He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 34

“Y-Your Majesty, I deeply apologize for failing to recognize you.”

I revealed my identity to the mayor of Gerheim in a private meeting.

“Indeed, you have committed a grave offense, and not merely for disrespecting me.”

A cult had established itself in the city, conducting live experiments on people.

Could the mayor truly have been unaware of this?

Absolutely not.

No matter how discreetly the cultists moved, it’s impossible that the city guards were completely ignorant while so many victims were being abducted.

“You’ve allied with a cult. That’s how it appears to me.”

And in the Empire, collaborating with demons or cults is an unforgivable crime.

There are undoubtedly those who do so in secret, but if such a fact comes to light, even the highest-ranking individuals will struggle to survive.

They would be branded as heretics and excommunicated, their rivals tearing them apart in an instant, leaving not a shred of flesh.

“N-No, that’s not it! I was merely forced to condone it by Karstein!”

“Forced to condone it? Yet you tried to silence me by killing me?”

“T-That is….”

The mayor had brought the city garrison to surround the cult’s hideout.

The mayor was clearly trying to destroy evidence.

If the circumstances had aligned, he would have killed me to silence me.

“Well, I’m not going to punish you for that.”

“R-Really?”

“Yes, on the condition that you sever ties with Karstein.”

Of course, he would cut ties with Karstein and come under my command.

On that condition, I would overlook the punishment for now.

“I would like to, but if I do, Karstein will surely….”

But from the mayor’s perspective, Karstein’s fist was closer and more frightening.

Of course, that meant I wasn’t scary enough yet.

Bang!

Crack!

“Eek!”

I immediately slammed the table.

Without even using Aura [a magical energy], already considerably stronger, I easily smashed the table.

“Karstein is scary, but I’m not so much?”

Clearly, if he sided with me, Karstein could attack Gerheim.

But what if he refused my request?

“Shall I conduct an Inquisition here and now? As it happens, the Emperor also has the authority to do that, you know?”

Only the Pope could excommunicate, but the Emperor could lead an Inquisition himself.

And the Inquisition, as ominous as the word suggests, was a very painful experience for those who underwent it.

Not only physically, but being branded a heretic meant the end socially.

The mayor had no choice.

“I-I pledge my loyalty to Your Majesty.”

“That’s what I want to hear.”

The original purpose of coming here was to obtain evidence to brand Karstein as a heretic.

Of course, even with this evidence, Karstein wouldn’t simply collapse.

At least one battle would have to be fought.

But to increase the chances of winning that battle, I needed to increase my allies.

“Don’t be too disheartened. I reward loyal people well. Such as with the city’s autonomy.”

“……!”

Autonomy.

From a ruler’s perspective, it was a bittersweet word.

But for the mayor and his associates in a free city, it was something they desperately desired.

It was one of the few guarantees of rights that could free them from the oppression of kings and nobles holding the reins of power.

“Karstein must have interfered a great deal. That’s why you condoned the cult.”

The mayor couldn’t have genuinely liked the cult.

He probably didn’t want to get involved if possible, but he accepted it because Karstein wanted it.

Well, that might not be the case, but let’s assume it is for now.

“But I’m different. I’ve already given many rights to the merchant class.”

While co-opting the merchants of the estate, I had already tailored the laws to their convenience.

It was quite a different approach from the nobles, who usually thought of merchants as piggy banks to be cracked open for money at any time.

“So guaranteeing the city’s autonomy isn’t a big deal for me.”

As long as they paid their taxes properly, I wouldn’t interfere.

However, only for those who had earned that much merit and proven their loyalty.

“What do you need? I will offer anything!”

“Why are you asking me that?”

Did the Emperor have to explicitly ask for something?

He wasn’t on my level, just a mere mayor asking for answers?

Of course, this was closer to intimidation for taming, and the mayor could guess what I wanted.

“I will tell you who Karstein’s spies are and where they are.”

“How do you know that?”

“They were the contact points with the cultists. Naturally, I had to know as well.”

Well, since he had them in the city, he would have known even if he didn’t want to, as he said.

But that meant he wasn’t just condoning the cult, which wasn’t important now, so I decided to move on.

“Good, tell me everything you know.”

I had achieved my original goal, but returning to the Imperial Palace like this wasn’t worth it.

I needed to extract more from the situation I had already started.

* * *

“Contact with the Gerheim branch has been lost.”

“What happened?”

A small city near Gerheim.

In a place that was more of a village than a city, cultists operating in the Central Territory gathered.

They were cultists and also Karstein’s spies.

“I couldn’t find out the details, except that the hideout was destroyed and all the cult members were killed.”

“What about the believers?”

“The believers are also being rooted out. It’s hard to expect help.”

