This happened a few days before King Reyd Glorio Alisia of the Kingdom of Alisia visited the Reauxgard Empire. I was with the First and Second Imperial Orders of Knights, the personal guards responsible for protecting the emperor. After capturing Alveiro Velburn but suspecting that he might not be the villain, they’d quietly kept an eye on things and, based on information provided by the intelligence organization, begun preparing for their next operation.
“Everyone’s here. Good. I’ll now brief you all on Operation ‘Put the Trash Where It Belongs.’”
Helgar Landros, vice commander of the First and the man in charge of overseeing the entire imperial guard, led the meeting. Just as he was about to continue, one of his subordinates raised his hand.
“Um, sir? May I ask a question first?”
“Go ahead.”
“Is, uh... Is that person over there His Majesty the Demon Emperor?”
I answered in Helgar’s place.
“Nope. It’s the mysterious helper, Masked Upsilon.”
“There you have it. He is the mysterious... What was it again?”
“Mysterious helper, Masked Upsilon. And this is my equipment, a fishing net for capturing people. I also have a trash can for the trash.”
“You heard him, everyone. Begging your pardon, Your Majesty, but if you could put away the fishing net and trash can...”
“Sir, you just addressed him as ‘Your Majesty.’”
“I’m kidding, I’m kidding. I usually use an odachi—I mean, a greatsword, but it makes it hard to hold back. Mostly, though, I don’t want my kid touching any scumbag blood, so I’m basically bare knuckling it this time. Thanks in advance.”
“Thank you, Upsilon. You all understand, don’t you? This gentleman is a mysterious helper, unknown to us, who just so happened to be passing by. Don’t forget that.”
I could practically see the light bulbs going off over the rest of the imperial guards’ heads as they finally caught on. Ideally, we wanted people not to think I’d intervened and that the citizens of this country had solved this problem on their own. However, my goal today wasn’t to target the imperial family but their proverbial eyes and ears, so I wasn’t all that serious about hiding my identity. All that mattered was that we could keep up the pretense that I wasn’t there. Like, I couldn’t let them see my face, hence I was wearing my mask for the first time in a while.
After seeing that his subordinates understood, Helgar’s tone became more serious.
“Let me continue. Our enemy this time has used monsters in acts of terror twice now. In other words, we don’t know what they’ll do if cornered. Depending on the situation, it’s entirely possible they will resort to any means, no matter the consequences. Therefore, I’ve decided to ask the strongest person in this country to lend me his strength.”
As for my fighting forces, I was planning to have En be on standby in Inventory, but I’d decided not to bring Rir or the pet army along. Their presence would make it obvious that I was me, even with a mask on. But like Helgar’d just said, there was a chance the enemy might summon monsters again, so I’d brought En just in case.
The monsters that this country had summoned using Dungeon Points during the previous emperor’s reign were now technically under my command and working together with my monster-tamer units. Despite all that, the enemy could still rock our shit with items I didn’t know about, so it was best to have as many of our bases covered as possible. Could never be too careful. Also, if I didn’t take precautions like this now, I was afraid I’d get in trouble when I got home. Yeah.
“Don’t forget what our enemy is like this time around. They believe that if it’s for their own benefit, it doesn’t matter if a few citizens die. Focus on capturing them quickly.”
From there, Helgar went on to explain the details of the operation to everyone. He started with the goal, which was to capture the target alive and take him away. Like he’d said, there was a good chance the enemy would act regardless of the consequences, so he went over any potential concerns about executing the plan one by one.
While an operation like this wasn’t really part of the imperial guard’s job, if you wanted powerful folks that weren’t allied with the enemy, they were the best option. The Second Imperial Order had been established after the war, essentially making them convenient pawns for me and the other rulers. The First Imperial Order, though, was originally headed by former Emperor Shendra. In other words, they were just as hostile as the enemy. You could also say the Second made the best pieces for us to move on the board in this country.
Once the briefing ended, Helgar finally addressed me.
“Master Upsilon— No, Your Majesty. Is there anything you’d like to say?”
The fact that he deliberately called me that meant that he wanted me to speak in my role as the emperor. I mulled it over a bit, then took off my mask and answered.
“What they did to you... What they did to us was spit in the face of what we’re working toward and smear it with dirt. But we won’t take that lying down, which is why we’re gonna crush them. We won’t let them get away with it.”
I tended to forget because I usually spent my time in the dungeon, but life held much less value in this world than it had in my old one. People died easily, and even the concept of human rights was vague. Basically, it was up to you to do something with your life. Otherwise, you’d just starve to death.
In a world like this one, the life or death of a stranger held little meaning, especially for those in charge of a country. To them, people were probably just numbers, even more so than they’d been in my old life. In this world, where aristocratic rule prevailed, no matter how many subjects died, it hardly shook the foundations of their power.
Surrounded by super smart and rational folks like the Demon King, King Reyd of the Kingdom of Alisia, and even Shen, the former emperor of Reauxgard, I’d forgotten all that. But they were in the minority. That was why, to be honest, when I’d first heard that the imperial family was involved in the recent terrorist attacks, I’d thought, “Ah, not this shit.” They were a serious pain in the ass, though. We couldn’t afford to let dipshits like them gain a foothold in this country.
Still, even if I was just a figurehead, I was the emperor. So, while time was on my side, I’d follow the ways of this world and use force to eliminate any enemies that stood in my way.
“No way in hell we’re letting anyone think that something stupid like this will actually stop us. We can’t let this great nation that values reason sink because of a few idiots. So let’s do this. Time to clean up the trash.”
At my words, the imperial guards roared in approval. The operation commenced at the same time that the king of Alisia was drawing the imperial family’s attention at the palace.