Volume 5 Chapter 1 (1/2)

10th day, 1st month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar — Royal Capital Parnam

It was a day when the festive mood of the New Year was beginning to settle down.

The fountain plaza in Parnam where the Jewel Voice Broadcast could be watched was still packed with people. That new king was apparently going to be broadcasting yet another new program, so the people had gathered to see it. At this point, it was a familiar sight in pretty much any city where the Jewel Voice Broadcast could be watched. The people would gather every time a new program was planned like this; the merchants would come with their carts, and it would turn into a festival-like atmosphere.

Dece, Juno, and their adventuring party were there in that festive fountain plaza.

“Wow, it's as crowded as ever,” Juno commented. “That's the capital for you.”

That was the opinion the baby-faced, slender, female thief let slip out as she was overwhelmed by all the people pa.s.sing by. With the protection quest they had taken from the guild complete, the party had decided to come see the Jewel Voice Broadcast, since they were already in the area anyway.

The brawny brawler Augus was dragging the affable young priest Febral around from stall to stall, so the only ones here were Juno, the hot-blooded and handsome swordsman Dece, and the quiet, shapely mage Julia.

“These broadcast programs have already become one of the famous sights of this country, after all,” Dece told her. “The music programs are the best, you know. The loreleis are cute, and when I consider the possibility of not being able to hear their voices anymore, even though I'm an adventurer, I don't feel like I want to go to other countries any— Ow!”

Dece had been rambling on about the topic, but Julia pinched his upper arm with a

smile.

Seeing that her leader just didn't understand the female heart, Juno shrugged her shoulders with dismay. She started thinking that maybe she should be considerate and disappear off somewhere for their sake… but then it happened.

The broadcast seemed to have started, and the people were all looking towards the fountain, but what was displayed there was… some sort of roly-poly creature? All the people of the kingdom were taken aback by this, but Juno had the loudest reaction of all.

“Huh?! What's Mister Musas.h.i.+bo doing on there?!”

Yes. What was there to hide? The one appearing on screen was not a snowman, or a kagami mochi, it was Little Musas.h.i.+bo. Little Musas.h.i.+bo turned to the screen and waved his arms around.

“Hey, everyone. I'm Little Musas.h.i.+bo. Nice to meet you.”

“““He talked?!”””

Hearing Little Musas.h.i.+bo's adorable, child-like voice, Juno, Dece, and Julia all cried out in surprise at the same time. Little Musas.h.i.+bo, who had never said a word no matter how much trouble they'd gotten into on a quest, was now onscreen and talking. You couldn't blame them for their surprise.

“That voice… it sounds like a child's, or a woman's. Was the person inside him female all along?!” Dece cried out in shock, but Juno immediately denied it.

“Nah, I've seen his hand once before, and he was just a normal guy, you know?”

“But that's a girlish voice, isn't it?”

“It's a kigurumi suit, so why can't it just be a different person inside?” Julia suggested, in a relaxed tone.

Dece and Juno gulped, seeing the logic behind the comment. ““…Y-Yeah, of course that's it.””

They had forgotten because of how human its gestures were, but the person in

question was a kigurumi suit. It was possible the suit had just been loaned out by the castle.

With no idea of the confusion it was causing for Juno and the others, the Little Musas.h.i.+bo on the broadcast declared in a loud voice, “Okay, Together With Big Sis is starting now.”

(Y)

At the same time — Parnam Castle's Great Hall

Right now, Little Musas.h.i.+bo was dancing to an easygoing melody right in front of our eyes. Liscia, who was standing beside me and watching this from a spot that wouldn't appear on the broadcast, stood there with her mouth hanging open, a blank expression on her face. There was an awkward silence between us.

“Um… Could you maybe say something?” I asked hesitantly.

“I don't even know where to start… No, I mean, what is that even supposed to be?”

“Little Musas.h.i.+bo.”

“Yeah. That, I know. That's not what I meant. Why is it talking?”

“Well, because there's a person inside it, of course,” I said. “Pamille Carol is providing the voice.”

