How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Book 15: Chapter 2

With a heretofore unseen baby boom hitting the Kingdom of Friedonia, our royal family was just as busy as so many others with taking care of our newborns.

In the middle of this busy time, Archbishop Souji Lester, head of the newly independent Kingdom Lunarian Orthodoxy, and his right hand, the former saint Mary, requested a meeting with me. They likely have reports to make about the saint candidates we had granted asylum the other day. That was what I thought, but the request also bore the names of Overscientist Genia M. Arcs and Merula Merlin, who was a high elf and enchantment magic expert.

The two tops of the Kingdoms science and engineering team were asking for a meeting together with people connected to religion. I always thought religion and science were like oil and water, or that they got along like cats and dogs. Is this going to be okay? Merula, in particular, had been considered a heretical witch in Lunarian Orthodoxy until just recently too.

Curious about what was going on, I arranged the meeting immediately.

Then, the day after the request came, Hakuya, Souji, Mary, Genia, Merula, and I all gathered in a conference room. After some brief formalities, Mary cut straight to the point.

First, let me thank you for your help regarding the saint candidates. Having a role in the choir has helped them to settle into life in the Kingdom.

Nearly fifty saint candidates had sought asylum after a political struggle in the Lunarian Orthodox Papal State. In order to comply with Marys request not to separate them, I put together a gospel choir called the Lunaria Choir. I was aiming for an image of sisters who sing love songs to angels, but because they had all been trained to please people of influence, the saint candidates were all beautiful and gifted at song and dance.

Basically, they were well-suited to become idols. Thats why, despite being a choir, they managed to amass a following similar to a group of loreleis.

I hear theyre popular with the people too. But what do you mean by a role? I asked.

Mary lowered her eyes, a troubled look on her face. The saint candidates are loyal to the gentlemen they serve, and have been taught that service is their duty. I was the same way. Only by serving someonebeing needed by someonecan they find their place. Conversely, without a role to play, they cant feel they belong anywhere.

Is this...something we should be happy about?

The saint candidates are all former orphans. They know instinctively that if no one needs them theyll be left to die in a ditch. So Im grateful for their current situation, Mary replied, a small smile forming on her face.

I was relieved, but also felt like I had seen the dark side of Lunarian Orthodoxy. If this let them feel at ease though, it wasnt my place to say anything.

So long as theyre able to live in peace, thats fine with me. I have the Lunaria Choir helping with our research on Area Heal, after all. And Souji is finding us light mages who want to become medics too, so its a case of I scratch your back, you scratch mine.

Well, the guys in the Orthodox Papal State may not like it much, Souji said, crossing his arms with a wry smile. Obviously, theyre not going to be happy about the saint candidates, but if they found out about the other thing...

You mean with Hilde...?

A little while back, our doctor couple Hilde and Brad discovered a way to cure diseases with light magic. In short, what this meant was that with a sufficiently advanced understanding of medicine, it was possible to heal illness with magic.

It had been thought for all this time that curing such sicknesses with magic was impossible, but with a thorough knowledge of the human body, as well as the parasites and bacteria afflicting it and the damage they cause, it could be done.

Brad was a man who couldnt use light magic, but had mastered surgery in order to save lives. He often worked with Hilde, who had the medical knowledge of the three-eyed race, and could use healing magic. This led to deep ties between medicine and magic, and culminated in a higher level of magical medical treatment.

It was the sort of discovery that would change history. However...for as wonderful as these techniques were, it was very difficult, politically, to put them into practice.

For instance, because Hilde could use magic to heal some illnesses, the Orthodox Papal State might try to use her as a saint, or eliminate her. Thats because the churchs power was supported by Gods blessing (or so they called it), which was the large number of light mages in their service. From their perspective, if a light mage who was greater than their own light mages appeared, they had to act in order to defend their authority. They would almost certainly come after Hilde.

And this was precisely why this new technology had been kept secret from most of the people and our allied countries until enough magical medical practitioners could be trained.

Im really grateful to you, Souji, for finding us so many light mages.

Souji crossed his arms and smirked at my words of gratitude. Up until now, light magic was seen as the blessing of the gods. Thats why many of the light mages feel a duty to heal others. Many people without magic feel a sense of powerlessness over their inability to heal the sick too. Those kinds of people wouldnt hesitate to study medical techniques.

Thanks to that, we have been able to steadily increase their numbers, Hakuya said with a bow.

