1003. The Problem of Empire
While Encred was out, Krang stood face-to-face with the Emperor, accompanied by the entire Saxon and Royal Guards.
As soon as they entered the Emperor’s room, the five Royal Guards broke out in a cold sweat, but they endured.
They had their own duty, so there was no way they could not come along. Furthermore, Krang respected the Royal Guards’ obligations.
The Emperor and others simply accepted them without ordering them to disarm, yet the Knight Commander’s gaze was strangely chilling.
Why are you guys coming in here?
Well, I suppose you could say it was a look along those lines.
Yet, since he didn’t directly inflict harm, Krang simply watched. In any case, it was the same room they had visited before. The Emperor sat on a wooden chair, and Krang stood at the bottom of the stairs. One
might expect to see him elsewhere or appear as a servant, but the Emperor did not.
Was the important conversation meant to take place here? Perhaps. He might have had a slightly arrogant side and enjoyed looking down from above.
How could Krang possibly know his true intentions?
Just as his close friend does, he is simply faithful to the present.
I received the gift.
Krang spoke abruptly. The Emperor nodded. What was the gift? It was a non-aggression pact.
Although he had called it a wager, Bram Ritzer, the Grand Master of the Knights, did not leave the Emperor’s side.
In other words, it had been given as a gift from the start. It was merely presented as a wager.
Of course, upon closer inspection, one could read the Emperor’s true intention: that if one could not even handle a matter as trivial as this, he could not grant a non-aggression pact. Krang had effectively told the Emperor that it was no big deal, and that his knight would finish everything without a second thought.
Conversations among those who have lived as rulers are bound to be complicatedly twisted. Yet, this was not difficult. In fact, one might say this was a more comfortable conversation.
If one were to reveal their true intentions so clearly from the beginning, it would likely raise more suspicion.
“How is it? Are you satisfied?”
The Emperor asked. I looked down and saw her body leaning slightly forward. Wouldn’t she fall over if she leaned a little more?
Of course not. I don’t know why, but her body is connected to that chair.
It is sometimes satisfactory, and sometimes not.
Krang answered.
“I ask for the reason.”
“My objective was, of course, to avoid being stabbed in the back by the Empire when erasing the Demonic Mirror. So, I am satisfied. However, since the Emperor is simply handing it over, I am dissatisfied because I do not know his true intentions.”
Was it disrespectful? At least the Emperor and the Knight Commander didn’t mind.
It might have been offensive if Lord Donapa or other Imperial nobles had heard it, though.
The strange one was Krang. He looked at the Emperor and spoke and acted as if nothing were wrong. He didn’t display excessive politeness, nor did he act arrogantly. It was a mystery.
In truth, Krang found this part puzzling himself, but for now, he was letting things unfold. Because he thought this was natural.
The Emperor treated him more comfortably than expected, and he had shown him favor by telling him to do the same. So, he had no choice but to follow.
Is that so?
Did the Emperor expect today’s conversation to be enjoyable? A smile appeared on her face.
Even Krang could not have known how she felt. He spoke exactly as he had seen, heard, and felt. He had talked about this and that with Executor Seriana on the way here, and he had learned quite a lot since arriving.
Does the Empire act unilaterally?
A small, elite group of ironmen moves as intended and weighs the importance of matters according to their will. That is how the Empire operates.
This was a detail even Encred had failed to notice. It is visible only to those who hold the position of a political leader and possess the ego of a ruler.
Bram Ritzer, the Knight Commander, stood beside the Emperor without sending a single glance. He looked like a loafer passing the time in a boring place.
Yet, he did not yawn or pick his ear; he simply stood there. That was his role. That is why he acted as if he could not hear Krang’s challenging tone.
“I act in the most rational way.”
“Isn’t consensus better?”
“Then we’ll be late.”
“Isn’t it better to go the right way than to be late?”
“If we’re late, we miss out on a lot. I find that a waste. Besides, I’m mostly right, so it should be called wisdom, not dogmatism.”
Instead of scolding him for acting like he knows everything when he hasn’t seen much, he treats him as an equal and engages in conversation. That alone makes the conversation a success, but if he had been satisfied with just that, he wouldn’t have come this far.
