Hachinan tte, Sore wa Nai Deshou - Volume 20, page 1
Chapter 1: The Revival of the Zontark Kingdom?
* * *
"At this rate, demons are definitely going to die out! I declare here and now that I will revive the demon kingdom!"
The demon queen (a ten-years-old girl) announced after visiting us all of a sudden. To be honest, I feel like telling her to go for it, if she feels like it. But, since it'd turn into a diplomatic issue, if we got involved in this, we naturally won't help her, nor have we any reason to do so.
"Once we found our kingdom, I'd like to form an alliance of equals with the Helmut Kingdom and Holy Empire Urqhart in the future. Accordingly it's not like we came here today to bug you about it."
"We'd become indebted to you, if we were to get your assistance, and it would likely put the Zontark Republic on guard. Your Majesty, you sure have a keen, discerning eye."
"Umu, this is yet another result of your education, Lyra. You have my gratitude."
"Those words are wasted on me, Your Majesty."
Lyra-san, the prime minister, seems to have a decent level of judgment. Despite being rather young, the demon queen doesn't seem to harbor dreamy views of the world either.
"But, why now?" Luise asked.
"The demons have been under a stable rule as a country, without being invaded by foreign powers, for more than 10,000 years. And because of that excessively peaceful life, the demons' instincts have clearly decayed. But, now we were able to confirm the existence of two human countries. This will cause big changes among the demons. There might be good and bad parts about it, but there's no guarantee that the Zontark Republic will make decent decisions. Therefore we decided to make our stand now!"
"Having two countries also comes with the pragmatic reason that at least one of them should be able to pull through."
This demon queen is pretty grounded in her thinking for a ten-year-old. Because she's a girl, she might be growing mentally faster than boys her age. Her prime minister Lyra-san is also the levelheaded type of woman, so maybe the women are exceedingly superior within the current demon population?
"You say the demons would be destroyed by us humans? You think that's realistic?"
It was only natural for Eru to be puzzled about this. All demons are magicians and they excel humans in magic engineering by centuries.
No matter how you spin it, the humans would be the ones getting decimated. Rather, the demons' advantage is so overwhelming that it justifies us getting worried instead.
"As you have already noticed, the demons' population is declining due to low birthrates. On the other hand, humans are constantly growing in numbers. Once the development of the Lingaia Continent finishes, you'll likely extend your hands for other islands and continents. Certainly, us demons excel in magic engineering, but even that advantage can vanish, if enough time passes. Her Majesty rose now as her outview is directed at a very long term."
"I rose up." Elisabeth boldly declared while pushing out her chest.
But, unfortunately she was still lacking in the departments of height and chest size. Though I believe her intention to be quite splendid...
"Still, will you be able to become independent all of a sudden? Won't it all be over once you get suppressed by the republic's police unit?"
Well, considering it normally, it'll conclude in a way similar to what Ina has mentioned. The Zontark Republic has many problems as well, but they aren't in such a disarray that they'd split apart.
"Independence is still a matter of the future. It'll probably be impossible during my lifetime. But, it's quite possible to establish a base of operations! Well, you can just watch our great exploits."
"Your Majesty, it is about time for you to go back home."
"Yep, my teacher told me to get back home before it becomes dark outside."
""""""""""......""""""""""
I feel like she was just now talking about founding an independent state and so on, and yet she listens so attentively to what her teacher tells her to do? What a surreal being...
"Well then, see you until we meet again!"
"Excuse us."
The two left the room after having said all they wanted to say. They took with them the high-class cream puff I gave them as a souvenir and the forest mate tea which Elise had kindly filled into a takeaway bottle for them.
* * *
After seeing off the demon queen and her prime minister, I ended up brooding about the true motive behind their visit and announcements.
"Dear, this is a fairly dangerous story, is it not?"
I can understand Elise being anxious about this.
If the demon queen, who was believed to have no power in this country anymore, were to plot an independence from the republic right after meeting us, it'd very likely be interpreted as me and the Helmut Kingdom behind me scheming to divide the demons.
However, there was someone who laughed down all those worries. Lumi, our local news reporter.
"I doubt there's any need to worry 'bout this."
"Hey, newspaper report, this would usually count as a perfect chance for you to stir your readers by claiming that such a plot was afoot, no?"
"We've got many higher-ups who do as told by the politicians of the CRP, and that's being regarded as a problem, but even so, our newspaper is the bestselling paper on the market. No need to fall back on yellow journalism."
"So you want to say you're a quality paper?"
"Right, that's it! That! Earl Baumeister-san, I've taken my job hunting seriously after all, unlike my juniors."
"""We're taking it serious too!"""
Mall and the other two heavily objected to Lumi's remark.
