Chapter 115

―――Today is the first day of the spring month.

It’s been exactly one year since Yuri and the rest of the Yuri Empire arrived in another world.

Even though a year in another world is only 160 days, it’s still quite a long time.

Looking back, it seems like a lot of things have happened.

I wonder what kind of face I would have made if I had told myself a year ago, when I was still new to the world, that ‘in one year, you will have allied with the Holy Land, turned the Principality into a vassal state, and annexed the Kingdom’.

… I can’t help but think that they’ll probably think it’s the ravings of a madman and not take it seriously. That’s how tumultuous the past 160 days have been.

A year ago, the Yuri Empire had been nothing more than a wandering army that had just drifted into another world, but now it was a large country that controlled 15 cities and nearly 60 villages.

As for Yuri, if she could live together with everyone in the Yuri Empire, she would be happy enough to live quietly in a depopulated area somewhere without having a country. But the people of the Yuri Empire seem to have a strong desire for their master, Yuri, to become the empress of an empire worthy of the guild’s name.

The desire of everyone who loves her is also the desire of Yuri herself. As a way to repay the debt of gratitude to Lydina, I think it is necessary to strive for a painless life for my people, so for the time being, I want to focus on domestic affairs. As long as everyone wants it, we will have to consider expanding our land even further at some point.

―――However, this is only in the future.

I’ve already made it clear to everyone in the Yuri Empire that Yuri’s intention is not to aggressively expand the country for the next two years.

Just as Yuri gives priority to everyone else’s will, everyone else will also give priority to Yuri’s will, so for the time being, it will be fine if we just focus on our own country and not think about invading other countries at all.

Of course―――waging war against the Yuri Empire, our ally the Holy Land of Nimun, and our vassal state the Principality of Selsia. If even such a fool comes out, it’s a different story.

Today, the first day of the spring month is ‘New Year’s Day’ according to Yuri’s sense. Naturally, New Year’s Day in another world is completely different from the one in Japan.

It seems that New Year’s Day is recognized as a day of celebration in every country, and I can vaguely sense that the people of the city are more than a little excited about it.

But that’s all. For many people, today is just another day at the beginning of the year. It’s not even a holiday, and most of them are working as usual.

People in this world don’t take ‘holidays’.

It’s not that the people of this world are particularly ‘hardworking’. It’s just that the custom of taking a day or two off a week doesn’t exist in this world.

Exceptionally, some hard manual laborers―――such as miners in the city of Dakart, take a day off once a week on the day of healing. The rest of the people seem to work 24/7 as a rule.

I would like to see everyone take a break at least for New Year’s… But I think it’s not right for the monarch to force the people to have a holiday.

… This will be one of the issues that I will have to deal with when I focus on domestic affairs in the future.

It might be a good idea to aim for a world with one or two days off per week, although it might reduce production efficiency. Yuri, who has lived in modern Japan for a long time, feels that this would be a more ‘healthy’ society.

Incidentally, today, the day of the beginning of the year, I closed the [Labyrinth Dungeon].

Ostensibly, the reason for this is to let the citizens know that if they stay in the labyrinth too long, they will lose their sense of time and date, so I want them to spend their New Year’s Day in the sun.

Well―――the true reason is that Sofia, the head of the Explorers Guild, will not be able to get out of bed for the whole day. In anticipation of that, I forced the labyrinth to be closed for the day.

If we close the labyrinth for the whole day, there will be no work for the Explorers Guild. On the day of the event, Sofia could sleep at her leisure without worrying about the time.

By the way, not only Sofia, but also Estoa, Lizelia, and Roselotte will probably not wake up until this evening at the earliest.

Yuri felt that she had overworked all of them・・to such an extent.

If we simply closed the [Labyrinth Dungeon] for the whole day, the explorers might complain. Instead, all stalls in the city of Ulysses are offering free food and drink for the day.

For today alone, I have arranged for all food stalls to be paid for by the treasury of the Yuri Empire. However, I have a feeling that if we serve alcohol for free, it won’t be good for us, so they have to pay for the alcohol as usual.

