I Didn't Want to Become the Emperor of This World

Chapter 9

After sending the letters to the two dukes, Vaimal and Panshin.

To overcome the drowsiness and fatigue pouring in from staying up all night, I massaged my temples with my fingers and thought.

‘By now, the letters should have been delivered to the two dukes.’

The content I wrote in the letter was roughly this.

「In order to properly lead this country from now on, a person of deep trust must become king. Therefore, I will hand over the throne to the one who obtains more ‘votes’ between the two of you Dukes.」

On top of that, I added one more thing, a criterion for who had the right to vote. The criterion of ‘noble’, ‘vassal’, and ‘servant’.

‘This way, the dukes will try to pull in as many people related to them as possible to get even one more vote. And all those people… will be purged.’

Although I had already decided to purge the entire noble faction, my heart was not at ease. It was only natural, for no matter how much most of the nobles were unrecyclable trash, among them there would be those who were relatively less trash, and perhaps even some who were completely innocent.

Above all, no matter how guilty they were, making a firm decision to kill people was still a heavy burden for me.

‘…It's not easy. Becoming a king is so. I wonder if the rich kids I envied so much felt this way? They are a bit different since they don't have to kill people at least.’

As I was feeling burdened in various ways.

Knock, knock.

—Your Highness, I have brought the 3rd Knight Commander, Jereuth.

Elly's voice was heard from outside. I immediately straightened my messy hair with my fingers and said.

“Come in.”

The door opened and Jereuth and Elly came in. Elly, with her usual expression, politely greeted me, while Jereuth's expression was quite serious. His reddened face looked as if he felt betrayed by me.

Perhaps he had already heard the news that I was handing over the throne to the dukes—.

“…Your Highness! I heard that you are handing over the throne to the dukes. What is the meaning of this!!”

It was just as I thought.

“This is different from what you said back then!”

Jereuth shouted at me, even revealing his killing intent. The aura of the old veteran who had roamed the battlefields for decades was quite burdensome for a modern person like me who grew up like a hothouse flower.

However, I did my best not to show that I was being pressed by Jereuth's aura and first offered him a seat.

“Please have a seat first, Commander.”

“…Hah!”

Letting out a frustrated sigh, Jereuth sat opposite me. Then, Elly, who was watching me and Jereuth, hurriedly took out tea and refreshments and tried to place them on the table.

But—.

“It is not needed!!”

Jereuth shouted roughly at Elly and threw the tea and refreshments to the ground. He seemed to be quite angry that I had said I would hand over the throne to the dukes.

“Hiccup!”

Elly, who had been caught in the crossfire, even hiccupped and became gloomy like a scolded puppy. Her big eyes quickly filled with moisture.

To such an Elly, I spoke calmly.

“I have something to discuss with the Commander, so please step out for a moment.”

“…Yes. Sob.”

The thoroughly frightened Elly replied with difficulty and left the room. Seeing that, Jereuth let out a deep sigh and bowed his head to me.

Hoo―.

“I apologize. I got a little excited.”

“I understand.”

“So, Your Highness. What is this all about? You're going to hand over the throne to one of the two dukes?”

“Of course, it's a lie.”

“…A lie?”

The old man, whose face had been red enough to burst just a moment ago, quickly turned pale as if cold water had been thrown on his face.

“Yes. My saying I would hand over the throne to the two dukes is a stratagem. First, please take a look at the letter I sent to the duke.”

“The letter….”

When I handed him a paper with the same content as the letter I had sent to the dukes, Jereuth quickly skimmed through the letter.

But he still shook his head as if he couldn't understand.

“I do not understand your thoughts. It is written that you will hand over the throne to the one with more nobles, vassals, and servants following him between the two dukes!”

“Yes. That is the stratagem. I plan to gather all of the noble faction and purge them all at once.”

“…Purge?!”

“Please lower your voice. Someone might hear.”

Jereuth regained his composure and replied.

“A p-purge… I see.”

“Yes. After pondering all day yesterday, I concluded that the only way to check the noble faction and strengthen the royal authority is through a purge. But since my power is so meager, I felt it was impossible to purge the noble faction one by one through ordinary methods.”

Slurp―.

Taking a sip of the tea Elly had brought, I continued to speak.

“So I concluded that it was necessary to gather all those who follow the two dukes—‘the entire noble faction’—in one place. To do that, I had to throw a tempting bait to the dukes, and I thought there was no other bait to lure them besides the throne.”

“…Your Highness. Are you really planning to carry out a purge? And the entire noble faction at that?”

“Yes.”

“I will ask you once more. Your Highness, are you truly going to carry out a purge? A purge… is a truly dangerous method. Even if it succeeds, an enormous amount of national power is consumed to clean up the aftermath, and if it fails, you, Your Highness—.”