With Souji finding people for us, the number of light mages who had studied medicine under Brad was increasing. We wanted to grow those numbers to keep Hilde from being seen as special, so I was working with Hakuya on providing the information to our allies.

Anyway, thats enough about that for now. I looked at Genia and Merula.

So, why did you two come here with Mary and Souji? I feel as if science and religion dont really mix.

Yeah... That doesnt seem to be true, you know? Were here to bounce ideas off each other.

Bounce ideas off each other?

Let me explain, Merula said, raising her hand to interject. You remember I snuck into Yumuen, the holy capital of the Orthodox Papal State, and stole a glance at the Lunalith, right? Its a monolith stored deep inside their main temple, and oracles from Lunaria appear on it.

Ohh... Thats why they were chasing you as a heretical witch, right?

I glanced at Merula and she had a difficult look on her face. Shed said she didnt plan to stir up any more trouble, but there were probably things she wasnt satisfied with.

I pretended not to notice and moved things along.

You saw text on it, right? Hold on...

I rose from my seat and headed to the governmental affairs office which was nearby. Rummaging through my desk there, I produced a single piece of paper. Then, returning to the conference room, I laid it on the table for everyone to see. It was a note with the symbols Merula said shed seen on the Lunalith.

This is what it said, right?

Yes. And it seems Madam Mary remembers even more details than I do. Isnt that right, Madam Mary?

Indeed... I believe the characters looked like this...

Mary rose from her seat and drew three new characters beneath the symbols that seemed to be made of triangles, squares, and lines.

Wha?! I cried out, my eyes widening as I saw what shed written.

There was no question that this was writing from my world.

Were these characters in front of them, maybe?

I took the pen from Mary and wrote in front of the other three characters.

This time it was Marys turn to be surprised.

Huh?! Y-Yes. Thats right.

Do you know what these words mean in the Orthodox Papal State?

Not exactly...but I know theyre written before urgent messages.

I see...

Kyuu kyuu nyo ritsuryou... Act with haste, in accordance with the law.

It meant something should be done with the utmost urgency. It originally came from ancient Chinese documents, but Japanese people would recognize it better as that thing onmyouji say.

Kyuu kyuu nyo ritsuryou. These are words from the world I came from.

I figured... Genia said with a knowing laugh. Your former world is connected with ours in some way. Thats been suggested repeatedly. Most of your knowledge is applicable to ours, and you were able to have children with your queens. The new field of Monsterology that Ichiha created has led to new perspectives on the origin of man, animal, plant, and monster.

The dungeon theory on the origin of life, huh? This was also information we hadnt made public, but... Yeah, she has a point.

In my view, this is a phenomenon that fuses science and religion, and links our worlds together. You must have some sense of that yourself, Genia continued, sounding uncharacteristically serious. Its likely that were living in the future of your world. Where it lacked magic, but science was more developed, right? In that case, the magic and miracles in this world could be the products of science from an era after your own.

Hm...

So, with all that in mind, I want to ask you about the foundation of this worlds magic and miracles. The substance at the root of it all. Genia looked straight into my eyes. What is magicium?

I gulped at the question.

Magicium. It was said that all magic was generated by the workings of this substance. However, that was simply an old-wives tale. No one had actually seen it themselves, not even the three-eyed race with their microscopic vision.

I told you, didnt I...? There was no magic in my world. Obviously, that means no magicium either. How could I possibly know? I replied, troubled, but Genia quietly shook her head.

That was probably true in your time. But I feel as though theres a large gap between the era that you came from and now. Even if it couldnt be realized in your time, wasnt there any technology that seemed feasible, or like it might be feasible in the future?

Im not sure what to say to that...

It might be good to think through this one step at a time, Merula interjected. Fire, water, and wind magic manifest in the open air, or wreathe objects in those elements. We could see this as the magicium in the air or on the surface of objects reacting to the casters mental image.

Hmm...

We call the other one earth magic, but it actually alters the weight of things. It can manipulate the magicium in the ground to cause it to rise, or control the weight of substances.

Theres my magic, which makes golems from dirt, and yours...Living Poltergeists, was it? That magic that lets you control puppets seems similar. Though, in your case, youre able to divide your consciousness too, so its a bit special, Genia said, chuckling.

Dark magic was where they lumped any magic they didnt understand, after all.