“Pamille's inside that thing?!”

Yes, as a matter of fact, she was. We'd had no equipment for recording, so we couldn't add the voice in post-processing, which meant the voice had to come from inside Little Musas.h.i.+bo. I was controlling his movements, so it wasn't too heavy for Pamille, but she had still complained it was hot and stuffy inside there.

“You have that kigurumi suit registered as an adventurer, don't you?” Liscia demanded. “Is it okay having it appear on the Jewel Voice Broadcast? Wouldn't it be bad if people found out it was connected to the royal family?”

Ohhh, yeah, if Juno and the others were watching, that might turn into a bit of a headache.

“Well, it's a kigurumi suit, after all,” I said. “‘We saw this kigurumi in town and thought it was cute, so the castle asked for a copy, and now we're using it as a character in our program.'… Wouldn't a story like that work?”

“Even if it does…” she muttered. “And wait, what is this program even supposed to be about?”

“What, you ask? It's an educational program.”

“Educational?”

“Oh, look, the main program's about to begin,” I said, pointing.

(Y)

The easygoing song ended, and the new scene to be broadcast was set on a stage.

Up on the stage there was a backdrop of trees, gra.s.s, and stumps to show that it was a forest. In the middle of that spa.r.s.e forest, Little Musas.h.i.+bo was drawing something on the ground with chalk. Looking closer, it was apparently numbers.

“Um… 1+1 is 2, 2+2 is 4… Hrm, this arithmetic stuff is hard.”

Little Musas.h.i.+bo twisted his head around in confusion. The gesture was very childish.

An older girl with blue hair wearing a boyish outfit including a hat and overalls pa.s.sed by. When the blue haired girl noticed Little Musas.h.i.+bo, she called out to him in a cheerful voice.

“Hey, what's wrong, Little Musas.h.i.+bo? Why the troubled look on your (expressionless) face?”

Little Musas.h.i.+bo looked up, walking over to the girl with slow, easy footsteps. “h.e.l.lo, Big Sister Juna.”

At that point, the adult viewers noticed what was up. The big sister character was the famous Prima Lorelei, Juna Doma.

Because Juna was mostly known for being so beautiful that even the girls wanted her, they hadn't made the connection with her in this boyish outfit. Her tone of voice was more direct, in keeping with the outfit. While this version of Juna had lost the mature s.e.xiness that made her seem older than she actually was, it brought out a cuteness that was more like what you'd expect of a girl her age.

Little Musas.h.i.+bo turned to “Big Sister Juna” for help. “Big Sister Juna, arithmetic is hard and I don't know what to do about it. I look at books, but there are just numbers and symbols, and it's not interesting at all.”

There were a large number of viewers who nodded in agreement.

It had been nine days earlier that Souma had encouraged the people to learn to read, write, and do arithmetic, but those who lived a lifestyle where they didn't need to do calculations had apparently thought, “Okay, reading and writing, maybe, but what good is learning to do calculations for anyone who isn't a merchant?”

However, Juna giggled and gave a playful wink to Little Musas.h.i.+bo who was voicing those viewers' opinions for them. “Oh my, don't you know that math can be fun?”

“What? Really?” Little Musas.h.i.+bo asked doubtfully.

“It's true,” she said with great confidence.

A fun, cheery melody began to play again from seemingly nowhere in particular. Juna began singing along with it.

The song was “Fun Arithmetic.” It was from Minna no Uta, or Songs for Everyone, in the world Souma came from. This song, which was sung by Seiji Tanaka, presented addition; subtraction; the fact that when you have a group of ten it moves up to a new digit; and the fact that any number, no matter how large, disappears when multiplied by zero; all in a comical fas.h.i.+on.

Juna and Little Musas.h.i.+bo sang this song, dancing happily in a circle together.

When they finished, Little Musas.h.i.+bo excitedly clapped his hands. “I feel like arithmetic just got fun. If I study, will it be even more fun?”

“Of course,” Juna a.s.sured him. “If you study hard, you'll be able to do even more amazing things.”

