Chapter 3: An Unusual Slave Trader (part 1)

—30th day, 11th month, 1,546th year, Continental Calendar — Royal Capital

Parnam

With the confusion caused by the annexation of Amidonia having settled, the

people had regained their calm.

It was fully winter now, and on this morning I was finding it harder to leave the

warmth of bed. When I woke to the sound of a door hurriedly being shut, I began to

stir, my mind still only half-awake.

Brr... I'm cold. Also, my head feels heavy. Did I catch something? I ought to get more

blankets for this simple bed in the governmental affairs office. I'll ask the maids about

it later.

While I was thinking that, I turned over and something soft touched my forehead.

"Ahn," said a strangely amorous voice.

...Something strange was going on.

As my head cleared, I came to understand my current situation. First, my head

was in a lock. It seemed someone was holding it tight. Was this why it had felt heavy

to me? Well, at least it wasn't a cold...

Wait, that wasn't the problem here! My forehead was pressed up against this

person's bosom. If it was slightly soft, that meant...

"Whoa, what?!"

I hurriedly broke free of the person's hold.

There, before my eyes, was Roroa with a pleased look on her sleeping face. She

was drooling a little, but I pretended not to notice that part.

Huh? What? This situation... Why is Roroa sleeping next to me?!

This room... It was definitely the governmental affairs office. I was in my simple

bed, no doubt about that. So, why was I sharing it with Roroa? She was... wearing

clothes, at least.

Actually, neither of us were in our nightclothes; we were both dressed in regular

clothes.

Huh? What on Earth happened last night? I wracked my brains, trying to recall

what had happened yesterday...

"Souma? What, pray tell, are you doing?" I heard a cold voice from above me.

I turned my head slowly, with a creaking sound like a robot that's run out of oil,

and there stood Liscia with a smile that gave off a terrifying aura like a hannya mask.

Behind her was Aisha, who was in tears for some reason.

"Oh... morning, Liscia, Aisha," I murmured.

"Don't you 'morning' me!" Liscia shouted, pulling the covers off me.

Roroa curled up into the fetal position, looking cold, but she still didn't wake up.

Liscia put her hand on her hip and asked, "What is the meaning of this?! Aisha

rushed into my room in tears, and when I asked her what was wrong, she said, 'I

went to rouse His Majesty, and I found him sleeping with Roroa!'"

"Why would you lay your hands on Roroa before the princess or me?! I can't

accept it!" Aisha shouted through her tears.

Um, please, don't say that so loudly, I silently pleaded. If the workers in the castle

overheard, they'd talk about how I was "caught in the act"!

"Calm down, Aisha! Roroa and I are both wearing clothes, right? I'm pretty sure

whatever you two are imaging didn't happen... I think."

"Why can you not be more certain?!" Aisha shouted.

"Well, I don't remember what happened before I went to sleep," I said. "Why are

we together in the same bed with our clothes on, anyway?"

"What really happened?" Liscia demanded. "Why don't you try to remember what

you did last night?"

Following Liscia's suggestion, I went through the events of last night in my head.

I recalled having done some work to sort things out after the annexation of

Amidonia, in order to adjust the taxation scheme (the Principality of Amidonia had a

lower population than the kingdom, and to compensate, the individual tax burden

was higher). I had summoned Roroa, Colbert, and bureaucrats from the finance

ministries of both countries for meetings that had lasted late into the night.

Those talks had been going on since the day before yesterday, and we had

already pulled one all-nighter on them. We had been taking breaks as we went

along.

In the end, by the time we'd come up with an overall plan, the day had changed,

and it was around 3:00 in the morning today. Everyone had been pretty out of it

then.

Colbert and the bureaucrats had shambled out of the room like zombies, while I

had taken a dive into the simple bed set up in the office with my clothes still on... and

fallen asleep, probably. Some time had passed between then and now. Perhaps

Roroa had slept here rather than return to her own room.

I shook Roroa's shoulder as she continued to greedily indulge in more sleep.

"Hey, Roroa. Get up."

"Hm... What's up? Darlin'... I'm still sleepy." Roroa rubbed her eyes as she sat up

in bed.

"No, not 'What's up?'" I demanded. "Why are you sleeping here?"

"Cut a gal some slack," she said. "I was downright exhausted after all the meetin'

yesterday. I didn't have the energy for draggin' myself back to my own room, so I

joined you in bed, Darlin'." Roroa stretched, then stood up from the bed on unsteady

legs. She was still groggy and couldn't see straight. "It's no good. I'm still tired. Gonna

go back to sleep in my own room."

