Epilogue: The True Raising of the Curtain

It happened around the time that Souma and the others were fighting the

final battle in Amidonia.

The prime minister of the Elfrieden Kingdom, Hakuya Kwonmin, was in

Red Dragon City sorting things out in the aftermath of the war. Because

Souma had had to leave to fight the principality before he could do any real

work on the process, Hakuya was handling it on his behalf.

While he was the prime minister, he was also a bureaucrat, so for

Hakuya this was his battlefield.

In Castor's governmental affairs office, the only sound was the

scratching of Hakuya's pen.

It was quiet in the castle. The master of the castle, Castor, had already

been transferred to Parnam. The majority of the Vargas family servants had

turned to Castor's wife, Accela, who had been left with Excel, and they had

departed for Lagoon City. Because of that, the only ones in the castle were

the guards and a small number of bureaucrats.

Tap, tap.

There was a hesitant knocking at the door.

"Come in," said Hakuya.

"...Excuse me. I brought some papers for you," Tomoe said as she

entered the room.

Tomoe would soon be departing for Amidonia to negotiate with the

rhinosauruses. Still, they couldn't very well bring a child like Tomoe to the

battlefield, so she would be staying with Hakuya until things settled down.

Hakuya stopped writing, and his cheeks loosened just a little. "That's

kind of you. You don't have to do this for me, you know?"

"No... I wanted to do something to help, too..." When Tomoe said that,

her tail drooped, but her wolf ears perked up and moved around restlessly.

Seeing Tomoe acting like that, Hakuya smiled wryly despite himself.

"Are you worried about His Majesty and the others?"

"Ah! ...Yes." Since he had been on the mark, Tomoe's ears flattened

down. "At times like this... I can't do anything."

"You could say the same of me," Hakuya said, patting Tomoe's head as

he took the documents from her. "We worked hard to refine the plan.

Between Duke Carmine's plot and Duke Vargas's opposition, there were a

number of events we hadn't predicted, but things are going well for the

most part. You needn't worry. I am sure His Majesty, the princess, and

everyone else will come back safely."

"...Okay!" Tomoe was encouraged by Hakuya's perfect composure, and

she gave him a cheerful response.

That was when it happened.

A single soldier rushed into the office and said, "I have a report! His

Majesty Souma's army intercepted the Amidonian army near Van and

successfully routed them! It was a major victory for our side!"

He was reporting their victory in battle.

Tomoe smiled.

Clatter.

When he heard that report, Hakuya jumped to his feet so quickly that he

knocked his chair over. His face showed signs of his excitement, a rarity for

the usually-subdued Hakuya.

Tomoe stared blankly at him.

When Hakuya noticed that, he awkwardly cleared his throat.

"...For an advisor, even if he has some reservations about his own plans,

he must never let that show. It wouldn't do for him to stir up uncertainty,"

he said, the words sounding like he was just trying to hide his

embarrassment.

Tomoe suppressed a laugh, giving her mentor, the Prime Minister, a firm

salute. "Yes, sir. I toooootally understand."

When Tomoe, the honorary little sister of his master and also his pupil,

gave him a response like that, Hakuya sulked a little.

The black-robed prime minister, who was famed for his cleverness,

couldn't keep up that image in front of his adorable student.

◇ ◇ ◇

Before entering Van, the capital city of the Principality of Amidonia, I

gave an order to the entire army.

"We will now enter Van, but this area is already under the rule of the

Elfrieden Kingdom!" I announced. "Therefore, the people who live within

are already citizens of the kingdom! Killing, harming, raping, or robbing

them will absolutely not be tolerated! If anyone should violate this order,

regardless of their social stature or the severity of their crimes, I will have

that person decapitated and their head put on display! Understand that

now!"

Once I had given that order to the entire army, I secretly called Ludwin

aside and gave him a note I had prepared. Ludwin accepted it with a

puzzled look.

"What is this note? A list of people's names?" he asked.

I nodded, then said in as calm a tone as I could manage, "Ludwin... find

the five people whose names are listed here, decapitate them, and put their

heads on display above the gate. However, make the reason for it 'because

they attempted to enter and loot the houses of a resident of Van.'"

