"Sigh... a request for aid, huh."
My face right now is probably an absolute horror to behold. Since I'm essentially always in front of my children, I do try to be careful about my language and expressions, but I'm a living creature too. It seems my mask has slipped a bit. Before the children can see me, I hide my face behind my wings, kneading and massaging the muscles back into place. ...Wait, is that a weird new wrinkle forming? Is it stress?
"Your Majesty, how shall we proceed?"
"Hmm..."
Behind me, as I massage my face, Lucia—wrapped in her regal atmosphere—continues her conversation with the Prime Minister.
The document that reached us was a request for aid from the Beast Kingdom. To be precise, it came in the form of a report from the town we stayed in during the war, stating: 'An envoy from the Beast Kingdom arrived and brought this proposal.' The "Heed Kingdom"—my current employer and my new child's country—presently holds the Beast Kingdom under occupation. Apparently, the exact technicality is slightly different, but that's the general understanding.
Therefore, domestic problems within the occupied territory are supposed to be handled by Heed as the occupying force... but during the previous peace conference, the Beast Kingdom confidently declared, "We can solve things ourselves!", so we bypassed the issue entirely back then. Yet now, they've come crawling back saying, "As expected, it's impossible! Save us~!"
I mean, sure, it's good that they can report when things are beyond their depth. But after I specifically went out of my way to ask if they needed me to handle it, only for them to refuse and then beg for help like this...
(It leaves a bit of a sour taste.)
It's not like I hold a grudge over people failing. It's gotten better lately, but back when we were on the high plains, my children used to repeat the exact same mistakes every single day. Even if I scolded them, they usually had no idea why they were being scolded at that exact moment anyway. Well, they are ostriches, after all. Because of that, I don't really mind cleaning up someone else's mess. It's the same even if they aren't ostriches; as long as they prepare a proper reward, I'm perfectly willing to do it.
However, this time the counter-parties are the upper echelon of the Beast Kingdom, people who are supposed to have handled their jobs to a certain degree until now. While I'm sure they'll prepare a reward, my honest feeling is that, as adults, I wished they had tried just a little bit harder. If it was going to end up like this, it would have been much more appreciated if they had just relied on us from the start.
(If they were a child like Lucia, whose literal job at her age is to make mistakes, I could have accepted it much more easily.)
The girl currently discussing something difficult with the Prime Minister is at an age where she is better described as a toddler rather than a young girl. Ordinarily, a child of this age would still be hazy on distinguishing right from wrong. It's a stage in life where they gradually learn through their parents teaching them various things and making repeated failures. Yet, when she was even smaller than she is now, she lost her parents and lost the guiding light of her path. That is likely why she ended up taking those extreme actions.
Precisely because she is such a small child, I forgave her, and I sympathized with her circumstances. To be completely honest, rather than acting as a mother substitute, I thought it would be best if we settled into a relationship like a dependable older sister from the neighborhood... But after being asked by her parents, and then being called "Mama" by the girl herself? Well, there really wasn't any option left but to accept it.
She made mistakes, but she is still at an age where she can start over and relearn. Furthermore, perhaps thanks to reclaiming a reason to live, she has the motivation to move forward. She still seems to be in the middle of studying how to be a King, but I watch her from the side as she works hard and stays positive in various ways. Well, Wraith-chan understands absolutely zero about studying to be a ruler, so the absolute limit of my assistance is cheering her on from the sidelines.
Still, watching a child like that up close...
(You can't help but compare them. I'm sure the other side has their own circumstances and all, but still.)
Well, the Beast Kingdom lost its pinnacle; because I went and slaughtered the Beast King, there is no one left at the top to command. Even if someone is there, they might lack experience or charisma, causing things to go poorly. The Beast Kingdom is probably experiencing all kinds of chaos right now.
"...Even so, an undead horde that continuously multiplies. Furthermore, multiple individuals of the quasi-special strategic force class, you say?"
"It appears they were confronting them in cooperation with the local church factions, but casualties from the battle apparently become enemies immediately as they are..."
"Our nation's periphery is relatively stable, but moving too many troops would be..."
While I am thinking about this, the meeting progresses.
Even so, being in this position where I can look down at the faces of all the ministers and important people at a single glance is quite something, isn't it?
...Eh? Where am I sitting, you ask?
At the head of the table, of course.
...To be precise, I am the chair itself.
"...And so, Mama. I am thinking of proceeding along these lines, but what do you think?"
Lucia, who is sitting on my lap, calls out to me. Yes, quite so. Mama Wraith is the young Queen's chair.
