He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 139

Becoming the Greatest Crazy Emperor – Episode 139

Every revolution is difficult.

Saying that revolution gives people freedom sounds appealing, but people instinctively prefer a safe, established system over a dangerous upheaval.

Because of this, even if they have many complaints, people in medieval or pre-modern societies may revolt, but they don’t easily dream of revolution. They often lack the means or the vision for a complete societal transformation.

If you still want to ignite a revolution…

“What? Raising taxes even now? What are we supposed to live on?”

“Hey, if you take any more, my family will starve to death!”

“Are you going to conscript me as a soldier? My youngest son was sacrificed to the World Tree [a sacred tree in Elven culture] last time! Are you going to take my eldest son this time too!”

Paradoxically, the more the people suffer, the brighter the flames of revolution burn.

“Shut up! Anyone who disobeys the Spirit King’s orders is a traitor! Archers! Prepare to fire! Fire!”

Shu shushuk! Shu shuk!

“Aaaagh!”

“What are you doing! Shooting arrows at the citizens!”

“You sons of bitches!”

In that sense, the biggest partner in the revolution I’m fueling is none other than the Spirit King.

No matter how much I try to stir things up, it’s all useless if the other side doesn’t play along.

And the Spirit King was doing a great job of playing along.

He only tried to squeeze more and more out of the people, never giving back to those below him.

Well, that was often the case with humans too, though.

“I can’t stand it anymore! Let’s rise up!”

“You bastards! Do you think we’ll just sit here and take it!”

But one thing that sets them apart from humans is that they are elves.

In other words, the social gap between nobles and commoners is less pronounced than among humans.

This is true in many ways, but especially in terms of combat ability.

Shu shushuk! Shu shuk!

Chaeng! Chaang!

“Ugh, they have weapons!”

“Damn it, where did they get all these weapons!”

In short, no matter how much human serfs or commoners resist tyranny and fight against knights or nobles, they are easily suppressed by the overwhelming difference in power and training.

However, elves, who possess a certain level of inherent physical ability and strength, even among the commoners (though lifespans may vary), begin to resist fiercely once they are armed.

Of course, the source of those weapons was explained away with the convenient excuse that ‘dark elves looted them from the Empire’s lands and provided them’.

Naturally, the riots broke out easily. The fact that they break out easily meant that the threshold for dissatisfaction was lower than that of humans.

Naturally, the revolution scenario I intended was progressing smoothly.

“Summon spiritists! Summon spiritists and suppress them with spirit magic!”

“Ha, but if we do that, our precious affinity [magical energy source] will be…”

“Is that what matters now! We have to suppress them!”

Of course, all ruling classes possess superior power compared to the ruled. That’s what defines the relationship.

If they didn’t, the ruling relationship wouldn’t exist.

For humans in the medieval world, it was mainly knights, but for elves, it was spirit magic.

Whirr-rrr-rrr!

Pachi-ji-jik!

“Kuaaaagh!”

Soon, fire and lightning conjured by spirits struck the elf people.

A large number of casualties occurred immediately, and their momentum faltered.

At this rate, their rebellion would be crushed without achieving anything.

“Now is the time, those bastards…”

Seokeok-

But then, I intervened.

Hiding my face with a dark elf mask, I appeared among the elf suppression forces, beheading the high elf officer who was giving orders.

“Now, the revolution is truly on.”

[Shadow Storm Deployment]

Shu-r-r-r-k! Chwaak!

As I deployed the shadow storm, I scattered rotating shadow blades in all directions.

The high elf soldiers caught in the storm were mercilessly cut down.

Severed corpses of elves scattered everywhere.

“It’s a dark elf rebel!”

“S, Spiritist! Kill that bastard!”

“Eek…!”

They were horrified, but immediately ordered the spiritists to counterattack.

Immediately, the spiritists tried to use spirit magic by scraping together their affinity.

But I quietly aimed Silver Rose [MC’s weapon] at them.

Whirr-rrr-k!

“H, Heok! F, Fire!”

Then, the flames of purification ignited on the spiritists’ bodies on their own.

It was a weak level, but it became possible to ignite fires remotely like this.

“Aaaagh! Save me!”

“D, Don’t come this way!”

The flames of purification, which began to grow with their affinity or mana as fuel, did not go out easily.

The guy who was on fire ran around, spreading the fire to other spiritists, causing even more damage.

“Now is the time!”

“Let’s kill those damn bastards!”

“Let’s help the dark elves and get our things back!”

There was no need to fight there anymore.

The rest could be taken care of by Nakan’s dark elves and the elves who had risen up.

“Okay, this was a success too. It was quite a big city.”

Until recently, uprisings were taking place in rural villages, but now they were spreading to cities.

“But it seems impossible to revolt in the capital.”

Nakan, who had already escaped, approached me and said.

“When your agents infiltrated the capital, was the agitation not working well?”

“No, the agitation worked well. The problem was the military power.”

According to Nakan’s explanation, no matter how much they tried to induce an uprising, the defense of the capital was too thorough to even attempt it.

