Chapter 28: Even Though I Was Reborn in Another World, I Was Just an Ordinary Man

…This takes place after the fierce battle between Takeru and the dragon.

“And that, in essence, is what happened this time.”

I had been summoned to the innermost chamber of the royal palace—the audience hall of the king.

There, I found myself surrounded by the royal family, including His Majesty the King himself, as I gave a detailed report of the events.

“Upon witnessing Takeru slay the dragon with his bare hands, the Yaiban army lost the will to fight and retreated. It’s a victory for the Kingdom of Saripa.”

“Hmm.”

“Furthermore, we’ve captured the lord of Draznest, the Yaiban territory bordering the Zister domain. She appears ready to surrender. If Your Majesty grants approval, we can proceed with annexation immediately.”

“Hmmm…”

After Takeru brought down the dragon, things descended into utter chaos.

Raising the dragon’s severed head high, he glared at the Yaiban forces with a look that practically said, ‘So? Who’s next?’

When Takeru calmly raised his fists again, the Yaiban soldiers panicked and broke into a frenzied retreat.

『…Why did I endure all that until now? If I had known such a hero lived in Saripa, I…』

Meanwhile, the Dragon Priestess Meureen Draznest was completely stunned and surrendered to the Saripa army without resistance.

Apparently, she started to cry and said, “I’m the lord. Do as you please,” as she gave herself up.

──So that arrogant priestess turned out to be the actual lord of the territory.

“Meureen-sama entrusted me with a letter addressed to His Majesty. It’s more of a plea than anything—she asks that the people of Draznest not be harmed, as they intend to submit peacefully.”

“O-Oh…”

“To prevent any future incursions, I’ve stationed Takeru and Lord Rouga at the border. They’ve been instructed to prevent any looting.”

“…Haaah. This really was a national crisis, wasn’t it?”

His Majesty the King cradled his head in his hands after hearing my report.

Had this been left unchecked, the country could very well have been destroyed.

To hear after the fact that such an unprecedented crisis had been averted without anyone even realizing—well, that expression was understandable.

“How large is the Draznest territory?”

“It’s roughly the same size as the Kingdom of Saripa.”

“…Then our land has doubled in size while I wasn’t looking…”

However, Draznest, even within Yaiban, was known for its sparse population.

The people of Draznest had been offering human sacrifices to the dragon nearly every year.

No wonder the population was dwindling—and no wonder no one wanted to live there.

“If the population is small, perhaps it’ll be easier for our administration to take over. What of Yaiban’s reaction to the annexation?”

“They’re displeased. It seems Meureen-sama has received a summons from them. However, she’s said, ‘There’s no future in a nation that fled the moment their Dragon God was defeated.’ She appears to have given up on them.”

It seemed Lord Meureen had already made up her mind to cut ties with Yaiban.

Apparently, she had always been poorly treated there—barely given any income, living more like a commoner than a noble.

And yet, she still loved her people and worked hard to improve their lives, however little she could.

That’s why she negotiated with the Zister domain—to reduce the number of people offered as sacrifices.

She was that kind of person, and the people of Draznest loved her for it.

『You child-stealing witch!』

『Dragon Priestess? More like monster! Disgusting!』

However, outside her own domain, Meureen was reviled.

She had been buying children from other territories to increase her population.

It’s said that desperate parents sold their children off, weeping as they did so.

Their anger turned toward Meureen, and she bore the brunt of their hatred and insults.

…It’s a wonder that priestess never broke down.

“That’s why the people of Draznest don’t seem to hold much loyalty toward Yaiban. It’s a land that had already been abandoned by their nation.”

“I see.”

“At present, it seems the people are beginning to revere Takeru as a savior. It may be wise to grant him a portion of Draznest and raise him to the nobility.”

“You’d ennoble a commoner who just enlisted? Isn’t that a bit hasty?”

“No, considering his accomplishments, he must be made a noble. And with Rouga Spio’s endorsement, few would dare object.”

Takeru’s feat in this battle—slaying the dragon—was simply too great to ignore.

Nobility is earned through achievement. Even if he only recently joined the military, defeating a dragon more than qualifies.

