Ch.1133He Who Does Not Work Shall Not Eat

After being awakened by being trampled under massive forepaws, I suddenly realized something fortunate—my body was currently in a pathetically weakened state compared to normal.

Otherwise, I might have turned Lena, who was sleeping in my arms, into something that used to be Lena while tossing and turning in my sleep.

Normally I could somehow suppress such sleep habits, but doing so while having nightmares about being killed by a monster larger than mountain ranges would be difficult even for someone like me.

…Once my strength returns, I should sleep separately from Lena for a while.

In my dream, I was slashing at Vanirgand’s snout with all my might, but in reality, I might have been bringing my fist down toward Lena’s head.

If that happened, it would be a catastrophe of epic proportions.

Lena would understand. Unless she wanted to explode and die in my arms, leaving me with a terrible trauma.

—-

According to the dead uncle of a lonely spider-man with no girlfriend, friends, or money: with great power comes great responsibility.

For a capable person to slack off idly is an irresponsible act no different from a sin.

Especially in a Holy State that values the virtue of diligence.

…So what am I trying to say?

Well, nothing much….

– Knock knock.

“Lord Median, do you have a moment? I know it’s rude to disturb you while you’re ill, but there are matters that need to be discussed as soon as possible….”

“…Yes, come in.”

Just three days after I regained consciousness, various duties were already piling up for me, even though I was still bedridden.

—-

“Um… you look… quite fatigued. If I’m greatly hindering your recovery, we could postpone these matters—”

Perhaps my complexion had grown somewhat paler than yesterday.

Agnes, who had opened the door and entered the sickroom, immediately asked with a concerned voice if my body was alright.

“Huh? No, no, I’m fine. I just had some rough dreams, that’s all.”

“Nightmares… if you’re willing, would you like to receive a blessing from our Church? I’m not sure if it would be effective for you in your current state, but…”

A blessing from the Church of Menes…? Honestly, I doubted it would work.

The cause of my nightmares was the evil god Vanirgand.

I questioned whether even Menes himself could stop such an opponent, let alone a blessing through a proxy.

Besides, Menes was just as much of a troublemaker who had sent me various nightmares for fun in the past, albeit with a different approach, so I didn’t have much faith in him.

“Hmm… well, sure. Please do.”

Still, I didn’t explicitly refuse the offer. If I had dismissed it outright as a waste of time, Agnes would have been terribly embarrassed.

Anyway, Agnes said she was honored to help and bestowed upon me the blessing of the Church of Menes, after which we moved on to the actual business.

“The Church of Ausrine would like to request your advice regarding revisions to their doctrine….”

“Hmm… I don’t really see a need for changes, but if they have points they want to improve, tell them to collect those and send them to me in writing. I’ll read through them and make annotations.”

Doctrinal issues—something I found more troublesome than war and had been putting off.

“There’s a proposal to establish a cathedral and statue honoring you within the Holy City….”

“Why would they do that when I’m neither dead nor ascended? If they have that kind of budget, tell them to distribute it as condolence money to the families of the fallen.”

A short-sighted proposal to waste the budget on monuments to worship me when there were so many other places where money needed to be spent.

“Regarding the rewards for this subjugation campaign, apart from your own achievements, the compensation allocated for Hestella’s support….”

“Put it on hold, put it on hold. Where would the Holy State find such resources right now? As I said earlier, if there’s money available, priority should be given to damage recovery and military reinforcement.”

Regarding rewards for the Invidius subjugation campaign and compensation for military support.

I rejected this as well.

Or rather than rejection, should I say I indefinitely postponed it? Until the Holy State, and by extension the world, regained stability.

There would be no problem in receiving compensation leisurely after that.

While Hestella’s treasury wasn’t particularly abundant either, the Holy State was in a much more urgent situation right now.

“And as for my reward, forget it. This wasn’t just a threat to the Holy State—it was an enemy of the entire world, so of course I had to help.”

