He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 47

I Became the Unrivaled Crazy Emperor – Episode 47

I Became the Unrivaled Crazy Emperor Episode 47

The former training grounds of Karstein, no longer belonging to Karstein.

There, I was engrossed in a special training.

“Begin.”

“Are, are you really alright with this?”

“Don’t worry and follow my orders.”

They were still maintaining the identity of Shadow, but the servants who knew my true identity wore very perplexed expressions.

“Th, then please be careful!”

Fwoosh!

But they couldn’t disobey my orders, so they immediately fired a volley of crossbow bolts, similar to a rapid-firing crossbow.

The bolts, already loaded in the crossbow, flew towards me.

Taat!

I didn’t even try to evade the barrage of bolts; instead, I ran towards them.

I could easily dodge them using high-speed movement, but I deliberately sealed that ability.

This training had a specific purpose: to hone a newly acquired skill.

[‘Keen Weakness Detection’ activated]

[Detects threats to the user and identifies the optimal evasion route.]

[Identifies weaknesses in the target to attack.]

‘Keen Weakness Detection’ skill.

It was an ability I gained by continuously drinking concentrated potions and pushing my senses to the limit.

The essence of this skill was to bring the instinctive avoidance of danger or attacking weaknesses into the realm of cognition.

So, among the bolts flying like a net of fire, red and blue colors were distinguished.

Red meant dangerous, blue meant safe, and I could easily distinguish the danger by color.

Swoosh! Swoosh! Pow!

Thanks to that, I could charge straight into the barrage of bolts and not get hit by a single one.

“The net of fire is too loose.”

My evasion skills were excellent, but the accuracy of the bolts was also lacking.

Well, no matter how much it was my order, it would be difficult to sincerely shoot at the Emperor.

Even if they had a grudge against me and wanted to shoot properly, the servants, who weren’t crossbowmen, couldn’t shoot well.

“Then I have no choice but to pick up the pace!”

Sreung!

I immediately drew my sword and began to deflect the bolts instead of just dodging them.

Deflecting, as well as evading, could also apply the Weakness Detection ability.

Depending on my will, I could immediately recognize what meaning each color had.

Shashak! Cheok! Chwaak!

Before I knew it, the frequency of deflecting was higher than simply evading.

But since that didn’t seem enough, I had prepared one more thing in advance.

Along the path I was running, scarecrows clad in steel armor had been set up in advance.

Continuing to deflect the incoming bolts as before, I ran towards the scarecrows, infused my sword with Aura [magical energy], and slashed them down.

Kagaak!

As the armor of the last remaining scarecrow was cut by the Aura Blade, I ended this somewhat dangerous training.

“It’s successful for now.”

The condition for success in the training was to cut down all the scarecrows without being hit by a bolt.

It was quite a challenging training because I added the condition that failure would occur if I was even grazed or hit by one.

Putting aside the failure, there was honestly a lot of risk of injury because I deliberately didn’t wear protective gear.

“I should tell you to take care of your health… but I suppose you wouldn’t stop even if I tried, Your Majesty, would you?”

“Of course. I will do whatever I please, Hendrik.”

“That’s what makes you a good Emperor. More importantly, I have a report.”

As the intelligence agent Hendrik, who had been watching the training, tried to report, I nodded while wiping sweat with a towel brought by the servants.

“First, regarding the movements of the demons we’ve been monitoring… unfortunately, they also seem to be growing suspicious.”

“Of course, they would. They saw Karstein’s downfall, so they can’t help but realize that something is wrong with the Emperor being replaced.”

They might not immediately figure out that Mirror had essentially defected, but they were bound to be suspicious.

Of course, Karstein was a disposable pawn for the demons, but regardless, they would realize that their plan had gone wrong and would soon cut off the tail.

“They are already cutting off the lines connected to the lower organizations. Thanks to that, a significant number of disguised organizations have become meaningless, but fortunately, a few seem to still be usable.”

In fact, this was something I could have expected from the moment I struck Karstein.

I had considered the possibility that all disguised cult organizations would be cut off from the demons in the worst-case scenario, but if even a few survived, it was a pretty good outcome.

“But the remaining organizations haven’t completely dispelled their suspicions.”

“Yes, it is presumed that they haven’t cut off the connection because there are also real cult organizations that we deliberately didn’t attack and left alive.”

“You’ve done really well. Use that line to find out as much useful information as possible.”

Of course, the demons aren’t stupid, so they will definitely pay more attention to security.

So, the intelligence that can be obtained will be limited, and if we figure out their numbers once or twice, it will probably be difficult to use this method again.

So, we have no choice but to extract as much information as possible before being completely discovered.

“Well, let’s leave it at that for these guys. It seems like there’s another matter?”

“Yes, this time it’s about the lords. It seems the lords recently held a meeting in Malenberg territory.”

“Malenberg, huh…”

Malenberg was another ducal family in the Central Territory.

Following the Imperial Family and Karstein, the Central Territory was the third-largest power, but… in fact, they were a puppet family created by several other lords.

