Intermission: Liscia and Maria

With the summit in Balm finished and the Balm Declaration on

Medicine made, the people of the Kingdom of Friedonia, Gran Chaos

Empire, and Great Tiger Kingdom of Haan were set to return to their own

countries.

Normally, with so many leaders in one place, the host country would

hold a banquet, and it would be taken as a chance to deepen relations

between all present. But Souma, Maria, and Fuuga were all busy people,

and they needed to return home to get to work on the Magic Bug Disease

problem, so they had no time to spend a night in this country.

That said, it was still a rare opportunity, so time was set aside for

fraternizing.

Souma and Julius were trying to help Fuuga and Sill get along.

"In this case, all of our countries need to coordinate their efforts. There

may be some resentment between you, and I'm not saying you have to let

go of it, but at least save it for after the disease is behind us."

"For now, I intend to forget what happened in Lastania too."

While they had decided to coordinate, it hadn't been long since the two

countries had fought, so there must have been some bad blood. This talk

was to prevent any discord that could get in the way.

Fuuga and Sill nodded at what they were saying.

"I know. I'm the one who came to you about working together to fight

the disease. I'll follow your lead completely, for now."

"As for myself, I've accepted that my comrades' deaths were an

inevitability of the battlefield."

Hearing this reassured Souma.

While the four of them were talking, Liscia was left with nothing to do.

Julius was helping negotiate and Aisha and Naden were acting as

bodyguards. And so, Liscia went off on her own.

I should take advantage of the opportunity.

There was someone Liscia badly wanted to talk to.

"Madam Maria."

"Why, Lady Liscia."

When Liscia called her name, Maria gave her a smile that was like a

flower blooming.

Wow... She's so incredibly beautiful...

Seeing that smile, despite being a woman, Liscia couldn't help but stop

and stare in admiration. At a glance, she had assumed Maria would be a

quiet beauty like Juna, but the vibe she gave off was totally different. If

Juna shone like an idol, Maria shone like a divine piece of art. Liscia could

see that they didn't call her a saint for nothing.

"I'm so happy to have this chance to speak with you directly," Maria

said, snapping Liscia back to her senses.

"Y-Yes! I am too. I met Madam Jeanne just once when we were little,

and we played together, but...this is our first time meeting, right?"

"Jeanne has been an active girl since she was a child, so father would

take her on his trips abroad. I was more introverted, so I tended to get left

behind in the Empire."

"Ah... I guess I was similar to Madam Jeanne. Mother always chided

me for being so boyish."

"Hee hee. You must get along swimmingly with Jeanne then." Having

said that, Maria patted the seat beside her. "Have a seat. We won't get this

chance often. Let's have some girl talk."

"Girl...talk?"

"Yes. I'm an empress, and you're a queen, aren't you? I don't have

many chances to talk to women of similar rank who aren't my own family.

I'd like to have a very normal, very casual chat—like two housewives in the

city, or two women who are friends might have by the well."

"U-Um... Okay." Liscia seemed a little tense as she took a seat next to

Maria.

"You needn't be so tense. It is quite all right to speak normally with

me."

"I-Is that so? Well, then you speak normally too."

"Ohh... The way I'm speaking now is a habit of mine, and it gives me

personality."

"I guess you're more like Juna, huh?"

"Oh my, Juna Doma! Ah, I suppose she's Juna Souma now. She's just

lovely, isn't she? I watch her educational program on the simple receiver Sir

Souma sent me."

"The empress herself watches that?"

When she imagined Maria, the Saint of the Empire, enjoying watching

Juna's educational programs—where she acted alongside the strange

mascot Little Musashibo—she got a little exasperated by how surreal that

mental image was.

What is it? This sense of all the tension leaking out of my shoulders as I

talk to her... Is it like when Souma says something ridiculous?

"Oh, that reminds me, you sleep in your office too, don't you?" Liscia

asked.

"Yes. Like Sir Souma does, right?"

"Mhm. Obviously, he does it less now that we're married, but he used

to sleep there all the time."

"Hee hee, I guess Sir Souma and I make up the Office-Sleepers

Alliance."

"Oh, you can let me and Roroa in on that too. When I was helping

Souma after we first met, I nodded off in the office, and Roroa often crawls

into Souma's office bed after staying up all night working on economic

policy."

"Oh, goodness. How adorable." Maria smiled.

Incidentally, Liscia had slept in the office bed too, but she deliberately

omitted that part. After all, that was her first, uh...special night with Souma,

so she couldn't possibly talk about it.

"Speaking of Madam Roroa, she was the Sovereign Princess of

Amidonia, wasn't she?"

Thinking this was her chance to change the topic, Liscia nodded.

"Yeah, that's right."

"I see. And she brought her country along with her when she married

Souma. What incredible courage."

"Well, yeah, but...ever since she came to the Kingdom, she's been more

of a goofball, really. She's a mother now too, so I wish she'd settle down,"

Liscia said with a shrug, causing Maria to chuckle.

"It's good that she's full of energy. And you get along well as fellow

queens too."

"Roroa looks up to us like big sisters. And for our part, we dote on her

as a little sister. Though, that's all calculated on her part. She's conniving

like that."

