After-Story Chapter 7: The Remus Royal Couple’s Stay in the (Former) Capital City (Part 2)- Enter, The Warriors of Love!

The city of Van in the Kingdom of Friedonia. This city was once the military-focused capital of the Principality of Amidonia. However, when it was occupied by the Kingdom of Elfrieden’s forces (at the time), the city, freed from its military-only values, was reborn as a city of art, as part of the occupation policy to encourage artistic activities.

This trend continued even after the two countries, Elfrieden and Amidonia, became the unified Kingdom of Friedonia. Currently, the city is a chaotic place: the residents color their roofs vibrantly, artists of various genres visit and work there, and a sanctuary for shoujou (orangutans) who harvest the ‘Bewitching Lily’—the ingredient for ‘Lily Root Dumplings’—in the Amidonia mountain range (commonly known as the ‘Van Shoujou Legion’) has been established nearby.

As Van developed as a city of art, the surrounding towns and villages also began to be affected, turning the entire area centered on Van into the Avant-garde Zone (Souma’s temporary name).

It was at the Wyvern landing field near the gate of the city walls of Van, the central city of this Avant-garde Zone, that Lombard and Yomi landed in the royal Wyvern gondola borrowed from Souma.

“Yomi, your hand.”

“Thank you, Lord Lom.”

As Lombard took Yomi’s hand and helped her down from the gondola, a person taller than Lombard approached them. The person stood before them, straightened her back, and saluted.

“You must be the King and Queen of Remus. My name is Margarita Wonder, and I have been entrusted by His Majesty to be your escort. Welcome.”

The person greeting them was Margarita, a former Amidonian general who now works as a singer (a vocalist who is a serious musician, not a pop idol like the Songstress Lorelei). As both a military officer and a singer, she walks the path of two different professions: valor and art. Because she is a capable person originally from the former Principality of Amidonia, Souma entrusted her with the role of their escort in Van.

“We look forward to your assistance, Lady Margarita.”

“Thank you for having us.”

Lombard and Yomi each extended their hands and took turns shaking Margarita’s hand. Lombard then looked around.

“Lord Souma mentioned assigning both an escort and a guide. You are the escort; is the guide not present?”

“…Ah, yes. They are… present, but…” Margarita’s expression momentarily stiffened at the question, and she answered evasively. “The Lord of this city is supposed to serve as the guide… but… um…”

“Is there an urgent matter that arose?”

“No… they insisted on having a special performance to welcome the guests.”

“A performance?” Lombard and Yomi asked simultaneously, question marks hovering over their heads.

Just then, a loud roar of laughter echoed through the air.

“Hah-hah-hah-hah!!”

The three looked up toward the source of the voice, the top of the city wall, where a man was standing and striking a pose.

“I see the King and Queen of Remus! Welcome to my territory, Van! I, your lord, welcome you with fervor! Take that!”

The man then threw himself off the top of the wall. At the sight of what looked like a sudden suicide attempt, Lombard froze in shock, Yomi covered her mouth in surprise, and Margarita’s face twisted with suppressed fury. However, the man performed about two somersaults in the air and landed with a thud, his right hand thrust down and his legs bent in the classic “hero landing.”

“…”

However, perhaps because the landing put a strain on his knees, he remained motionless in that crouched position for a while. He seemed to be breaking out in a cold sweat. Yet, gritting his teeth, the man eventually stood up, flashed a cheerful smile revealing his teeth, and gave a hearty thumbs-up.

“Welcome! To my Van!” (BOOM!!)

Behind the man who had just greeted them, a sudden explosion roared, flames erupted, and white smoke billowed up. This entire event, lasting only a few seconds, completely stunned Lombard and Yomi, leaving them looking hollow. Margarita then stomped up to the man and immediately punched him across the cheek.

“Not ‘Welcome’!” (Thwack!)

“Gwaaah!!”

The man was violently sent flying, smashing against the city wall with enough force to nearly embed himself in it. The impact crater centered around the man spoke volumes about the sheer force of the blow. …Did he die? Lombard and Yomi began to worry, but the man slowly got up from the wall with a groan.

“Ow, ow, ow… You have no mercy, Lady Margarita.”

“You are being far too foolish. Creating an illusion that you were embedded in the wall.”

The man looked hurt but was otherwise lively, and Margarita spoke to him as if nothing extraordinary had happened. And, just like that, the flames and smoke that had been lingering, as well as the huge dent in the wall, had completely vanished.

Margarita grabbed the man’s ear and forced him to bow his head along with her, facing Lombard and Yomi, who wore expressions of utter confusion.

“I deeply apologize! That display was merely an illusion created by this man, and was not real!”

