Ch.149Season 2 – How to Coexist with Humans

# “Laira, where are you?”

“Laira, come out!”

“But is there really a need to search for a runaway princess in an underground village where she can’t actually escape?”

“That’s a separate issue! Kids that age can easily go astray over things like this!”

“Oh, really…?”

Xiaoling and Shina came with me to look for Laira.

I scolded Xiaoling, who didn’t understand because she had no children of her own, and asked her to search the opposite street.

Then I continued desperately searching the underground village with Shina.

“Laira, where on earth are you?”

“Ugh… Dad, don’t you think it was too early after all?”

“…You mean trying to connect her with humans so quickly?”

“Yes! I might be different, but Laira is still a princess who grew up only in the imperial palace and hasn’t even gone to the academy yet. It’s when her worldview is at its narrowest, but you already put her next to humans…”

“…Let’s find Laira first and think about it afterward.”

“……Yes.”

Was I too hasty?

Since both Leon and Shina seemed to view humans rather favorably, I naturally thought Laira would take our side once she got to know humans.

But she’s still just a child who hasn’t even formed her own proper values.

In human terms, she’s only about 10 years old—elementary school age.

It’s like I forced her to suddenly become friends with what humans might consider pigs that they eat every day.

“Of course, monsters viewing humans isn’t exactly the same as humans viewing livestock…”

I worried she might have harmed humans because she couldn’t keep up with the sudden change.

That concern kept my legs running without rest.

When I reached the outer wall of the village:

“Ah, Dad! I found Laira!”

“…! Where is she now?”

Upon hearing Shina’s words, I hurriedly ran to stop my youngest daughter.

But then…

“So. Let. Me. Explain. Again.”

“Yes, Princess.”

“First, I’m royalty, so I’m above you all. Understand? And you’re humans, so you’re classified as a dangerous species. You obviously don’t have human rights, so you’re on the same level as monsters.”

“But we’re not even as strong as monsters?”

“That’s right! Then isn’t this pyramid structure wrong?”

“Um… is that so?”

Laira was crouched down with three little village kids, drawing something in the sand with her finger while explaining.

“What… is she doing?”

“I’m not sure…”

“Oh? It’s the big brother who showed us the sky!”

“Oh, you’re right.”

“Hello, big brother.”

“…! Y-Your Majesty from the past…”

When Laira’s eyes met ours, she awkwardly turned her head away.

“…What were you all doing?”

“We were determining ranks!”

“Ranks?”

“What kind of ranks?”

“Well, Princess Laira said that when she gets her own territory later, she’ll let us live there! Everyone from the underground village too!”

“What?!”

“……”

I couldn’t believe it. Just a while ago, she ran away saying she hated humans, but what caused this change of heart?

As we both looked at her in disbelief, Laira mumbled with her lips for a moment.

Then:

“H-Humans… seem to be much purer creatures than I thought…”

“…!”

“I just… thought I might keep a few as pets, so I was making plans…”

She told us while turning her head away shyly.

“We’ve also changed our team name from the Underground Village Trio to the Quartet!”

“Our new leader is Princess Laira here!”

“She became their leader that quickly…?”

“……I did it thinking of it as social advancement.”

“By the way, in Princess Laira’s territory, I’ll be the, um, what was it again?”

“Minister of Land and Infrastructure!”

“Oh, right! I’ll be the Minister of Land and Infrastructure!”

“Not the head of security or something…?”

She’s created quite a detailed setup, hasn’t she?

Listening to the children while Laira’s face turned tomato-red, I could hear they had systematic plans.

Like assembling game data piece by piece, Laira had already planned for complete coexistence with humans.

“Laira, what’s going on here?”

“I-I told you… I wanted to keep a few humans as pets…”

“From what the kids are saying, it sounds more like you’re creating an entire human settlement in the empire?”

“……”

“Did you suddenly start liking humans?”

“N-No, that’s not it!”

Laira firmly denied liking humans when asked directly.

But her expression completely contradicted her words.

“I just… had doubts about whether these kids are really dangerous.”

“…And because of that, you’re planning to move humans outside to the surface?”

“No! I mean, that plan is just a ‘plan’ after all! It probably won’t happen anyway because of the current Emperor!”

