How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

“Wahhh! It’s the forest’s fault for not having so many different types of food!” Aisha wailed.

“Besides, what do you think you’re doing trying to seduce a guy who’s already betrothed…?” I added.

“““Huh?””” All three stared at me blankly.

Did I say something strange?

“Um… Souma? In this country, polygamy is tolerated, so long as you have the wealth to support multiple wives, you realize?” Liscia said.

Juna nodded. “It works the other way around, too. Polyandrous arrangements are possible for powerful women, as well. It’s uncommon, though.”

“If men were limited to one wife, the house could die out if something went wrong, after all,” Aisha agreed.

Liscia, Juna, and Aisha told me this with straight faces.

Are they serious…? Ah, no, I guess they probably are serious.

This world’s society still hadn’t gotten out of the Dark Ages. They didn’t have a stable birth rate, and their hygiene and medical knowledge were underdeveloped. On top of that, they were living in these troubled times, so there were probably few people living to the average life expectancy. Furthermore, in a Middle Ages-type society, where the “house” is an important concept, provided you have the wealth to support them, the more potential heirs the better. That was probably the reason why they allowed polygamy. Even I could understand that.

“But Liscia’s mother is the only queen I’ve met…” I objected.

If it was a polygamous system, wouldn’t Liscia’s father, the king, have had more wives? I mean, I was getting hassled by Hakuya to hurry up and produce an heir, too.

“Oh, actually, my mother was the one who held the royal authority,” Liscia explained. “She’s the daughter of the man who was king before my father, you see.”

“Hold on, that king married into the family?!” I burst out.

“Yes. After they married, she left ruling the country to him, though. That’s why my father could never have slighted my mother by taking another woman as his queen…I can’t say for sure that he doesn’t have any bastards, though.”

“Huh? Was it okay for me to take the throne when he abdicated it to me?” I wondered.

“There’s no issue. Father was the one who stood out, but he couldn’t have abdicated without Mother’s consent.”

In other words, that abdication hadn’t been an arbitrary decision by the king, but something he had had the queen’s understanding for as well, huh?

“Besides, I was the only one with the right of succession, and I would have had to take a husband anyway, so it’s not that big a difference, really,” Liscia added. “It’s just a matter of whether I hold the royal authority or my partner does.”

“…Well, couldn’t you have been the ruler then, instead, Liscia?” I asked.

“You’d have needed to seek my approval for each and every one of your reforms, you know? Wouldn’t that be a pain?”

“Well… Yes.”

Now, Liscia wasn’t pigheaded in any way, but if I had needed her approval for every little thing, my reforms would have been going much slower. Besides, if the person with ultimate deciding power and the person driving the reformation were separate people, there would be no guarantee that the members of a counter-reformation faction wouldn’t try to get between the two and stir up unneeded trouble.

“Your father made a brave decision by transferring everything to me at once, huh…” I said.

“You’re right… I’m sincerely able to see how impressive that was now.”

Though, it did mean the burden had been shifted to us.

We both sighed in unison.

“So, if you wanted it, Souma, a polygamous relationship is… possible,” Liscia said.

“You’d be okay with that, Liscia?” I asked.

“I wouldn’t be happy about it, but if it keeps you on the throne…”

“That’s being way too understanding…” I murmured.

“I’ll tolerate up to eight, myself included.”

“That’s a lot! I couldn’t take responsibility for that many!”

Now, when she told me I could have a harem, it’s not like the idea wasn’t appealing, but… I dunno, I could only imagine it being a lot of work. I wasn’t the type that could bear to disagree strongly with women, and I could tell that the more of them there were, the more constrained I’d feel.

“By the way, why did you choose that number?” I asked.

“I can have you all to myself for one day a week,” she said.

The weeks in this world were eight days. Incidentally, there were four weeks in a month, making each of them 32 days. There were twelve months in a year, so this world had a 384-day year.

Wait, that’s why?! I realized, registering what she had said.

When she said that, Juna and Aisha started whispering about something.

“If there were eight of us, do you think we would only get it once a week?”

“It doesn’t have to be that way, I’d think? If you and another wife each invited the other on your days…”

“I see. It’s not necessarily just once a week! You’re brilliant, Madam Juna.”

“…But wouldn’t you want to have him to yourself?”

“Ooh, there’s a conundrum.”