“Ow, ow, ow, my ear, Lady Margarita! This pain is definitely real, though!”

“Silence! You disgrace yourself in front of foreign royalty!”

“But, I was just following His Majesty’s orders to surprise the guests with my best effort…”

“No excuses! Hurry up and greet the two of them properly!”

“O-Okay! I got it!”

Finally freed from Margarita’s painful grasp, the man cleared his throat and saluted Lombard and Yomi.

“Ahem… Welcome to Van. I… I am Ivan Juniro, the lord entrusted with Van and its surrounding regions. I have been instructed by His Majesty Souma to guide the two of you.”

“…See? You can behave when you want to.” Margarita sighed, placing a hand on her forehead.

Then Yomi tugged Lombard’s sleeve. “Lord Lom. Isn’t this the person who appears on Charge! Silvan?”

“Silvan… Ah, that amusing hero show, is it? Now that you mention it, he was called ‘Big Brother Ivan’ before his transformation. So, you are that person.”

During their stay in Parnam, Lombard and Yomi frequently went to the fountain plaza to watch the broadcast programs. Various programs—singing shows, hero shows, comedies—were broadcast nightly. What began as a plan to study the broadcast project, one of the key policies of the Kingdom of Friedonia, had quickly turned into visiting simply for enjoyment.

Hearing Lombard’s words, Ivan grinned brightly.

“If you know Silvan, that makes things easier. My Juniro family is a lineage that can produce the kind of illusions you just saw, so His Majesty commissioned me to focus on producing broadcast programs. And to produce those programs, I was given Van and its surrounding areas as filming locations, as it has many artists and retains old townscapes.”

Ivan puffed out his chest confidently. Indeed, with artists gathering in Van, it would be easy to set up stage backdrops and other sets, making it suitable for filming. And currently, due to a “certain reason” that had increased the number of broadcast productions, a division of labor was in place: news, music, and variety shows were filmed in the Royal Capital of Parnam, while dramas, educational programs, and hero shows were filmed in Van.

Ivan then snapped his fingers.

“Well, rather than standing here chatting for a long time, it’s easier to show you the actual filming location. We’ll give you a tour, as there’s a shoot happening nearby.”

Ivan then began walking, leading Lombard, Yomi, and Margarita. As they walked through the city, the colorful walls and roofs caught their attention. Some houses had garishly toxic color schemes that made one think of poisonous mushrooms, but the city residents didn’t seem to mind at all.

“…These are quite… individualistic houses,” Lombard said, carefully choosing his words so as not to offend Ivan, the lord.

Ivan, used to such comments, laughed heartily. “Many artists live around here. I let them paint their houses whatever colors they like. But not all the houses in Van are like this. We even maintain the old townscapes in the Historic Preservation District, with subsidies from the state, for filming purposes.”

“You are intentionally preserving old-fashioned townscapes?”

“Yes. That was His Majesty Souma’s idea. He said something like, ‘While there’s a chance they might become historically valuable, if we keep them, we can use them as filming locations for period dramas.'”

Souma was likely envisioning something like Himeji Castle or the Uzumasa film studio used for Jidaigeki (period dramas) in his original world. Indeed, some parts of Van that retain the vestiges of its time as a military city, and the surrounding towns and villages, implicitly retain old-fashioned townscapes, making them perfect filming locations for knightly tales and other period dramas.

Lombard stroked his chin thoughtfully when he heard this. “We must learn from this attitude of utilizing existing resources to the fullest.”

“What resources might our country possess?” Yomi asked.

“We have many untouched dungeons, perhaps. I had considered them a nuisance… but perhaps we should consider policies to utilize them for nation-building, like Lord Souma.”

“Hmph, yes, we should.”

As the two were talking and walking, a woman’s voice suddenly rang out.

“Stop right there!”

Yomi flinched at the sudden voice. Ivan waved his hand dismissively. “Oh, it’s fine. I told you there was a shoot happening nearby.”

Ivan pointed to a spot where two women were standing. They were wearing fluttering, songstress-like costumes, yet the outfits were also tight, sporty clothing that seemed fine for intense action. Facing them was a Walrus-Beastman man wearing sunglasses. He was dressed like a punk rocker with spikes.

One of the two women, who appeared to be a feline Beastman, pointed sharply at the Walrus-Beastman man.

“Toadashi-kan the Fiend! You are causing trouble again! We shall punish you!”

The other woman nodded in agreement. “Yes! For the sake of love, we shall fight. Let’s go, ‘Pure Honey.'”

“OK-desu, ‘Pure Bunny.'”

The two then struck a decisive pose and shouted in unison.

“Warriors of Love, Honey-Bunny have arrived!!“