That said, elevating Takeru might cause some friction with the Spio family, who are proud of their ancestor’s own dragon-slaying feat four generations ago…

But the heir to the Spio house is the one most vigorously praising Takeru and advocating for his promotion.

In short, there are no real obstacles to granting Takeru nobility.

“There’s one more person worth commending: the garrison commander of Byuredesto, Berka. Until Takeru arrived, he held off the Yaiban invasion for a full week with a small force. That deserves recognition.”

“…Ahh, the man who kidnapped Rishali, yes? What’s the verdict on him?”

“In terms of military leadership, he’s among the finest in Saripa. He’s likely capable of serving as a future general.”

“You’re really talking him up now…”

I made sure to promote Berka’s achievements as well. Though overshadowed by Takeru’s glory, he was arguably the unsung MVP.

Even if he did kidnap me, his plan successfully lured Takeru to Byuredesto and held the city until reinforcements arrived.

He’s kind of an irritating guy—but undeniably competent.

“Not just Berka. The Byuredesto guards who stood against the dragon before Takeru arrived should be rewarded accordingly.”

“Understood. Their valor will be recognized.”

And we mustn’t forget the bravery of the citizens of Byuredesto, either.

We must acknowledge the courage it took to face a dragon without fleeing.

It’s my duty to report and spread word of their achievements.

“And so, given the circumstances... I’d like you to overlook my staged kidnapping, please ♪”

“You…”

“There wasn’t much time back then, and I judged that to be the best course of action.”

As promised, I stuck to the story and protected Berka by calling it a fake kidnapping.

In the end, I took command, averted the destruction of Saripa, and even doubled our territory.

So surely, they could grant a pardon for something as minor as orchestrating a fake abduction?

“Rishali. Did you truly go with Berka of your own free will?”

“Yes, I did!”

Now that Berka had protected Byuredesto to the very end, I too had no intention of breaking my word.

Even if they were to give me a hundred lashes on the butt, I’d never spill the truth.

That’s what it means to be sincere.

“Um, Rishali?”

“Yes, Sister Lululu?”

“That staged kidnapping of yours... it’s fake, right?”

“Eh—”

Lululu-neesama responded to my overly confident reply with a thoroughly exasperated look.

“Oh please, Sister. Why would you say something like that?”

“Because everyone here is thinking the same thing.”

Now that she mentioned it, Father the King and my older brothers were all looking at me with the same expression.

Wait, seriously? They’ve figured it out? But I didn’t let anything show on my face, did I…?

“It’s not… a lie… okay?”

“With your personality, it’s hard to believe you actually chose to go. You’re obsessed with maintaining royal decorum, remember?”

“W-Well…”

“It’s way more believable that you were kidnapped and then managed to win over the culprit like you always do. That’s how it went, right?”

Lululu-neesama looked at me like she was about to say, ‘Don’t be ridiculous.’

My two brothers were wearing the exact same expression.

…They’ve seen right through my lie. Is this the perceptiveness of royalty…!?

“U-Um, well, I mean, it’s not like—”

“Rishali. Do you remember when you were little and got taken by that Dekken noble?”

“Eh? That happened?”

“It did happen! You were taken right out of a social party by this shady-as-hell noble! He was absolutely covered in black rumors!”

That’s terrifying. I have zero memory of that.

I was kidnapped without even realizing it? Is that even possible?

“I don’t remember any of that… And if I was kidnapped, wouldn’t I not be here now?”

“That noble came to apologize the next morning and personally returned you! With a completely lovestruck expression on his face!”

“…Ahh. Could you be talking about Mr. Serzzo, by any chance?”

“He’s a dangerous man overflowing with dark rumors! Ambushes, assassinations—he does it all! He’s a full-on, black-hearted, evil noble! And for some reason, the only person he’s sincere to is you!”

Wait, that was Mr. Serzzo?

I just remember him being someone who once lamented, “I lost my beloved daughter and feel terribly lonely”, so I listened to him talk for a night.

After that, he just became the scary-looking old man who’d always bring me cake whenever we met.

“Rishali is a diplomatic time bomb who can win over anyone she’s thrown to. That’s why we’re always struggling to figure out where to marry her off to.”

“That’s not… well… I did win him over, yes.”

“So? If you’re going to defend your kidnapper, then Berka must be a man we can trust, yes?”

