How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 11 (Premium)

by Dojyomaru

Colbert, meanwhile, slumped his shoulders in exhaustion. “Handling the funding and arranging things with the loreleis was exhausting. I had to place guards along the parade route, and set up areas for them to prepare.”

  “Ohh... Yeah, that was rough on me, too.”

  I had to make documents, and keep on stamping them... I feel like I worked pretty hard myself.

  As we both sighed, Roroa slapped me hard on the back. “What’re you lookin’ so glum for? It’s a festival! You’ve gotta enjoy it.”

  “Hee hee, she’s right. I know half the reason we’re here is official business, but it’s like a day off, so why don’t you enjoy it as much as those two over there?”

  Liscia was pointing at Naden and Aisha, who were enjoying the sweets (which had been tested for poison) that the staff here had prepared for us.

  “After I saw Tomoe and her friends eating here, I wanted to try it, too.”

  “I do enjoy your homemade sweets, sire, but the sort of stylish sweets that are sold in restaurants are nice, too... Munch, munch.”

  The two of them were smacking their lips at the mountain of cakes and puddings before them. ...Well, they seemed to be enjoying themselves, so I guess I could leave them be. Then...

  “Um, sire. Was it all right for me not to take part in the parade?” Juna asked, looking a little restless.

  “Did you want to participate after all?”

  “Yes... I do somewhat feel that way,” she answered embarrassedly. “It was an opportunity for my songs to be of use to you, so it was a little disappointing... Oh! But I enjoy relaxing here with everyone, too, of course.” Juna smiled softly.

  Though she was the first secondary queen of this nation, she was also the people’s Prima Lorelei. If she couldn’t take part in an event that involved singing, she must have felt like a diver in front of a clear sea, but didn’t have their diving equipment. There was a reason for it, but she still felt a little bad about not being part of the event nonetheless.

  “I’m sorry. This is an experimental event, so I couldn’t be sure how the people would react to it. I was too scared to let you join in...”

  I had the sense that, with the way the people of this country were now, it would be fine. But if I trusted them implicitly, I would be starting from behind if something happened, and might respond too late. If I thought of the potential tragedy that might occur... I had no choice but to be careful.

  Juna brought a hand to her chest. “Don’t make that face. I trust in your decisions, sire.”

  “Juna...”

  “Hey, could you two stop ignorin’ the rest of us and goin’ off into your own romantic little world?!”

  ““Whoa!””

  Roroa suddenly jumped on me from behind, causing me to stumble, nearly taking Juna down with me. I managed to avoid falling over, but Roroa and Juna shrieked as I ended up spinning them both around.

  “What’re you doing, geez,” Liscia said in exasperation. “But more importantly, Souma, isn’t it time you told us what the intent behind this plan is?”

  “Oh, right. But rather than have me explain, it might be faster if you were to look at that.”

  Having regained my balance, and with Roroa still on my back, I pointed to the fountain in the distance. In the sky above the bonfire-lit fountain plaza, there was an image of Nanna, Pamille, and Komari projected.

  ◇ ◇ ◇

  “Oh! Looks like they’re here!” Tomoe, who was watching the parade, shouted.

  The costumed band and performers had entertained the people so far, but now an even greater roar of applause came from the crowd. The line of floats that were the main attraction of the parade were here.

  One of these floats, which were pulled by rhinosauruses, had the loreleis Nanna, Pamille, and Komari aboard, and another had the male idol unit, the orpheuses, Yaiba. Each of them was engulfed in the screams of their respective male or female fans.

  “Hey, people! Are you feeling energetic?!”

  The cat girl, Nanna, who was wearing a black tube top and hot pants together with bat wings and a pointed tail, shouted to the crowd. That outfit, which accentuated her healthy body more than her sexiness, made her look like a genuine little devil.

  Then, wearing a head protector that looked like the one Hal had, along with a Japanese-style dress similar to the ones that his first wife Kaede wore, Komari stepped forward, dressed forward in an oni costume.

