Ch.175Outside. Daily Life of the Gong Royal Family (3)

I arrived at the Kingdom of Inel with Hannah.

Honestly, it was far from a romantic honeymoon. We weren’t here to enjoy a vacation in a heavenly natural environment.

We had come simply to ‘politely’ persuade a dragon who had declared it would make its nest in the middle of a precious ebony forest.

But considering that we were the Hero and the Saintess, perhaps this was the most appropriate trip for making memories.

A few days later, I found myself face to face with the massive dragon.

Of course, this was my first time encountering a dragon in person. I’d heard it had just reached adulthood, but its body was truly enormous. The length from head to tail was roughly 18 meters. Not only was it massive in size, but it was also a magician with at least hundreds of years of training, so honestly, it had reason to be arrogant.

However, it wasn’t enough to pose a threat to me.

– I have already made up my mind. However, if you wish, I am willing to grant a temporary reprieve. I will give you one year for humans to relocate.

It was showing off its generosity through telepathic magic.

“Sorry, but I didn’t come here just to receive a mere reprieve. The residents must relocate, but logging must continue as before. Also, releasing monsters around your nest under the name of your minions is prohibited.”

Those were my conditions.

Of course, this would be annoying from the dragon’s perspective. It would have to tolerate the noise of workers bustling around logging near its nest. Since it would view humans as an inferior race, it probably wouldn’t even consider that it was taking away someone else’s livelihood.

As expected, the dragon didn’t accept my conditions. It just looked down at me sternly and expressed through telepathic magic that it “cannot accept,” while releasing a heavy aura.

If that’s how it wants to be, there’s no helping it.

“If that’s your decision, I understand.”

I gave Hannah a signal to prepare, then slowly moved forward.

I had no intention of spending days patiently trying to persuade the dragon. I had the best persuasion method available.

Immediately after, the dragon swung its tail in anger, raising a thick cloud of dust.

Dodging that and sprinting at full power, I felt the ground sink beneath my feet.

And the appropriate weight of my new hammer in hand. Facing the strongest being since the Demon Lord, I felt a thrill for the first time in a while.

Whether this would end with a light beating or with me becoming even richer by obtaining various byproducts including a dragon heart depended on the dragon.

Since dealing with the aftermath of killing a dragon would take at least a day, I hoped it would back down at some point. And if I was going to hunt one, I’d prefer a properly matured dragon rather than one that had just left its mother’s protection.

“Let’s end this cleanly before you die.”

“KUOOOOO-!”

The dragon, being a dragon, unleashed fierce lightning and flames at me without even casting. I glanced sideways to check if Hannah might get hit by a stray attack. Fortunately, she was protecting herself from a distance with defensive holy magic.

Then there’s nothing to worry about.

I leapt off the ground and immediately swung my hammer.

***

“KWAAAH!”

…

“Erick! Hit its head!”

…

– Hero, please stop.

Please stop.

The dragon declared surrender when I was straddling its powerless, collapsed body, about to tear off its wing membrane.

More precisely, it was right after I made a slight tear with a ripping sound.

Even after I had battered its head dozens of times and knocked it down, it still tried to resist, so I went for its wings. But it seemed the dragon didn’t want physical mutilation, as it finally surrendered.

“Kuoo….”

“Good. You made the right choice.”

Thanks to the dragon’s wise decision, we were able to resume negotiations in a peaceful atmosphere. Though the surrounding landscape was already destroyed.

I presented new conditions to the now docile dragon.

I made it promise not only to allow the Kingdom of Inel’s residents to continue logging but also to lend its magical power whenever I requested it.

Dragons can use magic at a level higher than humans, so it would be useful. Naturally, I made it enforce all these promises through dragon oath magic.

– I understand, Hero.

I left the collapsed dragon behind.

It was a productive trip in many ways—I got to stretch my muscles and put the Kingdom of Inel in my debt. Hannah seemed satisfied too.

…But shortly after.

That satisfaction faded.

It was because of the treatment we received when we visited the royal capital of the Kingdom of Inel.

“May the Goddess’s blessing be upon the Hero!”

“We sincerely thank you…! Thousands of residents can now keep their livelihoods. How can we ever repay this debt?”

Not a single person called me the Tyrant Duke.

Among the commoners, there were even some who belatedly praised my achievement of slaying the Demon Lord. In the Empire, that was already considered old news.

“Thank you for slaying the Demon Lord and restoring peace…!”

“Hero, please bless my son just once…!”

…It wasn’t particularly strange that they were excited about me being the Hero.

Still, it felt unfamiliar. In the Empire now, I was perceived as a tyrannical ruler.

While there were many people trying to flatter me or not offend me, there were almost none who welcomed me with bright expressions.

