Some say it was the Wise Wolf Princess, Tomoe Inui, who, despite being a refugee, was instantly adored by King Souma and Queen Liscia, and taken in as the queen’s adopted sister.
However, the one most featured in dramatizations was Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta.
Mocked by all around him for his weight, this unspectacular glutton of a man was, through “The King’s Gathering of Personnel,” able to turn his life around. For the people exhausted with their daily lives, this true story moved them and gave them energy, and so it came to be dramatized many times.
It seems odd to call the tale of a rotund man a Cinderella story. Yet, despite being a little scatterbrained, he was hard not to like. He was loved by all, and so they said it suited him perfectly.
In addition, because the King’s emotional welcoming of Poncho was broadcast throughout the kingdom, it had the unexpected side effect of many gifted people gathering in Elfrieden, thinking, “If even a guy like that can become important, so can I…” From this event, in later years, a new proverb meaning “start with small things” was created.
“Start from Ishizuka.”
Chapter 3: Let’s Create a Broadcast Program
Around the time that the commotion from Souma’s personnel gathering had settled, a certain ghost story began to spread in the castle town of the capital Parnam.
According to the tales, there was a mannequin that roamed the streets at night. It was the type of doll you could see in clothing shops: faceless, with arm and leg joints. Carrying swords in both hands, it stalked the streets night by night, hunting animals and monsters.
One adventurer said this:
“A while back, I took a quest from the guild to escort a peddler and was walking around the streets at night, y’see, when we had the bad luck to get surrounded by some subspecies of gelin (those gel things). They’re weak individually, but this time there were a lot of them, and the battle was going badly. Then a mannequin carrying swords in both hands tottered along from the direction of the palace and attacked the gelins. It was such a creepy sight that we bolted right away, but… I wonder what was up with that thing.”
Another adventurer said this:
“It was a week ago. I took a mission from the guild that said, ‘A group of hobgoblins has crossed the border to the north and is traveling southwards. We want you to intercept them.’ We were waiting in a valley that was along their route to intercept them, but wait as we might, they never appeared. Something seemed strange, so we went scouting for them, and what we found was a mannequin standing in the middle of a pile of brutally killed hobgoblin bodies. Thinking it was some new type of monster, me and my warrior buddy attacked it, but it parried us with two swords it carried. When our mage tried hitting it with fire, it ran off at an incredible speed. That thing… it’s probably a new autonomous weapon created by the demon king, don’t you think?”
There were many sightings, and though many said it was a ghost story, it was almost certain that it existed. However, when the adventurers’ guild recognized its existence and quests to capture or destroy it were issued, all sightings stopped.
After that, some wondered if it hadn’t been a prank by someone.
“…so, well, there are rumors like that going around in the castle town, you know?” Liscia told me.
“Oh, yeah, are there now?” I asked.
As I lay back on the sofa, my hand with the needle not stopping as I responded to her, Liscia, who was sitting on the bed, took on a slightly upset tone.
“…What? Don’t stories like this interest you?”
“No, it’s not like that, but…”
“Souma, you’re the king, so shouldn’t stories that are causing unrest in the castle town be important to you?” she said.
“You don’t need to worry about it. That mannequin won’t be showing up again.”
“…Do you know something about it?”
“Yeah, sorta…”
I packed the “cotton” in while I gave vague answers. Now, I just had to sew the back closed and it would be done.
“…And, hold on, what are you doing there, Souma?”
“What? Exactly what it looks like. Sewing.”
“No, I’m asking why you’re coming to my room to sew!”
“Well, where else would I go? My room’s still the governmental affairs office, after all.”
Recently, the amount of work to be done had settled down a bit, so while my Living Poltergeist pens were working, my main body could rest like this. Though, that said, the governmental affairs office where my bed was always had a lot of officials coming in and out of it, so it was a bit hard to take it easy there.
“Besides, you know how Aisha’s been lately…” I added.
“I can guess…” she said.
Recently, Aisha had become so clingy that she would never leave my side.
When a dark elf pledges their loyalty to someone, they pride themselves on staying by that person’s side and protecting them until the day they themselves die, apparently. That was why Aisha had appointed herself as my bodyguard, and whether it was work time, meal time, or sleep time, she tried to follow me everywhere I went, even into the bath and toilet. I thought it was problematic to have someone who hadn’t even officially been hired yet so close to the king, but she was beautiful, highly loyal, and her skills were well known, so Ludwin and the royal guards turned a blind eye to her. As for Hakuya, who had taken over the post of prime minister from Marx, he said:
“Is it not lovely to be surrounded by such beauties? The princess, Madam Aisha, Madam Juna… it matters not to me which you choose, but please hurry up and give us a child. It will bring stability to the royal house.”
That’s a hell of a thing to say so easily. Good grief.
While I was thinking about that, Liscia came over and poked me in the back.
“I bet you don’t actually mind the attention, do you?”
“Give me a break. Just when I was finally able to get some rest… Wait, huh? Come to think of it, where’s Tomoe?”
“Tomoe is over in Mother and Father’s room. Mother’s taken a liking to her…”
Just a few days ago, Tomoe had come to the castle to live as Liscia’s adopted sister. Of course, as we had promised, her family had come with her, too.
Incidentally, Tomoe’s mother worked at the palace daycare facility, which we had set up as an experiment to help encourage the advancement of women in society. She stayed with the wet nurses, caring for other people’s children at the same time as her own. This daycare facility was a hit with the young maids, who said, “Now I can get married without worrying.”
With maternity leave being nonexistent at present, women were often dismissed the moment they got pregnant. That was why, unless they became a king’s mistress, most of the maids spent their entire lives single.
But I digress. Basically, it meant Tomoe had two mothers in the palace. She had seemed a little bewildered at first, but now both of them adored her.
Liscia stood up and, resting her hands on the back of the sofa, she peeked over my shoulder. “Still, when you have time off, you sew…? Is that a doll?”
“Oh, this? It’s Little Musashibo.”
I finished sewing up the doll’s back, presenting it to Liscia.
“Little Musashibo?”
“Yeah. He’s from my world… Something like a rare and exotic beast, I guess?”