Chapter. 14. One Empire, Three Legends (26)
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The nobles who arrived earlier. To put it in a good way, they are outcasts, and in a bad way, they are no different from the lumps of each power.
“That’s right. Cooperation between nobles is negotiated between families, not man-to-man. Everyone in the world knows that farming for children of noble families is extremely difficult. “If you join hands with a certain family, you will also attract all the small things that just arrived, like the dirt on your hands, to your allies.”
They are trash with incompetence compounded by the excessive self-consciousness of a special nobleman. It’s very uncomfortable, but joining hands with a certain family means that those scum will say, ‘I am the vassal of Prince So-and-so! If you hit me, the prince will be angry?’ This means that you have to endure the same sound and hesitation.
Of course, these idiots have a high probability of causing accidents, and high-ranking people who have a big day ahead of them tend to want to get rid of these anxiety factors.
“so. “Were they sent to cause an accident?”
“yes. Even stupid people like that have some use. You are the friend I trust the most. You are the most trustworthy vassal. Because I can trust you, I am entrusting you with this task…. Idiots are floating around to judge uncertain opponents like me. “They don’t know how I felt when I came to the empire, so they are confirming it by throwing idiots like that.”
The prince and princess aren’t stupid, and they really wouldn’t send someone like that to an important position as their best friend.
Aldrich and Ottman had ambiguous expressions, as if they didn’t know anything.
“That… no matter how you look at it, isn’t it a self-defeating beast? Even if they deny the relationship and say it is their personal behavior, it is because they failed to manage their subordinates as their servants. Isn’t this an act of denigrating one’s reputation? “Could it only give us a negative impression?”
“That self-destructive attack itself is a targeted attack. Hmm… it’s a bit complicated. “It’s roughly like this.”
The professor lightly cleared the table where the lunch meal was set, then took notes and explained the royal family’s goals in a very concise manner as best as he could.
In summary, there were three benefits they could gain from this action.
1. Test on an unknown person.
2. Justification.
3. Elimination of unnecessary allies.
“I’ll explain it to you one by one. ‘I need to run away from here.’ “Please use the same facial expression.”
“Kuhmm big!”
After taking the tranquilizer from the two wizards who were trying to escape to dreamland, the professor began explaining ‘how to use our foolish noble nobles in the most efficient political way.’
“Aristocratic politics is complicated as hell, so no matter how hard you try, it is nearly impossible to know the drivers and take action. On the surface, ‘Is that smiling face real?’ It’s not the level of suspicion, but
‘Smiling like that, opening your eyes like a half moon and holding my hand is a promised signal to your collaborator, so he drugged my drink and while I was down, he lured my daughter into his ally and caused internal strife in the family. Could it be that he is trying to take advantage of the chaos both inside and outside and take over the ownership of my stylish shoes that I finally got my hands on today?’
At a certain level, it can be said to be the suspicion of a ‘real aristocratic society’. It is nearly impossible to determine the drivers of behavior. That’s why nobles often use methods to understand the other person’s intentions from the results instead of trying to figure out the other person’s intentions and then move on.”
“You understand the intention from the results… Isn’t it only after something happens that you can find out?”
“yes. So, in order to find out the other person’s reaction, they often have subordinates cause a small disturbance. Oops, I spilled a drink on my dress! Or something. “Sending an invitation instead of an idiot who would feel rude no matter who he’s dealing with.”
Doing several small things and seeing the other person’s reaction. Based on the results, it is used to calculate the other person’s motivation.
Rather than figuring out the cause and predicting the result, collect small results and analyze the cause.
On the surface, today’s dumping of an idiot aristocrat took the form of an invitation, but its true intention was probably a small test to see how I would react and what kind of disposition I had.
What if you grabbed the hands of idiots and joined someone’s power?
‘Ah, this guy was just waiting for someone to give him a hand! You are so ignorant of politics that you don’t even know that this is an insult! ‘It would be perfect if I just used it up and threw it away!’ -In the same way, in front of the information [Faithful and powerful saint], you can add one more line of information called [Faithful and powerful saint who is ignorant of politics and thirsty for power, easy to throw away].
What if the idiots slap their hands away and make a negative motion?
