「Stinky! Stupid! Stupid and stinky!」「We don't want you here!」「Leave, stinky-tau slave!」

The children continue shouting names at the man, who acknowledges them, but simply continues shoveling snow out of the way. Despite the relatively easy task, the man is visibly fatigued and gasping for air, but still rapidly shoveling away to clear a nice, broad path to the establishment's fogged-over door.

「Kids… Why are you being mean to this man?…」

Cycelia walks up, rubbing her fatigued eyes with the back of her cold hand. The sensation wakes her back up a little, and she points her finger at the skinny man.

「'Cause he's stinky!」「He's stupid!」「He's a dumb stupid from Parnatau Kingdom! He doesn't belong here!」

As Cycelia leans towards them, the children all point their fingers at the man and exclaim their reasons for insulting the foreign worker towards her.

「Ahh… It's okay, miss… I understand where they're coming from. I don't mind… Eheh…」

With his back still bent, the man waves his hand, gesturing that it's not a problem. He lets out another chuckle with an awkward and a little overly friendly grin, and resumes shoveling the snow.

「Tsk… No no no, this isn't right…」

With a click of his tongue, Straf steps past Cycelia towards the kids, recognizing them.

「Eh?」

One of the children perks up at the sight of Straf, recognizing him too, a light-lipped grimace appears on his face. Straf squats down by his side, and wraps his arm over his neck.

「…That's not the right reason to be mean to someone, little guy. Do you remember what they're teaching you at school about stuff like this?」

With a patronizing smirk on his face, Straf looks at the anxious child next to him.

The rest are frozen up and stare at Cycelia's disapproving, but mostly disappointed face. Despite her being a stranger, her expression is very universal, and the children instantly recognize it as the type of look their mothers' faces would give them, if they'd do something terribly disappointing that is already too late to be punished for.

「…Yes sir.」

The child nods, awkwardly twiddling with his thumbs, anxious and unnerved by Straf's casual familiarity.

「Why are you being mean to him?」

Straf calmly asks, glancing up at Cycelia, who is watching on and fiddling with her medallion.

「…Because he's a foreigner and he's doing dumb work for idiots.」

The kid meekly explains while fidgeting.

「Tsk… Listen here, kid…」

With a click of his tongue and shaking his head, Straf lets out a disappointed sigh.

「…How about you take his shovel and you do it yourself?」

Straf points at the man toiling away as he looks at the child.

「Huh!? But I don't want to! It's a lot of work, it's a job for stupid people, and I'm from a good family!」

The child's head perks up, and he protests on the verge of a tantrum.

Patpat.

「Exactly, kid! But someone has to do that work. So… Do you really to pick up the shovel and do it yourself?」

Straf pats the boy on his chest with his free hand, nodding with a smug smirk on his face.

「…No.」

The boy meekly replies, shaking his lowered head.

「Right. So why would you want this guy out? He's doing the work you won't touch. If you're not satisfied with the work he's doing, you should say something.」

Straf gives the boy an encouraging pat on his shoulder, poking him lightly in his chest with the other hand, while nodding up at the foreign worker while he toils.

「I understand, mister…」

With a tight-lipped grimace on his face, the boy nods.

「So, what are you supposed to say? Articulate your feelings properly.」

Straf asks, and lightly pats the young boy on his chest. The boy coughs once from the concussive force.

「…What does articulate mean?」

The boy asks, raising his eyes up to Straf with a nervous, tight-lipped grimace. Straf lets out a fatigued breath that vaguely smells of malt.

「…It means to express yourself in a very clear manner, alright?-」

Clunk-dingdingding…

「What's the racket? What is going on here?」

With a small bell's chime, a fat man opens the door to the establishment and peeks his head out. Straf, Cycelia, the children, and the shoveler all look at him.

「Are you the owner of this?… Whatever this is?」

Straf asks, standing up as he places his hands in his pockets.

「Yeah, I am. It's a general store, but I specialize in common repairs. Window hinges, nails… So on, so on. You get the idea…」

The fat man nods his mustached and his mostly bald, then steps out.

「…Vrrrrhh… Cold.」

He shivers slightly as he leans a little and sees the shoveler nod his head low, then resume shoveling.

「These children have been very mean to that man… Is he your employee?」

Cycelia steps in, and gestures her head towards the thin man busily shoveling away.

Pat.

One of the children tries to covertly slip away, but Straf bears his hand down on his shoulder. The boy stops frozen immediately.

「Uh-huh, he is… No one else would clear the snow for under a drake. Why were they mean? Did he say something to 'em? I'll fire his ass-」

「Nah, the kids just weren't doing their homework. I'll teach them a lesson, right here, right now.」

The store owner asks, furrowing his brows with a suspicious gaze directed at the busy shoveler. Straf cuts in, lightly shaking his head with his palm raised. The children gulp.