"She sounds wonderful. I'd love to speak with her at length sometime."

"That sounds fine to me, but what would you talk about?"

"How to thrust your country off on someone else."

"The Empire?! I'd feel bad for whoever's on the receiving end of

that..."

"You would? Normally, people would be happy to rise to the highest

rank of emperor... Thinking that's an imposition shows you really are Sir

Souma's wife."

"Well, I've seen the pressure Souma's under. So I can also understand

why you'd want to push that off onto someone else if able to."

"It really helps just to hear you say that..."

There was a sense of solemnity in the air.

Liscia clapped her hands, trying to change the mood.

"Oh, that's right, you perform as a lorelei like Juna, don't you?" Liscia

asked.

Maria nodded. "Yes. There were a lot of requests from the people, so I

still do it occasionally."

"That's amazing. I could never."

"You couldn't? But you're so pretty. I'm sure you'd be popular."

"No, um... I was told my singing would inspire a 'reverse march'..."

"A reverse march? Like...the troops going back the way they came?"

Liscia's cheeks flushed red.

"Pfft! Ah ha ha ha ha!" Maria burst out laughing. It was so rare for the

empress to laugh out loud that Souma, and a lot of other people, turned and

stared.

"Nothing's happening over here, okay!" Liscia shouted, forcing them to

look away. "You're laughing too much, Madam Maria!"

"I-I'm sorry. Hee hee. When you said 'reverse march,' it just struck my

funny bone..." Maria wiped the tears from her eyes as she apologized. "Oh,

goodness me. I don't think I've laughed this much all year."

"Well, good for you," Liscia replied in monotone.

"Hee hee. My, don't look at me like that. Oh, right, speaking of songs...

I've been learning the songs of your country, particularly those from Sir

Souma's old world, during our broadcast meetings."

"Hmm? You have?"

Liscia stared blankly at her. The broadcast meetings between the

Kingdom and Empire were generally handled by Hakuya and Jeanne, and

Liscia was often absent when Souma held meetings with Maria, so she had

no idea they'd been doing that.

Maria smiled and nodded. "Yes. Of all the songs I've learned, I liked

Katyusha the best."

"What language is that? Something from Souma's world?"

"He said it was a foreign language to him too. It's not a bright and

cheerful song, but singing it makes me feel more energetic somehow."

"Hmm... Why's that?"

"Who can say? I wonder." It seemed Maria was unsure herself. "Hee

hee. This is fun, chatting like this."

In the middle of their peaceful chat, Maria's smile suddenly vanished.

"Madam Maria?"

"I think about it sometimes... If I hadn't given the Kingdom the option

to pay us subsidies, and instead insisted on having the hero sent over, what

would my life and the Empire be like now?"

"If we'd sent Souma to the Empire back then, you mean?" Liscia asked,

and Maria silently nodded. After thinking about it a little, Liscia shook her

head vigorously, saying, "No, no, no, no, I don't want to think about it. I

can't imagine that the antiquated, history-filled country that is the Kingdom

could've overcome all the troubles that we were facing back then without

Souma. It would have slowly worn us down, and we'd be dead by now,

wouldn't we? Besides, without him, I'd never have met the people he hired,

and Cian and Kazuha would never have been born."

"Yes, you're right. It's natural for you to think that in your position,

Lady Liscia," Maria replied, affirming everything Liscia had said. "That's

exactly why I think about it. Obviously, it's all just possibilities, but I think

there was a future there. Where Sir Souma became my partner, and we

reformed the Empire, gathering comrades, and building a vibrant country...

That sort of future."

"Madam Maria..."

"I might have been a mother too, you know?"

"Er, I dunno about that. It feels kind of weird."

Liscia had complicated feelings about it, but Maria chuckled. Was she

teasing her there, at the end? Liscia looked at Maria then let out a sigh.

"You know, if we're talking about being partners, I think you and

Souma have a perfectly fine partnership as is. In fact, when I first saw you

two talking over the broadcast, it was weird how much you were on the

same page."

"Oh! Is that right?" Maria's eyes widened. She must not have expected

to hear that.

Liscia put a hand on the back of her own neck, awkwardly explaining,

"You come from different countries, and your positions are different.

Because you're negotiating, you need to try to read the other person, so you

can't have too much fun, but can't act hostile either. It's a complicated

relationship, but you and Souma seem strangely able to understand one

another sometimes."

"Ohh... Jeanne has said that to me on numerous occasions. When she

listens to Souma and me talking, she feels left out."

"I...kind of get that. I mean, that's just me being jealous though."

"Oh my," Maria said, blinking. "You just come right out and say it."

"It's natural for me to be jealous when the person involved is so

important in my life. So I learned a long time ago, I need to accept it, not

force it down."

"You truly are wonderful, you know that?"

Maria smiled peacefully. Liscia smiled back.

"Hey, Liscia. It's about time."

Souma, who had been talking over on the other side of the room, called

out to her. He presumably meant it was about for everyone to return to their

respective countries.

"I'm happy we could have this talk, Lady Liscia," Maria said,

extending her hand.

"I hope we'll have the chance to continue in a more relaxed

environment sometime."

"Yes! I long for the day."

Liscia took her hand, and they exchanged a firm handshake.