How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 152

How to live as a tyrant's spoiled brat Episode 152

(152)

In the refreshing late spring when the street trees were turning their lime-green leaves to green, ominous rumors that were out of season were circulating in Soletaraon, the capital of the great empire.

“Hey. Did you hear that story?”

Even in the market, where freshly harvested barley is being auctioned off, and in the streets of learning, where young people burn their youth with alcohol and homework.

“I know. Isn’t that the story that was passed down along with wheat and barley?”

In the red-light district, where those with empty pockets and those with full pockets both think the same thing, 'I'll come back tomorrow,' and in the slums where old stigmas are being shed like a shell and reborn.

“I heard that Archduke Valencian has been touring the entire central region recently. He doesn’t even ride a wyvern, but rides horses with the local knights every day.”

People gathered together to tell of the man's dangerous, cruel, yet beautiful deeds.

“But… …Why are you all making such a fuss about the tour?”

“Hey, man. Isn’t the tour the problem right now?”

Meanwhile, a porter working at a store asked a somewhat inconsiderate question while drinking beer at a bar after finishing his hard work, and his fellow porters glared at him as if to say, "What kind of stupid thing is that?"

The porter raised his voice and protested to his colleagues, as if he felt somewhat wronged.

“You also know that His Majesty the Emperor will soon demand an oath of allegiance from the local lords?”

“Who doesn’t know that?”

“No matter how uneducated we are, we still work at the top and have eyes and ears.”

His colleagues nodded, and the porter continued talking as if asking himself a question.

“Of course, wouldn’t the vassals in the central region be called then? They wouldn’t react so sensitively to something like sending their own blood relatives to raise their spirits a month or two before that, right?”

His colleagues were horrified and their eyes widened at those words.

“Have you ever seen such an ignorant person?”

“… … You must be deaf and blind.”

The porter was again inwardly embarrassed, and, recalling what he had just said, he corrected any part that might have been misunderstood.

“Of course, meeting that Valencianus was not a cause for revulsion. On the contrary, it was more like a whipping. It was also certainly reprehensible that he held a banquet full of wine, meat, and country girls with the landed knights during a difficult time for everyone.”

But his remarks only drew even colder stares.

“… … This guy really doesn’t know.”

“Don’t you know what kind of business he was doing as he traveled around the central region with the merchants, landowners, knights, and barons?”

“A deal… … ?”

The specialty of the central region was vast quantities of grain.

The wheat and barley that he and his colleagues had been moving all day had also been gathered from the central region.

Although he was called a porter, the man working at the top could easily imagine that Valencianus had traded grain with the landowners of the central region as soon as he heard the word trade.

“Did you buy grain from the royal family? How much did you buy?”

The porters sighed when they realized that the porter really didn't know anything, and one of them, who was well versed in all sorts of trivia, lit his pipe, took a drag, and opened his mouth.

“The amount purchased immediately amounts to 40%, and the amount purchased for the fall season amounts to 70%.”

“!”

The porter slurped down the beer he had taken a sip of.

“What kind of nonsense is that? How on earth are you going to transport that quantity, no. Why?”

The upper class they worked for was a large upper class owned by the court nobility, but the volume they handled was only about 3% of the total volume.

It was truly absurd to buy 40% or 70% of the market share, when even the large merchants owned by the imperial family could only handle 8-10% of the market share.

Why would the imperial family, who already controlled the grain market through the miller's guild and other means, do something like this?

Even if they were the royal family, how did they pay that huge sum of money?

… … And what kind of vicious methods would Valencian use to collect the money?

“That’s why all kinds of gossip comes out.”

“Hmm.”

The porter let out a sigh as he watched smoke rise from his comrade's pipe.

The colleague smiled bitterly and spoke monotonously.

“They could have used usury during the famine, raised the prices to middlemen and made them buy them at a loss, or they could have bought them not for business but to give them all to the North. His Majesty the Emperor knows that the Empire will be safe as long as there is a North.”

The porter sighed deeply as he saw his colleague's bitter smile.

“I spoke without any sense. Anyway, that rascal spends all day thinking about how torment us.”

