How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom (2021–2022): Season 2, Episode 13 - Ahead, I See No Ancestors; Behind, I Find No Followers - full transcript

ORIGINAL STORY BY DOJYOMARU

King Souma,

sorry to leave it until the end
of the year before asking you here.

It has been a long time since we last met.

It certainly has been a while.

Please come this way.

Congratulations on winning the

war and annexing Amidonia.

Quite an achievement
after only six months in power.

Finally, we are able to meet.

Since you abdicated, I have requested
an audience many times, and



finally we are able to actually meet.

We are sorry to have kept you
waiting for so long.

Whenever I requested a meeting,
I was brushed aside.

I was told that one day
I would learn everything.

I wonder if today is that day.

If that is what you so desire.

I want you to clarify
the situation for me.

Please tell me what you were thinking.

Basically, there are
three things I want to ask you.

The first is that

when you summoned me to this world,

you abdicated the throne right away.

You even offered Liscia as my fiancée.

It doesn't make sense.



And given my young age,

why were you so keen to pass the

Kingdom on to me?

This is the second.

The loyalty of Georg.

He was prepared to drag
his own name through the mud.

He even formed a suicide pact
with my enemies.

This does not make any sense either.

It was a plan that required
high levels of preparation.

It even cost him his life in the end.

It was not a plan that could have
been enacted without trust and loyalty.

Why would he do all that for me?

Somebody who he had never met.

So, who was that loyalty directed at?

It must have been you.

And for my final question,

why have you been so reticent
to meet me up until now?

Why did you keep me waiting so long?

Is that all the questions you have?

These are the main ones.

Understood.

I should say that all of your questions
seem linked by a common thread.

A single thread?

Let me take the last question first.

I was in two minds whether I should

tell you this or whether I

should take the secret to my grave.

I have committed many

wrongs and they are serious in nature.

King Souma,

have you ever wanted to go back
and change things in your life?

Yes, all the time.

I constantly question whether I could
have done things better after

being given the reins of power.

I wonder whether I could have
saved more people.

Why are you asking me that?

What I am about to tell you
took place a long time ago.

I want you to bear that
in mind when listening to it.

Many years ago, there was a King
residing in a certain country.

The King, though, was very
mediocre in his abilities.

One day, he received a request
from a powerful Western nation

to carry out a hero summoning ritual.

He carried out the ritual
as had been requested.

And when he did,

a young man was summoned
from another world to be a hero.

The King wanted to hand over the hero
to the Western nation,

but the young man spoke as follows.

"We need to increase the wealth
and military strength of the nation."

I think I've heard this story before.

You are talking about me, right?

I haven't finished my story yet.

I see.

The King sensed promise

in the hero that he did not
possess himself.

Therefore, he appointed him
to serve as Prime Minister.

The youth responded to his calling,

and brought about multiple reforms.

Thanks to his efforts, the nation was able
to escape from food shortages

and financial difficulties.

However, as his reforms
disadvantaged the aristocracy,

he raised the ire of the nobility.

The nobility tried to persuade the King
that the youth

was a danger to the Kingdom,
and have him banished.

However, he had one powerful ally.

This was the Army General of that nation.

He recognized the promise of the Youth

immediately and defended him.

However,

the nobility were concerned about
the young man's growing momentum.

They made false accusations,

and the King's anxiety knew no bounds.

The promise of the young man was evident,

but he had too many enemies.

In consideration of this,
he dismissed the young man.

In despair, he visited the town housing

the castle where the General resided.

It was a shame he had to go through this,
but it prevented the nation being divided

and as a result his life, at least,
would be spared.

At least, this is what the King tried
to tell himself.

That wasn't an end to matters though.

That year,

a neighboring country who resented
the Kingdom decided to attack.

The Army General dispatched his troops

to confront the invading armies.

That was when it happened.

Almost as if it had been planned in
advance, the nobility staged a revolt and

the neighboring country supported them.
The country tried to hit back but

despite the hard castle walls,

and the strong tactical skills of
the General, they were overcome by the

sheer weight of numbers of the enemy,
and the castle was taken

under the heavy bombardment
by the invading forces.

The city housing the castle was burned
to the ground, and the

young man was reduced to ashes.

The castle continued to burn
for three days and three nights.

The mediocre King

regretted the fact that his actions

had led to the death of the youth.

The army, after losing its General, was
forced to retreat and the nobility,

who had joined forces with the neighboring
country, looked to press home their

advantage, advancing steadily
on the Kingdom.

The King frantically tried to assemble
his forces, but the King had lost the

trust of the people, after turning his

back on the young man and General.

His only option in that condition was
to try to round up a volunteer force.

