Following that exposition, the king talked about this country.
This was the Kingdom of Elfrieden, a medium-sized nation in the southeast of the continent. It was ruled under a monarchy. It was a country originally founded by many races working together, and, though the king was a human, those of other races were accepted here without discrimination. Regardless of race, everyone held citizenship, and aside from “king,” they could take any job they desired. Even the prime minister who had been complaining to the king earlier was a half-elf, with human and elven parentage.
Because they did not border the Demon Lord’s Domain, there were few monster attacks. However, the country had been weak to begin with, and the national treasury was not exactly in good shape. Food shortages had been especially bad in recent years, and that had only exacerbated the problem of refugees dispossessed by the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain drifting here.
There were dark storm clouds on both the domestic and international fronts.
Apparently, relations were tense with the Gran Chaos Empire, the largest country on the continent, excluding the Demon Lord’s Domain. The Empire was the country which shared the longest border with the Demon Lord’s Domain. It was also the country that had directed the first invasion of the Demon Lord’s Domain. After their loss against the Demon Lord’s Domain, the Empire was apparently requesting war subsidies from other countries. To put it simply, they were requesting that countries who were far away from the Demon Lord’s Domain provide financial support to those which were close to it. Though these were “requests,” when they came from the most powerful country of all mankind, they were closer to an ultimatum. One of those requests had come to this kingdom, but under current circumstances, it would be difficult to pay.
Finally, the king talked about the “hero summoning,” which had brought me to this world.
Apparently, in the request for war subsidies that came from the Empire, there had been verbiage that had said, “If you are unable to pay, carry out the ritual of hero summoning which is passed down in your country, and turn that summoned hero over to the Empire.” It was abundantly clear that this country had no means to pay, and perhaps that had been the Empire’s intention all along. Perhaps they wanted to use a hero for his fighting potential, perhaps they wanted to dissect one and study him, or perhaps they had no interest in one to begin with, and they merely wanted to use the Kingdom’s failure to respond to their request as a casus belli to invade. With no way to know what the Empire wanted, speculation had led only to more speculation, and the kingdom had become suspicious of everything.
In response to their situation, the kingdom had decided to perform the hero summoning ritual. They had not yet decided upon whether to turn the hero over or not, but if they succeeded, it would at least give them a card to negotiate with. For that, they needed to respond to the request, and show they intended to perform the ritual.
…Now that you’ve heard this much, I’ll bet you’ve probably already guessed that the king never thought he might actually manage to summon a hero.
“Hey!” I shouted at him without intending to, and the king jumped back in fright.
“Eek! I am most sorry!”
“Oh, sorry,” I said. “I lost my composure for a second there.”
Even though he acts like this, he’s still a king. I’ll have to refrain from any further rudeness.
Still… Had I really been summoned by coincidence, with no one really expecting anything from me? After taking a moment to calm myself, I asked the king.
“…So, what do you plan to do?”
“A-About what?”
“The whole ‘turning me over to the Empire’ thing.”
“That is… What should I do? It is a real pickle.” The king really did seem troubled.
That surprised me a little. I had expected a “The Empire is scary! Please, go and serve them for our kingdom!” as he cried and begged me to do it. He looked pretty fainthearted, after all.
“What is there for you to agonize over?” I asked. “You’re afraid of the Empire, aren’t you?”
“I am afraid! That is exactly why I am agonizing over this!”
“If I may interject, allow me to explain,” the half-elf prime minister said, stepping forward. “At present, there is a clear difference in power between our country and the Empire. We simply are not in a position to say no when the Empire asks for something. While we are stuck in that situation, you are the sole lucky card that has fallen into our hands. Once we play that card, however, we have nothing left to use when negotiating with the Empire. Even if we can survive this time by doing as they say, what will we do the next time something comes up? Next time, we might only have succeeded in giving up our only card.”
I was silent. It wasn’t hard to see what he was saying.
What had happened to northern Fujiwara after they had given up their only card, Minamoto no Yoshitsune, was a good example. Those who cave in to intimidation, letting go of the only card in their hand, will have only a dark end awaiting them.
“What is a hero, anyway?” I asked.
“It is said that a hero is ‘one who leads the change of an era,’” the prime minister replied.
Hmm… So it’s not just someone who slays that Demon King?
“Isn’t that a wee bit vague?” I asked.
“We don’t have much in the way of documentation, you see.”
“…Please don’t hold a ritual if that’s the case.”
“I cannot apologize enough for this state of affairs,” the prime minister said formally.
Giving me the routine bureaucratic apology isn’t going to help… Still, this is a problem. There’s not enough information to act on. Which means what we need most right now is time.
“Sire, I have a proposal.”
“What is it? You may speak freely.”
“Can we talk about what’s going to happen from here on out? Not standing here, somewhere where we can sit down and discuss it at length. Just me, you, and the prime minister.”
“Hm. What do you think, Marx?”
“That would be fine.” The prime minister, whose name was Marx, nodded in assent.
Since I had their agreement, I made another request. “Please, also gather all the materials you can on this country. With a particular focus on the balance of payment reports, as well as materials on agriculture, forestry and fisheries, economy, trade and industry, and land, infrastructure and transport. We might be able to scrounge up the money the Empire is demanding. Also, I’d like the materials you have on heroes… but, well, that can wait.”
“Very well. I will have them gathered at once,” said the king.
We took a break at this point, and I was called to the king’s governmental affairs office later.
Sitting on a comfy sofa across from the king and Prime Minister Marx, we held meeting after meeting. That is, we talked about basically everything there was to talk about. This country’s industry, economy, tax system, agricultural policy, military preparations, foreign affairs… we discussed it all.
The meetings went on for a full two days. This was partly because I asked questions about every minute detail of the materials I’d had them gather, and partly because they latched onto the policies I was proposing to a degree that was bizarre. From partway through the meeting, the king was paying rapt attention to me, as if he had become an entirely different person.