  “Tonight, let us show you a song that will make both the living and dead dance like mad.”

  “Heheh, hear my song, and be cursed.”

  Rather than her usual frilly dress, Pamille was wearing a black gothic lolita style outfit, along with bandages, and an eye patch... In some ways, she might have been the one we’d stuffed the most character elements onto this time.

  The members of Yaiba were dressed as Dracula, the wolf man, and Frankenstein’s monster, only modified to be cooler, and their female fans were squealing.

  “Oh, hey, it’s the loreleis. They’re lookin’ mighty cute, huh?” Lucy said to herself when she saw them.

  “Certainly. Even though their costumes are modeled on monsters, they are still adorable.”

  “Bat wings and horns would usually be creepy, but when they’re just one part of the whole, I feel like they actually accentuate the loreleis’ cuteness.”

  Velza and Ichiha agreed.

  “Hrmm,” Yuriga groaned. “Is it like how, if you eat something salty in between sweets, they taste better?”

  “I don’t know about that analogy... but I feel like you’re right.”

  Yuriga’s unflattering explanation made Ichiha smile wryly.

  The monsters look cute... Tomoe looked at the loreleis standing up on top of the float. They’re dressed like monsters, but no one minds, they’re just enjoying it, and calling them “Cool” or “Cute.” Maybe that’s what Big Brother is after? Tomoe thought that to herself as she watched the lively parade.

  “Squeeeee!”

  “““““Huh?!”””””

  There was a sudden loud squeal from next to them. Tomoe and the others turned to look, and Velza’s eyes were sparkling as she waved her hand wildly. This was so far from the usual, cool Velza, Tomoe and the rest just kept blinking.

  With no regard for their eyes on her, Velza shouted, “Lord Haaaal! Over heeeere!”

  They followed Velza’s gaze, and there, on the other side of the floats, a massive red dragon was trudging along on four legs. And there on top of it was a soldier with an oni head protector on.

  “Is that Hal and Ruby?”

  “Isn’t that the red dragon knight who fought alongside my brother, Fuuga?”

  While Tomoe and Yuriga cocked their heads to the side in shared confusion, Halbert took notice of them. He hopped down off Ruby’s back and walked over in their direction.

  “Hey, Velza. And Young Miss Tomoe, too. Were you all watching together?”

  “Yes, Lord Hal!” Velza responded with an energy that made Tomoe and the rest think, Is this girl really Velza?

  “Oh, yeah?” Halbert plopped his hand down on top of her head. “I’m glad to see you’ve made some friends.”

  “Yes! But why are you in the parade, Lord Hal?”

  “Oh... Souma said, ‘You’re the Red Oni, so you can join the Ghost Festival as is,’ and forced me into it. That’s how Ruby and I got put on display in this freak show.” Halbert scratched his cheek, seeming a bit embarrassed.

  “You’re not freaks! You’re cool, Lord Hal!”

  “Hahaha, thanks.” He patted Velza’s head vigorously.

  “Hal... It’s time to get back to it,” Ruby called to Hal telepathically.

  “Whoops, gotta rejoin the procession.” Halbert turned around to head back. “Later, Velza. Enjoy the festival.”

  “Bye-bye, Velza.”

  “Okay! Lord Hal, Lady Ruby!”

  Velza waved her hand wildly as she saw Hal and Ruby off. Once they were gone, and Velza turned around, only to be met by blank stares fr
om Tomoe and the rest, she finally realized. Velza coughed and cleared her throat.

  “...I apologize. That was unseemly of me.”

  “Uh, no, it’s too late to try and keep up appearances now.”

  Yuriga’s calm retort made Velza turn red. Then it clicked for Tomoe.

  “Wait, could it be that the person you were saying you want to serve is Hal?”

  “...D-Did you figure that out?”

  “If you’re actin’ that different around him, who wouldn’t?” Lucy chimed in, and Ichiha followed up with, “I-I think it was cute, and very appropriate for a girl your age.”

  Velza covered her face with her hands. “I had tried to act aloof and keep it hidden, but it came out so easily.”

