He Became The Most Insane Emperor Of All Time [EN]: Chapter 70

“He really did destroy and loot everything except the castle walls.”

“If he had more time, he would have destroyed the walls too. Well, that means he knew we would chase him.”

It meant that he didn’t expect anything from the guys left at the main fort.

And he tricked the lords and looted them. It was a very anticlimactic end for those who once had grand dreams of rebellion.

I thought about that while looking at the ruins that were once the territory of a separatist lord.

“I retreated because I thought some Greenskins [Orcs/Goblins] had come, but I didn’t know this would happen.”

“Well, isn’t that what they deserve, Commander Ulfman of the Guard? But why is someone who should be attending to His Majesty here on the battlefield in person?”

“It’s just that there aren’t many people I can entrust with the position of general yet….”

While I was having those thoughts, Commander Van Horn and Commander Ulfman exchanged a few words.

Then, the commander of the guard glanced at me and said.

“…His Majesty likes being on the ground so much.”

“Huh? What do you mean….”

“It’s nothing. But it’s a bit late to ask now, but are the Rangers loyal to the Imperial Family?”

At the commander’s question, Van Horn nodded without hesitation.

“We only serve the Empire as rangers.”

“……Even though you can’t say you haven’t been alienated, even with empty words?”

“That’s why we dedicate ourselves even more to the ‘Empire.’ We are different from the separatists.”

So, the object of loyalty is ‘Empire,’ not ‘Emperor.’

Patriotic, loyal, yet dangerous remarks in the pre-modern medieval world.

But at the same time, that’s why they weren’t swept away by separatism.

“I see, His Majesty will understand that.”

“That’s a relief. But there’s one problem. The problem in the West is not solved yet.”

“Hmm? Thanks to the Greenskins, the rebels have been greatly weakened, right? There are still some remnants left, but the situation will be much better?”

As the commander said, many of the western separatists who were backstabbed by the Greenskins were dragged away as slaves, and the rest fled south.

They seemed to be relying on the Western Territory Elector, called the Wizard Lord, but he, who had been neutral, might take their side, and the remaining troops were not a big threat in themselves.

“Rather, the Western Territory itself is the problem now.”

“Lord Shadow.”

The commander looked at me and used my alias instead of ‘His Majesty’.

Van Horn seemed to realize, ‘As expected, they are from the Imperial Family and know each other,’ but at the same time, he seemed to be wondering why the commander was subtly taking a low profile.

Regardless, I continued to speak.

“Even if the Rangers are loyal to the Imperial Family, the public sentiment is not exactly the same. They are not about to revolt, but there is a lot of alienation. Not to mention the antipathy towards the nobles who have been exploiting them.”

“But isn’t that the fault of the western lords?”

“The people don’t know that. They just vaguely hate the misdeeds of the higher-ups. Moreover… Can we really say that only the western lords are to blame for the empire being in this state?”

“…….”

Just as the commander couldn’t answer me, the fall of the empire was not solely the original sin of the separatists.

Of course, they are cancerous beings inside, but in the first place, it is the ruler’s duty to exclude such people and maintain national power.

However, the fact that the empire has become like this means that the past emperors were either inadequate, incompetent, or played along as one to fulfill that duty.

Either way, the emperor is not without fault, and now it is time for me, who has become the emperor, to bear that burden.

“Order must be restored, but the western nobles cannot be trusted. Even most of them have been dragged away by the Greenskins, and even if we bring in nobles from other places, public sentiment will be shaken.”

So now, this has become a bigger problem than the rebels in the West.

“How about dispatching officials from the Imperial Family? Of course, it is up to His Majesty to decide, but… making it a direct territory seems to be the most realistic thing to do now.”

Van Horn gave a formal opinion.

Although remnants of the feudal system remain, the empire is also a form of bureaucratic central government.

There are several historical and political reasons for this, but since the nobles have rebelled, it cannot be denied that it is orthodox to organize them and fill them with managers [government officials].

“That’s right. But there is a dire shortage of managers to send. The Western Territory is so vast, and even if we secure the personnel to send, we don’t have enough finances to pay all of them properly.”

“……It’s not easy.”

Because of these realistic problems, they have compromised by combining the feudal system until now.

So, even if it is not the Western Territory, if we resolve the civil wars in other places, we must leave some nobles to preserve administrative power to some extent.

But the Western Territory can never do that. If we put another noble in place, it may not be a noble revolt next time, but a peasant revolt.

Since they even handed out weapons to the peasants, they are lucky if they endure it.

“I see… But Lord Shadow, you know so much about national affairs for a knight, what position do you hold in the Imperial Family?”

“……Um, I don’t have any special position, I just give advice to His Majesty from time to time.”

“Indeed… Well, I think I’ve heard rumors that His Majesty often listens to advice regardless of status.”

Is that so?

I didn’t particularly act consciously of that, but when I think about it, it might look that way.

There are commoners in the Imperial Family’s vassals, and they have adopted proposals from commoners several times.

Whether they were nobles or commoners, they filtered out nonsense and approved what was useful, but from a third person’s perspective, it might look that way.

Moreover, in the case of Hendrick, who was selected as an intelligence agent, he was not only from a commoner background, but also a former thief….

“Wait, then….”

“What’s wrong?”

But as my thoughts reached that point, one possibility flashed through my mind.

In short, in the West now, nobles are not only authorities but also untrustworthy people.

“Then why don’t we select a large number of commoner managers?”

