225. Adjutant Attendance (8)
“Do that now…!”
The voice that had been rising as if in tears suddenly stopped.
Ardal, realizing that the opponent is the emperor, slowly closes and opens his eyes to calm his emotions. Then, a calmer voice came out again.
“Are you calling that your answer now? “You are truly proud.”
“It’s just a simple question, so what’s not to be confident about?”
“Ha… Is that so?”
It’s not a simple question.
Through this question, Elpidius expressed that revenge was more important than empire. At the same time, the question itself is a pressure and asks the other person what he or she wants, so he is playing a game.
Will you quietly follow my will, or will you dare to take risks and stop the emperor?
“I’m sure you didn’t ask this question because you were genuinely curious about my answer.”
He probably already knows the answer.
Because I know Prime Minister Ardal’s tendencies well.
“Still, if I had to answer, yes.”
“….”
“I will drag you down. “Isn’t it natural for the emperor to fail in his duties as emperor?”
Even with subtle pressure and warnings, the eyes do not waver.
At the very top of the country should sit someone who serves the country more than anyone else.
That is my belief, so put aside your foolish thoughts even now and work quietly for this country. If you are not confident in doing so, try to get down yourself before pulling yourself down.
Prime Minister Ardal dared to threaten the two royal families.
…under. Alethea sneered with absurdity. Elpidius said with a sneer mixed with bitterness.
“You are truly proud. This is not something you should say in front of the emperor. “It would be better to give up the idea that the Emperor will look after you just because he cherished you.”
“When have I ever acted recklessly, carrying the emperor’s halo behind me? I just made my point known. “Your Majesty will never have to worry about anything before or in the future, and if you don’t like my attitude, you can just fire me, so I hope you will refrain from insulting me like that.”
“…okay. “I understand what you mean.”
They’ll take you down if you don’t prioritize the empire?
Elpidius rested his elbow on the right armrest of the chair he was sitting on and leaned his upper body loosely. Alethea, who was sitting on the left armrest with her sword in hand, silently turned her eyes towards the Prime Minister.
Both still had a sneer on their faces.
“First off, I’m not going to fire you. “It’s also hard to find someone as capable as you.”
“But I will not follow the Lord’s wishes. The confident attitude was quite impressive, but… well. “Did you think blackmail would work on us?”
The Prime Minister’s threats are blackmail. The two royal families noticed his remarks as soon as they heard them.
Alethea stands up lightly and trudges towards Ardal. Instead of walking straight, she closed the distance by slowly drawing a circle, like a wild beast circling its prey, and began her luck in a relaxed manner.
“Even so, in a situation where there is chaos inside and outside the empire, there is no way the Lord would add another layer of confusion by changing the emperor. “Others might not know, but he is Sir Ardal, who serves the empire more than anyone else.”
“….”
“Even if you decide to change it just in case, in order to bring down the current emperor, you have to prepare someone to be the next emperor. However, I am the only person who can stably continue the throne. “I am strictly on His Majesty’s side, so I will not do anything according to His will.”
“It’s not a public place, so you can call me what you feel comfortable with now.”
“Yes, brother. In any case, the Lord who served the Emperor closely would know better that there is no legitimate successor other than me. “Because when the Emperor ascended to the throne, he killed all the royal family members except my brother and me.”
All of my brothers and sisters, as well as their children.
I heard that when the incident began in the first place, escape holes were thoroughly blocked in advance, so no one escaped.
Against the backdrop of the Prime Minister’s silence, a sonorous voice echoed through the space.
“Of course, if you look carefully, there may be a collateral branch somewhere. However, in order to place such an unknown person on the throne, one must take a lot of risk and confusion. Even among the nobles, there will probably be a divide between those who support it and those who oppose it. “This is directly related to the safety of the empire, so in the end, the Lord will not make such a choice.”
“….”
“Of course, I would… assuming that he is not quite incompetent. Honestly, regardless of our mindset, we are good at one thing, right?”
So they laughed at it. Because the Prime Minister’s threats are ridiculous.
As if she had said all she wanted to say, Alethea stopped pressing and returned to her seat and sat down on the armrest of the chair. Elpidius said, smiling leisurely as he leaned a little closer to make it easier for her to sit down.
“And there is something the Emperor said.”
“….”
“’The burden is the empire.’”
“…!”
Ardal stiffened. Elpidius smiled bitterly as he watched his expression harden.
“So don’t go against my will. “I’m sure you didn’t forget to say hello to Jim.”
“….”
[Look at the current empire.]
Even though we talk about ourselves, we end up mocking ourselves. My uncle said that to mean that he would treat the empire as if it were his own body, but I am saying this to carry out my personal will. How is this different from other tyrants?
I know I am ruining the noble meaning of the words, but I have no intention of canceling them. I stared at the Prime Minister’s face, which was now completely distorted, and couldn’t resist the last remaining cry of conscience and let it out.
“Still, I plan to follow the Emperor’s wishes and make maintaining the empire a top priority, so don’t worry too much.”
“…You are saying that you will only maintain it. “The Emperor would want a better empire rather than revenge.”
“….”
I knew it would be like this. This is why I didn’t want to say it. Elpidius sighed.
Look at how he immediately changes direction from threats to persuasion as if he has caught the number of cases. Realizing that if I don’t agree with the smart guys, I’ll be in trouble more than anything else, I quickly change the subject before I get caught up or persuaded.
“Is Stigma Primiro’s whereabouts still available?”
“….”
The Prime Minister narrows his eyes, not knowing that he is changing his words. Elpidius made eye contact, pretending not to notice. After a brief battle of nerves, Ardal was the first to step back with a light sigh.
