Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

My name is Mikel.

I am seventeen years old, a member of the Korin Religion Order of Raywhite Kingdom.

Well, far more often than being called Mikel, I am referred to as the son of High Priestess Fushu.

I understand that it cannot be helped.

After all, I have no achievements worth speaking of.

That is what bothers me a little about this man of the human race.

-0-

I heard that today, Mother caused a disturbance in the castle courtyard.

「It was not a disturbance. It was training」

Was there no prior notice?

It caused quite an uproar.

「That was the royal family’s request. They asked us to show a little of Alfred-kun’s power」

So it was led by the royal family?

「If anything, it was led by the chancellors」

All of the chancellors are very capable, after all.

「Yes. They are especially good at maintaining the right distance from the Korin Religion, so they help us in many ways」

That is true.

By the way, it feels like you suddenly became much closer with Priest-Warrior Commander O’Brien-sama.

Weren’t you at odds with each other?

「We have known each other for a long time. He likely understood our circumstances and cooperated. Also, that rivalry was an act. Did I not tell you?」

……You did not.

It was an act?

「Yes. By doing that, dissatisfaction with the priest-warrior order goes to me. Dissatisfaction with the Korin Religion goes to him, right?」

I-I see.

Mother does things like this so casually that I wonder if that is why she is called ruthless.

As her son, I would prefer her to be loved rather than feared, but……

Um, Mother?

「What is it?」

What is with those strange poses you have been striking in front of the large mirror for a while now?

「They are not strange poses. They are secret poses of the Korin Religion」

I-I beg your pardon?

What kind of poses are they?

「They are poses devised by the Supreme Pontiff to make dialogue with others go smoothly」

The Supreme Pontiff did that?

「Yes. They even work on those who do not understand our words」

I had no idea such poses existed.

「They are secret techniques, after all. However, at first they were not secret, and were widely recommended to the faithful」

Oh, I see.

「Yes, but…… at one point, the Supreme Pontiff suddenly sealed these poses」

Why was that?

「I do not know. However, some believers regretted losing them, left records, passed them down through generations…… and turned them into secret techniques」

I see.

「That said, they are not treated as rigid traditions, and it is considered acceptable to freely add one’s own interpretations. Well, everyone’s body is different, so if the poses were fixed, there would be people who could do them and people who could not」

That is true.

「That is why I am pursuing poses that suit me」

I understand that, but why all of a sudden?

「I have not been doing them recently, but before you were born, I practiced them regularly. My interest in the Korin Religion began with these poses」

I-I see……

「I met someone who carried on the tradition. I would not say I mastered them, but I practiced enough to be reasonably proud. Still, there is no avoiding the difference in joint flexibility between my youth and now…… unpleasant, isn’t it」

Ahaha.

「However, poses that lacked presence when I was young can now be performed, so perhaps my range of expression has widened. Ah, if you are interested, you should try them too. They are good for refreshing your mood from work」

……I will consider it.

It is almost time for the dining hall to open, Mother.

「That is right. Let us go to the dining hall」

-0-

At present, my job is to act as Alfred-kun’s guide.

I am not his caretaker.

That sort of role has been assigned to other people.

Attendants…… no, originally they were chamberlains who had been trained to serve the royal family, several of them.

There are also a few gardeners who double as bodyguards.

I think they are high-ranking priest-knights of the Korin Religion, but is it really fine to have them do such work?

Well, that is not something I need to worry about.

As a guide, my role is simply to accompany Alfred-kun as much as possible when he goes out, so that he does not get lost.

Not in a theological sense, but physically.

Alfred-kun knows nothing about this area at all.

He is an important guest who came from far away.

When I was a child, I once suffered from an illness that was difficult to cure, and Mother introduced him to me as the son of the person who made the medicine that treated that illness.

At first, he was a quiet boy, and I worried a little about whether he would be all right.

After all, Mother is his guardian.

Mother has many political enemies, so it was easy to predict that they would target Alfred-kun in order to trouble her.

What I did not expect was Alfred-kun’s courage.