Then Juna sang a song for Little Musas.h.i.+bo about all the things he'd be able to do if he studied his arithmetic. It had a fun melody and playful lyrics, but if you were listening closely, it expressed a number of mathematical phenomena. It was exactly the sort of song that belonged on an educational program.

The children who were watching the broadcast innocently imitated Juna and Little Musas.h.i.+bo, singing the lyrics to themselves and dancing. The adults, on the other hand, considered the meaning of the lyrics, nodding along with interest as they figured it out.

In among them there was just one person, Juno, who was thinking about something entirely different.

Did he just lend them his kigurumi suit? No… That can't be it. Juno was closely scrutinizing Little Musas.h.i.+bo's movements. The way he moves, it's just like Mr. Little Musas.h.i.+bo. But the voice I heard was a cute girl's voice. The hand I saw that time was a man's hand. There's a different person inside, but he's moving the same… What does it mean?

As she pondered deeply, something occurred to Juno.

Now that I think about it, wasn't there that one time I saw Mr. Little Musas.h.i.+bo delivering a letter to the guild? After the receptionist saw it, she told us there was a banquet being held at the castle. In other words, that letter was from the castle. This broadcast is put together by the castle, too, from what I hear. Maybe Mr. Little Musas.h.i.+bo is connected to the castle somehow?

Juno stared hard in the direction of Parnam Castle which was where the broadcast was coming from.

…I'm curious. I want to look into it, but… I can't exactly go sneaking into the castle. If they caught me, I'm sure I'd be punished. Hmm, isn't there any way I can look into it?

While Juno was thinking about all of this, the program continued. When Little Musas.h.i.+bo and Juna's short theater segment came to an end, the broadcast video moved to another place.

This time it wasn't a stage but what looked like a great hall. There were around ten three-to-five-year-old children there. Owing to their young age, they weren't coordinated at all, and they would sit down, run around, lie down, and generally move about freely. These were the children of the castle's workers who had been left at the daycare center.

Souma had thought the audience for an educational program should be made up of children, so, with the permission of their parents (though, with the king asking them a favor, they could hardly decline…), he had arranged for them to appear. Also, in with the children there was a young girl who looked to be around sixteen years old.

“Hey, isn't that Princess Roroa?” one astute viewer pointed out.

That girl was indeed Roroa, the former Princess of Amidonia. Roroa was wearing a boyish outfit like Juna's, and said in a cheerful voice, “Look, everybooody. Your singin' big sister is gonna come out and plaaaay. One, two, aaaand…!”

“““Big Sister Juna!””” the children called.

With Roroa giving them the signal, the children all called her name together. When they did…

“h.e.l.loooo.” Juna appeared again, waving her hands. She stood next to Roroa and said, “Now, everyone, it's time for a song.”

Then she began to clap her hands.

(Y)

Meanwhile, back where we were recording in the castle, Liscia was crying out in surprise.

“Roroa?! What is that girl doing?!”

“When I told Roroa we would be making an educational program, she said, ‘Sounds fascinatin'! Darlin', I wanna be on it, too!'” I said. “She forced me to do it. I had no other options, so I decided to let her be on the show as Juna's a.s.sistant.”

“Can you really go around deciding roles on a whim like that?” Liscia asked skeptically.

“…I have a soft spot where crying children or the sponsors are concerned, you know. Besides, this program is being brought to you by The Silver Deer, which Sebastian is the public face of; but Roroa runs it behind the scenes, after all.”

Right now, our country was providing funding for multiple businesses and for research on a variety of topics. We were heavily focused on foodstuffs, medicine, and the military because those were things that would have an effect on the lives of the people. Thanks to that, the national treasury was always on the verge of collapse.

Eventually, as the population grew, the increase in taxes would make back our money on the investment, but we couldn't count on it to happen right away.

With that in mind, the finance minister, Colbert, kept a tight hold of the country's purse strings, and he wasn't about to allocate funds for some new program that had no record of success. That's why I had asked Roroa's company to fund it. Because of that, I was now left with no choice but to listen to Roroa, the investor, when she asked me for something.

