A, a date!?

Yeah

I explained to Liecia that I had a day off and that Hakuya recommended that I take this chance to go on a date with her, to which she looked taken aback .

Is that something you do because somebody else tells you to?

I thought so too, but . in Hakuyas mind a royal date is official business

Such an inhuman line of thought

Hed probably say, before Im a human being Im a prime minister

Ahaha, thats just like him

And hed probably expect us to be King and Queen before being human beings

. . sorry . I cant laugh to that

The two of us breathed a sigh . Yes, its honestly a pain . Hakuya had a good head on his shoulders and hes reliable with work, but his overdevotion to his job is the fly in the ointment .

But Im glad for the holiday, we can go out somewhere right?

Well, we can

Yes, yes! Then you simply must go to our forest!

Aisha raised her hand in appeal, but I shook my head .

We still have lots of work to do . I cant take more than a day off

Uu . certainly the Dark Elf forest is three days there and back, but .

Ah, we cant do that then .

Give it up for now . Ive at least taught you about periodic thinning for now, didnt I?

Yes . But there are extremists among the Dark Elves . they say why in the world do we, the protectors of the forest, have to cut the forests trees'

Ah, they exist in any world, I guess . People who misunderstand things .

Not realizing that the thought that people must protect nature is itself a form of arrogance .

Which is why the King must go out there and yell at them

. . when I have the time, okay

Please . For that reason please use this body, this life, in however way you want

Aisha said as she bowed .

I feel like Im only adding to the list of things I have to do, but . mentioning it wont help me any .

In that case, theres one thing Id like you to do

Yes! You want me to service you?

The hells with that!

Well, didnt I just say Im offering you my body?

the worst

Like hell Im asking that! Liecia, dont you look at me like that!

Seems like Aisha is the type to run wild once she gets fired up .

Will I be okay with a guard like this? I wanted the best guard I can have .

what I want your help with is to be our escort around the castle town

Why!?

Y, you want me to come along with you on your date?

Well, if anything happens itll be difficult with just me and Liecia . Even though its formally a date its just us going on an inspection around town so itll be alright

. Its bothering me though

Liecia was pouting for some reason . Did she want to have a date with just the two of us?

. . couldnt be . Im only her fianc as an official stance, after all .

TN: ET TU SOMA!!? :/

Well, thats how it is . Ill be counting on you both on the day

Yes! Understood!

. . Haaah, all right

In contrast to the energetic Aisha, Liecia looked glum .

Like I said, why?

This and that happened and came the day of the date .

Liecia, Aisha, and I were walking around the Parnam Castle town . Hakuya said to show the citizens that you wanted to be friendly with them, but of course he was kidding and on the appointed day he asked us to go incognito . I surely cant go walking around saying I am thy King . If I did so then Aisha alone wont be enough to guard me .

Which is why the three of us were each wearing the uniform of the Military Academy here in Parnam . I shouldve been going into college right about this time so why do I have to sadly go back to wearing uniform!? Anyway, Aisha was simply wearing school uniform, but Liecia whose face is well-known had her hair tied in a braid and was wearing glasses in an honor student disguise . This way wed look to anyone like school friends who are going out to town .

Liecia, the glasses look good on you

R, really? . thanks

Milord! How about my uniform!

. . Ah, hm . Doesnt really suit you

But why!?

H~m, the school uniform looks almost exactly like a blazer, but that and the dark brown skin and silver hair of a Dark Elf doesnt really match . How should I put it, its like seeing a cosplay of a school anime character, I guess theres no pink-haired girl in real life and dyed hair just feels out of place, or thereabouts? This is the contrast between reality and fantasy, maybe .

I dont think it looks that bad, though

Milady~

Hm . Well, it mightve been my worlds value standard

Im in a world with diverse peoples now . Better get used to it soon .

Rollrollrollrollrollrollroll . .

. Rather than Aisha, its that thing youre dragging around thats getting on my mind

The thing Im dragging around? . this carry bag?

How is that a bag? Its got wheels on it

Yeah . Its got roller wheels underneath it so I can carry even heavy things easily

I see . Seems like something useful, huh

Aisha looked at it wide-eyed . A carry bag is something that never existed in this country before .

By the way, this is order made by the castle towns artisans . The artisans who made this said they wanted to sell this as their product so I allowed them on the condition that they dont monopolize it . If it fills peoples needs well then it will no longer be an oddity in a few years .

But Your Highness, I can carry any luggage

Were in disguise as school friends, itll be weird for a schoolboy to have a girl carry his things

To add to that, this contains my self-defense equipment .

No matter what happens I cant let go of this .

And stop calling me Your Highness, were incognito here

Yessir! So how should I address you

You can call me normally by name . If you like you can call me by my given name [Kazuya]

Eh?

Huh? Why does even Liecia have a dubious look?

Eh . isnt Somas given name [Soma]?

