Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

Hello.

I am the Conquering King.

The king of the Jidoen Kingdom.

It has already been about half a year since Lady Tiselle and the others arrived.

A lot has happened, but thanks to them, our diet has improved.

I am happy.

And the toilets became clean.

For some reason, Lady Tiselle was very particular about toilets.

As if everything started from there.

The civil servants in the Ministry of Internal Affairs are pleased as well.

Well, I also prefer clean toilets over dirty ones.

During war, it cannot be helped, though.

-0-

All the kings of the Careland region gathered in the conference room of my castle.

Sorry.

It is cramped.

We never expected this many people to gather.

More than forty kings, each with their own officials and guards, so over a hundred people.

This room can only hold about twenty at most.

With it this cramped… no one can even sit.

I am standing too.

Hey, stop pushing.

There are women there.

Be considerate.

Enough, guards, take off your armor.

It takes up too much space.

And weapons are fine, but no spears or axes.

They are dangerous.

Only weapons that can be kept in a scabbard.

Outside?

Ah, outside.

The courtyard might… work.

Yes, that will do.

Let us go outside.

-0-

The kings of the Careland region gathered in the castle courtyard.

We could not prepare chairs for everyone, so everyone is sitting directly on the ground.

I am sitting as well.

Well, no one minds.

It is common on the battlefield.

Ah, some kings have laid thick cloth on the ground.

Give that to the women.

What?

I was not a man who cared that much about women?

That is true.

But I learned from Ekaterize-sensei.

The etiquette of a superpower.

Hahahaha.

Jealous?

I will arrange individual opportunities to negotiate with Ekaterize-sensei after this conference.

Yes.

To be honest, we were far worse at manners than we thought.

If you do not want to embarrass yourselves when negotiating with great nations, it is better to at least meet the minimum standard.

Our usual ways do not work.

I will explain the details after the meeting.

For now, let us finish the conference.

-0-

「Hello. I am Tiselle, the one who requested this conference to be held」

Lady Tiselle climbed onto a slightly raised platform and explained her greeting and the purpose of the meeting.

Come to think of it, I had not been told either.

What is this meeting for?

「First, this Careland region…… I believe some of you use different names, but for this occasion, we will proceed with the name Careland region. Please first understand the current state of the Careland region」

I see.

「The Careland region is said to have low food production capacity and scarce resources」

That is true.

「However, after my investigation, I found that food production capacity is not low, and resources are abundant」

Oh, really?

「This is written in the history books of the Jidoen Kingdom」

What?

Is it?

I have never read them.

「The same is written in the history books of the neighboring countries of the Jidoen Kingdom. Yes, the Careland region is fertile land! Then why is it not so now?」

Why is that?

「Because you keep fighting wars! Naturally, production capacity declines, and resources cannot be mined!」

Hmm.

「At this rate, the people will continue to live difficult lives」

That would be bad.

But not fighting wars is…

「Therefore, we will unify the Careland region」

…………

What?

How?

Surely not by killing everyone here?

Even if you did that, no one would obey.

Rebellions would break out everywhere.

There is no way Lady Tiselle would do something so foolish.

I understand that, but several kings and guards who did not understand stood up to condemn Lady Tiselle…

Before they could, Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3 knocked them down.

Ah, Ekaterize-sensei, that person is a king, so please stop driving your knee into his face after he is already down.

Lady E3, that guard has already lost consciousness, so please stop dislocating his bones.

With the movements of Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3, the area fell silent.

No, rather, only the voice of Lady Tiselle, who showed no sign of being disturbed by their actions, echoed through the castle courtyard.

-0-

According to what Lady Tiselle said, first each region would keep its current territory as its domain, and each king would become a domain king.

Then, from among those domain kings, a unification king of the Careland region would be chosen.

The unification king would serve for a term of several years, on a rotating basis.

What mattered most was that officials would be gathered under that unification king.