If you can’t dive into the labyrinth, but you can eat free food on the ground as much as you want, not many explorers will be dissatisfied.

Of course, the non-explorers would also be very pleased.

All the stalls in Yuritania and Holy Land of Nimun that normally operate with a ‘stall kit’ borrowed from Yuri will be operating in the city of Ulysses today.

All of the people of the Yuri Empire, the Holy Land of Nimun, the Principality of Selsia, and the former Kingdom of Eldard can freely travel to the city of Ulysses using the [Transfer Gate], so anyone living in any of these places can enjoy a free meal today.

Thanks to this, the city of Ulysses today seems to be very crowded from this morning.

Considering it’s a once-a-year festival, I guess getting caught up in the crowds is part of the fun.

The citizens of each country have been notified in advance via broadcast that those who drink heavily and commit crimes such as violence will be strictly punished.

Specifically, except for those with extenuating circumstances, they will all be deported.

There is a magic that Yuri has mastered that has a unique effect of [Transfer to a Random Point in the World]. For those who are shallow enough to become criminals at the beginning of the year, I would like them to take advantage of this magic and enjoy a one-way trip to an unknown world. 

―――Well, I think the probability of falling into the ocean or something is pretty high, too.

To be honest, it’s none of Yuri’s business what happens to someone who is only a detriment to the country.

Modern society is very kind to try to rehabilitate criminals by imprisoning them in an institution. Now that I was on the side of the government, I felt like I was reminded of this.

I remembered that the remaining 3,000 or so former Transportation Corps women who were imprisoned in the basement of Yuritania were released today, the first day of the new year, in the form of an amnesty.

The children of <Kuroyuri> had already trained them well enough, so she was sure that they would not do any harm to the Yuri Empire. In addition, I can’t think of any particular use for them, and I feel a little bad about continuing to keep them imprisoned, even if they are enemy soldiers who have invaded the Yuri Empire.

I told the girls that they could freely choose to return to their hometowns or live in the houses they were given.

For those who choose the former, I’ll arrange for them to travel to the nearest city via [Transfer Gate], and for those who choose the latter, I’ll provide them with housing in the still sparsely populated city of Ulysses, as well as two months of living expenses.

Since Ulysses is a rapidly developing city, two months should be enough time to find a job.

Or, of course, you can become an explorer without looking for a job.

Whether they choose to return to their homeland or not―――the fact remains that they will be subjects of the Yuri Empire since it has taken over all of the kingdom’s land.

Yuri knew that she would not be able to show mercy to those who were his enemies. As for Yuri, she only hoped that the girls would never turn on the Yuri Empire again.

“………… Good morning.”

“Oh, good morning. Estoa is the first to arrive.”

With the safe return of both Rubetta and Ados from the kingdom, the volume of daily reports delivered to the Yuritania Palace has been increasing more visibly than before.

Yuri was checking these documents in her office. As Yuri was checking the documents in her office, Estoa woke up and came to visit her.

Eshtoas level is ‘78’.

She was probably the only one who was able to wake up ahead of the others because she was much stronger and more energetic than the other three.

“How are the other three doing?”

“Fuahhh… Maybe, they won’t wake up for the rest of the day.”

Estoa yawns loudly in front of Yuri.

Even though she had woken up like this, she was still quite sleepy.

“Yes. You look tired, so it’s no wonder.”

“Isn’t sister who brought us all to the point of exhaustion…?”

“I’m not sure. Estoa was very pretty last night, wasn’t she?”

“Ugh, don’t say too much… I’m dying of embarrassment…”

Estoa face turned bright red and she was embarrassed.

It’s so cute. Yuri gently kissed her forehead.

In response, Estoa redness deepened.

“Good luck this year, Estoa.”

“Y-Yes… I look forward to working with you, sister.”

Estoa, although shy, returns her lips to Yuri’s cheek in an innocent way.

I had a feeling―――that this year would not be too bad.