He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 183

“Well, General. Please keep what you see here a secret for the time being.”

The goblin slave trader spoke as if he was unfazed by the scene before him.

“What is all this? What’s wrong with these slaves…”

Drakal was taken aback by that attitude. He saw slaves dying, weakened, with sores all over their bodies oozing pus.

“Don’t get too close. It’s contagious. You haven’t built up immunity yet.”

“Immunity?”

“Yes. We’re vaccinating the key personnel in the fortress first. It’s probably impossible to vaccinate the entire army… well, I guess it’s inevitable that some soldiers will have to be sacrificed.”

Drakal felt anger at those words. He didn’t fully understand the concept of immunity, but from the way he spoke, he understood it as a declaration to spread the disgusting plague as they pleased.

“You’re creating this plague? No, before that, you’re planning to spread it?”

“Of course, General. It’s one of the trump cards we’re aiming for.”

“Trump card, you say…”

“General, unfortunately, the Empire is intervening. At this rate, our Southern Army can’t win.”

“…As a merchant, you speak of defeat so lightly.”

“I apologize if I was presumptuous, but the Southern Army’s leadership has already come to that conclusion.”

Drakal looked displeased but remained silent, as he seemed to find it difficult to argue objectively.

“That’s why we’ve joined hands with the Mazoku [demonic race]. This plague was also created using the blood of the Mazoku.”

“You used the slaves… for that?”

“Yes. It’s unfortunate to attack our own kind with a plague, but the northerners, the servants of Golak, have essentially become puppets of the Empire.”

The goblin slave trader smiled and continued.

“This plague is not only a weapon to strike them but also to strike the Empire.”

“…”

“Well, the slaves the General brought are top-quality… so they’ll probably be sold elsewhere for other uses-”

Thwack!

Drakal couldn’t take it anymore. He grabbed the goblin slave trader by the neck with one hand.

“How dare you! Tainting the honor of the Greenskins!”

“G-General…!”

Crack!

He snapped the slave trader’s neck. Fortunately, there were no guards or passersby around, so he wasn’t caught.

“Hey, killing him now was a bit of a problem. There was more to find out.”

“Krr… I lost my temper. But I couldn’t stand it.”

Drakal couldn’t hide his disgust as he looked at the dying slaves and those injecting the plague into them.

“We need to burn this whole place down. If necessary, this entire fortress. But it’s regrettable that we don’t have the manpower.”

He seemed to genuinely want to do that, but Drakal didn’t think he could burn down this fortress.

But I slowly re-equipped my hidden weapons and said.

“Burn down the entire fortress… Well, I guess that’s for the best.”

“What? Are you still saying that? This fortress is…”

“I was originally trying to refrain from doing anything conspicuous, but this calls for a change of plans.”

“…!”

Swish-

Whoosh-!

I drew Silver Rose and scattered the flames of purification.

“Huh? Wh-what is this!”

“Fire! Aaaagh!”

The researchers were engulfed in flames. The slaves they were injecting with the plague were also engulfed in flames.

“Ugh… Huh? Wh-what happened?”

“My body… it’s healed!”

But they weren’t burned by the flames; only the impure plague was purified.

“What was that just now…!”

“Listen, here’s what we’ll do. You and my guards will free the slaves and cause a commotion. In the meantime, I’ll burn all the plagues. If necessary, I’ll assassinate the fortress commander too.”

As Drakal said, it would be foolish to fight the fortress garrison head-on with a small number of troops.

But we’ve already infiltrated the inside. They can’t respond to us organically.

Especially if someone they thought was an ‘ally’ like Drakal starts attacking.

“Rangers. Help Drakal. Attack the fortress, but you may escape according to Drakal and your judgment.”

“Your Majesty, we can’t do that. We must protect Your Majesty.”

“You don’t need to worry about me, so don’t argue.”

The loyal Rangers protested the order to stop guarding me, but in the end, they had no choice but to obey.

“Your Majesty, who on earth are you…”

“There’s only one person in this world who could be called Your Majesty among humans.”

“Could it be… you’re the Emperor? You?”

“That’s right.”

Whoosh-

Flames rose again on Silver Rose.

“The Emperor of the Empire declares that this fortress will be reduced to ashes today. Drakal, will you cooperate with that?”

“…”

Drakal seemed surprised by my identity but also seemed to be contemplating for a moment.

He must be wondering if it’s right to cooperate with me, the Emperor who should be his ‘enemy.’ Maybe he thinks he should kill me at this opportunity.

Of course, if he thinks that way, I’ll kill him without hesitation.

“…Even if you are my enemy, I will gladly join hands if it is for the sake of my people.”

“You’ll be attacking your own allies; are you so sure?”

“I have never considered such cowardly people as my allies!”

Drakal resolutely distinguished between friend and foe. True to his warrior spirit, he ruthlessly defined those who opposed his beliefs as enemies.

