The black-robed young man watched them all sleepily, prostrating himself before me last.
The elf-eared girl remained standing. Everyone present was shocked.
“You are before the king. Will you not prostrate yourself?” Ludwin cautioned her in a quiet but forceful voice.
The elf-eared girl seemed not to care. More than that, she looked me in the eye and said this:
“I ask your forbearance, as this is the custom of my tribe. The warriors of my tribe do not lower their head before any but their master. And, for our women, to not lower your head before any but your husband is proof of your chastity.”
“Still...” Ludwin argued.
“I don’t mind.” I held up a hand to stop Ludwin from arguing with her. “We’re the ones asking them to help the country. There’s no need to be so uptight.”
“...As you wish, Your Majesty,” Ludwin said, backing down easily.
...He did that knowing what would happen, I’ll bet. He acted in a way that keeps people from taking us lightly, while still showing how tolerant the king is. He’s an impressive actor. In that case, I’ll have to live up to expectations and play the tolerant king.
I rose from the throne and turned to face them.
“Please, do not prostrate yourselves before me. It is I who am in the position of asking you for a favor. Do not stand on ceremony. Go ahead and be at ease.”
The four of them rose quietly. I looked to Marx, indicating that he should continue.
Marx nodded, beginning to read from some sort of scroll. “We will now announce the gifts held by these individuals and carry out the awarding of prizes! Madam Aisha Udgard, dark elf from the God-Protected Forest, step forward!”
“Yes, sir!”
This time, the elf-eared girl meekly obeyed.
She looked less than twenty years old, but I had heard dark elves remained youthful for a long time, so their appearance and age didn’t match. She had brown skin and an attractive silver ponytail. Wearing chest armor and gauntlets, she was d
ressed like a warrior. Her slender legs peeked out through the slit in her waist cloth. They were moderately muscular and looked quite healthy.
Dark elves, I thought. One of the minority races of Elfrieden, they are a race with a high-level of combat ability. Instead of cities, they reside in the God-Protected Forest and are granted autonomy as protectors of the forest. They have a strong sense of racial unity and reject outsiders... huh.
While acting like nothing was out of the ordinary, I manipulated the gloves I had left imbued with my consciousness in the other room to flip through the Elfrieden Children’s Encyclopedia (since it was aimed at children, the entries were short, which made it useful when looking up information quickly) to read the article on dark elves.
The dark elves in this country weren’t fallen elves that had lost the blessing of the gods, like you might see in a lot of fantasy settings. It seemed it was just that the pale-skinned blonde elves were called “light elves,” and the brown-skinned, silver-haired elves were called “dark elves” to distinguish between the two.
“This one has shown herself to be remarkably gifted with martial ability. She was the winner of the Best in the Kingdom Martial Arts Tournament. That achievement shows she truly is fit to be called the greatest in this kingdom, and for this, we praise her!” Marx declared.
Huh, so she’s the winner of that martial arts tournament. She must be pretty tough, then. There was just one thing that concerned me. “I put out a call for capable people who will help the kingdom, but will you help me when the time comes? I’ve read that dark elves are loyal only to their own kind.”
“...It is no longer an era where we can survive just by protecting our forests. If this country falls, the forest will be threatened. Some feel that we dark elves need to change. I am one of them,” Aisha said clearly.
“Well... That’s a rather liberal statement for one from such a conservative race,” I said.
“True, I am seen as a heretic. However, if we don’t do something... King Souma?”
“Yes?”
“I do not need the prize money. Instead, I ask you to allow me to address you directly.”
The hall was abuzz. Aisha was trying to make a direct appeal to the king. Even in Japan, there was a time when that would have been a capital crime. It seemed this country was no different.
Liscia and Ludwin’s hands went to their swords, but I motioned for them to stop.
“I will allow it. Say what you will.”
“Souma?! That’s not—!”
“She was ready to risk a lot to say this to me. As king, I should hear her out.”
“Thank you. I will speak, then.” Aisha puffed out her chest with pride and spoke. “Recently, there have been a large number of incursions into the God-Protected Forest by other races. They harvest mushrooms and other edible wild plants, hunting down the forest beasts. I understand that you have a food crisis; however, if you steal these things from us, we will be the ones who starve! We have had no choice but to take up arms against the intruders. Even now, there are clashes taking place throughout the forest. King Souma, please, crack down on the offenders!”
“I see...”
Basically, she wants me to forbid the people who are going without food from hunting or harvesting wild plants in the forest. When there’s a food crisis, if you go to an area where distribution is limited, the crisis is even deeper there. If there just so happens to be a forest with plentiful resources nearby, I guess they might enter it even in the face of dark elf attacks.
“Sure, you’ve got it. In regards to the God-Protected Forest, there are already laws restricting entrance, so I can’t issue a new ban, but I’ll see to it that food aid reaches the people in the vicinity at once. If, even after that, there are still those trying to enter the God-Protected Forest, we will recognize them as poachers and prosecute them.”
“Thank you. You have my gratitude.”
With those words, in place of bowing, Aisha brought her hand to her chest and closed her eyes. I wasn’t sure if that was a gesture of gratitude or just a pose showing relief at accomplishing her task.
