Chapter 168
Awkward, awkward.
"Ahaha! What Should I Say, What Should I Say! I guess you could say it turned out like this because I was doing my best at acting! My loyalty to His Imperial Majesty the Emperor remains unchanged, but I suppose acting during an undercover disguise should be treated as an exception!"
Pastel awkwardly twisted her body and laughed.
"I understand how you feel. Separate from your loyalty to the Empire, you must appropriately handle the Ideological Verification that occurs during a mission. We are also well aware of the hardship when one's heart and words do not align. Especially since you, Governor-General, do not specialize in this kind of fieldwork, it must be even harder for you."
Mr. Penguin agreed, as if they were indeed both feeling awkward.
Oh yeah!
I survived being suspected of being a Traitor!
"That's right! That's right! That's exactly what I mean! Even as I was speaking just now, a storm of agony was raging in a corner of my soul and all that!"
I was acting, and it turned into method acting, so I ended up mocking His Imperial Majesty the Emperor a bit too much!
"And."
Mr. Penguin smiled.
"His Imperial Majesty the Emperor is also keeping in mind that the Governor-General has personal grudges. When trying to put on a good act, one sometimes has to utilize one's true feelings."
Heuaaa!
This person isn't agreeing at all!
I just received a blatant warning saying, "I know very well that you want to rebel against the Imperial Family!"
The Loyal Subject Pastel is absolutely not a bad kid who thinks it's incredibly pathetic and petty that His Imperial Majesty the Emperor still can't forget his dead Unrequited Love Interest and clings to her!
She is absolutely not a bad kid who thinks Lord Demon, who lives pitifully while taking care of the Daughter of the Unrequited Love Interest, is a million times better!
Mr. Penguin checked the door and re-verified the Soundproofing status. He examined the Magic Circle before turning around.
"This works out well. During our last meeting, you informed me that the Demon King was a fake created by Princess Ellishita, and then you, Governor-General, left immediately, so the situation wasn't properly sorted out."
A letter was pulled out of his inner pocket.
"In the meantime, I have delivered the news of the Fake Demon King to His Imperial Majesty and received new orders. I believe I can inform you of them now."
Ugh.
The good Pastel possessed His Imperial Majesty's Sword, but she was very happy and enjoying the current situation where His Imperial Majesty's orders had become ambiguous.
"His Imperial Majesty partially agreed with the strategy of creating a Fake Demon King to lure out the True Demon King or his subordinates who might be hiding somewhere."
Partially.
"However, he evaluated it as a scheme with a regrettable cost-benefit analysis, as he does not believe the True Demon King would rashly reveal himself even if he does exist."
Oing.
Pink Eyes rolled in confusion.
"About that. It seems you misunderstood and conveyed it poorly, Mr. Penguin—no, Redmond."
"Pardon?"
"I told you back then that to catch a hiding rat, you have to poke around its rat hole."
"You did."
"But it's troublesome if you take that so one-dimensionally, thinking it only meant making an Appearance pretending to be the Demon King to fluster the real one and force him to show himself."
"Pardon?"
Mr. Penguin looked bewildered.
Ppuu.
I'm actually the one who's more bewildered here.
Pastel looked at Mr. Penguin with slight suspicion.
To pretend not to know such a basic thing! Is this person trying to drive a wedge between the Loyal Subject Pastel and His Imperial Majesty the Emperor?
Eui-eui.
As Governor Pastel, I am very dissatisfied.
"It would be great if he revealed himself, but if the Demon King is smart, he won't, and then, just as His Imperial Majesty evaluated, it would inevitably become a scheme with a slightly regrettable Opportunity Cost. Though there's nothing to lose, either."
"That is exactly what he said. He evaluated that it would be better for you, Governor-General, to proceed with a different scheme. Money is not an issue, but he said it would be more effective to invest the time and manpower required for this scheme elsewhere."
Ppuu.
"But like I said, that line of thinking is too one-dimensional. His Imperial Majesty wouldn't think like that, so I can only assume Redmond conveyed it incorrectly."
"Pardon?"