When Liscia heard the details, she sighed. “It's always about money, huh. It's a hard life.”

“You said it.”

…Though I'm sure Roroa set up her own company with this exact sort of situation in mind.

The truth of the matter was, if Roroa hadn't invested, I wouldn't have been able to do this broadcast. Besides, if I didn't let her have a little of what she wanted, I was probably going to be hit with divine retribution someday.

I looked over to the hall where Juna and Roroa were singing “Musunde Hiraite” with the children.

The children watched Roroa's exaggerated movements and then imitated her. When I saw them bouncing around, moving their arms and legs, it put a smile on my face. While my heart was being warmed by their angelic behavior, Liscia asked me a question.

“I understand why you want to make an educational program, but why are there so many songs?”

“Don't you have songs from your childhood that have stuck with you for a strangely long time?” I asked.

“Like lullabies?”

“Yeah, exactly. Songs and melodies get stuck in your head, and it's easy for people to end up singing or humming them on their own. That's why it's more memorable if you use songs in education than if you just taught the material normally, and it'll spread farther, too.”

For instance, before they taught us “Irohanihoheto” in school, I'd already learned it from Minna no Uta's “Iroha Matsuri.” Also, I feel like a major part of the reason I could remember the ordering of the Chinese zodiac without getting it confused was because I'd learned a song called “Eto wa Merry-go-Round.” If I still remembered those songs even now that I was an adult, Minna no Uta really was incredible.

Liscia said, “I see…” with a grunt of admiration. “Honestly, I think this was really well thought out.”

“Hm… Well, thinking is my job, after all.”

“It's not as easy as you make it sound. Thinking about the people and coming up with policies to benefit them.” Liscia was looking at me approvingly… I averted my eyes. “Wait, why did you look away?”

“Well… If you were to ask if it's really for the people, I'd have to admit a bit of my own self-interest came into it, too…”

“Really? How?” Liscia stared hard at me.

…Well, there's no helping it, I thought. I guess I'll fess up.

“We're holding the wedding ceremony as I formally inherit the throne, right?” I asked.

“Y-Yes, I suppose we are.”

Liscia's cheeks flushed red when I said the word wedding. It had been just the other night, on New Year's Eve, that I had proposed to Liscia and she had accepted, and it was still a little embarra.s.sing to think about it. It was adorable when she did that, but… let's move the story along.

“So, at the wedding, I want to reveal all of my queens, with no discrimination between who's a primary and who's a secondary.”

Because secondary queens, whose children would lack the right of succession, had originally been the kings' concubines, they were seen as lower than the primary queens. As a result, even now that they were treated as queens, there were many cases where they would not be given a big wedding ceremony in front of the people. There had even been cases when secondary queens had felt inferior to the primaries, and so had declined to attend on that basis. They must have feared it would be a seed of later troubles.

I wanted to change that custom.

“Roroa said she was fine with being a secondary queen, but since we are going to be ruling over the Amidonia Region, I want to make her my third primary queen,” I said. “That would make Juna the only one who can't partic.i.p.ate in the ceremony, right? I was thinking, if possible, I'd like everyone to be there together.”

“You're right. I think that would be for the best.” Liscia nodded and agreed without hesitation. “Aisha and Juna were with us during the hard times, and we got through them together. They feel like war buddies to me. Oh, I don't mean to leave Roroa out. I think she can be a nuisance sometimes, but the way she'll play around with me like a little sister is cute. It's just that Aisha and Juna are special. It doesn't matter who's a primary and who's a secondary; I don't want anyone to feel neglected.”

“I see… I'm relieved.”

It was a good thing the first primary queen, Liscia, was so tolerant. Liscia and the others got along well, so I hadn't been worried, but… even so, it was a relief to hear Liscia herself say all of that. Honestly, these wonderful girls were all better than I deserved.

Liscia tilted her head to the side. “But does that have anything to do with this broadcast?”

