He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 52

I briefly ventured into the Demon Realm, but after acquiring the Goblin Wolf Trainer, Go Tae-sik, I returned to the Imperial Palace.

Although my absence slightly diminished the search party’s combat power, I agreed with Hendrick’s assessment that they shouldn’t become overly reliant on the Emperor.

Besides, I needed to return so Go Tae-sik could begin breeding wolves.

“He certainly wasn’t lying. I can’t believe he can tame wolves like that.”

“W-Well, ordinary wolves aren’t that difficult. E-Even human handlers can learn quickly if they know the method.”

Go Tae-sik, the goblin, awkwardly dressed in human clothes, spoke in clumsy Imperial language.

The handlers, who had been instructed to cooperate with Go Tae-sik, still eyed him with discomfort, but they didn’t dispute his words.

“Even with ordinary wolves, humans struggle to tame their wildness. How is it possible?”

“It’s possible to tame them using mana. Goblins like me are already accustomed to mana, but human handlers can also do it by using herbs from the Demon Realm.”

Indeed, when applying the method Go Tae-sik described, even humans, not just goblins, could tame fierce wild animals.

This meant that I had accomplished something that was difficult on Earth, which was quite encouraging.

It meant that even animals that were originally impossible to domesticate could be tamed.

“But the giant wolves of the Demon Realm don’t seem easy.”

Krrr…….

I said, looking at the silver wolf in the cage, whose roar grew louder as it grew bigger.

It was Silver, a baby Silver Saber [a type of large, ferocious wolf] I had picked up in the Demon Realm before.

It was now fully grown, but no matter how much the handlers cared for it, it never tamed.

That remained the same even when Go Tae-sik stepped in.

“Unlike ordinary beasts, magical creatures must be tamed from a young age. After they grow this big, ordinary methods won’t work.”

“Does that mean there is a method itself?”

“There is. You can make them submit by showing the difference in power. But it’s very difficult. Goblins die trying.”

That would be the case for goblins.

But for humans, wouldn’t it be not entirely impossible?

With that thought, I felt that I definitely wanted to tame Silver.

There was no grand reason, but even if it was just for fun, I felt like I could gain something big by doing this.

“Open the cage. No, I’ll have to open it myself. There’s no need to hurt anyone.”

“Y-Your Majesty! It’s dangerous.”

The handlers tried to stop me, but I opened the cage where Silver was trapped.

-Krrrl!

“Oh my, you little rascal!”

As soon as I did, Silver lunged to bite my neck.

But I immediately grabbed and suppressed Silver.

Of course, it thrashed wildly, scratching with its front paws and trying to bite, but when I suppressed it using Aura [a manifestation of inner energy], it couldn’t move properly.

“What should I do here?”

“You need to rub crushed herbs from the Demon Realm on your body and tame it until it submits. Keep feeding it too…….”

What Go Tae-sik said sounded simple, but when I thought about it, it wasn’t that easy.

It meant taming a giant wolf with dangerous teeth and claws by suppressing it with strength without using swords or anything.

“Then it would be better to take off my clothes.”

Thanks to Silver’s scratching, my clothes were already in tatters, so I took them off and applied the mana-infused Demon Realm sap to my bare skin.

The servants and guards tried to stop me, but I dismissed them and faced Silver.

-Krrr…….

“Come on, then.”

When I removed the stick connected to the leash, Silver lunged at me fiercely again.

As before, I grabbed Silver head-on.

But unlike before, I grabbed its front legs instead of its snout or shoulder.

“This side is more dangerous than the snout after all!”

-Keheong! Krrr!

Canine animals like wolves mainly attack by biting with their mouths rather than their front paws, unlike felines.

However, in reality, when grabbing like this, scratching with the front paws cannot be ignored.

Even if you try to bite when the snout is suppressed like this, you can’t bite due to the body structure, but the front paws can extend further to scratch.

That’s why my clothes were in rags earlier, and if I got hit like that now with my bare body, even I would be in danger.

“Euracha!” [Exclamation]

-Keheng!

I didn’t want to get hurt, so I couldn’t allow it to attack.

But just holding it like this wouldn’t show the difference in power, so I threw Silver away as it was.

Silver was thrown on its back, but it immediately twisted its body and got up as if it was resentful, and lunged again.

“Heum!”

-Krrr!

The moment Silver lunged, I activated neural acceleration to identify its weaknesses, and this time I grabbed Silver’s back with high-speed movement.

It would be easier to subdue it with striking techniques, but this was not for the purpose of killing or subduing, but for ‘submission’.

Simply knocking it down would only create resentment, even in a beast.

“Be quiet, you!”

-Keheeing!

So, I used wrestling, which could subdue it by tiring it out without causing major injuries.

After suppressing its back and grabbing its neck, I rolled around until I felt Silver’s strength waning, and then I released it.

-Hek, hek.

“Here, eat this.”

-Khuung?

At that time, I threw a large chunk of venison that the handlers handed me.

Silver, who had been suppressing itself, tilted its head for a moment, sticking out its tongue, and then devoured the meat ravenously.

“If you’ve finished eating, come at me again.”

-Krrr…….

After eating the meat and regaining its energy, Silver hesitated for a moment, but soon showed its remaining ferocity and lunged again.

I continued the process of knocking it down and feeding it for three days and nights.

* * *

“According to these traces…… it seems to be that way.”

About a month later, I headed back to the Demon Realm.

