Homecoming

The expedition army's return home started.

First was Casalia Kingdom's forces. 50,000 troops led by Reyas traced their way back to Casalia.

There weren't many of them, but some aspired to transfer into Ogress' military, so there were also people that were accepted into it.

Ria bestowed young soldiers that had shown great efforts within the war and a few other men and women titles of nobility.

Carlos was one of them. For him, who wanted to take a half-elf as his wife, Ogress' way of things weren't particular about social positions, so Ria felt it should be fine.

Next were the ogre and beastkin troops. The ogres, who had come and enjoyed themselves in the war, returned home with the ashes of their deceased comrades on their backs.

What would become more problematic was that, for the beastkin, Ria gave titles to those that desired it.

The Ogress and former Cordovan territories were unrelated to this.

The beastkin that had been oppressed for years suddenly became aristocrats. As for there being resistance to this from the human's side, that was obvious.

However, this policy was one of Ria's principles.

She would establish the Nyanfluffy Kingdom.

Was there anything more important than that? No, there wasn't!

Right now, Ria was able to crush any opposition to her policies too.

Strike while the iron's hot. Her policy quickly became common knowledge.

Half of Manesh's army returned home for domestic security purposes.

What was painful was that the golem soldiers all returned to Manesh for required adjustments.

Even though that was the only place that had the proper facilities to perform the maintenance, it was still painful as far as their war potential was concerned.

However, looking over the remaining number of soldiers, they could be said to be enough.

Manesh's army that had achieved victory after victory and the ex-Cordovan army that had been overlaid with regulations.

Naturally, they revolted.

Even though the revolt happened immediately, Ria didn't view it as a problem at all.

The policies that Ria came up with, particularly the ones concerning law, invited massive opposition.

Cordova, after discriminating based on race for years, was being forced into a firm law.

They lost of course.

The beastkin that they had looked down on just the day before were now sitting with them in the meetings.

There were still some that weren't able to tolerate it, however.

But Ria simply crushed those nobles through sheer force.

The fools that had chosen to revolt at a time where Ria's authority and military might had reached its maximum were still, in the end, not her enemies.

Ria used their revolts to sweep away her domestic opposition's forces.

There was opposition that didn't make reckless moves as well, of course, but those who acted on reason and benefits were just as easy to deal with.

Like this, Ria's policy of beastkin discrimination abolition was particularly passionately received amongst the beastkin. Many villages erected statues of Ria so that her appearance would remain there for many years to come.

 

*

 

And then the day came where Ria herself would also leave Cornada.

She needed to return to Manesh to handle various government affairs that had been accumulating.

She had decided to temporarily part with her comrades.

First was Maal, who wanted to visit her home, and Irina, who was attached to her.

Because they had no horse, Ria lent them Rudolph.

Gig also wanted to return to the ogres' village.

It seemed like he wanted to see just how much he had grown and, in particular, he wanted to challenge the ogre king.

It was also for the deceased ogres' funeral rites that he needed to return home temporarily.

Shizuna would also temporarily be returning to Jaeburg through a caravan.

As expected, there was no way she couldn't explain to her family that she had become a queen's wife.

She looked pretty depressed about the whole ordeal.

It was decided that Carla and Serge would be remaining in Cornada.

In the event something happened, Ria felt these two could handle anything that might happen.

If anything happened, Serge could report it immediately with his space-time magic.

And considering Carla's strength, she could very likely settle any revolts immediately.

Of course, she was hoping that no such events would actually happen.

 

*

 

Ria's remaining comrades would all return to Manesh together with her.

Carlos would be a formal Ogress knight, and moreover be receiving his peerage as a baronet. Before that, his wedding ceremony with Lulu.

Thinking about it, she knew Lulu since before she had popped her murder-cherry in this world. Thinking of her as both someone that was an older and younger sister to her, she was filled with deep emotion.

[Don't take my daughter!]

She thought about saying it, but she quickly stopped that kind of thinking after seeing the two be so intimate with each other despite their embarrassment.

Fio would continue working for Ria as a secretary.

She'd get married to her because she did make the promise to, but she wondered if she should do the whole [Please give me your daughter!] thing.

She'd need to go back to Casalia, but that would be something for later.

She remembered it after thinking about marriage, but she had to look for a bride for Matsukaze, too.

The horse itself wanted it too, but it had to be a great horse. A lot of brides would probably gather for Ria's favorite horse.

