How a Realist Hero Rebuilt The Kingdom

Book 11: Epilogue

Epilogue: Intentions

At the same time, in the fruit parlor at The Cats Tree.

The important thing was to have the loreleis dress up like that, I explained, pointing to the loreleis reflected in the distance. We talked about how mankind may have been created earlier, right? Well, just like there are beastmen, dragonewts, elves, and a variety of other races on the side of mankind, demons may be another race created by someone, one that mankind simply hadnt encountered before.

Now that you bring it up, we did talk about that, Liscia said as if she had just remembered, and I nodded.

Someday, when mankind re-encounters the demons, how strong a sense of taboo we feel towards them, and, conversely, how willing we are to accept them will decide whether the negotiations succeed or fail. Appearances will be one of the big things. Im sad to say it, but first impressions mean a lot to people.

My first impression of you was An exhausted young man. You even had bags under your eyes.

...Well, thats an impression from external appearances, too, right?

It told me that bags under a persons eyes left a strong impression on Liscia.

Since coming to this world, Ive been surprised by the many races Ive encountered, since humans were the only intelligent lifeforms in my old world. But I got used to the way other races looked relatively quickly. As for why that is... its because I was used to seeing them.

Used to seeing them? But there were only humans, right?

Yeah. In the real world, sure. But in the worlds of stories, there were lots of different races.

I imagined the residents of fictional worlds.

The was a hero show with a protagonist who had a lions head like Georg. There was an adventure story with an elf like Aisha as the heroine. And even more stories with characters like Tomoe, who had animal ears and tails, than there were stars in the sky.

I stuck the wolf ear headband I had with me on Liscias head before continuing, There were a lot of accessories like these for roleplaying, too. If you went to a place that sold fashion accessories, or to that gigantic leisure facility that was like a land of dreams, you could buy them easily.

Land of dreams?

Oh, dont get caught up on that. It could land us in trouble, in a lot of ways.

Huh? Uh, sure.

The wolf ears slid when Liscia nodded, so I poked them.

Thats why, even when I actually met beastmen, or any other race that looked different from my own, I just thought, Theyre like something out of a story. Thanks to that, I got by without developing any weird prejudices. So... I wanted the people of this country to get used to seeing demons.

Those outfits the loreleis wore were made based on eyewitness reports that were left in the empire. The incursion into the Demon Lords Domain by the combined forces of mankind led by the Empire ten years ago.

The forces of mankind were met with an attack (counterattack?) by the demons who lived deep inside the Demon Lords Domain, and wiped out, so they definitely encountered demons then. I suspected that, in the Empire which led the war, there would still be eyewitness reports of the demons from survivors. Thats why, on that day, I explained the situation to Empress Maria of the Empire, and asked her to tell me if there were any remaining descriptions of the demons physical traits. Maria agreed with my thinking, and provided the information.

The result was that, in addition to kobolds, there was an ogre-like race with horns on their foreheads, and a devil or vampire-like race with bat wings. There were also reports of ones that looked like giant suits of full-mail armor, but I couldnt trust the veracity of these, so I set them aside for the time being. Regardless, I now knew the general features of the demons.

Beings that look like ogres and devils are a source of fear for people in this world. In the Republic, I saw gorilla-like ogres attacking people myself. Those ones lacked intelligence, but they were pretty scary. The reason we gave Hal that oni headband, and people carve devil faces on their shields is because of the preconception that theyre scary, right?

Yeah. Liscia nodded. That kind of equipment exists to intimidate the enemy.

There were things like onigawara back in my old world, too.

I want the people in this country to adopt a different set of values. Look, isnt Nannas little devil costume cute?

Sure. I bet itd fit Roroa nicely.

Nyaha! You want me to try puttin it on for you some time, Darlin? Roroa poked her own cheek and smiled. They were right, it would look good on her.

Lets, uh, set that aside for now. I was thinking that if people see devilish looks or oni horns as just another fashion accessory, then maybe if they show up on someone they meet in the future, it wont feel as wrong to them. This is preparing for that.

Ohh, so thats why you asked me not to participate, Juna clapped her hands together as she got it.

I had thought it was risky to dress one of my queens up in a monster costume, so I had her sit this one out. Once the fashion was more established, and the Ghost Festival was an annual event, it would be fine for her to join in.

I want to see the peoples reactions first, and if theyre all right, Id like you to participate next year.

I like it. I want to wear an outfit like that, too, Juna said with a happy smile.

...If Juna wore something like that, shed come off less like a little devil, and more like a succubus, wouldnt she? Just the thought of it was, um... Yeah, pretty awesome.

While I was thinking about that with a wry smile, Liscia got a dubious look on her face and asked me, Do you think making people look at demons as fashionable is going to be able to eliminate prejudice?

...I dont think we can get rid of it entirely. I shrugged. I knew things probably wouldnt go that well. In the world I came from, we only had humans, but there was still discrimination and conflict there. Human history is a story of people finding differences between themselves and others to fight over, then reconcile, and then do the same thing all over again. So, I want to shorten the time it takes to reconcile, even if we do end up in a conflict.

The tragedy of ten years ago could only have ended with the annihilation of one side or the other. Mankind couldnt tell demons from monsters, and wasnt thinking of the possibility of dialogue. Maybe things were similar on the demons side, too.

I heard somewhere that war is one means of diplomacy. If you go into a war with no means of negotiation, all thats left is the dirty act of killing one another. Even if it comes to conflict, we must never stop looking for common ground. In order to find that, we must know all we can about the other side.

Im hoping this project will help with that.

I get how you feel, but... dont you think that only a small number of the people will understand it? Even I didnt get it until you explained that was what the project was about. Liscias frank opinion made me smile a little.

Thats fine. I mean, its just annoying when those on top try to force their values on you. I put my hands on the terrace railing and looked out over the capital. Soft power, the power of culture, works little by little without you noticing it. Even if they dont understand, its fine if they sense it somehow. So...

Let them just enjoy it for now. When I imagined the innocent smiles of Tomoe and her friends enjoying the Ghost Festival in the castle town, I thought that with all my heart.