How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

When word spread that the young king who had stirred up the country with his personnel gathering the other day would be using the Jewel Voice Broadcast to do something again, people rushed to the fountain plazas in the cities. (The systems which dispersed mist into the air to project the Jewel Voice Broadcast on were generally installed on the fountain in the central plaza.)

People who lived in villages that could only receive sound went out of their way to come to nearby cities so they could see the video as well, so there were even more people gathered around than usual.

In this world where the only forms of entertainment to speak of were exhibitions, drinking, and gambling, the Jewel Voice Broadcast was beginning to be recognized by the people as a form of entertainment.

And when people gather, money moves. There were already stands out in the plazas of each city. It was beginning to take on a festive atmosphere. Everyone laid out mats or sheets in front of the fountain, waiting impatiently for the broadcast to begin.

“Hey, hey, ith jewel voith going to do thomething again?” a child lisped.

“Yes, darling. I wonder what it will be,” a mother smiled, answering her little girl with the slight lisp.

“Everyone seems to be having fun. Times sure have changed,” another person said.

“They certainly have. Why, back in our day, we would never have thought of the Jewel Voice Broadcast as something enjoyable.”

The elderly people, who knew the Jewel Voice Broadcast had only been used by generations of kings for declarations of war and public announcements of the current military situation, closed their eyes in silence. In those times, the country had had nearly twice its current territory, but only half its current population.

The Jewel Voice Broadcast had always been things like “We have won the battle of X” or “We must overcome the brave death of X and continue to fight!” For those over a certain age, the Jewel Voice Broadcast carried an association with death.

“May our new young king be a man who will not make that image—”

“Wooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!”

The old man’s voice was drowned out by raucous cheering.

A man and a woman in uniform appeared in mid-air.

“Hello, people of Elfrieden,” the woman said.

“H-Hello,” the man added.

“Coming to you with the latest from Parnam Castle is our new program, The King’s Brilliant Lunch, or The King’s Brillunch for short. We are your hosts, Juna Doma…”

“…a-and P-Poncho Ishizuka Panacotta, yes!”

“…Poncho, there’s no need to be so tense.”

“W-Well, you see, I don’t have any experience doing this… Madam Juna, you’re so confident at this. I’m envious, yes.”

“Well, I sing in front of customers all the time. If you visit Parnam, please come see our singing cafe Lorelei.”

“Don’t blatantly advertise, please!”

“Ha ha ha ha ha ha!” The contrast between the playful beauty and the flustered fat man brought laughs to fountain plazas around the nation.

“Now then, this gentleman will explain the purpose of our program.”

“Th-The (provisional) 14th king of Elfrieden, His Majesty Souma Kazuya, yes!”

Ohhh! a cry went up in the plazas.

The young king they had seen during the gathering of personnel appeared on the screen. “I haven’t been crowned yet, so I’m not king yet, strictly speaking, but… Oh, hi. I’m Souma Kazuya, the guy who’s currently acting as king. Now, to cut to the chase, I’d like to speak about the state of this country.”

“He’s not very kingly,” said someone. With the way he was acting, you could hardly blame them.

Not seeming to realize this at all, Souma stood in front of a board that had been prepared for the occasion, explaining things with charts and maps. He was especially thorough about the causes of the food crisis.

“…In response to this increase in demand, it created conditions where you could sell as much as you could produce, so farmers shifted from growing food crops to growing cotton, and that is the cause of our current food crisis. Of course, this isn’t solely the fault of the farmers. Responsibility also lies with the merchants who coerced them to do it in order to sell their products, the soldiers who benefited from those products, and the royal family for ignoring this until it became a problem. For this, I deeply apologize.” With those words, Souma bowed his head.

For a king to bow to his subjects and retainers… this was unheard of. The situation hadn’t even been caused during Souma’s reign.

“At present, our kingdom is making the switch from cash crops back to food crops. However, I don’t expect to see the effects of that until autumn or later. We are considering the importation of food from other countries, but the situation there is not favorable, either. One reason is that we have nothing to replace our primary export, cotton, and so we can’t secure foreign currency. The other reason is that every country is in a similar situation. They can’t sell us what they don’t have.”