Awkward, awkward.
“Hahaha! How should I put it? I guess it’s because I’ve been trying my best to act! My loyalty toward His Majesty the Emperor remains unchanged, but I suppose I can make an exception for the disguises I’m using during my mission!”
Pastel twisted her body awkwardly and laughed.
“I understand that feeling. Separately from loyalty to the Empire, we must handle the ideological verification that happens during our tasks properly. We know well the difficulty of having the heart and the words not match. It must be even harder for a Governor like yourself who isn’t specialized in fieldwork.”
Mr. Penguin agreed, both feeling awkward.
Oh yeah! Surviving after being suspected of treason!
“Exactly! That’s what I mean! Even while I was speaking just now, there was pain swirling inside a part of my soul!”
It seems acting has turned into method acting, overly mocking His Majesty the Emperor!
“And.”
Mr. Penguin smiled.
“The fact that the Governor has personal vendetta is something the Emperor is also aware of. When trying to put on a good act, you may need to utilize your true feelings.”
Whoa! This person doesn’t agree at all!
I felt a warning like ‘I know you want to rebel against the royal family!’
Faithful Pastel isn’t some bad character who thinks it’s very disgraceful for His Majesty to still be hung up on a deceased unrequited love!
In fact, she absolutely doesn’t think it’s a million times better for the Demon Lord to live miserably taking care of his unrequited lover’s daughter!
Mr. Penguin checked the door, rechecking the soundproofing. He turned when he examined the magic circle.
“This is quite convenient. During our last meeting, the Demon King pointed out that Princess Ellysita was a fake created by the subordinate, and the Governor left the scene immediately, so the situation wasn’t properly sorted.”
A letter was taken from his possession.
“I have been informing His Majesty about the fake Demon King and receiving new orders. Now seems like a good time to share it.”
Ugh.
Good-hearted Pastel had His Majesty’s black right now, but the current ambiguous state of His Majesty’s order was very pleasant.
“The Emperor somewhat agrees with the strategy of luring out the real Demon King or his minions, who might be hiding somewhere by creating a fake Demon King.”
Somewhat.
“However, His Majesty thinks that the real Demon King wouldn’t rashly reveal himself even if he exists, so he regards it as a somewhat disappointing stratagem in terms of cost-effectiveness.”
Oh?
Pink eyes rolled in confusion.
“That’s just it. I think Mr. Penguin, or rather Mr. Redmond, misunderstood and conveyed the information poorly.”
“Excuse me?”
“I said that in order to catch a hidden mouse, one must stir the mouse hole.”
“That’s correct.”
“But if you only take that as a superficial interpretation meaning showing up as the Demon King to make the real one flustered, you’re mistaken.”
“Excuse me?”
Mr. Penguin looked baffled.
Boo.
I’m actually more baffled here.
Pastel looked at Mr. Penguin with slight suspicion. Ignoring the basics like this, isn’t this person trying to sow discord between faithful Pastel and His Majesty?
Ugh ugh.
Very dissatisfied as Governor Pastel.
“It would be nice if it could be clarified, but if the Demon King is clever, he wouldn’t do that. Then it would inevitably lead to a somewhat disappointing strategy in terms of opportunity cost, according to His Majesty’s evaluation. It’s not like there’s any loss either.”
“That is as you say. The Governor evaluated that it would be better to proceed with another strategy. Money isn’t a problem, but it’s more effective to invest the time and manpower spent on this stratagem elsewhere.”
Boo.
“However, that thought is too one-dimensional. It can’t be that His Majesty would think that way, so we can only view it as Mr. Redmond miscommunicating.”
“Excuse me?”
Mr. Penguin was left speechless.
Boo.
For someone to pretend they don’t know such basic matters, have they really attempted to sow discord?
“Whether the real Demon King makes a hasty appearance to reveal themselves as the real one or not, it doesn’t matter for this stratagem.”
Governor Pastel felt displeased since Mr. Penguin was acting territorial over his role as an information agency.
“The prophecy of the Great Temple states that the Empire will fall with the emergence of the Demon King.”
“That’s correct.”
“But the world doesn’t fall apart due to an individual. Though called the Demon King, ultimately, there’s an underlying force, and the most likely candidate would be the Demon Realm United Kingdom.”
“That’s correct too. However, His Majesty believes that considering the military power and geographical distance of the current United Kingdom, a betrayer within the Empire poses a greater threat.”
Is that so?
Pastel tilted her head in confusion.
The viewpoint seems slightly askew.
“The Empire can’t be destroyed due to military strength.”
It seems His Majesty views the trials mentioned in the prophecy as military challenges to the throne.
Although the Demon King may be a representative of history, the actual cause would likely be the military might of the noblemen coveting the throne.
Colluding for the throne and then being betrayed by the Demon King, resulting in the Demon King becoming the ultimate victor, fits the prophecy.
But is that really the case?
A global hegemony doesn’t fall just like that.
The Empire achieved victory over all kingdoms in the continent and unified it, and thereafter fought a great war against the Demon Realm, emerging victorious.
There won’t be a nation with stronger legitimacy than this until the space age begins.
“The Empire is a hegemonic power that will never be seen again in history. It didn’t rely solely on military power to unify the continent through betrayal and stratagems but rather achieved a legitimate unification by subjugating kingdoms one by one.”
