I Became the Tyrant of a Defense Game [EN]: Chapter 445

A few days passed.

During that time, new forces from all over the world joined one after another.

“I’m here~!”

Yoon, who had traveled far to the north, returned as a formal envoy, leading the people of the Northern Kingdom. She grinned at me as she stood before me.

“So, this time you’ve come as a proper envoy representing both the Aryan Kingdom and the Northern Kingdom?”

“It’s quite a distance, but you arrived pretty quickly.”

Honestly, I thought she would come after everything was over.

“Hehe, actually… our country also secretly hid a few airships.”

“…It’s a secret, but is it okay to say that?”

“They were so old that they broke down halfway, so I ended up riding a wolf from the middle. And this town has one too.”

Yoon shrugged her shoulders and looked around with a glint in her eyes.

“By the way, where’s Quillan?! Where is Quillan?!”

It seems she’s only interested in the side dishes, not the main course.

“Honestly, if it was just about joining the monster front, I wouldn’t have come out again. My parents sent me back because I said I found a potential husband.”

“…Usually, when a daughter who went out says she found a potential husband, wouldn’t the parents oppose it first?”

“Not in the North. And even more so if the potential husband is a sturdy man with a lot of fur.”

What kind of place is the North in this world…?

Anyway, Yoon and her delegation (a group evaluating potential husbands disguised as a delegation) went into the city, looking for Quillan with sparkling eyes… I don’t know. Go on a blind date or a matchmaking session, whatever you want.

“Ash!”

Dusk Bringer also returned.

She brought all the small countries in the corners that I couldn’t reach, the descendants of the Western Kingdom, and the leaders of hostile countries that didn’t get along with the Empire… and so on.

Was it thanks to the Bringer Duchy openly fighting the Empire? Many people hostile to the Empire—the real ‘fallen kings’ whose countries were destroyed by the Empire and who continued to live in hiding—came together.

After introducing them, Dusk Bringer raised her nose and shrugged her shoulders.

“Hehe, I have some popularity. You can praise me!”

“I believed in you, Grand Duchess.”

While Dusk Bringer and I had a warm relationship, the other fallen kings who came with her were glaring at me with fierce eyes… Well, it’s natural since I’m the third prince of the Empire.

“You must be quite tired from your journey, come this way.”

I was confident in winning them over, so I smiled gently and guided them to the hotel.

After almost all the kings on the list had arrived, finally.

“Your Highness.”

Hannibal came.

The shaggy-haired boy who used to assist Kellybay with spirit enchantments.

Hannibal, who had left the city with my permission to go to his ‘hometown,’ returned neatly dressed.

His shaggy hair, which used to cover his eyes, was neatly trimmed, and the boy looked like a different person.

‘Children grow up so fast.’

As I was thinking that, Hannibal bowed politely in front of me.

“Thank you for accepting our ‘Half-Blood’s’ requests, Your Highness. Thanks to you, we were able to quickly gather a consensus.”

“It wasn’t a big request. There was no need to hesitate.”

Hannibal is a member of the ‘Half-Blood,’ a community of mixed-race children living in hiding all over the world.

These people, who are discriminated against and persecuted more than other races, are often abandoned as soon as they are born.

Even if they survive the harsh childhood, they live their entire lives hiding their identities.

“We have no country, no ethnicity. All we have is a secret underground community.”

It is said that half-bloods can easily recognize each other.

This is because spirits are highly likely to dwell in them.

There is an old story that spirits cherish orphans.

I thought it was a story to give hope to orphans, but it seems that in the case of half-bloods, the spirit sensitivity is significantly higher.

“When Your Highness said that you were gathering forces to fight a great enemy… I thought we should add our small strength.”

Hannibal pointed to the four boys and girls who had followed him and introduced them.

They were all spirit users. A party of five spirit users had been added to my command.

“Although the number is small, we have selected the best spirit users from our Half-Blood. We will do our best to help Your Highness and the monster front.”

“Opportunity only comes to those who act.”

I smiled brightly.

“You and your friends have seized the opportunity.”

The Half-Blood’s request was simple.

Improve the treatment of mixed-race people.

