The admission of King Belvedere's country to the Union was easily decided.
　They came on board like a dog jumping on the bait regarding our proposal.

　With the guarantee of territorial integrity and a share of the spoils of war, the membership of King Belvedil's country was decided upon.

　It was King Evil's country that was a bit of a struggle.
　After all, it was a big deal to maintain national power.

　However, it didn't seem that King Evil was also passive.......regarding the idea of a federation.
　If anything, he seemed to be trying to extract as many concessions as possible by pretending to be rebellious.

　They managed to pressure and sway King Evil's country in terms of security, and somehow managed to get them to join by offering them economic benefits.
　The Kingdom of Alva and King Evil's country is likely to be one of the most powerful countries in the Commonwealth of Romalia.

　He also informed the Cilician cities of the Southern Cilician Rosyth Federation of the founding of the Kingdom of Romalia and urged them to join the Federation.　
　In order not to hurt their self-esteem, he emphasized that it was not a vassal state of the Kingdom of Romalia, but a military and economic alliance.

　Initially, there was a fierce opposition, but after a while, people (countries?) They began applying for membership one by one, as if the U.S. had changed its mind.
　After all, they were afraid of being ejected from our military power and large economic sphere.

　I would say that the idea of a Romalian federation was a great success.

　Well we have now consolidated our domestic operations.
　The next problem is abroad.




　After all, should I inform the rest of the world before I declare my intentions?

　I called Raimondo, Ial and Bartolo over to me and asked.
　Raimondo was the first to open his mouth.

　'I see no need for that. To go to the trouble of telling another country might be taken as if you were asking for permission. I don't think it's necessary to keep a low profile.

　Ial nodded his head in agreement with Raimondo's opinion.

　''I am of the same opinion. It is true that maintaining friendly relations with other countries is essential to maintaining the alliance against Gaul. If we don't tell them in advance, it will give them a bad impression. But the Alliance against Gaul is about to be exhausted. The war against King Zoldiers' country will be over within a year, and there's no problem in letting our participation in the Adelian Liberation War go by the wayside now that the existence of the Alliance against Gaul has faded. In the first place, this is an internal matter for our country. There is no need to tell other countries about it.

　It is true that deliberately seeking the face of another country is a matter of national prestige.
　The two men's thoughts are also reasonable.

　What do you think, Bartolo?
　I disagree.

　Law I'm surprised.
　I thought Bartolo would assert the superiority of military power and claim that there was no need to sit back.

　''Your Majesty intends to finally settle things with the three northern countries, right?
　'Yes. So in the near future we won't need an alliance against Gallia, but...
　But we need it now.

　Bartolo held up two fingers on his right hand and one finger on his left.

　'If the right hand is our military strength, then the left hand is the military strength of Fardham. In other words, our side is outnumbered two to one. Domorgal and Gilbed won't be that big of a difference either.

　So we have twice as much firepower available as the enemy.
　...Then there's no need to be alarmed, is there?

　"If we want to conquer the three northern countries, we must take on all three countries at the same time. Then the difference in strength between the enemy and us will be one and a half times greater, and the enemy's strength will be greater than ours. Besides, these figures are based on the assumption that our country has demonstrated its full strength. Currently, Japan has just entered a new system. In reality, our country has just entered a new posture, and we can only bring our full strength to bear on this new system by about 70%.

　We'll destroy each one. You know, like we have in the past.
　''I think that would be difficult. ...Suppose His Majesty is the King of King Domorgal's country, what do you think of the Kingdom of Romalia, which is continuing to attack Gilbed with fury and take territory?

　Is that ... an invasion of King Gilbed's country?
　And they will be weak from fighting against Romalia. Take the territory easily....

　No, I don't think so.

　'The first thing on King Domorgal's mind was, "Isn't he next? The idea should come to mind. Of course. Even if we were to take and destroy the territory of the opponent we have been fighting with.

　'Is it the same for Fardham? And.........
　That's right. So if we are going to destroy the three countries, we need to be ready to take on the challenge. A year until we reap the domestic stability and｜the rest of the western territory - the territory determined by the Gilbed King's sphere of influence and secret agreements. And a year to finish setting up the logistics and training the soldiers. In total, we've just maintained it for three years.

　...three years.
　That would be a bad idea because it would be a bad mental image, so it's a poor idea.

　You should still go out on a limb.

　All right. I think Bartolo's right. We'll let the three northern nations know. But as far as the Romalian Commonwealth is concerned, we'll keep it under wraps. ....in the unlikely event that they would interfere.

　Thus, it was decided in advance to inform the three northern countries of the founding of the country before formally declaring it.
　The three countries seemed to recognize that the names of the countries were only going to change at best, and they readily promised to take over the treaty and maintain friendly relations in the future.

　Well, it's only natural.
　If I'm trying to suppress the Lossies clan by force and change the government of the country, other countries will have every right to intervene.
　But this founding of this country is done by agreement between me and the great families.

　There is no way to intervene.

　Thus, all the necessary conditions for our nation's founding have been met.
　All we have to do now is wait for the right moment.




　November.
　Winter has come to the Adelian peninsula.
　The southern Adelnian peninsula has a very mild climate, but in addition to that, there is a lot of precipitation and high humidity in winter, which makes it much milder than in Japan.

　Therefore, it is much more pleasant than the Japanese winter.
　Especially this year's winter was much warmer than usual.

　It was then that Tetra came into the world.




