XIV: Homecoming
WITH the long war over, I could finally go back to Farune.
Upon our return from Eyland, the Farunian army received an impressive welcome from a large throng of people.
“My king, we have been waiting for you! Please, come back to the arena soon!”
“Show us a fight as soon as you can! A king’s fight!”
“I can’t imagine a life where I could no longer watch the Hundred fight to the death!”
All the various shouts of joy mingled together. These people were truly passionate.
I might’ve messed up in educating my subjects somewhere along the line, I thought.
In the end, Maria was serving as both the pope and queen of Eyland, and the two countries became one: the Holy Kingdom of Eyland. Nevertheless, it was effectively treated as a Farunian vassal, and Gamarath deployed his bureaucrats to the country right away. Like me, Maria was the type to make others take care of things she didn’t want to bother with, so she welcomed the help with open arms.
“No matter how many bright, capable people we educate, it’s never enough,” Gamarath said with a smile, probably glad to see the spread of the system of constitutional government he had strived for.
He was also getting Nicol to send some of the bureaucrats he had educated from Cadonia, the political situation of which had stabilized lately. Gamarath was getting old, so Nicol was probably going to be his political successor. Nicol was king of Cadonia, a small nation like Farune. This made it the perfect place to test out policy. Queen Rubis was also intelligent and well-versed in politics and economics, which meant there were unlikely to be any issues.
I wish I could’ve gotten just one proper princess consort like her.
Whatever policies were successful in Cadonia would be adopted in Farune in the future, and eventually expanded to larger countries like Dorssen, Eyland, and Vulcan. In other words, Cadonia would become the political center. I had gained a great deal of territory, but perhaps Gamarath and his grandson, Nicol, would be Cadonia’s de facto controllers.
Well, not that I mind. Politics is hard.
I had been a prince, so there was a lot I had been made to study. I knew a ruler couldn’t just enact laws or raise and lower taxes as they pleased. They had to balance and coordinate all sorts of factors when they governed. With that in mind, I had no complaints. The country was flourishing under Gamarath’s administration, and the commoners were happy. The only ones whining were the nobility. Even in a worst-case scenario where Gamarath’s family usurped Farune, Nicol was my younger brother, so they would still be my blood relatives. Nicol and Rubis’s descendants would definitely be good rulers. On the other hand, my children with my consorts clearly came from a lineage that was, above all else, physically strong. Politics alone wouldn’t be enough to defeat my descendants, so perhaps it would actually be difficult for Nicol’s to take over Farune.
The teleportation magic facility in the Magedom of Kiel, the Gate, had also been connected to Farune, so it was now possible to travel instantly between the two countries. Other countries were also in the process of being linked up to the Gate, which meant that someone in Farune could now go anywhere via the Kiel highway. However, for reasons unknown to me, Frau seemed to be dragging her feet connecting Vulcan to the Gate.
Speaking of Frau, I had given her Kiel as her personal domain, as I had promised. Apparently, she was planning to keep Kiel the way it had been before, but even more permissive of controversial wizard behavior. I hoped that going forward, she would perform all her dangerous magical experiments there, without bringing me into them.
In Vulcan, the plan was to crown my child with Sheila as ruler in the future—not that I had known Sheila was pregnant until very recently.
When Yamato had returned, he had said to me, “Your Majesty’s child will become the ruler of Vulcan, just as planned.”
I had thought, What the hell is he talking about? but apparently, this had been common knowledge to everyone except me, and the plan was already proceeding smoothly. Why am I, the father, the only one who doesn’t know anything about this? Is it just me, or are my plans and other people’s plans always coming into conflict?
As for Dorssen, the country was gradually recovering its strength under Carmilla’s leadership.
Eyland, meanwhile, had always had fertile soil, but after the spread of monster meat consumption, the farmers started working more efficiently and their crop productivity increased.
Gamarath, who only cared about numbers, suddenly asked, “Shall we make the farmers eat more monster meat? Actually, should we make it legally required?”