"Wha?! What have these people done...?"

"It was a gift from Georg that came to me through Glaive," I said.

"They're from the Army, but when they were in the Carmine Duchy, they

broke into a private residence, engaging in pillaging, rape, and murder. We

would just be executing them later anyway, so I'll render judgment on them

here to set an example."

"...By your will." Ludwin meekly bowed, then took his leave.

Soon there were five heads lined up near the gate to Van. Next to them

was a sign on which the charge against them, "attempted pillaging," was

written. It helped enforce discipline in every soldier who passed through the

gate. As a result, the forces of the kingdom not only didn't engage in arson,

looting, or violence, they didn't even fight back when those who couldn't

accept their defeat threw stones at them.

That, despite expectations, ended up inspiring awe and fear in the

Amidonian people.

Once the roads were confirmed safe, I myself entered Van.

This time I traveled not in a carriage, but on horseback. It seemed that,

as the victor, it wouldn't do for me to ride inside a carriage.

While I had finally learned to ride a horse recently, I still wasn't very

good at it. Well, Aisha was holding the reins for me, so it would probably

be fine.

As my horse and Liscia's moved forward side by side, I looked at the

streets of Van.

The Capital of the Principality of Amidonia, Van.

The militaristic Principality of Amidonia had built this military city as a

foothold towards their invasion of the Elfrieden Kingdom, and as a frontline base to defend against invasions by the kingdom. On top of that,

because of their unique mentality of not wanting to lose to the kingdom at

anything, its scale was comparable to that of Parnam.

When I first entered Van and saw that mishmash of practicality and

vanity, I had one strong impression.

I want to re-district this place...

The civilian residential areas were crowded, the roads were complicated,

and the layout made me want to call it a "labyrinth city." Even though we

were heading towards the castle, we kept turning left and right, and just

couldn't seem to get there.

There were mansions that looked like they belonged to nobles here and

there in the residential area. When I saw they were higher up than the

commoners' residences, I finally understood the layout of the city.

The layout had probably been designed so that, in the event of a battle,

any soldiers who broke through the gate would get lost in the labyrinth city,

while the defenders would use the nobles' mansions as fortresses from

which to attack.

...I dunno, it just made me think: Did you really have to go that far?

This city layout would be hard on the enemy, but it was no kinder to the

residents. It was inconvenient for getting around, and I was worried about

how fires would spread with the buildings crowded together so tightly. The

fact that this city seemed to be designed around a policy of decreasing

accessibility made my head hurt.

At this point, I had no choice but to rework the entire city. There weren't

many cities that would benefit this much from improved infrastructure.

When I thought of the mountain of administrative work that was no doubt

waiting for me... I couldn't help but get depressed.

"Souma? What's up?" Liscia asked.

"...No, it's nothing."

"Hm?"

"Look, you can see the castle now," I said.

While I dodged Liscia's questions, I braced myself for what was to

come.

I entered the castle in the center of Van, then sat on the throne in the

audience room which must have belonged to Gaius VIII. Gaius was

probably the type who had cared about projecting a dignified appearance.

I had heard Amidonia's finances were in bad shape, but this audience

chamber was quite impressive. They might have spent even more on

decorating it than the one in Parnam.

If you had this kind of money, was there nothing better you could have

spent it on? I wanted to question the former lord of the castle.

As I sat on the throne, Liscia stood by my side and Aisha stood behind

me diagonally. The rest of my retainers stood a few steps down the stairs on

the carpet, waiting to serve me. It had been a while since I'd had such a

king-like scene in front of me.

I ordered them to each give me their reports. They did so in order, with

Ludwin coming first.

"First, in regards to the family of Gaius VIII who were in this castle, we

were unable to secure them," he said. "In addition to his son Julius, who

fled the battlefield, there was apparently another princess, but she vanished

a number of days ago. Furthermore, judging from the fact that the finance

minister and a number of other important bureaucrats are missing, it is

believed they left Van before we arrived."

