How a realist hero rebuilt the kingdom novel

How a realist hero rebuilt the kingdom novel

Prologue: The Beginning of the Enlightenment

1st day, 1st month, 1,547th year, Continental Calendar

This was the first time that New Year’s Day had come since the Elfrieden Kingdom had absorbed the Principality of Amidonia and become the United Kingdom of Elfrieden and Amidonia, or the Kingdom of Friedonia for short.

In the royal capital, Parnam, and the former capital of the Principality, Van, as well as any other city that had a receiver for the Jewel Voice Broadcast set up in its plaza, there were still a large number of people gathered there. After all, today the young king would be using the Jewel Voice Broadcast to issue a New Year’s greeting to the people. The people had gathered in order to hear it.

It wasn’t that Souma was doing anything to force the people to listen. But every time he used the Jewel Voice Broadcast, he had kicked off an event to gather personnel; or taught them about new foods as a countermeasure against the food crisis; or started up a music program. It was all so random, and the people were interested to see whether he might have something entertaining planned again. Also, when people gathered like this, the merchant stalls would come out to make a profit, and when the stalls were out more people would gather to see what all the fuss was. That feedback loop had gotten started, which was why even though Souma had only announced he would be making a New Year’s address, there were still so many people gathered.

One mother and her child were talking while they waited for the broadcast.

“Is His Majesty going to do something again?”

“Yes, darling. I wonder what it will be.”

The receiver mounted on the fountain began to project Souma’s image.

Behind him were his fiancées Princess Liscia and Princess Roroa, the latter being the former Sovereign Princess of Amidonia, whose betrothal to Souma had been announced at the same time as the annexation of her country.

Liscia and Roroa both wore flawless smiles, waving for the people. The princesses of two nations that had once been enemies were on the same screen, smiling. This reassured the people of Elfrieden and Amidonia about their newly united kingdom.

Eventually, the image of Souma began to speak. “To my beloved people in both our united kingdoms of Elfrieden and Amidonia, I wish you a happy new year.”

Souma, Liscia, and Roroa all bowed their heads in unison.

There was some murmuring about how the king had just bowed his head at the start of the new year, but when his face rose once more, Souma was wearing a teasing smile. “This is a traditional New Year’s greeting in the world I came from. ‘You’ve done a lot to help me in the past year. I hope I can count on you again in this one.’ That is the sort of feeling it’s meant to express.”

While the people of the kingdom were still taken aback, Souma pivoted into the main topic.

“Now, I hear that in the Amidonia Region, it was customary for your ruler to announce the national policy for the coming year. Roroa suggested I do the same, so. What the heck, I’ll give it a shot. For now, the nation’s goal for this year will be. ”

A wave of tension rushed through the crowd listening to the broadcast in the Amidonia Region.

The people formerly of the Principality of Amidonia were all recalling Gaius VIII’s face when he’d made his proclamations each new year. With a stern expression, he would swear revenge on Elfrieden, then set their goal as the reclamation of their stolen lands.

For the Amidonians, the announcement of policies on the first day of the new year had always been done in order to lift up their fighting spirits. They could hardly be blamed for tensing in anticipation that there might be a war with some other country again.

Just where was this country headed? Were they going to invade some other place? To bring down the Empire and claim hegemony over the continent? Or to strike out against the Demon Lord’s Domain, and thus liberate the northern lands.

The listening gulped in anticipation, and at last Souma spoke.

“I think I’m gonna go with, ‘To make a better country.’”

A hush fell over the crowd.

That’s way too vague! Everyone in the audience had that same thought. It seemed Souma had expected they would, because he laughed.

“I think that may be a little too vague, but it’s very important. First, there’s the matter of how to define a ‘good country.’ It may actually be easier to start by thinking about what a ‘bad country’ is like.”

Souma made a fist with one hand, raising one finger after another as he explained.

“First, a country where people go hungry. Second, a country where people freeze. You could rephrase those two as a country where people suffer in poverty, maybe. People starve or freeze to death because they can’t buy food, and they’re unable to acquire a place to live or clothes to wear. I think it goes without saying that a country where either of those is allowed to happen is a bad one. In a country where people starve or freeze to death, there’s no way to bind the hearts of its people together.”

