He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 138

“You’re going to make me a hero? What exactly are you planning to do?”

I answered Nakan’s question.

“It’s simple. We just need to create what a hero needs first.”

“And what is that?”

“A villain.”

And I can temporarily play that villain.

* * *

An Elven village beyond the eastern territory border.

It was a village that had been burned once during the last Eastern Expedition, but the Wood Elves, having returned after the Imperial Army retreated, were there once more.

The village was defenseless and could be attacked again at any time, but they were starving to death due to the recent famine, so they had no choice but to return.

“It’s the Imperial Army! Everyone, run away!”

And, unfortunately for them, the Imperial Army, like a plague, was attacking again.

“D-Don’t run! Fight back! Aaaagh!”

“Cut down anyone who resists!”

The Imperial Army brutally set fire to the village and killed anyone who wielded a weapon, regardless of age.

They also burned all the wealth and food they found.

Instead of plundering, they burned everything in sight, a heartbreaking scene for the Elves starving from the famine.

“Surrender! If you surrender, we won’t kill you!”

“S-Surrender! Please, spare us!”

A knight who had slaughtered the Elven militia as if sweeping them away urged them to surrender.

The Elves surrendered immediately, having learned from their past experience.

“Good. Drop your weapons. Do not kill those who surrender!”

Strangely, these devilish Imperials were committing arson and looting, but they weren’t killing the Elves who surrendered. They killed those who resisted with weapons, but they didn’t touch those who surrendered quickly or didn’t resist from the start.

After a while, the Imperials, having finished their looting, disappeared like the tide receding.

“Those damn bastards… How are we supposed to survive after this?”

“Just kill us, you monsters!”

Of course, it felt like mockery to the Elves suffering from food shortages due to the famine.

Even if they used spirit magic, they didn’t have enough affinity to create enough food, and recently, they had used spirit magic excessively, so the spirits demanded even more affinity [a measure of connection to the spirit world].

Because of that, even the crops were burned, and they were on the verge of starving to death.

“L-Look over there! It’s the Dark Elves!”

“What?!”

But the misfortune didn’t end there.

After the Imperials left, Dark Elves on horseback arrived.

They were classified as the lower class in Elven society, so they wouldn’t normally be a frightening presence.

But it was different now.

“T-They’re here to kidnap us!”

Recently, a grim rumor had been circulating among the Wood Elves.

To replenish the magic source for their insufficient affinity, the Dark Elves were kidnapping Elves.

Of course, this was instigated by the ruling class.

However, the Wood Elves had always despised the Dark Elves, so the Dark Elves were also actively participating.

And the Wood Elves feared and hated the Dark Elves at the same time.

“We don’t have any means to resist anymore.”

“Damn it… Bastards…”

Having just lost their weapons to the Imperial Army, they had no power to resist the Dark Elf raiders.

In the end, they stood there resigned, waiting for them to come.

“It’s nice to meet you all. You seem to be having a hard time.”

But the Dark Elves who approached them were strangely kind.

“Who is the elder here? We need someone to speak on behalf of the group.”

“W-Well, that would be me… You’re not here to kidnap us, are you?”

“Haha… There have been many such incidents recently, but we’re here to do the opposite.”

“The opposite…?”

The Elves were dumbfounded by Nakan’s words, but Nakan smiled and continued.

“We’re here to help you. Now, let’s start by distributing food.”

Surprisingly, the Dark Elves were distributing food to them.

Those who thought they would be kidnapped were surprised, but they naturally accepted the food and hurriedly filled their starving bellies.

“T-Thank you. But why are you doing this for us…?”

“Aren’t we the same Elves? We should naturally help each other in difficult times, shouldn’t we?”

“But we have always been…”

The Wood Elves swallowed the words that they had always been unkind to the Dark Elves.

“W-Where did all this food come from?”

But some keen-eyed people were curious about where this food came from.

Even the Dark Elves couldn’t conjure food out of thin air during this famine.

Perhaps it was plundered from others, but if so, it was difficult to just accept it.

“Haha, don’t worry. This was all obtained by plundering humans. You’ve heard of it, haven’t you? That we’re going around plundering.”

“Ah… Y-Yes, we have.”

“We don’t plunder Elves like you, so you don’t have to worry.”

They had definitely heard that they were plundering the same Elves, but could it have been just a rumor? The Wood Elves began to wonder.

“Then, we’ll see you again next time.”

With that, Nakan’s Dark Elves left.

And after that, the Imperial Army’s attacks and the Dark Elves’ relief efforts were repeated many times.

* * *

“Do you understand what I’m trying to do now?”

I asked Nakan.

Actually, I wasn’t testing Nakan’s abilities, but asking if he could grasp my intentions.

“More or less. You’re becoming a villain yourself, as you said, to make me a hero.”

“That’s right.”

It’s the so-called good cop, bad cop strategy.

Of course, it’s originally a strategy often used in interrogation, but it can be applied in this case as well.

