Chapter 53: The Sea!

The question of who will be the next Head of House Lingerburg is floating is up in the air with no coming down any time soon. The Kingdom of Ploiss also allows female lineage succession, so even if Alexandra succeeds her deceased father’s title, there is no problem in terms of the law. However, if Nikolaus was assassinated, if the culprit’s purpose was all of House Lingerburg itself or the line of succession, if Alexandra succeeds, her life may be in danger.

The two traveled from Carruzan to hide at Gabriella’s parent’s house in the royal capital. I’m happy that she came to say goodbye at the end, but I regret that Alexandra and the others left without being able to have a proper send-off.

So here, I would like to explain the difference between “Jokei” and “Josei”, which is also related to the succession to the emperor’s throne in Japan.

There have been female emperors in the Japanese imperial family, Josei, but there have never been emperors of matrilineal descent, Jokei. This is called the unbroken lineage, which means one family’s genetic line has continued for ages.

In post-war education, the concepts of patrilineal and matrilineal descent were intentionally not taught, and in recent years, the issue of imperial succession has been confused with “Jokei and Josei” issues so as to deceive those who do not understand male and female lineages and gather opinions in favor of matrilineal succession.

Japan used to have female emperors. And there is nothing wrong with “female emperors”. No one will deny the existence of a female emperor just because the current Imperial House Law does not recognize female emperors as legitimate. Speaking of the most famous female emperors, there are Empress Suiko and Empress Kogyuko, who after retiring from the throne were both raised back to the status of emperors.

If this is applied to modern Japan, if Princess Aiko becomes emperor, it will be a “Josei emperor” and it will not be a special problem. There are few people who strongly oppose this just because the Imperial House Law needs to be revised. The problem is what comes after this ruler.

Regardless of whether Emperor Aiko becomes the legitimate emperor or not, if Emperor Aiko were to marry someone other than a male member of the imperial family and that child would become the emperor, whether it was a male or a female, it would be considered a “Jokei emperor”. This would never be allowed. If you don’t know the difference between patrilineal and matrilineal descent, you won’t know what it means.

The “patrilineal descent” refers to the clan that traces the father, the father’s father, and the father’s father’s father. Suppose there is a person named Taro Tanaka. Taro Tanaka’s father is a Tanaka. His father’s father is also a Tanaka. His father’s father’s father is also a Tanaka. In this way, if you follow the father’s father, everything will be in that patrilineal descent of one family.

Conversely, the “matrilineal descent” follows the mother’s mother’s mother’s mother’s line. Houses in Japan are not matrilineal clans, so even if I tried to trace my mother’s mother’s and so on… the names and Houses would be different.

This patrilineal and matrilineal line is not a matter of male dominance, anachronism, or sexism. Since clans could only be divided into patrilineal or matrilineal descent, it was believed rational to divide them by fathers, and thus, patrlineal descent and dynasties are formed simultaneously all over the world. Therefore, in most of the world, families and inheritance has been patrilineal for so long.

That this is necessary is that almost all people in the world are connected in some way if you say something like the original family of your mother’s mother’s father. Even if a complete stranger came to me when my parents died and said, “My brothers from 100 generations ago are relatives of yours who separated into different Houses, so I should share the inheritance with you.”, no one will be convinced that they have a legitimate stake.

Also, a person who had absolutely no connection or a connection suddenly came to my house and said, ‘Because this is the family of the brother-in-law of the brother of the House Head 7 generations ago, let us put the bones of our family in the grave of your family.”, no one will let them into the graves.

In this way, a family inherits status, property, and rights. It is important to protect it and to what extent it is applied to whom. No one is conscious of whether it is the Head of the Family, the Patriarch, the Main Family, or the Branch Family these days. That’s how it was done after the war.

Also, what is similar to this family but a different concept is “relatives”. If patrilineal and matrilineal descent is vertical ties, then relatives, including both vertical and horizontal, are relatives around us, and they don’t even need to be blood ties.

For example, when grandparents pass away, some people may have had the experience of odd relatives who they had never met before coming to visit. If you ask, they’re from the cousin’s spouse’s family, but to you, they’re a complete stranger with no connection or familiarity. Still, they can be a relative.

The Head of the Family is my father, a Tanaka, the previous generation was my father’s father, also Tanaka, and the two generations before is my father’s father’s father, also Tanaka. It’s not accurate because when I say grandfather, my mother’s father is also included.

This is how you have father’s father’s father’s… lineage, with the Japanese emperor’s family has been an unbroken line of patriarchs for 1,700 years, father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s father’s… and so on since the Emperor became the head of state of Japan.