Ordinarily, a meeting this important—likely a discussion on how to handle the Beast Kingdom—would be held inside the royal palace. In fact, the Prime Minister desired that as well for the sake of counter-intelligence and her personal safety. However, because Queen Lucia threw a temper tantrum and rolled around on the ground declaring she wouldn't do it unless I was with her, the venue had to be changed in a massive hurry.
And the place chosen was the outdoors. No matter how smart they've become, ostriches still entirely fail to comprehend human society; as long as they are under my command, we can manage the bare minimum, but they do not yet possess the intelligence to be left at home unsupervised. Dele is doing her best, but since there's a possibility that she might run wild in her own right, I cannot move away from the outskirts of this town.
In that case, let's just hold the meeting outside; after all, there's no safer place in the world than right next to Mama. Thus, what is currently being held is an open-air meeting, with the high officials of the Heed Kingdom lined up in front of me on a ground mat. And there's Lucia-chan sitting on my lap, alongside Dele, who continues to glare daggers at Lucia every single second.
"Alright, Lucia, time to swap. Also, it'll complicate things if Mama speaks up too much, so don't ask me. It becomes foreign intervention."
"Ehh~! But I'm working really hard right now, so it should be fine!"
"Yay~!!!"
Saying so, I lift Lucia up and set her down. And the next one I pull onto my lap is Dele. Yeah, if I left this child alone any longer, she looked like she was going to explode... Lucia, I'll play with you later, okay? Can you yield to your big sister for just a bit? Do you understand? Wow, thank you. You're such a good girl, let me rub your head.
After the newcomer arrived, if I left her alone too much, she looked like she might fall back into darkness—or rather, be consumed by a death wish again—so I thoroughly spoiled her. To the point of making up for the time she spent struggling all alone, I did everything she wanted me to do together with her... But because of that, it seems stress built up in the other children, you see? Managing that as well when appropriate is quite a handful.
While there are children who don't feel jealous at all, there are also those like Dele who get incredibly jealous. If it's a fellow ostrich, they can tolerate it, but seeing a different species spoiling themselves with Mama probably feels like an unacceptable contradiction to them. Fortunately, no one has launched an actual attack, but there are quite a few individuals rolling around on the ground with puffed-out cheeks. Sorry, okay? I'll play with you to your heart's content once this meeting is over.
"Mama! Dele! Look at Dele!"
"Yes, yes, I'm looking. You have a very nice face today too."
Perhaps thanks to her intense jealousy toward Lucia, Dele definitively memorized her own name from that moment on. At that time, to make me recognize her as an individual self, she probably tried to say her name. Then, she was able to properly remember it on her own accord and voice it, so it stuck. And through using it repeatedly, she was likely able to firmly memorize that the sequence of words "Dele" was her own name.
The process being rooted in jealousy is extremely typical of this child... but oh well. She's cute, so it's fine.
"Ah~! That's cheating! I yielded the lap, but that part is off-limits! Mama, look at Lucia too! Look at me!"
"Muu~!"
"I'm looking, I'm looking. I'm looking at both of you properly, so pull your faces back, okay? I actually can't see you if you're too close."
Countering Dele, Lucia presses her face close, and not to be outdone, Dele presses her face even closer. I feel like it's no longer at a dimension where their cheeks are pressed against mine to look, but... oh well. Look, if you're both going to be such close friends, why don't the two of you just sit on my lap together? Come on, Dele, scoot over to the edge a bit.
""We are not friends!""
Yes, yes, yelling together like that means you're great friends. I mean, considering Dele is properly making space for Lucia-chan, she doesn't entirely hate her, right? What a good girl. Mama is happy to see your growth.
...Though, Lucia? Weren't you in the middle of a meeting? Is that alright?
"...Ah."
Hurriedly resettling herself on my right knee, Lucia—the young Queen—resumes the meeting.
Since I told Dele, "Let's be quiet, okay?", Dele next to her is holding her mouth shut with her wing. While the two of them look like they're fighting, it's much closer to playing around, so as long as I hold the reins properly, it's fine. However, since this play seems to function as an outlet for their stress—or rather, an outlet for their frustration of wanting to monopolize me but being unable to—I suppose there's no reason to stop them.
(For now, I've tried summarizing the contents of the meeting in my head...)
The conclusion is that the number of troops the Heed Kingdom can actually move is a fairly small minority.
To begin with, the military policy of the Heed Kingdom is strictly territorial defense; not to mention having no plans to launch external invasions, they haven't thought at all about how to deal with things when they acquire new occupied territory. Therefore, while winning the battle against the Beast Kingdom this time is a joyful event, the policy on how to handle things when placing it under occupation was completely undecided. Consequently, while temporarily keeping the Beast Kingdom as a vassal state, they planned to proceed with drafting occupation and annexation plans, but...
