Kazuya Souma

Kazuya Souma (ソーマ・カズヤ, Sōma Kazuya), later renamed as Souma A. Elfrieden (ソーマ・Ａ・エルフリーデン, Sōma Amidonia Erufurīden), is the main male protagonist of the Genjitsu Shugi Yuusha no Oukoku Saikenki series. He is an earthling who was summoned to another world as a hero, but with the accurate announcement of the previous king, Albert Elfrieden, he became the King of Elfrieden Kingdom and to avoid rebellions of people thinking Kazuya has usurped the throne, the king gives his daughter's hand in marriage to Kazuya.

Appearance
At debut, Kazuya is a 19 year-old youth with brownish-black hair and brown-eyes. His overall physical features are that of a standard Japanese man. He normally wears basic trouser and white shirt with a blazer; due to this being the clothing he was summoned in, he feels the most comfortable in it. When doing official work, like military campaign or travel, he dons the royalty military uniform of the Elfrieden Kingdom.

Personality
Kazuya is considered, as the title goes, a realist and holds great respect for the writings of Machiavelli and Sun Tzu. Initially unsure of himself after suddenly being handed the crown of Elfrieden, Kazuya eventually gains confidence in implementing his reforms and advancing the standard of living for the citizens. He is very caring of his Queen Consorts and follows the advice of his late grandfather to protect his family at all costs.

Kazuya is not perfect by any means and still makes mistakes and overlooks some details. His view on annexing only the city of Van left him unprepared to absorbing the entire country of Amidonia. He had also underestimated the scope of the corrupt nobles he had exiled from Elfrieden, and was only saved due to the plans of Georg Carmine and the power of the former Queen Elisha Elfrieden.

While Kazuya isn't a glutton, he tends to get passionate when it comes to food and cooking. He himself admits he enjoys cooking and trying out new recipes along side Poncho. When he learned the Mystic Wolf tribe were able to produce similar types of foods to that of Japan, he was happy that he could still eat dishes from his homeland.

History
Kazuya is 19 years old modern Japanese person and a to-be-university student who just graduated from high school when his grandfather dies. Before his grandfather's death, he tells Kazuya to get married and live a fulfilling life. Shortly after the funeral, Souma was suddenly summoned to the Kingdom of Elfrieden, out of desperation, due to the kingdom's inability to pay for war tributes to the Gran Chaos Empire. Unwilling to be handed over to the Empire, Souma instead convinced the King of Elfrieden that it was possible to raise the money to pay the tribute, as well as implement reforms and plans to solve the food shortages, strengthen the army and improve the overall economy. Alfred Elfrieden was so impressed that he decided to abdicate his position as ruler and hand it over to Souma. He also engaged his daughter, Liscia Elfrieden, to Souma.

Much to everyone's surprise, Souma actually managed to raise the money to pay the war tribute in two days by selling off unneeded national treasures. Furthermore, by using the Royal Jewel Broadcast as a kind of mass-media system, he was able to gather the subordinates he needed to solve the food crisis, improve the economy and entertain and inform the masses. His usage of modern-day tactics and ideas of Earth also helped him win the One Week War against the rebelling dukes Georg Carmine and Castor Vargas, and Amidonia, which later resulted in the annexation of that nation.

He married to five women, Liscia Elfrieden, Aisha Udgard, Roroa Amidonia, Juna Doma and Naden Delal. He has also set up a secret alliance with the Gran Chaos Empire and a Tripartite Medical Alliance with the Empire and the Republic of Turgis. Recently, he had been in negotiations with the Union of Eastern Nations after his kingdom provided military aid to repel an invasion of demons. By the time he returned home, his First Queen-consort Liscia had already given birth to twins.

Physical Abilities
Being a regular person from Earth, Kazuya doesn't have much experience in either combat or physical training. Though later on, he does start training in order to increase his physical strength and learn Swordsmanship for self-defense, but his level is around a fresh recruit solider.

Sewing
Kazuya is quite talented at sewing and creating clothing. He is able to repair any damaged fabric or create articles of clothing and even plush dolls. Little Musashibo is a product of his sewing talents.

Cooking
Kazuya is a capable chef, able to prepare a wide variety of dishes from his world. However, he acknowledge the limits of what he can reproduce from his world by himself, usually needing Poncho to help him.

Mental Abilities
Kazuya is far more adept in terms of social economics than most in Landia. Due to his knowledge of modern civilization and how the economy affects the populace, he is able to enact reforms and innovations which improve the overall standard of living for the people of Elfrieden and later Friedonia. The success of such methods and innovations are even copied in the Gran Chaos Empire.

His knowledge of the tactics of Sun Tzu and modern warfare also gives him better insight in terms of military actions. His deception tactics during the One Week War greatly impressed Georg Carmine and even made Excel Walter shudder at the thought of how Kazuya's world had experienced such things.

