How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

As far as I could see, there were nothing but deserted-looking fishing villages around here. It had to be hard just to eke out a living in a place as rural as this. If a city were built, with the influx of people, many of the inconveniences of living here would go away. Not only were they not being chased out of a place that would offer them a better future, they were even having their houses rebuilt for free, so what was there to be opposed to?

“Why is that old man opposed to it?” I asked.

“Well…”

“I’m telling you, you’ll incur the wrath of the sea god!” I heard shouting from inside the tent again.

The sea god?

“You see, he says this is the sea god’s domain and building houses will anger him, or something like that.”

“What, you even have sea gods in this world?” I asked.

Liscia and the others all shook their heads vigorously.

“I’ve never heard of one before,” Liscia said.

“I, too, am unaware of one,” Aisha agreed.

“It’s probably just an old man’s nonsense…” Ludwin added.

It seemed nobody had heard of one.

A sea god, huh? I wondered.

“I’ve never heard of this sea god in my life,” a voice said from inside. “Would you please not interrupt construction with your strange religion?”

“It’s no religion! The sea god is real! If you violate the sanctity of his holy land, eventually you will anger him and be destroyed! In fact, the sea god goes on a rampage once every hundred years or so!” the man shouted.

Hm?

“When I was a boy, the sea god went on a rampage once. At the time, all of the people who had built homes in the sea god’s holy land were swallowed up by him!” he added.

Could he be talking about what I think he is…?

I entered the tent. Inside were a young Forbidden Army soldier and a tanned old man wearing a towel twisted into a headband.

“I’m sorry, sir. Could you tell me in detail about what you’re talking about?” I asked politely.

“Who’re you?” he demanded. “I’m busy talking to this fellow…”

“Wh-Why, Your Majesty!” the soldier stuttered.

“His Majesty?!” When he saw the soldier stand and salute me, the old man let out a bizarre cry.

“Hey there,” I said. “I’m the (provisional) King of Elfrieden, Souma Kazuya.”

I went to shake his hand.

“…The name’s Urup,” the old man responded with a tense look on his face.

Once we had finished greeting each other, I immediately dove to the heart of the matter. “Now then, Urup. Back to what you were talking about before.”

“Hm?! R-Right! Your Majesty, please, reconsider building this city!”

“Old man, are you really going to trouble His Majesty himself with your nonsense…?” the soldier demanded.

“No, I want to hear him out.” I gestured for the soldier who was trying to stop him to stand down. “Can you tell me more about it?”

“B-But of course.” And so, Urup explained the local legend to me.

Apparently this land had originally belonged to the sea god, but he had lost it after being defeated by the land god in battle. However, the sea god still believed this land was his, and when people built houses on it, he would destroy the people who lived in them.

This was why there was a rule in the nearby fishing village that no one should build houses here.

Once they had heard Urup’s story, Liscia said, “It’s too vague. I don’t really get it.”

“Listening to him was a waste of time,” Aisha added.

Both of them seemed exasperated, but I felt differently.

Partway through his tale, I’d had Ludwin bring a map, asking just how far the sea god’s holy land stretched. Then, once I had narrowed down the range of “the sea god’s holy land” enough, I looked at the map and told Ludwin, “We need to make major changes to the city plan.”

“Hold on, Souma, why are you saying that all of a sudden?!” Liscia demanded.

“Do you believe what this old man is saying, sire?!” Aisha cried.

“If we make changes now, there will be a major delay in construction…” Ludwin protested.

I could understand how they felt. I didn’t want to do something so bothersome, either. However, when I considered the peace of the new city, it had to be done.

“Souma, you can’t mean to tell me you really believe in this sea god?” Aisha asked.

“No, there’s probably no sea god,” I told her.

“Then…”

“Liscia, legends are people’s memories.” I pointed to my temple. “Legends are something we hand down. So, why do we hand them down, you might wonder? Because our forefathers decided it was important to do so. Worthless stories won’t be handed down. If this one has been handed down, there’s a ‘lesson’ to be found in the legend, or ‘wisdom for everyday life’ in it.”

“And you’re saying this curse of the sea god is like that?” she asked.

“Yeah. In this legend, the ‘lesson’ is don’t build houses in a specific area. If people ignore that lesson and build houses there, they’re sure to be destroyed.” I looked straight at Urup and added, “By a tsunami, right?”

Urup’s eyes went wide, and he suddenly began to tremble.