Why do we have to build such a hellish country? I thought. Naturally, I objected, saying, “You’ll cause riots.” The farmers should thank me.
With that, things had calmed down at long last. But there was one issue: I had nothing to do.
About the only thing I did was fight in the arena every day. Speaking of which, Maria was frequently using the Gate to visit Farune, where she used her showy restoration magic in the arena to fulfill her need for public approval. She was a hit with the crowd, as usual, but lately, she had also started to say things like, “Farune ought to be inherited by the child of a popular princess consort, don’t you think?” It sounded like she was going to start a power struggle in the future, and it made me nervous.
Maybe it was worth reconsidering letting people come and go freely using the Gate.
But anyway, I really did have nothing to do. When I’d become the king of Farune, I had shirked my responsibilities by telling my subordinates that my approval was only necessary on very important matters, and that they should make their own judgments on the ground. So, matters hardly ever made their way up the chain to me.
Gamarath was pleased, saying, “I expected nothing less from you, Your Majesty! Bureaucrats have become able to judge things on the spot, and because of that, the rate of processing for official business has gone through the roof!”
Really, it had just been a pain for me to deal with it myself, that was all.
So, the king was left with nothing to do.
To be fair, this is just a return to how things were before the war with the coalition.
I had tried using the Gate to travel to Carmilla’s place in Dorssen, but she had screamed at me and said, “So this is what you connected the Gate for?!” which had made it a bit more difficult to go there.
As such, I had plenty of time on my hands when I received an interesting report: the countries in western Ares had jointly signed and proclaimed an official ban on eating monster meat. Unlike eastern Ares, which was occupied by large countries like Dorssen, Eyland, and Vulcan, the west was a jumble of many small countries like Farune. International relations had traditionally been poor, and they were constantly fighting. Now, for some reason, these countries had united to ban monster meat. This was unusual, and I thought it was a wonderful policy. It meant that if I went to a western country I would absolutely be able to eat a proper meal. A place like that sounded like heaven to me.
Of course, the Hundred’s reaction was to scoff. Ogma said, “They must’ve been intimidated by the effectiveness of Your Majesty’s Eyland Purification Project. What a bunch of cowards.”
No, you guys are the abnormal ones, and they’re right, I thought.
This was perfect timing, so I planned to make my way out west. I had no use for Eyland, which had been contaminated by monster meat, or Vulcan, which had been usurped by a branch of the Hundred. And it wasn’t like anything would change if I was gone, anyway.
This time, I made sure to bring some money, and I arranged for an outfit to disguise myself. It would be a wizard’s robe, complete with a hood. I could cast some basic spells, so it wasn’t going to be too much of an issue if I claimed to be a wizard—a long time ago, I had used fire magic to cook Killer Rabbit meat, after all. I would be able to hide my face, and no one would ever expect the king of Farune to disguise himself as a wizard. It was the perfect plan.
I was hoping to make my stay a long one, so I discussed it with Gamarath in advance. Come to think of it, it had always been unrealistic to try to fulfil my goal in just a day or two. I had to take my time. So, I said, “I’m going to the western nations on reconnaissance in disguise. Prepare wizard’s equipment for me.”
Gamarath replied with something like, “Aha, you’ve only just conquered the east, and you’re already setting your sights on the west. Nothing less from the conqueror king of Ares! I, Gamarath, am thoroughly impressed!” His eyes were wet with tears, but it was a convenient misunderstanding, for once, so I let it stand.
All I want is to eat an ordinary meal.
And so, Gamarath got a wizard’s robe and staff ready for me. The staff was awfully hefty; it was apparently made of a special type of metal, and was impossible to break. To me, it clearly looked like it had been designed for bludgeoning.
“Can this really cast spells?” I asked.
“What? You were actually planning on using magic?” Gamarath replied.
The Farunian royal family comes from the hero’s lineage, so he has to know that I can also use magic. How did he forget? He’s making it seem like I’ve done everything using nothing but brute force…
Actually, now that I think about it, it’s been almost ten years since the last time I used magic.