It just means the unnecessary process was omitted.
Krang thought so. Was the Emperor more easygoing than expected? He
had originally intended to strike up a conversation with her in various ways to stand on equal footing with her, but that process had been abolished.
That’s strange. Considering that, there are quite a lot of people around.
If it is autocratic, why keep people around? This was a criticism.
“By what criteria did you embrace the people around you?”
“Aside from friends who share the same dream, I gathered people who would be helpful and share the same purpose.”
So that is why you are discussing soft ideas like agreement.
The Emperor spoke with his eyes and opened his mouth.
“I prefer people who are obedient and highly loyal, making them unlikely to betray me and unchanging for a lifetime. Those who follow me passively rather than actively—I bestow my grace upon such individuals and make them risk their lives. That is because only then will they fully accept my wisdom and spread it.”
It was a blunt remark, even though the Commander of the Imperial Knights, who was presumed to be the most loyal, was listening right beside him.
It was cold and chilling, and like a dagger.
What should one do after hearing such words? One should resist, refuse, and counterattack, but Krang accepted them.
“Oh? That’s nice, too. Still, I prefer someone who shares my views. Rather than someone who tries to get me around.”
“You are you, and I am me.”
It was a truly amusing response. The Emperor burst into laughter at Krang’s feigned innocence.
“Anyway, if it is done that way, won’t someone suffer because they are not chosen by His Majesty?”
“I suppose so.”
“Is that acceptable?”
“It can’t be helped. Some things must be given up.”
“Some people worship Your Majesty like a god; is that acceptable?”
“I am not a god. Nor have I lived to become one.”
“Then what do you live for?”
“If you know what a person truly desires, you can infer their actions. You can also verify their will,”
the Emperor replied.
It is the perpetuation of the empire.
It’s a lie, no, only half the truth. The Emperor didn’t even bother to hide his lack of honesty. Krang played along.
“Is it right for people to suffer for that?”
“That is why I use everything I have to relieve their suffering.”
Oh dear.
Only then did Krang realize that the Emperor’s bet was not just a simple gift.
“By any chance, are there any problems of the Empire on the side my knight went to?”
This is the key question.
There are many.
At the Emperor’s answer, the Knight Commander nodded with a pleased expression and spoke.
“He’s not quite up to me yet, but he looks like a real fighter. And he’s got a solid will, too, doesn’t he? There was this guy before who had talent but was too soft-hearted and ended up ruined, and he seems like the exact opposite. He doesn’t even look like he’s overflowing with talent, so I’m curious how he’s made it this far.”
The Emperor asked, still with a smiling face.
Does your knight have compassion for people?
Krang answered to the best of his knowledge of Enkrid.
Very much so.
* * *
Problems were rampant in the western part of the Empire. One was the bandit gang, and another was the packs of Cyclops.
In reality, there were many other things besides them that ran rampant in this land, harassing and killing people.
The bandit gang was part of the Heritage Society, a guardian of ruins; if one viewed them as part of the larger problem, then this pack of one-eyed monsters was no different. While
monsters were relatively scarce in the south of the Empire, in the west, groups of monsters would occasionally coalesce to cause trouble. The Empire called this the “Malify Phenomenon.”
Derived from a Gore word meaning evil deed, it essentially meant the devil’s trickery, deception, or prank.
Some people pointed out that the Heritage Society was behind this as well, but does that matter now?
There are monstrous mages who summon and control monsters in this land, and monsters with unique skills and talents abound.
By any measure, the Empire was not a perfectly safe land. Well, after all, this is a place where people live.
“What is the Imperial Knights doing?”
Encred did not ask in a particularly resentful tone. He had only asked out of pure suspicion, but it was fine to interpret it as a question asking why they were acting like this when they had the full power.
The Order is doing its job.
Trimache’s response was cold. After all, the language of fairies, speaking only the facts in a low voice, is bound to sound as if it harbors a chill.
However, it was not said with emotion.
Encred could distinguish that well, so he did not question it. The important thing was that a caravan had been attacked by monsters. The atmosphere between the western and southern parts of the Empire diverged starkly.
‘how?’