That did not work out well, either.

The reforms of the young man had
upset the nobility.

But the people had been saved by them.

They were grateful to the young man,

and the people turned their back on the
King whose actions had caused his death.

The King once again found himself isolated

and surrounded by a large army.

In the end, the chickens
came home to roost.

It is as if you saw it yourself.

Well, the fact is I did.

Maybe it is more accurate to say that
it was shown to me.

You were shown? What do you mean?

It depends on my wife's ability.

I think you are aware that my wife is

capable of doing
the same dark magic as you.

I have heard it said. Yes.

Only a small number of people
are aware of this fact, so please

treat it in the strictest confidence.

My wife's ability is that she is able to

transfer memories to people
who existed in the past.

Transfer memories to people in the past?

What do you mean by that?

Does that mean you existed in the future?

That's not quite it, Your Highness.

May we continue?

The story I just related has
a final twist.

I would have been wiser not

to have banished him and let

him continue with his reforms.

At least, he would not
have met this horrible end.

Rather than just make him
Prime Minister, I should

have instated him as King from the start.

If I had done so, he would have

led this country more wisely than me.

If so, my daughter too…

You have made many mistakes

and now our fate is determined.

But if you use my dark magic,

you will be able to relate
these failures to your past self.

What are you saying?

You know by now my abilities
to use dark magic.

By using this I can transfer

my experiences to my past self.

That's impossible.

When your past self receives

these memories, it will be able to relive
them as their own,

just as if time had been rewound.

Your Majesty.

There is something I need to
apologize to you for.

For what?

The real reason I chose to marry you
is as a result of memories

passed to me from the future.

What do you mean?

Forgive me, my Lord,

but until now, however brave
the man I chose was, or

how amazing they were in their role,
the end result was always that

the Kingdom perished.

Invasion from external forces,
war with the demon tribe,

the rebellion of the nobility,
or even uprising of the common people.

There were many reasons, but

the end result was always
the burning of the Royal City.

So marrying me was an attempt

to prevent the Kingdom falling?

If so, it didn't work.

Yes, but…

this is the first time that the Kingdom

has lasted this long.

We cannot change the present.

But we can lead
our past selves to a new future.

Let us do it.

By relating this failure to
our past selves,

and telling my past self to relinquish

the throne to the young hero.

What point shall we go back to?

Can we choose that as well?

Yes, we can.

In that case, let us go back to
the point we called the young hero

and he told us to build up
the country's wealth and military might.

Understood.

I need to convince my past self

that only ever made mediocre choices.

I must get my past self
to make the right decision.

You mean, you were in a time slip?

Or would it be better to call it
a "time leap"?

Come to think of it, it was not
the person concerned, but memories.

But wait just a minute.

Why doesn't a time paradox occur?

So this wasn't just a simple
world of swords and magic.

I am deeply sorry for
all that has happened.

What do you have to apologize for?

It was hard for me to send the memories

and hard to receive them as well.

It feels like I have lived the memories
of appointing you Prime Minister,

making a lot of stupid mistakes,

and then rewinding time
to right all the errors I made.

Even though the wrongs were not committed
by my present self, I am not able to

shift the feelings of guilt.

I would just like to apologize to you
on behalf of my former self.

So that's why you were apologizing?

The fact is that I don't have any memories

of those incidents anyway.

Please let me express
my deepest apologies.

That being the case…

Have I sufficiently provided you with
answers for questions 1 and 3?

Yes, I think so.

That being the case, the final question
relates to Georg's loyalty.

Hang on! Did you tell him about all this?

I am a weak man, and was

unable to bear the full burden of
this matter by myself.

I didn't feel like I had the strength to

bring about a different outcome on my own.

So I confessed all of the details
to a reliable

friend, Georg Carmine.

Normally this would be considered
the mad ravings of a King.

On listening, however, the Duke merely
nodded with great sense of purpose,

and stated that if I said it,
it must be true.

So, he devised a plan

to destroy the corrupt nobility
at its roots.

We put doubts in to Castor's mind.

However, we could not tell him
of the plan.

This caused you even greater hardship.

Although his intention was
to control the situation,

the situation ended up controlling us.

In the end, we were simply running on
rails laid down in advance.

It's almost enough to cause me
to mistrust everything.

That's surely not the case.

You have followed a new future path
than that laid down at that time.

You have annexed Amidonia,

and rebuilt the country
as the Kingdom of Friedonia.

My decision to relinquish the throne
to you was the correct one.

It is very kind of you to say so,

but from what point did the future change?

From the beginning I suppose, right?

This time around, Liscia was
with you from the beginning.

Liscia?

Was Liscia present in that future too?

