I Didn't Want to Become the Emperor of This World

Chapter 22

What would happen if you released a hungry wild beast into a zoo where herbivores live peacefully?

A massacre would most likely occur. The hungry wild beast would tear the herbivores apart from neck to toe.

A similar situation was about to unfold in the banquet hall of the Plank Kingdom's Central Palace.

Screak… Thud!

Clank— Clank— Clank— Clank— Clank— Clank—

Fully armed knights of the 3rd Knight Order locked the banquet hall doors and formed a line.

The movements of these men, who had fought countless battles together in the war against the demons, were coordinated and perfect.

At the appearance of the 3rd Knight Order and the strange atmosphere, the nobles and their factions gathered in the banquet hall were bewildered.

—Wha, what is this?

—Isn't that the 3rd Knight Order?

—I heard they were in charge of proceedings for this Throne Handover Ceremony… but why are they so heavily armed?

—Didn't the nobles agree that no knights should carry swords? Is it possible because it's the 3rd Knight Order?

While some showed such concerned reactions, most people were optimistic.

—It looks like they're about to start the Throne Handover Ceremony.

—Maybe they're about to say the 3rd Knight Order is joining our faction.

—Well, it would be too late to pledge loyalty after His Majesty Vaimal is crowned.

—That dog of Vaimal is spouting nonsense again. The one to become king is His Majesty Panshin!!

Thus, the nobles showed various reactions. However, everyone felt the tension slowly filling the banquet hall.

Then, from the center of the long line of the 3rd Knight Order, a man walked out. His armor was similar to the other knights, but the feather on his helmet was particularly large and beautiful; it was Knight Captain Jereuth.

“……”

Jereuth stepped forward without a word.

For some reason, he was holding a drawn sword with a sharp blue blade. He slowly raised the sword and pointed it at the nobles who were watching him.

And he commanded in a calm yet firm voice.

“Knights loyal to the kingdom, fulfill your duty.”

Shing―.

At that short phrase, all of the 3rd Knight Order drew their swords. Even though over a hundred knights drew their swords, the sound of drawing was so orderly that it sounded like only one sword was drawn.

Clank— Clank— Clank— Clank— Clank—.

The knights who drew their swords lowered the visors of their helmets with their free hands. When all preparations were complete, Jereuth also lowered his visor.

With that as a signal, the Purge—the ‘massacre’—began.

Like hungry beasts hunting herbivores trapped in a zoo, the knights of the 3rd Knight Order began to mercilessly overturn the banquet hall.

—Kuaaaaaak!

—Wha, what!! Why, why?!

—Kyaaaaaaaak!!

—S, save…!

The red carpet laid in the banquet hall was stained even redder with blood, and blood splattered on all the white walls.

As if painting the banquet hall with blood-red paint.

***

At the same time, in the banquet waiting room on the second floor of the Central Palace.

This place, where noblewomen and their daughters usually fixed their makeup and appearance, was now gathered with the mages of the noble faction.

The mages of the Kingdom Mage Corps were divided into two groups in the banquet waiting room, with a long table in the center as a boundary, based on the duke they supported. Just like the nobles.

Although the mages had not actively participated in the ‘noble civil war’ yesterday, the atmosphere in the banquet waiting room was by no means light, as they were still in a position of opposition to each other.

Screak―.

The door to the banquet waiting room, where such a heavy atmosphere continued, was suddenly opened. And a group of mages entered.

Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Ahem—

The mages of the Kingdom Mage Corps did not recognize who the mages who opened the door and entered were at first. It had been so long since they had seen them that they couldn't remember well.

However, when the female mage who entered first took off her robe's hood, the mages of the Kingdom Mage Corps could immediately recognize who they were.

“……Mage Tower Master Seria?”

Kasemiru, the Head of the Mage Corps, called her name with a bitter tone, but Seria didn't even pretend to hear. When the other mages followed suit and took off their robes, Kasemiru's expression hardened.

“Even the elders? Why are the mages of the Mage Tower here?”

“Heh heh, what's the point of a dead man knowing.”

“……A dead man?”

At an elder’s mocking words, Kasemiru asked back blankly. He still hadn't properly grasped the situation.

However, the mages of the Mage Tower had no obligation or thought to explain the details to Kasemiru—

Seria said in a dry voice.

“Please take care of the rest, except for Kasemiru. I will deal with that one myself.”

“We shall do so.”

At Seria's words, the elders nodded their heads and began to use their proficient magic.

“.”

“.”

“.”

“.”

“.”

As the elders of the Mage Tower had publicly declared to Seria, they began to show the greenhorns of the Kingdom Mage Corps the ‘true magic.’

The Purge of the noble faction mages had also begun.

***

Warm sunlight touched my face. Bathed in that sunlight, I sat on the floor, leaning my back against the bed, and stared at the ceiling, thinking.

