Chapter 299: Episode 299_Wipe Them All Out (1)
1.
When the Emperor received the report, he rely nodded. He did not get angry.
That was the Emperor’s virtue—not sothing he had been trained into, but an innate disposition befitting an emperor.
He was always composed.
He knew how to look down from the seat of an absolute ruler with cold clarity.
Although he turned into a fool when it ca to his daughter, he was otherwise so remarkable that history would surely record him as the greatest emperor of all ti. The path he had walked since childhood had never once been free of blood, and the other kingdoms still rembered how, in the end, he had shown a willingness to wage war against the entire continent.
They couldn’t forget it even if they tried.
It had been just over a decade ago. Who would dare forget?
Even if countless events had transpired since and the kings of the various kingdoms had changed innurable tis, not one of them would even attempt to forget that historical fact.
To do so would an the downfall of their kingdom.
Power struggles, family feuds—whatever the internal conflict, a kingdom had to prosper for its king to live well. A country that lost the fence of its kingdom would be acknowledged by no one. Foreign powers would descend like vultures, and it would inevitably be absorbed.
That was why everyone feared the Emperor.
What was even more frightening was that this very nature was why he remained calm even while listening to the Pope.
He listened to everything the Pope said, nodding, without a single visible change in emotion, and then sent him away.
He took no emotional action.
He simply summoned soone.
His beloved daughter, the Princess who was currently acting in his stead.
Even as she entered his office with a stiff expression, the Emperor remained relaxed. He looked as though he wouldn’t so much as blink even if the Demon King herself were sitting in the Empire wearing the mask of the Heavenly King.
However, when he saw Han Simin standing beside the Princess—soone he had not expected at all—the Emperor’s brow, which seed as though it would never move, openly furrowed.
As always, the re sight of that face triggered an unpleasant feeling, like one of Pavlov’s dogs.
It probably wasn’t Simin’s fault.
’No, that’s wrong. I can be sure of it.’
Just as Pavlov’s dog had undergone countless conditioning trials, so too had the Emperor.
Whenever Han Simin appeared, sothing happened—sothing the Emperor had not predicted. Good or bad, the outco was always irritating. For a man who grasped all the currents of the continent and moved them as he pleased, having such an unforeseen variable right under his nose was infuriating.
Yet he couldn’t simply get rid of him.
If he could have, he would never have accepted him as a son-in-law in the first place.
“What is it this ti?”
“Your Majesty is the one who called for us.”
“I don’t recall summoning you.”
“The Princess and I are one and the sa. If you call for the Princess, you call for .”
The Emperor stared at him in silence.
Even when Simin spouted such infuriating nonsense, the Emperor didn’t imdiately swing his fist. He knew better than anyone that it would be a waste of ti. There was nothing to hide between them anyway, so he ignored Simin and spoke to the Princess.
“A cult is running rampant across the continent, with warlocks behind it. Several kingdoms seem to be entangled as well. What will you do?”
He gave her the choice.
In truth, it wasn’t a matter that required a choice. Even if the Temple handled the cult itself, the information from the Pope alone was enough to justify attacking the kingdoms that had shown signs of complicity.
That was the nature of the Empire.
It was a power that could erase a kingdom’s na from the map over a single careless word about the Emperor.
A tyrant. The Iron-Blooded Emperor.
Though rumors had spread that his temper had llowed, the Emperor was still in his pri.
His daughter, the daughter of that vigorous Emperor, was about to speak, but Simin cut in first.
“They’re truly vicious bastards. They’re subtly spreading their influence like a slow-acting poison, cursing the Emperor and the Pope behind the scenes, saying this country—no, this whole continent—is finished. They claim the end tis are coming and that a new era must be opened. You have no idea how disgusting it was to watch them rant and rave.”
The Emperor looked at him with a blank expression.
He tattled like a ddling mother-in-law.
In reality, ninety-nine percent of the curses had been directed at Han Simin, with the Imperial Family and the Temple portrayed as pitiable victims. But a story can be twisted however one pleases, and his embellished version sounded quite plausible.
Naturally, when the Princess spoke next, her tone was harsh.
“We erase them. The traitors. Anyone who shows even a hint of rebellion. We will do it not only for the sake of the great Empire that Your Majesty has built, but for the peace of the continent.”
The Emperor held his tongue.
’And not because they insulted your husband?’
The Emperor nearly blurted it out but hurriedly swallowed his words, nodding instead. He sat on the throne as the Iron-Blooded Emperor, but as a father, he couldn’t help but feel a pang of jealousy. He knew he had to let her go, yet he wanted to keep her by his side forever.
That was why Simin’s smug face annoyed him even more.
He disliked the hand wrapped around the Princess’s waist, unbowed before her father and the master of the continent. He disliked that brazenly confident deanor.
And yet, at the sa ti, he liked it.
That confidence.
The Emperor himself was that kind of person. He never bowed, even to the strong, and always acted according to his own convictions. Soday, that trait might beco a poison, but that was a burden Simin would have to bear himself. In all other respects, that attitude was a great asset.
So he simply closed his eyes.
It was easier on his nerves not to look.
Then he gave his permission.
“I have already delegated full authority over this matter to you, Princess. Do as you see fit.”
“Just leave it to , Father.”