Among them, even if a woman whose father’s family line is of the imperial family becomes a “Josei emperor”, she is a “Dankei emperor” and there is no problem. Conversely, even if the mother is from the imperial family, if the father is not from the imperial family, even if the child is male, it will be a “Dansei emperor” and a “Jokei emperor”, and it will be a completely different family line from then on.

This is why adoptions and sons-in-law were not welcomed in the old days. Even if he entered the family as a daughter’s husband, using our previous example, even if Mr. Taro Tanaka entered Hanako Suzuki’s House Suzuki as a son-in-law, the child born would be of House Tanaka lineage, a “Dankei child”. Even if only the family name Suzuki remains, it has already been taken over by House Tanaka in terms of the succession line.

This means that House Suzuki’s family lineage, status, property, and everything else will be taken over by House Tanaka and become a completely different House. Therefore, neither adopted heirs nor sons-in-law by adoption will be welcome. In the Warring States period, sons-in-law and adopted children were popular because they wanted to take over the other House without going to war.

Even if Princess Aiko marries Tanaka Taro and the child born is a boy, he is not allowed to succeed to the throne. If that child succeeds to the throne, it means that a new House Tanaka imperial family will be born instead of the current imperial family. The unbroken line will cease. A Jokei emperor is unacceptable. That’s what it means. Don’t be confused by people trying to muddy the waters between Josei emperors and Jokei emperors as some form of discrimination against women or contempt for women. 1

In Europe, on the other hand, there are also female emperors and queens. Japan is lagging behind Europe, where human rights and gender equality are well established. 2 This is because their histories are different.

Have you ever wondered why European dynasties keep changing names such as XX Era and XX Era? That is because the previous dynasty fell and was replaced by the next dynasty.

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It is easy to understand that the next dynasty will be established after overthrowing the previous dynasty and slaughtering the former monarch’s family by going to war, like the various Chinese revolutions. Even Japanese people can understand it at a glance. In contrast, European dynasties do not even go to war, but one day there is XX Dynasty, and then it suddenly changed to YY Dynasty.

In fact, on modern earth, one dynasty is about to end. The British royal family is currently Queen Elizabeth II of the House of Windsor. 3 If Elizabeth II dies, the Windsor Dynasty will end and another Dynasty will begin.

You might think that the family isn’t cut off because there’s Prince Charles. But that’s a big mistake. Elizabeth II’s husband, Prince Philip, is not of the Windsor Dynasty. Therefore, the patrilineage of Prince Charles is not the Windsor Dynasty, and if Prince Charles or his descendants succeed in the British royal family, Prince Philip’s House Mountbatten will become the royal family and the Windsor Dynasty will be discontinued.

To cover this, the name of the Windsor Dynasty is to remain as the Mountbatten-Windsor Dynasty, but in reality, the Mountbatten Dynasty is replacing it.

In Europe, there is a culture that understands that the royal family’s succession line is discontinued and the dynasty is replaced, but it is acceptable, and it has nothing to do with recognizing Japan’s “Jokei emperor”. In Europe, where dynasties change every few decades or so, and in Japan, where the line of succession is unbroken, the issue is on a completely different level.

In the Kingdom of Ploiss, matrilineal succession is recognized. It is legally permitted for Alexandra to inherit House Lingerburg and for her children to continue to inherit the title. But as long as I don’t know what the person who assassinated Nikolaus was aiming for, I can’t let Alexandra inherit House Lingerburg.

“Wow! Please look, Father! I can see the sea!” I cried.

And while thinking about such things, we climbed the mountain and looked down at the sea. A month after Father told me to take a break, we walked around the northern forest and finally came to a place where we could cross and see it in the distance.

The peak of the mountain in the northwest, as seen from Carruzan, is a mountain range that gradually decreases in elevation as it goes east. I walked around while surveying and researching the northern forest, and found a place that seemed just right to cross, so I climbed the mountain. From the top of the mountain, you can see the sea to the north. It seems that there is still a long way to go, but just seeing the sea makes me excited.

As I imagined, the river in the northeast seems to bend to the east more and more, and it seems that if you go down the river, you have to make a big turn to reach the sea. No, to go out to sea, you can go down the river, but it will go to the east, so if you want to make a port town within my territory, you have to go out to sea and then go back west.

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So I decided to actually go to the sea, thinking about the land route. My father gave me vacation time, so it’s like a trip using the days off. Well, all I do is work, but…

Well, then. When I said I was going to investigate the forest, my father came along. Is this okay? The Lord has been away from his territory for over a month… moreover, now my 2nd brother is also going to the royal capital to attend school. My oldest brother will be graduating soon and coming home, but he’s not here yet. Is it okay for the Lord to play around without anyone acting as a regent?