‘The Purge should have started by now… how did the Purge go?’

Next to me, sitting carelessly on the floor, Elly was kneeling and looking at me.

Elly, seemingly unable to look down at me from above, had been kneeling for a long time.

Her legs must be getting numb.

“Elly, you can just stand. Or sit on a chair.”

“No, Your Highness. I cannot look down on Your Highness from above.”

My thoughts were exactly right.

I thought about reading the to find out what would happen after the Purge.

But with Elly sticking so close to me, it was difficult to read it.

So I was just staring blankly at the ceiling, burning time. It wasn't bad to just be blank.

Watching me, Elly asked worriedly.

“Your Highness, are you worried about something? You haven't left the room for a while and have been like this. The knights even bring your meals separately… It seems something big happened outside at dawn yesterday.”

“……”

“I cannot just stand by and watch Your Highness struggle so much. Please don't worry alone and at least tell me. There may be nothing I can do for you… but I would like to at least listen.”

Don't worry alone and at least tell me—is it.

My worry was, ‘I ordered the nobles to be purged, but now that I think about the many people who will die because of it, I feel a pang of conscience.’

So how could I tell her that worry?

I would be such a two-faced person.

‘Still… Elly will find out everything soon anyway, so should I tell her.’

Hoo.

Letting out a sigh through my nose, I decided to tell Elly what I had been doing until now.

“Elly. The reason I've been busy lately is—.”

Just as I was speaking, a knock was heard.

—Knock, knock.

—Your Highness, it is Jereuth. May I come in?

Jereuth's voice was heard from outside. His voice was as solemn and calm as usual.

‘The Purge must be over. But how can Jereuth's voice be so calm? If the Purge is over… it means he has killed people. Is Jereuth used to killing people?’

I wanted to tell him to come in myself, but I didn't have the strength to speak loudly, so I asked Elly.

“Elly, please open the door. So the Captain can come in.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Elly, who had been kneeling, got up, straightened her clothes, and went to the door. When she opened the door, a familiar face, Jereuth, was visible.

Jereuth had blood on his face, of course, and all over his armor. He was literally ‘covered in blood.’

Seeing that, Elly was startled.

“Ca, Ca, Captain! B-blood, the blood…!”

“It’s not my blood, so there’s no need to make such a fuss. More importantly, I'd appreciate it if you'd step aside. I need to see His Highness.”

“Ye, yes…”

Elly moved away from the door and hurriedly stood behind me.

When Jereuth entered the room, several knights followed behind him. Those knights, like Jereuth, were also covered in blood from head to toe.

Thud—.

Jereuth knelt on one knee before me and spoke.

“Your Highness, the noble Purge is complete.”

“……?!”

At Jereuth's short phrase, I felt Elly, who was standing behind me, flinch in surprise again. She, who knew nothing about the Purge, must have been surprised to hear such words so suddenly.

Meeting Jereuth's eyes as he watched me quietly, I replied.

“I see… Is there anything special I need to be concerned about?”

“As for what you need to be specially concerned about… for now, I will escort you to the banquet hall. We have gathered the ‘useful nobles’ that Your Highness told us to spare there. I will explain the details on the way to the banquet hall.”

“I understand.”

As I tried to get up from the floor, Elly helped me up. I could feel her hand supporting me trembling.

‘She must have been very surprised. Hearing about the noble Purge.’

Well, it would be stranger not to be surprised. After all, they said they killed all the nobles.

I led my heavy steps and slowly came out of the room, heading towards the banquet hall.

Elly followed right behind me, and behind her followed Jereuth and the blood-covered knights.

Soon, I arrived at the entrance of the banquet hall. The entrance was guarded by two knights of the 3rd Knight Order.

As I approached the door to enter the banquet hall, Jereuth stepped in front of me, blocking my way, and said in a slightly heavy voice.

“Your Highness. You previously ordered me not to kill the children.”

“Yes, I did.”

“I apologize for not following that order.”

What is this now?

“You didn't follow the order… are you saying you killed the children too?”

“Yes, Your Highness. I disobeyed Your Highness’s command and, by my own judgment, killed all the children as well.”

“……”

“I will gladly accept the punishment for insubordination according to military law later. However, now is the time to handle the aftermath of the Purge, so I ask that you postpone the punishment for a while.”

Jereuth bowed his head. The other knights watched my reaction. What kind of reaction should I show?

‘Should I be angry that he didn't follow my order?’

That thought crossed my mind. But I couldn't get angry. Why? Because I wasn't angry.

‘Jereuth killing even the children must have been a choice for my sake. For me, to eliminate any future trouble.’

That's right. Jereuth had made the dirty choice that I should have made, that I should have ordered. And saying, 「“I ignored Your Highness's command and by my own judgment, killed all the children as well.”」 —was probably to make that dirty deed his own arbitrary act.