“Still, Aisha, poaching is an unspeakable crime, but if we think about the future, would it not be wise to consider trade with those outside the forest? Aren’t there things in the outside world that draw your interest?” I asked.
“Well, yes, but... We have no likely trade goods.”
“Hmm... What about lumber? Don’t you have some from periodic thinning?”
Living in a forest, they must have had more wood than they knew what to do with. In the outside world, on the other hand, demand for it was high. It ought to make a decent trade good... That was what I thought, but...
“Periodic thinning... What might that be?” Aisha asked with a serious look on her face, and I couldn’t help but be dumbstruck for a moment.
Huh? Don’t tell me they don’t do periodic forest thinning in this world?
“I’m referring to the periodic felling of a set number of trees in order to maintain the forest...”
As I said this, I glanced to Liscia, Marx and Ludwin, but all of them shook their heads. Apparently, this was the first they’d ever heard of it. It was the same with Aisha.
“To protect the forest... you cut down trees?”
“Of course. If you leave trees alone, they just keep getting bigger, and their leaves and branches spread out. If they block out the sunlight, young trees can’t grow. Besides, if they’re growing too densely, it impacts their lifespan, so you end up with with nothing but old trees that are thin and weak, like beansprouts. That sort of beansprout forest is easily be destroyed by snow and wind. On top of that, if the sun doesn’t reach the undergrowth, it all dries up. That causes the land to lose its ability to hold water, which can be a cause of landslides. This is all common knowledge... right?”
Looking around me, it was like seeing a collection of bobbleheads that could only shake their heads left and right.
Aisha suddenly prostrated herself before me. “King Souma... no, Your Majesty!”
“Wh-What?!”
“I humbly beg your forgiveness for my earlier rudeness!”
“Uh, I didn’t even care, but... Wait, is it okay for you to lower your head like that?”
“I do not mind! Because, from this very moment, I pledge to serve you loyally for the rest of my life!”
Whoa, whoa, hold on. What’s going on here...?
“Use my life however you will! My body, my heart, my chastity, I offer to you! If you tell me to fight, I will fight! If you tell me to love you, I will love you! If you tell me to become your concubine or slave, I will do it! If you tell me to die, I will die!”
“Where did this crazy loyalty come from?! What happened in the last few minutes?!”
“However, before you order me to die, I ask you heed my final request!”
“Huh? You’re ignoring me?! You’re totally ignoring me?!”
“Please, as soon as possible, come to the God-Protected Forest!” Then she slammed her head firmly against the floor once more.
At this point, even Liscia was thoroughly taken aback.
...That self-harming kowtow is practically a threat...
“Okay, let’s hear your story,” I said. “Basically, you want to bring me to the God-Protected Forest, right?”
“That is precisely it! And, at the God-Protected Forest, please teach us this ‘periodic thinning’! In recent years, the God-Protected Forest has been facing exactly the issues you just spoke of, sire! Where the trees are dense, they become thin and weak, young trees don’t grow, the water is muddy, and when wind or heavy storms come through, they strip the land bare. With your words, I have at last learned the cause!”
“The God-Protected Forest has a history stretching back thousands of years, doesn’t it? Nobody noticed this before?” I asked, only for Liscia and Aisha to ashamedly nod.
“The trees in the God-Protected Forest are long-lived to begin with,” Aisha said. “That is why, up unt
il now when they’re reaching the end of their life cycle, nobody noticed...”
“That’s right...” Liscia said. “This isn’t just their problem. We don’t do periodic thinning in Elfrieden’s mountains either, so the situation may be the same everywhere.”
“Well, anywhere they don’t rely too heavily on the forest should be fine. When the old trees fall, new ones grow in anyway. Even if a natural disaster wipes out a beansprout forest, it will recover in ten years or so. Nature works in cycles like that, after all.”
“Wouldn’t that be devastating to the dark elves of the God-Protected Forest?” Liscia asked.
...I’ll bet it probably would. They live in the forest itself, after all. If the forest disappears, we’ll have ourselves an instant set of refugees. I don’t need any more refugees, so I’d better act quickly.
“I understand. Let’s head to the God-Protected Forest at some point in the near future.”
“Ohhhh! Thank you, sire!” Aisha cried.
“However, when I come, you’ll have to permit the entry of a certain number of people. It looks like forestry management is going to be a task for the entire country. I’ll take this opportunity to hold some classes on how to establish the forest industry.”
“As you wish, sire,” she said.
“Good. Ludwin.”
“Sir.”
“It sounds like she wants to serve me, so I’d like you to see what Aisha is capable of. We know her martial prowess as an individual, but whether she can become a general and lead troops remains an open question. If she has the potential, I will make her the general of an army. If not, I will hire her as my personal bodyguard.”
“Yes, sir. I understand.”
Much later, after testing her, Ludwin would tell me, “She does have potential as a general. However, her ability as an individual fighter is greater, and it would be a waste to use her as a general.” She was the convenient Lu Bu type, apparently, the kind of fighter who could act as a general, but could also be sent in alone to wreak havoc. From then on, I would keep Aisha at my side as a bodyguard.