He lightly laughed off the sneers from the children of nobles who openly showed hostility.

They would go on about noble language and such, and he would not take them seriously.

That way, only the other side gets tired.

Before long, they give up and leave.

I remember being impressed.

As for me, I have caused about three near-duels just from people speaking ill of Mother.

I should learn from him.

By the way, those duels were crushed by Mother before they could happen.

Along with the other party’s entire household.

That is the frightening part of Mother.

Still, even for someone like Alfred-kun, his dealings with the princes……

Maybe he was bothered by the way Mother and O’Brien-sama went on a rampage.

He rested for a while.

When he started going outside again, what surprised me was his physical growth.

I thought he was a different person, but Mother said it was growth, so I accepted it.

And after his body grew larger, Alfred-kun became more active.

He did not dwell at all on the trouble with the princes, and yet he properly reconciled with them.

That is not easy to do.

He says things like 「I am still full of worries, and my legs will not move」, though.

From my point of view, I think he is moving more than enough.

Otherwise, he would not be using the reconciled princes to get all sorts of things done, right?

Yeah.

-0-

For example, toilets.

It seems Alfred-kun thought the toilets in this country were unhygienic.

To someone like me, who is used to them, they are normal, but for him they were apparently a major source of stress.

So I wondered what he would do about it, and then he remodeled the toilet in the residence he was given.

And he did not ask craftsmen to do it. He remodeled it with his own hands.

He even bought and gathered the materials himself.

I accompanied him, so I am sure of it.

He carefully examined the materials himself.

I thought that was the end of it, but before I knew it, a project to improve the toilet situation of Raywhite Kingdom, along with the development of water supply and sewer systems, had been launched.

With the princes as figureheads, large amounts of funding were putting in personnel from not only the three royal families but also from the Korin Religion, and the project was carried out.

There were factions that opposed it, saying that taxes should not be spent on such things, but they were ignored and left alone.

The toilets connected to the factions that supported it became clean, and water and sewer development progressed.

The toilets connected to the opposing factions remained dirty, and water and sewer development was simply postponed.

Even with such treatment, since they were the ones opposing it, they could not complain.

All Korin Religion–related groups showed a cooperative stance, so their toilets became clean very quickly.

I was amazed.

I never imagined toilets could become such a comfortable space.

Toilets are important.

-0-

Next, the food situation.

It seems the food around here did not suit Alfred-kun’s tastes.

So, I thought he might bring in a cook from somewhere, but instead he started moving things toward opening a restaurant in the city.

How did it end up like that?

Well, having a place that serves new kinds of food is something to be grateful for.

The dishes I was allowed to taste during the trial runs were all delicious.

Mother was pleased as well.

I hope that more places serving food like this will appear.

I do hope so, but why make a prince the representative?

Ah, no, if you think of it as trouble prevention, choosing a prince is probably better than an unknown Alfred-kun.

Still, somehow the merchant guild found out and threatened him to hand over the recipes for Alfred-kun’s new dishes, and when he refused, they openly interfered with the business.

Are they stupid?

Or did they overlook the fact that the representative was a prince?

The noble acting as the prince’s guardian led the knights and threatened the merchant guild in return.

……

To be precise, the merchant guild was crushed.

If you meddle with a shop run by a prince, that is what happens.

However, Alfred-kun said that if the merchant guild were destroyed, it would cause various problems, so it was kept.

The upper ranks, including the head of the merchant guild, were completely replaced.

The new merchant guild settled under Alfred-kun’s control.

I briefly wondered if this had been a scheme to acquire the merchant guild by using the shop as bait, but…… since he demands nothing from the merchant guild, that is probably not the case.

Even when the new head of the merchant guild came to pay respects, Alfred-kun left it to his attendants.

-0-

And then, the fields.

Alfred-kun said he wanted to work in a field.

The three royal families and the Korin Religion moved to prepare, thinking he wanted land, but that was not it.

Alfred-kun meant exactly what he said. He only wanted a field.

And it did not need to be very large.