Jereuth, who had made the difficult choice that had to be made in place of me, a cowardly crown prince who couldn't give the necessary order.

I couldn't punish such a person.

I may be weak, but I'm not so cowardly as to shift my own fault onto others.

Finishing my thoughts, I looked straight at Jereuth. Then, in a voice loud enough for the other knights to hear clearly, I said firmly.

“It is my responsibility.”

“Pardon?”

“The killing of most of the kingdom's nobles, and the death of those children. It was all my doing. It is the responsibility of me, ‘Leonardo,’ who decided to become king by stepping on their corpses.”

“……Your Highness, you said the children—!”

I cut off Jereuth, who was about to say something, and said clearly once more.

“It is all my responsibility. No one can blame the Captain. Do not attribute the deed I committed to the Captain’s sin.”

“Your Highness—!”

“Please do not speak of this matter any further. Unless you intend to criticize me for purging the nobles and killing even the children for power.”

“……”

“Let’s go in now. I have things to say to the surviving nobles.”

At my words, Jereuth looked at me for a while without saying anything. Then, biting his lower lip hard and nodding his head, he said to the two knights behind him.

“……Open the door.”

“Yes!”

The two knights immediately opened the banquet hall doors with sharp, disciplined movements.

Screak―.

The banquet hall doors opened with the sound of hinges.

What was visible through the open banquet hall doors was… the ‘horrific trace of the Purge’ that would make anyone guess what had happened here.

Blood was splattered all over the wide banquet hall. So much blood was splattered that the wall, which must have been white, looked red.

The banquet hall was devoid of corpses, perhaps because a minimum of cleaning had been done, but the absence of corpses was even more horrifying, as it made one imagine their dead bodies.

‘…What are you staring at. You have to go in.’

Commanding myself, I moved my feet with difficulty inside the door.

Once inside the banquet hall, I could see the inside a little more clearly. On both end walls of the banquet hall, nobles in glossy clothes were kneeling and trembling, and behind them, knights and soldiers of the 3rd Knight Order stood as if guarding the nobles.

—Sob… sob….

—P, please… s, save me…….

—Hk… khuk….

When I entered the banquet hall, the surviving nobles bowed their heads even lower, trying to avoid my gaze. Many were also trying to suppress their fear by stifling their voices with all their might.

At the end of the banquet hall was a dais, and in the center of that dais was a black chair.

A chair placed cleanly alone in a horrific banquet hall that reeked of blood. But for some reason, it fit in strangely well. Was it because the red of the blood and the black went well together?

‘Is this chair prepared for me?’

No one told me to sit in that chair, but I knew that the chair was prepared for me.

Thud.

With my eyes fixed on the chair, I headed to the dais. As I got closer to the chair, I could feel the nobles trembling through the vibration in the air.

Tap—.

I stepped on the stairs of the dais and went up. I had clearly stepped on the stairs, but for some reason, I felt like I was stepping on the corpses of nobles. It really felt like that illusion.

“……”

As I sat on the chair on the dais without a word, Jereuth and the knights knelt on one knee and bowed their heads to me. It was a movement as if by agreement.

Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud— Thud—.

Elly, seemingly still not understanding the situation, looked around and then hurriedly tried to kneel like the other knights. Seeing her, I forced myself to speak.

“Elly, just come up to the dais. That carpet has a lot of blood on it… it will get on you if you kneel.”

“Pardon? ……Ah, yes, yes, Your Highness!”

Elly answered awkwardly, then hurriedly came up to the dais and stood behind me. Even so, she looked around, scanning the faces of the nobles as if searching for someone. She really looked like she was looking for someone.

‘Who is she looking for? Why is she scanning the nobles like that?’

I was curious, but it didn't seem right to ask now, so I didn't.

Sitting on the chair, I looked around the banquet hall. Everyone in here was bowing their heads to me.

This situation, where I truly felt like a ‘king.’

However, it was difficult to accept this situation with pleasure. To be honest, it was burdensome, and I wanted to run away.

‘But it's my doing, so I have to bear it. I knew it would be like this. ……Although I didn't know my heart would be this heavy when I first thought of the Purge.’

But whether my heart was heavy or light, there was no turning back now. I had to be strong.

Inhale… Exhale.

I took a silent deep breath and thought deeply.

What I should say to those who were bowing their heads to me.

***

Crown Prince Leonardo.

A twelve-year-old boy who intended to purge the noble faction and ascend the throne himself.

No, in effect, a man who had become king.

That boy slowly opened his mouth and said to everyone kneeling before him.

“……Raise your heads.”

At that one phrase, everyone raised their heads. Jereuth, the knights, and the nobles who were terrified that they would die right now.

No one dared to refuse.

Why? Because that was the new king's first command.