　"Arums, aren't you calmer than usual?
　Really?

　Yulia told me that as I waited in front of the birthing room with Yulia, waiting for Tetra to give birth.
　Indeed, she might be calmer than usual.

　Well, this is the fourth time I've done that.
　And there's also the matter of the blessing that she says she received from the fairy.

　...Speaking of which...

　Julia, are you aware of this?
　What?

　Julia tilted her head.
　Apparently, she didn't realize that she had obtained a blessing.

　I thought Yulia with the "Blessing of Guarding" would have noticed it long ago, but.......
　Surprising.
　Well, you can't use the blessing unless you're aware of it, and you don't bother to check if the blessing is increasing.

　''Actually....''

　I told Julia about the fairies.

　'Why didn't you tell me?'

　Julia asked me with a slightly angry voice.
　........Well, I certainly should have told you sooner.

　I'm sorry, I didn't want you to worry about it too much. I didn't know if you were alright or not...

　You can't trust fairies.
　That's what me and Julia have in common.

　
　Rather, I have a hunch that they might be planning something.

　I didn't want to put unnecessary heartache on them.

　''........But, Almus, it seems that you believed that the 'safe birth blessing' was available to us without having me to confirm it. ........It's as if you trust the fairies.
　'No, that's not...'

　........If you put it that way, it's true.
　I'm not sure if the fairies really gave Yulia and Tetra the "safe birth blessing" or not, without having Yulia confirm it for me.

　I'm not going to be able to get a good deal more than just a couple of these.

　At the very least, I should have looked into what kind of blessing it was.
　This is something that should take precedence over Yuria's heartache. It's a matter of life.

　...Why?
　Did I trust the fairies to some extent without realizing it?

　"........Hey, Alms. I've never heard of this before.......do you have that 'headache' you're talking about?

　...the 'headache' you're talking about?

　A side effect of the 'Daioh's Blessing'. The side effect of the 'Daioh's Blessing' is that your thoughts are induced to become the king your family members want you to be. You said you had a 'headache' at the time, Almus.
　Well that's something we haven't had since the first battle.

　The number of people under the influence of the 'Great King's Blessing' has been increasing, and their abilities have been expanded.
　And I know that Bartolo and Raimondo, who were not entirely loyal to me a long time ago, are now strongly loyal to me.

　I'm growing in myself and my blessings.
　And I don't have a headache, or even a brainwashing.......I think. At least the path I've been on is the one I've chosen for myself.
　........at least that's what I think now. I think I do, but...

　Hey, have I changed?
　'I wouldn't like you anymore if things changed. I still love you. But I do think you're a lot more of a king and a politician than you used to be.

　You're becoming a politician...
　Now that you mention it, maybe I've become a little more cold-hearted.

　It used to be that when Rosward was almost killed, I got so angry that I killed him.
　But what about now?

　Suppose that Rosward was defeated by an enemy general.　
　Of course, I would be angry and sad.

　To be honest, I don't want to think about that future.

　But at the same time, I'm playing the math.
　How soon should we end the war with that country?

　But.....

　"...Is this a blessing?　Or am I just getting used to it?

　Every human being has experienced a change in thought and thinking.
　More than five years have passed since then.
　I've gotten used to people dying. It's natural to become a little more cool-headed and dispassionate.

　And this is just my imagination.
　If Rosward is actually killed, they might smash the math board and start an annihilation war.

　I don't know ...
　Am I really me now?

　Didn't Almus (me) become the King of Romalia (me) without knowing it?

　'I'll give you a word of advice. Relying too much on that blessing will make it difficult to tell the difference between Almus and King Lossies.

　Merlin's voice is going over my head.
　...Which one am I now?

　The thoughts swirl around and around.
　But no matter what I thought, I couldn't establish myself as myself.

　That's when my thoughts reached an impasse.

　'Alms!　It's a birth, it's a birth!

　The baby's cries and Julia's excited voice brought my thoughts back to the real world.
　Yes, it's not about that right now, it's Tetra's baby.

　I opened the door to the birthing room and walked in with Julia.
　The baby's cries intensified.

　Tetra kept a cool poker face.
　But if you looked closely, you could see that she was drenched in sweat and her hair was nuzzling her cheeks and she was gasping for breath.

　'Alms, it was a girl,'
　Well, good job. Now it's cheaper.

　I stroke Tetra's hair.
　Tetra's eyes narrow in a pleasant way.

　'You can hold her first,'
　Really?

　Tetra gave a small nod.
　Apparently, she's quite tired.

　She handed the baby to me slowly, like a birth mother handling a broken object.
　The baby was probably tired of crying and had already fallen asleep with her eyes closed.

　'Your hair is the same colour as yours. I don't know about the color of your eyes but your face looks a little like mine. The name ... well, let's call her Flora.

　Out of the several possible names I had in mind, I chose the one that seemed to suit this boy the best.
　When I heard the name, Tetra meditated as if she was relieved.

　''Yes ... a good name.''

　Tetra muttered and then stopped moving.
　I was a little worried, but it seems she's just sleeping.
　She is breathing a lovely sleep.

　''Totally, mother and son........''

　Julia looked at Tetra and Flora, who had fallen asleep, and Flora smiled bitterly as she compared them.

　I felt the weight of my new life, and I gave one sure answer.

　That no matter how different I am now from the me of the past, I'm still the father of this child, I'm sure of it.