How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 1

“U-Um, Hal? He wasn’t threatening me, you see…”

“Shut up! You be quiet, Kaede!”

“Yipe!”

When Halbert slammed his hands on the table and stood up, it frightened Kaede.

“…What good is frightening her yourself going to do?” I asked.

“I said, shut up!” He reached out, trying to grab me by the collar, when…

“Urkh!”

…he stopped halfway. In an instant, Halbert was surrounded by the three women who were with me.

Normally, being surrounded by three beauties would be a fantastic situation to be in, but… I wasn’t jealous of his position in the least. After all, Liscia had drawn the rapier from her side and was pointing the tip of it at Halbert’s neck, Aisha (who had left her great sword behind because it was too bulky) was holding his face in a claw hold, and Juna, still smiling, had a fruit knife pressed against his back.

Whoa… Their power levels are way too high…

“Wait, even you, Juna?” I asked, surprised.

“Violence is strictly prohibited in this establishment,” she said with a grin.

“Uh, sure…”

Having found himself in that situation, even the assertive Halbert was sweating. He couldn’t move an inch, so he glared at me in frustration through the gap between Aisha’s fingers. “You punk… That was dirty! If you’re a man, how can you hide behind a bunch of women?!”

“Complain all you like, but it’s kind of their job to protect me,” I said. “Actually, if I were to stand on the front line without bodyguards, I think that would be a bigger problem.”

When I said that, the girls nodded in agreement.

“If you understand that, I wish you wouldn’t stick your neck into trouble like this,” Liscia scolded me.

Uh, sure, sorry, I’ll be more careful.

Halbert’s irritated gaze stabbed into me. “…You punk, just who are you?”

“Hm… Allow me to respond with that great line from a samurai period drama. ‘Halbert, have you forgotten my face?’”

“Huh?”

“Why do you suddenly sound so full of yourself?” Liscia slapped me upside the head.

Aw, come on, I’ve always wanted to say it.

Then Aisha raised her voice and spoke on my behalf. “On your knees! Who do you take this man for?!”

Yeah, that’s another line I wanted to use. Wait, Aisha’s saying it?!

“You stand in the presence of the (provisional) 14th King of Elfrieden, His Majesty Souma!” Aisha declared.

It felt like I could hear that show’s theme music playing, but I’m sure I was imagining it.

Regardless, I gave the disappointing dark elf a light bonk on the head. “You’re too loud. We’re supposed to be incognito, remember?”

“Ah…! I–I’m sorry, sire!”

“‘Sire’…? Don’t tell me you’re the king?!” Halbert acted surprised long after he should have figured it out. He was the only one present who didn’t know by this point, so he seemed pretty slow-witted. Regardless, with him being menaced with a rapier, a claw hold, and a knife, we couldn’t have a calm discussion, so I had everyone stand down.

Fixing my gaze on the relieved Halbert, I asked him a question. “Now then, Halbert Magna, you were saying something about attacking me?”

“Th-That’s…” Halbert averted his eyes.

Oh, come on, was your determination that weak?

“Should I take that to be the will of the House of Magna as a whole?” I asked.

“Wha?! My old man’s got nothing to do with this!”

“Of course he does,” I said. “While I might be able to overlook a soldier who was just following orders, traitorous nobles must be tried under the law. They show a clear intent to rebel, after all. In those cases, the charge will be ‘treason against the state,’ you know… That’s a serious crime. At the very least, those within three degrees of consanguinity will be considered complicit in it.”

“Wha…?!” Halbert was at a loss for words. All I was doing was forcing him to face the facts, though.

“No… That’s too harsh…” Kaede tried to intervene, but I raised a hand to stop her.

“Now, let me just say, I’m not doing this because I hold a personal grudge against you,” I said. “That’s what the laws of this country dictate. Honestly, I know with long-lived races, it’s not unusual for them to have great-grandchildren and great-great-grandchildren around, but, even so, the range of people implicated in the crime is way too large. Personally, for a law like this which even punishes innocent young children, I’d like to reform it right away, but I have so many things to do that I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.”

He was speechless.

“Halbert Magna,” I said formally. “You were born into the House of Magna, a proper noble house. So, if you side with the Three Dukedoms, they rebel, and I win, all of your kin within three degrees of consanguinity will be executed. That’s what the law says, so there’s nothing I can do about it, right?”

It would be the law that judged him, not me. There would be no room for me to use my own discretion.