How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 5
Contents
Prologue: The Beginning of the Enlightenment
1st day, 1st month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar
This was the first time that New Year’s Day had come since the Elfrieden Kingdom had absorbed the Principality of Amidonia and become the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia, or the Kingdom of Friedonia for short.
In the royal capital, Parnam, and the former capital of the Principality, Van, as well as any other city that had a receiver for the Jewel Voice Broadcast set up in its plaza, there were still a large number of people gathered there. After all, today the young king would be using the Jewel Voice Broadcast to issue a New Year’s greeting to the people. The people had gathered in order to hear it.
It wasn’t that Souma was doing anything to force the people to listen. But every time he used the Jewel Voice Broadcast, he had kicked off an event to gather personnel; or taught them about new foods as a countermeasure against the food crisis; or started up a music program… It was all so random, and the people were interested to see whether he might have something entertaining planned again. Also, when people gathered like this, the merchant stalls would come out to make a profit, and when the stalls were out more people would gather to see what all the fuss was… That feedback loop had gotten started, which was why even though Souma had only announced he would be making a New Year’s address, there were still so many people gathered.
One mother and her child were talking while they waited for the broadcast.
“Is His Majesty going to do something again?”
“Yes, darling. I wonder what it will be.”
The receiver mounted on the fountain began to project Souma’s image.
Behind him were his fiancées Princess Liscia and Princess Roroa, the latter being the former Sovereign Princess of Amidonia, whose betrothal to Souma had been announced at the same time as the annexation of her country.
Liscia and Roroa both wore flawless smiles, waving for the people. The princesses of two nations that had once been enemies were on the same screen, smiling. This reassured the people of Elfrieden and Amidonia about their newly united kingdom.
Eventually, the image of Souma began to speak. “To my beloved people in both our united kingdoms of Elfrieden and Amidonia, I wish you a happy new year.”
Souma, Liscia, and Roroa all bowed their heads in unison.
There was some murmuring about how the king had just bowed his head at the start of the new year, but when his face rose once more, Souma was wearing a teasing smile. “This is a traditional New Year’s greeting in the world I came from. ‘You’ve done a lot to help me in the past year. I hope I can count on you again in this one.’ That is the sort of feeling it’s meant to express.”
While the people of the kingdom were still taken aback, Souma pivoted into the main topic.
“Now, I hear that in the Amidonia Region, it was customary for your ruler to announce the national policy for the coming year. Roroa suggested I do the same, so… What the heck, I’ll give it a shot. For now, the nation’s goal for this year will be…”
A wave of tension rushed through the crowd listening to the broadcast in the Amidonia Region.
The people formerly of the Principality of Amidonia were all recalling Gaius VIII’s face when he’d made his proclamations each new year. With a stern expression, he would swear revenge on Elfrieden, then set their goal as the reclamation of their stolen lands.
For the Amidonians, the announcement of policies on the first day of the new year had always been done in order to lift up their fighting spirits. They could hardly be blamed for tensing in anticipation that there might be a war with some other country again.
Just where was this country headed? Were they going to invade some other place? To bring down the Empire and claim hegemony over the continent? Or to strike out against the Demon Lord’s Domain, and thus liberate the northern lands…?
The listening gulped in anticipation, and at last Souma spoke.
“I think I’m gonna go with, ‘To make a better country.’”
A hush fell over the crowd.
That’s way too vague! Everyone in the audience had that same thought. It seemed Souma had expected they would, because he laughed.
“I think that may be a little too vague, but it’s very important. First, there’s the matter of how to define a ‘good country.’ It may actually be easier to start by thinking about what a ‘bad country’ is like.”
Souma made a fist with one hand, raising one finger after another as he explained.
“First, a country where people go hungry. Second, a country where people freeze. You could rephrase those two as a country where people suffer in poverty, maybe. People starve or freeze to death because they can’t buy food, and they’re unable to acquire a place to live or clothes to wear. I think it goes without saying that a country where either of those is allowed to happen is a bad one. In a country where people starve or freeze to death, there’s no way to bind the hearts of its people together.”
These were words that the people of both Elfrieden and Amidonia could agree with. Both of them had experience with food shortages. The people on the Amidonian side had felt it particularly keenly. They had averted their eyes from the problem because of their hatred for Elfrieden, but now that they had recovered thanks to the support they’d received from the kingdom, they felt a strong desire to never go back to the way things had been the year before.
“Third, a country with poor public order,” Souma continued. “For instance, even if a country has no lack of food and warmth, if there are thieves, bandits, and pirates running rampant, it’s probably not a place you’d want to live. That said, those sorts of lowlifes are generally born from the same cause I mentioned earlier: poverty. In the world I came from, there was a saying: ‘Only once we are clothed and fed can we afford to be polite.’ When it takes all you have just to stay alive, you lose the space in your heart that it takes to care for others.
“Fourth, a country that spends all its time at war. Even if they win every battle, a war is a burden on the national treasury, and people die in it. It’s even worse when you lose. If you earn the enmity of another country, there will be terrorism, and that leads to a worsening of public order. It robs you all of the things that are most important to you.
“Fifth, a country that, in contrast to the one in my fourth example, can’t protect itself. If the country neglects its ability to defend itself because the people don’t want to fight, other countries will take advantage. The result will be the same as for the fourth country. It would be even worse in our current times, since the Demon Lord’s Domain presents an unpredictable threat.”
While he said this, Souma extended his now-fully-opened hand towards the people.
“Even with that rough outline, I think you can see all five of these are bad countries. What, then, is a good country? Is it the opposite of these bad countries?”
Souma turned over his hand so that the back of it was facing them, then bent down his fingers as he spoke.
“An independent country where the people don’t starve, where they don’t shiver from the cold, where public order is maintained, where there aren’t excessive invasions of other countries, and where we will be all right even if another country or the Demon Lord’s Domain comes to attack us. I think that would probably be a ‘good country,’ and that’s a goal this country should work towards.”