What came instead was an undead horde, and a cry for help from the Beast Kingdom.
Although the Beast Kingdom is currently in a state where it has lost its Beast King and standing army, it is a nation with enough strength that even its civil militia alone could wage a full-scale war against the Heed Kingdom. The difference in physical capabilities between beastmen and humans is just that massive; the vibe over there seems to be that the entire populace is composed of soldiers.
Given the absence of a ruler, the Heed Kingdom probably wouldn't lose, but if we ostriches are excluded, the power balance apparently still favors the Beast Kingdom.
A swarm of undead that a country like that cannot handle—there's no way the current Heed Kingdom can deal with something like that. To begin with, if you ask whether Heed's soldiers, who have only trained to protect their own territory or reclaim captured domestic lands, have the power to fight through and triumph over the undead... it is highly questionable.
(The ones who still seem to have potential are the soldiers of Prague led by Mathilde. They've also trained primarily for defense, but given the town's location, they are used to fighting monsters.)
In short, the only group the Heed Kingdom can reasonably dispatch is Mathilde's company, meaning that to definitively ensure the safety of the Beast Kingdom, they have no choice but to request it of us ostriches.
"And so, Mama, would it be possible to ask this of you? For our country as well, it would be troublesome to have the newly acquired lands of the Beast Kingdom ravaged, and if we do not display our strength internally and externally, it is conceivable that other nations might invade the Beast Kingdom. We wish to avoid that. We absolutely want that country's granary region..."
"Of course that's fine, but... are you sure? If I go over there, I won't be able to see Lucia for a while, you know?"
Lucia glances at the Prime Minister for a brief second, but the Prime Minister's head shakes sideways. Naturally so. Even if her safety is currently secured thanks to my presence, she is the King of the country, and the current reality is that there are no other royals besides her. Under such circumstances, they cannot commit a dangerous act like sending Lucia to a battlefield where no one knows what might happen. Even I can't say I can absolutely protect her perfectly; if a massive number of Beast Kings fell from the sky, I would normally lose.
"...Then this talk is off! The whole thing is a blank slate! I'm staying with Mama! I don't care about the Beast Kingdom!"
"""Whoa, whoa, whoa!!!"""
The Prime Minister and the ministers stop the young Queen all at once. Yes, yes, work hard to persuade her. As for Wraith-chan, I absolutely want to secure that granary region to fill my children's stomachs... Lucia seems to be saying it while understanding the situation anyway; it's likely a state where she's acting a bit selfishly to unconsciously test how the people around her will react.
Now then, while they are persuading her, shall I organize my own thoughts?
A massive horde of undead. It seems their total numbers and detailed capabilities are somewhat unknown, but there are at least close to 20,000, and there are quasi-special strategic force individuals as well. In contrast, the forces we can field are 200 soldiers led by Mathilde and 300 ostriches. Well, at worst, I think I could manage even by myself, but...
(Given the current situation where Dele is growing, I want to let this child gain experience.)
To help with Lucia's studies, I had requested various books from that old grandpa Prime Minister, and at that time, I was taught about the future situation surrounding the Heed Kingdom. This country, which is currently allied with the Nagan Kingdom and has furthermore swallowed up the Beast Kingdom, has come to hold quite a massive influence. Because it hasn't been completely annexed yet, its national power won't increase suddenly, but if time is invested, it will become the greatest major power among the surrounding nations.
However, the surrounding countries are not soft enough to leave that alone. It is highly probable that there will be countries that dispatch their special strategic forces, so I was told.
(In short, at that time, I will need to step out. ...If the opponent is equal to or greater than the Beast King, the children of the flock will become my weakness.)
Unlike the high plains, if we leave their habitat, humans won't just stop chasing us. Something like the Beast King—hiding sneakily at first to launch an ambush—is more than highly possible. I don't know what would happen to those children, who lack a command tower, during such times. To avoid the worst-case scenario, it is necessary to raise them until a child other than myself can command perfectly.
"Dele."
"Nn~?"
While rubbing this child's head, I keep my thoughts spinning.
Fortunately, this child seems to possess a desire to lead the flock like I do. She worked hard on the way back to the royal capital as well, and if asked, she'd probably handle this upcoming battle with the undead too. I will crush the troublesome enemies of the quasi-special strategic force class first, and leave the rest to these children. Naturally, it's unlikely everything will go perfectly, but providing support when appropriate to give Dele a successful experience is probably the goal.
This is what you call building confidence through small? victories.
(I heard that civil militia will also emerge from the Beast Kingdom, so it might serve as practice for distinguishing between friend and foe too.)
Well, let's give it our best shot.