What Alfred-kun wanted was a plot about the size of a slightly enlarged home garden.

Relieved to hear that, one of the royal families offered land it owned near the royal castle.

However, Alfred-kun did not accept it directly and instead entrusted it to one of the princes.

Since nobles are very particular about land transactions near the royal capital, I think that was not a wrong decision.

Both the royal family and the prince accepted this.

But there are unbelievable fools in this world.

Noble youths made a fuss, saying it was arrogant for someone with no achievements to receive land near the castle.

No, no. He did not receive it.

The land belongs to the prince.

Alfred-kun is only cultivating it.

Those noble youths, to whom such explanations never reached, ordered their subordinates to vandalize the field Alfred-kun had tilled.

This made Alfred-kun furious.

Truly furious.

So much so that I wondered where his gentle attitude until now had gone.

Alfred-kun captured not only those who carried it out, but also the noble youths who gave the orders, and tried to bury them beside the field.

As for me, while thinking it might be better for the country to just bury them as they were…… I reluctantly stopped him.

Judgment should be left to the royal family.

Ah, Alfred-kun.

I did not mean you should change it from burying alive to crucifixion.

After some time, the parents of the crucified noble youths learned of the incident and entered negotiations with the royal family for reduced punishment.

As a result, the issue of land near the royal castle, which had been divided into small pieces and difficult to make use of, was resolved.

The royal family, with complicated expressions, decided to hand over those lands not to Alfred-kun…… but to one of the princes acting as Alfred-kun’s proxy, and entrusted their management to him.

-0-

Lastly, the uninhabited island.

Alfred-kun said that the city was a bit too noisy, and asked for a place with fewer people.

That place turned out to be an uninhabited island.

In response to that request, the three royal families and the Korin Religion presented Alfred-kun with top-secret maps and asked which location he preferred.

The island Alfred-kun chose was…… one located in a perfectly balanced position among the surrounding countries, including Raywhite Kingdom. Each country had claimed ownership of it, but development was just troublesome enough that, in the end, none of them had taken action.

Naturally, that caused problems.

Also, while there were no people on the island, it was full of demon beasts and monsters.

But Alfred-kun went anyway.

Taking the princes with him.

And yet, no problems occurred.

Apparently, a dragon had flown over the island shortly before, and the demon beasts and monsters were frightened and fled.

Alfred-kun is lucky.

And the surrounding countries said nothing.

That was because the Korin Religion’s strongest armed forces moved.

Mother had a look on her face like she had seen it through to the end.

Perhaps O’Brien-sama helped as well.

Such a nice smile.

Um…… so what happened with ownership?

Each country withdrew its claim.

Then it belongs to Raywhite Kingdom, right?

No?

Raywhite also withdrew?

Is that so?

Then who owns that uninhabited island?

It belongs to Alfred-kun.

H-huh.

Hm?

Wait?

Doesn’t that make him a king rather than a lord?

I-is that really fine?

Well, I guess it is.

Yeah.

-0-

Surrounding Nations 「Hey now, we cannot allow you to enter that island without permission」

Fushu 「That place has become a divine island. If you have complaints, feel free to settle them with force」

Surrounding Nations 「……That is going too far. Do you think you would return alive?」

Fushu 「You have confirmed the dragon, correct?」

Surrounding Nations 「What is this all of a sudden? Just a wandering dragon, right? You hear about those all the time」

Fushu 「Indeed」

Surrounding Nations 「………………Don’t tell me」

Fushu 「As far as I am concerned, I am offering you a hand of salvation」

Surrounding Nations 「Not for the benefit of the Korin Religion?」

Fushu 「Your continued survival is the benefit of the Korin Religion」

Surrounding Nations 「Understood. We will observe for the time being」

O’Brien 「Was it really necessary to bring the knight order?」

Fushu 「There are short-tempered people everywhere. Even if those at the top agree…… see, they are here」

O’Brien 「Hahaha, good. Form ranks! We will scatter them!」

Fushu 「Form up on our side as well! We will charge through!」