Your Majesty

Your Majesty

(Jōkō heika 女皇陛下)

December came, it had been more than two months since Hitomi finished writing down her dream for a novel contest, a contest that she mainly used as a way to finally force herself to describe the dream in its entirety. It had also been three months since Hitomi met the real Yukari, who guided the story-writing to reflect the real characters in the other universe.

It was then Advent, and Hitomi’s family took out lights and candles. As Hitomi lay in bed at night, she increasing missed Yukari, and wished to see her highness again, a longing that grew more and more intense with every passing night. On a very snowy and windy Tuesday, Hitomi woke up and had a sudden feeling that something had happened in the other universe, and her mind was concerned all through breakfast. Toward mid morning, Hitomi realized, though without any proof of evidence, that the coronation ceremony for Yukari had drawn to a satisfactory conclusion. She would address Yukari as Her Majesty from that point onward.

“Your Majesty?” Hitomi called tentatively in her mind, with no confidence at all on whether any communication could be achieved. To her great surprise, she saw in her mind the likeness of Yukari, with a delicate, but rather simple, golden crown. “Your Majesty! Most heartfelt congratulation and praise on the jubilant occasion of coronation and ascention to the throne from your most humble servant.”

Yukari smiled gently, which was the first time Hitomi ever beheld a smile from her. “We are friends. Use plain speech.”

“Though the arrival of abiding divine power rightfully deserves a celebration on its own?”

“That is not the case, Hitomi. It has been an exhausting decade for us exploring how the power and presence of Himeyama could benefit this world. However, when we succeeded, and thus elevated to the throne, we declined the union with divine might, as we did not view it as by any means necessary.”

“That sounded confusing for some reason... Are Your Majesty using ‘we’ as the royal pronoun here?”

“Of course.”

“It wasn’t my idea to say ‘use plain speech’! I got confused!”

“You confused yourself, Hitomi. Had you decided to conduct the conversation in Japanese, the royal pronoun of chin (朕) would not cause any confusion. But out of due consideration, the pronoun of ‘I’ shall be employed thereby.”

“So Your Majesty declined the company of divine power?”

“Indeed. Remember, Hitomi, in your original dream I was killed. In the version that we developed together I momentarily had to rescind my ultimate mastery over magic, but that was simply a fiction for me. I never lost my mastery in reality.”

“I had traveled to your world a few times and observed societies and examined the corpus of knowledge. If I were to view fire as an expression of energy exchange, the magical elements could be interpreted as the carbon and oxygen cycle.”

“Hitomi, imagine the element of earth representing all solids, which would include wood and sugar, which is to say, carbohydrates. Photosynthesis could be written as fire joining water and air to produce solids and oxygen, whereas cellular respiration would become solids joining air and bring air, water and fire as the outcome. After all, don’t people in your world call cellular respiration ‘controlled combustion’? Similarly, parallel cases can be drawn for the formation of chalk and limestone involving carbon dioxide, in addition to other examples.”

“Hitomi, I sent surveyors to conduct a thorough study of my world, and located areas unclaimed and unused by absolutely anyone, think of that abandoned quarry by Kageyama, for example. I negotiated patiently with surrounding communities in order to acquire those locations with the commitment that Himeyama will benefit everyone with their usage, and that communities will be notified and consulted and involved throughout the development and usage of the aforementioned sites. I devised enormous and complex matrices to draw magical elements to the previously abandoned places, which are now under Himeyama ownership, and invented ways for factories to be operated through the inherent energy cycle of the magical elements. The parallel of photosynthesis and cellular respiration of the magical realm, if the idea can be communicated in such a manner.”

“Consequently, Hitomi, my world is mostly free of raging magical elements as we speak, and my coronation came as a result.”

“What about the daycare staff in caves, then, Your Majesty?”

“I offered opportunities for stable employment with satisfactory salary at Himeyama factories and estates to all of them. In addition, I opened care facilities in towns so that families, now having to learn the new skill of childcare, can learn from the daycare workers, or to entrust the care of their children during work hours, or to hire one to help with chores in their own homes. What was once envisioned to be a daunting task eventually manifested itself as an efficient source of revenue for Himeyama. My authority at Himeyama became all the more sure and secure as a result. I acquired the crystal caves in the same move, and Himeyama’s resources for research had grown to be even more abundant, consequently.”

“Your Majesty is most awe-inspiring and unbelievable in ability!”

“Midori is now unsure on how to serve me anymore, since during the entire years of negotiation and interaction, I had not manipulated others or employed suggestive and deceptive words. I assured her that I still treasure her and value her as my companion. She blushed for the first time.”

“Aaaghhh!!! Are the two of..”

“No. Not at all. But it is a refreshing and indulgent pastime when we play with words in between duties of administration. There are still, and there will always be, impostors, merchants and minor lords who think they can manipulate us for personal gain at the price of Himeyama. Midori’s power with words will find plenty occasions to be useful, in my opinion.”

“How are others, if I may ask?”

“Kasumi is zealously analyzing and designing enterprises to improve Himeyama’s dependencies and estates. Yayoi found her skills to be necessary in order to critically monitor the efficiency of government and has successfully caught cases of corruption and embezzlement. Criminals were turned over to Ryō, who also trains staff on interrogation techniques, only verbal techniques using logic are taught, though.”

