He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 231

Became the Greatest Crazy Emperor – Episode 231

Became the Greatest Crazy Emperor 231

“Was your revenge completed by your own death?”

I muttered, looking at his smiling face even in death.

Cut off from the Spring of Life, he soon lost his tenacious regenerative abilities, and his massive body dissipated and collapsed.

Kugugugugu-!

“The castle is collapsing! We must evacuate, Your Majesty!”

“Lustra, get us out of here!”

With his death, the magical power supporting the castle vanished, and the bizarre structure of Black Castle began collapsing.

Lustra immediately shattered the core of the spring and retrieved the Rosario within. It was Pestras’s sacred object.

“Let’s go, we’re done here.”

Shuuk, Pakaaaang!

As soon as Lustra joined us, she blasted a side of the castle with full power. As soon as the path was open, we all dashed outside.

It was the top floor of the castle, but everyone could fly or descend slowly, so there were no problems.

As soon as we escaped, the castle began to collapse completely, as if it had been waiting for that moment.

-Hwooooooo…….

“Not just the castle, but the undead are also disappearing.”

“It’s because the spring on the top floor is gone. Pestras’s undead were all bound by the curse through that spring.”

And those souls were undoubtedly the ancient people who had relied on the Spring of Life.

As if their souls were finally liberated, they were ascending to heaven with low, ghostly cries.

“I am not an Imperial, but I will pray for your souls. You may not go to a good place, but you will no longer be tortured without being able to die.”

As Pestras showed in the spring’s memory, they probably weren’t particularly virtuous.

But there was no reason for them to suffer any longer, and Pestras had no regrets about letting them go.

Because his end was clearly, in part, intentional.

He could have resisted more desperately if he had wanted to. But he was content to test me.

Perhaps he was convinced that I would walk the same path as the humans he cursed and cursed again.

Of course, I intended to deny that with all my might.

“Watch from the afterlife. Of course, nothing you want will happen.”

I quietly murmured towards the peacefully deceased Pestras.

* * *

“Father.”

“You’re safe, my son.”

“Yes, I endured and endured, and then they suddenly disappeared. Did we achieve our goal?”

“Yes, once again, an enemy of the Empire has fallen.”

With Pestras’s death and the collapse of Black Castle, his army naturally vanished.

The Imperial soldiers, who had fought fiercely until then, also suffered considerable damage, but Daphnen and the battle priests saved many.

“But it’s not just the army that’s gone. This cursed land itself is being purified. What happened?”

As Daphnen said, it wasn’t just Pestras’s army that had disappeared.

Although this place was just a part of the Darklands, the curse that had lingered here was disappearing.

The aura of death that had been embedded in the land itself was gradually fading.

“I merely killed a man with a grudge.”

I briefly prefaced, telling him roughly what had happened.

Daphnen’s expression turned serious as he heard the whole story about Pestras.

“…A dark chapter in human history. Of course, his actions were still excessive, but I can’t entirely blame him.”

“Humans are inherently like that. You shouldn’t mistake being weak for being good.”

The ancient people cursed by Pestras relied on the spring because they were weak, not because they were virtuous.

Weakness and goodness are not things to be governed. The essence of the weak is that they are aggrieved because they have no power, but weakness does not guarantee their morality.

And sadly, this was something that could happen in the Empire as well.

“You mean the Spring of Life in the homeland.”

“That’s not exactly what I meant, but that too. If we also rely on it, we might create the same result.”

“Then how about prohibiting its use?”

“We could if we wanted to. And we should to some extent. But I wonder if future generations will think like us.”

“That’s……”

Daphnen trailed off, unsure of himself. I smiled at my son and said.

“There’s no need to be too impatient. Future generations won’t all be fools. Even if they are truly incapable of restraint, wouldn’t they perish even if the curse of the spring doesn’t revive?”

“Father, that seems like too radical a logic… but I suppose you’re right.”

I chuckled at my son’s words and patted his arm once.

“Now, let’s return to the Empire.”

It was time to return.

* * *

“With Pestras’s death, the pressure in the eastern territories has significantly decreased.”

“The undead lords must see his operation as a failure.”

“Because it actually failed.”

“I suppose so.”

Of course, Pestras wouldn’t think so.

Thanks to the Spring of Life, purified with his sacred object after returning to the Empire, the power to confront the undead in the eastern territories has become stronger.

But the power of that spring was a poisoned chalice and a double-edged sword.

If one indulges in the power of the spring, it will eventually spew out death instead of life, as Pestras cursed.

But who wouldn’t be tempted by the overflowing power of life?

“In any case, now it’s time to decide on the next course of action.”

The undead lords have paused for a moment due to the failure of this operation. But it is still impossible to completely push them out of the eastern territories.

