Good.
Perhaps around two hours passed with her working quietly next to me.
At last, the girl in military uniform spoke to me, her hands never ceasing their work of checking documents as she did. “…Hey.”
“What? If you’re tired, you can take a break whenever.”
“No, that’s not it… I haven’t introduced myself yet. I am Liscia Elfrieden. The daughter of the former king, Albert Elfrieden.”
I stopped moving my pen. “…You’re the princess, huh?”
“I don’t look like one?”
“You were in uniform, so I didn’t notice. But… Yeah, maybe you do look princess-y.”
At this point, she finally made me take note of how attractive she was.
“I’m… Souma Kazuya. Technically, I’m the new king.”
Liscia turned to face me. She was pretty close, and we looked into one another’s eyes. Unlike me, who was just taken aback, her golden eyes seemed like they were trying to evaluate me. After we looked into one another’s eyes for some time, Liscia slowly opened her mouth.
“I’m not a princess anymore. Because you usurped the throne, my current position is a little unclear.”
“Usurped…? Your father pushed the throne and all his duties off on me, I’ll have you know. Honestly, why do I have to go through all this pain and hassle?”
“…Seriously, what happened? I know you’re the summoned hero, but how did that suddenly turn into you taking the throne?”
“You tell me. I just did what I felt I needed to in order to protect myself…”
I explained what had happened around the time of the summoning ceremony to Liscia.
When I had been summoned to this world, I’d been on the verge of being handed over to the Empire. The king hadn’t seemed enthusiastic about the idea, but, seeing as he had no other plan, if the Empire had put pressure on him to do it, he probably wouldn’t have had any other choice. There had been no telling what might happen to me if I was turned over to the Empire, so I had asked the king to choose the “do not hand over the hero” option.
My proposal to the king and prime minister was that they pay the war subsidies to buy time, and with that time, push forward with policies that would build a strong and prosperous country. If they were saying “hand over the hero in place of war subsidies,” all we had to do was pay the subsidies. If we did that, they would lose any justification for interfering in our affairs. It was not an actual threat, no matter what it seemed like. To keep up appearances, the Empire would not insist on it any further. That was my reasoning. We would use the time bought this way to pursue country-strengthening policies which would let us stand on equal terms with the Empire.
The two of them had had objections, of course. They had said this country had no means to pay the war subsidies. But, after inspecting the materials they brought me, I was able to show that if we sold off some state-owned facilities, enacted caps on government spending, and the king turned over some of his “personal assets,” it would be possible to pay.
I had gotten into the university’s School of Socioeconomic Studies (with the subject I had selected for the socio- part of the entrance exam being World History, by the way), and my dream for the future had been to become a local government employee. This was all within my field of expertise.
Hearing this plan, the king had taken on a ponderous expression, but the prime minister, Marx, had been enthusiastic. He must have ultimately decided that, rather than turn over the hero to preserve the status quo, enacting economic reforms was more likely to leave the country with a future. The king became more enthusiastic as we went on.
As the guy who suggested it, I knew I’d probably be expected to put in a lot of the work on those reforms, but only as a single bureaucrat in the finance ministry… that was what I had thought.
“And then he pushed the throne off on me.”
“Um, well… Sorry.”
“It’s nothing you need to apologize for. If anything, you’re a victim in all this, suddenly finding yourself engaged to me.”
“Well, yeah… Wait, huh? Which of us is higher-ranked now? Do I need to be super polite and formal?” She looked unsure of whether she should speak to me as a commoner would to a king, or as a princess who was candidate to be queen.
“…We can keep it casual, I guess?” I said.
“…Sure.”
“Also, don’t worry about the betrothal thing. I’m just holding onto the throne for now. I’ll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years, anyway.”
“Huh? Why?!”
“Because I only ever planned to work hard enough to earn the subsidies for the Empire so that I wouldn’t be turned over. Now that I’ve been handed the throne, I’ll do enough to get this country on the right track, but after that, I’ll leave it to the people of this country to handle the rest. Of course, we can tear up the engagement then.”
I gave Liscia a reassuring smile.
“I’ll probably quit this whole king gig in a few years anyway.” My eyes went wide when I heard Souma say that.
He makes it sound so simple. Does he even realize how difficult that would be?
Even someone like myself, who had focused so much on military matters that my political knowledge was a bit weak, could see the situation our country was in. I believe the word was “checkmate.” Food shortages, economic malaise, the influx of refugees caused by the invasion of demons, plus pressure from the Gran Chaos Empire. We had nothing but uncertainty bearing down on us.
For that reason, I could somewhat understand my father’s decision to immediately abdicate the throne to someone he sensed was more capable. But still. Considering all that, was it even possible to get this country back on track? Even supposing he somehow could, would the people allow a king who had accomplished such a great feat to retire so easily?
“…So, do you think you can secure the funds for the war subsidies?”
“Hm? Yeah. I’ve already secured the funds to send to the Empire.”
“…Huh?”
“Right now, I’m trying to squeeze out the funds for my reforms. They’ll cost even more than the war subsidies, after all.”
Wait… Wait, wait, wait, wait! He’s already secured the funds? The amount the Empire requested was so massive that it was equivalent to the national budget, from what I heard!
“Where did we have that kind of money…?”
“I sold off, like, a third of the treasure vault.”
“The treasure vault… Our national treasures?! Don’t tell me you sold off our national treasures! You didn’t, did you?!” I closed in on Souma, who looked very blasé about the whole thing. “The national treasures belong to the whole country! Just arbitrarily selling them off is a betrayal of our people!”
“Now, now, just calm down. If you say they’re the property of the people, I’d say selling them for the benefit of the people is all good.”
“Even so, there must have been objects with historical and cultural value…”
“Ohh, if that’s your concern, I had those set aside. All I sold were jewels and ornamental objects that had material value.”
Souma looked through the paperwork for the treasure vault inventory. “Treasures were divided into three categories: Category A (items with historical or cultural value), Category B (items without historical or cultural value but with monetary value), and Category C (everything else). We only sold items from Category B. Rather than sell the stuff in Category A, if we put it on rotating display in a museum, it’s likely to serve as a more permanent source of income.”
“Well, maybe… What about Category C?”
“Magic tools, grimoires, and the like. Honestly, I’m not sure how best to handle them. You could say they’re like weapons, in a way. We can’t sell them off or put them on display without the proper precautions. That full set of Hero Equipment looked like it might fetch a nice price, though… Mind if I sell that?”