TN: I changed the title because this one translates the raw title better

Anyway, thats how I easily made the underground sewers, but the settlement tanks

Settlement tanks?

Liecia and I sat down under the shadow of the trees in the park and had a chat . Meanwhile, Aisha found the conversation tedious so she plopped herself down by a tree and was now dozing off, leaning on the tree trunk . Well, a warrior of Aishas caliber would surely be alert to their surroundings even if they were asleep so it wouldnt be a problem . So I continued talking .

If I just dumped the sewage into the river as it is then the river would get polluted, right? Household sewage contains pathogens and parasites and industrial waste often contains toxins, you see . To avoid that we need a place where we can let the water settle for a while and filter it through sand and pebbles . Thats the settlement tanks

Well, theres no need to be that anal-retentive right now . This country still had no idea what pollution is, and with the current level of its livelihood and engineering there would be little effect of dumping the waste into the river . Theres no custom of scattering cremated ashes into the river, either . However, as the country expands from now pollution will inevitably be a problem . Its better to handle that sooner rather than later . The people of Japan took their lessons from experiencing Minamata Disease, cadmium poisoning, and Yokkaichi Asthma, but there is no reason to deliberately let that happen to this countrys people .

So? How did you make the tanks?

Ah, I made the Royal Guard dig holes for that

What did you make Ludwin-dono do?

Well, itll cost more to ask contractors to do it . It trains their combat engineering skill at the same time . too

Digging holes, filling, and reinforcing . This is perfect for training them in digging trenches . This worlds warfare still mainly consists of facing the enemy in an open field, By having a troop that can do World War I style trench warfare wed be getting a lead on everyone else, but enough of that .

When they dug out the settlement tanks, they found lots of dragon and demonic creature bones

Bones?

Yep, bones . Dragon bones or Giants bones, lots of them

It was like a demon graveyard, said a soldier who was there at the time . Dragon, Giant, or Gargoyle, lots of bones that were clearly not human at a glance . Whats more, they were scattered about at random, and according to a scholar specializing in those things, the stratum they were on were thousands of years old .

Was there a dungeon there once?

Liecia tilted her head, but I shook mine .

Like I said, its a stratum . Which means that thousands of years ago it was on the surface'

Surface but thats impossible . Demons do sometimes come out of dungeons, but not in large numbers like that . So long as its not Demon King territory theres no way demons come out to the surface in those numbers *gasp* !

Which means that the demons that appeared some tens of years ago were already here on the surface thousands of years ago . If you think about it, there are dungeons in lots of places all over the country, and demons live inside them . Thousands of years ago the demons living in this land died out for some reason, but some of them hid in places like dungeons and survived, or so the scholars think

Its as if dinosaurs that shouldve gone extinct survived in some remote regions somewhere, or viruses that shouldve been eradicated bided their time and re-appeared .

So what are you getting at? Are you saying the demons and demon race in the Demon King territory didnt appear but returned?

I dont know for sure . We have to gather information from many places and use Tomoe-chans power and make our judgement . Its too dangerous to decide with just the information we have now

What are we fighting? What are our enemies? These questions have no easy answers .

Also, theres one other thing thats bugging me

Theres more!?

Leaving the matter of the bones aside, we needed to build the settlement tanks . Which is why I had the scholars make excavation records and dig them out, but one of the biggest and most well-preserved complete set of dragon bones went missing . It was supposed to be put for exhibition and was given to the custody of the Parnam Royal Museum, but

Was it stolen?

It would be good if that were the case well, not good good, but an almost twenty meter set of dragon bones put on exhibition would be a pain to carry and there are no traces of anything like that being transported outside Parnams walls . The bones are now listed as missing . Its almost as if it went off on its own and flew away

. . ! Could it be a Skull Dragon!?

The scholars suspected as much

Skull Dragon . Such a demon seemed to exist in this world . A dragon, who could annihilate an entire country if it flew into a rage, has enormous quantities of magic power within it . This power remains in its corpse after its death . Normally that power would leak away but in cases where the dragon died with a grudge (or rather, where the corpse was left alone for a long time), it would react to the remaining magic power and turn into an all-bone [Skull Dragon] .

Such a Skull Dragon was marked an A-rank hazardous creature by the country . A Dragon is merely unmanageable once it goes into rage, but a Skull Dragon is belligerent to boot . Ones with wings attached could fly despite there being no membrane on those wings, and it would let out miasma that would kill living things just by being there . It could use the [Breath] a Dragon uses while alive, too, so it was a living (dead?) calamity that a country would bring out its entire army to beat . However, this time thats probably not the case .

If that were the case, Parnam wouldve already been bogged down in miasma . In order to prevent that, the scholars had already done magic scanning . That fossil should have no more magic power left .

Phew thank goodness

Which is why its even more incomprehensible . Where did the dragon bones go?

Almost a month had passed since the Dragon bones disappeared, but it still was nowhere to be found . Im pretty sure it was somehow transported outside the castle town . But in that case, what were their motives? The magic power had all but completely leaked out and the bones themselves have been petrified, there are almost no use for it now . It already has no value as a catalyst . At most what they could do was put it up for exhibition and attract tourists like we were going to do .