* * *

“Well done!”

The emperor's jade ringing resounded loudly in the spacious study.

Jaylilith greeted me with her pomegranate-red lips raised cheerfully.

Honest joy welled up in her yellow eyes like golden water.

When I saw her smiling brightly for the first time in a month, I couldn't help but smile too.

I bowed my head politely and spoke in a flowing voice.

“Your Majesty’s vassals all knew how to respect the authority of the royal family, had a strong sense of responsibility as lords of a region, and were superhumans who were skilled in both civil and military affairs. Also, the three Greenskin subjugations were not my fault, but the fault of Archduchess Helena.”

The last words were meant to float Helena as promised, but also to make me not look too competent.

“Archduchess Helena?”

“Her tactics and strategies were nothing short of genius. She knew the battle from before it began until after it was over. All I did was stand there like a smoking stick.”

Of course, I don't know if Jaylilith will believe this or not, but at least I can clearly show that I have no desire for military power.

“I see. I heard from the commander of the Brass Knights that she stayed up late every night studying tactics and strategies, and that she excelled in war games. It seems that her efforts paid off.”

As expected, Jaylilith turned her golden eyes away from me and looked at Helena.

It must have been an illusion that for a moment he looked at me and made a face like, "It's cute that you're using your head."

… … That’s right.

Jaylilith spoke in a languid and arrogant voice.

“Helena, I ask you. Will you be my vanguard, able to penetrate and trample upon the enemy?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

“Can you fight in the sky, in the sea, on the land, on the mountains, in the swamps, above and below the walls?”

“Yes, Your Majesty!”

I glanced to the side and saw that Helena's face was going between white and red with tension and excitement.

His rich, splendid blond hair was tied back tightly in front of the Emperor, his uniform of the Brass Knights with red patterns on a tan background was wrinkle-free, and his long black leather shoes, which officers wore in peacetime, were so shiny that flies would slip on them.

Her red eyes glowed with a heat like charcoal, its surface beginning to take on white ash.

… … I really don’t know what this older sister likes about that muddy battlefield and why she makes that expression.

“If you have the power to stabilize your territories and command loyalty from the people of the cities you conquer, why shouldn’t I use you?”

Helena's confident face cracked for a moment, as if she had never thought about it.

Even before her return, she was a fierce general who would burn down enemies and enemy cities and then run towards the next enemy, not a general who stabilized occupied territories.

But Jaylilith seemed to have anticipated this, and just laughed brightly.

Of course, anyone with discernment wouldn't think of using those sadistic eyes and ambitious red pupils to stabilize the occupied territory.

“Ah, haha.”

Helena realized that she was being teased, but she didn't seem to know how to react when the Emperor teased her.

As she smiled awkwardly with her face like a goddess of war, the Emperor waved his hand and said.

“Don’t forget the memories of the last battle.”

There was a clicking sound from the knuckles covering your fingers.

“What you learned then will be needed again.”

“!”

A thrill came to Helena's eyes.

I watched the third member of the royal family rise to power right before my eyes.

For reference, the first one is Nago and the second one is Sereraji.

“Your kindness is truly infinite!”

“Orders will be issued soon.”

Jaylilith presented a sweet congratulatory gift, and Helena gave a polite salute and walked backwards out of the office.

Jaylilith chuckled, and Helena's face cracked once again.

… … Next time we meet, I must tell him that there is no need for the Knights to back down like that.

A subject cannot show the back of his head and butt to the emperor, so he steps back, but a member of the knightly order is much freer because he is in a formal vassal relationship.

* * *

Jaylilith stared at the door through which Helena had disappeared for a moment, then held out a large wooden box that had been sitting on the desk.

“It’s medicine.”

"yes?"

“Your body is getting worse from suppressing the side effects of the Yongchan ritual. This is a precious pill made by the life-giving magicians, so make sure to take one every day.”

The box was engraved with a red pattern and had the word 'Eternal Life' written on it in fancy script.

crazy.