With her usual half-playful tone, yet at the sa ti displaying the bearing befitting the daughter of the Iron-Blooded Emperor, the Princess smiled brightly.
That smile was a proclamation, a signal flare announcing the beginning.
It was fired toward the countless users enjoying their easy gains and the countless kingdoms preparing to make their mark on history.
It heralded the prologue to the nightmare that had descended upon the continent ten years ago.
Only this ti, it wasn’t the young Iron-Blooded Emperor of the past, but his daughter—and Han Simin, who pulled her strings from behind.
*
Naturally, the rallies were most active in the Kingdom of Kenji. There, calling Han Simin trash was practically encouraged by law. As the rhetoric escalated, it was inevitable that talk of the Emperor, the Princess, the Saintess, and the Pope would co up.
By that logic, the first place to be struck down should have been the Kingdom of Kenji.
However, the place where the Imperial Army gathered and set out in less than three hours was a kingdom that was the complete opposite.
It wasn’t as overt as Kenji’s kingdom, but even before this ss, it had a history of constantly testing the Empire’s orders, defying them whenever it could while barely staying within the lines. It was also one of the five largest kingdoms on the continent.
They were professionals at this.
It was true that the Empire had been granting them many concessions under the Emperor’s current policy of pursuing peace, but they were also remarkably skilled at stepping over the line and then pulling back at the last second.
This ti was no different.
After so sort of conversation with Kenji, they had quietly encouraged the rallies. They pretended not to notice, even though the rallies were advertised all over, and when they began, they even sent soldiers to discreetly maintain order. Then, after the show was nearly over, they would send in guards as a formality to make a show of dispersing the crowd.
The fact that this was all for show was obvious from the locations of the rallies: they always took place in territories with heavy foot traffic, or in the main plazas of those territories.
It was absurd to leave rallies with dozens, sotis hundreds, of participants unchecked for over three hours.
Yet the kingdom in question, the Kingdom of Kasesur, was confident. They had always operated this way and prided themselves on knowing the Emperor better than anyone. Their plan was to gather users like this, lie in wait until the Kingdom of Kenji took the lead, and then step forward at the perfect mont to gain the maximum benefit with minimum damage.
Their plan was perfect.
Compared to other kingdoms, they would at least look like they were exercising so control. Given their size, if the Empire wanted to make an example of soone, it would be better to strike a closer, weaker kingdom than to touch them. They weren’t even that far from the Empire.
But that hope was only ever a hope.
Because in secret, the Imperial Army had already crossed their borders.
Along with the Imperial Knights and the Specialists, an elite unit composed only of the best.
2.
This expedition consisted only of the Imperial Knights, the Princess, the Specialist, and Han Simin’s pets.
The official justification was to punish an insolent kingdom.
In reality, it was to purge the traitors who had shown signs of rebellion.
In other words, to bring down a kingdom.
For such a task, a force of not even one hundred people was absurd. Kenji’s guild had done sothing similar, but the difference in scale between the kingdom Kenji had attacked and the Kingdom of Kasesur was at least fivefold. Even if they only attacked the royal capital, it would be an incredibly difficult feat.
Yet the Imperial Knights wore expressions as if they were on a picnic.
They were overflowing with confidence.
For them, this kind of war was the most natural thing in the world. They were the knights who served the Emperor. These days, they trained quietly within the Imperial Castle, but back when the continent was steeped in war, every single day had been a day of slaughter.
Besides, they had a teacher, did they not?
“Hey. Just trust , all of you,” Han Simin said with absolute confidence. “I squeezed 200,000 Gold out of His Majesty the Emperor, so we’re going to film sothing aweso. Kenji’s been getting on my nerves lately, so this works out nicely.”
Behind him, the Rabbits and Sudal had co along for the first ti in a while, and even Squeaker had joined them, transford into a small bird.
They headed straight for the royal capital along a sparsely traveled route.
The journey was not difficult. They already had the map, and avoiding notice was child’s play for the Imperial Knights. It was one of the advantages of a small force. The knights were even in disguise; if they were discovered, it would be because of the Rabbits following Simin, not them.
Besides, no one would ever imagine that Han Simin was on his way to destroy an entire kingdom.
In this way, they arrived right before the royal capital.
It was far larger than the castle Kenji had shown on his broadcast—the one whose live viewer count had paled in comparison to Simin’s, but whose replay views had reached legendary status.
It looked big and solid.
Setting aside its aura, it could stand shoulder to shoulder with Rich Territory.
Looking up at those walls, Han Simin raised his hand.
Squeaker hopped from his shoulder onto his palm.
The cost of a single transformation was bone-achingly painful, but he had received more than enough war funds to make up for it.
It was a profitable deal.
That was enough. He could make up for any shortfall with the footage he was about to shoot.
“Squeaker. Show them. Not those little pebbles. The real teor.”
“Screeeech!”
With a cheerful cry he hadn’t heard in a long ti, a hologram filled his vision. He didn’t even bother to look at the notification that made his chest ache just to see it; he swiped it away and lifted his gaze to the sky.
Dusk was falling, the dim sun setting on the horizon.
The sky split open.
And from between the cracks, the sun descended.
Slowly, yet majestically.
The setting sun plumted toward the royal capital.
*
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