The next morning, our party visited the castle. It was as large as the castle in Azur, with stereotypically medieval-fantasy architecture. Much more impressive than the melon castle in Yubari.
“My name is Ruey, son of Earl Agamemnon. I am here to speak to His Majesty.”
The earl’s heir declared our intention, loud and clear. Of course, I was sure that the guards were already aware.
With a courteous bow, a soldier invited us five into the castle. I was a little jumpy because I had already done the screw up of being killed in a castle before. That was something I hadn’t really gotten over.
Determined to not take any food or drink they would serve no matter how warm their welcome, I walked down the large corridor with my party. The aforementioned soldiers were leading us, followed by Ruey, then Tiamat and I side by side, with Leon and Baze in the rear.
I chalked up the lifelessness that loomed around the extravagant décor to the castle being a public building. The clerk’s office was the same, too. Some female coworkers had attempted to breathe a little life into the place by decorating the counters with flowers and such, but it only changed the atmosphere a little. People never used that kind of facility unless they had to. No one goes to the city clerk’s office just to hang out. We the workers do want to make it inviting for anyone with a problem that needs solving, but we can’t really get rid of that formal atmosphere.
Our party eventually arrived at a large door, almost double the size of that in Leon’s castle. We were in the royal palace, after all. I didn’t really understand the need to enlarge doors, but perhaps they used every little thing to display their authority and class. The doors slowly opened.
“The arrival of Sir Eiji, Master Hermit!”
A clear voice that most likely belonged to a ceremonial guard rang out in the room. Most countries had one of those, and they just knew how to project.
Straightening my back, I walked forward along the red carpet. With just my eyes, I observed the room without moving my face. Scholarly and military advisors were aligned on either side. Ruey alone detached from our party to line up alongside the military advisors. He was a citizen of this country, after all.
Lyser, the current king of Noura, sat on the throne atop a set of stairs. I stopped about thirty steps away from him; I had Tiamat to my left and Leon and Baze behind me.
We didn’t kneel. Since we were not citizens of the kingdom of Noura, we did not greet him as our king. In fact, we couldn’t afford to give off any impression that we served any one country in particular, so our whole party was left just standing there.
“Thank you for granting us an audience, King Lyser.”
“Thank you for traveling so far to see me, Sir Eiji, Master Hermit.”
The king responded with a polite greeting, albeit still seated. Etiquette was paramount at times like these. No one’s pride was at risk from following said etiquette here, and being rude would not have benefited either of us. I believe that any adult has to make choices based on practicality over emotions to a certain degree.
“I can’t thank you enough for your time, Your Majesty.”
“No need. I have been wanting to see you. I’ve heard much about your heroism in Mostail.”
“Not a story worthy of your time, I’m sure.”
We exchanged smiles. Just some pleasantries.
“Now, I’ve heard that you have a plan to save Noura.”
“I wouldn’t dare claim that much. I only want to stop the war.”
“Really...?”
“I have heard about the state of war from Earl Agamemnon and Lord Ruey.”
“Will you vanquish the monster army for us?”
“Far from it. That would only repeat history, Your Majesty.”
“Then what do you propose?”
“We want to meet with the Demon Lord and suggest that they emigrate to somewhere far away from human civilization.”
“What an idea!”
The king looked surprised. In reality, of course, we had already met with the Demon Lord and gotten her to agree. The Demon Lord was right behind me, in fact! We didn’t have to bother the king with that knowledge, though.
“At the end of the day, I believe that the war is caused by the close proximity of both species. If each side lived far away from each other without the need to interact, there would be no cause for tension.”
“Indeed, that is true,” the king laughed.
This logic stands in modern-day Earth, too. There are countries mired in poverty, torn apart by war, and even suffocated by dictators. But will Japan ever give enough support to these countries to the point of endangering its own state?
I’m sure there are some people who spend all of their money in support of them. Many people donate some portion of their income to these causes. I consider them admirable and outstanding, but they are only allowed to do so as individuals. It was a different story if Japan were to starve as a whole from saving other countries.
As a country, Japan has the obligation to serve its people to the best of its ability. Then, if there is any left to go around, our resources can be used to help other countries. This isn’t exactly the most virtuous way of thinking, but I think we’ve lost sight of what’s important when foreign workers are treated so well that there are no jobs left for Japanese citizens.