These were words that the people of both Elfrieden and Amidonia could agree with. Both of them had experience with food shortages. The people on the Amidonian side had felt it particularly keenly. They had averted their eyes from the problem because of their hatred for Elfrieden, but now that they had recovered thanks to the support they’d received from the kingdom, they felt a strong desire to never go back to the way things had been the year before.

“Third, a country with poor public order,” Souma continued. “For instance, even if a country has no lack of food and warmth, if there are thieves, bandits, and pirates running rampant, it’s probably not a place you’d want to live. That said, those sorts of lowlifes are generally born from the same cause I mentioned earlier: poverty. In the world I came from, there was a saying: ‘Only once we are clothed and fed can we afford to be polite.’ When it takes all you have just to stay alive, you lose the space in your heart that it takes to care for others.

“Fourth, a country that spends all its time at war. Even if they win every battle, a war is a burden on the national treasury, and people die in it. It’s even worse when you lose. If you earn the enmity of another country, there will be terrorism, and that leads to a worsening of public order. It robs you all of the things that are most important to you.

“Fifth, a country that, in contrast to the one in my fourth example, can’t protect itself. If the country neglects its ability to defend itself because the people don’t want to fight, other countries will take advantage. The result will be the same as for the fourth country. It would be even worse in our current times, since the Demon Lord’s Domain presents an unpredictable threat.”

While he said this, Souma extended his now-fully-opened hand towards the people.

“Even with that rough outline, I think you can see all five of these are bad countries. What, then, is a good country? Is it the opposite of these bad countries?”

Souma turned over his hand so that the back of it was facing them, then bent down his fingers as he spoke.

“An independent country where the people don’t starve, where they don’t shiver from the cold, where public order is maintained, where there aren’t excessive invasions of other countries, and where we will be all right even if another country or the Demon Lord’s Domain comes to attack us. I think that would probably be a ‘good country,’ and that’s a goal this country should work towards.”

Souma held his hand, which had been balled into a fist once more, out for the people to see.

“Even if these things, taken individually, each seem obvious, it’s quite difficult to accomplish all of them at once. Especially in this day and a
ge, with the appearance of the Demon Lord’s Domain throwing everything into chaos. These are hard times to do the things that ought to be done. It will take many times more power to accomplish than it would in peacetime. In fact, it will take so much power that I feel like conquering the entire continent would be relatively simple in comparison.”

Here Souma paused, taking a deep breath.

“. So, all of that said, there’s something I would very much like you, the people of this country, to do.”

The crowd gulped again.

To gain the power he’d spoken of, what did he want them to do?

The first thing that came to mind was raising taxes. If taxation was heavier, the country’s income would rise, and they could spend more on the military. It might not be the wrong move, depending on the situation, but it would make life harder for the people.

The second thing that came to mind was conscription. This country already had professional soldiers, but the people were fearing that even civilians would have to undergo basic training for conscripts.

They were thinking that the “power” Souma had spoken of was “military power.” However, this was a mistake.

Souma said, “My people, I call on you to study!”

“My people, I call on you to study!” I shouted inside the castle’s Jewel Voice Room. “Let me present you with a metaphor. Imagine two people are about to fight with swords. In most cases, the stronger one will win, or the one with the better sword. Now, when two equally strong individuals fight with equally good swords, is the result simply down to luck?

“Nay, I say to you. The one who knows the sword better will win. Even if their levels of strength were the same, and their weapons identical, if a cook and a blacksmith fought with swords, I’m fairly sure the blacksmith would win. A blacksmith sees swords every day as part of their work, and would be well acquainted with their length and their reach.”

I tapped a finger on my temple.

“If you know more than other people, that, in and of itself, can be a weapon. A great general can fight a hundred battles and win them all because he knows war; knows his own forces; and he even knows the forces of his enemy. He avoids unwinnable battles, only choosing to fight the ones he can win. The reason a mediocre general will lose at the critical juncture is because he doesn’t know war, and he doesn’t know his own forces or that of his enemy. He fights needlessly for repeated victories and loses, unable to focus on only the most important ones.