‘But the atmosphere here is completely different.’

In taverns, minstrels would likely strum their lutes and sing about the Hero’s party’s exploits, and children would play at being the Hero while swinging wooden swords.

Despite feeling an indescribable sense of dissonance, I responded appropriately to those calling my name.

I waved, made eye contact, and while I didn’t give blessings, I patted the heads of chubby-cheeked babies.

Hannah also received a great response.

She was an otherworlder with a striking appearance. Many people looked at the exotic beauty with curious eyes. Hannah seemed flustered, probably because this was her first time receiving such cheers since coming to this world.

In a way, it might be a natural phenomenon, but why did it feel so unfamiliar?

After receiving treatment we hadn’t expected, Hannah whispered with an awkward expression.

“Um… do the people here not know about Erick?”

“They probably heard something through merchants or adventurers. But commoners usually side with the Hero. They probably think I decisively punished corrupt nobles. It’s easier than breaking their preconceptions about Heroes. They’ll likely think I helped out of goodwill this time too.”

“…It’s strange to be praised for defeating the Demon Lord. Nobody in the Empire cares about that anymore.”

“Hannah. The Empire was similar before Cordana.”

“Ah.”

“Even people with no direct stake in the war against the Demon Lord’s army would be unconditionally happy to hear about the Demon Lord’s defeat. Some would spend weeks traveling just to see the Hero’s triumphant return.”

“Come to think of it, Erick said he was like that as a child too…”

“I did once cheer for a Hero who had already completed his expedition to the Demonic Land and returned to Earth. I even bet with friends on whether the Hero would end up with the Saintess or an elf… That’s what Heroes are. Everyone gets excited about them for no reason.”

“……”

“I’m not sure if I deserve such support.”

At this point, it would have been natural for her to say something like “Why wouldn’t you deserve it, Erick?”

But instead of saying the obvious, Hannah just gave an awkward smile. She didn’t seem inclined to point out that I was ruining the mood during our rare trip. She just nodded with an expression that suggested she understood.

“Erick. Can I ask you something?”

“Don’t ask for permission, just ask.”

“The things you’re implementing in the Empire now… You don’t have plans to spread them to places like the Kingdom of Inel or the Kingdom of Lessotona, right?”

As expected of the woman who shares my bed… ah, not just the bed. Anyway, as the woman closest to me, she seemed to understand my thoughts pretty well.

“That’s right, I have no intention of helping other countries.”

“……”

Currently, the Empire was undergoing innovations that had been unimaginable in the past.

Though these innovations were forcibly implemented through my power, they were definitely showing results.

In my territory and the Emperor’s direct domains, harvests had already increased significantly thanks to new farming methods, and many livestock that would have been culled after sowing to save feed were now able to survive.

That wasn’t all. We were promoting factory establishment to mass-produce agricultural tools and weapons, and had already established over 300 elementary schools. It was still insufficient, but progress was rapid.

Classes had already begun in many of these schools, and we were even conducting census surveys alongside them.

There were so many other initiatives happening simultaneously that it would be difficult to list them all.

However, these reforms applied only to the Empire. And even within the Empire, I was prioritizing my territory and the direct imperial domains. I was deliberately creating productivity gaps to naturally centralize power.

If there was discrimination even within the Empire, what about foreign countries?

‘Honestly, I never even considered it.’

It wasn’t out of patriotism for the Empire that I neglected foreign countries—I simply never thought about it. I didn’t have the capacity to worry about kingdoms that were only about the size of a duke’s territory by Empire standards. I didn’t know when I would have the leisure to look at them.

What consequences would this choice bring in 10 or 20 years?

I couldn’t know exactly, but I could guess.

It would likely create an unpleasant situation for the two kingdoms and the elves of the great forest. Except for the dwarf tribes and the Papal State, with whom we were already cooperating in various ways, they would likely end up just staring at the Empire’s back.

It was inevitable that I would feel strange seeing the citizens of these small kingdoms cheering “Hero, Hero” without knowing these inner workings.

But the silence was brief.

“It’s fine. It’s beyond my capabilities anyway. I don’t have the capacity right now.”

“…Erick.”

Hannah, who had been hesitating as if trying to defend me belatedly, quietly nodded. She seemed to understand that we had come too far to be troubled by such matters. And Hannah wasn’t the type of person to worry about a country she was visiting for the first time.

‘Right. I don’t have time to worry about the distant future.’

At home, I had a wife about to give birth, and in the Tyrant Duke’s office, there would be stacks of proposals awaiting my decision. I didn’t even have the luxury to indulge in bitter reflections.

I headed for the imperial capital.

Of course, enthusiastic applause from the citizens of the Kingdom of Inel poured out along our return journey.