“The population is still growing slightly due to the influx of people from other cities, but who knows how long that will last. This phenomenon will eventually spread across the entire empire,” the emperor continued wearily. “It’s something that inevitably happens in cities that enjoy peace and prosperity for a long time. Prolonged peace breeds weariness and drains people of their vigor. The empire’s peace has lasted a hundred years. No matter how luxurious their lives are, people eventually grow tired of them. There are things in human society that, no matter how detested they may be, remain necessary.”
“Such as?”
“Crisis,” the emperor said as though it were obvious. “It’s something intimately familiar to all living beings. No matter how much one tries to avoid it, a lack of crisis will eventually become toxic. This crisis, I think, has been just the right sort of stimulus for the empire.”
“Huh?”
“For the places that have lost their inhabitants, we’ll recruit people who have lost their jobs in big cities, children from farming families who aren’t inheriting land, and other such individuals, and send them to rebuild. They’ll work hard, have children, and prosper. They’ll be building cities from the ground up, so they’re certain to be motivated. The vigor and energy fostered there will then spread to the capital, if only a little.”
“And that somehow justifies atrocities?! You think the people who died and the lords ruling those lands would accept that?!”
“I have nothing but sympathy for the people. The lords, however, are another matter. The western lands were once home to nations that were hostile to the empire. Many of their current rulers are descendants of those former enemies and inherited that same disposition. That’s why so many of them support Dilryne and Jaylud over Hiltzel. I wanted to remind them of their true duty—protecting their lands rather than plotting to gain power. This is a crude way of putting it, but for the common people, the only difference was which revolt they got caught up in.”
“Are you saying the western lords were plotting a revolt?”
“No.” The emperor shook his head. “It hadn’t yet reached that point. But it’s already too late once it does. Once they begin plotting, I have no choice but to punish them. No matter how you write the script from there, it only ends with both sides left bitter and resentful. Tell me, who would ever want a story like that?”
“What are you...”
“Personally, I prefer a story that ends with everyone happy,” the emperor went on, as though describing a play. “It’s best when conspiracies collapse by pure chance. For example, while scheming some dark plot, an even worse mage runs amok and lays waste to their lands. The lords are left helpless. Then the empire extends a helping hand—offering loans for reconstruction, tax exemptions, that sort of thing. The lords are grateful and deeply repentant. Together with the young people who’ve come from other regions, they rebuild their lands even grander than before. In time, they repay the empire’s kindness through increased tax revenues. And the empire, moved by the vigor of those striving youths in the west, regains its own vitality. My hot-headed sons even learn a little humility. What do you think?” The emperor sounded proud of himself. “Is that not a happy ending?”
I was lost for words. Something was wrong with his logic. There was no way a happy ending could involve so many deaths. But I didn’t know what it was. In fact, maybe there wasn’t anything wrong. Perhaps that was simply what it meant to be a ruler.
“Why...” I couldn’t look away from the emperor. “Why tell me this?” The emperor was on a completely different level from Hiltzel or Fiona. That was what made knowing the truth all the more terrifying.
“It’s not as if it’s some big secret,” the emperor said as though it were the most trivial thing in the world. “Everyone indulges in this sort of wild speculation. Some get close to the truth, while others are so far off the mark I can’t help but laugh. I just let them be. No matter where or what you were to kick up a fuss about, you’re just another one of those voices. You don’t have any proof, after all. Oh, whoops.” The emperor looked as though he realized he’d made a mistake. “While I have no particular reason to hide it, I suppose I don’t have any reason to go out of my way to explain things either. Pardon me. It’s just casual conversation.”
“You call that casual conversation?”
“Yes. As I said at the start, I really did invite you here to thank you. I’m the one who asked you to deal with the revolt. If I had just dismissed you after a job well done, people would start to question my character. Not even the emperor has the right to act like that. You’ll be granted a proper reward.”
“Amyu was the one you summoned. There’s no reason to call me here alone.”
“That’s true, but you seem to be those girls’ leader, so I didn’t think there was any harm in it. I don’t imagine they’re eager to come back and see me again,” the emperor joked self-deprecatingly.
None of his words or gestures ever inspired tension in others. It was as if you could instinctively sense that he wasn’t someone to be feared, and you found yourself accepting his words without question. That was precisely what made him so frightening.
“Still, I suppose I should’ve summoned Amyu. Calling you here alone was frankly for my own convenience. There’s something I wanted to ask you, and I thought it might be troublesome if others were to find out.”
“What did you want to ask me?”
“Oh, it’s nothing serious,” the emperor said, once again wearing his impossible smile. A smile so utterly ordinary that anyone living in a world of schemes, wealth, violence, and bitter rivalries—the world of politics—should have long since abandoned it.
“You’re the Demon Lord, aren’t you?”