“Yeah,” I said. “For now, my betrothal to Juna is secret, but that's going to become untenable as the ceremony gets closer, right?”

“Well, of course. The wedding will be broadcast nationwide.”

“Yep. So, there needs to be an announcement made at some point… I was thinking, when that happens, between the lorelei Juna and the Juna who sings songs with children, which would the people be less upset about… you know…”

Liscia narrowed her eyes and gave me a hard look. “Don't tell me you planned this program just for that. Did you?”

“Oh, no. The plan itself was meant from the beginning to help educate the people,” I said, trying not to make eye contact. “It's just, well… I let my own selfish interests get involved a bit, too, you could say…”

Liscia let out a sigh. “You're hopeless. Do you really have to worry that much about how the people see you?”

“No, no, it's a pretty critical issue, you know?!”

After all, Juna had become such a national idol that we had gotten pet.i.tions from the Congress of the People saying, “Have her on the Jewel Voice Broadcast more often.” If I just announced our engagement the way things were, there seriously might be riots. That was why, in order to keep them under control, I was planning to gradually s.h.i.+ft Juna from idol work to children's songs.

When I told Juna that, as much as it pained me to do it, she said, “If I can sing at your side, sire, I don't care what position it is in,” and smiled for me.

Judging by the fact she had then immediately recommended a new lorelei, Komari Corda, who could carry on her current style, Juna was enthusiastic about the idea.

And, as we were discussing that, the part where they sang with the children had come to an end.

“All right, everyone, well done,” Juna said.

“And did all of ya out there watchin' us manage to sing along, too?” Roroa asked.

Juna and Roroa were closing out the segment.

“What's scheduled after this?” Liscia asked quietly.

“Next up is exercise time. It's a program to get everyone's bodies moving.”

“Exercise? Since so far you've only been using family members… Is Aisha doing it?”

“No. I've brought on a proper expert for the exercise segment.”

“An expert?” Liscia was tilting her head to the side in confusion.

Roroa in the hall took the lead again. “Okay, it's time for exercisin'. We're all gonna call the exercise guy together. One, two, aaaand…!”

“““Exercise guuuuuy!””” the children all shouted together at Roroa's prompting.

“Hahhhh!” A man jumped down from the balcony on the second floor. The man landed stylishly in front of the children, flashed his bright white teeth, then turned towards the screen and gave the viewers a thumbs-up.

The young human man was tall, standing at around 185 centimeters. He had a muscular physique that was apparent even with all of his clothes on. His face, taken as a whole, would have been considered handsome, but his thick, upturned eyebrows, his sharp eyes, and his s.h.i.+ning white teeth… Each of the individual parts had a lot of “character.”

The young man put a hand on his hip, then turned to the children and said, “Sorry for the wait, children! Now, move your bodies with me!”

He was a young man who spoke pa.s.sionate words with a pa.s.sionate smile.

Liscia watched the young man, her mouth agape, and whispered, “…Who is that?”

(Y)

Earlier, in the middle of the 12th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar.

On that especially cold day…

“We've changed the way we produce grain in our territory. It's greatly increased our food self-sufficiency rate,” the man told me. “Thanks to your transportation network, sire, my domain is more prosperous than ever.”

“Oh, ho,” I said. “I see…”

I was standing next to a burly, middle-aged man and smiling along as he rambled on endlessly. The man's name was Moltov Juniro. He was the head of one of the ten most influential n.o.ble houses in the country, the House of Juniro. Today I had been invited to a banquet they were hosting.

These days, I was being invited to a banquet held by some influential n.o.ble or other nearly every day. It seemed that in this country, in the middle and towards the end of the twelfth month, the n.o.bles would invite guests they were close to and hold a banquet. There they would thank them for their interactions throughout the year, and express their hope to remain just as close in the next one.

Well, basically, it was an end-of-year party.

In addition, it seemed that the number and level of the guests they could attract was used as a barometer of the n.o.ble's power and influence. That was why, at this time of year, the n.o.bles invited as many people as they could, especially those of high stature.

