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

Chapter 29

Jereuth was about to immediately follow Diego and strike him down with his sword.

But I grabbed the hem of his clothes and stopped him. Then I spoke quietly, in a voice only he could hear.

“It is not yet time.”

The reason I stopped Jereuth.

It wasn't to spare Diego, nor was it to let that bastard live even a little longer.

I just wanted to be sure.

‘Surely my future self would have tried to get rid of all the thugs in a situation like this. In doing so, he must have made some mistakes or had some trial and error.’

I felt sorry for my future self, but I had no intention of going through such trial and error. What need was there for trial and error when I had the , life's answer sheet?

Another reason was that, no matter how strong Jereuth was, I thought it might be overwhelming for him to face many thugs alone. Jereuth had said he could handle it alone, but wasn't there always a chance?

Also, it might be dangerous if he had to fight while burdened with me and Elly, unlike if he were alone.

‘For now, let's go back to the royal palace and look at the . And…… let's take that girl—‘Yoanna’—with us.’

It might be dangerous to keep the person who would cause the rebellion in the future by my side, but thinking about it differently, there was no safer choice. If I kept Yoanna by my side and watched her, she wouldn't be able to easily start a rebellion.

‘Well……. in a world like this, it seems like someone would start a rebellion even if it wasn't her.’

Finishing my thoughts, I spoke to Jereuth. This time, in a voice loud enough for Elly and Yoanna to hear.

“I don't think there's anything more to see, so let's head back. I'll take that child with us.”

“Understo…… ahem, ‘Alright’. But you're taking this child with us too?”

“Yes.”

At my words, Jereuth took Yoanna's hand. At that, Yoanna asked me with a flustered and trembling voice.

“Wh-where are you taking me?! I-I have to get food and go back to my family!”

“You're going to pickpocket again?”

“……No, I'm going to get food.”

“Isn't that the same as pickpocketing?”

When I hit the nail on the head, Yoanna made a crying face and hung her head.

“……What can I do? There's no other way to live. The brothels won't even take me because I'm so skinny…….”

So she can't even sell her body.

“So follow me. I'll give you food.”

“……Y-you'll give me food?”

“Yes. I'll give you enough for not only you but also your family to eat, so follow me.”

“W-why? Why are you giving me food?”

My head was already hot because of the nobles and thugs, so I got annoyed by her asking such trivial questions. Also, my words were firm, somewhat cold, and fast, as I felt I needed to see the and get rid of the thugs as soon as possible.

“I want to help you, is there any other reason needed besides that?”

“……”

“Just follow me.”

I immediately took the lead and headed out of the market.

Jereuth and Elly stuck right by my side.

The people in the market glanced at me and my party. Their eyes were full of greed.

Perhaps they thought we were rich after seeing Jereuth casually give a large sum of money to Diego earlier.

‘No matter how strong Jereuth is, I don't know what will happen if dozens of them rush at us.’

I had such worries, but fortunately, no one rushed at us. Perhaps they were afraid of the thugs who ruled this market and didn't want to cause any unnecessary trouble.

Before long, we reached the market exit and entrance. The place where we had paid 10 copper to enter earlier. The thugs were still guarding the entrance.

Just as I was about to leave the market, the thug who had treated Elly like a prostitute and spat on Jereuth's chest blocked our way again.

“Hey! You have to pay an exit fee to leave.”

‘……Is there an exit fee too? They're really outlaws.’

At the thug's demand for money, Jereuth, again without a word, took money from his pocket and handed it to the thug. But after checking the money, that bastard looked at Jereuth, smiled viciously, and started spouting nonsense.

“It's the old man and the rude brat from before, huh? Hmph, you guys have to pay more for the exit fee. It's normally just 10 copper, but you guys have to pay 10 copper per person.”

10 copper per person. In other words, he was telling us to pay 40 copper.

I didn't know how much money 40 copper was, but seeing that the price of a wrist was 5 silver, it seemed like a pretty large sum. But to demand such money was absurd.

Moreover, from the way he spoke, he was openly picking a fight with us.

“If you don't have money, you can pay with your body—.”

Just as the thug was cackling and speaking.

Clink—.

Jereuth handed a handful of money to the thug. It was a much larger amount than the money he had given before, and the thug was briefly flustered, as if he hadn't expected Jereuth to actually pay.

But the fluster was brief, and the thug spoke as if he was very displeased but couldn't do anything about it.

“……Shit, get lost!”

Seeing him pay so obediently, it seemed Jereuth knew the system of this market managed by thugs very well.

Is it because he's a Head Knight of commoner origin?

***

On the way back to the royal palace after leaving the market.

