The next was the people who had died. Losses in the workforce could be replaced. However, if the deceased were skilled craftsmen, scholars, or people who might one day become them, then the loss of knowledge would be a fatal blow to the nation.
And then there was the matter of resources. The demihumans had plundered and destroyed many things, and rebuilding all of them would take a lot of resources.
Finally, there was the matter of time. The demihumans had taken a full two seasons during their invasion, and they would need to work twice as hard to make up for the loss.
And of course, there might be demihumans lurking within the Holy Kingdom. They would need to be rooted out and exterminated.
The location of most of the loot taken by the demihumans ― valuables and magic items ― was unknown. The demihumans all had separate cultures of their own, so adorning themselves with precious metals and collecting human wealth was hardly a strange thing, However, the strange thing was that there were no clues at all as to where those things had been taken. That was because they had been completely unable to track the enemy’s transport units.
Still, however many problems lay ahead of them, there would be people who felt that it would be fine if they could lose themselves in frank and honest revelry. They would need a short break before the painful days to come, and Neia agreed on that point as well.
However, she could not do that today. She could not lose herself in celebration on this day.
The reason for that was because it was a day of parting.
It was a very sad day.
There was a lone carriage stopped in front of the royal capital’s main gate, on the eastern side of the city. In contrast to the carriage’s plain exterior, Neia knew that its interior was lavishly and meticulously fitted, and its performance was also excellent. In particular, its seats did not hurt the bottom even after long periods spent sitting on them.
Indeed.
It was the carriage Neia had been allowed to share with the Sorcerer King when he had come to the Holy Kingdom.
In other words, today was the day when the Sorcerer King would leave the Holy Kingdom and return to his own country.
Originally, it would not have been a surprise to see a carriage of the Sorcerous Kingdom surrounded by demihumans. The Sorcerer King had united the Abelion Hills and brought many of the demihumans under his banner for the battle with Jaldabaoth. That said, there were none of them in sight, because the Sorcerer King had allowed them all to return to the hills.
This was not a matter of the past few days. He had let them return after the final battle with Jaldabaoth had ended.
When she had asked the reason for that, she had received the answer, “You must hate being around the demihumans, don’t you?” Such was his sympathy for the people of the Holy Kingdom.
Neia was deeply moved.
He had considered the mental state of the Holy Kingdom and let his own soldiers return home, saying that they would travel in the company of the soldiers of the Holy Kingdom, who were from another nation. This was by no means ordinary behavior for the ruler of a nation.
Indeed, unless it were the King of Kings ― the magnanimous Sorcerer King.
Neia’s group of like-minded supporters were also deeply moved.
Therefore, when Neia and her comrades had taken it upon themselves to become the Sorcerer King’s honor guard, nobody could bring themselves to protest. Of course, there was almost no more fighting, so for the most part they simply moved with the Sorcerer King, but the faces of her comrades were still fresh in Neia’s memories.
She remembered their joy at being able to walk with the person who had saved them, their pride at being able to accompany the hero who had defeated Jaldabaoth, and then the bliss of being allowed to stand by the side of the king they so admired. Their faces all blended these differing emotions.
They were nowhere in sight today.
All she could see were the walls and the main gate of the Holy Kingdom’s capital, and then the street leading to Prart ― which continued on to the Sorcerous Kingdom.
“Are you going back today, Your Majesty? The people are all abuzz with joy after the liberation of the royal capital. I feel it would not be out of place to have Your Majesty join us for the next few days, in a thanksgiving festival for the person who was the biggest contributor towards taking back the capital within a few days…”
She had asked that question several times in the past. She would probably get the answer she knew she would receive, that he was heading home. Even so, she still had to ask it again. It was probably the work of Neia’s feminine side.
“Ahh, I’ll be returning to the Sorcerous Kingdom today. I’m not confident in my ability to deal with ceremonies.”
As the Sorcerer King muttered to himself, he made a very exaggerated movement, like a comical shrugging of his shoulders, perhaps because he knew Neia would feel distressed if she took his words to heart.
“Surely you jest, Your Majesty.”
“Umu, well, yes I was, I was just kidding. Yes, kidding… In truth, I’ve done everything I came here to do. Thus, there is no need for me to stay here. I also need to guide the development of the Sorcerous Kingdom, in my capacity as its king. If I leave the throne for long, my Prime Minister Albedo will scold me.”
Neia’s mind conjured up the visage of the world class beauty she had seen but once. She was a woman whose beauty made her unforgettable.
Surely she can’t be that scary when she gets mad… or is she scary when she gets mad because she’s beautiful? While I don’t think that’s what His Majesty meant, it’s a little hard to imagine someone as pretty as that getting angry. Still… I’m envious…
Being allowed to speak to him like that, because she was close to him, was something that Neia desperately wanted, yet could not ask for, which made her very envious. How happy would Neia be if she heard the Sorcerer King she so respected tell others Neia will scold me or something like that?
“Is that so… still, it is a shame that there’s nobody to send off Your Majesty, given that you saved this nation.”
The Sorcerer King’s decision to go had been a sudden thing. The fact that there was nobody to send him off told a sad and lonely story.
“I already told Prince Caspond that it would be troublesome if the festival was too lavish. This nation will be facing a lot of difficulties from now on. Rather than waste resources and manpower on sending me off, I’d rather have them use it on rebuilding the country.”
“Your Majesty…”
Why did he have to go back?
If she clung to his feet and made a big scene of weeping, she could probably delay his return to his nation by a week.
While she keenly felt the desire to do so, she bore with it. She could not act spoilt around the most merciful Sorcerer King.
“Ah, it’s not because I want to act like some kind of big shot, uh, it’s just that this country really has nothing left, yes… like wealth. While I thought that asking them to leave a bit more might be good… What I mean to say is, ah yes, I would like you all to not mind me and keep working hard. Also… look, the stability of your country will be good for the Sorcerous Kingdom too, as neighbors. There’ll be trade between us and so on in the future, yes.”
So he had sensed what Neia was thinking, and he was fumbling to comfort her. While he was typically very cool and stylish, he sometimes spoke in a way that made her worry for him.
“Thank you very much, Your Majesty.”
“Oh? Hm, don’t, don’t worry about it. I came to this country for Jaldabaoth’s maids, after all. And now―” The Sorcerer King patted Shizu ― who had been standing beside him all this time, as though she were trying to mask her presence ― on the back. “―And now I have them, so it was worth coming to this country.”