Ch.135A Modest Drinking Table

The number 4 million didn’t hold any particular significance.

It was merely a natural number, larger than 3.99 million and smaller than 4.01 million.

However, when that many lives came to dwell in my land, the number acquired meaning.

May of the 38th year of the Amurtat calendar.

The population of Amurtat had finally surpassed 4 million.

This was the result of actively accepting immigrants who refused to live in bankrupt nations and sought better opportunities elsewhere, thus replenishing our population.

Honestly, I hadn’t planned this, but opportunity is chance, as they say. I couldn’t turn away those who had left their homelands, and now they were my loyal subjects.

Upon hearing the report that our population had exceeded 4 million, I immediately declared today and tomorrow special holidays. Thanks to this, countless people were crowding below the castle, sharing drinks.

As dusk fell today, I prepared a modest feast to celebrate with my advisor, who arrived at the table carrying a piece of cheese.

“Congratulations, Your Highness. A population of 4 million… That’s a number that would require combining dozens of other nations, is it not? The fact that so many people have gathered under Amurtat’s flag shows the immense respect they have for Your Highness.”

The advisor spoke these words while performing a respectful ceremony before me.

The only issue was that he seemed to be performing the ceremony to the cheese after placing it on the table first, but I didn’t mind much.

“Thank you, Advisor. Now sit. Let’s share a drink together after so long.”

I raised my staff to acknowledge his ceremony, and we shared wine while reminiscing.

Over the past few decades, Amurtat had continued to grow.

There were no longer any buildings less than three stories tall in Amurtat’s urban areas, and opinions were cautiously emerging within the court about tearing down the city walls to expand the urban area.

This meant the city’s population had exceeded appropriate levels, which in turn led to rising housing prices.

“It’s time to tear down the walls. Last time we created a city of 1 million, now we should create one of 10 million.”

I surprised even myself by bringing up work matters at this celebration, but fortunately, the advisor didn’t seem to mind.

Or more precisely, he couldn’t afford to mind.

“Much has changed since then. Truly… it seems like just yesterday we were desperately trying to increase our population… I’m overwhelmed with emotion…”

The advisor, uncharacteristically, began to shed tears.

In a world where men’s tears were considered unseemly, tears of emotion could be an exception.

We shared our modest feast of wine and cheese, and began discussing how to lead the nation forward.

“This world is harsh. In cities lurk terrors created by humans, in forests lurk terrors created by nature, and in plains lurk terrors created by hell itself… Yet people fight against these terrors while happily singing and dancing.”

“All thanks to Your Highness’s grace.”

“Indeed. All thanks to me.”

I did not deny my contributions.

I was the state, and the state was me, so praising the state was praising me.

“…Say, Advisor. Aren’t you curious?”

Perhaps due to the alcohol taking effect, I leaned in with a flushed face and began asking sensitive questions.

“About what, Your Highness?”

“About where ‘my’ consciousness came from.”

Clunk.

At those words, the advisor set down his half-empty wine glass on the table.

He was already aware that I had undergone a significant mental change after my injury, and that this change was far from normal.

“Haaah….”

He exhaled the scent of alcohol for a moment, then nodded.

“Please tell me. What was ‘your’ world like?”

“…My world was similar to this one, but with a far more advanced civilization.”

“Advanced civilization…”

“A place where magic was replaced by technology and science… I came from a world where they built machines that fly through the sky and pierce the heavens, allowing them to venture beyond the world.”

“Beyond the world…”

The advisor didn’t find my words absurd.

It was similar to how people in this world viewed the undead as unholy, but not necessarily as “nonsensical.”

“And even there, wars never ceased. Divided religions. Different races… Irreconcilable cultural differences… Because of these things, or perhaps for them, humanity in my world hated each other and fought two massive wars.”

“Massive wars?”

“Would you believe me if I said the world was divided into two sides fighting each other?”

When I mentioned the World Wars, the advisor wore an expression of disbelief.

It wasn’t that he couldn’t believe such massive wars had occurred.

He couldn’t comprehend the existence of ideologies or beliefs powerful enough to divide the world into two sides.

“In my world, there were no monarchs or core nuclei. No one knew whether gods existed, and gods answered those who believed in them only with silence. Perhaps that’s why humanity in my world… on ‘Earth’… desperately built up civilization. To create something human-made for humans to rely on.”

“A world without gods… That’s something I cannot imagine.”

In this world where priests performed tap dances in mid-air while slashing undead with dual swords, a world where gods remained silent was simply unimaginable.

Not just for ideological reasons, but because survival in such a world seemed impossible.

“That’s why they accumulated countless sins in the process, and those sins remain to this day, binding humanity. Tell me, Advisor. Do you believe descendants should pay for the sins of their ancestors?”

“…..”

The advisor couldn’t answer again.

It was a divisive topic in this world too. His inability to answer wasn’t strange.

“And in that world, this world was an object of entertainment.”

“An object of entertainment… You mean a world created for amusement?”

“Yes.”

At this, the advisor’s expression contorted momentarily before quickly returning to normal.

Apparently, he didn’t much care about the secrets of this world.

“Isn’t that shocking?”

“Not particularly. By the same logic, couldn’t the world Your Highness came from also be nothing more than entertainment for someone or something else?”

“Ha! Correct answer.”

In a reality where some believed reality itself was programmed, his answer was sufficiently insightful.

Certainly, this world was entertainment, and to someone, it might be nothing more than something to dabble with for a few hours before erasing from memory.

But not to me, at least not to me.

I liked this world.

I liked this living, breathing world, the night cityscape reflected in windows, the elven forests where birds chirped, and gazing at plains where the horizon was visible.

To someone it might be entertainment, but to me it was everything.

And nothing could take this world away from me.

“Advisor.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“I want the position of Grand Monarch.”

“..”

“I want to topple Fahrenheit’s throne, strip away their authority, and make it entirely mine.”

“…”

“Many people will die, and countless resentments will pile up.”

“…”

“Sometimes with gold, sometimes with steel, and often with both, I will elevate this country into something greater than the Pearl of the North. I want to create a nation overflowing with such majesty and glory that even pearls would pale in comparison.”

I shed my formal manner of speech and revealed my ambitions to the advisor like an old man sharing faded dreams with an old friend.

Like children collecting bird feathers out of a desire to fly.

Like a country peasant secretly swinging wooden sticks out of a desire to become a knight.

Consumed by pure desire, I confessed my yearnings to a comrade who had been with me for decades.

“Advisor. Will you help me?”

This was neither a command nor a request.

It was an immortal being, entangled in insatiable greed and desire, begging a mortal to walk a hellish path disguised as good intentions.

And the old man before me answered.

“Of course.”

“…”

“Until my last breath, I will serve only you. I exist solely for that purpose.”

At this modest feast, two souls became intertwined.

Now his goal became my purpose, and my ideal became his obsession.

Until someday when I become greater.

Until someday when I am called “Your Majesty” instead of “Your Highness.”

We will navigate the thorny path, trusting and relying on each other.

The feast was modest, but the wine tasted good, and the cheese’s aroma was sweet.

Today was truly a good day.