Ah… Now that he mentions it, I haven’t taken time off since being summoned here, have I? I thought.
It wasn’t that I wasn’t resting at all. Recently, now that I had gotten used to using Living Poltergeists, I’d sometimes left the paperwork to my ability and gone to do things like make dolls in Liscia’s room. If I let part of my mind work while part of it rested, I could work 24/7 without feeling the slightest bit exhausted. However, according to Hakuya, it seemed that wasn’t the issue here.
“Even if you are resting, you are always in the palace, correct?” he asked me.
“Yeah, just in case anything happens.”
“I am telling you that it does not look like you are resting when you do that. And, because it does not look like you are resting, everyone else finds it difficult to rest themselves. Please, understand that.”
“That’s easy for you to say…” I said.
“Normally, I would want you to take a large block of days off to rest,” he said, “but…”
“Do we have that kind of time?” I asked.
“We do not.”
“I figured…”
As a matter of fact, there was a mountain of things that needed doing. Expanding and strengthening the military, meeting with VIPs, creating documents for external use, pushing forward all sorts of reforms… the list could go on forever. Even Aisha’s request that I go to the God-Protected Forest as soon as possible was on hold at this point. Though I had at least told them how periodic thinning worked. In this country beset by internal and external issues, there was no time we could afford to waste.
“However, if this lowers morale, and as a result work efficiency, I believe your hard work may be self-defeating,” Hakuya explained.
“Well, what do you want me to do, then?” I asked.
“Somehow, I will find time to give you a day off,” he said. “Why not use it for an outing somewhere?”
An outing, huh…
“Since I don’t get many days off, what if I said I want to use it to lie around in my room?” I asked.
“That request is rejected. I must ask you to take your vacation in a way that your subjects can see you enjoying it.”
“…You still call that a vacation?”
In my opinion, it’s only a day off if you’re able to do what you want with it. I gave Hakuya a meaningful glance to try to convey that, but it was met with utter indifference.
“Is this not the perfect opportunity? You can use the time to see the castle town with Princess Liscia.”
“You’re sending me out on a date?” I asked.
“You two are betrothed, so please go out and show the people how close you are.”
“Oh, come on, now this is just turning into part of my official duties,” I protested.
Do you want us to do stuff like they do on the Imperial Family Album TV show?
“…And what’ll we do about guarding me?” I added.
“Is that not what you have Aisha for?” he responded.
“First you tell me to go on a date, now you’re telling me to bring another woman along?!”
“Why, it will be like having a flower in each hand,” Hakuya commented. “I am most jealous.”
“You don’t mean that…”
Sigh… Well, it’s definitely some long awaited time to rest. I guess I can enjoy it with the mindset that I’m going out to have fun with friends. I can go around to all the places in the capital I’ve been interested in. Let’s see… checking out that singing cafe that Juna works at might be nice.
“…Okay. Fine, I’ll take a day off,” I said.
“Your understanding is appreciated.”
As Hakuya bowed reverently, I gave him a cold look.
“Now then, where’s Liscia at?” I wondered.
I wanted to let her know we had a day off, but she wasn’t in her room. Usually, that meant she was somewhere in the palace’s training facility. When I had ascended the throne, Liscia’s position as royalty had gone up in the air. Now all that she was left with was her military rank, so acting as my advisor (which, mind you, was pretty hard work) was the only job she had now. She’d been complaining lately about how she had nothing to do other than join the royal guards for training, hadn’t she?
First I visited the shooting range, then the indoor training grounds. Finally, when I visited the inner garden, I found Liscia in the middle of crossing blades with Aisha.
“Hahhhhhhhhh!”
With a loud cry, Aisha swung a sword that was as tall as she was.
In contrast, Liscia silently read her opponent’s attacks, striking with her rapier.
It was hard for an amateur to tell which of them had the advantage. Was it Aisha, who was unleashing an attack that would be crippling if it landed? Or was it Liscia, who dodged that attack, unleashing three sequential thrusts with her rapier?
Was it Aisha, who knocked those thrusts aside using nothing more than the gauntlet she wore? Or was it Liscia, who used the opening that left her with to step on Aisha’s great sword, preventing Aisha from lifting it up?
…Is this really a practice match? Their swordplay was so intense, I couldn’t be sure how serious they were.
“Sonic Wind!”
“Ice Sword Mountain!”
Now they’ve started using magic and skills!
Aisha’s Sonic Wind was apparently a skill that released a “cutting wind” from her great sword. When Liscia dodged, it cut the tree that had been behind her in half with a diagonal slash.
Meanwhile, Liscia’s Ice Sword Mountain seemed to be a skill that instantly froze the ground like a skating rink and shot icy spikes out of it, but Aisha cut down all of the spikes that looked like they might hit her using her great sword.
…What’s with this battle to the death?
I had already seen magic in this world. Recently, in order to practice my ability to manipulate dolls, I had been using a mannequin to go out and hunt monsters, so I had often seen the adventurers it encountered use magic (though it was usually when my mannequin got mistaken for a monster and attacked).
However, with the magic that ordinary adventurers used, the most they could do was things like shoot flames, shoot ice, or heal minor wounds. I’d never thought magic used by someone experienced would be this incredible.
Aisha was strong, but Liscia seemed pretty capable herself. As the two fought, their eyes were filled with life, sparkling even, as if they had discovered a worthy rival.
So these are warriors, huh… Wait, if I let them keep going, they’re going to wreck the castle!
“Both of you… cut that out!”
““Yes, sir! Wait, wha?!”” The two of them returned to their senses, landed on the ground, then both slipped on the ice and fell on their rumps in unison.
“A-A date?!” Liscia exclaimed.
“Yeah.”
When I explained to her that I had a day off, and that Hakuya had recommended I spend it going on a date with her, Liscia looked dumbstruck.
“Wait… Is that something we should be doing because someone else told us to?”
“I feel the same way, but… in Hakuya’s mind, royal dates are probably a part of our duties.”
“What an inhumane way of thinking,” she muttered.
“‘Before I am a human being, I am the prime minister.’ That’s probably something he’d say.”