Merula nodded. You could say my enchantment magic is the same. By carving a spell into something, it reacts with the magicium inside it, which does things like making arms and armor more durable. Good examples of that would be the set of equipment left by this countrys first hero king, and the Empires Magic Armor Corps.

Oh, yeah, that ridiculously hard helmet (which was just hard, and did nothing else, so Id had no use for it but as a museum piece) and the Empires heavy pikemen who wore black armor that was almost impervious to magic. Both were examples of equipment with attached spells being strengthened by magicium.

Here, I noticed Merula glancing at Mary and Souji.

And theres light magic... What you might call healing magic.

When the name light magic came up, the two religious figures in the rooms brows perked up.

Its said, Merula continued, that a capable mage can even reconnect a severed arm. Up until now, it was only external wounds that could be healed, but now some of them have discovered they can treat illnesses too.

With medical knowledge, light mages can cure a certain subset of sicknesses...

Exactly. If we think about how this connects with magicium, we have to conclude it exists inside our bodies as well. With external injuries, we could assume it was due to magicium in the air, but that doesnt work inside the body.

Magicium exists not just in the air, but inside objects, and even the bodies of living creatures, huh? A substance inside the body that fights disease... Not antibodies and the immune system which we already had, but something which could fight illness at the will of something outside the body. Huh...? Could it be...?

Sire, do you have any idea what it could be? Genia said, noticing Id thought of something.

Nanomachines...

Nanomawhats?

Machines too tiny for the naked eye to see. They could be injected into the body to remove diseased parts, or treat them... I think?

I see. That sounds like exactly what were looking for.

No, no! They werent implemented! It was a potential future technology...still just the product of peoples imagination.

Sire... Genia tabbed her index finger on the table. This could very well be that future, you know?

Urgh... She had a point.

Genia crossed her arms and grunted thoughtfully. Machines too small to see, huh? If theyre all over the world, and in our bodies, and they cause the phenomena we know as magic, then thats fascinating.

But is that possible? Making machines so small even the three-eyed race cant see them?

I dont know if this is connected, but...one of your wives can make major changes to her body mass, cant she?

Oh! You mean Naden?

It was certainly true that the dragon races body mass changed considerably between their dragon and human forms. I believe Lady Tiamat, who was Mother Dragon, had an even larger form which she could change with that of an elderly woman. Their whole race just up and ignored the principle of mass conservation.

Perhaps those who created magicium could freely control mass too. Thats just speculation, though.

Right...

But if magicium is made up of small artificial machines, then that could explain all sorts of interesting things. There are places in this world where its harder or easier to use magic, right?

For places where its easier... You mean my old homeland, right? Merula said. She had come from the Spirit Kingdom of Garlan. The high elves who lived there wielded powerful magic, and that was one reason they believed they were the chosen people.

However, based on the fact that Merulas own magic weakened after leaving, it seems that land is simply suited to manifesting more powerful magical effects.

Genia nodded.

And for a place where its harder, theres the sea.

Oh! I get it!

For some reason, it was hard to use anything but water magic at sea. That was why gunpowder weapons that hadnt seen much use on land were developed by the navy and in places like the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago. If magicium was nanomachines, I could see why. Saltwater is like the natural enemy of machines.

The more complex the machines in my old world, the more trouble they had with saltwater. Even some that were waterproofed couldnt handle it.

Hmm... There may be different types of magicium then. The magicium that water mages control was designed to work in water, so maybe they took countermeasures.

Makes sense.

They could only use salt-proof, water-proof nanomachines, or other types of magicium that had usage limitations on them, huh?

What sort of face am I supposed to make as I listen to all of this? Mary mumbled, looking troubled. Its not just Lunarian Orthodoxy, but every religion in this world believes magic is the blessing of the gods... Ive always believed it too. If youre going to say it was made by people...

But theres a similar story in Lunarian Orthodoxy, isnt there? Merula interjected. Lunarian Orthodoxy was founded when the people of the moon, the lunarians, descended to this world and brought the Lunalith. If the lunarians built the Lunalith, couldnt we assume that magicium was built by a similar group...or even the exact same one?

So magicium may still be a gift from the gods, then...? Mary glanced in my direction. In that case, would Sir Souma, who lived before the age of the gods, become an object of worship for us?

Please, no...