Father the King continued, now sounding a little irritated.

Looks like my lie was completely transparent, and they just want me to come clean already.

“…What he did was forceful, yes—but it was all driven by his desire to save Byuredesto. In the end, the blame loops back around to the royal family’s own failings.”

“And?”

“On top of that, he stopped someone who tried to assault me. Even when pushed into a corner, he didn’t fall into true villainy. He’s not an evil man at heart.”

I said that while looking straight up at the king.

“He will be of use to this kingdom, I’m sure of it. So please—let him live.”

“Alright, alright. Should’ve just said that from the start—stop dancing around it.”

Letting out a small sigh, the king accepted my plea.

---

“That must have been tough, Rishali.”

After the royal family council ended,

I was chatting comfortably in Sister Lululu’s private room.

“I never thought you’d be the one to save the country.”

“...I was just kidnapped and screamed my head off, that’s all.”

“You made such a fuss that everyone around had to act.”

My staged kidnapping was ultimately left unpunished.

Officially, it was decided to spread the story as a ‘heroic tale’—how I risked myself to save the people and the nation’s crisis.

Using whatever can be leveraged to the fullest—that was Father’s policy.

“Maybe you’re actually the most fit to be king.”

“You must be joking. I don’t have the bravery like my older brother Sario, nor the competence of Jikei brother, nor the wisdom of Sister Lululu.”

“You’ve got charm. A king doesn’t have to do everything by himself, as long as he can trust capable subordinates.”

“Our king-father does most of the work himself, though.”

“That’s because our nobles still don’t have many trustworthy people.”

There are still many nobles in the country involved in corruption.

Count Jister’s secret pact with Yaiban was probably because he couldn’t fully trust Saripa.

He did something unforgivable, but it was because he lost faith in the king.

If there had been trust that the dragon issue would be solved, incidents like this wouldn’t have happened.

“Rishali, do you know how to solve that problem?”

“By increasing the number of trustworthy and capable nobles.”

“Exactly.”

Apparently, even so, the internal situation of the Saripa Kingdom has improved compared to decades ago.

Saripa originally had strong local autonomy among the regional lords, and nobles could act as they pleased without consequence.

Because of the power of local lords, even orders from the royal family were sometimes ignored.

That’s where Father the King’s reforms cut through: organizing family registries and requiring budget reports exposed corruption and tyranny more easily.

As a result, trustworthy nobles like Paulik have increased.

“A king’s job is to create trustworthy nobles and have them solve problems. In that sense, your actions this time were perfect. And the people who played a big role—they’re all knights you trust, right?”

“Yes, more or less.”

By Sister Lululu’s logic, I didn’t do much myself, but I still fulfilled my royal duties.

...Being a king must be an easy job if you have the right people.

“Oh, it’s not just my knights. Lord Rouga also played a big part in the pursuit battle. Isn’t he your knight, Sister?”

“Ugh... Why bring that up now?”

“He’s quite the gallant man. I found him quite likable.”

“That’s true, but—yeah, that’s true, but—!”

A country is shaped by the people gathered within it.

And the king’s job is to properly identify and bring them together.

“Sister Lululu, please face this seriously. It’s a waste to push him away just because of personal preference.”

“Uuuuugh… But—but a man who does a gag by stripping off his clothes and flexing his chest muscles—that’s hard to take~”

“Well, that’s true.”

---

Despite being reborn in another world, I was utterly ordinary.

My magic was mediocre, my studies average, my wit inferior to my elder sister’s, and my physical strength weaker than a toddler’s.

This world was full of people far more talented than me—no matter how hard I tried, I’d never catch up to a genius.

"Sister, what truly matters is whether one is trustworthy."

"Ugh… ugh…"

"Did you not say those very words yourself just now?"

But as royalty, I didn’t need to be exceptional myself.

Even if I was ordinary, I could gather capable and trustworthy people—good governance would follow.

"Sigh… I really can’t win against you."

"Ohohohohoho!"

Though it was a small and weak nation, I had been reincarnated as its princess.

If that was the case, I would do everything I could for the people of Salipa, the country I now called home.

"…I really envy you."

And I would strive to make sure everyone could proudly say they were glad to live in Saripa.