A crushing defeat after seriously looking for a job, huh...? In their shoes, my heart would have been broken by this. My job in my previous life was quite taxing, but it's good that I was able to find a decent job.
"In the first place, the defense force isn't vigilant about this at all! The defense force is occasionally criticized for scandals and they're being hated by certain anti-militaristic groups in society as the defense force stands in the way of those people, but in reality, they have a lot of excellent personnel."
Whenever you try to land a job with them, the competition seems to be quite high. It's probably because the income and salary is quite stable since defense force members are public servants, so it's easy for them to gather skilled people.
"Anyway, let me tell you that it's nothing to worry about."
"It'd be great if you're right about this..."
* * *
And then, on the next morning, the details of the declaration of independence by the demon queen and her prime minister were made public. Lumi had brought in the morning newspaper of Everyday Journal.
"It's come out. Look, it's written here."
"Let me see."
The article had been placed in the newspaper's category for livelihood matters. I wonder why. What's with this sense of discomfort I'm feeling?
"Umm... 『Her Majesty the Queen of the olden Zontark Kingdom has taken office as ruler of the reborn Zontark Kingdom』. The crucial details of the article..."
As I kept reading the article, something along following lines was written in there:
At present three quarters of the island inhabited by the demons is deserted. In the past, up to three quarters were inhabited, but the population gradually shrunk, leading to land being abandoned.
The uninhabited area decayed and fell into ruin. Often nature took over, and sometimes those abandoned places also turned back into monster domains.
Young demons, who left exploitative companies with bad pay, and jobless folks have started to revive those deserted places. They basically lead lives of self-sufficiency. As for the infrastructure necessary for them to survive, they repaired and reused those which had been abandoned.
Their main source of income mostly depends on the sale of the agricultural produce they planted themselves. Their average pay is generally low, but because they provide for themselves, they don't live in poverty. Rather, you can even say they're leading bountiful lives that are good for their mental health.
Is their challenge going to work out smoothly?
It's something I'd love to keep an eye on to see where it's going.
"..."
All I could feel when reading this article was a deja vu. This was something that also happened in countries on Earth, wasn't it? I mean the one where city folks started to live out in the sticks while using ghost towns and abandoned farmlands.
(TN: In Japan, they have a big issue with the countryside literally dying out. You can basically get old houses there for free. And they got this weird law where you can occupy a place and it'll become yours, if no owner claims it after x time. It was mentioned in D-Genesis as weird, super technical trivia knowledge.)
If I remember correctly, they talked about farm village revival as work-out, LOHAS, or some such, didn't they?
"I see. So you said it would be fine because you knew that the demon queen and her supporters were participating in those activities."
"I mean I'm a reporter, so I'm aware of such things going on. But, the ones in charge of that are the folks at the Livelihood department and I'm an outsider for them, so I only got to know the details today."
"You sure are saying some things you'd expect out of the mouth of a government official, Lumi."
"Earl Baumeister-san, you u
No, I don't really know the demons all that well. It's just that it resembles a social phenomenon in a country I know all too well.
"Is this really an independence? To me it looks like they're merely doing some farmland reactivation campaign..."
"Who knows? I can't tell." Eru cocked his head upon my question.
* * *
Just as all of us were worrying in front of the new article, the demon queen and her prime minister showed up.
"Forgive me for visiting in a normal dress today."
"Her Majesty attended school today."
Today Elisabeth wore a common one-piece dress. And a kindergartener backpack...
It looks like demon children go to school while carrying such backpacks.
Personally I think her outfit is more like casual wear than demitoilet, but... well, it's cute, so who cares.
"Is this an independence movement?" Ina showed them the newspaper.
"Quite so! People who are unhappy with their current life or have no job, have gathered on the land abandoned by the republic folks, and formed into groups. A journey to distant shores begins with a single step! We aim to increase the subjects in such a matter, eventually reaching a quota that allows for the independence of our kingdom!"
It might be more appropriate to call them union members or group members than subjects. She's calling it a kingdom, but no matter how you look at it, this seems to be closer to a company or a NGO. I think any government official would perceive it as such after receiving the documents.
Otherwise, the state would have long assigned defense force members to monitor the situation.
"Her Majesty has taken the post of president for the NGO which carries out all these activities. I ceased my part-time job which I had been attending so far to devote my undivided attention to my duty as vice-president and accountant. Her Majesty has to go to school on the days outside school holidays. As such, it is planned for me to usually run the organization."
A NGO which gathers farmland located in abandoned regions, eh...? Elisabeth and Lyra-san are groping for a way to become independent by gathering unemployed youths in areas which are labeled as worthless by the republic's government.
