Chapter 5: Weighing Nostalgia Against the Future (last part

The mother held the baby's hand. "We truly are fortunate. I mean, we even have

Your Majesty concerned for us."

We had revealed our identities to the mother. My face and Liscia's were both

widely known, so it seemed futile to try and keep it a secret. At first, the mother had

been terrified (almost like after Master Koumon takes out his seal), but now, she had

largely gotten used to us.

"Well, I agree with you that the child is lucky," I said. "Incredibly lucky, in fact.

After all, it was born when not just one, but both of the greatest doctors in this

country were here together."

"That's true," she said. "They didn't only save my child, they saved me, too."

It was pure coincidence that Hilde had visited the village that day. Because she

had met us by chance in the former slums, because we happened to have business in

the refugee village, and because Hilde decided to tag along, the two great doctors

had both been present. If the child had been born a day sooner or a day later, she

wouldn't have been able to receive the care of these great doctors. When I thought of

it that way, this child had even saved its mother's life.

"Almost like a god of fuku..." I murmured.

"Fuku...?" she asked.

"It's a word from my world. It means good fortune, or happiness."

"Happiness... Um, Your Majesty?" The mother rushed over to me. "That name,

Fuku. Could you give it to this child?"

"Hm? You're not asking if you can give it that name, but for me to give it that

name?" I asked.

Liscia was holding the child. She explained, "In this world, when a person of high

status or a great person gives you your name, it is believed you will receive some of

their momentum. So, please, give the child that name."

Well, I guess I had no problem with that.

"It's a boy, right?"

"Yes."

"Well, his name will be Fuku, then. Raise him to be healthy."

When I said that and patted him on the head, little Fuku let out a cute little baby

sound and nodded with his eyes still closed.

He responded to me while asleep?! This kid... he might be a big deal when he

grows up. While I was thinking that, Liscia peered closely at my face.

"Wh-What?" I asked.

"Other people's babies are nice and all, but having our own baby would be so

much cuter, right?" she asked, shooting meaningful glances in my direction.

Ahh, yeah... That probably meant exactly what I thought it did. Hakuya and Marx

were telling her we needed to produce an heir already. Now that the country had

stabilized, they were probably pressuring her even more.

"Yeah... You're right," I said shyly. "We have the method for births by Cesarean

section established, and there are more and more obstetrics and gynecology

specialists. It'd be safe for you to give birth any time now."

Liscia's eyes went wide. "I thought you were going to wimp out again."

"Now, listen... Okay, yeah, that's part of it," I said. "Because I'm prepared to be

your husband, but I'm not ready to be a father yet, y'know."

"Oh! R-Right... I see..."

I wanted to get all lovey-dovey with Liscia and the others. But, in order to

increase the number of royals which had declined precipitously in the succession

struggle after the death of the king before the last one, the chamberlain, Marx, had

insisted, "I won't stand for you using birth control until you produce at least one

child!" You can see why I would be cautious.

"Well, aside from that, this high rate of death during childbirth in this world had

been concerning me, too," I said.

When I looked into the population of this country, I was surprised how high the

death rate was for newborns and pregnant women. In modern Japan, while we

might worry about whether the baby would be born safely, we hardly ever thought

about the mother potentially dying in childbirth. However, it seemed that, in this

country, pregnant women died sometimes. If there were a thousand women

pregnant, a handful of them were going to die. In this country which lacked a formal

study of obstetrics and gynecology, pregnant women were literally putting their

lives on the line to give birth.

As the king, I was being told to produce many children with multiple women. If a

child were born to Liscia, Aisha, Juna, or Roroa, and I were to lose one of them

during the birth... I couldn't stand that.

"In order to make sure that doesn't happen, to keep the risk of losing any of my

family to an absolute minimum, I've pushed forward with medical reforms," I said.

"It might be abusing my authority a bit, though."

"It's fine, isn't it? The result was that you ended up helping everyone." Liscia

wrapped her arm around mine. "H-Hey, Souma. If making babies is okay now, do you

want to try working on that tonight?"

When Liscia said that, fidgeting shyly, I couldn't help but love it. But, as I'd said

earlier, I wasn't able to convince myself I should be a father yet, so I had to turn my

head and look away.

"Oh! Um... do you think you could wait a little longer, after all?"

"Geez! You still wimp out in the end!" Liscia shouted.

When Liscia raised her voice, it startled Fuku, and he started making a fuss.

"Wah... Wahhhhhhhh!"

We handed him back to his mother and tried to amuse him with funny faces.

Owen tried to join in and do the same, but his face startled Fuku again, causing him

to cry loudly and make a big scene.

Someday, we'll make a big, noisy scene like this in the royal castle, too.

In the midst of that noisy happiness, that was what I thought.

[MISTERLP]: finally the end of this chapter what a giant chapter