Volume 8 - CH 1

Chapter 1: The Road to the North 

“It’s been a while, Sir Souma.” 

On this day, I was in the Jewel Voice Room in the castle, speaking to a beautiful woman on the other side of a simple receiver whose distinctive wavy hair left me entranced despite myself. 

It was Empress Maria Euphoria of the Gran Chaos Empire. 

Behind me I had my prime minister, Hakuya, and behind Maria was her little sister and general, Jeanne, standing by. 

That the heads of each country and their seconds-in-command were all present at this meeting signified how important it was. 

Looking, perhaps, to start off with some friendly chat, Maria smiled. “I hear you will be having a child. Congratulations.” 

I smiled back and returned the greeting. “Thank you. It hasn’t quite sunk in yet though...” 

“Hehe! If it’s Liscia’s child, I’m sure it will be cute. I hear you’re a year younger than me, Sir Souma, but it seems you’ve beaten me to it, haven’t you?” Maria said teasingly. 

If I recalled correctly, Juna, who was the same age as me according to this world’s calendar, was actually a year older by Earth’s calendar, so that would mean Maria, who was a year older than me, was actually two years older. 

Well, I was too afraid to bring up the matter of age with a woman, so I decided to let it go. 

“But, well, now Liscia and I will both be set free from Marx constantly begging us to ‘hurry and produce an heir!’ so that’s a relief.” 

“I envy you,” Maria said. “I’m still being told to ‘hurry up and take a husband!’” 

“You don’t have anyone in mind?” 

“When you are an empress, it’s difficult. It needs to be someone who can carry the weight of an empire on their shoulders after all.” 

“You’re...a little too far out of everyone’s league then, I guess.” 

Very different from how my engagement to Liscia had been arranged by the former king, Sir Albert. It seemed it was quite hard for an empress of the Empire to get married. 

Then Madam Maria gave me a teasing smile. “Hehe, maybe I should have you take me as your wife, Sir Souma? It would be a big help if you could handle all of the Empire’s troubles for me like you did for Princess Roroa, you know?” 

“Wh-What are you saying, Sister?!” Jeanne raised her voice before I could get a word out. “You carry the weight of the Empire! You mustn’t say such things so carelessly...” 

“Don’t be so angry, Jeanne,” Maria said. “It was just a little joke.” 

“There are things you can joke about and things you can’t!” 

Oh, Maria... You’re just playing around and teasing Jeanne, I thought. 

Jeanne had a straightforward personality, like Liscia, so it must be amusing to have her react every time. 

“I would be honored to have a wonderful woman like you as my bride, Madam Maria... But I must say, I don’t have the confidence to rule a vast territory like the Empire on top of my kingdom. Managing Elfrieden and Amidonia is the best I can manage, I’m afraid.” 

“I don’t think that’s true, but...if you wouldn’t mind, I’d be happy to take that Black-robed Prime Minister of yours instead. I’ll relinquish the throne to Jeanne, so would you consider marrying Jeanne and becoming emperor?” 

“Sister?!” Jeanne cried. 

It looked like Maria had turned on Hakuya now. 

Hakuya himself looked unperturbed, touching his chin thoughtfully before he responded. “I do think Madam Jeanne is an attractive woman. However, I will have to pass on being emperor. If you would send her to this country to be my bride, I will gladly have her though.” 

“S-Sir Hakuya, you too?!” 

“Boo,” Maria pouted. “If you’re not gonna let me retire, you can’t have her.” 

“Sister, would you please shut up?!” 

With the two of them jerking her around, Jeanne’s face was bright red. 

“I see... I suppose even the masters of nations can have a weakness for pretty women.” 

“What’s this?” Maria teased. “You’re not interested, Sir Souma?” 

I shrugged and joked, “If she’s just beautiful and strong, I already have plenty of brides-to-be who have that covered.” 

Maria giggled. “Hehe. I see what you mean.” 

Rather than Madam Mutsumi, I was more interested in what gifts the remaining five may possess. But if reinforcements were pouring in, there was no need to send troops to Duke Chima’s domain immediately. In which case, my policy had to be... 

I thought for a little while, then told Maria, “I understand. Our country will send reinforcements to the Kingdom of Lastania. I have acquaintances there, so it’s not as though we have no ties to the country. If we still have strength to spare when the problem there is resolved, and if things still aren’t taken care of in the Duchy of Chima at that point, I will have my forces head there as well.” 

Maria smiled softly and bowed her head on the other side of the screen. “Thank you. We will be counting on you.” 

Thus, it was decided that my Kingdom of Friedonia would dispatch troops to the Kingdom of Lastania in the Union of Eastern Nations.

Once I was sure that the communication with Maria had been terminated, I took a breath and spoke to the person behind me. 

“You can come out now, Roroa.” 

Roroa poked her face out from the shadow of a piece of furniture. “What, darlin’, ya noticed?” 

“I spotted someone sneaking in out of the corner of my eye.” 

I hadn’t seen who exactly, but assuming it was someone that Aisha, who was guarding outside, would let through without a fuss, and someone who would sneak into a place like this, there really wasn’t anyone other than her. 

“Nyahaha! Ya got me.” With an awkward smile on her face, Roroa came over to me. 

Once Hakuya finished cleaning up after the broadcast conference, bowed, and left the room, Roroa and I were the only ones left. 

Once we were alone, Roroa dropped the smile. “Are ya sendin’ troops to the Kingdom of Lastania?”