How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

I was speechless. Seriously…? This isn’t a dream, right? No, I just wanted to try saying that. I can distinguish between dreams and reality. This doesn’t have that hazy dream-like sensation. All four of my senses, excluding taste, were reporting to me that this was the real world.

This is… reality… Let me say it again. Seriously…?

“I–Is something the matter, Hero? Why do you suddenly clutch your head?”

“No, don’t worry about it. I just felt a little dizzy.” My head had started to hurt, but for the moment, I’d have to put up with it. “I’m fine now. Please, explain the situation.”

“A-Are you certain? Very well, I shall explain.”

The king then launched into a lengthy explanation of the world’s history, like you might see in an old RPG. It was long-winded enough that, if this were a game, I’d have been hunting for the Skip Text button, so I’ll summarize for you readers a bit.

First, he spoke about this world.

The world was made up of the supercontinent Landia and a number of islands of varying sizes. On the supercontinent Landia, there were many countries, large and small. In addition to humans, these were populated by beastmen, elves, dwarves, and dragonewts, among other races. There were countries where these races coexisted, countries where one race had preferential treatment, countries which forbade entrance to all but one race, and more. These countries took many forms and they struggled against one another for supremacy at times. However, ever since the Demon Lord’s Domain appeared, it seemed that all these countries had, on the surface, taken a position of mutual cooperation.

Next, the king spoke about the Demon Lord’s Domain and the Demon Lord.

Around ten years ago, in the northernmost reaches of the supercontinent Landia, a dimension called the “Demon World” had appeared, and monsters of many sizes and shapes had poured out, throwing the Northern Countries into chaos. The countries had formed an alliance and organized a punitive force to send into this Demon World.

However, that punitive force had been annihilated. In the Demon World, there were “monsters” which had minimal (or, some would theorize, no) intelligence, as well as “demons” who were intelligent and also powerful fighters. The demons were the ones who had annihilated the punitive force. Furthermore, though it had not yet been verified, people whispered about the existence of a king who ruled over the demons, a “Demon King.”

After that battle, the countries had lost their main fighting forces, and none of them had had the power to defend themselves against the monsters that appeared from the Demon World. The demonic forces, which had until then held only the equivalent of a small country, laid waste to the Northern Countries and came to rule a third of the continent. This territory was now called the “Demon Lord’s Domain.” While their advance had stopped for the moment, it was said that this was because the expansion of the front lines had spread the demons and monsters thinner, making it possible for the individual countries to hold the line against them. That didn’t mean mankind had any decisive way to turn things around. In the front line countries, things had bogged down to a stalemate.

Following that exposition, the king talked about this country.

This was the Kingdom of Elfrieden, a medium-sized nation in the southeast of the continent. It was ruled under a monarchy. It was a country originally founded by many races working together, and, though the king was a human, those of other races were accepted here without discrimination. Regardless of race, everyone held citizenship, and aside from “king,” they could take any job they desired. Even the prime minister who had been complaining to the king earlier was a half-elf, with human and elven parentage.

Because they did not border the Demon Lord’s Domain, there were few monster attacks. However, the country had been weak to begin with, and the national treasury was not exactly in good shape. Food shortages had been especially bad in recent years, and that had only exacerbated the problem of refugees dispossessed by the expansion of the Demon Lord’s Domain drifting here.

There were dark storm clouds on both the domestic and international fronts.