Became the Emperor in the Hero Game

5 – 5.

“What… I have nothing to say. Sorry. Your majesty.”

After hearing the story from me, Dia lowered her head with her dark face.

How embarrassing it must be for her to hear that from me, since she can’t figure out and report that there is a traitor in advance.

I’d be very angry if someone like the Duke of Roget made a mistake like this, but there’s no need to be so loyal to Dia.

“Their helpers have enough potential to come and go in and out of Triel Mansion, so it’s not unreasonable for the intelligence department, which was focused on the demon king, warriors, and kingdoms, to miss them. But next time, pay more attention to domestic matters.”

“I will keep this in mind. Your majesty.”

“Your Majesty. Shin Giel Bendio, I have come at your Majesty’s call. May I come in?”

Ah, Knight Commander Hwang Young. Are you here now If possible, come with Dia.

If this is the case, I’ll have to explain again.

“Come in.”

When permission was granted, a knight armed with black armor entered.

The royal sword, the shadow of Arhan.

The head of the Imperial Knights who are loyal only to Arhan, not to the empire.

Giel Bendio was a strong man who was within ten fingers, even if it spanned the entire continent, not the empire, but like all Imperial Knights, he was blindly loyal and was one of his trusted subordinates.

“Sir Giel. Unfortunately, there seems to be a traitor within the Empire.”

I told Gilel what I heard from Rosé.

It was quite interesting to see Giel’s expression redden in real time as I spoke.

“That… ! Your Majesty, just give me your orders. God will lead the knights and take the supply and demand of those traitors.”

“Sir Giel. Calm down. The important thing here is not the survivors of Lutega. There’s a good chance they’re just scarecrows in the first place.

It is difficult to approach the other princes of the empire rather than an unknown group.

The descendants of the marquis will be much better.”

“Then…… “

“Cooperate with the Minister of Information, Kyeong-eun, and investigate who is helping them.

I will grant the Lord unlimited powers regarding this case, so anyone can investigate regardless. The target of investigation is all nobles of the empire.”

“I understand, Your Majesty.”

“I will send an official letter requesting cooperation to Jim’s younger brother and the feudal lords.

Aristocrats below the count are free to investigate. If you refuse, I won’t mind if you immediately punish me.”

The Imperial Knights are the sword of the emperor.

I don’t think there’s a noble who would dare to refute an investigation in front of the Imperial Knights, but just in case.

“Yes. Your majesty. Haona, speaking of all nobles, the northern…… “

North? Ah.

“He needs no investigation. Just send someone to let the Empire know that this has happened, and if you see any traitors or their helpers, please ask them to arrest them.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Okay. You may want to go out.”

After completing the instructions, and sending the two out, I went back to work.

However, even while working, the unidentified force continued to remain in my head, and I couldn’t get the job right.

‘What the hell are these guys doing?’

Actually, if it were normal, I wouldn’t have cared too much about traitors and their helpers.

The imperial family in ‘Chien Chronicles’ was strong.

To the extent that if the hero fails, the imperial family will come to the fore and subdue the demon king.

Of course, in that case, the imperial family suffers considerable damage, but the important thing is that if the imperial family does their best, it is possible to kill the demon king.

And I made the already strong imperial family even stronger.

Distributing some of the opportunities that should have gone back to the hero to my subordinates, and recruiting some of the hero’s helpers and colleagues.

Among the hidden talents in various parts of the continent, all the ones that are not needed for the hero’s inspection route have been collected.

Even political opponents who interfered with the imperial authority were eliminated early on.

So, even if an unknown force were to target me, it wouldn’t be a big problem, just a little annoying.

The problem is that I’m preparing for war.

It is madness to start a war without resolving internal troubles.

‘Should the war be postponed… ?’

No, unfortunately, I am not the one who can decide when the war begins.

Inducing the five kingdoms to wage war,

The beginning of the war will be the moment when the old man of Zer loses control.

In that case, we should finish cleaning the house before the war breaks out.

There is no need to capture all those mysterious forces.

As long as you find out if any of the imperial nobility are cooperating with them, and who they are, and eliminate them, the war can proceed normally.

If it’s an external enemy rather than an internal one, it won’t change much even if it increases one or two more.

——————————————————————-

“Heh heh, are you saying that there are all of them?”

“Yes.”

Having dinner with the Duke of Pale, he told the story of the traitor.

“Traitors, shameful bastards. Ah, Your Majesty. Sir Sheen, no. How about asking the Duke of Audas for cooperation?”

Request Shien’s cooperation.

It’s not like I didn’t think about it either.

“Shien is not suitable for this kind of work because it has few powers and no informants. Also, if Shien moves, the party will also move, but I hope they don’t get involved in affairs within the empire.”

“Oh, that’s right.”

Those who rule the kingdom or the dwarves are running around the empire under the pretext of catching traitors?

It’s like calling in a tiger to chase a wolf.

“By the way, Your Majesty, you look very tired. You look very tired because it’s only because of those guys. Do you have any other troubles?”

Because the Duke of Pale is also one of the nobles who fully understands the power of the imperial family, he didn’t seem to take the traitor issue too seriously.

Ah, come to think of it, I didn’t tell the duke that we were going to war.

“Ah, Duke. Actually, Jim is about to start a big war soon.”