Magical Abilities
Dark Element: Upon being summoned to the Other World, Kazuya gained the ability to use "Dark Element" Magic, which are Unique Magic that can't be categorized under the other elements and are more personalized form of magic. Because of its nature, "Dark Element" Magic is a rare magical element. Since Kazuya is transferring a part of his consciousness into an object to manipulate it, he can also see and hear everything through it, and they can even move independently without any directives from Kazuya. The power and functionality of the magic is based on the weight and form of the object, thus giving Kazuya various usability depending on the object. The control over object become more proficient and easier, if its in the form of an living creatures like toys or dolls, and allows him to simultaneously control more object at the same time. Kazuya can showcase his full potential, if the object is in humanoid shape, since his transferred consciousness can manipulate the humanoid doll shape more easily. He can even make the humanoid doll use various weapons and become proficient with their usage along with them. The effective range of "Living Poltergeist" is around 100 meters for objects which aren't "dolls".
 * "Living Poltergeist": Its the ability to manipulate objects by transferring the users consciousness into them.

Equipment
In order to maximize his utilization of his unique Dark Element Magic "Living Poltergeist", Kazuya had incorporated the usages of various types of dolls, some of which he himself created.

Carved Wooden Mouse
「 木き彫ぼ りのネズミ, Kibori no Nezumi 」

A small palm-size Wooden doll, carved in the shape of a mouse. Kazuya brought a lot of them from a shop in hopes that they could be useful along with his magic "Living Poltergeist". He primarily uses these dolls for information gathering, scouting or searching.

These dolls played a huge part in helping Kazuya find the people who were trapped in the landslide which occurred in the "God-Protected Forest", thus saving the lives of many.

Little Musashibo
「 ムサシ 坊ぼう や 君くん, Musashi Bōya-kun 」

Little Musashibo is Kazuya's adventurer "alter-ego," in which he manipulates a large, costume doll with a plushy and humanoid form with his "Living Poltergeist" magic. As a humanoid form doll, Little Musashibo allows Kazuya to move around freely without any range limit and observe things as well as allow him to act when needed. The inside of the doll is empty and is large enough for a person to ride inside, though it is quite hot. The doll is created by Kazuya himself, and is made of fibers that are bladeproof, bulletproof, and is resistant to fire, cold and acid.

Kazuya's manipulation allowed it to become a skilled melee fighter and an expert in any weapon that it uses (though Kazuya himself can't gain this weapon usage or combat experience this way). Normally, Kazuya equips it with a "Naginata", but it is also able to efficiently use Bows and Swords as well. It is also equipped with an "Wicker Basket" on its back, which is big enough to carry a person inside.

In Friedonia, he is called "The Adventurer Who Wears a Kigurumi". In addition to taking quests from the Adventurer's Guild, Little Mushashibo often teams up with Juno's party and is a star on the Jewel Broadcast Program "Singing with Big Sis."

As his name implies, his design is based off of legendary Heian warrior monk Saitō Musashibō Benkei.

Flame Pierrot
「 火炎道化師</rb>フレイムピエロ</rt>, Fureimu Piero 」

Flame Pierrot are dolls with a bizarre appearance with patchwork bodies, tattered clothing, zombie-like movements, and flames blazing from their heads.

Kazuya created these dolls for his plan to secretly evacuate the towns and village which would fall in the route of the invading Amidonian Army without arousing any suspicion, during the events of the One Week War, by making the dolls pose as new variants of monsters, which went around damaging the towns and villages around the border areas. These dolls also made it so that the invading Amidonian Army, would be careful of them and avoid them, thus slowing their progress.

Factory Arm #1
「 コーボー・アーム１ 号</rb>ごう</rt>, Kōbō Āmu 1 Gō 」

"Factory Arm #1" is an experimental doll in the shape of an prosthetic arm attached to an L-shaped platform, created by Genia Maxwell on Kazuya's request.

This doll allows Kazuya's "Living Poltergeist" to perform more intricate hand controls allowing him to grasp a pen easily and write smoothly, which wasn't possible with his other dolls like "Little Musashibo". Because of its realistic looking arm, the doll has an creepy appearance, enough to even surprise or make some people faint on seeing it for the first time.

The main use for this device is to allow Kazuya to sign paperwork, even if he is not present at the castle.

Etymology

 * The name Kazuya means "one" (一) (kazu) and "to be, also" (也) (ya).
 * Kazuya's surname Souma means "phase, aspect, countenance, mutually, fellow" (相) (sou) and "horse" (馬) (ma).

Trivia

 * Because Kazuya introduced himself to others using the Japanese form of family-name/surname first, most people in the Kingdom think that "Souma" is his given name, thus referring to him as "King Souma". Only a few know that "Kazuya" is his given-name, while "Souma" is his family-name. Due to this error on his part, the given name he is known by around the world is "Souma".
 * During the coronation ceremony, he had to rename himself as "Souma A. Elfrieden", thus giving up on his given name "Kazuya", while taking on the name of both the Amidonia and the Elfrieden family as his surname.
 * Liscia gave their daughter a similar sounding name (i.e., ""Kazuha "), so that Kazuya's birth name isn't forgotten.
 * According to Liscia Elfrieden, Souma has the greatest housekeeping skills in the royal family, exceeding the likes of Juna Doma and Roroa Amidonia.
 * In Volume 6, during the talk with Tiamat, it's stated that Kazuya is not the same human race as the other in the current world. Souma suspect that he is even an Older as the "Old Ones" like Tiamat however it is still not known what exactly human being he is.