Wouldn't a lot of nobles want to try to garner attention through this?

Thinking about that, Matzukaze might fall into a harem situation.

 

*

 

Carla called out to Serge, who was watching Ria's back from the rampart as she left.

"Are you sure? Not going together with her."

"That's… what about you?"

"I have something I must do."

As always, Carla smiled gently.

Famous as Ria's representative, she went around healing the sick and injured. There would be many serious tasks unable to be fulfilled without Carla.

And there was something that only Serge could do here. If another revolt happened, the transportation of goods would be interrupted without him there.

"She's returning to Manesh to help Guinevere-sama with important things, so I'm staying here to study magic from you while watching your treatments."

"I don't mind, but…"

Carla placed her hand on her chin, thinking.

"You are very formal."

"Eh?"

"Even though you call Ria with 'Nee-chan', don't you find it odd always attaching '-sama' for me?"

As for Serge calling Ria 'Nee-chan', this was a privilege awarded to him as a special case when he was given the rank of baronet.

Therefore, no one could stop Serge from calling Ria 'Nee-chan'. However, Carla took a different approach.

"Shouldn't you call me 'Onee-chan'?"

The unexpected attack left Serge stunned.

Ria was 'Nee-chan'. More than 'An-chan', she was 'Nee-chan'.

Carla-sama was 'Carla-sama'. The only people that could call her by name along were likely just Ria and Guinevere.

There were a few cabinet ministers that didn't call Carla-sama with 'Carla-sama', but even so they still used 'Carla-dono'.

This was a matter of status as a human.

"Umm, then, since you're teaching me magic, 'Shishou' or 'Sensei'…"

Just then, Carla's expression looked rife with sadness.

"T-then, Carla-san? Please forgive me with that."

"… Understood. That will be good."

Serge felt relieved, but Carla just realized something.

Was it because the war ended, interrupting the tension in the air?

Or perhaps it was because she felt uneasy after parting with Ria?

At any rate, Ria and them's lifestyle had brought about a change in Carla.

 

*

 

Carla's life in Cornada was systematic.

Early in the morning, before the sun rose, she practiced her swordplay and magic.

Unexpectedly, she'd eat a surprisingly solid breakfast and receive citizens' petitions, pressing a seal onto the endless stack of documents.

She would eat a light lunch. This appeared to be so that she wouldn't feel sleepy.

She would patrol the city in the afternoon and visit the orphanage and hospital.

At night she would be with Serge to study magic, but sometimes she was called out for emergencies.

Carla was famous, but that much was natural.

She had character, beauty, and recovery magic.

Even her relations to the temple that seemed perilous at first were mended. By doing her treatments in the temple, they had come to an understanding.

Called the silver-haired saintess, the final angel to descend to the world, she herself clearly stated that she was an atheist.

"To begin with, the other continents were ruined by the gods' foolish fighting."

She unhesitatingly made a remark about a considerably important historical event. One that Serge wasn't aware of.

"Eh? There were other continents?"

"It was buried beneath the sea due to the gods' fighting. Not to mention just humans, all living things had died. It is said that the minimal number of humans that survived washed up in Krasil Kingdom, the Seven City Union, and the demon tribe territory."

It had already been around three thousand years since then.

At that time, this continent was also being ruined, but according to legend, the Saint Emperor Ryuke Shifaka put an end to the fighting.

In cooperation with the god dragons and a portion of the gods, the other gods were destroyed.

"Heh~, but I've never heard anything like that until now?"

"That is right. It's because the tale lies within the forbidden section of the magic academy."

Now that the imperial capital vanished, that was very possibly the only place the history remained. Or perhaps it remained in the memory of elves as well?

Serge felt that he should have asked Dark Dragon Valis many more things.

"But you know, is it really alright to tell me about things like that?"

"Serge, you will be going to the magic academy at some point soon. There, you should be able to make the best use of your previous life's knowledge."

With Carla saying it, it sounded almost like a prophecy.

Serge certainly hoped for an environment that would allow him to study vigorously. Being surrounded by so many strong people too far distant from him in ability didn't serve as good reference most of the time.

"Right. I'll study here a bit more first, then I'll head to the magic city."

Right then, Serge thought he would definitely do it.

But his thought would be realized for entirely different reasons.

Their occupation policy proceeded well.

There would be small-scale revolts here and there among the provinces, but they were easily repressed by sending the army out.

Cornada was peaceful.

That is, until a certain case of serial murders occurred.