‘Ah, but it’s not on the same level as those idiots. It’s not like I’m anxious enough to join a faction. I guess I should call you and talk to you to apologize?’
-You can think of it like this.
“In addition, it is also a justification for accepting external personnel without noise. Inviolability of religion and politics is an old norm. If you just bring it in, the Cult of Courage may show signs of discomfort, and you may face strong criticism from the opposing faction, asking if you are planning to take on another large power and break it into pieces, even if you cannot expand the power of the Supreme Emperor. So, first of all, we need to arrange a meeting for reasons other than the fight for the throne.”
Throwing an asshole -> High probability of accident -> A very big disrespect to a high-ranking religious figure -> It was my mistake to not manage my subordinates. Would you like to eat apples and rice for a meal?
Even if the invitation is the same, if you turn it around and wash it, it becomes a clean invitation that is free from any nuisances that the opposing force can attack.
“What happens next? “After eating, we got along well and started interacting often, so it was a smooth transition.”
“Hmm… I understand the last part. “They are the ones you sent in the first place with the presumption of disrespect, so you send them back in anger and then you accuse them of being idiots who don’t even know how to invite people and kick them out of that group?”
“yes. That way, we can strengthen our family without causing inconvenience to that family.”
This is why the behavior of nobles must be analyzed from various angles. They make sure that no matter how the situation turns out, it benefits them. Reading all of their true intentions and deciding what kind of action to respond to the other person.
This is going to be a ‘conversation’ between nobles who are a little bit into politics.
———
– Jokass: Uh… call me when the nobleman’s story is settled. Wow, I’m throwing up.
– professor: That’s what it’s like for you guys to watch, so what would it be like for me to face it in real time?
———
It’s very annoying.
My head is about to explode, to the point where I have to deal with a few throwaways.
The other person is someone whose life has become ingrained in their entire body. In other words, nobility.
It was obvious that the schedule ahead would be difficult.
Yes, this means that it is already an arduous march up to this point. Just thinking about dealing with nobles.
But I had one more thing to think about here. There is one more thing big enough to dismiss that terrifying aristocratic politics as politics.
The name, too heavy to even say, came out of the professor’s mouth with a deep sigh that made the salad on the table shake.
“witch.”
“Umm….yeah. The Empire had that…”
“Under normal circumstances… there isn’t much we can do right now. In the first place, I only touched the other person lightly. Since I expressed my intention with a stern refusal, all I have to do now is wait for the real invitation to come…”
“I guess not now.”
“yes. If a crazy witch was involved in that massacre, it wouldn’t be considered a normal political situation. You have to think about the possibility that the other person’s intentions may go in a direction that is completely unreasonable. “In order to prepare for that, we need to lead the situation, not them.”
Yes. Even if we leave it alone, we have to think about placing a nuclear bomb called ‘100-year-old witch’ on top of the social world of the imperial capital, which is twisted like a sleeping snake cave in winter.
“You said you were adopted into a noble family without any trouble, right?”
“I see.”
“Which family?”
“Up to that point… I didn’t hear anything. “I was so panicked at the time that I couldn’t hear what the young priest was saying.”
“Do you have an accurate guess as to her motive? “Recovering my strength or what I want to do with that recovery…”
Aldrich closed his eyes and traced the painful memories. The conversation he had with his mother that day in a stone room full of blood and odor. Mad and affectionate Hongso. The words delved into between them.
“There is none.”
“….yes?”
“There is no reason. We just blink our eyes. It’s natural for your heart to beat. That means that its essence is to kill and destroy people. At least that’s what I know.”
“The murder itself is the essence… The scale has been increasing, and the tragedy that Aldrich experienced was 13 years after the previous mass murder?”
“yes.”
“Hmm…”
Let’s think about it. thought. thought. 52 years have passed since that day. The period in which the witch said, ‘I committed it because I couldn’t endure it’ was 13 years. Even if we give a few years of error, it would have taken at least three more large-scale sacrifices.
———
– professor: Is it really not there?
– Speed Wagon: None. Of course, there are more than one family that went extinct during the Noble War… but since they are far from the empire, it is difficult to prove the connection. There were no villages or territories within the empire that suddenly disappeared.