“Still, from what the kids said…”

“It sounds like you were designing it carefully to isolate them and not cause trouble for the empire’s people?”

“W-Well…”

Laira looked genuinely confused.

Yet even in her confusion, she continued to take care of the human children who stayed with her.

“What could have caused such a change of heart?”

Shina asked me about Laira’s behavior.

Why would a girl who hated humans suddenly take their side after realizing how powerless they are?

As I tilted my head in confusion:

“Princess! Now that we’ve finished planning, shall we play tag again?”

“Of course, when you’re ‘it,’ Princess, you have to close your eyes! Otherwise, you’ll find us too easily!”

“Tch…! It’s too hard with my eyes closed…”

Like children who dislike complexity:

Even though she was a princess, Laira was only slightly older than the underground village trio—just a child herself.

The difference was merely like that between upper and lower elementary school students.

“Um, Your Majesty from the past…”

“Oh, right. Go ahead and play.”

“…! Thank you.”

Leaving behind the heavy atmosphere:

Watching Laira reluctantly agree to play with the children, I finally understood her feelings.

I had been overthinking it.

“I wonder if Laira… has any friends?”

“What? Friends?”

“Yes. Come to think of it, Shina, do you have friends too? Someone who listens when you’re having a hard time, feeling sad, or lonely—a friend or family member.”

“Ah, well…”

Why hadn’t I noticed it before?

Laira, Shina, and all my children I’d seen before—they were siblings, yet there was always an awkward atmosphere between them.

Like people who only knew each other by face.

When I asked, Shina confirmed my suspicions by explaining their family environment.

“We’re royalty, so we don’t have friends, and we’re not supposed to make any.”

“You’re not supposed to make friends?”

“Yes. That’s because the current father… I mean, His Majesty the Emperor, ordered us ‘not to lower our status.'”

Are these kids made of some material that wears down with contact?

What kind of fresh nonsense is this?

And the innovative nonsense from my future self was just beginning.

“And we’re educated from childhood that we royal family members must never rely on siblings, sisters, or even our mother.”

“Is that also… to prevent your status from dropping?”

“Hehe… yes. The Emperor always said that receiving help is something only weak humans do.”

So that’s why Laira eventually opened her heart to humans.

And why Shina quickly became friends with the people of the underground village.

It was because, unlike the “humanoid monsters” of the empire, the humans here saw them simply as ordinary girls.

Despite her lively demeanor, Shina had always been alone, but here she could fill the emptiness in her heart through numerous encounters.

As for Laira, she went from being the neglected youngest princess to finding “friends” who looked up to her and acknowledged her, and she wanted to stay with them until the end.

“You’ve been through a lot… both you and Laira.”

“N-No, Dad.”

I knew all too well the pain of not being able to rely on family members right beside you—I had experienced it deeply before being transported to this world.

That’s why I couldn’t help but feel disgusted with my future self.

What he was doing now:

Everything he was doing to his children was exactly the same garbage behavior my own father had done.

Just then:

“B-Brother! Brother!!”

“Ria?”

“Young Empress Ria?”

“M-Mother?!”

As I was watching Laira play tag with the underground village trio:

Ria came running toward us from behind, where Shina and I were crouched, sweating profusely.

It clearly didn’t look like good news.

“What happened that made you run like that, Ria?”

“Huff… huff! B-Big trouble! Brother.”

“Big trouble…?”

“T-Time machine! The time machine!”

“Time machine…?”

What about the time machine?

Did something happen to it?

But Katarina, one of our past team’s strongest forces, and Leon, my strongest child, were there.

It probably wasn’t my future self coming.

If he had undergone kaijufication, I would have sensed his energy.

So why was Ria sweating so much?

As I pondered:

“We just received a communication from the time machine!”

“Yes, and?”

“I’m there right now.”

“……What?”

“I mean my future self! My future self has arrived and is in a standoff with the people in the time machine!”

“What?!”

Future Ria.

The Second Empress of the Empire I’d only heard about.

The empress whom Emperor-me supposedly loved the most until Sophia was kidnapped.

At the news that future Ria had arrived, I immediately had to stand up.