King Lyser had to think like that too, putting the kingdom of Noura and its people above all else. Truth be told, even if other countries were to fight monsters and wear themselves out, it was all a fire across the river. By no means was this mindset inappropriate. He had an obligation to protect his country and people.
“No good can come from war, especially when it’s within your borders.”
“Absolutely. If the monsters really left Noura altogether, that would be the best scenario we could hope for.”
Even if Noura had decided to fight the monsters and win, they would not earn a single bronze coin in reparations nor a single square meter of new land. It would only cost them money and lives. If the king was the kind of person that didn’t find that futile, I would have given up on this negotiation. Luckily, King Lyser was not.
“But, Sir Eiji. Is that really possible?”
Now, our conversation was about to get technical. It was written on the king’s face that he wouldn’t accept ‘it’s not impossible’ as an answer.
“Of course, Your Majesty,” I answered with quiet confidence. We had already succeeded, after all.
“I will take care of convincing the Demon Lord. The only thing is, if your army attacks the monsters during their emigration, things are going to escalate beyond my control.”
This was something I had to hammer in, as many times as it took. The monsters weren’t pacifists, of course. If attacked, they would retaliate. If retaliated, humans would attack again. They would plunge straight back into war. My proposal, in short, was for the king to have the travel road vacated for the monster’s mass emigration.
“...I understand.”
The king agreed to it after a long pause. He must have considered the consequences of freezing the nation’s travel roads, albeit for a short period. Of course he did. At the end of the day, this was a choice between continuing to wage war against the monsters and having them gone in exchange for temporary inconvenience.
“Thank you for wisdom, Your Majesty.”
“Please. I should be the one thanking you, Master Hermit. You’ll save us unnecessary bloodshed.”
“Peace is the supreme victory.”
“Indeed. Now, how long should I keep the travel roads clear? There will be some difficulty in doing so for too long.”
“I will send a messenger once the monster army is ready to emigrate. I think it would take them less than ten days from that point to leave the country.”
With that, I turned around to Baze. I was counting on his speed to deliver the message. With a nod, Baze changed his form, and a silver Fenrir appeared in the royal hall.
“Understood,” he said, with a voice that boomed through the pit of my stomach.
“Oh... Oh... Star Breaker...”
King Lyser wobbled off of his throne and approached him to touch his silver fur. As if they were struck, his advisors all knelt at once. The scene was practically out of some religious painting.
Hold on. Lord Baze was definitely more respected than I was! That babysitter.
And so, we had managed to garner King Lyser’s support. We had completed the first step, and things were about to get difficult as we had to worry about more practical things.
“Planning the travel route, securing food, picking out campsites... There are countless things to worry about.”
“Yep,” I agreed with Tiamat.
Just because the people at the top decided to do something, it didn’t mean that the execution would go smoothly. Making a decision was easy, just like giving the order to do it. Most people in the workforce, including little bureaucrats like me, spent their days trying to clean up the mess of decisions made by those above us. Maybe once in my life I’ll get to say, “Do it yourself, then.”
“First, we return to Gannes,” Leon said.
It was so obvious that Tiamat and I couldn’t help but stare at each other for a moment. We couldn’t give any directions without going back to home base. Even I didn’t expect to make any stops and have some fun on the way home.
“...If I were the god of this world...”
The highschooler Demon Lord looked just a little worried.
“I’d go for the head now. That eliminates the path for peace.”
Once the Demon Lord and the Hermits returned to Gannes, the emigration would officially start. Before that, sabotaging our plan was easy. Kill Leon. Without a leader, the monster army would attack the humans, enraged, plunging this country into war and bloodshed.
“So our journey back is going to be super dangerous...?”
“That’s what I’ve been saying, I thought.”
“Holy cow, I didn’t think of that!”
I clasped my head in my hands. That’s right! If I or Leon were to die before we got there, our plan would be done for!
“...Weirdo.”
The little Demon Lord went from worried to exasperated.
“Stop being so pathetic in front of a highschooler.” Tiamat shrugged.
Hold on. I swear the thought had never crossed her mind, either. Why did she have to make it look like it was all my fault? In any case, we had to be prepared for anything during our seven-day journey from the capital back to Gannes.
“No one will put a finger on you while I still breathe, Eiji. Worry not.”
“That makes me feel a lot better, Tia, but I wish I was the one saying it to you.”
I chuckled at my confident dragon princess. Another journey began.