I had already nearly been crushed under the weight of titles like king and hero before. If they went and tossed living god on the pile, itd be more than a hassle, itd be a disaster. There would be pushback from the Orthodox Papal State since they had sided with Fuugas Great Tiger Kingdom, and even my own allies like Maria would look at it and say Wait, youre deifying yourself now?

It was bound to have a bad influence on my wives and our children too.

Were still speculating about the origins of magicium. Even if this becomes established as fact, the era I lived in and the era in which they would have made magicium might be far apart. If you want to venerate the people who made it, go ahead, but please leave me out of it.

I see... Mary backed down, looking a little disappointed.

Then Genia clapped her hands as if to dispel the heavy atmosphere that had fallen over the room.

Theres one more important thing about magicium we need to consider.

Still...?

Id had enough, and was starting to develop a headache.

Just this one last thing, Genia said with a laugh. Curse ore.

Those cursed rocks...? Marys brow furrowed with suspicion.

Because you couldnt use magic near this ore, it was hated by miners who used magic to mine. As for the religious people who saw magic as the blessing of the gods, they thought it was the devils ore because it rejected magic. However, the House of Maxwells research had shown it actually stored the energy from magic. Our country had since used it to produce the Little Susumu Mark V propeller and to power the drill.

Genia produced a black lump from inside the pocket of her lab coat and unceremoniously rolled it onto the table.

Thats a crystal of curse ore, huh?

Genia nodded. Mary and Soujis eyes narrowed.

Paying no mind to the two of them, Genia continued, My family has studied curse ore for many long years. You could say our discovery of its ability to steal and store magics power was the result of intergenerational research. During all our time studying it, I had one constant doubt: If magic was the result of magicium, what exactly was curse ore?

No one answered her question, so Genia elaborated.

I had a vague idea. Perhaps the curse ore which was able to steal the power from magic was, in fact, magicium itself.

Wha?!

Curse ore is magicium... In other words, a mass of nanomachines? The moment I thought that, a theory started to come together like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place.

If magicium were nanomachines, they needed energy. Solar, wind, geothermal... Honestly, in this case, any source, even ones I knew nothing about would do. If they were machines, they needed to have some sort of charging mechanism. This was important to stop them from suddenly ceasing to function due to an inability to take in energy.

If nanomachines that had finished their job accumulated on the ground, and all they had left afterwards was that charging mechanism, they might become something like curse ore.

How can this be...? Im sure only someone like me, with knowledge from the past, could have come up with a theory like this.

Her explanation wasnt going to click for anyone else here. Still, Genia, or rather, the House of Maxwell had come to a similar conclusion. That was scary. I was really glad they were a part of my country.

Genia looked at me.

These nanomachines you told us about are fascinating. I have a feeling that there are about to be great leaps in the study of magic and curse ore. Could I ask you to explain in more detail at a later date?

Yeah. It piqued my interest too. Im probably going to have you focus on it in the future. The country will provide support, of course.

Ill be grateful for that. Itll save me from doing too much damage to Big Brother Luus wallet and stomach.

Genia smiled when I promised to support her research.

Still, magicium are nanomachines, huh...? I dunno. I felt like, after today, a lot of things were going to begin to move.

Some days after we got a vague glimpse of the true nature of magicium, and by extension this world, Yuriga came to visit while I was working in the governmental affairs office with Prime Minister Hakuya and Liscia.

Sir Souma, Mr. Hakuya, I have a letter for Sir Souma from my brother.

From Fuuga?

Yes. It isnt the usual update on how things have been going lately, but a formal letter from King Fuuga Haan of the Great Tiger Kingdom of Haan to Souma A. Elfrieden, head of the Maritime Alliance.

A letter from a guy with a big, important-sounding title to another guy with a big, important-sounding title, I thought.

In truth, I was only allowed to call myself head of the Maritime Alliance by Kuu, the head of the Republic, which had no real navy to speak of, and Nine-Headed Dragon Queen Shabon, who felt indebted to me over the incident with Ooyamizuchi. Once things settled down a little more, I figured we could have the head of the alliance be a revolving position.

Still, hearing that this was a formal letter, Liscia and Hakuyas expressions grew a little harsh. I probably looked the same way. What exactly is he going to say to us...?

Do you know what it says, Yuriga? Liscia asked and Yuriga nodded affirmatively.

Yes. I dont think it should be too difficult a request...

You dont?

Anyway, lets read it and see, I said, accepting the letter from Yuriga and looking through it.

