Epilogue: Return -I’m back-

"...My head hurts."

"Yeesh, what are you even doing over there?"

It was the morning after our celebration banquet, and I was nursing a

hangover while Liscia regarded me with exasperation. I was using the jewel

aboard the Hiryuu to talk with her while she was currently at the Kingdom's

secret arsenal. Between the twin joys of having slain Ooyamizuchi and

finding out Juna was pregnant, I had gotten excited, let loose, and drunk a

little too much. I must have passed out somewhere along the way...

When I came to my senses, I was in bed still wearing my military

uniform, with Aisha and Naden, who must have carried me there, both

hugging me. They'd clearly had their share of drink as well, and were sound

asleep. Juna had apparently taken leave early on when the party got hectic.

A good call.

When I told Liscia about Juna's pregnancy, her response was, "Of

course..."

"You knew about it, Liscia?"

"I had an inkling. Based on the changes in her behavior, I thought that

she might be."

"I didn't have the slightest idea... Makes me feel like I've got a long way

to go as a husband, and a father."

"Well, I think that's just the gap in experience here." Liscia puffed her

chest up with pride and smiled.

Yeah, I can't beat that, I thought, then replied, "But... Oh, I never told

Juna this, but maybe I shouldn't have let her come. I get chills thinking

about what might have happened to her."

"I understand the feeling, but even if I knew, I couldn't have stopped

her."

"Why not?"

"Because if I were in her position, I'd have hidden it so I could go with

you, too. Yeah... If I hadn't been in poor health when you went to the

Republic, I can pretty much guarantee I'd have been accompanying you

there. I was worried, you know?"

"You have so little faith in me... I had Aisha and the others there to

protect me, you know?"

I smiled wryly, and Liscia chuckled.

"It's pretty irritating, being the only one left behind where it's safe, too.

Besides, once her belly grows a little more, she won't be able to move

around so freely, so it's only natural she would want to do as much as she

can now."

"...Fair enough. I appreciate the sentiment, but it still worries me."

"Hee hee, hurry back home, okay? I want to see your face again, in

person."

"Ha ha ha, we'll all head home when things are cleaned up... Oh, right.

Could I get you to call Kuu to Lagoon City? You can probably get in touch

with him faster from there." I said, and Liscia's expression grew serious in

response.

"This is about that maritime alliance, right?"

"Yeah. I want it settled before the generally friendly atmosphere brought

on by us having fought together fades. The sooner it's finalized, the better."

"I get it. You seem to be in an awful hurry, though." At this point, Liscia

seemed to realize something, and brought her hand to her mouth. "Hold

on... Could this be the real reason you dispatched troops?"

"...What makes you think that?"

"I was just thinking that a maritime alliance and exchanging bases

seemed weak as compensation for the support you gave them. Since you

didn't ask for something concrete like an island or money, I'm assuming

whatever you really wanted was hidden in what you asked for. Well, that's

just intuition born from how long I've known you."

"You really get me there." I gave up, and shrugged in resignation. My

wife's pretty sharp, huh?

"It's true that my main motivation for cooperating was to secure this

maritime alliance. It wasn't a purely humanitarian measure; I had also

calculated that if I could ingratiate the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago to

me, I could make the alliance happen."

"You really thought that far ahead... So, it's that big of a deal, then?"

"Obviously, since it will affect the Kingdom's future."

"I-It's that important?" Liscia asked dubiously, and I nodded.

"I've already told Hakuya and Excel this, but the Kingdom will be

working to boost its maritime trade and naval prowess going forward. In my

world, we called it sea power."

"'Sea power'... I don't really get it. I was in the Army, after all."

"Well, when you're a continental power, most of your battlefields and

trade routes are going to be on land."

I couldn't blame Liscia for thinking the way she did. In the Kingdom,

the Navy's role had been to prepare to deal with incursions or an outright

invasion by the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. Their main enemy, the

Principality of Amidonia, shared a land border with them, and when it came

to the Republic of Turgis, which had made attempts to expand northward in

the past, their seas froze over so they didn't have a proper navy.