You first encountered her
in Randel Castle.

She was working as Georg's secretary.

Liscia saw your true talent and fell
in love with you in that world, just as

she has in this.

After you were dismissed,
she pleaded with me to change my mind.

However…

He cowered due to the power
of the nobility,

and failed to listen to
his daughter's pleas.

Liscia was highly frustrated
when she left the castle,

returning to Randel Castle which was
later destroyed by the Nobility.

But what of my other appointees?

People like Hakuya and Poncho.

They weren't around at that time.

You couldn't do the gemstone broadcasts
at that time.

I respected the traditional users
of the custom and refused to let you

use if for any other purpose.

Thinking back now,

the members I have with me now

were all assembled
using the gemstone broadcasts.

That being the case, it strikes me
that this was a significant turning point.

My use of the gemstone broadcasts
was only sanctioned because

I was King and engaged to Liscia,

which gave me legitimacy.

Without that, there would have
been objections against

use of the gemstone broadcasts
and we couldn't have shouted them down.

Thinking about it like that…

Liscia has started to take on
the appearance of the Goddess of Victory.

That being the case, you must
make sure you look after her.

I will.

With that, you know the full story.

My role in this whole endeavor has
finally reached its conclusion.

We plan to leave this castle
and live quietly somewhere.

You don't need to do that.

If the former King continues
to hang around

in the castle endlessly,
people may get the wrong idea.

I decided from the start that
I would hide myself away

once I had delivered a different future.

I am confident you will
assume the role perfectly.

We have great hopes for you, son.

Received and understood.

Thank you Father and Mother
for all your help until now.

I have one final question.

Tell me.

In the world in which I was
Prime Minister, did you

ever recover the bodies of Liscia
and myself?

I told you that had been restored
to ashes.

There was nothing to find.

If that is the case,
Liscia may not have died.

-What?
-What are you saying, Your Majesty?

If it was me, I wouldn't have let
her die that easily.

I wouldn't care about honor or shame.

I would have done everything
to make sure that she escaped.

The fact that there were no remains
suggests she was able to get away.

Thank you, my son.

What are you doing hanging around here?

-Ah! Liscia.
-Not "Ah! Liscia" please.

You will freeze out here.

What did you talk about with my father?

-I can't talk about it right now.
-Okay, then.

I didn't expect you to
accept it that easily.

I just know that you must

have a good reason for saying that.

I also trust that
when the right time comes,

you will explain everything.

It is nearly time
for the New Year fireworks.

Let's just stay here like this
until that time.

Yes.

-Wow! It's snowing.
-Yeah.

Wait… Souma.

Actually,

I needed to say this to you
before Aisha and Juna.

I love you, Liscia.

Marry me!

I thought you would never ask.

I am incredibly

fond of you too, Souma.

Happy New Year, everyone!

I'm sorry. That is just what
we say in the country where I am from.

I see.

Here, there is nothing particular that we
say just because it is a New Year.

I get it.

The reason I asked you here
was to make New Year resolutions.

That sounds so formal.

-Hakuya.
-Sire!

Moving forward, I want you to stay
by my side and build this nation!

It would be my honor.

-Poncho
-Sire!

I have great expectations for
the delicacy of your palate.

Keep looking for ingredients
that we can use in our food.

And of course, we want you to
develop delicious food too.

Yes, Your Majesty!

Roroa.

Don't be so formal with me, darling!

Continue to support
the economical foundations of this nation.

Well, naturally!

When I make money, so does the country,

so it's all smiles, right?

-Juna.
-Your Majesty.

I plan to further expand the range

of programming on Gemstone Broadcasts.

Keep singing and bringing hope
to the whole nation!

My pleasure, your Highness!

-Tomoe.
-Yes?

Your ability to talk with
animals will become

even more important as the nation grows.

For sure, my brother.

-Aisha.
-Yes?

I want you to keep serving
as my personal bodyguard, and

be sure not to overeat.

Your Majesty.

Why am I the only one
that you give a warning to?

Liscia.

You don't need to say anything.
I will never leave your side.

You are our King.

I spoke to former King Albert
yesterday, and agreed to

take responsibility for
the future of the Kingdom.

But that is not something
that I can do alone.

Without the cooperation of everybody here…

No, without the help of all our citizens,

we will not be able forge
a new future for our country.

I need your help.

Souma.

There's no need for you to bow
your head, darling.

Show us your face.

I can't wait to see the country
that His Majesty will build.

If Your Majesty orders it

I would take up arms for you…

You won't need to do that.

Everyone needs to work to do
the things that they are good at.

Everyone must do what they can do.

Let's build this nation together!

THE END

Subtitle translation by: Simon Way