「I see. As long as he's not chasing customers away…」

The shopkeeper nods, glancing briefly at Cycelia before opening the door.

Clunk-dingdingding…

「…Don't be too rough on them kids, mister.」

The fat man requests, grimacing slightly with a little shake of his head as he gestures towards the thin man's back. The owner then slips back into his store.

「Really, it's okay… I'm happy to be working here. It's no problem at all.」

The man says to Straf and Cycelia as he passes by, having cleared snow from one side of the store. He begins rapidly shoveling the other side.

「…So? Remember what you were taught? He's not stupid and smelly… Not that I can smell it, at least. Enunciate your feelings properly. The rest of you too.」

Straf turns to the boy he was talking to then looks down at him with a serious and expectant grimace on his face.

Briefly hesitating and anxious, the children follow behind the gaunt man, then point their fingers at his back.

「…You're beneath us!」

The boy exclaims in a falsely haughty tone.

「Huh!?」

Cycelia's head recoils, and she blinks completely baffled at the boy.

「Yeah! Work harder, Parnatau slave!」

Another boy nods, then chimes in. He tries to put emphasis on his words, but his tone sounds almost like he's joking. The two glance at each other, and snicker.

「Eh? Ah, yes… Sorry… Eheh…」

The man glances over his shoulder, then apologetically nods his head with another chuckle and picks up the pace on his shoveling.

「Kids, that's not!-」「Ah-ah-ah.」

With her brows furrowed in anger, Cycelia takes a quick, wobbly step towards the children. Straf brings his hand up and blocks her path with his arm.

「Huh? Straf, they're abusing that poor man!-」

「No, Lia. Let them do their thing…」

Protesting, she places her dainty hands on Straf's arm. He only lowers it when Cycelia appears to oblige him, and stay where she is.

「You missed a spot, stupid Parnatau idiot!」「Aa… Ahhh, sorry!…」

Another child points at a tiny, harmless clump of snow right by the building's side that the worker had omitted. He races past them to collect it, and throw it onto the pile he's shoveling.

The people on the streets glance at the children, only slightly raising their brows above their disinterested eyes before continuing onward. Most don't even pay any attention, disregarding the shouting and insults as a part of the hustle and bustle of a daily life in a city. A gaggle of elegantly dressed women scoff, smirking at the sight of the man being berated, before bowing their heads towards Cycelia as they pass her by.

「Shovel faster! What are you doing!?」

「Yeah! Why'd you come here!? To steal our wealth!?」

「Worthless Parnatau wage thief! My dad would fire you long ago!」

The children continue berating the man while pointing fingers at him.

「S- Sorry, sorry! I'll work faster! Eheheh…」

The man simply nods his head to every insult, and shovels even faster, gasping for the freezing air.

「S- Straf! That's a terrible way to treat a person! Why are you allowing this!?」

Cycelia grabs onto Straf's shoulder, and blinks at him with her brows furrowed in outraged confusion.

「Look, Lia… He said that he's happy, right? And that was while they were yelling stuff at him…」

Straf shrugs his hand, briefly smirking at her before turning his gaze to the foreign worker.

「R- Right, he did say that, but…」

Cycelia's hands reluctantly peel away from Straf as her emerald eyes look at the thin man too.

「…So what's the harm, Lia? Look! He's working twice as fast now, and he's happy working!… The store gets its front shoveled, and everyone's happy!」

Straf asks, pointing his hand at the children and the worker with a shovel.

「Aren't you thankful to be out of your rotten slums of a kingdom!?」

「Yes, very! Thank you!…」

One of the boys asks with his fists on his hips and chin proudly raised. The thin man glances at him over his shoulder, then feverishly nods his head with a large smile while thanking the boy.

「You Parnatau scum were born to serve the Redwing people! Remember that!」

「Ah, eh…」

Another boy exclaims, and briefly wags his finger at the man's back before returning it to his hip, grinning. The man visibly hesitates to reply, and freezes in his shoveling motion.

「…Yes, yes! All for the Redwing people!」

Resuming his shoveling, the man replies with another series of nods. Cycelia furrows her brows at the sight, while an amused huff escapes Straf's nose.

「Y'see, Lia… The concept of nations is still very vaporous. I'm trying to crystallize it a little ahead of time…」

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

With his mouth scrunched to the side, Straf turns to Cycelia then rubs the tips of his thumb and index finger together.

「Nations?… Ah, like the people of kingdoms?」

Cycelia furrows her brows, still worried by the worker's welfare as she glances at him every few moments.

「Yup… You probably had the rough idea of a nation in your head already…」

Straf takes a few steps away and nods his head while the children continue to demean the foreigner in the background.