Because of that, they thought the important battles were fought on land,

and didn't really understand the importance of naval prowess. That seemed

to be true of other countries as well. Despite their great size, the Gran

Chaos Empire didn't have a thriving navy. Land power over sea power—

that was the common view on this continent. Fuuga, who lived on the

steppes, thought the same way, which was exactly why I was focusing on it.

"Freedom to navigate the seas is tied directly to a state's strength. Think

about it. Our country has an island-type carrier. If nothing obstructs its

navigation, we can bombard any place on the coast at our leisure. On top of

that, if we use the Roroa Maru, we can even send troops across the frozen

sea."

"When you put it that way, yeah, I can see it. So we're a real threat to

other countries now, too, huh?" Liscia let out an impressed grunt.

I nodded. "Obviously, just because we can do something doesn't mean

we're going to declare a whole bunch of wars and make enemies. I don't

want to be designated as an enemy of mankind."

"You're damn right you don't."

"Besides, there's also economic reasons to do it. Though, if we increase

our sea power like this, it'll be hard for anyone to really grasp the results.

That's why we'll be able to do it quietly, without alerting other nations. I

suspect only a maritime nation like the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago

Union would properly understand the threat."

The Spirit Kingdom of Garlan was an island nation, too, but they were

so xenophobic they had closed off their country. It'd be fine. They didn't

seem to get much in the way of information from outside anyway.

Suddenly, Liscia clapped her hands together. "I get it. That's why you

brought them into the alliance. If the countries that would understand the

threat are our allies, it's harder for them to see us as a danger."

"You've got it—and if we can move freely through their waters, it'll be

even easier to coordinate with the Empire. It means we can move supplies

and people back and forth."

I hadn't brought this up before since the opportunity hadn't arisen, but

this world was probably a globe, the same as Earth. Because the Empire

was west of us by land, they could also be reached by crossing the sea east

of the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. The people in this world, with

their ability to fly on wyverns, likely realized this at an early stage. The

curvature of the horizon would be visible from the air, after all.

The reason I only say probably, though, is that despite the world having

been transited from east to west, the same had not been done from north to

south. The continent of ice that I had seen south of the Republic of Turgis

was unconfirmed territory, so it wasn't included on maps, and we knew

even less about the far north.

When I consider that the north of the continent had been a desert, where

the Demon Lord's Domain first appeared, our continent seemed like it was

in the southern hemisphere. That's why, for the people of this world, they

apparently thought it was shaped like a map rolled up so the east and west

sides touched, almost like a cylinder. There were still a lot of things I didn't

know about this world. Thinking about it was aggravating my hangover, so

I tapped my temples and let out a sigh.

"...It sounds like Fuuga's been steadily expanding up north."

"The guy you're cautious of, right?"

"Yeah. It sounds like there's resistance forming against him, too. I

expect the pro- and anti-Fuuga camps will collide in the not-so-distant

future. The result of that conflict could shake the continent. We need to be

prepared for it."

"I see... Do you expect Fuuga will win?" Liscia asked, and I shrugged.

"That, I don't know. Well, it's true I can't imagine him losing. The thing

is, the least desirable result for our country would be if Fuuga were to win,

and then become a heroic figure that people invest their hopes and dreams

in. If that happens, it's guaranteed to send sparks flying in the neighboring

countries, too."

"I've never met this Fuuga, but... he seems scary. We'll have to do

everything we can to protect our country. For the children's sake."

"Yeah. For Cian, Kazuha, and all the children yet to be born."

Liscia and I nodded at one another. Then Liscia smiled at me.

"All of that aside, do come back in one piece, okay?"

"Yeah. It may be a bit of a flashy return, though."

"...Are you plotting something again?"

"Heheh, just you wait and see." I smirked as Liscia gave me a look of

exasperation.

◇ ◇ ◇

— 15th day, 2nd month, 1549th year, Continental Calendar

"Sire, it's almost time," Juna, who was standing by my side, told me,

and I nodded.

"Okay... Well then, get started!" I shouted, holding my right hand up so

that people on the bridge could see. When I did that, bugles sounded and

flag signals were sent from the front and back of the ship. Soon after, it was

followed by countless bugles sounding on all sides.