There, I was searching the Demon Realm with a small number of mercenaries, adventurers, and Jack Forest.

“Stop. Goblin group discovered in the lead direction. They are veteran Gobos [Goblin Warriors].”

“Attack all at once.”

As soon as I saw the Gobos, meaning goblin warriors, I immediately ordered an attack.

Those I brought were all veterans with combat experience in the Demon Realm, so they didn’t let their guard down just because they were goblins.

Everyone took out specially modified crossbows and bows capable of volley fire and prepared to launch ranged attacks first.

“Fire!”

Shooshook! Shoook!

-Kueeek!

As the volley of bolts and arrows rained down, several veteran Gobos fell.

However, as if they were goblins but experienced, they quickly gathered and raised their shields.

And they skillfully shot arrows through the small gaps in the shields to counterattack, so the mercenaries had to quickly take cover.

“I’ll break through!”

It was my turn to go in and stir things up, so I immediately drew my Holy Sword, bypassed the flank, and began to charge.

But I wasn’t the only one charging.

-Kheoheoeong!

“Kueeek! I, It’s a wolf!”

“It’s a Silver Saber!”

Silver, who was bigger than a person and even bigger than a typical Demon Realm dire wolf, jumped at them, and no matter how much the goblins raised their shields and gathered, they couldn’t withstand it.

The shield formation collapsed at once. Then, as I joined in and the mercenary adventurers also provided supporting fire, the goblin group was completely wiped out.

“Good job, Silver!”

-Khuung! Khung!

Silver, who had thoroughly crushed the goblins, came to me and had its head petted as if asking for praise. I also praised Silver profusely and gave it the meatball I was carrying as food. Silver ate it deliciously.

Silver, who had been steadily tamed for a month, had now completely turned into a loyal child.

This proved that it was possible to tame not only ordinary beasts but also magical creatures by referring to Go Tae-sik’s method.

However, it was impossible for other handlers besides me to tame things like giant Demon Realm wolves in the same way, so it was necessary to improve the method further.

“Your…… no, Shadow-nim [formal title]. It seems that those guys were the last of the sentry groups. What we’re looking for is probably over there.”

“That’s what the intelligence says. Unless they’ve already noticed.”

“Considering the effort they put in, wouldn’t it be difficult to change the location right away?”

I nodded in agreement with Jack’s judgment.

I had received intelligence that there was a secret base of goblins plotting something in the Demon Realm beyond, and quickly formed a search party.

To maintain secrecy, I couldn’t use the military, so the number of people accompanying me was only 10.

“Move out. Once we find the base, we’ll report the presence of defensive forces and decide on the next course of action.”

After finishing the battle and taking a light rest, we immediately moved towards the target point.

The environment was harsh as we passed through the outskirts of the Demon Realm and entered quite deep, but since there were not many people, the movement itself was less difficult.

“Is it here?”

“There are no defensive forces.”

“There can’t be. If it’s a portal of this size, the inside must be wide and large.”

What we found there was a gate portal that was huge and emitting intense mana.

It was a portal that was larger and had stronger mana than the sub-dimensional portal of the cultists’ bio-experimentation site that I had found in Gerheim’s warehouse before.

“That’s probably right. They even had sentry groups, so there’s no need to guard the portal separately. But there will definitely be internal defense forces.”

Surely, it would be as Jack said.

The current number of people is 10, including me, and 11 if you add Silver.

No matter how many goblin soldiers there are inside, there would be far more than this.

Even with me, who could be said to be an asymmetrical force, I couldn’t easily decide to attack.

“But it’s difficult to just go back from here. Now that we’ve eliminated the sentries, they’ll notice unless they’re fools.”

In that case, there was a high probability that they would move the base.

Changing the location of the gate portal takes a lot of effort, but it’s not impossible.

If they change the location, it might be impossible to find it again like now.

“So I think I need to look inside. If possible, I should destroy it altogether, but at the very least, I need to find out what they’re doing inside.”

“But…….”

Jack didn’t want to oppose me, but he glanced at the hired mercenaries and adventurers.

They were strictly hired with money, so they would be reluctant to risk their lives more than necessary.

“I’ll increase the reward, so those who want to come, come. I won’t hold you back even if you go back from here.”

Even if all the mercenaries gave up, I was thinking of looking into it alone. But unexpectedly, they all decided to stay.

“Why?”

“……’Shadow’s’ reputation is high, so they seem to think it’s worth a try.”

“Hoo…… that’s unexpected.”

Was my reputation bigger than I thought? It seemed that the story of me mowing down the freak unit in the last war with Karstein had become a heroic tale.

The accompanying mercenaries had excellent combat power, so I thought it was a good thing, and I immediately crossed the portal with my party.

What I saw after crossing the portal was a vast, open plain.

It was quite different from the cultists’ portal, which looked like an underground prison last time.

“Unexpectedly, there’s no one at the entrance.”

“They seem to have let their guard down. Well, it’s hard to believe that so many sentries couldn’t escape and were all defeated.”

I had carefully eliminated the fleeing guys so that they wouldn’t be detected by the enemy. Thanks to that, the information inside and outside the portal seemed to be temporarily cut off.

“Start searching the surroundings first.”

Since it was a huge open gate, we had to start with a search.

And we were finally able to find them.

“They’re kidnapped Imperial citizens. They’re being used as slaves…….”

The people who had been kidnapped by the goblins over the past few months were gathered here.