“That is very interesting and pleasant news to behold, Your Majesty. I am still surprised by Your Majesty’s refusal to wield divine power, however.”

“I traveled to Kageyama before my coronation, and had a conversation with Arashi. In your original dream, she would get married this year. She did not. Hitomi? Even though you lived for years in that dream, you did not actually know her. I had to be the one halting you from giving her a husband in the novel.”

“Yes, Your Majesty, I should be rightfully hanging my head in shame...*eye-roll* I can hardly fathom that a decade had actually gone by in the world of Your Majesty. It felt like yesterday when Your Majesty manifested for the first time in my dream. But Your Majesty! How did Your Majesty come to know Arashi in the first place? In my original dream, the two never met or talked to one another!”

“The surprise attack on Kageyama that led to Arashi jumping off the cliff, Hitomi? It was my consciousness that infiltrated and compromised the protection mechanism, deactivated magical matrices, generated a floating spell to hurl attacks, and formed shadow beings. I fought Arashi that day. I fought the entire Kageyama that day.”

“Your.....Majesty.....alone.....”

“Your Majesty, how easy is it for me to be killed right now?”

“Letting you live when I first arrived in your world is the undeniable and affirmative proof of my mercy and benevolence.”

“...of...which...your humble servant is...most grateful...”

“Arashi told me of the Rules of Life of hers, that we need to define what not to do in order to remain focused. Thus I came to the conclusion that a person of strength will grow to be immune of jealousy, greed, and recklessness only through the refraining of taking that which is not necessary. If I were to be in constant pursuit of more power, the resulting ruthlessness and viciousness would destroy the royalty, grace, and authority that reside inside of me, which would be unbecoming of the Crown.”

“How I long to reside in the realm of Your Majesty and offer my humble service, a longing that becomes more strongly felt every moment. May I indulge myself and inquire the current state of Kageyama, if Your Majesty would allow?”

“Due to the removal of magical elements from the ambience, the study of magic had become unsustainable at Kageyama. I offered magical stones and crystals, obtained from condensed elements at factories and crystal caves in exchange for the department of magic to be relocated to Himeyama, where the elements are still abundant, and the offer was gladly accepted, since the stones and crystals greatly benefited the alchemy department, which was also on the verge of collapse resulting from the change of surrounding conditions. I negotiated with Kageyama to differentiate our studies in alchemy. Kageyama will concentrate more effort into developing tools and devices powered by magical stones and crystals, and Himeyama will slightly shift more emphasis onto potions. No one need to abandon anything that they hold dear. We are simply co-operating and making minor compromises. Since Himeyama’s main strength lies in magic, not swords or crystal-powered devices, this arrangement satisfactorily silenced the animosity on part of Himeyama toward Kageyama, as the Magic Department of Kageyama entirely transferred over. Kageyama was pleased to be respected as an autonomous institute, and had immediately agreed to regular contact and consultation on fields of interest.”

“With no attacks this time, I take that the objective of Your Majesty was achieved smoothly with relative ease.”

“Time consuming, though. If I were to take the world by force, it would take a maximum of two years, though I would be concerned of my subjects apparent loyalty for possibly the same amount of time that took me to lay claim to the world by merit.”

“Peace of mind is priceless, Your Majesty. I... ummm...”

“Pleased to see such personal growth in me?”

“Uh, yes. My apologies for offending Your majesty.”

“I told you, we are friends. You are allowed to think such thoughts. I am not offended.”

“*Phew...*However, Your Majesty, I gained some insights lately.”

“Do tell, Hitomi.”

“My spouse and my son are both autistic, and are very different from me. They are easily distracted, have a lack of mental tranquility, cannot see what is in the cupboard in front of them, are rushing and lacking in grace in their movements, and cannot improve. I have been trying for the last decade to bring forth some visible improvement, but in vain. It is easy to think that they must be somehow handicapped by the divine, or even bear some divine punishment for their predestined shortcoming. It has taken me fourteen years, since meeting my spouse, to start to accept that she is simply different from me, although I still wonder from time to time, what view does she behold in front of her eyes, as she utterly cannot see a jar of honey that she is staring at right at that moment.”

“Your Majesty, I had not known that the surprise attack in my original dream was the doing of just one person, and Your majesty did not even take the trouble to physically come to Kageyama. The sheer magnitude of Your Majesty’s strength is beyond my feeble comprehension. Others must indeed be indistinguishable from dust, as viewed from the height of Your Majesty. Your Majesty’s superiority must have been viewed as plain fact, and would not arouse any suspicion of possible arrogance from anyone who has had the privilege of beholding its magnificence.”

“Indeed, Hitomi. Everyone here at Himeyama assumed showing obedience to my overpowering dominance as a natural fact. I had never thought otherwise until I met you, Hitomi.”

“Your Majesty! That means... I actually changed the world over there?!”

“Maybe yes, maybe no. Maybe my troops would annihilate Kageyama and conquer the world successfully, or maybe in the end it was all done in vain. But Hitomi, you made a difference to Kageyama. They would have been all tortured and slaughtered to mark the start of my conquest.”

“Your Majesty... I am overcome with joy... My Arashi Oneesama, my Akishi Oneechan... I’m so very happy...” *tears*

(陛下…よかった…嵐お姉様、亜希芝お姉ちゃん…あたし…本当に、本当に、うれしいです…*涙*)