The number of people, who cease to receive welfare, has been increasing, and deliberately hindering those people from living in the abandoned areas would only come with drawbacks, as long as those people pay some taxes, even if just a bit. In the first place, the demon queen and her people aren't considering to arm themselves.
No wonder the defense force hasn't said anything about them thus far. After all, there exists no confrontation between the demon queen and the republic's government.
"But, that is insufficient. It will probably be difficult to achieve during my lifetime, but my children and grandchildren's generations will vastly expand our organization. It should be possible to achieve independence in a peaceful manner without having to rely on military might."
"Nothing less of you, Your Majesty. That is an extremely clever plan."
"What, isn't it all thanks to your suggestion, Lyra?"
That sounds more like simply expanding the scope of an organization than going independent...
Even the NGO guys are probably using the demon queen as a figurehead for that very reason. If you discreetly tout a little girl who happens to be the current demon queen, it won't trigger any alarm bells with the authorities. Besides, the common people usually like kings or queens.
They'll likely just watch over this young demon queen with gentle eyes as long as they don't suffer any inconveniences, even if they were to let her be a little dictator. Above all, the demon queen is a pretty girl.
"Your Majesty, it is time for you to go to school."
"Oh, it's already this late? I must work hard at studying well so that I'll become a demon queen who's loved by everyone."
The demon queen went to her school together with Lyra-san. She seems to properly take her education seriously without skipping on school.
"Though there are some people like us who can't find a job even after having studied well."
Mall, I don't want to hear any such depressing, ambitionless stories.
"Truly, reality is cruel."
"""Wilma-chan! You're so meaaan!!"""
"Do these people actually suffer from some sort of major issue?"
"""Katharina-san, you're just as heartless!!"""
Even though they look like this, Mall and his friends are smart and their specs should be pretty high. Maybe they're unlucky after all.
"Dear, it's good that it hasn't turned into a problem."
"True that."
* * *
Once school ended, the demon queen showed up again. It looks like she has taken a liking to us. Currently she's doing her homework while drinking the forest mate tea brewed by Elise and eating the cake we bought at another high-class Western-styled confectionery.
But rather than that, for some reason the demon queen has started to frequently visit our room. I don't think it's a good place for studying since my babies are here too.
"Earl Baumeister, your babies are cute. Children are a country's treasure. Next the division of fractions, huh...?"
The demon queen occasionally threw a glance at my sleeping babies while solving math exercises as her homework.
"I must also give birth to a fine successor once I become an adult. Though it's questionable whether I'll find any partners for a formal marriage interview..."
"Isn't it okay to marry out of love? Political marriages are dated."
"Just when I wondered what you'd say... us of noble standing marry for the sake of our land and country. A romantic marriage is fine, but you four male demons over there aren't even married, are you?"
"Your Majesty, the things you say are quite harsh..."
Having the reality of being single pointed out to them by the demon queen, Mall's group felt depressed.
"I regard my research as my lover and wife."
Of course, only Arnest didn't mind it though.
"Certainly, marriage with a noble or another royal would be the most desirable, but it is also possible that you will find a wonderful husband."
"Does that mean you found a good husband, Elise?"
"Yes."
It's embarrassing to be told so directly, but I'm happy to know that Elise thinks of me like that.
"It means there is a chance of a Prince Charming to show up for me as well, huh? I guess I'll put some hope into that. By the way, Earl Baumeister, I don't understand this calculation."
Elisabeth showed me her math homework. It seems like she doesn't have the option of skipping on her homework by using her authority as demon queen.
"Division of fractions, right...?"
All the answers to the problems, which the demon queen had done during class, were marked with an X. That's because she had divided the fractions without inverting the numerator and denominator. Like this it was no different from a multiplication of fractions.
"(1/2)/(2/3) is 3/4."
It's been quite a while since I last had to do schoolwork, but when it came to the division of fractions, which I had learned during elementary school, I wouldn't forget it so easily."
"Earl Baumeister, why do you turn the numbers around here?"
"Please ask the people over there since they got lots of smart people."
Arnest is a former professor of a famous university with the highest education in this country. Mall's group actually belongs to the selected few who managed to graduate from the same university. And Lyra-san also graduated from a good university.
It'll be much safer to ask them than me, who only went to a second-rate Japanese university.
"Vel, you're incredible!"
For some reason me having simply solved elementary school arithmetic earned me deep respect from Luise. I suppose that's because it's enough to be able to read, write, and do basic arithmetic calculations on the Lingaia Continent. Something like division of fractions is unnecessary if you don't go to the academy.
That place was a den of study freaks who made even Elise draw back. By the way, I never went to the academy myself.
"Well, if it's a simple problem..."
If I get unnecessarily cocky here, it's possible that I'll shoot my own leg by being asked to do harder calculations. The best is to push it on the demons who have studied it all properly.