Now, if you asked who the person of highest stature in this country was, that would have to be me, the guy who was currently holding on to the throne. Naturally, even if they wanted to, no ordinary n.o.ble could invite the king without having any special ties to him. I wasn't overly fond of these banquets myself, after all. Normally, even if I

received an invitation, I turned it down because I was busy.

So if I still had to attend someone's banquet, that meant they were no ordinary n.o.ble. While they might not be on the level of Excel, there were still powerful n.o.bles in this country. It was difficult to turn down invitations from those sorts of people. It's a superior's duty to socialize with those who serve under them.

Because I'd turned down so many of them, Hakuya had told me, “Please, at least attend the year end banquets.” Because of that, for the past few days in a row, I had been forced to attend the powerful n.o.bles' banquets.

While getting even more dressed up than usual for the banquet (It was a very n.o.ble-y outfit. Even my sleeves had frills.), I would groan, “Ugh, what a pain,” or, “I don't wanna go,” or, “This is such a ha.s.sle,” and Liscia, who was helping me get changed, would reproach me for it.

“This is your duty as king,” she would say. “As your fiance es,we'll be there, too, so shape up, would you?”

Like she'd said, Liscia and my other partners were in attendance, too. Even so, they didn't have it as bad as I did. My fiance es,Juna excluded, were taking turns and each accompanying me one at a time. I, on the other hand, was being forced to attend every single time.

“As you can see, my domain is in excellent shape…” Moltov was droning.

“…”

If you asked what I didn't like about banquets, it was having to play along with my host's “hospitality” which consisted of them going on at length about this or that. Even if the food looked luxurious, I didn't have any time for eating or drinking. What was more, the n.o.bles all tended to talk about the same things.

First was boasting about how they managed their domain. That was no doubt largely because I had added the management of their domains into their performance evaluations. Most n.o.bles tried to show there were no issues in their governance, and the more capable ones took the chance to express exactly how wonderful their managerial skills were.

The evaluations were done by inspectors dispatched for that express purpose, and

they would get proper input from the people living in the domain. That made trying to convince me at a banquet all but meaningless, but it was human nature to want to take every chance they could get. If they thought the king was keeping a close eye on them, and it led to an improvement in their people's lives, that was a good thing. Still, I got sick of having to hear similar accounts at every banquet.

“Sire, allow me to go get a drink for you,” Aisha, my partner for the day, offered in a small voice. The silver dress she'd also worn for the music program she'd helped me host in Amidonia looked good on her now. She must have sensed my exhaustion and was trying to be considerate.

I had just been feeling a bit parched, so I asked her to please do so, and Aisha silently left.

The moment Aisha departed, there was a sudden change in the talkative Moltov's demeanor.

“…By the way, sire.”

His eyes were sharp, like a snake that had found its prey.

In that instant, I realized I had just screwed up. I'd been through this pattern a number of times already. When the king's partner left his side, they saw that as their moment of opportunity.

“Would you mind if we talked somewhere else for a little while?”

“…Aisha isn't back yet, you realize,” I said.

“It won't take long. I'm sure the two of you will be able to meet back up in no time.”

Having said that, Moltov took my hand and half-dragged me away from there.

Yeah… This was definitely that pattern.

I don't like this… Moltov may think this is his big chance, but I feel like I'm on pins and needles here…

While I was thinking that, as I had antic.i.p.ated, there was a single young lady waiting for me when we arrived at our destination. She was somewhere around sixteen years

old. She was clearly a lovely young lady of good upbringing.

“Allow me to introduce you, sire. This is my daughter, Siena.”

“Greetings, Your Majesty. I am Siena Juniro,” she said, curtsying.

…I knew it. They saw this as their opportunity to introduce me to young ladies they were related to.

In every era, blood ties to the royal house had been a source of pride for the n.o.bility. If she became my queen, their house would be secure, and she might even give birth to an heir. On top of that, because my betrothal to Juna hadn't been announced yet, as far as they were concerned, I only had three fiance esThat. number was, with the exception of special cases like my predecessor, King Albert (he'd married into the queen's family), considered low. Because of that, every n.o.ble was desperate to sell me on their daughters.