“There was a strategist in the world I came from who said, ‘Know thyself, know thy enemy, and you need not fear the result of a hundred battles,’ but. this is something that applies outside the domain of war, too.

“If they both deal in the same goods, but Merchant A prospers while Merchant B does not, it’s because Merchant A knows more about how to do business.

“Though they might use the same base materials, the reason a great craftsman’s works are many levels above an average craftsman’s is because he has a deep knowledge of the properties of those materials.

“Though you both grow the same thing, the produce that comes out of your neighbor’s field tastes better than what comes out of your own because the farmer next door has know-how about the proper way to raise that crop.

“Though you both cook the same thing, the reason a chef’s dish tastes better than your own is because a chef knows the good and bad traits of each ingredient, and has a deep knowledge of the ways to prepare them.

“The reason the superior hunter comes back with a kill every time he goes out is because he has a deep knowledge of the terrain, as well as the traits of the animals he hunts.

“In the world of entertainment, a famous actor is able to inspire emotion in people with each of his performances because he has a deep knowledge of people’s hearts.

“It’s the same for kings and nobles, too. The kings who have been called great were those who had a deep knowledge of how to rule a country well without facing resistance from their people. I, myself, still have a long way to go, but I am working hard to learn.”

Yukichi Fukuzawa had said in An Encouragement of Learning, “The heavens do not create men who are above other men, nor do they create men that are beneath other men.” So why was it that, in the real world, there was such a gap between the rich and the poor?

He’d suggested that it was a question of learning. Those without learning could only do manual labor, thus their position in society would lower. Those with learning could do more difficult jobs, thus they would become more important.

I had thought it was a bit of an extreme argument, but as I’d read on, I’d found there were parts of it I could agree with.

“The way to gain a deep knowledge of things is to learn about them. Learn from those with superior knowledge and skills. If you have knowledge and skills that are superior to those of others, then you should be the one to teach them. Those who ask to be taught must pay their respects to those who teach; and those who teach must show compassion to those who seek to learn from them. By learning from one another like this, we can give birth to even greater skills. I am confident that, no matter what your occupation, doing this will allow you to live a more prosperous life than you do now.”

Silently, I repeated: Those who ask to be taught must pay their respects to those who teach, and those who teach must show compassion to those who seek to learn from them. I had inserted that line to address the rights of both parties. As a statesman, I had to be careful that the ones doing the teaching weren’t doing so at a complete loss to themselves. Still, even if I tried to explain that to the people right now, they wouldn’t understand, so I had no desire to go in-depth about it.

“I want to raise the average standard of living for the people who live in this country,” I said. “That’s because doing so will increase this country’s ‘power.’ If you all become more wealthy, tax revenues will go up. With higher tax revenues, I should be able to divert some funds towards military equipment and the nurturing of new industries. The whole country will become prosperous and strong.

“To that end, I want you, the people, to study. I’d like you to start with reading and writing. If all you can do is read and write, that will let you communicate with people at a distance. After that, I want you to learn arithmetic. If you can do that, it vastly expands the range of subjects you can learn.”

I gave the signal, and Liscia came out from behind me and held up a piece of paper with the kanji for “Writing” written on it.

I pointed to that symbol and continued.

“I want every adult in this country to be able to read, write, and do arithmetic. We are currently working to open up education centers called training facilities in every major city, as well as simpler schools in each town. This ‘Writing’ mark will show which training facilities and schools have been approved by the state. During the day, they will only offer lessons for children, but at night, adults will be able to learn there as well. If you have the strength left to participate after work, I’d like you to come in and learn, even if it’s only a little bit at a time. By the way, this ‘Writing’ mark indicates that you can learn to read, write, and do arithmetic for free at the places that display it. We don’t intend to stop anyone from setting up their own private schools, so keep that in mind.”