It was a neutral area to check the Imperial Family and mediate opinions among the lords, so they weren’t a military threat to me.

“What matters is what the lords gathered there are plotting, not that family.”

“That’s right. But without a doubt, they gathered to discuss the matter of Karstein.”

“I suppose.”

There was no other reason for them to gather right now other than that.

“I apologize, but they maintained secrecy, so it seems it will take time to find out what was discussed.”

“Don’t push yourself and take your time. Even if we don’t know the content of the meeting, we’ll know what they’re thinking if we observe their movements anyway.”

As I told the Karstein who committed suicide, they wouldn’t suddenly rise up just because Karstein died.

Of course, they might outwardly show resentment, but they would probably try to take more of their own gains.

As long as they wanted separatism to divide the Empire, that was inevitable.

Then, the best choice for me was to exploit that gap.

“I should return to the Imperial Palace soon.”

“Ah, now that you mention it, Your Majesty. Empress Dowager has asked me to deliver a letter to you.”

“Huh? From Mother?”

When the story of the Imperial Palace came up, Hendrik handed me a letter sent by my mother.

Seeing the contents of the letter, I couldn’t help but feel the corners of my lips rising.

“He’s moving faster than I thought. Unexpected…”

One of the Empire’s seven elector counts [powerful nobles who elect the Emperor], the master of scheming, Orlant, was moving earlier than expected.

* * *

“Karstein has been annihilated. The Emperor’s actions are very unsettling.”

“I agree. I thought his teeth were all pulled out, but he still has quite a bit of strength left.”

“Hmph, isn’t it just a fluke?”

The Malenberg family’s mansion, the secret meeting place of the lords.

The lords or elector counts gathered there began to discuss the recent events of Karstein.

Of course, they weren’t greatly angered by Karstein’s downfall. They were just concerned about the Imperial Family’s recent rapid changes.

“We must bring down that brat Emperor soon! For our West!”

“That’s right! The Empire can no longer protect us. We will decide our own fate!”

“Rather than having endless wars with the different races, let’s just give them appropriate concessions and improve relations!”

Most of the lords gathered here expressed the opinion that they should secede from the Empire.

There were some who expressed relatively moderate opinions, but they were in the minority.

The most radical were the lords of the West, the widest and most barren region.

Duke Orlant, the only elector count who attended the meeting, categorized the characteristics of those lords, but he could easily grasp one common point.

“Ahem, I understand your enthusiasm. Then, shall we set a date for the uprising?”

When Duke Orlant casually mentioned the uprising, those who had been vehemently speaking until just now became as quiet as mice.

“W, well, setting a date for the uprising already is a bit…”

“Isn’t it too early yet? It seems everyone’s preparations are insufficient.”

“If the East or North try it first, then our Western lords will consider it.”

“Oh, my, aren’t you the ones with the best conditions for an uprising? Why are you saying that?”

The common point was that they all outwardly advocated separatism and wanted to secede from the Empire, but none of them were willing to take the lead.

Seeing that, Duke Orlant sneered inwardly. To think that these petty people are the lords who can be said to be the core of the lords.

They packaged it as a national salvation decision, saying things like separatism, but the fact that they were no different from traitorous rebels was fortunate for the Empire.

But for Duke Orlant, the most important thing was still his own and his family’s glory.

Watching them, the Duke pondered which choice would be most beneficial to him.

“Oh, it seems I was a bit hasty. It seems it’s still too early to decide on an uprising date, so let’s wait for a more ripe time.”

Having organized his thoughts, Duke Orlant chose to take a step back from having brought up the uprising first, rather than encouraging it.

Then the other lords also agreed, using caution as an excuse, and a full-scale revolt against the Imperial Family was postponed once again.

“Hmph, there’s nothing more foolish than trusting and acting with such a disorganized rabble.”

After leaving the meeting place, Duke Orlant muttered while ridiculing the foolish ones.

“Don’t put all your eggs in one basket. I should put a foot in with the Emperor as well.”

Putting a foot in both mutually hostile factions is undeniably a bat-like behavior.

But for the Orlant family, who had used scheming and tactics as weapons since ancient times, it wasn’t particularly shameful.

“However, the previous Emperor and I didn’t have a very good relationship…”

Rather than being directly bad, it was outwardly worsened because the Emperor treated Selena, the daughter he had sent to marry the previous Emperor, coldly.

Duke Orlant knew that it was a cover-up to prevent his interference, but the relationship with the Imperial Family was still awkward.

“But there’s no need to be on bad terms with the new Emperor either. It seems like it’s time to reconcile with Selena as well.”

Of course, the Duke, being a cold person, didn’t truly want to reconcile with his daughter, who had half abandoned the family, but the Duke, who knew how to distinguish between public and private matters, sent a letter to Selena, the Empress Dowager, without hesitation.

Then, after a while, a reply came back, and unexpected news was delivered.

“The Emperor is coming to visit in person?”

The biggest adversary, coming directly to what is no different from enemy territory, was very big news.