He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 36

Imperial Capital, Augsburg.

This city, with a history as long as the Empire’s, was the heart of the Empire, the foundation of the Imperial Family, and the center of the Emperor’s power.

Even as the Empire declined, its territory remained vast, but the ruler’s power largely emanated from this place.

Wasn’t one of the first things the young Emperor did, a year and a half into his reign, to reorganize the capital?

“Long live the Emperor!”

“May the Emperor live a long and healthy life!”

Thanks to that, popularity among the common citizens was important, at least in the capital.

That’s why festivals and street parades were often held, using any excuse.

Merchants were cooperating with the Emperor, and the Mana Waste reclamation project he had pushed forward was progressing smoothly, so there was plenty of money.

As he poured it out on the citizens, they were going crazy for the Emperor.

However, even in that place where everyone rejoiced, there were shadows.

“Easier than I thought.”

A shadow lurking among the crowd.

These were the kind of people called assassins.

The assassin infiltrated the capital without much hindrance and easily approached within a short distance of the Emperor, who was in the procession.

Of course, he was still in the crowd, so it couldn’t be said to be very close, but he was well within the range of the small crossbow for assassination that he had brought.

“Just a little more…….”

But now was the important part.

It was a sophisticated crossbow that could be fired secretly even in a crowd, but it had the disadvantage of being more complicated to reload than a regular crossbow.

In fact, once you shoot one bolt, there are no additional opportunities.

The Emperor wasn’t wearing armor, and one bolt, as small as the crossbow, wasn’t lethal enough.

The assassins solved that deficiency with numbers. There wasn’t just one assassin hiding in the crowd, but several.

Of course, it was difficult to signal each other because they were separated.

However, they had agreed in advance to use one person firing at the Emperor as a signal.

And that was the assassin who was about to fire the first shot.

“That’s not going to happen, buddy.”

“……!”

Then, a chilling voice whispered in his ear from behind.

Thwack!

And before the assassin could react, a dagger was plunged into his back.

The assassin’s mouth was blocked by a hand the moment the knife pierced him, and he couldn’t cause any commotion.

Soon, he quietly died.

And there were no arrows flying toward the Emperor either.

The other assassins hiding in the crowd were also quietly eliminated by the intelligence agents who killed him.

“Hoo, it’s over. This is such a terrible job.”

The one commanding those intelligence agents was none other than Hendrik, a retainer of Karstein.

Even as a retainer, he was a low-ranking one that Karstein didn’t even bother to look at.

“Come to think of it, these guys were sent by Karstein too, weren’t they?”

There was more than one political enemy who wanted to assassinate the Emperor, but in recent times, Karstein would want to kill him the most.

Even if that wasn’t the case, the secured material evidence also pointed to him as the culprit.

Hendrik, who was once his retainer, now thought it was funny that he was killing the assassin he sent to protect the Emperor.

Of course, the assassination attempt meant that the conflict between Karstein and the Emperor had reached its peak.

That wasn’t a pleasant thing at all, but what was the Emperor thinking?

That was probably only known to the Emperor himself.

* * *

“Assassination, so he’s been driven into a corner.”

Of course, those assassins were caught and annihilated by the counterintelligence organized by Head Butler Jurgen and Empress Dowager Selina.

It was minor, but Hendrik played a considerable role as the field commander of the intelligence unit, so efficiency improved compared to before.

“But the problem is that assassination attempts themselves are becoming more frequent, Your Majesty.”

Prime Minister Bright said to me with a complaint as I leisurely spun a throwing dagger around.

He wasn’t wrong. This time, it almost went to the point of execution, but the assassination attempts that were detected in advance have increased significantly recently.

“Well, what can I do when there are so many guys who want to kill me?”

And it wasn’t just Karstein who sent assassins.

I’ve only directly earned the resentment of Karstein since I ascended the throne, but even if it wasn’t him, I had many political enemies.

It was natural, as the separatist tendencies among the lords were at their highest point in the Empire’s history.

“In my opinion, there’s a more fundamental problem than that.”

“What is it?”

“Your Majesty goes out too much.”

It was presumptuous, but it was a very valid point.

In other words, ‘Don’t you often wander around in dangerous places enough to easily invite assassination attempts?’

It was such an accurate assessment that it was difficult to deny.

“You’re right. There’s definitely a problem.”

“Yes, so from now on, please stay safely in the Imperial Palace and do your work—”

“From now on, I’ll have to create a double in the Imperial Palace.”

Of course, I have no intention of being cooped up in the Imperial Palace.

It is said that you can’t rule a country on horseback, but in the first place, this country is not at a level that can be ruled by simply sitting at a desk!

If it was a problem that could be solved by using a smart head, the Empire wouldn’t have broken down like this in the first place.

I may be a modern Earthling, but wouldn’t there have been smart people here too?

Even the officials in the Imperial Palace were more intelligent than average.

Moreover, Prime Minister Bright is a natural-born genius, unlike me, who is cheating, except that he doesn’t have the ‘genius’ trait?

In short, the time to talk has already passed, and the most effective remedy is to directly smash the heads of the guys who cause problems.

