How to Live as a Tyrant’s Spoiled Brat Chapter 140

How to live as a tyrant's spoiled brat, episode 140

(140)

[To my friend Valencianus.

I am so happy to receive such a humane offer on this beautiful spring day.

This morning, the plants that Lord Rushena is growing bloomed.

Valencian, the proposal you have sent me is like the sunlight, the gaze of the god of light.

Don't worry about the treatment of the refugees.

I will do my best to ensure that I can integrate steadily into the North.

As you well know, the people here are always standing on the walls, and the fertile land is idle because there is no one to work it.

Your (omitted)… … .]

A reply came back to Severic full of praise and gratitude.

“What do you think, Lord Tentia? Isn’t everything going well so far?”

Lord Tentia read the letter over and over again, looking back and forth between me and the letter, feeling embarrassed.

“… …Your Highness Valen. Does Your Highness Severic know that Your Highness Valen is doing this?”

I shook my head firmly.

“Once you know how sausages are made, you won’t want to eat them. Why should I disappoint my friend?”

There were three main problems at the time.

Number 1, there are chimeras.

Number 2, there are refugees.

3. Chimeras are eating the refugees.

I devised a way to solve these three problems at once.

The plan was to send all the tens of thousands of refugees who were wandering outside the city walls and creating a tent village to the north.

Then, numbers 2 and 3 are solved right away.

The North welcomed the refugees, there was plenty of land for them to settle, and of course they wouldn't be eaten by Chimeras if they left.

After this, the chimeras will starve to death on their own, so problem #1 will be solved naturally.

In other words, this was a desperate measure to perfectly solve all the problems.

“His Majesty Severic will doubt his Majesty Valen’s humanity if he learns that they were driven out like that.”

“I was the one who told him at our first meeting that I was trying to subjugate the North economically. We did not become friends because we admired each other’s noble humanity.”

The only thing missing is the process of persuading the refugees.

Still, the people of the central region tended to think of the north as a place of exile, and they feared the north, which was full of all kinds of mysteries, strangeness, giants, demons, and foreign objects.

Those who had endured a harsh winter were unlikely to respond well when told to go north.

So I had to resort to somewhat forceful means.

“Bow your head! Bow your head!”

“We are starting to burn the tent village area.”

“Carry it straight. I won’t attach you to a cart or anything. You and your family will have to hold out for the next territory with this. Do you understand?”

I went to see Sir Barbatos and borrowed the police chiefs.

They suffered so much in the slums that they were unable to bring order to the place on their own.

In such a situation, a huge slum could be created outside the capital, and its management would be left to the police chiefs, so they turned their attention and implemented the operation codenamed 'Northward Repatriation'.

“If we continue to manage it that far, we will all die.”

“I feel like I can live a little now, but I can’t go through that hell again.”

“Drugs, fighting, epidemics, erosion, begging, petty theft… … No!”

“Let’s leave it all to the Northern Grand Duke!”

“If we go there, they’ll give us some land, right? It’ll be good for them too.”

“Go and live as a farmer!”

Step 1: First, lure the refugees into gathering in one place by offering them rations, and then set fire to the tent village so that they have nowhere to return to.

Step 2: Tell them that they are going north while they are still dazed, distribute rations, and send them north with a few guides.

If there is anyone who resists during this process, they will be given a stinging beating.

Several refugees who said they would not come out of their tents even if they died, and several refugees who said they would not go north even if they died, died.

The police inspectors thoroughly tested for all kinds of infectious diseases and erosion to prevent rumors from spreading that the central region had poisoned the north, and in the process, the military priests treated hundreds of early erosioners and those with various diseases.

“Archduke Valencian is committing massacres outside the walls!”

“I thought things would be quiet after Cornell got his nose broken while trying to kill him in the old slums.”

“They say they’re going to banish all the refugees to the cold north.”

“Exile as soon as winter is over. How cruel!”

“A family inside a tent was burned to death, and those who did not want to go were beaten to death.”

“There was also talk of conducting experiments related to erosion.”

And I shouldered all the noise and notoriety that came with that process.

I couldn't let the hard-working police officers get cursed at.

* * *

I smiled happily and watched the people heading north and north again.

I think this is a very, very clean solution.

“Now they will go north and become farmers with their own land. What a joy that will be.”

Lord Tentia let out a soft sigh.

“I thought His Majesty Valencianus would go to the Ivory Tower Dominion and yell at the wizards, demanding that they take responsibility for the chimeras and retrieve them.”

“Would Kyung have done that?”

She asked with a look of confusion on her stern face.

“Isn’t it important to solve the root cause of the problem?”

I shrugged and asked back.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we could solve several problems at once? We solved the poverty of the refugees, the labor shortage in the North, and even the Chimera extinction.”

"that……!"

“I know what you are trying to say.”

“Do you know?”

I said with a faint smile.

“You have caused trouble, so you must take responsibility. You have not taken responsibility, so you must take responsibility. You must not compromise with your principles just because the other party is powerful or because you are tired of provoking them and dealing with the aftermath. In the end, Your Majesty compromised this time too.”

Sir Tentia's eyes widened as he listened to the words.

“Your Majesty, Valen. Why are you acting like this when you know all this? If Your Majesty continues to be lukewarm towards the ivory tower, the ivory tower will only show more courage in the long run.”

As expected, those were words worthy of a knight.