“I like that. Then go wild. I’ll prioritize finding and burning the plagues first.”

* * *

“F-Fire!”

“The food warehouse is on fire! Put it out quickly-”

Swoosh!

“Pick off the commanders! I’ll persuade the soldiers!”

Soon after, Drakal started causing a commotion with the Rangers.

In addition to the Rangers, he armed the few Northern Greenskins who had come with him and the slaves who had escaped and joined him, forming a force.

“General! What on earth are you doing!”

“You! Do you know what’s been happening in this fortress!”

“What do you mean?”

“You’re being used! Under this fortress, they’re creating weapons to massacre both allies and our own kind!”

“What…”

With the help of the Rangers, Drakal killed the commanders and persuaded the overwhelmed soldiers.

“A plague? They’re using that? With the help of the Mazoku, too?”

“Trying to do that to our own kind… what era is this?”

“And they didn’t care if we died from the plague or not…”

They found it hard to believe Drakal’s words right away, but when Drakal showed them someone he had rescued who hadn’t been cured of the plague yet, they were horrified and had no choice but to believe him.

In particular, they were even more enraged because they, the garrison of the fortress, were scheduled to be disposed of to destroy the evidence. The high-ranking officers and generals had already been vaccinated against the plague.

“In that case, let’s fight with General Drakal!”

“Let’s punish the traitors and defect to the Northern Army instead.”

“There will be more Southern soldiers who agree with us! They won’t know this on the front lines!”

Drakal effectively won over the garrison soldiers.

Of course, he couldn’t win over all of the garrison, so a fierce battle soon began.

“Hmm… it seems lively outside.”

“Uwooooooo! Die!”

Slash!

Meanwhile, I continued to descend into the basement of the fortress, slowly incinerating each place one by one.

There, I found a department researching ‘enhancement drugs,’ which I had seen in the old cult hideout.

Of course, the materials were black magic and human sacrifices.

The difference from then was that the completion of the enhancement drugs had improved, and quite strong Greenskin enhanced soldiers were attacking me.

“But I’ve gotten stronger, too.”

“[Kerebres’ Dark Blood enhances the Shadow Blade.]”

“[Shadow Sweep deployed]”

Shwaaaaaaaaa-

Slash! Slash slash! Slice!

But even if they got stronger, they only became as strong as mid-tier knights at the soldier level.

Originally, that would be a huge deal… but it’s far from enough against me now.

Of course, it could be a burden for me if it were applied to an army at the legion level, but the test subjects in the fortress’s underground laboratory were only a handful anyway.

With that number, they could only be unilaterally massacred.

“Hey, you guys.”

“H-Hik!”

“Do you want to live?”

Even among Greenskins, there are cowards who aren’t like Greenskins.

Especially those who aren’t warriors, and the Greenskin researchers seemed to be mostly like that. When I pointed my sword at them, they were terrified instead of burning with fighting spirit.

“Y-Yes, I want to live!”

“Then bring all the plague samples you’ve hoarded without leaving anything behind.”

“Y-Yes, I understand!”

I was too lazy to go find them myself. I made them find them.

After a while, they brought plague concentrate samples in flasks.

“There’s not much? Is this all of it?”

“A-A considerable amount had already been transported for the operation. This is all that’s left here!”

“Huh, do you know where it went?”

“O-Of course. H-Here are the documents…”

As if they really wanted me to save them, they even brought me confidential documents.

“These bastards… they were really planning to use it indiscriminately.”

There were secret orders in the documents, and according to what was written in the documents, they were scheduled to be deployed indiscriminately on the front lines.

Of course, the Southern soldiers on the front lines would be hit by the plague without knowing why.

If the Northern Army became weakened by the plague and lost its army, they would eliminate Golak and take over the Greenskin kingdom. After that, they would probably rely on Rasgar. Maybe they would continue to cooperate with the Mazoku.

“…Some of it may have flowed into the Empire as well.”

‘The Throne’ would detect it in most cases, but seeing the increasingly cunning criminals and traitors, it seemed like the Anti-Espionage Knights would have to run around with sweat on their feet.

“Hey, get out of here now. I won’t kill you with my own hands.”

“B-But the fortress is in chaos right now…”

“So what? Do you want me to escort you?”

“N-No, thank you for saving us!”

After chasing away the researchers, I set fire to the plague flasks.

The plague was burned without a trace by the flames of purification.

“I need to track down the ones that headed to the front lines as well… Hmm?”

As I was looking through the documents for the last time, I was able to find a keyword that appeared at the end of the documents.

[-If funds are insufficient, wait for support from the Dawnlight Society.]

“Hoo, the Dawnlight Society? So those guys were involved after all.”

The guys who are still shrouded in mystery. But with this, it became clear that they were behind the pranks on the Greenskins.

The problem is that, considering the information Golak mentioned, it seemed that these guys had subcontracted to avoid being tracked.