I was willing to grant this request.

“Come in. Spirit users. We’ll start the meeting soon.”

The children, who were very nervous, hesitantly entered the hotel entrance. I watched them with a smile.

***

I started individual meetings with the kings.

I knew what each of them wanted, so I didn’t hesitate to present my conditions to them.

Most of them agreed to my proposal.

Those who had seen the monsters with their own eyes and felt their threat promised to cooperate with me, putting aside other interests.

However, there were also many who doubted and refused me. They refused to join my command and tried to leave this meeting.

‘I’m sorry, but I can’t just let you go.’

I had already figured out their intentions.

Over the past few days, I had deployed the Gambler Party—the Gamble Club—and used illusion, puppetry, clairvoyance, and mind-reading to figure out their true intentions.

In addition, information from the game.

I knew the conditions for recruiting each fallen king, as well as the conditions for hostility. In other words, I knew their weaknesses well.

Using this, I proceeded with both threats and persuasion.

I shook their weaknesses and cornered them with evidence.

“That I created a slush fund secretly from the people is rude! Do you have any evidence?!”

“That I’m having an affair with our country’s Minister of State?! What a ridiculous thing to say! Where did you pick up such strange gossip-”

“Hahaha. Come on, Prince Ash. Why are you acting like this between professionals? Isn’t it a basic right for our leaders to embezzle behind the scenes?”

At first, they all tried to resist, but

“I understand! I understand! I will fully cooperate! So please, don’t make that matter public!”

“Please keep it a secret… My remarriage ceremony is scheduled for next year… If the affair is exposed, I’m done for…”

“I thought you were the same kind of dark-hearted person as me, but I’m disappointed! Let’s see how long you can keep pretending to be so nice! Damn it!”

In the end, they all gave in.

It was easier than I thought.

They were stubborn when I tried to persuade them gently, but when I threatened them fiercely by touching their weaknesses, they quickly surrendered.

‘No matter what, I will unite everyone into one force.’

I fed them carrots and wielded the whip, beat them with carrots and caressed them with the whip—I finished negotiating with the leaders of all the forces one by one.

And after this work was completed.

On the last night of this meeting, at the banquet held for all the attendees.

I finally revealed Fernandez’s purpose.

***

“Fernandez will melt and kill all the humans in the Imperial Capital.”

At my calm words, the air in the banquet hall froze.

In front of those who were looking at me with horrified eyes, I calmly swirled the wine glass in my hand.

“The Aegis Special Task Force and the Magic Corps have installed a human sacrifice magic circle called ‘Shutdown Protocol’ in the basement of the Imperial Capital, New Terra.”

“……”

“Because it was installed on such a large scale, it was delayed for various reasons… but it is nearing completion.”

The expected completion time is this winter.

As early as next month. No matter how generous you are, it’s a few months away.

And if this is activated,

“All living things in the Imperial Capital will be annihilated. Including Fernandez himself.”

“……”

An uncomfortable silence flowed.

It must be hard for everyone to stay sane after hearing such a crazy story.

It was the fairy queen Skuld who broke the silence.

“Why would he do that?”

“……”

“What for… After winning the imperial succession battle, why would he massacre the people of his own capital? That’s something only a madman would do, isn’t it?”

That’s right. There’s no doubt that Fernandez is a crazy bastard.

I can’t even guess his motives or principles of action. But I can fully guess what he’s trying to do through this.

“Basically, Fernandez is convinced that he cannot win the war against the monsters. I don’t know why he made this judgment… but his conviction seems solid.”

He was a guy who was trying to declare surrender before even fighting.

The reason he wanted to become emperor in the first place was to beg for his life from the ‘representative of the monsters’ as the ‘representative of humanity.’

But the Demon King refused that surrender.

So Fernandez chose this as a second-best option… no, the second-worst option.

“The Shutdown Protocol burns the body. But the soul remains there.”

“……?!”

“And in the Imperial Capital, New Terra… there is a tree that can connect to the spirit world, the Everblack.”

“Could it be…?!”

“That’s exactly what it is.”

I let out a long sigh.