Rank, hierarchy, order, face, authority.

To keep them, a firm principle was needed, and it had to be followed by all, high and low.

So who makes those rules?

“Sir Tentia. What are the three most important principles of chivalry?”

The answer came back right away.

“Loyalty to the lord, faithfulness to the church, protection of the weak.”

“Why do you think that became the principle?”

There was no answer for a long time.

I said with a cool smile.

“Loyalty became a virtue because there were many betrayals, and faithfulness became a virtue because the teachings of the Church were ignored.”

Sir Tentia said in confusion.

“Your Majesty. But… … That is why chivalry is all the more valuable. It sets forth the virtues and codes to be followed, and instills in those who do not adhere to them the knowledge that they are wrong. Once a powerful band of marauders, the knights are now the pillars of the empire.”

I nodded.

“That’s right. That’s right. When did I say that chivalry was wrong?”

"just now……!"

“What are these virtues and norms for? Aren’t they virtues and norms for the stability of the empire?”

“!”

“The empire found stability by making the knights follow the principles. If I had gone straight to the ivory tower and argued, would I have found stability? A gentleman can do that. A knight should do that.”

“Didn’t you promise me?”

I gritted my teeth as I looked at the confused expression on Lord Tentia's face.

We've had similar conversations a few times before.

Knights conquered with the sword, magistrates ruled with the pen, and the royal family sometimes had to take up the sword and sometimes the pen.

It was fate.

Just as a knight must not compromise his beliefs, the royal family must not compromise.

At least I thought so.

What would the world be like if people like us, with so many rights and responsibilities, only act according to our beliefs?

Beliefs can change overnight, but the world takes 10 years to change.

How many monarchs have pushed ahead with their beliefs, only to realize they were wrong and despair after their lands were burned to the ground in a rebellion or invasion?

We needed both the fox's cunning to avoid traps and the lion's courage to chase away wolves.

* * *

I took a breath and chose my words calmly.

“I made a mistake. There was no need to bring up chivalry, principles, and compromise. You and I should be looking in the same direction, but you keep making us look in different directions.”

We each see the world from our own position.

In the world of Lord Tentia, it is a world where justice is to fight to the best of one's ability under the orders of one's lord.

She is the one who, under my orders, dug up human flesh like potato sprouts and slaughtered a thousand poor gangsters.

I should have trusted her instead of questioning her.

I had to shoulder her suffering so that she wouldn't have to think about other things.

That was the most important thing a lord could give to a knight.

“This summer, His Majesty will demand allegiance from the High Lords.”

“!”

“I have to make sure the capital is neat and tidy by then. I have to do whatever it takes.”

"ah."

“Sir Tentia. I am not a man who can live only by my conscience. I have to fill His Majesty’s treasury, not my own pocket.”

“Your Majesty, you have filled your pockets quite well!”

Her face hardened, contrary to her playful answer, and she finally nodded.

She too was born into a knightly family, and she would know that a knight's most noble moment is when he fights for his lord and bows his head for his people.

“That’s how I become noble.”

“Just as His Majesty Severic bowed to His Majesty?”

I couldn't bring myself to say that I was as noble as Severic, so I just nodded with a slight smile.

I served the Supreme Ruler of the Empire for 41 years, including the pre-reversion history.

As a body that was originally able to sit in that spot.

There were many who tried to make me emperor.

I wanted to help Jaylilith, and I shouldn't have burdened her.

A dilemma arises here.

If I want to help Jaylilith, I have to be competent, but if I'm competent, there will be more people who want to make me emperor.

I want to help Jaylilith, not become her rival and dream of becoming the supreme leader only to end up losing my head.

So even after I ended my life as a recluse, I intentionally kept going out.

He would throw alcohol at rude foreign envoys, and he would also capture and torture lords who were hesitating whether to side with Jaylilith or the rebels.

If having principles and living by them is nobility, then my principle is Jaylilith.

And I just heard her thank you a little while ago.

In other words, I was saying that I was living well according to my first principle.

The cries of my conscience, which are not yet dead, are as painful as ever, but to say that they are as painful as ever is to say that there is nothing wrong.

That's why I like alcohol.

There was silence between us for a moment.

A careless spring breeze blew.

Neither Nana nor Tentia Kyungna had short hair, so it didn't blow around very well.

Sir Tentia looked at me with sad eyes for a moment, then his expression changed as he tapped his breastplate twice with his gauntleted hand.

Again she returned as a brave, loyal and strong genius knight.

okay.

The lord must constantly demand and sacrifice from his knights.

It wasn't what she wanted from me, it was what I wanted from her.

Because the first principle of chivalry is loyalty, to carry out one's lord's will.

I'm sorry I abandoned you emotionally.

I didn't say it out loud.

“… … But let’s try to do something knightly.”

"yes?"

“His Majesty the Emperor would like to take this opportunity to get something from the Ivory Tower Dominion. Let’s go and beat up the loud, riotous, and rebellious wizards and demand payment.”

Lord Tentia bowed his head for a moment and laughed.

Then he raised his head again, smiled manfully, and answered with a much clearer expression.

“Look at that. You can be very knightly.”

* * *

“… … Even if I die, I can’t see that tail.”

Sereraji stopped in front of a back alley in the Ivory Tower autonomous region, muttering several times.

It was a secret hideout for merchants selling various by-products from the Ivory Tower Incinerator.