So, striking them is out of the question. But there was still business to be done in the eastern territories.

More precisely, things beyond the eastern territories were turning out to be unusual.

“The elves have finally entered a state of civil war.”

Even before the Great Cataclysm [a world-altering event], they were already showing signs of rebellion. That’s not surprising.

“But these guys have loyalists? So… there are guys loyal to our Empire?”

“Strictly speaking, they are loyal to the benefits guaranteed by the Empire, Your Majesty.”

Over the past decade, the elves have changed a bit.

Of course, ten years is originally a short time for the long-lived elves.

But the hegemony [dominance or leadership] has clearly shifted away from the elves for a long time.

No matter how long-lived they are, now that hegemony has passed, they have to adapt to us, not the other way around.

For that reason, surprisingly, a pro-Imperial faction has emerged among the elves.

“Of course, they follow the Empire’s dress code, believe in the Imperial Church, and accept the Empire’s culture, but they became privileged by selling out their own kind.”

The captain of the guard spoke sharply about that group. I also find it hard to trust elves, even more so than other races.

“Well, from the start, we only intended to accept those with flexible spines. They themselves are not the problem.”

Rather, from their perspective, the rebels are independence activists resisting invasion and occupation.

Of course, after thousands of years of tyrannical rule, I doubt the elves have the right to complain as victims of oppression.

“Anyway, they are fighting against the rebels along with the dark elves. They are requesting the Empire’s help……”

“The problem is that the demons are sponsoring them.”

Through various schemes before the Great Cataclysm, we made it difficult for the elves to rise again easily, but with the Great Cataclysm, they gained the support of the demonic forces.

Although there are still some shortcomings, they are catching up with our weapon systems… Anyway, thanks to that, the current combat ratio between the rebels and the regular army is exactly 5:5.

If we join in, the rebels will naturally be pushed back, but the problem is that the demons also intend to do so.

“We might end up in a battle with the demons. Is this the first time in ten years?”

“We should assume so, Your Majesty. In fact, the rebel elves are puppets of the demons.”

“Good… then let’s set the next military objective to this: the pacification of the Elven Autonomous Territory.”

Even if they don’t threaten the Imperial territory right now, if the elves rise again, the pressure on the eastern territories will increase again.

“Then the strategic goal this time will be the complete annihilation of the rebels.”

“No. That’s not it.”

“Yes?”

Strictly speaking, we are not directly governing the elves.

We are indirectly governing them by setting up the dark elves as puppet rulers and putting the pro-Imperial faction in the forefront.

We had no choice but to do that with the elves. Not for moral reasons, but because it’s not as easy as it sounds for short-lived humans to directly govern long-lived beings.

But taking a page from the British’s long history of nastiness, there is a method of governance that can be applied to the elves, and that is divide and rule.

So-called divide and conquer.

“We should only go as far as driving them out to the demonic forces. We must leave room for the elves to continue to be at odds with each other.”

“…So you mean to leave them divided so that they continue to be at odds.”

“Yes. If we make them build up grudges against each other in that way, they will never be able to unite again.”

It’s a terribly cruel story, but it’s also a proven one. Because it’s a guarantee that comes from my experience of living in the world’s last divided nation.

Isn’t that so? The Korean Peninsula was divided in two due to the international relations at the time, but the reason why it is difficult to reunify is because of the resentment accumulated between the two countries for about 70 years.

Even if they are brethren and of the same race, resentment does not distinguish or forget.

“It’s a somewhat cruel, but certainly effective method. However, the problem is the method. Moderately handling them is ultimately only possible if we win.”

“That’s true. I heard the rebels are waging guerrilla warfare.”

Guerrilla warfare refers to so-called guerrilla tactics.

It is a tactic of consistently attracting local sentiment, creating collaborators, and striking and retreating.

It is a very difficult tactic for the regular army, which is in the position of suppressing them. Even the US military, called the strongest in the world, had to lose twice to this tactic.

Of course, that was not because there was no way to deal with it, but because the problem arose because they could not use that method.

“Yes, the suppression forces are having a hard time, but they are coping by turning the surrounding area into scorched earth and evacuating places that could become bases of activity.”

So, the suppression forces are dealing with those guerrillas by burning down civilian houses and imprisoning people in camps.

It’s a very brutal method, but it was a traditional way of dealing with guerrilla warfare through annihilation warfare.

It’s just that the modern United States couldn’t politically use such a brutal method, so that’s how they were defeated.

“That’s the standard method.”

“Then we should also use the same method……”

“No. That’s not it either.”

“Yes?”

The captain of the guard questioned me again at my unexpected answer. I chuckled and said.

“Is there any need for our righteous Imperial army to do that? Let’s remain the good guys.”

Let’s pass on all the bad roles of persecuting their own kind to the elves.