This platform could only be created by the ivory tower's magicians, and it boasted such effectiveness that a king of a western kingdom once exchanged half of his kingdom for ten platforms.

Even though it was a Jay release, it was not something that could be easily obtained in this quantity.

I bowed my head deeply in genuine gratitude, analyzing the subtle nuances at the same time.

It wasn't, "I heard it was broken," it was, "It's broken."

It meant that he just noticed it.

She continued with a smile.

“Silver and gold coins… I don’t think it’s necessary to go out of your way to bring them.”

Another carriage must have come in recently.

I took those words with a hundred-pound iron plate on my face.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I will take care of my own affairs.”

The Emperor made a face as if to say, "Can I just listen to this for a moment?"

“… … Okay. Let’s move on. I’m not the type of person who considers corruption a sin.”

“Thank you.”

“Now that we’ve taken care of the people who are going to come, shouldn’t we kick out the people who aren’t going to come?”

I understood that immediately.

I had a rather rough encounter last year with two Marquis families, the Planites and the Freuheit, and became deeply involved with them.

He saw through the scheme of the Marquis of Planitis through his illegitimate child and killed the former Marquis of Freuheit, who had tried to kill Jerilis using a dragon, and made his youngest daughter the new Marquis.

Naturally, the two have no choice but to swear allegiance to Jaylilith.

In addition, he strengthened his friendship with the Northern Grand Duke Severic by providing grain support earlier this year, and for nearly a month, he traveled around the central barons and knights to resolve large and small disputes and problems.

That meant he had gathered enough of a support base to set the tone when he asked for an oath of allegiance.

“You are indeed right. If someone will not join us no matter what we do, we have no reason to keep him alive.”

Jaylilith smiled, pleased with my cruel flattery.

“You understand my heart, indeed. I feel relieved. Before formally demanding the oath of allegiance from the High Lords, I intend to slay a few who are sure to refuse and bring order to the disobedient. Look at this list and tell me who you think would be good.”

She took a document off the desk and handed it to me.

The names of counts and marquises were written all over it.

'White Shark' Asenortha, 'Red Bull' Zacharigais, and 'Crawling Dragon' Helaim.

I looked at the families that had been flying high in the noble union before the return, and sighed, then pointed to one family with my finger.

“Gremorius. What do you think? If you allow me, I will run over there and behead you right now.”

Jaylilith narrowed her golden eyes.

The way the eyelids lowered over the pupils looked just like the setting sun.

“Black Wall. Gremorius. Yes. He will never be loyal to me. I killed his sister, his older sister, and his nephews. Even before my accession to the throne, he supported the Crown Prince’s faction and sent assassins countless times.”

But, the emperor continued speaking.

“You seem to be trying to do it alone? Do you think it’s possible? His knights are powerful, and his castle is a natural fortress. He’s very cautious, so it’ll be hard to drag him out.”

I nodded, remembering how he died before the regression.

“Yes, Your Majesty. If you will just sit down, I will bring you Gremorius’s head.”

There was a way to send them to the other world as soon as we met.

Of course, there will be political fallout if you do that, but that's always been the case.

The emperor frowned, doubting my abilities and worrying about me.

“Really? I’d rather be with Jim-.”

Of course, that frowning face was beautiful too, but I didn't want to see her frowning, so I assured her in a firm tone.

“No, that won’t do. If Your Majesty were to abduct him, he would surely pretend to be sick and hide like a turtle.”

Only then did Jaylilith nod and push the 'Eternal Life' on the desk towards me once more.

“… … Make sure to eat it. I won’t ask how. I’m not curious anymore. But you must not die.”

“I have no such intention. I follow Your Majesty because I want to live a long and happy life.”

I smiled and stood up from my seat.

Now that I had a lot of money, I thought I'd start by getting some equipment.

Just before I walked out the door, her voice stopped me for a moment.

“There seems to be a strange rumor going around the capital. Is it your intention?”

“I don’t know what rumors you are talking about, Your Majesty.”

“Is that so? I guess I’ll have to call the Minister of Finance and ask him.”

I don't know what happened, but I think I've gained another notoriety.

It's nothing special.