Volume 3 Interlude 3 (1/2)

Translator Corner

This is Yukkuri

demasu!

This actually had

been finished yesterday... Yeah, sorry…

This chapter is a

translator nightmare, though…… What with choosing a correct term to maintain

the ‘otherness’ of the story.

DISCLAIMER: There is no

guarantee that my translation is 100% correct. Please correct me if I was

wrong.

Translator:

Yukkuri Oniisan

Editor, Proofreader:

So-Chintzy

Postwar Arc

Interlude: Is.h.i.+dzuka-sama

Whether it was in the Kingdom’s Capital 『Parnam』 or the Dukedom’s Capital 『Van』, the King’s job never changes. Scanning the doc.u.ments that Hakuya had

brought to the government affairs room and then signing them over. After we had

occupied Van, the workload that needeed to be done had also increased. The

amount of paperwork that had been ama.s.sed for several days due to the music

program plan was painful to see. Even after working from sunrise to sunset and

fully utilizing 『Living Poltergeist』, the acc.u.mulated stacks of doc.u.ments by no means decreased. In the end,

even in Van, I slept on a bed placed in the corner of the room, so I could

immediately go to work after waking up.

「There are many rooms in the

castle, so why did you turn this room into your bedroom?」(Liscia)

Liscia, who was helping in the paperwork besides me, spoke out in amazement

at how I got to work as soon as I woke up, day after day, constantly staring at

the doc.u.ments that were piled up on the desk underneath the morning rays that slipped

through into the room.

「Since in the end, I can

concentrate on working from morning to evening this way. There is no reason to

make another room just for me to sleep in. Really, even though Elfrieden’s

matters had settled down, Van’s capitulation made the work multiply again. Is

this a black company?[1]」(Souma)

「Don’t say something that is

incomprehensible. Here, the next doc.u.ment.」(Liscia)

「Yeah……Eh? This again?」(Souma)

Receiving the doc.u.ment, I sighed after skimming over it. The content was 「The citizens of Van said that they want to hold an outdoor music concert in

the plaza, may this be permitted?」. Even today, I had processed

numerous pet.i.tions with similar contents in them. Either it was about a music concert,

theatrical play, art exhibition, calligraphy exhibition, or circus troupes, it

covered a wide range of different forms of entertainment. It seems that thanks

to that broadcast, the citizens of Van had become conscious about

self-expression in the arts. This situation is,

「Cultural revival movement Renaissan~ce

♪」[2](Souma)

「……What are you saying all of

sudden?」(Liscia)

「……It’s nothing.」(Souma)

Liscia looked at me coldly. Yeah, in order to make this gag come true, first

I must make the phrase『Amidonian Renaissance』 become an established name. Well,

the original Renaissance was an act to escape from the influence of Christianity

and to revive the culture based on the humanism of Ancient Greece and Rome, but

perhaps in Amidonia’s case, the cultural revival was more about freeing

themselves from the military-first doctrine and glorifying the arts and

culture.

「But you know… Even if they are

latecomers in the arts, their awakening is too much.」(Souma)

To be honest, I really want them to spare me from their incessant desire to

hold events related to the arts. This place was, more or less, an occupied

town, after all. There is a possibility that an event where a lot of people are

gathered could be used to brew a conspiracy or become a target of a terror act,

that’s why there was a need to check each and every single event. Well, this was

also something that I wanted.

「We couldn’t help it, right? After

all, the broadcast was eye-opening, right? These kind of things have been considerably

suppressed until now.」(Liscia)

「You’re right…… A military

nation wouldn’t permit something like self-expression.」(Souma)

Even if there is just a short sentence written in a book that is negative towards

the government, it would be a target for book burning. Just by singing a song

that advocated peace, someone could be imprisoned. If there was a play that was

a satire of the government, the troupe leader would be publicly executed…… Amidonia’s

government is capable of doing anything without hesitation. That’s why the

people’s excited att.i.tude towards art was a backlash against the previous regime’s

acts.

「Thanks to that my workload

ended up increasing.」(Souma)

「No complaining. This is much

better than open rebellion, right?」(Liscia)

「Well, yeah…… Perhaps I need to

establish a bureau for events related services soon. I will appoint Margarita

as the bureau chief and make her deal with all the tasks related to the event.」(Souma)

「That’s good…… But you need to do

the paperwork for that.」(Liscia)

「*urrgh*……」(Souma)

In the end, no matter what I do, my work won’t decrease. Just like that, I

continued working until the afternoon without any changes. When my stomach became

empty and I told Liscia about taking a break for a meal, Poncho Is.h.i.+dzuka, the

Minister that was responsible for matters relating to food, entered the room.

Poncho’s perfectly round stomach shook when he stood before me and he made a

bow with a nervous expression.

「U-umm, Your Majesty, can I

have a bit of your time?」(Poncho)

He was chattering his teeth. Even if he looks like this, his all-around

competence related to food problems had played an active part in my plan, and

so I personally appointed him as a close a.s.sociate, as someone in this kingdom

that I acknowledged his superiority in his field.  That’s way, I beg of you, I wish for you to act

more at ease when standing in front of me……

「Did something happen?」(Souma)

「Ah, yes! There is something

that I want Your Majesty to see, yes!」(Poncho)

After saying this, Poncho took out something from his bag and then placed

it on the desk.

「Something that you want him to

see…… A flower?」(Liscia)

Liscia, who saw it from my side, tilted her head. Yes, what Poncho had taken

out was a flower stem. That flower had an appearance similar to a lily. However,

the petal’s color, was colored in a marbled colors of pink, yellow and light

brown, giving off a poisonous shade. If this was a mushroom, then it would be

something that mustn’t be eaten. Although, there was an American candy colored like