Huh? Souma is obviously my family name . Kazuya is my given name

But you said your name is Soma Kazuya, right?

. . ah

TN: For clarification, whenever the raw says I translate it as Soma, whereas becomes Souma

Whoops . This country puts the given name first like America or Europe . So I shouldve introduced myself as Kazuya Soma . Aaah, I see so thats why everyones been calling me [King Soma] . Come to think of it now, calling a King by their surname isnt normal . Its a hereditary position so several Kings wouldve had the same name .

Can we fix it now?

Impossible, isnt it? Everyone thinks of you as Soma, and foreign documents have been written in the name of [Soma Elfrieden], since our engagement I think

DAAAAH WHATEVER! I never thought Id fail this hard

W, well, its fine, right? I know, why not make it a public-private thing? Well call you [Kazuya-dono] in private times like this

Having Aisha follow up after me made me feel down even more .

To even have that Aisha follow up after me

Just what am I inside Kazuya-donos head!

Lets see a failure of an Elf?

Thats way way over the line!

Sheesh, enough with your stand-up comedy act, lets go

TN: manzai

As Liecia dealt with a teary-eyed Aisha, she prompted us to go .

H~m Even though she says go, we havent decided where were going to go to .

Do you two have anywhere you want to go?

Nope

Ill go anywhere Kazuya-dono goes

Mm . You two should at least act like youre thinking about it

Its hard on me to be left with all the decisions . Now that reminds me, this is the first time Ive been outside the castle, huh .

Hm . In that case itll be better to go around looking at things . Im a bit curious how much the policies I decided bore fruit, or didnt .

Well, lets just go look around, I guess

Parnam Central Park .

It was a large park situated in the center of the Parnam castle town . Despite being called a park it was only a place where they plant trees and shrubs and flowers, but the size of the place was over three Tokyo Domes . There was a huge fountain in the middle of the park, one that whenever there was a Royal Broadcast, could make it visible from several hundred meters away . There were seats prepared around the fountain just like a circular arena, several tens of thousands of people seemed to have gathered in this fountain plaza during the last royal broadcast . The scene wouldve been just like the idol Dorma Concert, I suppose .

Hm Itll probably be interesting to hold a live concert here someday . I will certainly plan on it once Gyna-sans [Show Business and Celebrity Making using The Royal Broadcast Project (Ill call it the Lorelei Project since its too long)] starts . One day this fountain plaza will be the Big Stage to Elfriedens songsters and songstresses just like the [Tokyo Dome] or [Hibiya Theater] .

well, leaving the unhatched chickens uncounted, we went to the central park .

Its quite a lovely spot with all the nature

The air is so clear even though were right in the middle of the city . Mmm~

Aisha looked all around while Liecia did a big stretch .

Huh? But I think it wasnt all this pretty before

Thats because we worked hard to fix it

I puffed my chest with pride to Liecias question .

What did you do to fix the park?

Not just the park . We fixed the entire Parnam underground, even more, we also fixed the regulations . Sanitation is much better compared to how it was a few months back, I believe

Frankly speaking, before I fixed it this countrys sanitation is at the level of a medieval European city . In other words, its filthy . Horse droppings littered the streets like thats where its supposed to be, and household sewage was drained from the houses into gutters by the roadside, giving off a foul stench in the summer . Because the idea of hygiene itself doesnt exist, these problems are left alone and are allowed to continue . Even though when the horse droppings dried they became airborne particles and caused all kinds of respiratory illnesses when people inhale them .

Which is why as a first step I maintain [Underground Sewers] as a measure against the sanitation problem .

Underground sewers when did you make those!?

Well, it wasnt that much work . Parnam already had underground tunnels going all over the place to begin with, so I just ran river water through those

ARENT THOSE THE ROYAL ESCAPE ROUTES!

As Liecia said, the underground tunnels going all across Parnam were routes used by royalty to escape if the capital came under enemy attack and its fall became inevitable . In order to prevent the enemy from easily chasing after them when the passages were discovered, it was made in the form of a maze, the scale of which covered the entire area of Parnam . It was convenient for making sewers out of

To even make those into sewers . whatll you do if theres an emergency!

If it came to it that the royalty had to escape from the capital, doesnt it mean the country is checkmated? I personally would surrender at the point when they approached the capital

That quick?

Liecia, a King would be safe so long as the people are his allies

This is one of Machiavellis teachings .

He says the best possible fortress is not to be hated by the people A ruler has the two enemies of rebels internally, and foreign invaders externally, but if he had the support of the people the rebels would not be able to recruit allies or instigate a revolt and can only give up . Conversely, if the people hated him, there shall never be a lack of foreigners willing to assist such a people, and he would sooner or later come to ruin .

TN: The Prince, Chapter XX

Even if the throne is lost, if he had the peoples support he can make his return . On the other hand, if only the King survived, even if he made a successful counteroffensive he would be prey to another conqueror without the people protecting him

its a harsh world, huh

Thats reality