For the same reason, I firmly stated that I personally would not accept anything.

Besides, the very idea of receiving compensation from people for defeating an evil god as a goddess myself felt somewhat strange.

A deity receiving payment rather than offerings—honestly, it seemed rather… well, quite undignified.

I’m not like that, of course.

—-

Anyway, I discussed various matters with Agnes that would typically be addressed between the leaders of our two nations.

Normally I would have dumped all of this on Eleonora, but… she was far away in the east, while I was in the middle of the Holy City’s cathedral.

So I had to handle it myself.

When people come with matters between nations, it would seem quite irresponsible to say, “This queen doesn’t want to work, so go all the way to the eastern region to discuss it with the regent.”

Besides, issues like doctrinal matters were problems that Eleonora couldn’t address at all.

Although it wasn’t a throne I sought but rather one I somehow ended up with, once you’ve ascended to a high position, you should at least bear the responsibilities that come with it.

…You say I have no right to talk like this when I dumped all administrative and diplomatic work on Eleonora?

Nonsense. That wasn’t because I wanted to avoid the trouble, but because it was far more efficient to entrust such matters to Eleonora.

Logically speaking, would it make sense to entrust national governance to a 100% pure warrior who has only known combat throughout both past and present lives, when you have a woman with proper aristocratic education and experience as a queen consort?

For administrative work, anyone would find the latter more reliable.

I’m sure even Eleonora herself, who received this burden from me, would think the same—that rather than trusting me with administrative work, it would be better for her to handle it all herself, even if it meant more hardship.

So I had a clear conscience. I hadn’t dumped work; I had entrusted it to a capable talent.

“…Lord Median? Are you… listening?”

“Huh? Oh, sorry, sorry. I was just lost in thought for a moment.”

While I was making these self-justifications to no audience, Agnes, who had been earnestly discussing business matters, tilted her head and cautiously asked.

“So what were you saying? Something about Himmel?”

“Yes. We requested them to blockade the Great Desert, but Himmel’s council members responded….”

Agnes moistened her lips with a sip of tea, suppressing a sigh she was about to let out, and re-explained the story I had missed while lost in thought.

It wasn’t a long story.

The Holy State’s investigation team had secured an unidentified “mechanical egg” from beneath the Great Desert, and the dwarves were quite adamantly requesting its return.

“We’ve been avoiding a definitive answer by saying that the artifact isn’t the Holy State’s but rather your spoils of war, Lord Median… but we can’t keep postponing indefinitely.”

“So you want my opinion on this?”

“Yes. And if you know anything about this ‘mechanical egg,’ I’d appreciate if you could share that information as well.”

“Hmm….”

A mechanical egg. I do have an idea about this. It’s probably Fafnir in hibernation state. So the Holy State found and secured it.

I understood why Himmel was desperate to recover it.

Of course they’d be frantic when an asymmetric strategic weapon left by their ancestors had fallen into another country’s hands.

Himmel couldn’t afford to be hostile to other nations right now, and the Holy State had used me as an excuse, which was why they were still behaving—otherwise, they might have gone to war with the Holy State to recover it.

“It shouldn’t be handed over to Himmel. It would be better to destroy it rather than return it.”

…In other words, they have no choice but to accept whatever I decide.

If I just smash it to pieces, what could they do about it?

At most, they’d record my name and misdeeds in some book and nurse their grievances by cursing me for generations to come.

Of course, turning all of Himmel against us wouldn’t benefit us either, so it would be best to avoid excessive provocation.

I never actually intended to destroy it. If I had, I wouldn’t have added the conditional “rather than giving it to Himmel.”

Considering the danger of that object—Fafnir—destruction would be the right choice, but it’s just…

‘…It would be such a waste.’

To be honest, its performance was too valuable to simply destroy. If it could be controlled, it would be an incredibly powerful military asset.

“Rather destroy it than return it… may I ask why?”