I looked out over the combined Kingdom and Archipelago Union fleets;

there were a total of more than sixty warships. They all flew the flags of

both the Kingdom of Friedonia and the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago

Union side-by-side. When the bugles stopped, the ship in front of us fired a

blank artillery round—that was the signal for both fleets to move.

The Albert II began slowly advancing. I put my hand on Juna's lower

back so she wouldn't fall over.

"Thank you, sire," she said, smiling faintly.

"No problem. I wish you'd stay inside where it's warm, though."

"I don't want to. You don't see a major performance like this every day,

after all," Juna replied, looking around. "I've never seen such a large fleet.

It's breathtaking."

The fleets of both countries sailed in formation.

"This plan was just something I came up with on the spur of the

moment, but they're managing to coordinate."

"Of course they are. Both countries' fleets are well trained."

"We've got Excel to thank for that on the Kingdom's side. We'll have a

great naval review thanks to her."

This was the idea I had come up with: a naval review—basically a

military parade for the fleets—with the Kingdom's and Archipelago

Union's fleets.

The two fleets would sail close to the islands together, and:

1) Declare the threat of Ooyamizuchi was gone.

2) Explain it was the work of the Kingdom and Archipelago Union

working together.

3) Show that the Kingdom and Archipelago Union had formed a

maritime alliance.

4) Demonstrate that relations between the two countries were good.

Each island had already received messenger kuis relating all of this

information, but seeing the two fleets moving in tandem would make them

understand. While it had been to help unify the people inside the

Archipelago Union, our country had been set up as a virtual enemy of

theirs, so just seeing that we now had "cordial relations" in print wasn't

going to be terribly convincing. Seeing is believing, they say.

In order to heighten the believability of it, the Hiryuu led the procession

with its escort ships. The skull of Ooyamizuchi, with the lower jaw

removed, was displayed on deck. Because all of the meat had been removed

from the skull to prevent decomposition, and the Hiryuu had been modeled

on an island, it made for quite a surreal sight.

"Depending on your perspective, it might have looked like a new type of

monster," I mentioned, and Juna chuckled.

"Seen from above, I'm sure you're right, but from below, it's obviously

a ship."

These actions were being taken to show the islanders that Ooyamizuchi

was slain and the threat was now gone, but I had complicated emotions

about it. I felt like I was parading through the street with someone's head on

a pike—though, usually you'd parade the prisoners before they were

executed. It reminded me of the skull chalice made by Oda Nobunaga. I

wouldn't want to be cursed, so I was going to offer my respects with Sir

Shana once this naval review was finished.

"Anyway, once this is done, we can finally return to the Kingdom."

"Yeah..."

After this, the two fleets would travel around the archipelago, then head

to the Kingdom. After that, they'd go from Lagoon City to Venetinova to

notify people that the fighting had come to an end. Finally, the fleet would

disperse at Venetinova, and they would return to the Nine-Headed Dragon

Archipelago.

"...I'll have to talk to Liscia about the children when we get back."

I hadn't mentioned it during the call, but I needed to explain Princess

Shabon's betrothal offer for Cian and Kazuha to Liscia. It wasn't decided

yet, but as members of the royal family, there was no avoiding talk of

marriage to other royals, so Liscia would understand. Though, honestly, I

didn't want to do anything that would make her the slightest bit sad.

Juna placed her hand gently on top of my own. "Now that I'm pregnant

with a child of my own, I can understand how you feel about family better

than I did before, sire."

"Juna..."

"It remains to be seen if Madam Shabon's daughter will come to marry

Cian, or you'll send Kazuha to marry her son, but it's vital that we keep

positive relations between our countries so that the marriage doesn't

become a source of sorrow. Conversely, so long as our relations stay good,

their marriage can't end up too bad."

"You certainly have a point there..."

If relations between the countries were amicable, then whether we were

receiving a bride or sending one out, both countries would take good care of

them. Also, if the marriage was against the involved parties' intentions,

then if relations were good, it would be easy to break the betrothal. So,

basically...

"It's up to us to make it work."

"Right. You'll have to do your best for the children, Father."

I gave a big nod in response to Juna's soft smile, and looked out to sea