I paused for a moment to catch my breath. Because I hadn’t been pacing myself as I’d emphatically tried to explain things, I was starting to get dizzy. But I couldn’t stop just yet. I hadn’t told them everything.

“. Also, I would like to address all of you who already can read, write, and do arithmetic. Please, don’t be satisfied with just that. Because we still know nothing.”

When I gave the signal, this time Roroa came forward, opening up a map of this world.

I pointed to it.

“Launching an invasion without that knowledge caused a great tragedy once in the past. If people had understood the difference in power, they wouldn’t have launched a reckless war and gotten so many people killed, I’m sure.”

I gestured for Liscia and Roroa to go back to standing behind me, then continued.

“This isn’t only true of the Demon Lord’s Domain. There are far too many things about this world that we don’t know. Magic is a good example. It’s part of our everyday lives, yet we know nothing about it. For starters, what is magic? Why can everyone use it seemingly naturally? There was no magic in the world I came from, so that’s a mystery to me. How can you produce fire out of thin air? Because there’s magicium? Well, what’s magicium, then? Is it a gas, a liquid, a solid? The three-eyed race can see bacteria and microorganisms that other races can’t see without a microscope, but even they can’t see any of this so-called magicium. How can we prove it exists?!”

I put emphasis into my words.

“As you can see, this world is full of mysteries. Don’t stop thinking just because those mysteries have always been there! Don’t believe things just because traditional stories say so! Don’t be led astray by those who hold a lot of influence! Don’t run away saying it’s the work of God, beyond human understanding! Don’t say that it must be the fault of demons! Doubt everything; study, let your opinion collide with those of others, and find the truth! Because a heart that seeks the truth is the mark of a sentient being!”

Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki
How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom

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«O, Hero!» With that cliched line, Kazuya Souma found himself summoned to another world and his adventure—did not begin. After he presents his plan to strengthen the country economically and militarily, the king cedes the throne to him and Souma finds himself saddled with ruling the nation! What’s more, he’s betrothed to the king’s daughter now. In order to get the country back on its feet, Souma calls the wise, the talented, and the gifted to his side. Five people gather before the newly crowned Souma. Just what are the many talents and abilities they possess. What path will his outlook as a realist take Souma and the people of his country down? A revolutionary transferred-to-another-world administrative fantasy series starts here!

(Source: J-Novel Club)

More reviews Reviews

As mentioned above, the harem doesn’t have much rivalry or conflict going on, which makes it mindnumbingly dull. The whole point of romantic comedy and drama is that people are fighting for the attention and feelings of their love interests against their rivals or at least overcoming some problems in their relationships. Here there is apparently no rivalry or competition worth mentioning. I will say this again for good measure: every member of the harem is perfectly fine with every new addition into the harem. They are great friends with each other, practically flawless. For the most part, they can patiently wait for their turn to receive affection. They don’t even seem to have any relationship issues with Souma. Everything goes smoothly. There is zero tension here, nothing yet to be resolved, nothing to look forward to.

So. where is the romantic (or even «romantic») drama or comedy? There is none. They all love him and will be happy ever after. Which may be great for Souma, but how am I supposed to find this entertaining? The only funny part is that his harem is actually mildly relevant politically. Getting new fiancées sometimes results in obtaining more territory, etc., though this is not always the case. Some side characters are also getting married or even building smaller harems, but there are never any serious problems in their relationships either. Well, maybe there is one pairing that has potential because they are among the slightly more interesting characters and their relationship is slowly teased, but that is the exception and they barely do anything with it anyway.

The same is true of his inner circle of friends, advisors and other acquaintances. Everyone loves Souma or at least gets very well along with him. They praise him all the time. Some of the praise is deserved and some of it isn’t, but either way it results in a total lack of opposition. I suppose Hakuya is a bit of an exception in the sense that he doesn’t praise Souma too much, but his policy goals are usually neatly aligned with Souma’s, so he supports him all the same. Souma doesn’t have to worry about any of these people. This guy wouldn’t get backstabbed in a million years. If he did, it would be pretty hilarious though.

This is a side note, but apparently workplace bullying is alright if you call it «buwwying.» I’m dying over here.