"Hm... Setting aside that princess, it hurts that we're missing those

bureaucrats," I said. "Contact Parnam immediately and have Marx send

some over. Hakuya should be coming from Red Dragon City once things

settle down, too."

"By your will." Ludwin bowed.

Poncho was the next to speak. "I-I'm here to report on the state of the

national treasury, yes. As expected, you could say, there were hardly any

funds or stores of food. While it doesn't really compensate for it, there was

a plentiful supply of weapons and such, yes."

"How did they plan to hold out in a siege without food reserves?" I

asked.

"Oh, no, if we only consider the guards for this castle, they could hold

out for three months, yes," he said. "If we consider the city as a whole, they

wouldn't last a week, though..."

"'The townspeople can fend for themselves,' huh," I muttered. "They

sure are a militarist state... Let's sell off the excess weapons and convert

them into funds. Also, I'd like to distribute rations until things calm down

inside the castle. Would it be possible to ship those in from the kingdom?"

"We don't have a lot to spare, but it should be possible within limits," he

said. "This place is close to the kingdom, so if we can just make the roads

safe, I think we can manage something, yes."

"Make securing the roads our highest priority," I said. "Next, Glaive."

Glaive Magna, Hal's father who now led the Army, made his report.

"Perhaps as an effect of Your Majesty's 'example,' the troops are adhering

to regulations. However, if you make them hold their desires in for too long,

I believe there is the risk that some of them will explode. If any of them

were to lay a hand on the townspeople, public opinion would take a turn for

the worse quickly."

"We have that sort of problem, huh?" I asked. "Well, there are drinking

establishments and a red-light district in this city, aren't there? We'll cover

the expenses, so negotiate with the owners to get them some wine and

companionship."

"Are you sure that's all right?" Glaive asked, sounding surprised.

Had I said something that strange?

"We can't have them causing trouble for the townspeople, can we?" I

asked.

"No, that's not it," he said. "Is it okay to let the men fool around? With

our current momentum, I would think we could annex all of Amidonia in

short order."

Oh, that was what he meant.

"We'll only take Van," I said. "We won't go any further than that."

"Really? I think it's best to take out your enemies when you can..."

Liscia expressed her doubts, but I told her it was fine.

"No matter how much we expand our territory, no matter how many

cities we take, when the Empire steps in, we'll lose it all," I said. "The only

thing left in the end will be all the lives we wasted."

When I said that, the room froze.

Liscia hesitantly asked, "Is the Empire... going to be coming?"

"They almost certainly will, is my and Hakuya's reading of the situation.

A signatory of the Mankind Declaration, Amidonia, had its border changed

through military force. There's no way the leader of that pact won't show

up."

We had violated one of the three articles of the Declaration of Mankind's

Common Front Against the Demon Race (also known as the Mankind

Declaration), which stated that "the acquisition of territory by force

between the nations of mankind would be deemed inadmissible," so as the

leader of that treaty, the Empire would have to act on behalf of Amidonia.

They would probably start by negotiating, but they wouldn't hesitate to

intervene militarily if it came down to it.

Incidentally, the difference in power between Elfrieden and the Empire

was about as big as the gap between modern day Japan and America.

"But the principality attacked us," Liscia protested. "Why would we be

the ones blamed for it?"

"That's just how international treaties work," I said. "Amidonia will

probably claim 'It's Elfrieden's fault for not signing the declaration,' I'm

sure."

"Urkh... If this was going to happen, maybe we should have signed the

Mankind Declaration, too..." she said. "Wait, huh? Come to think of it, why

didn't you sign it, Souma? You knew this would happen if we fought

Amidonia without signing it, right?"

When Liscia pointed that out, I scratched the back of my head and

laughed. "Because we can't sign it. There's a pitfall in that declaration."

"A pitfall?" she asked.

"Yeah. Maybe the Empire doesn't realize it?"

Had they not noticed, or had they noticed and just chosen to turn a blind

eye? Either way, that hole was a dangerous one that could cause the

collapse of the Empire. I couldn't sign a faulty declaration like that.

I stood up, then turned and said to everyone there, "Well, I guess we

should take care of the post-war clean up until the Empire does something."

—This is where my work as king really begins.