"Yeesh..." Liscia said, with an air of one who's washed her hands of the whole

situation. "Aisha, please, would you carry this girl back to her room?"

Aisha snapped to attention out of her daze. "Yes! At once, princess!"

"Also, haven't I told you not to call me 'princess'?"

"U-Understood. Pri... Lady Liscia."

Now that Aisha had become the second candidate to become a primary queen

and their positions were close, Liscia had started telling Aisha not to address her as

princess, but to use her name instead. Aisha was still getting it wrong, though.

Aisha supported the groggy, staggering Roroa and led her out of the

governmental affairs office.

Having watched the two of them go, I hesitantly looked to Liscia.

"Um... That's how it is, so could I perhaps ask for your forgiveness this time?" For

some reason, I sounded like a man making excuses after he was caught cheating, but

this is what it means to live as a man.

"Honestly..." Liscia puffed up her cheeks a little as she plopped herself down on

the bed. "These things happen because you have a bed here. Maybe I should break

it?"

"Please don't," I said. "Where would I sleep?"

"You finally made a room of your own, didn't you? Or would you rather use my

bed? Use a different one each day." Liscia gave me a heavy stare.

Did she mean that I should use her, Aisha, Juna, and Roroa's beds, taking turns in

a different one each day...?

"I think I'd be too nervous to sleep, so let me pass on that, please," I said.

"Geez," she muttered. "I'm being hounded by Marx to 'Produce an heir, quickly!'

you know?"

"Urkh... Could you wait a little longer on that? I do have something in mind."

"Something in mind?" she asked.

I rose from my bed and stretched. "I've finally stabilized the internal political

situation in the country. I've got a secret pact with the Empire, too, and though there

are some countries nearby that worry me, things should be stable for the time being.

Well, that'll depend on what the Demon Lord's Domain does, though."

"I suppose..."

"Also... I've managed to convince myself that I should become king," I said.

"I wish you'd say you've resolved yourself to do it instead."

"Resolved myself to it... Maybe I have? I'm prepared to face the consequences."

"I'm not really getting the difference there," said Liscia.

"There's nothing standing in my way. So..." I puffed up my chest to look more

confident. "Now I'm going to do as I please. Up until now, securing my power was

the first priority, so I was avoiding policies that would cause too much of a stir in

society. If a policy had been too out there, it would have caused needless internal

confusion, and that could have benefited a foreign adversary. But now, I don't have

to worry about that. I'm going to do more and more to remake this country."

I declared this pretty forcefully, but Liscia still had a dry look on her face.

"That's fine, but... what does that have to do with you still not having laid a hand

on me?"

I was silent.

It looked like I'd failed to dodge the issue. I'd thought I'd managed to change the

topic, too...

Let me say now, it wasn't that I was adverse to doing those things with Liscia and

the others. No, really, I wanted to act all lovey-dovey with them. I mean, the current

situation was giving me a serious case of blue balls. But, before that, there was

something I needed to accomplish. For Liscia and the others' sake, too.

"W-Well, you'll find out the answer eventually," I said.

"You're not just dodging the issue?" Liscia demanded.

When Liscia tried to stare into my eyes, I averted them the best I could manage.

"I really do need more capable people working for me," I said.

I was seated around a "kotatsu" table with Liscia, Aisha, Juna, and Roroa, who had

woken up after having gone back to sleep, and we were eating lunch. I'd decided it

was a good time to broach that topic.

This was my room in the castle, which I'd made after Hakuya had informed me,

"It's about time you got a room of your own." The truth was, I had been allotted the

room much earlier, but I'd been using it as a storage room for the Little Musashibos.

Since he'd insisted I use it, I had given it a major remodel. For that, I'd used the

financial support for supporting the king's lifestyle (my salary) and went wild with

major renovations to suit my tastes... and what was the result?

The two small rooms, each of which were around the size of a six-tatami-mat

room (which would be 106.7 square feet), were connected by a door between them,

creating a room almost like a Japanese apartment.

One room had carpet laid over wooden flooring, and that was where my work

space with a treadle sewing machine was. It was a room where I could focus fully on

making clothing or accessories, purely as a hobby, or dolls like the Little Musashibos.

The room that would serve as my ordinary living quarters was, thanks to some

nice touches by the designer (me), a perfect reproduction of a Japanese-style room.

As soon as I'd heard that there was a tatami culture in the Nine-Headed Dragon

Archipelago, I had procured a number of those straw mats and laid them in this

room.