“Fehhh! There’s no need for either of you to reject your advancement so vehemently.” Rishia cut into our conversation with a flat, relaxed voice.

This wasn’t what I wanted. I had only sought territory to start with because I had wanted to provide a place where Raphtalia could live in peace until she died, once I left her behind. I certainly didn’t want my next war to be waged on bundles of documents. Melty surely felt the same. She had already been fighting all the paperwork my territory produced. It wasn’t hard to imagine the increase in volume she would see by becoming queen of such a massive nation.

“How did the king of Faubrey run his nation?” I asked. Takt had held the throne so briefly he didn’t really count. He had probably just left everything to the more capable members of his gaggle of girls, anyway.

“It seems everything other than commands relating to basic policy was handled by his subordinates,” Trash explained. He had lived in Faubrey in the past, of course, so he probably had quite a good handle on that stuff. “A capable ruler who truly thinks of their nation, and of their people, would likely take the lead in all things. Just like my wife did . . .” Trash drifted off, a distant look in his eyes. That shut Melty up, anyway. She had also seen everything the queen did.

“Is this going to be hard on you, Mel-chan?” Filo asked. Boy, does the next queen of the filolials have it easy!

“In all sorts of ways,” I said. “Filo, we’ll need you to support Melty too.”

“Okay! I’m with you all the way!” Filo chirped brightly.

“Filo. Thank you,” Melty replied. She had lost her mother and then executed most of those responsible. Melty might be putting a brave face on, but it had to be hard on her. Trash was back to his wise-king ways and so was likely supporting her. But having Filo around had to be helping ease her burden.

“Still, daughter, giving Hero Iwatani the title of archduke! I couldn’t be prouder!” Trash continued.

“What? Why? Ah!” Melty turned to me with an “oh shit” look on her face. An archduke was a pretty high rank among nobles, I presumed. But I didn’t know the exact pecking order in this world—or even at home.

“Hero Iwatani, you may not know this, so please allow me to explain. In our nation, archduke is second only to the queen. The rank you might usually call ‘king,’” Trash stated. I took a moment to process this. I already knew that Melromarc was ruled by a queen. Trash had served as an interim king, which meant . . .

“Indeed. As interim king, I actually held the title of archduke.” Trash filled in the blanks.

“Hold on,” I said.

“You still don’t see? With this, Queen Melty has finally approved you, Hero Iwatani, as her fiancé,” Trash proclaimed. I made a noise in my throat. Melty was clutching her head too. The realization of what she had done now really hit her. “As you hold the position of Shield Hero, we will need the approval of those from Siltvelt for this, but . . . I presume that won’t be a problem?” Trash turned and asked. The delegation from Siltvelt nodded in response.