It’s a different story when we went to the royal capital and were away from the territory for a longer time. If it’s the royal capital, you’d know where Margrave Albert is and how you can contact him. Besides, he wasn’t playing then, he was working, so if there’s an emergency, you should just contact the Carruthers Residence in the royal capital.

Compared to that, there is no way to get in touch now, and even if it’s an investigation in the forest, it’s not much different than playing around. Moreover, I plan to develop it as House Caan, so it’s a job, but the Head of House Carruthers who isn’t trying to develop this place shouldn’t have any work or stake her. Well, it’s fine by me, but…

It’s nice to go out with Father like this. In the deep forest, just taking a few people with him and eating and sleeping with my father became a good exchange in various ways.

Lately, I feel like Father and I have been interacting with each other a lot. A long time ago, when I was still young, I had almost no contact with my father, and even if I did, it felt like a business affair, but recently, like this, the contact with my father has increased. …… though, I still get beaten up with iron bars every morning and every night……

Erich, Dominic, Helmut, and Isabella are following me. There are a few more soldiers and luggage carriers who are my father’s subordinates. I worried if Isabella would be okay following me to this place, but she seems to be fine even if she climbs the mountain. The older sister, Victoria, was tired from even a short walk, but the younger sister, Isabella, said her body was her worth, and she was full of energy.

“If it’s this distance, will we be able to get to the sea today?” Father said. “Hmm… we can go near the ocean and make camp there.”

“Yes…!” I cried, nodding at Father’s words.

The sea! The sea! The sea is coming soon! I can’t stay lost forever… I have to get rid of thoughts of Alexandra…

We made it near the sea smoothly and set up a tent for tonight’s camping. As soon as the tent is set up…

“It’s the sea~! It’s the sea, Helmut!” I cried.

“Miss Flora, it’s dangerous to get too excited,” Helmut said.

Oh? Helmut, are you trying to say that my legs are weak and my feet might get caught in the sand and I’ll fall? Then, would you like to play?

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I run along the deserted sandy beach to the edge of the waves. It was the first time in nearly 11 years that I saw the sea. I think that the sea is still the sea no matter where you go.

“From the top of the mountain, I didn’t see any places where people might be living,” I called out as I ran on the sand.

“That’s right,” Helmut said as he caught up to me. “I’ve never heard of anyone living on this side of the mountains.”

Ships will pass over the sea, so if there was a village here, it would have been discovered long ago. The absence of it means that there is no location where there are big concentrations of people.

“The seafood you can catch is just like any other coastal area,” I said. “Why hasn’t this area been settled?”

If you go further east, yes, there seems to be a village near the mouth of the northeast river where it flows into the sea. In general, human living areas develop around bodies of water. Along the river or around the sea. So if you get lost in the forest, if you find a river and go down, there is a high probability that you will end up somewhere where there are people.

“Ah…” Helmut said, “if you go a little further from here, you’ll come to the Land of the Demons. In the past, naval battles were fought with them, and the western sea was exactly the front line. No one would have dared live near it.”

Ah… I don’t quite understand it, but come to think of it, there’s a Demon Country in the northwest, right? It seems that wars have been repeated many times since long ago, so no one wants to live near such a place.

“Even though it’s so beautiful… it’s a waste,” I said.

“Yeah, truly… so beautiful,” Helmut said.

…… Hmm? Helmut is staring at me intently. Can you see anything over there? …… There is nothing in particular when I look behind me. You can only see the endless expanse of the sea. If he looks at me that much and says things like that, it’s like he’s saying I’m pretty. If I were a normal girl, there might be a strange misunderstanding. Take care, Helmut. Even without that bit, your face is that of a lady killer. 4

“Take this…!” I yelled.

“Ngh…” Helmut groaned.

I splashed seawater on Helmut. Now he’s suddenly soaked to the skin.

“Ahaha! You can never be too careful!” I said.

“Miss Flora… does this mean that I can fight back as well?” Helmut said.

“Oh? Are you going to fight me? Fine by me, you know? Come on!” I yelled.

“I won’t lose,” Helmut cried back.

Even though Helmut is about to turn 18, he’s still a kid… for me, it’s nostalgic as it reminds me of when I was playing with my male friends. Like this, I played with Helmut and the others on the beach for a while.

Footnotes

All of this talk of Japanese politics is outside my wheelhouse, I’ll not comment on this.This is just the author’s opinion from their knowledge, I won’t speak any of this as I’m mostly interested in fictional politics.This chapter was published in 2019.Again, any males interested in Flora is going nowhere. I believe it’s a bit of realism in that other people will fall for Flora, despite her not reciprocating their feelings.

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