If the Knights are doing their job, one of their duties must be saving the granaries that feed the Empire.
Then there must be those guarding the borders between the West and the South.
Because they are more focused on protecting the South, Count Coty’s territory, and the granaries, sacrifices are being made on this side.
The conclusion is that it is impossible to favor one side relatively more than the other.
How should I put it… I suppose you could call it the result of an efficient policy.
Of course, it was none of Enkrid’s business. That is something Krang should be talking about.
However, he felt he understood why the Empire was trying to embrace Zaun, even going so far as to bestow upon him the title of “Shield Duke,” and why they were sending recruiters to the continent to attract talent.
Chronic lack of strength.
The Empire resolves most matters by force. That is why greater power is required whenever problems increase.
I wondered if the Empire, like the small nation of Evergard in the west of the continent, operated as a utopian country within its interior.
Struggle, fight.
They are doing the same. They are fighting internal enemies, and they will likely also fight external enemies, unknown entities that the current Enkrid does not know.
The child, who had not joined the conversation, glanced around cautiously and spoke.
I’m sorry for speaking so arrogantly.
He immediately lost an acquaintance who was like family. Yet, he didn’t just cry aimlessly.
He was a child with a strong will and determination. Enkrid thought that he had met many interesting people in various ways since coming here.
The soldier named Klaus Müller was one of them, too.
“Cyclops?”
Enkrid asked.
It is the embodiment of the devil.
In the child’s answer, one could glimpse the monster from the child’s perspective. Encred felt as though he had heard the origins of the devil for no reason.
How the Devil Was Born.
Could it be that doing this kind of thing strengthened his ego and cultivated his reason?
I killed that bastard called the Heat Parasite or whatever the other day. Although Temares was the one who delivered the final blow.
Anyway, in the process, hadn’t I glimpsed the way he had lived?
He is a being who has lived for a very long time by borrowing and possessing the bodies of others.
Here, I also noticed what that Cyclops, the new demon candidate, had done. Human bones, flesh, and internal organs were crushed together, turning into some kind of hodgepodge, and I saw a corpse with only legs remaining, its upper body missing.
Watching the child digging the ground alone, all sorts of thoughts crossed my mind.
The child was trying to retrieve the corpses to soothe his grief, and his refusal to run away was a minimal act of defiance against the monster that had finished its antics and left.
Encred was filled with the desire to amplify the degree of that defiance even further.
“which?”
There must be children among the dead. Encred truly hated such monsters. Anyone could tell that they had beaten people to death as a mere prank and then fled.
The traces left on the ground by the broken merchant caravan’s belongings were vivid. Broken wine, fresh vegetables scattered all around.
“Huh?”
“I asked where he went.”
The child pointed in the direction the monster had disappeared. Could they find it by going that way?
It wouldn’t have been an easy task for ordinary people.
Rem, Esther.
However, Encred was not alone; he was with extraordinary people.
“I.”
Esther answered and closed her eyes. Satisfied that the magical power suppressed in the Emperor’s castle moved effortlessly here, she recited a spell.
Noctua’s Eye.
Noctua, a being from another dimension, is an owl that craves light. He craves light because he has no eyes. He is a being whose hearing replaces his sight.
Therefore, Noctua’s eyes are his ears. Esther tracked the sound by identifying a few characteristics of the monster known as a Cyclops.
thud-
She picks up a sound shaking the ground from quite a distance. It is a noise impossible for a human to produce. That is quite a distance, yet they don’t seem to be running with full force. With
her eyes half-closed, her finger pointed to one side.
This way.
It was a little further south from where the child pointed.
Rem led the way, and Sinar carried Esther on his back.
“hmm?”
Encred, who was about to carry Esther, paused.
I will carry you.
Well, it didn’t matter. It would be nice to have a horse, but a knight is faster than an average steed even running on two legs. It might get a little tiring, but that wasn’t a big deal either.
Are you going to kill that?
The child asked.
“uh.”
Encreed answered and ran. He didn’t know what that child’s dream was, nor did he know if that child was the one standing behind him.
However,
the tear stains in the child’s eyes, along with the graves the child had been making and the traces of the monster’s mischief, moved Encreed’s heart.