After all, a hero shines brighter when there’s a villain.

“But it seems far from enough to stand against the Spirit King with this. Just gaining this much public sentiment…”

“Of course. You have a better eye for the situation than I thought.”

Of course, it’s not enough with just this, as Nakan said.

It can slightly raise the reputation of Nakan and the Dark Elves, but it won’t be enough to screw over the Spirit King as I want.

“Of course, additional measures are needed.”

“Then what are you going to do now?”

“We need to add more of an image.”

“What kind of image are you talking about?”

“The image of a righteous thief, of course.”

With the charitable acts so far, the image of the Dark Elves has improved slightly.

But that’s just the image of a philanthropist.

From here, we need to change it to a righteous thief.

“And righteous thieves need corrupt officials.”

The reason why the stories of Robin Hood or Hong Gil-dong [a Korean folk hero] are so satisfying is because corrupt officials exist and they are defeated.

And the corrupt officials will be created by those guys without me having to do anything.

* * *

In fact, mobilizing the Imperial Army to carry out the looting was not just to play the role of a villain in contrast to Nakan.

The more fundamental thing was the ‘military action’ against the Elven Kingdom.

From the Elves’ point of view, the sudden increase in looting by the enemy country would naturally be felt as a military threat.

Even if it’s not a full-scale war. Naturally, military demand increases.

But armies don’t come for free. At the very least, military provisions are needed.

Naturally, increasing the army also increases military provisions. This doesn’t change even with a famine.

Then, naturally, more food must be extracted, but from whom? Certainly not from the pockets of the ruling class.

“W-Wait a minute! How are we supposed to live if you take even that?”

“It can’t be helped if we want to increase our military defenses. Please cooperate.”

Naturally, it’s taken from the lower classes, below the commoners. Of course, there wouldn’t have been any food among the commoners in this famine, but surprisingly, someone had been generously donating a lot of food among them.

From the perspective of the ruling class, they would naturally think of collecting it to raise an army.

Of course, wise people would be wary of causing dissatisfaction, but usually the ruling class in the Middle Ages is stuck in inertia and unable to think about such things.

The Elves were the same, and the Spirit King was even more likely to do so.

“Y-You bad son of a bitch! Keheok!”

“Drag away anyone who resists without mercy! Use them all as fertilizer for the World Tree!”

Naturally, dissatisfaction was suppressed with harsh methods.

There were cases of killing, but there were also cases of being dragged away to replenish affinity, so dissatisfaction soared even more.

But it’s difficult to resist. Until the people’s anger exceeds the critical point, the people have no focal point and it’s difficult to rise up easily.

But sometimes that focal point arises.

Shu shushuk! Peobeok!

“Aaaagh!”

Elven soldiers who were plundering the Elven village were shot by arrows and fell.

Before they knew it, a man dressed in black Dark Elf attire sprinted like the wind.

Shu shushuk!

“Aaaagh!”

And scattering blades made of shadows, he knocked down the Elven soldiers and knights all at once.

“Brothers! Now is the time! Defeat the wicked oppressors!”

Then Nakan appeared. Unlike me, who rushed in with his face covered, he revealed his face.

And he shouted to the people who were surprised by the sudden event.

“Are you just going to stand by and watch, brothers! Are you going to have everything taken away by the High Elves and their ruling class!”

“Look! They are fattening their bellies by drinking your blood and sweat even in this famine! What they are taking is originally yours, so why are you just watching?”

Soon, Nakan delivered a speech filled with the essence of revolution that was ingrained in Earth’s history.

Just as people in this world are not less intelligent than Earthlings, they easily sympathized with the essence of the Earth-flavored revolution.

“Y-Yeah! We can’t just let them take it!”

“What have those High Elf bastards ever done for us that they just take from us!”

“It’s all their fault that we lost to the Empire!”

Waaaaaaaah!

The people rose up immediately.

The focal point was Nakan, a righteous thief and hero.

They beat the Elven soldiers to death and soon joined Nakan’s ‘cause.’

Of course, the fact that I and the Empire were behind it was a minor secret.

“Hehehe, let’s grow it like this. We need to infiltrate not only the border villages but also the cities and spread it.”

“It’s not impossible since there are starving lower classes and commoners in the cities as well… Ahem, you’re really cruel.”

I chuckled at Nakan’s words, as if he was fed up.

Well, even if it’s a little cruel, I’ll gladly play the villain if the Empire’s enemies are suffering.

The Spirit King, who had already bought the public’s dissatisfaction with his terrible actions.

Although he tried to avoid it by attempting divide and rule….

“Now that dissatisfaction will turn back to you, Spirit King. I’ll make it so.”

Of course, it won’t be easy, and many Elves will be sacrificed… But it’s not like my people are dying, right? Why should I care?

Moreover, the more dissatisfaction accumulates, the more explosive the revolution will become. But the Spirit King probably has no intention of showing good governance.

Then it will really be a revolution, and I don’t know if the Spirit King will go to the guillotine…