“Yes… ?”

“I have already ordered the Minister of Information to spread false rumors that the power of the empire and the imperial family has been severely damaged. I plan to convene a Continental Congress sooner or later to persecute the kings of the kingdom.”

Ah, now that I think about it, the traitor job can also be used to pressure other kingdoms. Wouldn’t it be annoyed if I roughly pointed out the people behind it as one of the kingdoms and went around in the name of investigating it?

“Um… It’s a war… “

“If a war breaks out, I want the Pale family to take over the kingdom of Anon.”

“Well, I understand.”

Even when asked to take charge of one kingdom, the duke took it lightly and continued eating.

“Your Majesty, do you really need to go to war with all the kingdoms anyway? It would be more helpful to keep Zerna Daman alive.”

Definitely. If you weigh the gains and losses, it’s better to keep the two kingdoms alive.

Zer is a powerful country in its own right, so if you wage a war, you will lose a lot.

The only thing is, since there is such a stupid guy as the king, he can get a lot of benefits even if he doesn’t go to war.

But I decided to fight this war not just for profit.

“Duke. Did you feel anything through this war?”

“Are you talking about what you felt about this war… “

At my question, the duke didn’t seem to have anything in particular to say.

“Duke. Jim felt so many things. Especially while watching the elves, the beasts, and the demons.”

“Look at the elves. Centered around the Great Forest’s World Tree and its agents, an entire race is loyal to one leader. The same goes for the inmates. Even within it, they say that they are a strong family or a strong family, but in the end, they are bound in front of the name of union and are loyal to one leader. Not to mention, even those demons were loyal to the demon king as a whole.”

“Ummm…… “

“Do you remember when the Anti-Elysian Alliance was formed? When the Elf Queen and the Beast Lord decided to go to war, the two races entered the war. But what about our humanity? I emphasized the danger of the demon king several times, pressured the old man of Zer, and even that was not enough, and only after the demon king’s army attacked Anon did I participate in the alliance.”

“That’s right.”

“Among the intelligent beings on this continent, we are probably the only race that is this ragtag.”

Among the intelligent beings on this continent, humans are the most numerous.

Even the combined numbers of all elves and beastmen cannot catch up with mankind.

But if you ask me which race is the strongest of the intelligent beings on this continent, well?

“Jim can’t stand this. Now that the demon king is dead, goblins and beasts will run amok. If the two races go to war, do you think humanity can win?”

Duke Pale was seriously thinking about my question.

“Humanity is by no means weak… surely. It must be impossible to deal with all the elves or all the beasts with the empire alone.”

“Yes. The Empire doesn’t even know how many elves live in the Great Grove, how long they’ve lived, or even how many Master level strongmen there are among them. If the demon king hadn’t raised it, I wouldn’t have known that there are 12 guardian knights of the queen, and that all of them are masters.”

In fact, even in the game, the exact power of the elves was not revealed.

“The same goes for the Beasts. We did not know until the war that all of their tribes are united and loyal to their lord. If you look at each tribe, it won’t be so threatening, but if you unite all the tribes together, its power is incomprehensible.”

“Your Majesty, but if you are concerned about the two of them, wouldn’t it be better to conserve strength and ally with the other kingdoms rather than wage war?”

I shook my head and answered.

“Duke. I don’t believe in kingdoms. If war breaks out, they’ll be the first to stab the Empire in the back. And fortunately, the Empire still has time.”

“Time, do you mean?”

“Think of Duke Audas and his party.”

“It’s the Duke of Audas’ party… ah!”

“Yes. The princess of the elves and the next leader of the beastmen. The saintess of the Holy Land and the future leader of the Mage Tower. Each of them can represent the forces other than the Empire and the Kingdom.”

“No way, did you organize the party with that in mind?”

“Of course. If only the efficiency of subjugation of the demon lord was taken into account, the empire’s best efforts would have been poured in instead of the youngsters who were still immature. Instead of sending Riel, I should have asked the Duke for a favor.”

“What I was aiming for was to attach the next generation of talent to Cien. The duke must have seen it too. How close they got to each other. What you do as soon as you kill the demon king is not to return to your own power, but to go on a trip together.”

“Again, we didn’t just become close friends. They saw Shien’s power from up close than anyone else. As long as Shien is in the Empire, each faction will have to think a lot before going to war.”

“So, the time Shien belongs to the Empire is the time given to us. We must finish our preparations in the meantime.”

“Then, Your Majesty, do you intend to wage war against the Mage Tower and the Holy Kingdom as well?

The Magic Tower and the Holy Kingdom.

These two forces are not forces that can be absorbed through war like ordinary forces.

“I’m sorry, but that’s difficult. The Mage Tower and the Holy Kingdom will never disappear unless all magicians and followers disappear, so even if we wage war, we will never be able to merge them.”

Right now, even in the Mage Corps of the Empire, many of them are raising enemies in the Mage Tower, and most of their teachers are still staying in the Mage Tower.

And how many of the empire’s subjects believe in Kiriya? Not only the common people, but also many of the nobles are Kiriya’s followers, so a war with the Holy Kingdom would lead to a rebellion.

“However, they are also humankind after all. If there is a war between the races, I will help the Empire in the end. The difference with kingdoms is that they can be trusted.”