“If it fails, I will die. But there is no other answer. If I stay still, I will soon have my throne taken away by the nobles, be used as they please, and then be eliminated.”

“……”

Jereuth, who had been roughly angry with me just a moment ago, now had a very calm expression. But the look of disappointment in me was nowhere to be seen. Rather, there was a great deal of surprise.

Hah.

Jereuth let out another deep breath and said.

“When you said you would think of a way to strengthen the royal authority, I was curious and even looked forward to what kind of plan you would bring… but I did not expect you to think of a purge. It has only happened once in our Plank Kingdom.”

“I see.”

“Then does Your Highness wish for this old man to kill them all without exception?”

“That's right.”

When I nodded my head, Jereuth's expression became incomparably firm.

It was like the appearance of a knight about to go into battle.

But unlike that momentum, Jereuth gave me a realistic answer.

“Your Highness. However, to be frank, the power of the 3rd Knight Order alone is not enough to purge the entire noble faction. If we fight one-on-one, we can easily win, but their numbers are much greater.”

“I know. That we lack the military power.”

“…You know?”

“Yes. No matter how great a knight you are, Commander, and how outstanding the skills of the 3rd Knight Order that follows you are, you have to face the 1st Knight Order, which is loyal to Duke Vaimal, and the 2nd Knight Order, which is loyal to Duke Panshin. Even excluding the kingdom's knight orders, considering the personal private soldiers and knights that the nobles command, the military power of the 3rd Knight Order will be greatly pushed back.”

“If you know that, did you perhaps think of a solution?”

“Yes.”

When I nodded my head, Jereuth looked quite surprised.

***

‘…There’s a way to make up for the power difference with the noble faction?’

Jereuth was as surprised as he was when he had said, 「“I will purge the noble faction.”」

However, what was even more surprising was the consistently calm attitude of Crown Prince Leonardo.

‘A purge is a more dangerous and drastic decision than war. But to speak of it so calmly… should I hear the plan first.’

“What is the plan?”

When Jereuth asked, Leonardo replied, explaining by drawing on a piece of paper.

“Until now, the noble faction has been united as one, eating away at the kingdom. So the power of the royal family alone could not check them.”

“Yes.”

“But now the situation has changed. From the moment I said, “I will hand over the throne to one of the two dukes,” the noble faction will be divided into the ‘Vaimal Ducal Faction’ and the ‘Panshin Ducal Faction’. In other words, the military power of the noble faction will be divided into two.”

“…So?”

“As you know, Duke Vaimal and Duke Panshin are greedy bastards. Their pride is also strong. That is why they will not be able to stand another duke taking the throne instead of themselves.”

Scribble, scribble―.

Leonardo wrote [Vaimal vs Panshin] on the paper and continued to speak.

“As you know from seeing the letter earlier, I said I would give the throne to the one with more nobles, knights, sycophants, and servants following them between the two dukes. So the two dukes will establish their own factions while keeping the other faction in check.”

“If the two dukes check each other, are you saying the two ducal factions will fight each other?”

“At first, they will just peacefully argue. In a way like, ‘Our duke is more outstanding!’. But as the Throne Handover Ceremony gets closer and closer, the two ducal factions will become on edge. Because their future will change depending on which duke becomes king. If the duke they support becomes king, they will become founding contributors, but if the opposite happens, they will become targets for elimination.”

At Leonardo's words, Jereuth rolled his eyes, then nodded his head. At the same time, he was continuously surprised.

‘…He thought of this in just one night?’

It was unbelievable. For a mere twelve-year-old child, even if he was the crown prince, a child who had received no education due to having a weak king and queen, to come up with such a thought.

What was even more surprising was that the more Jereuth listened to Leonardo's words, the more he felt that it was a method he himself would have thought of. He, who had devised all sorts of strategies while roaming the battlefields for decades.

“Do you understand up to this point?”

“Ah… yes.”

Jereuth broke out of his thoughts and focused on Leonardo again.

“Then I will continue to explain. When the two ducal factions are showing infinite suspicion and wariness towards each other, there is something you will have to do then, Commander.”

“Please say anything. If it is something I can do—.”

“Kill a noble from the Vaimal Ducal Faction and disguise it as an assassination by the Panshin Ducal Faction.”

“…Yes?”

What was this now. No, Jereuth, of course, understood Leonardo's words, but he couldn't accept them right away.

To kill a noble from the Vaimal Ducal Faction and disguise it as the work of the Panshin Ducal Faction, it was a very atrocious stratagem.

What was even more surprising was that the one saying those words was a twelve-year-old child.

That child continued to explain.