  “Nyahaha, you’re so cute, Velie.”

  Tomoe and the rest just chuckled as Lucy poked Velza in the cheek, who smiled shyly at their reactions.

  It was a night during summer break. The children enjoyed the festival to their heart’s content.

  Epilogue: Intentions

  At the same time, in the fruit parlor at The Cat’s Tree.

  “The important thing was to have the loreleis dress up like that,” I explained, pointing to the loreleis reflected in the distance. “We talked about how mankind may have been created earlier, right? Well, just like there are beastmen, dragonewts, elves, and a variety of other races on the side of mankind, demons may be another race created by someone, one that mankind simply hadn’t encountered before.”

  “Now that you bring it up, we did talk about that,” Liscia said as if she had just remembered, and I nodded.

  “Someday, when mankind re-encounters the demons, how strong a sense of taboo we feel towards them, and, conversely, how willing we are to accept them will decide whether the negotiations succeed or fail. Appearances will be one of the big things. I’m sad to say it, but first impressions mean a lot to people.”

  “My first impression of you was ‘An exhausted young man.’ You even had bags under your eyes.”

  “...Well, that’s an impression from external appearances, too, right?”

  It told me that bags under a person’s eyes left a strong impression on Liscia.

  “Since coming to this world, I’ve been surprised by the many races I’ve encountered, since humans were the only intelligent lifeforms in my old world. But I got used to the way other races looked relatively quickly. As for why that is... it’s because I was used to seeing them.”

  “Used to seeing them? But there were only humans, right?”

  “Yeah. In the real world, sure. But in the worlds of stories, there were lots of different races.”

  I imagined the residents of fictional worlds.

  “The was a hero show with a protagonist who had a lion’s head like Georg. There was an adventure story with an elf like Aisha as the heroine. And even more stories with characters like Tomoe, who had animal ears and tails, than there were stars in the sky.”

  I stuck the wolf ear headband I had with me on Liscia’s head before continuing, “There were a lot of accessories like these for ‘roleplaying,’ too. If you went to a place that sold fashion accessories, or to that gigantic leisure facility that was like a land of dreams, you could buy them easily.”

  “Land of dreams?”

  “Oh, don’t get caught up on that. It could land us in trouble, in a lot of ways.”

  “Huh? Uh, sure.”

  The wolf ears slid when Liscia nodded, so I poked them.

  “That’s why, even when I actually met beastmen, or any other race that looked different from my own, I just thought, ‘They’re like something out of a story.’ Thanks to that, I got by without developing any weird prejudices. So... I wanted the people of this country to get used to seeing demons.”

  Those outfits the loreleis wore were made based on eyewitness reports that were left in the empire. The incursion into the Demon Lord’s Domain by the combined forces of mankind led by the Empire ten years ago.

  The forces of mankind were met with an attack (counterattack?) by the demons who lived deep inside the Demon Lord’s Domain, and wiped out, so they definitely encountered demons then. I suspected that, in the Empire which led the war, there would still be eyewitness reports of the demons from survivors. That’s why, on that day, I explained the situation to Empress Maria of the Empire, and asked her to tell me if there were any remaining descriptions of the demons’ physical traits. Maria agreed with my thinking, and provided the information.

  The result was that, in addition to kobolds, there was an ogre-like race with horns on their foreheads, and a devil or vampire-like race with bat wings. There were also reports of “ones that looked like giant suits of full-mail armor,” but I couldn’t trust the veracity of these, so I set them aside for the time being. Regardless, I now knew the general features of the demons.

  “Beings that look like ogres and devils are a source of fear for people in this world. In the Republic, I saw gorilla-like ogres attacking people myself. Those ones lacked intelligence, but they were pretty scary. The reason we gave Hal that oni headband, and people carve devil faces on their shields is because of the preconception that they’re scary, right?”

  “Yeah.” Liscia nodded. “That kind of equipment exists to intimidate the enemy.”

  There were things like onigawara back in my old world, too.