“This is a big problem….”

The Gerheim branch was important in many ways.

It was where the enhancement drugs for Karstein were manufactured.

In return, Karstein provided a lot of money, which was about to be cut off.

“What are the instructions from above?”

“Nothing has come down yet, but I think they will probably order a withdrawal.”

“Why? We can just create another manufacturing hideout….”

“You know that’s not the point, don’t you?”

The inability to manufacture drugs wasn’t the core issue.

The core issue was that security had been compromised.

The fact that the location of the hideout had been discovered was a problem in itself, but the bigger problem was that the hideout had been raided.

It also meant that all kinds of secrets left in the hideout had been leaked.

“I don’t know exactly who is chasing us, but we need to be careful for now.”

So the higher-ups would probably order an immediate withdrawal and go into hiding.

That’s why they gathered here to decide on a course of action on their own before such instructions were issued.

In fact, even gathering here right now could be dangerous.

“Understood? From today, hide as quietly as possible until it calms down and the opportunity arises again.”

Everyone nodded at the words.

They were about to leave the hideout to disperse.

When they opened the exit door to do so.

“Hello?”

There was a man with long silver hair in front of them.

“Who are you-“

Stab!

“You’ll be dead soon, you don’t need to know.”

The man, who had stabbed and killed a cultist with a silver holy sword, indifferently pushed the dead man away.

“Wipe them all out.”

Whoosh! Swish, swish!

At the same time, bolt showers flew towards the cultists who were standing in shock.

Without the silver-haired man, the Emperor, stepping forward, the agents behind him fired crossbows.

The cultists at the door were annihilated in an instant.

“Is this the fifth place?”

“Yes, the other places should be cleared by now.”

As soon as they found out the location of the spies from the mayor of Gerheim, they released the agents and began the arrest or extermination operation in an instant.

It was Head Butler Jurgen who trained the agents, but it was Hendrick who was in charge of the field command of this operation.

I was also helping a little on the way back to the Imperial Palace.

“It’s not difficult thanks to the well-trained agents. How is your experience commanding?”

“It’s my first time, so I’m clumsy, but I’ll make up for it soon.”

“Of course, you have to. That’s what you’ll be doing in the future.”

Hendrick officially became a knight as he wished.

However, I valued other parts of him more than his combat ability.

Although he was an enemy, his leadership in controlling the looters, even for a short time, was considerable.

His sense of scheming here and there seemed good, and above all, his ability to find out the location of the cult hideout was definitely good.

So, instead of using him as an ordinary knight, I decided to use him as a field agent.

“Coordinate well with Head Butler Jurgen or Empress Dowager Selena. Your strength stands out the most among the agents.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

There weren’t many people with intelligence and decent martial power at the knight level, so it seemed like a good choice.

“Anyway… how is the situation going to turn out now?”

Karstein will soon find out that something happened in Gerheim.

Losing Gerheim is secondary, but if this incident becomes known and he is excommunicated as a heretic, the lords may not know how to move.

“There may not be many who can directly target Karstein.”

Even though he wasn’t an Elector [one of the most powerful nobles in the Empire], his power was not insignificant.

Even if he was excommunicated, the surrounding weak lords could not attack him right away.

Rather, they could be watching him carefully.

“Malenberk has the size… but he probably won’t move.”

Duke Malenberk, who could be called Karstein’s rival except for me, was like a puppet of other Electors.

It was difficult for him to intervene on his own will, and the Electors were bound to aim for windfall profits.

“Then is it a 1:1 structure after all?”

It wasn’t bad to be like that.

Rather, that’s what I was aiming for.

Because it meant preventing other stragglers from uniting with Karstein.

But that meant that I would have to face him once.

“As soon as I get back, I have to start preparing for war first.”

In fact, there would be more time until the war with Karstein, but it was necessary to reorganize the military posture.

It was obvious that the war with Karstein would happen within at least half a year.

Even if it wasn’t a full-scale civil war in the entire Empire, it would probably be something like its prelude.

Of course, even if it’s a preliminary battle, it’s over if I lose.

“Fortunately, I’ve secured a favorable position.”

I said that and looked at the reddish liquid in a small glass bottle.

A potion seized from the cultists.

It was a drug that turned people into freaks and gave ordinary people the power to become terrifyingly strong.

Even if they weren’t the same as the freaks I saw there, Karstein would probably have similar people with him.

Come to think of it, destroying that place also had the effect of preventing Karstein from creating such guys anymore.

“It’s worth studying.”

Time was running out and I couldn’t do the same kind of live experiments that the cultists did, but if I studied this potion, there might be parts that would definitely help me.

And after a while, I was able to get pretty good results as expected.