“We are tracking.”
For now, it would be better to be satisfied with just confirming that there is room for persuasion.
It would be good to resolve it as quickly as possible, but it doesn’t necessarily have to be resolved right away. There is still time, so you can persuade them again later. In the first place, I didn’t have high expectations because a person’s revenge is not something that can be given up right away with a few words.
After organizing his thoughts, he continued.
“There are reports of the appearance of a green-haired hero all over the continent, so it is not difficult to chase him down…” “If
the opponent decides to be a ‘hero’ and runs away or hides, it will be difficult to catch him. “Why would someone who is a hero do this in a situation where even one troop is
a waste?…” Stigma Primiro is currently missing.
If you go missing while the entire continent is in shambles due to war, you will naturally think of death. Nevertheless, Elpidius was confident of his survival.
Because his death was not certain. The only people who can kill a ‘hero’ as an individual are ‘heroes’ such as a warrior, a demon king, or an army commander, but there is no way that the conflict between such people would not have been known, and even if there were many, it would have caused more commotion and would not have been a quiet battle. So the scales have no choice but to tip towards ‘survival’.
Above all, there are rumors about a green-haired hero wandering the continent.
The problem is why you left….
“We can only talk once we meet.”
“Still, I’m glad you disappeared, leaving behind the Primiro Knights.”
“Almost half of them died, but there wasn’t much left.”
Since we are pursuing them diligently, there is nothing more we can do as we need to conserve our troops.
Elpidius, who was shuffling through documents with a half-resigned sigh, checked the title of the document lying on one side and let out a short exclamation as if something came to mind.
“Oh yeah. “I should have asked you a long time ago.”
“…?”
“Do you know anything about ‘Demonism’?”
“As far as I know, Demonism is an ominous pseudo-religion that has been growing like crazy lately…”
“This is gaining popularity among the people of the empire.”
On the subject of pseudo-religion.
Knock knock. I tapped the papers with my fingers. Alethea, who took out the documents from underneath, lightly glanced at them and said.
“There is no such thing as perfect ‘goodness’ in this world, and there is no way that pseudo-‘goodness’ is possible. “In particular, the fact that it is viewed as an overly positive image by the majority as it is now means that the other side is bad, so it would not be a bad idea to dig into it properly to keep it in check.”
“I agree.”
The duke did that.
If there is something that appears to be absolute good or evil, it is undoubtedly wrong. Most people told me to be suspicious of the one called ‘good’ because it would be very lame.
He was known for this incident and was a scumbag and a bad person in reality, but he was not so incompetent that even advice like this was ignored.
Therefore Elpidius commanded:
“Did you hear, Prime Minister? “Let’s look into it.”
“All right.”
Even if it wasn’t, that damn ‘Demon’ was a car that I liked.
Could it be that Deon Hart was taken from the name ‘Demon Arut’ used in the demon world? Ardal’s eyes lit up as he promised himself that he would dig into it properly this time.
***
The hero praised in Demonism was now sprawled out on the sofa.
The devil caught him and forcibly dragged him to the art studio, saying he would teach him how to draw.
Deon, who had been trying hard to express his lack of interest in drawing with a sour attitude, ended up asking a demon user to take a flower pot from his room into his arms and lie down on the sofa as if in protest. The demon king, who found it amusing, soon gave me an example of a painting. He sat in front of the canvas holding a brush, saying he would draw it first and show it to him.
The Demon King glanced at Deon, who was humming while stroking the flower pot in his arms in a rare peaceful atmosphere, then changed his brush and spoke.
“Because he is a hero, he must have talent, but apart from talent, he seems to have no interest in this either.”
“Yeah well…”
“I’m a little disappointed. “If you do art, you will create something that will go down in history.”
“…So are you planning to continue teaching mainly about art? On what basis….”
“Whether it is a poet, a performer, or a painter, works that remain in history are usually created based on the artist’s misfortune. “It doesn’t matter whether this is a ‘hero’ or not.”
“….”
Tsk tsk tsk.
Deon wordlessly grabbed the flower bud, which appeared to be the mouth of a strange plant, as if pinching it with his thumb and index finger and shook it. The plant protested by waving its stem, but it didn’t pay attention.
A soft voice lingers in the space through the silence that has returned. The voice contained a completely different topic from the conversation just moments ago.
“Didn’t you get a call from the human world saying you would join this side? “At this point, it’s almost time for one or two people to contact me.”
“A very small kingdom called Taehonguk contacted me.”
“If it’s the Taehon Kingdom… it’s a southern kingdom with a border. “It’s not bad… but aren’t there any among the vassal states of the Shan State?”
“yet.”
“I was aiming for Sanguo… but it was surprising.”
Sigh. The plant bit my finger.
What? Although there is no blood, it is still proper defiance. Deon’s eyes widened at his pet plant’s first protest.
“It looks like the mountain country took care of something in advance. Still, it’s still not long, so it might be better to wait a little longer. “You never know if you’ll get a call, even if it’s late, right?”
“Something more decisive may be needed.”
“You even revealed that you have become a hero. Is there anything that could be said to be a more decisive moment?”
“That’s closer to a ‘whip’, isn’t it? What I meant was ‘carrot’. If we take the Kingdom of Taehon as an example, they probably made up their minds based on the attitudes of the demons who came and went between the kingdoms when the border had just been established. “They were pretty quiet back then.”
They delayed reporting because they also wanted to go back and forth between the human world and have fun. Did you say that they promised to behave quietly among themselves because they would be caught immediately if an accident occurred?
The hand that was bothering the plant was moving busily.
“Yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu of!”
“…What are you doing?”
“Just like that.”
