“There’s a new king?”
Depending on the country, having a new king might not change things that much. People’s daily lives often go on as usual, I think.
But Miss Lan… She probably thinks about lots more stuff. Stuff that doesn’t even cross my mind, about what might happen far ahead…
“We are looking into the views of this new king, but we are going to continue our relations with them. Some of them know we are living in the forest.”
“Yes, I see. Because we’re involved with that country.”
I’ve never been in Lunid, but many people here have. It’s very important to us to maintain relations with other places, so we’ve been slowly making contact.
We haven’t told people of Lunid that we have a country, but we’re going to have to tell them eventually, and I hope we have friendly relations.
But we don’t know how the new king will affect that.
“The new king might want to conquer us.”
“…They might attack?”
“Yes. Apparently the new king is more belligerent. If he knows we live in the middle of the forest, he might come after us.”
It’s commonly thought that no one lives in this forest.
If it’s known we live here like it’s no big deal, some people might come after us. I’ve been hearing that for a long time. Even Mister Shuongalve and the others think so.
And that thing we thought might happen could be happening soon.
“If they come after us… It’ll be hard to solve things peacefully, right?”
“Yes. We need to consider the worst case scenario. Talking it out is the best option, but we need to put more thought into what would happen if they started a war.”
“War…”
I heard there might be fighting, but if a real war starts… How many people will die? I don’t want to lose anyone.
Yes, that’s the whole reason why we started this country, to not lose anyone.
I don’t want a war to start right after this country was born.
I want to prevent a war if I can. Even the word means death to me.
“Are you sure that will happen?”
“I hope they look at our forces and give up, but…”
“So we should show them that they shouldn’t mess with us?”
“Yes, but this is a double-edged sword. Showing off power, might make them want said power. We need to show them something considerable enough to make them give up, or win decisively.”
Says Miss Lan, and lots of things start running through my head.
Win decisively. That means having to hurt them. I really don’t want to do that, but… In the end, I don’t like that.
But I think it’s natural for me to have to throw around my power to defend us. I’m the miko, so I could be a deterrent.
But I can see in Miss Lan’s face that won’t work.
“…If you don’t want to do it, you don’t have to really join a war. You might have to kill people. No matter how much you don’t want to… Lives would have to be taken.”
“But wouldn’t me being there make it easier for the others to fight? And if I’m there, the other side might pull back, right?”
I ask after hearing Miss Lan.
Me being here should be really good for this country. And if I can drive enemies away, that should be really wonderful.
But Miss Lan says with a smile that if I’m hesitant, I don’t have to join.
“Yes, it would be beneficial for the country if you used that power in battle. But still… I think you shouldn’t have to participate if you’re scared.”
“Thank you. I’m really scared of the thought of taking people’s lives. But… I don’t think it’s right for me to stay scared in a safe place doing nothing. I’m a king of this country, and the miko. I’m scared, but I’ll do what I have to to protect it.”
I say to Miss Lan.
—Girl and relations with the Kingdom of Lunid – Part four
(The miko shows her resolve.)
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