「…But what makes a nation? Good question that you didn't ask, Lia.」

Taking two handfuls of snow into his hands from the pile the foreigner shoveled away, Straf returns to Cycelia, and hands her one pile.

「Was I supposed to?…」

She asks, staring at the snow in her frostnipped hands.

「It'd be mighty convenient… But I'll explain anyway…」

Straf shrugs as he forms a soft, thinly packed snowball in his hands.

「…You can argue on certain points, but from top to bottom by their strength, nations are usually formed and centered around the following things…」

He continues, and holds the snowball up by his fingertips for Cycelia to see. She blinks at it with confused eyes.

「…Religion, ethnicity, language, culture, land, funny lines on a map, aaaand tax evasion. Do not discount that last one, it's pretty strong!…」

Straf begins to spit out an entire list of concepts in rapid-fire pace, before wagging his finger at Cycelia with a smirk.

「…Suppose you want to form a nation. Religion is the strongest, but it looks like we've got some sort of one world religion going on, so that's out.」

He adds, and shrugs his shoulders while looking at the snowball.

「Huh?… Why?」

Inebriated and confused, Cycelia tilts her chestnut head.

「You don't want people to be too united, Lia. Things would get a little awkward if you'd say,「Now point your gun at them and pull the trigger!」if they both believe in the same thing…」

Extending his index finger, Straf replies with a grin.

「…You want people to be united, but not too united, so up next is ethnicity. That works. You need to be a little different from everyone else as a nation…」

Straf continues, shrugging his shoulders again as he glances at the children and the rapidly shoveling worker.

「…Now, for Redwing Empire, ethnicity is pretty clear… As far as I can tell, at least. I could tell tell that those two, uhh… Pisha and Nisha?…」

「Tisha and Neela.」

His eyes turn upward to the gray, snowing sky as he rubs his chin while jogging his memory.

Snap.

「That. I could tell they were foreigners, but they wouldn't stick out much here. That guy on the other hand…」

He snaps his fingers and points at Cycelia with a nod. Straf then gestures his head towards the busy worker.

「…Yeah, you can kind of tell they're different. They have no way to blend in, so they're obviously different ethnicity. Up next are language, culture, land…」

After watching the man toil for a few seconds, he shrugs then turns his attention back to Cycelia.

「…Yeah, language is also tough. Every kingdom around here speaks the same language, so-」

「No they don't.」

Cycelia quickly interjects, furrowing her brows with her head tilted in major confusion.

「…Right, okay. Most kingdoms around here speak the same language-」

「What are you talking about, Straf? That's not true at all.」

Straf tries to correct himself to be more pedantly factual, but Cycelia interrupts him again. They look each other in the eyes, both almost equally confused.

「…What do you mean, that's not true at all? We've been to Telas Kingdom, and I've been to Parnatau Kingdom… I could understand everyone there just fine.」

Deeply confused, Straf asks with his hands spread.

「That's news to me, Straf. Kings and diplomats are all expected to know Lowland Common. It's the language of Redwing's Empire, but the peasants likely only speak their local language.」

Cycelia replies, blinking her emerald eyes at Straf.

「…Huh? So how the fuck did the soldiers register the interested workers in Parnatau?」

Perplexed, Straf rubs his chin with his cold fingers, while his eyes drift down to the cobblestones.

「Did you ask the military officers to organize that, Straf? We have a lot of bright minds as officers, they've probably arranged troops that know the locals' language.」

She nonchalantly explains, wobbling slightly. The children continue shouting and hurrying the man while he's about to finish his work.

「Right. In any case, a weak nation is like this snowball, Lia. It's not tightly packed at all. It's not cohesive. It's weak. Look…」

Straf shrugs, then holds the snowball up. He then cocks his arm back, and throws it at the store door.

Thump.

The snowball harmlessly splatters on the door's window panes, leaving a wet, snowy stain.

「…See? Just like a shitty nation without a strong identity, it fell apart the moment it faced its first obstacle!」

Straf points his hand at the door, smirking at Cycelia.

「…You lazy ingrate! Work faster!」

「Sorry!… I am grateful! Eheh…」

One of the children shouts at the man, and he lets out another nervous chuckle. Despite nodding, the man simply can't work any faster.

「It doesn't look like it to me! Show that you're grateful! Praise the empress, right now!」

「Yeah! Praise the empress!」

Another boy chimes in with an accusatory tone and a smug smirk. The next one nods and echoes the demand.

「Huh? Eh, uhh… Eheheh… But I don't know her name…」

「Faster!」

「Yes, sorry! Eheh…」

The man briefly slows down as he looks at the two boys over his shoulder, and another one immediately hurries him. He snaps right back to shoveling the last bits of snow into an alley.