In the mere half year since I had been entrusted with the throne, I had annexed Amidionia and had a lot of other big, showy achievements, so people had big hopes for me. There were always a large number of marriage offers coming in to the castle, and my chamberlain, Marx, was always busy dealing with them.

“It pains me to always refuse them, so could you at least meet some of them?” Marx had asked me with pleading eyes, but it'd sounded like a pain, so I had taken a pa.s.s on that.

Even so, I still ended up having to deal with n.o.bles who approached me like this, intent on not missing their chance.

Of course, the n.o.bles weren't brazen enough to bring these sort of talks up when one of my fiance eswas right there, but whether it was Liscia or Roroa or Aisha, they were always guaranteed to create an opening to do it. My opinion of the n.o.bles' skill in that went right past exasperation and entered into the realm of admiration instead.

Not having much other choice, I greeted the girl. “It's nice to meet you, Madam Siena. I am Souma Kazuya.”

“I have heard your great name before, sire,” she said. “I had heard you were a great sovereign, blessed with both bravery and wisdom, but I am relieved to see, meeting you like this, that you also seem like a kind person.”

“The rumors about me haven't just been exaggerated, they've sprouted limbs and taken on a life of their own.”

“My, you make them sound adorable.” Siena wore a quiet smile. She seemed like a simple girl. These types were always the hardest to deal with.

It was easy to brush off someone who was blatantly just trying to marry into money and status, but I couldn't be so cruel to a pure, innocent girl. I mean, it was hard to tell if she was even aware this was an attempt at matchmaking. Well, regardless of how she herself felt about it, her father was definitely trying to marry her into money and status.

Moltov took me a short distance from Siena and spoke. “What do you think of my Siena?”

“…She seems like a very pure and simple young lady,” I said. “Very cute.”

“Oh, I see! If she pleases you, would you consider taking her as your wife?”

“No, I already have three (four, actually) fiance es…”

“Whatever are you saying? You're still young, sire. You should increase the number of wives you have. For the royal house's sake. If you're reluctant out of a sense of duty to Princess Liscia, then I wouldn't mind her being a secondary queen…”

Talking as fast as a machine gun, Moltov tried to push things along. Just when I was thinking, Ugh, seriously, what a pain. Aisha, can you hurry up and get back already? it happened.

“Hahh, ha, ha, ha! Hahh, ha, ha, ha!”

That pa.s.sionate laughter suddenly echoed through the hall.

“Ivan?! That idiot!” Moltov, who only a moment before had the face of a pleasant old man offering his daughter to me, now had a sour look on his face as he glared up through the open ceiling at the second floor of the banquet hall.

I followed his gaze to find someone standing on the balcony's railing.

He was a man in his mid-twenties, tall and muscular. With his thick eyebrows, sharp

eyes, and s.h.i.+ning white teeth, he had a strangely distinctive face. He was a pa.s.sionate young man, one who would not soon leave the memories of anyone who saw him.

…No, seriously, who was this guy?

The man shouted and leapt down from the balcony. The moment he did…

Bbam!

There was a big explosion right behind the young man. The flames rose up, and there was a roaring blast that shook my stomach. For a moment, I thought he was a terrorist and was about to panic, but for some reason, the other guests around him just looked at the young man with wry smiles.

Huh? What? What am I supposed to make of this?

“Your Majesty!” Aisha finally found me and rushed to my side. “Sire, this could be an attack! Please, stay behind me!”

“…No, there's something weird about it.”

“Huh? What do you mean, ‘something weird'?”

I looked around, but no one seemed all that fl.u.s.tered. The majority of them were just looking at the young man with wry or mocking smiles. On closer inspection, despite how much fire there had been, the area where the blast had gone off behind the young man wasn't even mildly scorched.

“Oh my, silly brother.”

When I turned back, Siena was looking on with a troubled look.

“‘Brother'?” I repeated.

“Yes, sire. That would be my elder brother, Ivan Juniro.”