I dont get it . Which is exactly why Im feeling gloomy . I laid myself down on the spot . Liecia looked at me blankly but I didnt mind her .

Your clothes, theyll get dirty you know?

They can be washed . With my position as it is theyll be washed even if they were left alone

A King isnt someone who should get dirty

Well dignity is important, too

Especially in high society . If a politician in modern Japan were to make daily visits to an expensive restaurant he will get criticised, on the contrary, he can appeal to the public by visiting a commoners gyudon shop . However, in a society with a caste system like this country, if the king were to do something like that his retainers are going to think I can overthrow this king . A king who is taken lightly by his retainers will be abandoned by the people . In a vertically structured society the people dont look at the king directly, but catch glimpses of his existence through his retainers . If the retainers consider the king insignificant, the people will think the same way, too .

. what a pain

I shouldnt be saying this as one of the ones pushing the job to you, but give it up

Yeah yeah . Ah, having a day off sure is great~

I made a big stretch . It turned out having one mind off from work feels great . Which reminds me, Ive been working non-stop since I came to this world . There are mountains of things to do, things I have to do, and things I cant not do, I had always been racking my head on them . Times like these where I dont have to think about anything is superb .

Ah~ . I feel like melting and returning to the earth~

Liecia looked at me saying such things, she seemed like she thought of something and said with a modest voice .

You . want a lap pillow?

I prepared my lap by sitting with my legs bent backwards and placed Somas head on it . There are lap pillows where the other party lays straight from where youre looking and ones where they lay sideways, Im doing the straight one . If I take a peek at Somas face hell be upside down . The back of Somas head lays between my thighs, it feels a little ticklish . Thats because he directly touches the parts where my skirt doesnt reach .

TN: onnanokozuwari

TN: like so

TN: and so

T, this is strangely embarrassing

Somas face turned red . . most likely mine, too .

I wonder whether the one giving or the one receiving would be more embarrassed?

Well, that would be the one looking at them, no?

Ahaha . Could be

I wonder what the look on Aishas face will be if she werent asleep . Would she turn red seeing an engaged couple scene, or will she make a way-off-the-mark retort like You cant make the Princess do something like that! If you want a pillow Ill do it! . . somehow I feel like the latter is more likely .

Do we look like an engaged couple now?

Just in name only, though

Again? Soma would always say The engagement is only a temporary one . Im only holding on to the throne for a little while to people immediately near him . He really intends to hand over the throne to me and leave government service once the country has been stabilized . The reason he would explain his reforms to me in detail was likely because of this handover . I feel like I understand the human being called Soma a little now that I could guess what hes thinking .

Its not like I dont understand how he feels . I dont want wealth or glory . All I wanted is a life of peace and quiet . To Soma, the work of a [King], bound with [Noblesse Oblige], is the exact opposite of what he wanted . Even though it was Father who inconsiderately did it, I feel ashamed to have pushed such a troublesome job on him .

TN: Nobles obligation . The responsibility of a noble to lead in exchange of his rights and privileges

But right now, this country is changing with Soma at the center of it . This unchanging, never progressing country, who our neighbors call [A moldy old-fashioned kingdom] . It was Somas ability that gathered talented people and solved the food problem before it became serious . Both Hakuya Kwonmin and Poncho-san also came to government service because of Soma . Im not sure Ill be able to secure them had I been the one to inherit the throne .

Most of all, I personally want Soma to be the king, which is why,

Soma, do you hate being my fiance?

Those words suddenly came out of my mouth . Soma opened his eyes wide, blushed, and looked away .

. thats not fair, the way youre putting it

R, really?

Then how about you Liecia? Are you alright with being my fiance?

I dont mind

That strangely came out loud and clear, surprising even myself . Just that I feel a little embarrassed after the words came out .

You see, Soma is better than me at being king

Just because Im better at being king, you dont mind being the fiance of someone you dont like?

Isnt that how royals are?

Im not a royal . Also well I prefer a marriage of love

Then do you hate me Soma? Youre saying that youll never come to love me?

Ngh like I said, thats unfair how youre putting it . Males, you know, if you act like youre interested in them even just a little bit, theyll say [shes definitely fallen for me!] . They know its an illusion, but nevertheless theyll rack their brains out weighing between 99% clear vision and 1% hope . If a beautiful girl like Liecia says something like that, theres no way it wouldnt be getting in my head .

AN: this is personal opinion

Soma spoke fast as if trying to cover something up . When hes doing official business, hed be astonishingly pragmatic and calm, and yet hed get all nervous when it comes to things like these, he looks kind of amusing .

Fufu . Even though you can move the country, you cant handle something like this at all, can you?

I do not have enough experience . In several ways

Im also always studying and training and not too experienced either, though?

Dont lump boys and girls together . Their basic specs are as different as a zelring compared to a dragon

Um, excuse me .

AN: depending on the person

While we were having that conversation, a timid voice came from behind . When I turned my head there was Aisha who had waken up sometime ago and was smiling bitterly, looking at us with a triple-concentrated look .

When can I stop pretending to be asleep?

.

Needless to say, the two of us jumped to our feet .