“It seems that the army has increased because they are confiscating the food we spread.”

“Hmm, then we’ll have to give up on the capital.”

Just as Paris became the center of the French Revolution, it would have been much better if a major riot had broken out in the capital.

But it’s not as easy as it sounds. The success rate of all rebellions or revolutions is not very high.

It was only possible because I, the emperor of the Empire, was backing them up.

“It would be difficult if we just gave up? Revolts have spread to the provinces, but the capital and core areas are still lukewarm.”

“Of course, it’s difficult to sustain a revolution in that state.”

Revolution confined to the provinces is virtually impossible. No matter how much they rise up in the provinces, it will only become a ‘rebellion’ that is suppressed by the central army.

But the situation is clearly different now.

“But Nakan, you’re not alone, are you? I’m here. Or rather, the Imperial Army is.”

“Then…”

“The Imperial Army is advancing. Right in front of the capital.”

What I was aiming for was the elves’ internal strife, and at the same time, to weaken the defense capabilities of the provinces.

Now that the local forces have revolted, they can’t possibly stop the Imperial Army from reaching the vicinity of the capital.

“Of course, I’ll have to fight the Spirit King again. Leave that to me. If I defeat him, you can revolt and finish it off.”

That was the best-case scenario.

After that, all that’s left is to divide the Elven Kingdom like a cake and dissolve it into the Empire.

My plan was to make the dark elves pro-imperial and keep the elves divided and at odds with each other.

“It’s definitely not a bad plan. But I’m worried about one thing. It would be difficult if the Spirit King soothed public sentiment, even now…”

Nakan’s concern was valid.

It would take time for the Imperial Army to prepare to advance, and if the Spirit King changed his policies even now, things would go wrong.

Even if the Spirit King isn’t the type to do that, there’s no guarantee that his vassals won’t try to influence him.

“But don’t worry about that either.”

I’ll just make sure he can’t.

* * *

“Your Majesty, you must soothe public sentiment, even now.”

“We must reduce military spending. At this rate, we will head towards a catastrophe.”

The Spirit King, sitting on the World Tree throne, looked at his vassals with a tired expression.

His eyes were calm yet filled with anger.

It was anger at the vassals in front of him, and also anger at his nemesis.

The Empire, and the Emperor of the Empire.

The Spirit King was sharpening his blade of revenge against the existence that had humiliated him.

But his vassals didn’t particularly sympathize with his feelings.

“Aren’t you ashamed of the humiliation you suffered in the last war with the Empire?”

“……”

The vassals closed their mouths at the Spirit King’s words.

But although they all closed their mouths, it wasn’t just my imagination that they felt like they were saying, ‘Isn’t that because you overdid it and screwed things up?’

Of course, the vassals didn’t have multiple necks, so they couldn’t actually say such things.

“Your Majesty, however, riots are breaking out in various parts of the provinces, and countless forests and villages have been burned by the Imperial Army.”

“The kingdom’s economy is in ruins. Increasing military spending is by no means a wise move.”

They continued to advise him. Originally, it was not easy to give such advice to the Spirit King, but now the Spirit King’s authority was not what it used to be.

That’s how terrible his mistakes were in the last war with the Empire.

“At least return the confiscated affinity to food production.”

“That can never be allowed.”

The Spirit King was not only increasing the army.

He was also consuming spirit affinity to restore the power he had lost in the battle with the previous emperor.

In short, he was eating away at the life force of the elves.

Of course, this was a top-secret situation, but the vassals and nobles never took it lightly.

“I will tell you. I will strike the Empire.”

“Y, Your Majesty! It is impossible to fight another war now…”

“They are already plundering the borders. And now they are sending letters like this.”

Thud.

The Spirit King showed his vassals a letter with the Empire’s seal on it.

“This is… Heok!”

The officials opened it and were shocked.

“T, The Empire… is resuming the war…”

“Are they even saying they will advance to the capital?” the officials asked.

The Spirit King nodded at the officials’ questions.

The officials were now seeing the letter that had been delivered directly to him.

And they realized that it would be difficult to dissuade the Spirit King.

“Another battle with the Empire will take place. Tax increases and confiscation are inevitable for that purpose.”

“H, But…”

“I will not accept any objections. Leave.”

The officials wanted at least negotiations with the Empire, but the Spirit King would not allow it.

In the end, they had to leave in disappointment.

As they left, the Spirit King unfolded the letter he had shown them again.

-It’s time to take you off the throne, Spirit King.

“Emperor…”

Wagjak.

The Spirit King roughly crumpled the letter.

The Spirit King clearly remembered the words the Emperor had left behind, without killing him even though he could have.

And coincidentally, the situation was unfolding as he had said.

Not only his vassals but even his citizens began to antagonize the Spirit King.

It was no longer just the Empire and the Emperor that threatened his crown.

“Will I be defeated like this, Emperor?”

The Spirit King denied his words and vowed to show his firmness.

“Come, I will defeat you.”

Furthermore, he vowed and vowed again to win against him at all costs.

Without knowing that his vow was pushing him further into the mire…