by Dojyomaru
I took a breath, then loosened the collar on my uniform. I looked at the simple receiver placed in the middle of the room. There I could see Roroa and Chris explaining the plan (the one for public consumption) for this event. They were recording in a separate room, so that their jewel wouldn’t pick up the sound of our broadcast.
“Did the sound from when I riled the men up end up getting broadcast to the people?” I asked.
“Roroa did a good job playing it off with a, ‘Sounds like the soldiers are rarin’ to go!’”
“Well, that’s good. Now... we just wait for the report to be done.”
For this experiment, the Royal Academy had dispatched a large number of researchers who specialized in magic and related fields, and they were positioned all around the area to report on minute fluctuations in magical power.
What songs would affect which magic? I was looking forward to finding out.
“Now then...” Liscia smoothly stood up, and put her rapier on her hip.
“Hold up, Liscia. You can’t be planning to...”
“Aisha’s participating, isn’t she? I have Mother watching Cian and Kazuha back in the castle, so I want in on this, too. Between the pregnancy and birth, I’ve been letting my skills get rusty. If I’m going to be a cool mom, I’ve got to get my combat instincts back.”
“Does a mom need combat instincts...?”
There had been signs that Liscia would be a tough mom, and that was exactly what she was shaping up to be. Well, there was hardly any danger involved this time, so I guess it was fine. She had been spending all her time looking after our kids lately, so I needed to let her spread her wings occasionally.
“Have fun.”
“Thanks, Souma.”
Liscia gave me a kiss, then was out of the room in a flash. She was as brave as ever.
“Now then... I guess I’ll go help Roroa.”
I left the room to attend to my own work.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Juna... Oh, no, Lady Juna.”
With the battle about to start shortly, the lorelei Komari Corda, who was wrapped in a dress of spring colors, struck up a conversation with Juna while they were waiting in the wings of the stage.
Juna, who wore a blue dress, looked very noble and beautiful. Even now that she was married, none of her glimmer had faded.
“Just Juna is fine, Komari,” she said with a smile.
“No, you’re a queen, Lady Juna...”
“It’s really all right. When I’m standing in front of the Jewel Voice Broadcast, I want to be myself.”
“...I understand. Juna.”
Touched by Juna’s soft smile, Komari sensed anew at how great a presence the one they called the Prima Lorelei possessed.
In general, the word lorelei was synonymous with the term idol back on Earth, so Juna, who could no longer be an idol after marrying Souma, was called a singer like Margarita.
However, the people still referred to her not as a singer, but as the Prima Lorelei. As if the words Prima Lorelei had been separated from the concept of what a lorelei was.
The title Prima Lorelei had become Juna’s alone. That showed how great the people’s support for her was, even now.
For Komari, who was referred to as the Post-Juna, her successor, Juna was an ideal she strived toward, but also a great wall she hoped to someday transcend.
That was why she had spoken to her: to convey that resolve.
“I am here because you saw something in me. I couldn’t be more grateful for that. Which is why... I want you to listen to my songs on the opposing team.”
“.........”
In this program, the singers would also be split into two teams, cheering for the attackers and defenders, respectively. In short, they would be competing against one another as well.
Komari was on the attacking side, while Juna was on the defending side. Their voices would collide on the battlefield, and allow the men to fight their hardest.
“I’ll sing with everything I have,” Komari started, placing her hand over her breast. “So that I can pull the music industry as your replacement. So that I can put on a performance that doesn’t make me ashamed to be the one you chose, your successor. I intend to repay that favor by showing you, through this project, just how much I’ve grown.”
“...Is that so?” Juna erased her smile and listened to Komari’s bold proclamation with a serious face. Then, looking her straight in the eye, she said, “I can see your resolve. But there’s one part of what you said that concerns me.”
“...What might that be?”
“That you’re replacing me. Am I already a person of the past to you? Does my marriage to His Majesty somehow decrease my appeal as a singer? Is that, perhaps, what you’re trying to say?”
There was a quiet but intense emotion hidden in those words.
“......!” Intimidated by the air around Juna, Komari gulped.
It was like she was looking at a blue flame. Hot despite looking cold. This dignified air that overwhelmed those who saw her was that of a queen, no matter how Juna might try to deny it.
As Komari stood there speechless, Juna looked to the side. When she did, the air of dignity around her vanished.
What’s going on? Komari wondered as she followed Juna’s line of sight. There she saw Souma talking to Roroa who had just finished presenting. He must have come here when he finished his speech to the soldiers. No sooner had he joined them than...
“Darlin’, I know you just got here, but you’ve got a job to do!”
“...I know, but the schedule’s pretty tight, huh?”
It seemed he would be compiling the reports that came in from around the experiment site. Because Souma’s ability specialized in paperwork, people looked to him to do the work even though he was king.
“Desk work even here, huh? It’s just as tiring as always.”
“Nyahaha, it’d be nice if there were a song that strengthened your magic, though. Know any good ones? Like a labor song for filling out paperwork.”
“Hm... Day-O, maybe?”
“What kinda song’s that?”