「Heh… Stupid Parnatau idiot! You don't care who rules over you much, do you!?」

「Typical Parnatau peasant! That's why you're servants to our superior people!」

The children immediately scoff at the simple man's ignorance of geopolitics.

「Say「Hail Empress Cycelia!」right now, you stupid Parnatau slave! Praise the empress!」

The third boy demands, and grins at the foreign laborer. Cycelia winces slightly, and turns her emerald eyes to Straf's face.

Smirking, he shrugs and takes the snow off her hands.

「H- Hail Empress Cycelia… Heheh…」

The worker nods, smiling awkwardly at the group of shouting boys.

「Ah, finally… My hands are freezing… Why didn't you put it in your whirly thing, Straf?…」

Cycelia utters out, and blows some warm air into her dainty hands.

「Honestly?…」

Straf looks at her with a tight-lipped grimace. She blinks at him, and nods faintly while waiting for him to continue.

「…I forgot.」

He nonchalantly replies while tightly packing the snow in his hands. It turns into an iceball, rather than a snowball, albeit a stream of water also trickles through Straf's fingers.

「Louder, idiot! Say it like you mean it!」

One of the boys continues shouting at the worker.

「Hail Empress Cycelia!…」

「Louder!」「Louder!」

The man complies, and the other boys continue shouting at him, distracting Cycelia heavily.

「Hail Empress Cycelia! Hail Empress Cycelia! Hail Empress Cycelia!…」

The man nods, and obliges by shouting over and over as he shovels the last of the snow.

「Good! Now you better remember that, because we'll be back tomorrow!… And keep praising the empress until we leave!」

The ringleader of the boys declares with a massive snide grin on his face.

「Yes!… Hail Empress Cycelia! Hail Empress Cycelia! Hail Empress Cycelia!…」

The man feverishly nods his head, repeating himself as soon as he catches another breath, only to shout praises again.

The trio of boys snicker as they turn to leave, exchanging low high fives and cackling before they disappear behind one of the building's corners.

「…Hail Empress Cycelia! Hail Empress Cycelia!… Haah… Haah… Hail Empress Cycelia!…」

Without noticing the children had left, he jogs back to the shop's door while Straf and Cycelia watch.

Clunk-dingdingding!…

「…Haah… Haah… Boss! I've finished shoveling!… Haah…」

The thin man declares as he disappears into the store. Straf shrugs, and holds the iceball up in his fingertips.

「Anyway, look at this. This is like a nation with a strong identity. Tightly knit, strong, very hostile to outsiders… Basically, this is what Redwing Empire should be…」

Straf explains while looking at the iceball with Cycelia.

「…And, I'm going to instill the national spirit into the people, starting with the kids, of course. They're the future…」

《…That, and I also can't do much with a population of alcoholics who can't even read.》

He smirks at Cycelia as he holds his index finger up.

「…Kids are the future, but I also think something made all the intelligent and educated people disappear, as if there was a mass die-off or something. Hmmm…」

Straf adds while rubbing his chin, convinced that he forgot an important detail. Cycelia tilts her head.

「…I almost figured out what, but I forgot. Doesn't matter anyway, I'll replenish the stock of the well-educated, intelligent underclasses!… Someone else will do the thinking for me!」

He dismisses the thought, then raises his iceball up, pointing his finger at the sky as he makes a lofty exclamation.

「Hmmmmhhh… I think that's a good idea, Straf. All you do is work… Haaaaaahhhnnnnn…」

Slowly calming down after the incident with the children, Cycelia's eyes become visibly weary and sleepy again as she lets out a yawn.

「Of course it's a good idea, Lia! I came up with it! But soon, I won't have to! It'll all run on autopilot!… And then I can finally be done with this nation-building shit!…」

Straf nods, grinning ear to ear at Cycelia's worn-out face. With the hand holding the iceball, he wags his finger in front of her as he explains his plan. The people on the streets avoid the apparent madman in large arcs as Straf shouts up at the gray, snowing sky.

「…And then, whenever there will be an obstacle in my path!… The nation will just!…」

Straf cocks his arm back, and throws the iceball at the door.

Smash!

Cycelia jumps up, waking right back up as the iceball flies through one of the window panes in the shop's door.

「…Uhhh, uh oh.」

Straf initially winces when he realizes his iceball went stray. His face gains a tight-lipped grimace on his face as he looks at the door.

「Straf, why'd you-?」

Cycelia looks at the broken window with a troubled expression.

「I'm not paying for that, but don't worry, Lia… I've just boosted the economy! The glazier and our glass industry will thank me!…」

「Then why are we running!?」

Straf grabs Cycelia's cold hand and starts jogging away.

「…By the way, I came up with a great idea just now! A state-owned distillery! I'll name it the National Spirits!」

Confused onlookers watch with furrowed brows as the two drunkenly run towards the palace…