Outside the market, the place was still full of people prostrated on the ground begging. It seemed there were even more than before. My heart felt heavy.

‘I need to do something quickly. I can't let people live like this. Even beasts don't live like that.’

The desire to help them isn't out of a sense of justice or anything like that. I am quite far from a righteous person like the protagonists in movies or novels. I am a selfish and dogmatic person.

Nevertheless, the thought of wanting to help them is probably just a sense of pity that a normal person would feel.

And I have to change their lives so that a rebellion doesn't happen and I can live.

While I was having these various thoughts, Yoanna cautiously asked me.

“Wh-where are you taking me? This is the way to the royal palace, isn't it? I have to go to my family—!”

“We're going to the palace.”

“……What?”

“I said we're going to the palace.”

Yoanna blinked and asked awkwardly.

“Are you perhaps a servant who works at the royal palace? Under the n-nobles? Is that why you have so much money—.”

“You'll know everything when we get there, so be quiet and follow me. If you keep talking, I won't give you food.”

“……”

Because I was in a hurry, my tone was a bit sharp. I felt sorry for talking to a child like that, but I couldn't help it as I was also human.

However, Yoanna seemed to care more about the words ‘I won't give you food’ than my tone and immediately shut her mouth. Still, she kept glancing at me, and then, as if she absolutely had to say this, she carefully opened her mouth.

“Th-then how do I bring food to my family? They are all waiting for me.”

“When we get back to the palace, I'll send someone to where your family is and bring them food. No, would it be better to just bring your family to the castle? You said they are all orphans, right?”

“……Yes.”

Yoanna hung her head low.

Even if I give them food to eat today, they will be hungry again tomorrow. Then Yoanna's family—the orphans—will have no choice but to starve or pickpocket.

‘If they get caught doing that, their wrists will be cut off. Or they'll be beaten up by the thugs, or suffer something even worse.’

I can't bring all the orphans of the royal capital into the palace, but for now, I should help the ones I can.

“Head Knight, when we return to the royal palace, please have the knights find this child's family and bring them here.”

“Understood.”

“K-knights……?! Wh-who are you people to be sending knights?”

Yoanna's eyes widened as she looked back and forth between me and Jereuth. She seemed extremely curious about our identities.

She would find out everything soon enough, so I didn't bother explaining.

A little later, we passed the begging people and the dirty streets of the royal capital and reached the entrance of the royal palace.

At the royal palace entrance, there were many guards and knights of the 3rd Knight Order, and as we approached the entrance, they immediately saluted and opened the gate.

Kwoong—.

With the sound of the heavy gate opening, the familiar royal palace came into view through the gap. The place I had just been was a poor and hopeless place where the people of the kingdom were barely living, but just by crossing this one gate, a clean and comfortable royal palace unfolded.

That's right. With the royal palace gate as the boundary, a completely different world was in progress.

‘Having to live while being mindful of the nobles as the Crown Prince was not a hardship. The real hardship and suffering were outside the gate.’

I walked quickly into the royal palace and said to Elly and Jereuth.

“Miss Elly, please prepare a meal for this child and the other children. Please prepare a room as well.”

“Yes!”

“Head Knight, please find out where the orphans she lives with are and bring them here.”

“Understood.”

As I spoke, Elly and Jereuth nodded and were about to go about their respective tasks. Yoanna, who still didn't understand the situation, asked me again.

“Wh-who are you? Who are you that the royal palace gate opens for you so easily and you give out food so casually?”

Who am I.

“The Crown Prince.”

***

A blond-haired, handsome young man who identified himself as the ‘Crown Prince.’

He left only that one word and went inside the royal castle.

Yoanna stared blankly at his retreating back.

“……The Crown Prince?”

Yoanna thought she had misheard. She thought her wrist would be cut off after being caught pickpocketing, so how could she readily accept that the person who saved her was the Crown Prince?

At that moment, Elly smiled and asked the dazed Yoanna. Although Elly was also tired from the events outside the royal palace, that was not an excuse to postpone the task Leonardo had requested.

“Do you have any favorite foods? Or any foods you avoid.”

“Huh? Ah, no! I don't! I'm fine with anything I can eat! I even eat mud soup well!”

“Hmm…… but since you are His Highness's guest, I should prepare well.”

Elly stroked her chin, pondering, then smiled brightly and came up with an answer herself.

“Then I'll prepare a variety of things.”

“Ah…… Yes!”

Yoanna, who still didn't quite understand the situation, nodded her head vigorously.

‘Her face is also so fair…… and she's pretty. She seems to be around my age, but she's so mature.’

