When Nanna finished singing, the video cut out for a while. The jewel must be being moved back to its original position. When the screen came back up, it showed Souma and Aisha with wry smiles on their faces.
“…We were underestimating just how much energy Nanna has,” Souma said.
“…Indeed,” Aisha agreed.
“To think she’d go out of frame on a fixed-camera… Nanna, what a terrifying girl!”
“Why did you say that line like an old woman…?” Aisha asked.
“Now then, let’s get things back on track,” said Souma. “Now, now, we’ve kept you all waiting. Next up, the pride of our country, the Prima Lorelei, makes her appearance!”
“Madam Juna is incredibly popular even in this first broadcast, isn’t she?” asked Aisha.
As the two of them had just said, Juna had already secured the position of Elfrieden’s top lorelei for herself during the last Jewel Voice Broadcasts. Her popularity had surprised and confused even Juna herself.
“When the Congress of the People, which collects petitions, issued me a request saying, ‘Broadcast programs more often and let us hear Juna’s singing,’ even I was a bit weirded out,” said Souma.
“Wow… err, Madam Juna has been looking for a good herb tea to help with stiff shoulders lately…” said Aisha. “It’s not easy when they’re so big, it seems.”
“…Anyway, let’s hear her sing,” said Souma. “Here’s Juna Doma.”
“What was that pause for?” Aisha demanded.
“…I wasn’t imagining anything, really.”
“You inadvertently let that slip, I see.”
The adorable image of Souma turning to look away and Aisha staring at him as he did so faded out, and now the blue-haired Juna Doma appeared on screen.
On her upper half, she wore an outfit that looked like she had just wrapped a piece of fabric around herself, while on her bottom she wore loose white pants that tightened around her ankles. Wearing a thin, veil-like piece of silk on top of her head, she looked like a dancer girl who had escaped from the world of One Thousand and One Nights.
Her beauty captivated every last member of the audience, man and woman alike, while her singing voice would indiscriminately intoxicate the peoples of both Elfrieden and Amidonia.
The viewing masses were made to see why Souma had called her the Prima Lorelei. Juna’s voice didn’t have a unique character to it like Pamille’s did. However, her expressive control of her pitch was carved even deeper into people’s memories than Pamille was. Juna’s voice also lacked the power that Nanna’s had from training with the fishermen. However, thanks to that, her gentle timbre was able to seep deeper into the hearts of people than Nanna’s had.
The viewing public were certain of it. Certain that Juna Doma was the lorelei who stood above all loreleis, the Prima Lorelei.
The viewers in Amidonia had all been completely charmed by the three singers. They were surprised to find out that the Jewel Voice Broadcast could be such an enjoyable experience. At this point, none of them were concerned if this broadcast was Souma’s way of trying to win them to his side anymore.
In Japanese, the word “music” was written “to enjoy sound.” They were enjoying it for its sound. That was why no one noticed Souma’s true aim.
— With one exception.
“That king, he sure pulled a nasty trick…”
In Nelva, a fortress city in the southwest of Amidonia, one individual who had mixed in with the viewers to watch the broadcast muttered. This person wore a hooded cloak which covered their entire body, making it impossible to read their expression. All that it was possible to discern was that, compared to those around the person, this person had a small build, and a voice that was most likely female.
A similarly hooded man standing beside her asked the girl in the hooded cloak a question. “A nasty trick?”
“It’s nasty,” said the girl. “After all, he’s takin’ all the things my old man deliberately kept away from the people and then suddenly givin’ ’em to them all in one go. There ain’t any hope of my brother gettin’ himself reinstated after this…Well, for the people, that may be for the best.”
With those words said, the hooded girl shrugged as if to add, “Good grief.”
The hooded man beside her looked at her with confusion. “Um, princess, what are you saying Lord Gaius stole from the people?”
“Freedom, that’s what, Mr. Colbert,” said the hooded girl.
The hooded girl was Gaius VIII’s daughter, Roroa Amidonia. The man beside her was the former Minister of Finance, Colbert.
Roroa pointed at the video. “Usin’ the Jewel Voice Broadcast like that, women dressin’ up fancy, and men lustin’ after cute young girls in broad daylight, none of that woulda been allowed in the principality before now, yeah? That was because neither the prince or the people wanted the ideologies of weaklings to spread. But that king, he’s showin’ them with this broadcast that all of that stuff is allowed in the kingdom.”
“In other words… showing off their ‘freedom,’” Colbert said.
Roroa nodded. “That’s right. That’s what makes it nasty. Freedom is ‘free.’ Givin’ it away doesn’t cost Souma anythin’. Now, if ya try to take it away, there’ll be resistance. Even if he borrows the Empire’s power and manages to get Van back, do ya see my brother bein’ able to let them keep that ‘freedom’?…I don’t. Under my brother, it’ll be a rehash of how my old man was rulin’ the place. There’ll be chaos, no two ways about it.”
“No… do you mean to say Souma calculated all of that before making this broadcast?!” Colbert exclaimed.
“That’s what it’s lookin’ like to me.”
Colbert’s eyes went wide. He was shocked that this girl, who when she pulled back her hood had adorable beady little eyes like a tanuki, had seen through the designs of King Souma, the man who had played Gaius VIII for a fool.
If the ruler of Amidonia had been not Gaius or Julius, but Roroa instead, the world might be a very different place right now. No, there was no doubt it would have been. When he thought about that, Colbert couldn’t help but feel a deep sense of regret.
However, it seemed Roroa herself wasn’t even thinking about that. “It just means my old man was no match for him. That old man was hopeless when it came to anythin’ off the battlefield, after all. Honestly… I told him if he didn’t stimulate the eagerness to spend and get the economy movin’ again, this economic slump was gonna last forever, but he didn’t hear a word I said.”
Hearing her speaking so bitterly, Colbert hurried to respond. “Um, princess… about your father…”
“Oh, don’t you worry about that none,” she said. “I ain’t too bothered by it myself.”
In the recent battle, the forces of Amidonia had suffered a major defeat at the hands of the forces of Elfrieden, and Roroa’s father Gaius VIII had been struck down by the Royal Army under the command of Souma Kazuya.
When Colbert tried to show her some sympathy for her loss, Roroa just waved for him to stop. “I wondered why it is? I heard my old man’s dead now, but I don’t feel sad about it one bit. I guess in the end, I never did get along with my old man or my brother…”
“Princess…” murmured Colbert.
“If anythin’… I’m shocked that I ain’t more shocked by it,” said Roroa. “I oughta want revenge against Souma, but all I’m feelin’ towards him is curiosity. The way he rebuilt that old country and the strange way he uses the Jewel Voice Broadcast, I wonder what kinda world he must’ve lived in to learn to do all that. I’d like to meet him and talk about it. Hey, Mr. Colbert. Do ya think I’m heartless, maybe?”