“When the two ducal factions are wary and suspicious of each other. At that time, if a noble from the Vaimal Ducal Faction dies and it looks like it was the work of the Panshin Ducal Faction, what do you think will happen?”

“Then… Duke Vaimal will not stay still. He will definitely attack Duke Panshin.”

“That's right. If that happens, a civil war will break out between the two ducal factions. The nobles will kill each other, and the royal palace will reek of blood.”

“…You know that and you're still going to do it?”

“Yes. Because it is to our advantage if the nobles consume each other's military power. And—.”

Rip!

Leonardo finished his words by roughly crossing out the names of ‘Duke Vaimal’ and ‘Duke Panshin’ written on the paper.

“I have decided to kill them all anyway. For my and the kingdom's future.”

“……”

“I am sorry to involve an honorable knight like you, Commander Jereuth, in such a dirty political stratagem. But since you said you would follow me, follow my command.”

Hearing this much, Jereuth decided not to think of Leonardo as a ‘sickly twelve-year-old young crown prince’ anymore.

‘This person… no, this man is a frightening person. A truly frightening person.’

He himself was a ruthless and merciless knight on the battlefield. Although he was praised as ‘a single ray of light that cleaves the battlefield’, that was for his allies; to his enemies, he was no different from a demon.

Jereuth also had always thought that the nobles should be strongly checked. But he had never once thought of killing a person from the same kingdom.

But this boy who wanted to become king declared that he would do it for himself and the kingdom.

‘But a king must be like that. He must be frightening and strong. And at the same time, he must be wise. This man… His Highness Leonardo is such a person.’

Suddenly, Jereuth saw the woman he loved overlapping with Leonardo's face.

That was ‘Hael’, Leonardo's mother and the queen.

‘…Hael. You were like that too. You said you would deal with anyone mercilessly for the kingdom you love and the people who follow you.’

But she could not overcome the grief of losing two sons and became weak. And then she asked Jereuth for a favor. To take care of the last precious thing left to her, ‘Leonardo’.

‘I was bothered all along that I couldn't grant that request… maybe I can grant the request like this.’

A request from his first love that could not be, and should not have been, fulfilled.

The elderly knight resolved to sacrifice the rest of his life for it.

For the old veteran's sword was still alive.

Thump!

Jereuth spoke as he had when he confessed to Hael before she became queen.

“Your Highness. Even if my heart stops, my sword will cut down your enemies.”

***

“Then, Your Highness, I will take my leave. Please call me whenever you have an order.”

“Yes.”

Jereuth left the room.

I let out a big sigh of relief.

Hoo—!

‘It seems to have gone well.’

Although I knew through the that Jereuth would follow me, actually leading him to do so was quite a burden for me. It couldn't be helped. As I always say, until a few weeks ago, I was an ordinary kid who went to university and worked part-time.

But anyway, the situation was proceeding as I wanted. After taking a few more deep breaths to calm my heart that was pounding enough to be felt in my chest, I opened the .

It was to check if anything had changed now that I had revealed my plan to Jereuth.

The moment I opened the .

Flip, flip, flip, flip, flip—!

The diary began to turn on its own again.

But this time, it wasn't a page in the middle, but the last page.

The page where my end was written.

And the content written on that page was again too short.

…….

My plan was only half successful.

Dividing the noble faction into two and making them kill each other was perfect. But there was something I didn't know.

That was the existence of the ‘Kingdom Mage Corps’.

Originally, the Mage Corps was a group that did not get involved in politics at all. So Jereuth also did not consider them a variable when purging the noble faction.

But… it turned out that the dukes had secretly won over the Kingdom Mage Corps to their side. Jereuth and the 3rd Knight Order, who had no way of knowing that, did not prepare countermeasures against the mages, and when they carried out the purge, they were helplessly dealt with by the Mage Corps' counterattack.

In the end, the purge failed.

And all that was left by my side, who had lost everything and given up, was Elly.

Fwoosh—!

The central palace, where only I, the king, Elly, and a few servants remained, was burning. As the smoke entered my room and I watched the fire burn, I regretted.

‘…Would the situation have changed if I had made Jereuth prepare to face the mages? No, just as you fight a sword with a sword, you should have fought magic with magic. I should have prepared a magic force to face the Mage Corps.’

If I had paid attention to the existence of the Kingdom Mage Corps, I would have prepared accordingly.

The ‘Kingdom Mage Corps’, where the best mages in the kingdom were gathered.

But it was already too late. My breath gradually stopped due to the thick smoke.

I died.

That was my end.

And as soon as I read it, a curse came out.

“Shit… why are you telling me something this important only now.”

The Throne Handover Ceremony I told the dukes about was in one week. There was no justification to postpone it.

So, I had to find a magic force to face the Kingdom Mage Corps within one week.

My sleepiness vanished completely.