  “I want the people in this country to adopt a different set of values. Look, isn’t Nanna’s little devil costume cute?”

  “Sure. I bet it’d fit Roroa nicely.”

  “Nyaha! You want me to try puttin’ it on for you some time, Darlin’?” Roroa poked her own cheek and smiled. They were right, it would look good on her.

  “Let’s, uh, set that aside for now. I was thinking that if people see devilish looks or oni horns as just another fashion accessory, then maybe if they show up on someone they meet in the future, it won’t feel as wrong to them. This is preparing for that.”

  “Ohh, so that’s why you asked me not to participate,” Juna clapped her hands together as she got it.

  I had thought it was risky to dress one of my queens up in a monster costume, so I had her sit this one out. Once the fashion was more established, and the Ghost Festival was an annual event, it would be fine for her to join in.

  “I want to see the people’s reactions first, and if they’re all right, I’d like you to participate next year.”

  “I like it. I want to wear an outfit like that, too,” Juna said with a happy smile.

  ...If Juna wore something like that, she’d come off less like a little devil, and more like a succubus, wouldn’t she? Just the thought of it was, um... Yeah, pretty awesome.

  While I was thinking about that with a wry smile, Liscia got a dubious look on her face and asked me, “Do you think making people look at demons as fashionable is going to be able to eliminate prejudice?”

  “...I don’t think we can get rid of it entirely.” I shrugged. I knew things probably wouldn’t go that well. “In the world I came from, we only had humans, but there was still discrimination and conflict there. Human history is a story of people finding differences between themselves and others to fight over, then reconcile, and then do the same thing all over again. So, I want to shorten the time it takes to reconcile, even if we do end up in a conflict.”

  The tragedy of ten years ago could only have ended with the annihilation of one side or the other. Mankind couldn’t tell demons from monsters, and wasn’t thinking of the possibility of dialogue. Maybe things were similar on the demons’ side, too.

  I heard somewhere that war is one means of diplomacy. If you go into a war with no means of negotiation, all that’s left is the dirty act of killing one another. Even if it comes to conflict, we must never stop looking for common ground. In order to find that, we must know all we can about the other side.

  “I’m hoping this project will help with that.”

  “I get how you feel, but... don’t you think that only a small number of the people
will understand it? Even I didn’t get it until you explained that was what the project was about.” Liscia’s frank opinion made me smile a little.

  “That’s fine. I mean, it’s just annoying when those on top try to force their values on you.” I put my hands on the terrace railing and looked out over the capital. “Soft power, the power of culture, works little by little without you noticing it. Even if they don’t understand, it’s fine if they sense it somehow. So...”

  Let them just enjoy it for now. When I imagined the innocent smiles of Tomoe and her friends enjoying the Ghost Festival in the castle town, I thought that with all my heart.

  Afterword

  Thank you for purchasing the eleventh volume of Realist Hero. This is Dojyomaru, who is slightly relieved to see the afterword in its proper place.

  This volume is mainly about the kids, Tomoe, Ichiha, and Yuriga, going to school. They’re joined by Velza, who has appeared occasionally since the first volume, and a new character, Lucy, who is like a mini-Roroa. Regardless of whether or not it will be depicted in the story, I’m sure Tomoe and her friends will have a great time at school.

  If I were to discuss one alternative possibility here, it was possible that Souma might have gone to school instead.

  At the end of volume five, it was mentioned that one option that Hakuya considered to shut down the constant proposals to Souma was sending him to the Officers’ Academy or Royal Academy, (The invitation from the Star Dragon Mountain Range happened to come in at just that time, so the plan was shelved, and he ended up doing foreign trips instead) but this is something the author was considering, too.

  I thought a story where he went to the Royal Academy with Liscia and Aisha, and they recruited talented people there, might work, but because there are so many school stories in the light novel genre, it would be difficult to set this one apart from others, so I gave up on the idea. But as I was imagining what it would be like if Souma went to school with Liscia and the others, I thought it was workable.

  Well, let’s let Tomoe enjoy school life as much as Souma would have.