That was how Elly appeared in the eyes of Yoanna, a girl. It might have been that the halo seemed to shine even brighter because of the mention of food.

“Then I will go prepare the meal, Head Knight.”

“Do so.”

As Elly bowed politely to Jereuth and moved away, this time Yoanna asked Jereuth.

“You…… are called ‘Head Knight,’ so who are you, grandfather?”

“The Head of the 3rd Knight Order, Jereuth.”

“……H-Head of the Knight Order?!”

“Yes.”

“Th-then is that child really the C-Crown Prince?!”

“That's right. And it's not ‘Crown Prince,’ but ‘Your Highness the Crown Prince.’ The crime of insulting royalty doesn't end with just one wrist, so watch your mouth.”

After speaking frighteningly, Jereuth softly added in a passing voice. 「”Well…… His Highness wouldn't do that, but.”」 However, those words did not reach Yoanna.

Jereuth spoke seriously again.

“And don't get cocky just because His Highness saved you. I cannot comprehend his deep thoughts, but you are originally a trivial human being who couldn't even look at this place. If not for His Highness's generosity, your wrist would have been gone long ago. You know that, right?”

“……Yes.”

Jereuth had no intention of cutting off Yoanna's wrist. However, he could not tolerate her calling Leonardo informally, so he warned Yoanna fearfully and firmly.

To the gloomy Yoanna with her head hung low, Jereuth asked.

“Still, since His Highness has ordered it, I will bring your ‘family’. You said you were staying under the city wall earlier, which side of the wall are you staying on?”

“Um…… it's the alley near the east gate.”

“Is it the ‘Harq’ alley?”

“Huh? You know it?”

“I do. I'm from there too.”

The ‘Harq’ alley was where the poorest of the royal capital gathered to live. But for someone who was the Head of the Knight Order to be from there, Yoanna looked at Jereuth in bewilderment.

Then, as if she had suddenly realized something, Yoanna's eyes widened.

“C-could it be, the Head Knight of commoner origin is—?”

“Yes. That's me.”

Until a moment ago, Yoanna had looked at Jereuth as a scary old man, but as soon as she learned he was the ‘Head Knight of commoner origin,’ a boundless respect welled up.

“That person is…… Hero Jereuth?”

***

As soon as I returned to my room, I roughly threw off the clothes I was wearing. Then, I immediately took out the from the bookshelf.

‘My future self must have tried to deal with the thugs somehow. There's no way he would have left them alone after seeing what they were doing.’

In the first place, the ‘thugs’ were one of the main culprits behind the kingdom's people's rebellion. So, there was no way he would have neglected that.

Swish—.

I opened the . It was the page with the future closest to the present.

…….

The King advised me that if I wanted to rule the kingdom properly, I should see the lives of the kingdom's people with my own eyes.

Honestly, until I first heard that advice, I didn't think ‘I want to rule the kingdom properly.’ I just wanted to lead the kingdom enough so that a rebellion wouldn't occur.

However…… after going outside the royal palace and seeing the miserable lives of the kingdom's people, my mind changed.

I wanted to try to change people's lives.

Going beyond preventing a rebellion, I wanted to make people want to live like human beings.

No one in this kingdom could do it, but only I held the possibility of doing so.

The content up to this point was more of a review of the present than a description of the future. So, I immediately read on to the next part.

…….

For a while, I contemplated how to deal with the thugs. At the end of that contemplation, I came to think that sometimes a crude and radical method is the solution to everything.

So I called Jereuth to my room and gave him an order.

「”Clean up the trash of the royal capital, the thugs.”」 —I said.

At my command, Jereuth did not delay and immediately led the knights out of the royal palace. As Jereuth had boasted before, Jereuth and the knights dealt with the thugs overwhelmingly and easily.

At that, I was inwardly happy that I had eliminated one of the culprits of the rebellion.

But…… that was my mistake.

Just killing all the thugs was not enough to solve the problems they had long been rooted in the royal capital.

The thugs had more influence in the royal capital than I had expected. They were the ‘system’ itself that managed not only this royal capital but also other cities in the kingdom.

When I eliminated them all without any preparation, chaos ensued in the royal capital.

This was the content of the that was close to the present. And upon reading this, I thought, ‘as expected.’

‘As expected, just killing all the thugs wasn't the answer. But what does it mean that 「the thugs were the ‘system’ itself, so when I killed them all without any preparation, problems and chaos ensued.」? For now, it seems like eliminating the thugs is the right choice…… hmm.’

While I was silently thinking to myself.

Scribble, scribble, scribble—.

New content began to be written in the . It was content that explained why just killing the thugs was not enough.