Using those officials, the unification king would handle the internal administration of the entire Careland region.

I thought I understood.

By doing this, development of the Careland region would be possible.

However, there was a problem.

How would the unification king be chosen?

The kings all had the same question.

They did not voice it aloud because Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3 were there.

They had at least that much self-control.

Ah, the king who took a knee to the face from Ekaterize-sensei is bleeding from the nose again.

Here, wipe it with this.

Ah, yeah, I have had that happen to me too.

That is right.

It hurts, does not it.

Save the crying for later.

If you are not listening, you will get hit again.

「It seems you believe that selecting the unification king will be difficult, but we will decide this in a simple way」

What could it be?

A vote?

Or drawing lots?

「A duel」

……

「Each domain will choose one representative. Those chosen representatives will fight, and the domain king to whom the last one standing belongs will become the unification king」

When Lady Tiselle said that, questions flew all at once.

「One on one?」

「Or a large free for all?」

「Are weapons allowed?」

「Can a non-human race be chosen as the representative?」

「Can someone from outside the country be a representative?」

「The king himself does not have to be the representative, right?」

「Can we watch?」

「When will it be held?」

「Where will it be held?」

「Who will be the judge?」

「What are the criteria for victory?」

Even Lady Tiselle seemed a little surprised by the force of the questions.

Well, they are kings of the Careland region, after all.

When it comes to fighting, this is how they are.

「Wait!!」

One man, probably a guard, stood up and raised his voice.

Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3 were about to move, but Lady Tiselle stopped them.

「I understand your argument, Tiselle. For the sake of the entire region, you say we should stop fighting. And instead of war, settle it through a duel by representatives, correct?」

Easy to understand.

She summed it up neatly.

「But I cannot accept this! What about those who have shed blood in all the fighting so far! Do you think we can just stop because a little girl tells us to!」

The guard shouted, and Lady Tiselle calmly asked back.

「If a little girl is not acceptable… then who would you accept it from?」

「That is obvious! Someone stronger than me!」

Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3 started to move, but once again Lady Tiselle stopped them.

「I will not listen to the words of someone weaker than me!」

At those words, the surrounding kings began to murmur.

But Lady Tiselle did not panic.

「Then let us settle this with a match」

The moment Lady Tiselle stepped down from the platform, the ground began to rise.

What?

The swelling earth took on a human shape…

No way, a golem summon?

It was huge.

A massive golem as tall as a three-story castle wall.

That enormous golem punched the guard.

It was not just a swing of the arm.

The movement of the golem’s entire body was the same martial technique Ekaterize-sensei had been using.

Because of that, the guard was sent rolling far away, finally stopping when he smashed into the castle wall.

「You are not going to say magic is unfair… right?」

The gigantic golem summoned by Lady Tiselle moved to finish off the guard who had hit the wall, but Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3 stopped Lady Tiselle.

He was already unconscious, they said.

As expected of Ekaterize-sensei and Lady E3.

Reliable as ever.

「…Then, while we are at it. Anyone who objects, stand up. Let us fight」

No one stood.

Instead, cheers rose up.

「Magic!」

「A mage!」

「Amazing, it is my first time seeing it!」

「Heh, this is my second time! I saw a traveling adventurer use it before」

「Oh! Did they also summon such a huge golem?」

「No, they made a fire about the size of a campfire」

「I want to see that too」

I want to see it as well.

The crowd grew excited talking about magic.

And it seemed that no one had any objections to Lady Tiselle’s proposal.

-0-

Ekaterize 「Um, magic is fine, but what about attacking by surprise?」

E3 「This is not a formal match, so surprise attacks are allowed」

-0-

King A 「Then how about choosing Ekaterize-dono or E3-dono as our representative?」

King B 「Hey, that is unfair. I want to choose them too!」

King C 「Me too, me too」

Ekaterize 「Unfortunately, we are neutral. Tiselle-san is also not allowed」

E3 「We will serve as the referees」