Mr. Penguin was dumbfounded.
Ppuu.
To pretend not to know such a basic area as this, is this person really trying to drive a wedge between us?
"Whether the True Demon King makes an appearance and hastily reveals that he is the real one or not isn't important to this scheme."
Governor Pastel became dissatisfied because Mr. Penguin was needlessly acting territorial just because he was from the Intelligence Agency.
"The Great Temple's prophecy is that the Fall of the Empire will happen alongside the Appearance of the Demon King, right?"
"That is correct."
"But the world doesn't collapse because of a single individual. They said Demon King, but ultimately it means there's a faction, and the most likely candidate would be the Demon Realm United Kingdom."
"That is also correct. However, considering the United Kingdom's current military strength and geographical distance, His Imperial Majesty judges that a Traitor within the Empire is more dangerous."
Is that so?
Pastel tilted her head.
It feels like our perspectives are a bit misaligned.
"The Empire cannot fall because of military power."
His Imperial Majesty the Emperor seemed to consider the trial mentioned in the prophecy to be a military challenge for the Imperial Throne.
Even though the Demon King is the figurehead of history, the actual cause is the military power of an Imperial Noble coveting the Imperial Throne.
If they cooperated in exchange for the Imperial Throne, only to be betrayed by the Demon King, making the Demon King the final victor, it would indeed align with the prophecy.
But is that really the case?
A World Hegemon does not fall so simply.
The Empire achieved Continental Unification by emerging victorious over all the Kingdoms on the Continent, and afterward, it waged a great war against the Demon Realm, an external faction of the Continent, and won.
A National Legitimacy stronger than this will not exist in the future until the Space Age opens.
"The Empire is a hegemonic power that will never again exist in history. And it didn't just wickedly unify the Continent through betrayal and schemes while relying solely on military power; it achieved unification with legitimacy by bringing each Kingdom to its knees with sheer strength."
You could easily tell just by looking at the usual attitude of Alsher Bellamont, a Former Royal. She didn't particularly like the Imperial Family, but she had no major complaints about the fact that this country was indeed the Empire and that she belonged to a Ducal Family.
What was the reason she didn't get along with Alsher Camelot?
It was because they were competing with each other, feeling sorrowful about being from the Frontier in The North and wanting to advance into the Central Political Circles, but there were no open seats.
In other words, it meant that despite being Former Royalty and still holding the Capital of the Kingdom as their Territory, they weren't building up military power to prepare for a rebellion, but rather wanted to enter the Central Political Circles and wield power normally like any other Imperial Nobles.
The Empire achieved unification through a process that everyone could acknowledge. A Ducal Family that is part of the Unified Empire holds a higher status than the Royal Family of the past.
Furthermore, they also went through the experience of uniting as Continental Powers while fighting a war against the Demon Realm, an external faction to the Continent.
Even if the Empire weakened and they luckily got the chance to occupy the Capital and sit on the Imperial Throne, what the Bellamont Family would want wouldn't be the resurrection of their Former Kingdom.
Rather than declaring the resurrection of their Kingdom and suffering through countless challenges and Territorial Division, they would want to maintain the existing Landmass as it is and simply obtain the Imperial Throne of the Unified Empire. That is vastly easier.
Ultimately, even if an Imperial Noble betrayed them and aimed for the Imperial Throne, it wouldn't be the Fall of the Empire, but the Fall of the Imperial Family. Changing only the Royal Lineage while maintaining the country is surprisingly frequent, so it's not even a special occurrence. People don't call that a country being ruined.
Of course, the Demon King, who was cooperating under the promise of being given the Imperial Throne, could betray the Traitor and bring about the Fall of the Empire, but…
Well.
Is that possible right now?
If there were no prophecy, it might somehow happen, but I don't know if it would work in a situation where the prophecy is already rumored all over town. Only the Appearance of the Demon King was announced to the public, and the Fall of the Empire wasn't, but wouldn't all the Nobles with power know about it?
Thanks to the Former Tyrant massacring 100,000 newborns and staining the entire nation's land with blood, even a passing Puppy Friend would know something unusual was going on, so how many High-ranking Nobles could possibly be unaware?
