The Realist Hero's Kingdom Restoration Chronicles
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The Realist Hero’s Kingdom Restoration Chronicles National Enrichment Written By どぜう丸 (Dozeumaru) English Translation By Larvyde Yukkuri Contents The Hero Doesn’t Go on a Journey 3 1 Fundraising 16 2 Let’s First Begin From ×× 43 3 The King’s Brunch 109 Interlude: The Adventures of Musashiboy-kun 183 4 Parnam Holiday 191 Interlude: Duchess Ecksel Walter’s Sigh 272 5 Rome Was Born on the Sound of Hammers 280 Epilogue: Three Dukes Conference / Those that Wriggle like Worms / Stage with Many Scriptwrights353 2 The Hero Doesn’t Go on a Journey ife has its fortunes and its hardships. I believe these words of the old man of Mito L is a wise saying. Life has its mountains and valleys. It is exactly because one climbed over adversity that one could sail down, and if one keeps taking the easy way down one would soon find oneself surrounded by rising slopes. The conclusion is therefore, a person should persevere through life’s climbs, but I think different. This is what I think. I can walk the level path without any ascents or descents, of moderate pain and moderate comfort. What I could do, and what I could not do. What I want to do, and what I don’t want to do. What I want others to do, and what I don’t want others to do. By making sure of all that, I walk, looking for a path that is suitable for who I am at the moment. I live a steady life, without taking unnecessary risks, without collecting 3 the hate of others. There are probably those out there who think “what’s so fun about a life without its pains and enjoyments,” but please think about it. Regardless of what one wants or doesn’t want, life will always have its storms. Inscrutable are the ways of heaven. Therefore, one should pin the instability down to a level one could control. That was practically how I live my life. Calmly analyzing my own personal abilities, limits, surrounding environment, financial state, and relationships, evaluating them nottoo much, nor too little, without aiming too high or too low...... that is my life. That way I enjoyed a moderate life, going to a middle school near home, graduating from a so-so private high school, and passing college life at a not very famous col- lege but still one with a reputation similar to those. If this continued, I would probably lead a not-so-bad college life, gain a not-so-bad employment, and build a not-so- bad household with a not-so-bad partner. People would probably think it’s bad, but this is all smooth sailing for me. However, that life plan of mine was overturned. It was overturned by this man before my eyes. “O, Hero! Thou truly hath come to answer our call!” A middle-aged man with medium build. His age was prob- ably in the 40s or 50s. He was wearing a red cape as thick 4 as a coat and a golden crown on top of his head. He stood majestically, yes, no matter how you look, he’s a 『King』 . The young, gentle-looking woman by his side was prob- ably the 『Queen』. She was wearing a luxurious dress, and seemed to be around thirty years of age. I tried examining my surroundings. An overly tall ceil- ing, marble pillars arranged in lines, and red carpet un- derneath. On both sides there were soldiers standing uni- formly at attention, and there was a prime-minister-looking man mixed in among them. It was indubitably a royal palace audience hall... or something like that. Something you see in RPG opening scenes. The king, the royal palace, then the “O Hero” line I heard a while ago. Hrm... looks like this is one of “those worlds”. Be calm as you rush, and widen your view to see the in- visible. I committed every day to walking the flat path. Rushing won’t change things for the better, closing my eyes or stopping my ears won’t make the reality before me disappear. Therefore I should first come to terms with reality to some extent and gather intelligence. First, we observe. “W, why that look? Are you angry we called you?” As I stared in observation, the king said so, hesitantly. Where did your dignity go? “No, I couldn’t understand the situation. Firstly, would you be kind enough to explain the current situation?” 5 “Y, you’re a calm one. I’m envious...” “Ahem.” “I, it’s nothing!” The prime minister cleared his throat and the King shrugged with a start. Seeing that exchange, the Queen chuckled and even the guards smiled bitterly. From this chain of ex- changes, I can see that the ‘Gentle-looking King’ is really a ‘Gentle King’. He seems to lack ambition for someone at the top of a country, but as a statesman he was probably a kind King loved by his subjects. At least he doesn’t seem to be one to send the hero to a place of certain death or throw the hero away once he deems him useless, which was a relief. No no, I’ve been reading web novels with stories like that recently, see. Well, Kings like that eventually got the revenge of the heroes who came back at them, though. Reading stories with plots like that was refreshing but if you ask me if I want to experience something like that the answer is a definite no. Now that I’ve said this much it should be understandable, but I recognize that I was the target of this king’s so-called 『Hero Summoning』. Averting my eyes won’t change the situation. Therefore, any clichéd thoughts like “I wonder if this is a dream” is a waste of time. “So? Is the Demon King coming to attack or something?” “You’re quick to understand. It is as you say.” “...” 6 “O, oi, what happened, Hero. To suddenly bury your head in your arms.” “No... don’t mind it. I just felt a little dizzy.” That’s weird. This is a clichéd development but it’s hurt- ing my head. Seeing how the Demon King is coming to attack he sure had the time to call a Hero, wait.... “Apologies. Can you please explain the situation.” “I, is that so? Then I shall explain.” Thus began the King’s “Tedious Explanation of the World straight out of an old RPG opening”. Firstly, about this world itself, this world consists of the extra-large continent Randia and countless islands of all sizes. In the Randia continent there are many countries small and large, and besides humans, there are various races of therianthrope, elves, dwarves, ogres, and drag- onewts living there. Among the countries there are ones where the races coexisted but there are ones that treat their own race favorably and ban other races, or ones where every race was all “equal under the one emperor”, these countries raised their hegemonies and warred, but due to a terrible tragedy of a world war sixty years ago, the coun- tries thenceforth followed the course of peaceful coopera- tion. Next was about the Demon King and the Demon Race. Ten years ago, at the northernmost end of the Randia con- tinent, a space popularly known as the『Demon Realm』ap- 7 peared, from there various kind of monsters large and small welled out, wreaking havoc upon many countries. The na- tions banded together and organized a punitive force to the Demon Realm, but it was annihilated. In the De- mon Realm, there are 『Demonic Creatures』with low (or possibly no) intelligence, and 『Demon Race』with high intelligence and powerful combat ability, but the destruc- tion of the punitive force was caused by the Demon Race. Also there are unconfirmed rumors of a King ruling over the Demon Race, the 『Demon King』. After this war, the Demon Race did a counter-invasion, the Demon World that was at first only about the size of a small kingdom came to cover a fifth of the continent. Nowadays, this territory is called the 『Demon King Ter- ritory』. The invasion has now stopped, but the reason was because the number of the soldiers dispatched to each front expand the territory was dispersed, and the nations were somehow able to maintain the fronts. However, the nations did not have the manpower to invade into the De- mon King Territory, and if the Demon Race side were to concentrate on one area the other areas would be invaded, so the stalemate between them continued. Next is about this country. This country is the『Elfrieden Kingdom』, a medium-small monarchy situated at the east- ernmost tip of the continent. It was from the start a coun- try raised by various races working hand-in-hand, and even with a human king it accepts other races without discrimi- nation. Any race can enjoy citizenship rights, suffrage, and 8 practically all occupations other than 『King』are open to any race. It even seems the prime minister advising the King is a half-elf human. Because it doesn’t border the Demon King Territory, it re- ceived little damage from Demonic Creature attacks, but it lacked national power from the beginning and its fi- nance was not in good condition, either. In addition to the low food sufficiency, refugees who lost their homes to the expansion of the Demon King Territory flowing into this country only exacerbated the problem. Also, dark clouds seem to be forming outside the borders.