“In the Western Territory, where there is no proper academy? There are many people who can’t even write their own names, let alone scholars, so it won’t work.”

“No, there are people who are educated enough. Not only are they educated, but they also have authority now.”

Chuck.

I said that and pointed to Van Horn.

“I’m talking about you Rangers. Since the organization is large, you have a sense of administration, and above all, maintaining security was your main job. You have some education, right?”

It’s easy to use right now.

It’s a bit of a concern that it’s a military organization that could become a warlord, but in the first place, the West is barren and underdeveloped, making it easy for thieves to appear.

The Greenskins also invade from time to time, so a certain level of military power must be maintained.

Until now, they couldn’t reform because of the nobles who didn’t want to give up their rights, but now it’s time to change the system to suit that reality.

“What… We are a military organization, not a governing body.”

“Then you can become a governing body. Have you heard of the State of the Teutonic Order?”

To put it in Earth terms, it’s like the Teutonic Order [a medieval German Catholic military order].

So, this place is part of the empire, but it is a principality and a march [border territory] that has been granted a lot of autonomy and even changed its system.

Well, you might say that they might become independent someday… but that’s something my descendants will have to worry about.

“How is it? Isn’t it a bad idea? It strengthens your authority… and the commoners will be happy about this.”

“That’s true, but… His Majesty would never allow it….”

“Don’t worry about that.”

I said that and took off my black helmet.

With my long silver hair revealed, I said to him.

“I, Franz Ludwig von Rosenkranz, Emperor of the Empire, allow the founding of the Western Ranger Patrol Knight State.”

It was the moment when the country of the Knights was born.

* * *

Golak’s Greenskin army of more than 50,000 Greenskins was virtually defeated when they were annihilated at the Ranger Fortress.

But Golak took this as an opportunity.

“Kruk, Golak! You dare betray us-”

Crack!

“It’s funny that those who never intended to listen to my orders are talking about betrayal.”

As he retreated from the Western Territory, there were naturally complainers.

But he was able to easily smash their heads.

His rivals, who had been badly beaten at the Ranger Headquarters Fortress, lost their power.

On the other hand, Golak, who had robbed the western lords and took away a mountain of loot, was in even better shape despite the failure of the expedition.

“From now on, I will rule this tribe too!”

“Chieftain, that’s impossible. It’s tradition to elect a chieftain from the tribe.”

“……Keueung.”

But that was it.

He killed the chieftain who didn’t listen to him and now tried to rule directly like humans, but it was useless.

Of course, he could have a trustworthy chieftain, but it was not easy to choose such people.

But humans seemed to make the ‘nobles’ listen to them in general.

Of course, this time the nobles rebelled and were badly beaten, but well, isn’t that a drop in the bucket compared to the Greenskins, where conflict is commonplace?

“You, tell me. How do you make nobles?”

“Do you think I’ll cooperate with a Greenskin like you!”

“Give him to the wolves.”

“Aaaagh!”

So I asked the nobles I had captured. But there were many who showed off their spirit and resisted.

After throwing a few to the wolves, they became docile.

Then a few people started giving answers.

“N, nobles have been selected as leaders of the land since ancient times and have ruled for generations….”

“R, recognized for their nobility by the sacredness of the Imperial Guardian God….”

But it didn’t seem very useful.

The answers were different for each person who spoke, and the concept of a leader of the land did not suit the Greenskins, who were neither settled nor nomadic, and the Greenskins’ green god shamanic beliefs were too different from the Imperial Church.

“They’re all useless. Send them all to the wolves.”

“I understand, Chieftain!”

“Aaaagh, save me!”

Disappointed, Golak tried to abandon them. He began to feel skeptical that he couldn’t follow humans.

“Wait a minute, I know!”

“Huh? Stop.”

At that time, one of the nobles who had not yet answered spoke.

It was a human woman dressed in a dress.

“You know the answer? The men were useless?”

“Yes, but I know the right answer.”

“Then tell me. If it’s not a satisfactory answer, I’ll kill you horribly.”

The young noble lady swallowed her saliva at Golak’s words and nodded.

The nobles who were destined to be dragged away and killed were the same.

“It’s class.”

“I’m already disappointed. We also have classes. Shamans and warriors are also divided into classes according to the strong.”

“I know. But the Greenskin class doesn’t have the authority of a noble.”

“Why?”

“Because the standard is force, as you said. Not authority.”

“……?”

Golak found it difficult to understand the noble lady’s words.

Isn’t it natural for the strong to have authority? But the standard of authority is force, so it doesn’t work?

“You want to be like human nobles, right? Then you shouldn’t. If force is the standard, you’ll just be robbed if a stronger person appears, or anyone will have that class. There’s no authority in that.”

“Humans aren’t like that?”

“Yes, humans, commoners obey nobles and nobles… are loyal to the king. Usually.”

The noble’s daughter, who rebelled against the emperor and was broken, thought it was ironic to say this, but she continued to speak in order to survive.

“So the noble’s class itself must be authoritative. Even if a strong person appears, if the class is low, they must be made to obey the one with the higher class.”

The moment he heard the noble lady’s words, Golak felt as if lightning was striking in his head.

It was as if he had found the wisdom to break down the walls of the tribal system that he so desperately desired, which stood before him as a leader.

“You, what’s your name?”

“……Fiona.”

“Okay, Fiona. Then keep… tell me more.”

Feeling a thrill as if he had heard the revelation of the green god, he began to listen to her words more intently.

Not only the west of the empire, but also the Greenskins were beginning to transform.