. So yeah. Judging by the title and synopsis, I was also expecting political conflict. If the title of the novel is «How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom,» it is only fair. Even with all the harem antics and other exposition, there must be some room for it, right? Well, there is some politics, but don’t get your hopes up. The local populace immediately loves Souma. In some ways, this is justified because some of his policies seem effective, but you’d expect an old-fashioned feudal society to be a bit more resistant to a sudden cultural shock. Souma never has to deal with any riots in the street or anything like that. At worst, a few corrupt noblemen are causing trouble.

With every new volume, there is less political conflict left. There are fewer domestic malcontents, fewer hostile countries. As a particularly ridiculous example, Souma had a bitter political rival with personal reasons to hate him. Even though his power was limited after his fall and he didn’t pose a huge threat, the fact is that he had reasons to hate Souma. However, he later patched things up with Souma because he had apparently reformed himself offscreen and learned the errors of his ways. Seems legit. There is allegedly some demon lord, maybe, but who knows? Even after so many volumes, we haven’t met him. The best we’ve seen are a few demons who are probably organized in some vague manner. And there is some stuff about ancient ruins, but that isn’t a political conflict to begin with. It is more of a run-of-the-mill RPG plot device.

Another fun fact: the local «republic» isn’t a modern democratic republic or anything, more like a bunch of local chiefs voting for a head of state from amongst themselves. Well, they never properly try the «Kingdom vs Republic» argument anyway, so it’s pretty irrelevant either way.

In terms of more policy-related stuff, the narration sometimes features a lot of technical detail. For instance, forestry and waste management are allotted page after page of explaining every small detail. Cooking receives a lot of attention as well, including both local and Japanese dishes, all the way to spelling out their recipes. Now, I don’t mind infodumping if it is relevant for the plot or themes of the novel, but it shouldn’t overtake the main topic. A political drama is better off focusing on scheming and political philosophy than reprinting civil engineering textbooks. I suppose the author was trying because he inserted walls of quotes from Machiavelli and Sun Tzu, Souma’s favorite authors. I would call them overrated, but what do I know? Maybe Machiavelli truly is the best source for political philosophy and Sun Tzu for the pro strats. Sometimes they are poorly timed too. Right when there was a dramatic moment, Souma went off on a tangent on Machiavelli’s writings for several pages. It could have waited for at least a short while. Also, in later volumes the number of their quotes drops pretty dramatically. Maybe the author ran out.

Speaking of tangents, they are a broader problem. Souma and other characters can go on tangents for half a dozen pages before returning to the matter at hand. Now, this wouldn’t necessarily be a bad idea, but the tangents may be incredibly dull. Like, some report about trivial things that have been taking place offscreen or more engineering stuff. Sometimes, tangents are interrupted by second-tier tangents, concluded by something like «And now back to what I was saying» to return to the original tangent.

Still, this novel isn’t actually about engineering or Machiavelli. No, the true point of the novel is having endless rants about idol shows and the like. Souma explains in excruciating detail what is appealing about them, to him at least. This includes lists of anime songs he likes. You know, in the «I changed a few letters» kind of way. Or at least that’s what I think; I have never actually heard of any of them. Maybe I am a filthy casual or something. Of course, this is what the kingdom starts producing for entertainment: idol shows. Later on they also air a children’s superhero tv show that takes up forty pages. If you think this is hyperbole, think again. It literally takes up forty pages. Who asked for this? Of course, they throw in silly-looking fanservice for good measure because that’s what kids’ shows are about. Hey, apparently it was a hit among the adult demographic.

When writing a political drama, you should actually remember to include the «drama» bit. It can’t always be smooth sailing for the protagonist, or there is no point.

The same for the romantic drama and comedy. Where is the drama? Where is the comedy? All I can see is that «everything is perfect.» The size of the harem keeps increasing, but it doesn’t fundamentally matter whether he has four or five fiancées if they never bring about any interesting drama or comedy. The harem is growing without any problems whatsoever, which is great for Souma but not so great for the audience that has to sit through this exercise in «romantic» tedium.