Just take a look at the usual attitude of former royal family member Elshire Bellamont. While she doesn’t particularly like the royal court, she recognizes this nation as an Empire and doesn’t have much dissatisfaction with being a Duke family.
What was the reason for the bad relationship with Elshire Camelot?
Being in the northern outskirts made her disheartened about not having a place in central politics, leading to competition between them.
To put it another way, she held onto military power to prepare for rebellion instead of wanting to rise as the royal family, even while being a former royal family member with the royal capital still as her territory.
The Empire unified through procedures that everyone can recognize. Hence, a Duke family that is a part of the unified Empire carries more prestige than former royal families.
Moreover, having battled against the external forces of the continent, the Demon Realm has experienced unification as a force.
If the Empire weakens enough to potentially seize the capital and sit on the throne, what the Bellamont family desires isn’t the resurrection of a former royal family.
They probably would want to maintain the existing territory and only acquire the throne of the unified Empire. That would be vastly easier.
In the end, even if a noble from the Empire betrays and aims for the throne, it wouldn’t mean the Empire would perish; the royal family would instead fall.
It’s quite common for the country to remain while only the royal bloodline changes. Nobody would say the country has fallen due to that.
Of course, while the Demon King might betray and destroy the empire, promising the throne as a price to the betrayer…
Well, who knows?
Is that even possible right now?
Without the prophecy, it might have been manageable somehow, but given that the prophecy has already circulated everywhere, can that actually happen?
Only the Demon King’s emergence has been publicly announced; nothing about the Empire’s downfall has been foreseen yet, but all influential nobles would likely already know.
Thanks to the last tyrant muddying the entire country with the blood of 100,000 newborns, even a passing stray dog friend would sense something’s wrong. How many high nobles wouldn’t know about it?
There’s also a prophecy that the Demon King will betray you. It’d be silly to try to destroy the unified Empire that’s not going to exist ever again but rather become a traitor to history. Otherwise, one would need to have such an incredibly powerful force capable of deciding the Empire’s demise while also stumbling into a chaotic situation replete with unexpected internal strife.
OR
Maintain strong forces while attempting to twist the prophecy along with the Empire and the Great Temple’s efforts, then live comfortably and sneakily aim for the unified Empire throne.
Ugh, what a terrible balance.
Which noble would choose the former?
Of course, there could be a noble who would ignorantly disregard the advice of greedy, foolish subordinates lacking any foresight, while managing to maintain strong forces. They might believe the idea of betraying the unified Empire noted in history is worth it! If such a rational thought existed in the mind of even one noble, it might indeed be possible.
But those kind of people are how they maintain their strong forces?
Boo boo boo.
No matter how I think about it, it doesn’t seem like the Empire will fall due to internal military power. At most, only the royal blood will change.
Oh?
Pastel paused her thoughts, an eerie shiver of survival instincts tingling through her.
Just now, I was having rather malicious thoughts resembling that of a republican citizen!
In a monarchy, the monarch is the nation!
The changing of the royal blood means nothing less than the downfall of the Empire!
I doubt the divine prophecy would agree with the forced logic of monarchy, but faithful Pastel could actively agree with the claim that the royal family is the Empire.
Logic transition! Logic transition!
The wicked republican thoughts were discarded, and a true monarchical mindset poked its head into her brain.
Stealing a glance at the dazed expression of Mr. Penguin, she adjusted her logic accordingly.
“There’s no way the royal family with legitimacy unseen in history would fall. Even if some high nobles betray and wield military power with the Demon King, an internal war is inevitable, and they can’t possibly overwhelm the Empire’s intrinsic military power.”
In the current age where the concept of total war hasn’t settled, the gap in wartime power the Empire has in peacetime compared to when entering a civil war is immense.
An individual high noble can’t withstand a total war that would mobilize under the name of the unified Empire.
Unless it was before gun development, a world where one shot could take out a wizard.
“Yet, it’s different if we change the premise. If the justification for a civil war is lacking, or if a legitimate and intense disagreement arises causing the Empire to split in two.”
If the Empire’s intrinsic military power could be aimed at the Empire itself.
It’s not easy to aim the weapons at the unified Empire for those who love it.
However, there could come a time in history when that’s possible. When an enormous force acts upon it, so to speak.
History names this force ideology.
And the latest ideology at this moment being…
Republicanism.
The Republican faction in the Empire led by Duchess Nastasha Redgrade has dreamed of this, and the Demon Realm’s United Kingdom has already realized such a political system.
“Creating a fake Demon King isn’t primarily about finding the hidden real Demon King. It aims to seize the leadership of the republican ideology held by the United Kingdom under the pretense of the Demon King.”
It’s common sense to consider ideology in a grand strategy.
If as an informational agency, you find this unfamiliar, perhaps it’s time to study history, whether it be World War I, World War II, or the Cold War.
Oh?
Come to think of it, this isn’t Earth, and they haven’t even experienced world wars or the Cold War.
Yikes, it turns out it wasn’t common sense yet!
Pastel gasped in fright akin to a rabbit and looked at Mr. Penguin.
“Excuse me?”
He had a dumbfounded expression.
Ugh!
I’ve become that weird character who’s saying things only they know…!
Definitely disqualified from popularity…!
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