If I were to sum up the contents, it went like this:

Hey Souma,

Howre you and Yuriga doing?

Were making good headway liberating the Demon Lords Domain. Im following your advice and not pushing too far north, moving west through the areas close to the nations of mankind.

Ive got the western sea in my sights now. Malmkhitans on the eastern sea, so Ive just about crossed the continent. The land weve liberated is still like a bunch of cities dotted about, connected by a line, but with our march across the continent almost at an end, the mens spirits are high.

I think Im going to take the west coast even if it involves pushing ourselves a little too hard.

So, heres the deal. I want to ask the Maritime Alliance to ship us supplies. Id like you to carry material from my homeland and all the other countries to the west coast. The supplies should already be prepared back home. Could you carry them across the sea for us? You basically rule the seas, after all.

If you talk to the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago Union and the Empire, you should be able to deliver the stuff without issue, yeah?

If you could throw in a little something extra from the Maritime Alliance while youre at it, thatd be great.

After showing it to Liscia and Hakuya, I pressed my fingers into my temples and groaned.

He says it like, Hey, man, its summer, lets hit the beach...

Hes so innocent... Liscia said. And I mean that in both a positive and negative way.

Umm...I apologize for my brother, Yuriga said apologetically as Liscia and I let out a communal sigh. It seemed Yuriga had felt the same way, and was troubled as the messenger.

Hakuya brought his hand to his mouth as he read the letter.

Setting aside the content here... As a general policy, its not bad.

What do you mean?

Sir Fuuga gathers people with his rare charisma. And in order to keep them together, he needs results that back up that charisma. Cutting across the Demon Lords Domain has to be one of the best accomplishments he could ask for in that regard. And so long as hes dealing with that aspect, we cant afford to refuse him.

Id rather not be declared an enemy of mankind, yeah...

The people of this continent longed to reclaim the Demon Lords Domain. It was a problem that those driven fromor at constant risk of being driven fromtheir lands always had in mind. Right now, the only nation that appeared to be grappling with that problem was the Great Tiger Kingdom.

We and the Empire were working behind the scenes to prepare for when the day came to address it, but no one could see that. If we got in Fuugas way or refused to help him, it would earn us the enmity of a large number of people. Had Fuuga asked knowing that? He even asked us to throw in a little something extra.

Hes even prepared proper compensation for us...huh? All the bases are being covered.

At the end of the letter, Fuuga had written In exchange for delivering the supplies, we will give the Kingdom a port city on the western coast. Hed probably looked at the naval base exchange agreement wed signed with the Nine-Headed Dragon Archipelago Union after slaying Ooyamizuchi and thought a port would be good bait for us.

The Great Tiger Kingdom of Haan had considerable land forces, but almost nothing at sea. The west coast would be close to the Empires territory, and if they dispatched their fleet, it would be hard for Fuuga to hold the coast. The Empire was also primarily a land power, but they still had a proper navy when compared with the Great Tiger Kingdom.

Thats why Fuuga wanted to bring the Maritime Alliance into port, in order to keep the Empire in check.

Because it was far from our homeland, he saw us as less of a threat than the Empire. Hidden behind the casual wording of the message there was no doubt a plan that had been carefully crafted by Hashim.

Well...we probably have no choice but to help, I said, resting my head on the palm of my hand.

I believe thats acceptable, Hakuya agreed, nodding.

The fact was, we wanted a port on the west coast. I had been planning to eventually sign the same sort of naval port exchange agreement with the Republic and the Empire. But because it would reveal our close ties with the Empire to sign such an agreement, it would have been a poor move right now. I was more than happy to have a port on the west coast outside of the Empire. However, I wasnt going to say that with Yuriga here.

Tell Excel to prepare a transport fleet. She can choose the number of ships and which ones to send. Also, throw in some extra rations as a bonus for them.

Understood. Hakuya bowed and left the room. After hed left, I looked at Yuriga.

You heard how it is, Yuriga. Send Fuuga a response to that effect.

Thank you, Sir Souma, Yuriga said, sounding relieved.

Still...I feel like this request came to me because I had become the head of the Maritime Alliance, putting myself on the same level as Maria and her Mankind Declaration or Fuuga and his Great Tiger Kingdom.

I may get more requests like this in the future... When that thought occurred to me, I let out a sigh.

And my premonition was soon proved accurate.