We were having a great time talking like that when my pet cat, Byaku, came trotting towards us from outside.
“? What’s wrong, Byaku?”
“Meow~”
She meowed as if to say, “The soldiers seem to be in a state of panic, so why don’t you go back and report about the situation?”.
…Come to think of it, I should be at work right now.
“Sorry, Spirit King! I’m sorry, but I have to go back to report… Oh, yeah, you said you were interested in what’s going on inside the capital. Do you want to go there with me? If you stay with me, you won’t be surrounded by soldiers. Also, I’d simply like to talk more.”
[That would be great. I’d love to. I would also like to talk more with you.]
◇◇◇
I left the ruins with the Spirit King, and returned to the fortress city with my pets.
The soldiers seemed to be worried about me not coming out of the ruins, and there was a bit of a dispute over whether to come out to help or not, so there was a bit of a scramble.
Byaku saw this and called me over.
Sorry for leaving it to you guys.
I was so caught up in talking with the Spirit King that I had forgotten about this.
***
“For now, there are no more problems with the ruins. We’ve eliminated all the bugs, so there’s no problem with resuming excavation. As for the rest of the wreckage, I’m sorry, but you’ll have to dispose of it on your own.”
“Yes, yes, of course, thank you very much. We are very grateful for your help, Your Majesty, but, uh, who is that?”
The first person I had met, the supreme commander of this fortress city, looked at Spirit King with a cramped expression on his face.
He looked as if he had a stomach ache.
“This is my friend, the Spirit King, Yg-Drazil. Don’t be rude. This man, for the record, is dozens of times stronger than me.”
[I am Yg-Drazil. I am somewhat interested in this country. I would be grateful if you would allow me to tour it.]
The supreme commander asked me in a polite tone, “So, this person is His Majesty’s friend. If it’s possible, may I contact the Imperial Capital first to inform them about it?”
“Oh, please do so. I don’t mind. I leave it to you.”
After all, Spirit King’s presence seemed to be quite unusual not only for humans, but also for other humanoid races, and the soldiers from various countries in this fortress city were all looking at us.
The most common reason for this situation was that the people who were in the city were not able to get a good look at Spirit King.
[This army is quite diverse, isn’t it? There seems to be many soldiers of other races, but this is not the only place that is like this, right?]
“Ah. Well, we needed a lot of people after all to manage things around. I’ve heard that they are planning to reduce the total number of soldiers in the future. But things are still unstable. So it might take a while.”
[I am not sure if this is simply because of you, or because you are not a native of this country, that they have been able to work together to build a country where other races can live. I have seen a few countries that were founded with the same intention, but they all collapsed internally due to differences in the nature of their races. Differences in customs, differences in lifespan, are such a difficult thing to deal with].
“…I agree with you on that point.”
After all, things like a big difference in lifespan, habits, customs, etc. always made things complicated.
As was the case in my previous life, for example, many things like what could be considered as food, etc. were being suppressed because of religious reasons.
It was also implicitly agreed upon what customs would be allowed in different regions.
There would be a small but important difference in awareness among the people of each race, and this difference could easily become a source of conflict.
If races were mixed up, judgment in case of crime would have to be decided according to the customs of the races involved. And most of the time, this would create difficulties because of the difference in their practices and values which would not be understood without explaining each side.
[However, this scene…is not bad. The way in which the many species spend their time together, side by side, reminds me of the age of Gods. It is a pleasant reminder of the Divine Era. I hope your attempts will be successful.]
“–Ah, I will do my best to try and aim for it.”
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