“In between the lyrics, there are call and response segments about how they want to go home.”
“Listening to that’d kill your morale...”
...Is being a king that much hard work? Komari was a little weirded out. Then Juna, who had been listening to the two of them, chuckled.
“Um, was there anything in that conversation to laugh at?” Komari asked.
“Don’t you worry. This happens all the time.”
“All the time...?”
“You couldn’t leave him alone, right? That’s exactly why I want to be by his side, supporting him,” Juna said, clasping her hands in front of her chest as if she were singing.
“In meeting him, and meeting all the people around him, I’ve been touched by so many kinds of love. Romantic, parental, familial... It’s an invaluable time, walking with those important to me, and the joy of life itself. Now that I understand that, I can sing even more powerfully than before. About love, dreams, belief, sadness, and the joy of being alive right now.”
They should have been kind words, but they struck deep in Komari’s heart.
This is Juna Souma... she thought. It was a fresh reminder that, even now that her family name had changed, she was still a lorelei loved by the people.
“...Haha! You really are the Prima Lorelei, Juna.”
Komari laughed. It wasn’t a cold laugh, or a laugh of scorn. She was just happy. That Juna, her ideal, and her target, still stood before her as a towering figure.
So she looked Juna straight in the eye, and made a declaration, “Someday, I will transcend you!”
“That’s a wonderful show of resolve. But I won’t clear the way easily, you know? I want you to see me shine. Because we need figures like that.”
“Of course! Now that your shine has grown next to His Majesty, I’ll aim even higher!”
“Hee hee, I’ll look fo
rward to it. Now let’s go.” Juna smiled and extended a hand to her. Komari took it without hesitation.
“Okay! I’ll sing with all my body, all my soul, and all my strength!”
The opening performance of this experiment was a duet by the two loreleis.
◇ ◇ ◇
As the two loreleis sang, the battle began.
They were singing the passionate opening theme of a relatively new robot anime. Pulled along by their voices, the attacking team opened with a strong offensive.
The defending team desperately shot down the fireballs and magic arrows that arched towards them, or deflected them with shields. In the middle of all that, Halbert was just standing on the edge of the wall.
Though he knocked away the occasional attack that came straight at him, from the look on his face, he seemed a bit out of it. What was dominating his head right now wasn’t the battle, but a single woman.
It had happened just yesterday.
“I’m pregnant, you know, Hal.”
His childhood friend who was now his head wife announced in front of Ruby and his parents.
Kaede had seemed a little off recently, but it was apparently because of morning sickness. They had been given a long vacation after their wedding, and used it to travel around to Venetinova and other places, with all three of them making love to their heart’s content, so... Well, it was kind of the obvious outcome.
Naturally, the House of Magna had been turned upside-down by the furor it caused.
His father, Glaive Magna, was overcome with emotion and started slapping Halbert on the back, while his mother, Elba, got teary-eyed as she congratulated her daughter-in-law.
His second wife, Ruby, was as happy for Kaede as she would have been for herself.
Halbert, meanwhile... was so shocked his mind went blank. He’d known this day would come, and even prayed for it too. Yet it was so sudden, he couldn’t process it.
Then, snapped back to his senses by the pain of Glaive continually slapping him on the back, it slowly dawned on him, and the emotion rapidly welled up inside him.
“Aw... yeahhhhhhhh!” Halbert lifted Kaede up and spun her around.
“Whoa! Hold on, Hal?!”
When Souma discovered he was going to be a father in the Republic, he was disappointed that Liscia wasn’t there in front of him. But Kaede was here, right in front of Halbert, and so he hugged her as he burst with joy.
Though, he’d gotten carried away, so...
“““Take care of her!”””
...Ruby and his parents all shouted at him.
For that reason, Kaede wasn’t participating in this mock battle. There were apparently a large number of people who couldn’t participate for similar reasons.
Two months after all those weddings in the capital, there was an epidemic of morning sickness in the newlywed families. It would be followed by a baby boom the next year.
Now, some days later, Halbert was thinking about it with muddled thoughts. I’m... gonna be someone’s old man, huh...?
“You’re too dazed, Hal.”
The next thing he knew, Ruby was standing next to him. Because there were to be no air forces involved in this mock battle, Ruby the red dragon was only allowed to participate in her human form.
This was the first time in a long time that Halbert would be fighting on the ground alone.
Putting her hands on her hip, Ruby shook her head in dismay. “I’m sure this is about Kaede and the baby, right? Well, get your act together. You’re the ace of the defending team.”
“Well, yeah... I know that, but still.”
“Besides, I’m sure Kaede is watching this broadcast while on maternity leave, you know?” Ruby pointed to the broadcast jewels positioned here and there around the battlefield. “Don’t you need to show off how cool you are? Dad?”
“...Darn straight I do.” Halbert readied his spear, and looked down at the soldiers swarming towards the walls below. “I’m not ready to be a dad yet, but I don’t want to let her see me looking uncool!”
“Hee hee, that’s the way to be. You remember your order, right?”
“Of course. You stay on task, too, Ruby.”