———
But nothing happened. No, even if it was committed, it was so small-scale that it wouldn’t be recorded in the records of all other players.
‘Maybe they’re aiming for something big. Or, the sacrifice cannot be performed due to unavoidable circumstances.’
[It could be both. He said he really liked that witch’s daughter’s body. He said he was born with spiritual powers because he looked like him. If you change your body after an accident, you will have to throw away that body too. In the first place, the sacrifice is to satisfy the thirst for slaughter, but the reason why the ritual is carried out on such a grand scale without just killing is to restore the body’s strength, right? The lineage of a witch and a saint. That probably isn’t usually that valuable. You wouldn’t want to throw it away carelessly, right?]
….It makes sense. If the witch’s motive was simply mass murder, there would be no need to hold an evil ritual that could attract the temple. It means that there is something you want to do by regaining your strength. And as Hyde said, such a body is not easily obtained.
Adopted by a noble family. A flesh and blood body that can easily accept evil power. genocide.
The puzzle made up of information begins to fall into place one by one. A collection of pieces that can reveal at least one part of the picture even though the outline of the overall picture is not yet visible.
A small piece of information that can easily be overlooked. It was then that a word that I didn’t even know was the most important information popped into my head.
“…Road construction. Aldrich: I’m sure the witch said so. Before she married your father, Mare Teldemeier was Mare Abeladis. “It is said that all members of the Abeladis family died and the inheritance passed to her was used to develop the territory by building roads and buildings to every corner of the Teldemire territory.”
“okay. No wait. no way….?”
“yes. It wasn’t just the Teldemire family who disappeared that day. It is said that when the members of the Church of Courage arrived, a curse had already fallen on the entire territory. “Maybe if something was done in the construction process, wouldn’t that be a sufficient explanation?”
“Curse catalyst… Yes, it is possible. A catalyst is just a strange and bizarre object until the curse manifests itself. “If you make workers hand and foot and plant curse catalysts on all roads and key points passing through the territory… you can certainly prepare a large-scale curse without any warning and without the eyes of the church.”
“And in order to do the same thing this time….”
“Likewise, you have to be in a high position. Like demolishing parts of the capital that are close to perfection and starting new construction. It’s high enough to command people throughout the empire… Oh my. But no way…”
While Otman was speaking, he seemed to have realized something and let out a sigh. That’s probably what I understood.
“If she hadn’t changed bodies, her current physical age would be 63. “The empresses are around that age, I guess?”
A battle for the throne in which the imperial family fights all-out for the position of emperor during the most chaotic time in the empire.
Aldrich’s past suddenly pops up. The story of the witch involved there.
And the player arrived in the capital.
If you look at all of this as one flow, there is a fact that becomes very clear.
A witch got involved somewhere in this battle for the throne. And as a being of very high power.
The most likely one now is…. The Empress. A person who could soon become the Empress Dowager.
“…So, what did you say earlier about rocks and catapults?”
“yes. The rule is to watch the opponent’s reaction, but if a witch intervenes, you need to move more quickly and actively. Especially from my perspective. I don’t have anything political to do with the capital’s society, and the rocks they just threw are falling right in front of my eyes. “Shouldn’t we at least pick it up and use it?”
I haven’t decided yet who is my friend, but I know that there is a mine that will definitely explode if I step on it. We can’t just take ordinary political responses.
“For that reason, I will go to the temple and come back. “I have something to find out.”
“…Let’s go together.”
“No, it’s better to go alone. “I think I’ll be late, so you two can wait at the inn and then tell the rest of the group when they return.”
What if the other person is a real witch? It would be natural for a fallen Saint of Light to keep a close eye on me, the Saint of Light, who openly visited the capital.
‘As a saint, I will hide myself for the time being. But I really can’t hold my breath…’
[It means they are using me.]
In the shadow of the fluttering white robes. The black skin that seemed to seep through was grinning.
It’s the beginning. A full-fledged exploration of the capital city.
There are two goals.
Promise of imperial support.
The murder of a witch.
And… worst case scenario, if the witch’s plan has progressed to an irreversible level.
survival of the empire.
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