“To ‘kill’ all the people of the Imperial Capital and lead only their souls to the spirit world… this is Fernandez’s plan.”

This is the identity of the ‘Final Ark.’

Fernandez judged that he could not fight and win against the predetermined destruction.

Even so, he decided to continue the lineage of the Empire and preserve the human race ‘by any means.’

Even if there is no physical body. As long as the spirit can continue.

If only the soul can be evacuated.

That’s what he decided to do.

“In a way, you could say he’s gaining eternal life.”

As I said that bitterly, the magic city that sank under the lake—the Lake Kingdom—suddenly came to my mind.

That great magic kingdom also… ended up in that state while trying to gain eternal life.

The Empire on the ground was also trying to become the same, only in a different form.

“If you offer living humans through the Shutdown Protocol, an enormous amount of energy will be generated in return. If you offer the entire population of the Imperial Capital… the amount of energy extracted would be unprecedented.”

The Shutdown Protocol itself can be seen as a burnt offering ritual that burns sacrifices.

And with the enormous energy obtained in return, the souls are loaded onto the ark and evacuated to the spirit world.

Even if the real world is devastated by monsters, the ‘chosen’ citizens of the Empire will continue their eternal lives in the spirit world.

“To be honest, many of you here… would be happy if the Imperial Capital were to evaporate.”

I glanced around at the various kings in the banquet hall. Quite a few of them flinched at my words.

They are the fallen kings who were driven out to the borders.

Most of them have grudges against the Empire.

To be honest, if the Empire were to burn and collapse its own capital, they would be more than happy to cheer.

“But everyone. We cannot win the war against the monsters unless the whole world unites.”

Even if all the other small countries join forces.

In the end, without the full power of the Everblack Empire, which currently holds the hegemony of the world, the power of that alliance will be reduced by more than half.

We must reclaim the Imperial Capital and regain control of the Empire.

And I need to punch Fernandez in the face for making such a crazy plan.

“Can you stop it?”

“Of course.”

At Skuld’s trembling voice, I smiled confidently.

“If you all fully cooperate, we can stop it as much as we want.”

Fernandez’s conspiracy.

The monster invasion.

I will stop them all, go beyond the 3rd year ending, and go to the world after that.

That’s why I’m here.

***

And so.

After several days of coaxing, cajoling, beating, and threatening, all the kings and leaders of the forces who attended this meeting promised to cooperate with me.

Above all, after hearing about Fernandez’s crazy plan at the end, it seemed that the remaining worries had disappeared.

Whether Fernandez self-destructs or his plan is blocked by me.

They realized after thinking about it that the next hegemony of the Empire would come to me in either direction.

“I hereby declare the launch of the ‘World Defense Front’ at this place.”

The alliance was formed.

Although it is a coalition of fallen kings who were pushed to the borders, when they are gathered together, the scale is not small.

Now, even against Fernandez and the Demon King, we will at least not be outnumbered.

‘It doesn’t matter if it’s a gathering of riffraff.’

Every veteran is a recruit at first, and every great empire is just a handful of troops at first.

If it is the discretion of a king to train and expand this, it will be proven this time.

Whether I am truly worthy of being an emperor or not.

“The leader of the alliance has been nominated as His Highness Ash ‘Bonehater’ Everblack, the lord of Crossroads, who has been the main pillar of this meeting.”

I was unanimously nominated as the leader of the alliance.

At Skuld’s words, I stood up from my seat and bowed lightly, and everyone in the room applauded. Clapping, clapping, clapping…

“Now that you’ve become the leader of an alliance of kings…”

The dwarf king Kellyson, who was clapping while standing up from his seat, smiled mischievously and said playfully.

“Should we call you the king of kings… the king of all kings?”

“That’s a bit of a burdensome title.”

I mumbled awkwardly, changed my expression, and after clearing my throat, I raised my wine glass.

“Let’s go together, everyone.”

All the kings stood up from their seats following me and raised their glasses.

I said concisely.

“To protect everyone’s world.”

I drank my glass in one gulp, and all the kings followed me and swallowed their glasses.

The alliance is ready. The bullets are loaded.

Now, all that’s left is the final battle.