BXBX NOVEL Chapter 184: Aster Empire
The leadership consists of 26 people in total. Even excluding my created subordinates, it’s still 12 people. That should be more than enough for some ideas to crop up.
“Heeere!”
The very first to raise her hand is ― Sarah.
“Go ahead.”
“Striver Kingdom.”
Striver Kingdom? I muse over it…it doesn’t sound bad, I’d say?
“Where does Striver come from?”
“Stone River!”
“Stone River?”
“Ishikawa!” 1
“…Ah, the prefecture’s name, huh?”
I write down Striver Kingdom on the white board.
“Anyone else?”
“Righto, guess it’s my turn then. In everything, simple’s best ― Shion Kingdom! How ’bout dat?” Takaharu brings up while looking triumphant.
“Shion Kingdom, you say…”
My own name would become the country’s name. That would be somewhat embarrassing…or rather, it feels uncomfortable. I sigh at Takaharu’s suggestion, but…
“Master! I think that’s a great idea!”
“I also agree with that name!”
“Shion Kingdom…I’d be a citizen of Shion Kingdom. Yep, it sounds wonderful. Shion-sama, I support this as well.”
The three fanatics ― Chloe, Layla, and Izayoi support Takaharu’s suggestion.
“Shion Kingdom…isn’t it fine, seeing how it’s going to be your country, and it’s also easy to understand, boss?”
“Indeed. I favor this one as well.”
“It ain’t bad! It got my vote as well.”
Next, the musclehead trio ― Red, Noire, and Rouge also cast their support for Shion Kingdom.
“Then me too!” As if going along with the flow, Blue also joins them.
“Ha ha ha! How’s dat? Did ya see, Sarah? This is da difference in taste between me n’ ya!”
Overjoyed with so many people supporting his suggestion, Takaharu looks at Sarah full of arrogance and conceit.
“Anything else? Anything?” I ask with the strong wish that the other subordinates will spare me from our country being called like that.
“Hah…it’s my turn then! Excuse me, Shion-sama.” Saburou stands up with a winning smile, and writes on the board with a pen.
『Little Garden of the Abyss』
While gazing at the name written down by Saburou, I imagine the scenery when I’d announce the foundation of our nation.
…Yep, forget it.
I silently wipe Saburou’s suggestion off the board.
“――!? I-I still have more!”
『Labyrinth of Nihility』
“The big point with this one is the first syllable. While biting your lower lip――”
Now listen, a labyrinth is no country to begin with, got it? Ignoring Saburou who’s started to give an explanation, I erase his scribble from the board.
“Then…Requiem――”
――Stand down!
“Anyone else?”
I force Saburou to withdraw, and ask for other suggestions.
“Master, may I?” Hibiki raises his hand with a stiff expression.
“Give it a try.”
“Schweinsklave Kingdom. It also contains the syllable Saburou likes so much. How about it?” After bowing to me, Hibiki smiles gently in Saburou’s direction.
“It’s inferior to my suggestions, but…it’s not bad, I must admit.” Saburou looks somewhat satisfied with that name.
“U-Umm…” Kanon awkwardly raises her hand.
“What’s up?”
“It’d be better to not use that name…”
“Why?”
“It’s just my guess, but…it’s German. The direct translation of Schwein would be pig, and Sklave means slave…”
I’m flabbergasted after hearing Kanon’s explanation. In short, it’d mean Pig Slave Kingdom, if translated.
“What do you think? As model citizen of the Schweinsklave Kingdom, I’d――”
――Shut up!
I force Hibiki, who looks very proud for some reason, to shut his trap.
“Anyone else!? Yataro, don’t you have any idea?”
“Me? Let’s see…how about the simple 『Kaga』 then?”
“Hah? Kaga is, like, totally impossible. I mean, Kaga City is ruled by Kaoru, y’know?”
“By the way, the capital of Kaga Country would be Komatsu.”
Before I can even write down Yataro’s suggestion, Sarah turns it down. For some reason, Kanon goes for the finishing blow.
“Anyone? Isn’t there anyone else?”
“Shion-sama, if you allow me?” Kotetsu raises his hand.
“Sure, go ahead.”
“Okay. Shion-sama, are you aware of the flower called 『Shion』?”
“No?”
“I see. Written in kanji it looks like this.”
Kotetsu writes 『Shion』 on the board.
“All of the subordinates are endorsing Shion Kingdom. But it looks like you don’t feel happy about your name being used. The scientific name for the flower Shion is 『Aster』. Hence, how about 『Aster Empire』?”
“Aster Empire, eh…? I’ll add it as a candidate. Still, I thought you were completely devoted to swordsmanship, but…you seem to have a broad range of knowledge.”
“I’m ashamed to admit it, but it comes from my wife having had an interest in gardening.” Kotetsu replies with an embarrassed grin.
“Anyone else?”
Afterwards, the discussion continued for another three hours.
◆
As a result of talking it over, the potential country names have been narrowed down to following five:
Sarah’s suggestion: Striver Kingdom
Takaharu’s suggestion: Shion Kingdom
Kotetsu’s suggestion: Aster Empire
Kanon’s suggestion, which refers to the Bible: Genesis Empire
Saburou’s suggestion, which signifies eternity and infinity: Ouroboros Kingdom
We’ve decided to let the residents vote on the country’s name. Making them vote was simple. By just ordering them through telepathy, the voter turnout immediately became 100%.