And I have the power to do that, so if I’m just stuck in the Imperial Palace because it’s dangerous, what kind of sweet potato [a frustrating situation] is that?

“But where do you get a good double?”

Should I look for someone who looks like me in a slum like *The Prince and the Pauper* [a story about switched identities]?

But it’s not bragging, but my appearance is so outstanding that it won’t be easy to find someone exactly the same.

“Are you really thinking of setting up a double?”

“Of course.”

“……Your Majesty, it’s too late to ask now.”

The Prime Minister shook his head as if he had given up and told me a very fundamental story.

“Aren’t you worried that if you set up a double, you might be usurped by mistake?”

“Hahaha, I didn’t know the Prime Minister had such a sense of humor.”

“……Well, I didn’t say it sincerely either.”

Of course, what the Prime Minister said was valid in itself.

It is not uncommon for a king to have a fake double because of dangers such as assassination.

However, just because a double was set up didn’t mean that the king could go outside with peace of mind.

Then the double might kill the real owner and act like a king, so usually the double must also be monitored.

But I don’t have to worry about that. If that happens? I can just come back to the Imperial Palace and have a sword fight, right?

“Well, besides, if it’s a country that will collapse if I leave my seat for a while, it might be better to collapse early.”

“Please stop saying such things, Your Majesty.”

“I was kidding.”

Of course, half of it was sincere.

But as much as that, the thought of needing a proper double grew more and more.

Originally, I had a very simple plan to show off the Emperor’s dignity by running around and being active.

But when I actually did it a few times, there were advantages, but there were also disadvantages.

That disadvantage is that assassination attempts are increasing like now.

Even if the probability of me dying in an assassination is low, it was troublesome that the enemies were trying to figure out my movements.

As a result, it was restricting my actions, so I needed to set up a double to divert attention.

“Isn’t there a perfect guy somewhere?”

* * *

“You morons!”

Smack!

A whip sound that didn’t match the antique room echoed.

Karstein, consumed by anger, whipped the retainer who gave the report over and over again.

The faces of the other retainers lined up also hardened, but the retainer who was being hit gritted his teeth and held back his screams.

“Hoo, hoo…… Everyone, step back, I don’t even want to see your faces.”

This was because it was very cheap to be forgiven for the recent overlapping misfortunes and failures by just getting whipped.

The secession of minor lords.

The betrayal of a retainer.

The accusation of colluding with cultists.

Excommunication from the Imperial Church.

Due to that, the re-acceleration of the secession of minor lords.

And the failure to even attempt to assassinate the Emperor, who was the cause of all this, in succession.

Considering all of that, Duke Karstein could have killed all the related failures right away.

However, Duke Karstein was somewhat bad-tempered, but he was rational enough to know that doing such a thing would only lose the loyalty of his retainers, so he endured it.

“Hoo, is it because he’s the Emperor that he doesn’t give in easily?”

Of course, assassination is not a panacea, so relying on it alone is a foolish thing.

However, Karstein couldn’t give up his desire to use schemes to seize an opportunity rather than a head-on confrontation yet.

If he succeeded in assassinating the Emperor, his ambition to become a king, not just a duke, would be much easier, so it was natural.

Of course, that king would no longer be the king of a vast land like the Empire, and there would be so many kings like himself that they would be kicked around.

Even if the Empire’s territory was fragmented like a tablecloth, wasn’t separatism about wanting to become the king of a small country rather than the tail of a great power?

However, contrary to his wishes, the scheme did not succeed easily.

“In the end, is it just an all-out war?”

Of course, he wasn’t afraid of confronting the Emperor with military force.

Karstein was one of the three major powers in the Central Territory, although not near the capital, which was the Emperor’s stronghold.

Moreover, he had created those ‘enhanced soldiers’ with the elixir he received from the cult, hadn’t he?

So he was confident that he could win even if he confronted them.

However, he couldn’t shake off the regret that things that could have been resolved more easily had become twisted.

“Master, I have prepared tea.”

“Um, leave it there and get out.”

The Duke, who was lost in thought, took a sip of the tea after the maid left the tea.

He felt a little calmer as he drank the fragrant tea.

“Master, I brought tea.”

“Um? Didn’t you just bring it?”

But the same maid brought him tea again.

As he turned to look at the maid, speaking in a slightly angry voice, he was startled.

“What about this child?”

“Ah, no……!”

There was someone who looked exactly like the maid who brought the tea, holding a maid who seemed to have fainted.

The maid smiled coldly and threw away the maid who looked exactly like her.

The Duke didn’t know what was going on, but he was about to shout that an intruder had appeared.

“Shh, calm down. I didn’t come to kill you.”

But soon, he had no choice but to stop when a dagger was held to his neck.

“Rather, I’m going to make a good offer.”

“A good offer?”

The Duke retorted to the unidentified being who was suddenly making an offer, but soon the offer that the being was making was one that he couldn’t refuse.

“You want to kill the Emperor, don’t you? I’ll kill him for you.”

It seemed that there was still a chance for the last scheme.