Agnes asked about the reasoning behind my judgment.

“Agnes, do you completely trust the dwarves? Can you say they’re eternal allies who would never turn against us no matter what happens?”

“No.”

A prompt answer.

Well, though not to the same degree as Lacy, Agnes is also a priest of the Holy State, so she wouldn’t completely trust other races.

“That’s why.”

“Because they can’t be trusted, we can’t return it…? So, Lord Median, you do know what that object really is?”

I do know. But I shouldn’t tell her directly unless I really intend to destroy it.

So I decided to explain it indirectly.

“It is indeed a Himmel weapon, but from their perspective, it’s like an ancient relic they didn’t even know the location of.”

“An ancient dwarven weapon? From before the Empire was established?”

“Yes, and even among such ancient weapons, it’s one of the most dangerous. Is there any reason we should return such an item?”

I don’t think there is. At least not without definite security guarantees.

“…Indeed, if what you say is true, we might be inviting unnecessary danger.”

“Right?”

“But the council members of Himmel surely know the identity of this ‘mechanical egg’… wouldn’t their resentment be enormous if we refuse to return a weapon of such power?”

Agnes cautiously asked.

“You’re not wrong, but what I’m saying is that we don’t necessarily need to hand it over to Himmel’s council. Think about it—if it’s a dwarven artifact, we just need to return it to dwarves, right?”

“Yes…? Isn’t that the same thing…?”

“No, it’s completely different. Completely different indeed.”

I shrugged lightly, shook my head, and continued with a smirk.

“I know a dwarf… whose clan left Himmel due to conflicts with other council members and settled in the Empire or my country.”

A way to fulfill the premise of returning a dwarven artifact to dwarves while ensuring it doesn’t harm us.

“They’re even sharing technology, albeit limitedly. Despite doing it for money and survival, they’re taking quite a pro-human stance.”

“Um… are you referring to Lady Asha? Of the Red Copper Clan…?”

“That’s right. I plan to entrust that ‘mechanical egg’ to her. More precisely, to the Red Copper Clan, not to her personally.”

The Red Copper Clan is the dwarf clan most directly and closely tied to both the Empire and Hestella.

They couldn’t dare oppose or ignore us.

Having openly broken with other clans, they had no lifeline except us, and they had even invested enormous sunk costs to half-monopolize our industrial market.

If they turned against us too, they’d be completely stranded, so they would have no choice but to comply with our demands for the sake of their lives and money.

They were the perfect clan to entrust with managing Fafnir and “safely” modifying it.

What could Himmel’s council say against that?

According to their own justification for demanding the return of the “mechanical egg,” we would be properly returning an ancient dwarven relic to present-day dwarves.

Of course, handing over the mechanical egg to the Red Copper Clan would only be an external announcement—in reality, we would be hiring them to manage my property.

Too forced, you say?

Well, at my level, I can do this. I’ve at least maintained some semblance of justification.

If I had insisted without any justification that it was mine, that would be one thing, but to protest after I’ve handed over a dwarven artifact to dwarves as the dwarf councilors requested?

That would essentially be the same as challenging me to a fight.

Unless the Himmel councilors were collectively suicidal, they wouldn’t dare voice any objections.

If they did, they’d not only fail to recover Fafnir but would also face destruction along with their mountain range.

“Indeed, that would certainly minimize discord.”

Agnes seemed to find merit in my words and nodded in understanding, saying she would inform the others accordingly before leaving.

After finishing all the morning business, I had a somewhat late lunch with Lena, who had been quietly brewing tea in a corner of the room.

And so the days passed.

During the day, I would spend leisurely time with Lena or handle the work Agnes brought, and at night, I would battle that bastard Vanirgand.

…As I had roughly anticipated, that blessing from the Church of Menes was completely useless.

Vanirgand was laughing at it, asking if I thought I could escape with such a trivial blessing from Menes.

Anyway, about a week passed like that.