This time, their orders from the commander of the defense team, Ludwin, had them acting independently.
They listened, and the music had changed to a firey song by the orpheus unit, Yaiba.
In terms of the anime songs from Souma’s world, this would be the sort of theme used when rising up against a massive enemy and turning things around. The energetic song spurred on the attacking team, and in turn, made it harder for the defending team to act.
That being the case, the defenders had to go on the offense.
Halbert turned around, giving the order to the Dratroopers who were waiting behind him.
“Hit them where it looks like you can push in! Let’s show the people of this country what the Dratroopers can do!”
“““Yeahhhhh!”””
The men’s morale was high. If they stood out here, the girls out there watching the broadcast might squeal over them. It’d give them something to brag about to women in the tavern, too.
These single men who had been forced to watch all of Halbert, Kaede, and Ruby’s flirting were desperate for partners of their own. Even for the one-in-three who was married, their families were sure to be watching the broadcast, so they wanted to stand out, too.
“And... Drop!” On Hal’s order, Ruby and the Dratroopers threw themselves over the edge of the wall. “Ooh, rahhhh!”
“Whoa!”
“Wh-What is with this unit’s strength?!”
Halbert and the Dratroopers were an elite unit, and they went around to places where the defense seemed ready to break, joining the fray and pushing back the attackers.
The song that had been playing up until then stopped, and a new tune began to play.
This time it was an orchestral piece without singing, included in this experiment to help measure the effect of lyrics. Incidentally, because they were looking for battle songs, many of the pieces were game music from Souma’s world.
The one that just ended played in the castle scenes of a game where you explore a cave and collect treasure. This piece, which rearranged the main theme into something with composure and dignity, made the attackers imagine high walls, and highly damaged their morale.
Halbert destroyed a few enemies’ armor with his flaming spears, then let out a sigh. Because he wasn’t allowed to use the Twin Snake Spears that he always trained with, he was using two spears provided for the experiment.
“This is a cinch. If this’s all they’ve got, we’ll be able to defend until time’s—Guh?!”
Before he could finish that line, Halbert got a bad feeling and doubled over backwards. When he felt the wind rush past his nose, a number of the Dratroopers who had been in front of him moments ago were flying through the air.
Halbert continued to do a backwards flip, and when he landed, he saw a person in front of him who had just finished a full swing of her greatsword.
Tch! I have to fight against that again...? Halbert mentally clicked his tongue.
The music had just changed to the sort of thing used to hype the arrival of an invincible general. The defenders, faced with a person wielding a greatsword, cried out despite themselves.
“““I-It’s Lady Aisha!”””
“...Hahh!”
Facing those soldiers, Aisha slammed her greatsword into the ground. In the next instant, a gust arose that blasted more than ten of them into the air, scattering them like leaves.
“Having to use magic with every attack... It’s a troublesome rule, don’t you think?” Aisha sighed as she watched.
Normally, she fought with a style that relied on the weight of her greatsword and the strength which let her swing it about with ease. Though she did attack with magic blades of wind, too, that was only when there was a distance between her and her opponent, so she wasn’t used to fighting while imbuing every a
ttack with magic.
That was because, if she were using her regular greatsword, she didn’t need to imbue it with magic; her blade didn’t even need to be sharp, she would crush her opponents to death with the weight of the thing.
However, she wasn’t using that sword this time; she was using a sword that looked similar on the outside, but was made of wood from the God-Protected Forest. In order to blow them away effectively, she had to use magic.
“This is not a fight I am familiar with, but to answer his majesty’s expectations of me, I—Ah?!”
Kaching! A sound more high-pitched than anything you’d expect from a training weapon echoed. Two spears of flame swung down on her greatsword, which she had instantly used to block the attack from above.
“Today’s the day I stop you, Young Miss Aisha!”
“Sir Halbert, huh!”
In the instant they traded blows, their eyes met and sparks flew between them.
After their momentary encounter, Aisha swung with all her might, and Halbert made a nimble landing meters away. Her usual dumb strength brought a strained smile to Halbert’s face.
“I didn’t expect you to be on the attacking side. Don’t you need to guard the castle where your husband is?”
“I was told to stand on the attacking side to maintain the balance of power. In order to go be with His Majesty, I will slip past you here!”
“You think it’ll be that easy?!”
Their weapons clashed and grinded as they jostled against one another. If it weren’t for magical reinforcement, both of their weapons would have been shattered by now.
“...Are your wives not with you today?”
“Ruby’s here, but elsewhere. Kaede’s on maternity leave.”
“Ohh, she’s with child. I am happy for you.”
“Thanks... Oh, no, I should say ‘Thank you,’ huh?”
“You’re a friend of His Majesty, it is fine to speak like you normally would. I am naturally inclined to be a bit more formal.”
Their conversation was idle chatter, but their arms never stopped swinging their weapons. It was amazing they could keep up a conversation next to that banging noise.
The conflict continued a while before Aisha began to overwhelm Halbert with her natural strength. Now at a disadvantage, Halbert clicked his tongue, “You’ve got the same dumb brute strength as ever...”