That being the case, what should the refugees do in response? Continue to pray for their return, swearing allegiance to no country while they stay in a foreign land?
…That was no good. That sort of warped arrangement was sure to cause trouble later.
“The former king turned a blind eye to their presence,” I said. “I’ve had a mountain of other problems to deal with, so I’ve carried on that way until today. I’ve even provided some support, though only a little.”
Jirukoma said nothing.
“But now, with solutions to all of the other problems worked out, I have to tackle this one. We can’t simply provide support forever, and you remaining here illegally is a problem. We’ve turned a blind eye until now, but hunting and foraging without a license is against the law. If we tolerate these illegal acts, it is guaranteed to stoke resentment from the people of this country.”
Because they didn’t belong to this country.
For now, there was still an air of sympathy for them because they had lost their countries when the Demon Lord’s Domain had appeared. However, air was air. You could never tell when the winds might shift.
They had no prospect of returning home. If we supported non-citizens indefinitely, and continued to overlook their illegal behavior, it wouldn’t be long before the people’s resentment boiled over. In the worst case, there could be clashes between the people and the refugees.
“That’s why I’ve pressed the people here to make a decision,” I said. “They can give up on returning to their homelands and become people of this country, or they can choose not to give up on returning and leave this country as people of a foreign land. I’m here today to have them make that choice.”
“But, Souma, that’s…”
Liscia had a pained look on her face, but I shook my head silently.
“You may think it cruel, but it’s necessary.”
In the world I’d come from, there was a book that likened a commonwealth to a monster and its people to countless scales covering it. On the cover of that book, the monster was depicted as a person larger than a mountain.
“A country is… ultimately, something like a giant person,” I said. “And people are mirrors that reflect one another. If someone loves you, you can love them back, and you’ll want to protect them no matter what. If they’re indifferent, you will be indifferent to them. And unless you’re a saint, you can’t love someone who hates you.”
“Countries are the same… is what you want to say,” Jirukoma said gravely.
I nodded.
I could clearly see that, if things continued as they were, the people would be dissatisfied. That was why I needed to move to assimilate them while people were still sympathetic. This was a multiracial state. Compared to a state dominated by one race, the ground for accepting them was relatively fertile. However, that was dependent on the refugees being able to accept becoming members of a multiracial state.
I’d spoken about this when I’d pointed out the flaw in the Mankind Declaration, but when ethnic nationalism grows too strong, it can be the cause of civil war.
“If you, Sir Jirukoma, and your people stubbornly cling to the idea of returning to your homelands, and say you cannot identify with this country, then I… will be forced to exile you.”
Jirukoma ground his back teeth. “All we want is to return to our homeland.”
“I understand that feeling,” I said. “I don’t care if you hold onto that feeling in your own heart. If the situation changes for the better, allowing you to return, I won’t mind if you do so. However, at least while you’re in this country, I need you to have a sense that you are a member of this country. If you can’t do that, there’s no way I can let you stay here.”
Jirukoma was at a loss for words.
Komain, who had remained quiet up until this point, stood up. “What… would you know?”
“Stop, Komain!” Jirukoma ordered.
“No, Brother, I will speak my mind! You are the king of this land, are you not?! You have your own country! The pain of losing your country is something that you could never—”
“I do understand!” I cut in.
Komain was shouting in rage, but I looked her straight in the eye and spoke calmly.
“You must have heard that I was summoned here from another world. It was a one-way ticket. Unlike you people, who have at least some hope, I have no way of ever getting back. That’s why I can understand the pain of losing your homeland.”
“Urgh…” Komain couldn’t find the words to say.
Liscia lowered her face. Being the serious sort she was, Liscia was probably feeling guilty that it was her father, even if he’d done it at the request of the Empire, who had torn me away from my homeland.
“That longing for home… It’s hard to wipe it away, I know,” I said. “The land of our birth is special for every person. It’s when we lose something we’ve taken for granted that we’re first forced to see how precious it was. It’s easy to say that this is a story that’s played out over and over, but it’s not so easy to accept it logically like that.”
“Souma…” Liscia said, her heart clearly aching.
I placed my hand over hers. Liscia’s eyes opened wide with surprise. I gave Liscia a slight smile in order to reassure her.
“But… in my case, I had Liscia and the others. I had people who would be at my side and support me. I had people who were thinking about me. I worked desperately on behalf of this country in order to respond to their feelings. While I was doing that, at some point, I began to think of this country as my own. To the point where I was able to think that, if I lost this country, I would probably be just as sad as I was when I lost my homeland.”
Ultimately, a homeland was a connection. It was a connection between the land and the people who lived there. If anything could fill the hole left by losing it, it would have to be another connection.
Komain sat down, her strength gone, and hung her head. It wasn’t something she would be able to accept immediately. But they couldn’t move forward by staying still.
“That’s why I want to do for you what Liscia and the others did for me,” I said gently. “If you are willing to love this country and become members of it, this country will accept you.”
“To be specific… how will it accept us?” Jirukoma’s eyes grew more stern, probing me to find my true intent. “I know it is incredibly rude to ask you this when you have offered to accept us. However, we have seen and heard many harsh realities on our way here. There were countries that claimed to accept refugees, then put them to work doing hard labor in the mines for little pay. There were countries that sent them to fight as soldiers on the front line in the battle against the Demon Lord’s Domain. The ways they were treated were many and varied.”
“I’ve heard that, yeah…” I said. “I can only see those as stupid plans, though.”
“Are they stupid plans?” Jirukoma asked.
“Yeah. First off, sending them to the front lines is the stupidest plan of all. National defense is the basis of any state. If they’re entrusting that to foreigners, eventually they’re going to end up facing a serious national crisis.”
There had been many examples of this in Earth’s history. For instance, the Western Roman Empire during the Migration Period had tried to use the Germanic peoples who had settled peacefully in the empire to deal with the Germanic invaders, and they’d centered their forces around German mercenaries. As a result, their armies had become Germanicized, and they’d been destroyed by the Germanic mercenary commander Odoacer.
Also, in the Chinese Tang dynasty, giving power to An Lushan, who had been of Sogdian and Göktürk origins, had led to a rebellion which had shortened the life of the country.