“Brother, we have caught an assassin.”
“…Another one?”
“Yes. I think the fact that there is a tendency for a lot of people to enter our country exacerbates the problem but… They really don’t learn.”
Says Delaigal Saff Rezzed, my younger brother, with an exasperated sigh.
He has the same silver hair and light purple eyes as me. I don’t mean to brag, but both Delai and I are handsome men. I’m pretty popular with the opposite sex, but not as much as Delai. I guess there really is always someone above you.
My younger brother really is great. He’s five years younger than me, but he’s much better than me at dealing with domestic affairs and the military. He’s very intelligent, and although he’s my younger brother, he catches assassins that are after my head.
Do I even have any dignity as an older brother? I’m so weak, I have to be protected or I can’t do anything.
I’m always asking Delai if he wants the throne, but he has never shown any interest. What’s with him? I really don’t understand how someone as capable as him can respect someone like me as an older brother. I guess I just don’t understand the mind of a prodigy like him.
After the special meeting, the other kings completely ignore me, and keep sending resources and letting the people from Fairytrof who are still in one of their countries do whatever they want instead of sending them away. And so, because they are so eager to look good from the eyes of Fairytrof, people end up coming to places that aren’t acting like this, like my country.
I tend to accept them if they don’t pose a problem. Of course, I’m speaking with kings and nobles of their countries too, but some of these small countries really have stupid governments whose people will starve to death if they don’t change course. That’s why I end up accepting people that come here.
Also, it’s easy for people to come and go within the confederation, so many just decide to stay. This can be a problem, and I want them to enter officially.
Other countries act like they are fine with this, but complain that people leaving is making them receive less taxes, and that I’m wrong for not exporting as many resources as them. They end up resenting me, and this makes me a target.
Being king really is such a pain. I really want to abdicate soon.
But of course, Delai doesn’t accept it, even though there would be no problem at all if he was king. And I can’t just hand the crown to just anyone, or there would be a lot of trouble… But above all else, Delai and the others really insist that I have to be king.
“I hope Fairytrof stabilizes soon… If it does, people here will stop saying all that nonsense and we’ll stabilize a little too.”
“I don’t see that happening for a while. That being called miko is just that influential. The miko they had turned out to be fake, their king was killed, and the new king is young. Their internal affairs are a mess. Apparently there’s a revolt happening in the kingdom of Migha as well, so we are probably going to be affected by it. I hear that slave uprising has been terrible.”
“…Your information really is very helpful, Delai. You even know about the kingdom beyond Fairytrof.”
“We do work hard to gather information for you. You can rest easy knowing we will be here to protect you, so take your time thinking about what should be done from now on. It will be difficult for the kingdom of Fairytrof to stabilize as things stand. In fact, you should probably take over the countries acting foolishly. I even think you could unite the Saff confederation as a single country with you as king! I would gladly go along with that.”
“No, wait wait. I have my hands full with just this small country. Why would I do that? No way. If you want to unite the confederation into a big country, you be king.”
“Why me when you’re here?”
“…How can you say that with a straight face? Delai you really are…”
“Don’t look so exasperated, brother. But the real issue now is that if the problems in Fairytrof persist for much longer, there is going to be trouble in the confederation. We haven’t had any problems with the other countries bordering us, but the longer this continues, the more likely it will be that they will try to take territory. Thinking about it this way, I wish half of our border was forest instead of countries. Being surrounded by various countries leads to a lot of cross-national problems.”
The kingdom of Migha, kingdom of Fairytrof, and the Saff confederation all border a giant forest. This forest occupies a very large area in the center of the continent, but it’s a dangerous place with a lot of monsters and poisonous plants inside it.
Bordering the forest means sometimes monsters wander into the confederation too, and people have lost their lives to them. My country, Rezzed, is one of the countries within the confederation that’s adjacent to this forest, so a lot of monsters wander in. This means there are a lot of strong people here that defeat monsters… But I’m too weak to even take down a small one.
“Yes… I don’t want it to come to this, but… We need to be prepared for the worst case scenario. I don’t want us to collapse with the rest of the confederation. I was born into the royal family of this country and I have a duty towards it.”
“Yes. I knew you would think that way! It’s all right, I already started preparing.”
“…So you just went ahead and did something on your own again… Fine. But really, if you’re so quick and thoroughly prepared, you really should be king, right?”
“Good grief brother, you’re so stubborn. I can’t be king if we have you. No one is more fit to be king than you, so I will stay by your side and support you, the king!”
“…I see.”
It’s not like I’m not happy to hear it, but my little brother has way too much faith in me.
Ahh… But being faced with all this trust and expectations really makes me want to not disappoint him. I guess that’s why I’m still trying and doing my job as a king.
“That’s right. We will do anything for you brother, so don’t hesitate to ask!”
“Yes…”
Delai looks at me with such earnest eyes. I really don’t want that trust to go to waste. He really believes in me and thinks I can do it. That’s why even though it’s all a pain, I will start getting ready for the worst case scenario.
—King and younger brother
(One of the kings of the confederation talks with his younger brother, and wishes not to disappoint him.)
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This king is really the wise one among the others in this series