One risks becoming a stupid traitor who worked hard to destroy the Unified Empire, which will never again exist in history, even when there's a prophecy saying the Demon King will betray you, or becoming a fool who can't do a Cost-Benefit Analysis, plunging into an unpredictable and unmanageable civil war after achieving the rare feat of being a traitor, despite having a faction powerful enough to determine the Fall of the Empire.
VS
They are maintaining a powerful faction and attempting to Twist the Prophecy in step with the efforts of the Empire and the Great Temple. Then, they are living well and eating well for generations while stealthily aiming for the Imperial Throne of the Unified Empire.
Ugh, the balance sucks.
Which Noble would choose the former?
Of course, it would be possible if there were a Noble who was greedy, unintelligent, didn't listen to the advice of Subordinates who were quick at Cost-Benefit Analysis, yet somehow had a mighty faction, and didn't have a single Subordinate with the rational thought, "To think my lord was a Traitor who would destroy the Unified Empire! I'd rather betray him than go down in history for destroying the Unified Empire that will never exist again!"
But how could someone like that have a mighty faction?
Ppu-ppu-ppu.
No matter how I think about it, it doesn't seem like the Empire will fall due to military power from the Imperial Interior, unless only the Royal Lineage changes.
Oing.
Pastel paused as her thoughts reached this point. An eerie chill, sparking her survival instincts, ran down her spine.
I was just having some very wicked thoughts, like a Republican citizen would!
In a monarchy, the Monarch is the state!
A change in the Royal Lineage is practically the same as the Fall of the Empire!
It didn't seem like a prophecy handed down by a god would agree with the forced logic of a monarchy, but the Loyal Subject Pastel could actively agree with the logic that the Imperial Family was the Empire.
Logic switch! Logic switch!
The wicked thoughts of a republic were discarded, and the mindset of a true monarchy peeked into her head.
She stealthily gauged the reaction of Mr. Penguin, who was lost in thought, and adjusted the flow of her logic.
"There's no way the Imperial Family, which possesses a legitimacy unprecedented in history, would collapse. Even if some Great Noble betrays it and wields military power alongside the Demon King, a civil war is inevitable, and that noble cannot overwhelm the Inherent Military Power possessed by the Empire."
Currently, with the concept of total war not yet established, the gap between the Peacetime Strength possessed by the Empire and the Maximum Strength that could be generated when it plunges into a civil war is immense.
There is no way a mere Great Noble could handle a total war carried out by people gathering under the name of the Unified Empire and uniting as one, regardless of high or low status.
It might be different if it were before Firearm Development, but this is a world where a Mage dies from a single gunshot.
"But it's different if you change the premise. What if there is little justification for a civil war to occur, or if a legitimate and intense clash of opinions arises, enough to split the Empire in half?"
What if the Empire's Inherent Military Power could instead be aimed at the Empire itself?
It is not an easy thing for people who love the Unified Empire to point their guns at the Unified Empire.
However, there are times in history when it is possible: the moment a powerful force comes into play.
History calls this force Ideology.
And the latest ideology at this point in time is
Republicanism.
The Political System dreamed of by the Imperial Republican Faction led by Duke Nastasya Redgrade and already realized by the Demon Realm United Kingdom.
"The main purpose of creating a Fake Demon King wasn't to find the hidden Demon King. It was to seize command of the Republicanism Ideology possessed by the United Kingdom under the pretext of being the Demon King."
Isn't considering ideology in a grand strategy just common sense?
If they don't know this as an Intelligence Agency, wouldn't it be better for them to study history, whether it's the First and Second World Wars, the Cold War, or whatever else?
Oing.
Come to think of it, this isn't Earth, and they haven't experienced world wars or a cold war.
Gasp, it wasn't common sense yet!
Pastel, startled like a frightened rabbit, observed Mr. Penguin.
"Pardon?"
He had a dumbfounded expression.
Uwaaa!
I've become a weird kid talking about things only I know…!
Popular Person Disqualification…!