The troublesome part lay in the tallying of the votes. The leaders and I had to count by hand. The number of voters amounted to 117,692 people, resulting in 4,360 counts per person.
I wonder, just how many “正” is it going to be…? 2
Counting all the “正” at the end was a major pain. Once I looked around me, Takaharu was obviously pissed off. I forced him to do it through an order, but in a certain sense, his appearance of tallying the votes while scattering that much bloodlust all over the place was quite dreadful.
It was planned for me to call over some random residents, leaving the tallying to them. However, I got overwhelmed by Mrs. Tamura, Yataro, and Kotetsu ― the elderly party, pressuring me with 『It’s a very important matter that will drastically influence our future!』, leading to the leaders and me being the only ones doing the count.
In the end, it took three hours to count all the votes. The result is:
Striver Kingdom – 37.031
Shion Kingdom – 15.070
Aster Empire – 48.700
Genesis Empire – 10.061
Ouroboros Kingdom – 6.830
“That makes Aster Empire the new, official name.” I inform my leaders of the result.
“For real? My Striver Kingdom lost!?”
“Hah! Ya gotta be kiddin’!?”
“…It’s not going to be Shion Kingdom!?”
After hearing the new name, some are angry, some are disappointed…and some smile.
This is how the name 『Aster Empire』 came to be.
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– Infinite Novel Translations
Chapter 184 – Aster Empire
“Now we shall announce the foundation of our nation ― the Aster Empire, to the world!” I declare to my leaders with a loud voice.
“You might talk about announcing it, but…these kinds of posts get deleted right away ~ssu.” Tusk, as the one in charge of information control, objects.
“I’m fully aware of that. Tusk, have you grasped where to find the facility that deals with the deletion?”
“It’s a guess ~ssu, but…it should be the Japanese Government ― the ones on Megafloat ~ssu.”
“Why are they deleting the news posted by Demon Kings?”
“T-That’s…”
“Ah! So I’m not the only one having done this to me, huh?”
Tusk is confused by my question. On the other hand, Kanon happily laughs after seeing Tusk’s struggling.
“Any moment, Shion-san is going to raise a finger with a smug look――”
――Kanon! Roll up your skirt!
“Eh…? Eeehh!? Kya!? Whyyyy….?”
“Kanon? We’re in an important meeting right now. It’s not the right place for you to expose your own fetishes, okay?”
“Huh…? Wait! T-This is Shi――”
――Kanon! Shut up! Otherwise I’ll give the previous order while you’re in front of Saburou, got it?
“Hmm? Did you say anything, Kanon?” I beam a smile at Kanon with a look full of kindness
“I-It’s nothing…s-sorry…” Kanon apologizes for disturbing the meeting with tears welling up in her eyes.
“Let’s get back to the main topic. So why is the Japanese Government censoring the information? The answer is: it’d be information that could become beneficial for Demon Kings, but disadvantageous for the humans. Likewise, you might be asking who’s supposed to be the receiver of the Demon King’s information? The answer to that one is: humans.”
“Hmm, if I remember correctly, even Prefectural Governor Tayama started to repeatedly caution us to not listen to the words of the Demon Kings…at some point in time.” Mrs. Tamura confirms my words, obviously having remembered it just now.
“Currently, the Internet is the best way to spread information. However, the enemy is one step ahead of us in the online world. So what would be the best way…?” I look at my leaders’ faces as if to point the question at all of them.
“Hah? Don’t ya just need to shout it out?”
“Like, create an emotional poster with my superb artistic sense?”
“Let’s gather the attention of the masses with my Perfect Body?”
“Hah…I shall step forward as frontm――”
“Forget it, creep!” “…Impossible.” “You intend to destroy Shion-sama’s reputation!?”
The leaders state their own respective opinions. At the end, Saburou speaks up, but gets immediately shot down by the women.
“Takaharu is correct. If it’s censored as soon as you post it online, you just need to loudly exclaim it in the real world. Sooner or later, our voices will reach the humans, and the information will be passed on.”
“Oh, so you mean to say, anyone can start a rumor, but no one can stop one.” Yataro nods with a gentle smile.
“I shall inform you of what we’re going to do from now on! Carve the name of 『Aster Empire』 in the minds of the humans who come to invade us! Let some of them escape on purpose. Also, Kaede, you will scatter the flyers I’ll give you later in human cities. Lastly, I’ll personally use my 【Megaphone】 to regularly announce the foundation of our kingdom.”
“What about us then?” Sarah asks back.
It’s meaningless to inform the Demon Kings of Himi City about our new country. Likewise, it’d be a bad move to explicitly invade Toyama Prefecture to announce it.
“You can focus on gathering experience points in Himi, just as you’ve done so far.”
“Sure.”
“Da heck? So everythin’ stays da same!?”
Sarah salutes with her right hand at her forehead. Meanwhile, Takaharu openly expresses his unhappiness.
“Well then, the meeting is over! All hands, accomplish the orders given to you. I’m expecting only the best of results from you!”
With this, the first leadership meeting of the Aster Empire came to an end.
◆
Translation Notes: