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

Chapter 59

The last page of the should have contained my ending. But that content was blank. There was nothing there.

Just in case, I checked the pages before and after, but there was no content on those pages either.

‘……Why is there no content in the part about my ending?’

Until now, I had seen the content of the change a few times. The future changed according to my choices, and the content changed as well.

But this time, the content didn't change. It had completely ‘disappeared’.

That was definitely a big difference. Honestly, I was flustered.

‘Originally, this page had the content about the bandits surrounding the royal capital and me dying. What does it mean that the content has disappeared?’

Is the broken?

That thought crossed my mind for a moment, but it didn't seem likely.

First, I decided to check the beginning of the diary. Even if my ending was blank, there would be some content in the future closest to the present.

Chwak—!

I opened the to the beginning rather roughly. My heart was flustered and impatient, so my emotions were reflected in my actions.

Fortunately, the future closest to the present was not blank but had new content written in it.

…….

Four years have passed since I began to seriously rebuild the kingdom.

It has been a truly busy but peaceful time. The large farm and large market in the royal capital have been completed and have begun to fulfill their roles, and the lives of the people have improved remarkably. The improvement in their complexions is noticeable, and the entire royal capital is full of vitality.

For four years, it has been a bountiful harvest, again and again. I am so relieved.

The situation in the local territories was also improving greatly. The knights that Jereuth had recommended were fulfilling their roles as lords.

The lords recruited and trained new soldiers with their strong authority, and mobilized the army to rebuild the market and construct large farms. They were following exactly what I had done in the royal capital.

What was most encouraging was that starting this year, each territory had contacted me, saying they would send taxes.

For the first three years, the major cities and territories needed so much money and food that I had to send support, but now the kingdom has become so prosperous and stabilized overall that they will be sending me money.

Another excellent development was the creation of a prototype ‘magic communication crystal ball’. It's still in the prototype stage, so the communication range is short and the communication time is long, but still, a magic crystal ball that can transmit ‘voices’ has been invented.

‘……Why is a future four years from now suddenly appearing?’

Until now, the usually showed a future a few days or weeks later in the ‘future closest to the present’.

But this time, it showed a future a full four years later.

‘This isn't the near future.’

I found that a bit strange.

But there was a more important point.

‘Originally, four years from now was the time when the bandits started their rebellion. And in just one year, the bandits had taken over most of the kingdom, surrounded the royal capital, and my ending was to die.’

But if the future four years from now is this peaceful and beautiful?

‘Perhaps, as I had hoped, the kingdom's army is strong enough to suppress the bandits. As I had hoped, the bandits are unable to start a war……!’

Just as I foolishly harbored hope.

Ssasasak—!

As if the was laughing at my foolishness.

It began to write new content, as if telling me that a bright future was still far from my reach.

…….

One day, reports came in that bandits were causing trouble all over the kingdom.

Most territories said they would first mobilize their own armies to suppress the bandits, but some also requested my help as the bandits' forces were not to be underestimated.

In the end, the bandits had caused a disturbance. In the end.

“……Damn it.”

A curse mixed with a sigh escaped me.

I had hoped the bandits wouldn't cause a disturbance, but I was disappointed that that hope had been shattered.

The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment.

‘So even if I use the army to stably rebuild the kingdom, the bandits will still cause a disturbance four years later?’

The only silver lining was that the ending where the bandits surround the royal capital and I die was gone.

That meant the kingdom's army had somehow managed to subjugate the bandits.

Thinking of it that way, it didn't seem so bad after all. Although I couldn't ‘prevent’ the bandits as I had originally intended, at least the kingdom didn't fall because of them, so this was more or less acceptable.

‘Then for the next four years, can I live a little more comfortably and at ease while maintaining the current policies?’

I couldn't help but have such a lazy thought cross my mind. I was relieved that my life was not threatened.

But…… new content began to be written in the again.

Ssasasasak—!

…….

I began preparations for a full-scale bandit subjugation.

In the royal capital, 4,000 well-trained soldiers were ready. In the ten major cities and local territories, an average of 1,500 soldiers were ready.

The total force was about 20,000.

My current army could be said to be the strongest army in the history of the Plank Kingdom.

Considering that the number of troops the Plank Kingdom sent to the Allied Human Forces, including forced conscription, during the war with the demons where humanity's existence was tested was about 40,000, there is no need to explain how powerful my current army is.

The entire massive army of the kingdom was waiting for my order to subjugate the bandits.

With this level of force, I thought that subjugating bandits would be easier than twisting a baby's arm.

Chwarak-.

I immediately flipped to the next page and continued reading.

…….

Information about the bandits poured in from each major city and territory.

According to the information, the bandits are hiding in various cell-like organizations scattered throughout the kingdom.

The size of the bandit organizations ranges from a few dozen to a few hundred.

If all those bandits formed a single force, they would become a ‘army’ that could not be ignored. But fortunately, they had not yet gathered their forces.

It seemed the bandits were still fighting amongst themselves over who would be the leader.

I thought there was no way my army could fail to clean up the bandits who had not yet joined forces.

After all, my army was 20,000 strong, four times more numerous than the bandits.

So I was about to order their subjugation before they could join forces.

But unexpectedly…… Jereuth objected.

“Your Highness, I believe your intention to subjugate the bandits is correct. I also think every day that those bandit bastards who ruin the lives of the people should all be eliminated. But Your Highness, now is not the time to subjugate the bandits.”

I paused my reading for a moment and organized the content.

According to the diary, four years from now, I will have the strongest army in the kingdom's history. So I confidently tried to subjugate the bandits.

So far, so good.

‘But why on earth did Jereuth oppose the bandit subjugation……? Why?’

Ssk—.

To find out the reason, I turned to the next page and read on.

…….

Jereuth opposing my words?

Jereuth's opposition, of all people, was very unexpected for me. But I thought there must be a reason why a great general like Jereuth would say that, so I decided to listen to his words.

“Commander, why is now not the time to subjugate the bandits?”

“There are several reasons, but there are three main ones. First, the current kingdom army lacks commanders.”

“Commanders, you mean we lack knights?”

“That's right. According to the information, the bandits are mostly small groups and are hiding in the mountains or on the islands of the western sea. To effectively subjugate them, we need to divide our forces into several groups rather than moving a large force at once.”

“But we can't divide the forces into several groups because we lack knights.”

“That's right. The current kingdom army has many soldiers, but we are severely lacking in knights to lead them.”

“Can't we send just the soldiers without the knights?”

“That is a method, but in my experience, sending only soldiers into battle without a commander is a very dangerous choice. An army cannot exert its full strength without clear instructions and commands.”

“In that case…… what about mobilizing the mages? If we burn down the mountains or islands where the bandits are hiding with large-scale magic, we wouldn't need to fight a battle, right?”

Mobilizing the mages.

It seemed like a good idea, so I proposed to Jereuth that we mobilize them.

However, Jereuth did not accept this either.

“The large-scale magic of mages is certainly a powerful tool. However, large-scale magic requires not only the mage's mana but also their life force, so it is a bit of a waste to use it to catch a few dozen or a few hundred bandits.”

“Life force…… you mean lifespan?”

“Yes. I don't know much about magic myself, so it's difficult to explain in detail, but Seria says that the stronger the magic, the greater the ‘price’ one has to pay. Especially magic that takes another's life.”

“Hmm.”

“Also, the large-scale attack magic of mages is not suitable for attacking small groups of enemies. If the enemy is hidden, it is difficult to inflict effective damage.”

Simply put, using mages was not cost-effective.

More than that…… I didn't know that using powerful magic required one's lifespan.

Jereuth took a step closer and added.

“The second reason is that the individual combat power of the bandits is not to be underestimated.”

“The individual combat power of the bandits is not to be underestimated… does that mean the soldiers will lose if they fight the bandits one-on-one?”

“It's not that the soldiers will necessarily lose if they fight one-on-one. But I am trying to say that we should not underestimate the skills of the bandits. Your Highness, the bandits are people who have made a living by killing others for half their lives. They are on a different level from thugs. Thugs were bastards who extorted from the powerless populace, but bandits are bastards who have dealt with the likes of guards, sentries, or adventurers. Those among the bandits with outstanding martial prowess can fight on equal terms with knights.”

“Fight on equal terms with knights…… are they that strong? The bandits?”

“That's right. And the last, third reason is that the battlefield itself where we have to fight is disadvantageous to the army.”

Jereuth thought for a moment and continued.

“The kingdom army is fundamentally trained for large-scale battles on plains. But the bandits are in the mountains, forests, or on islands. Such places are unfamiliar environments for the soldiers, so if they fight there, their combat effectiveness will drop significantly.”

The variable of an unfamiliar environment.

At Jereuth's words, I was reminded of the only war the United States, an absolute global power, had ever lost. The ‘Vietnam War’.

‘That's right. Even the US army, which had an absolute advantage, had great difficulty fighting in the jungles of Vietnam. In the end, they couldn't respond appropriately to the environment and were defeated.’

Of course, there were several other reasons why the United States did not win the Vietnam War.

However, the inability of the US army to adapt to the Vietnamese environment was certainly a fatal reason.

The lack of knights to command the soldiers, the soldiers' lack of combat experience, and the disadvantageous terrain.

These three reasons were why Jereuth opposed subjugating the bandits right now.

‘……So the bandit problem wasn't something that could be solved simply by increasing military strength?’

As I was mulling over Jereuth's words, he added one more thing.

“Your Highness. The bandits are bastards who enjoy killing people. Dealing with those evil bastards is like dealing with demons. Therefore, we must prepare meticulously in many ways.”

“……”

“Of course, among the bandits, there are some who became bandits out of necessity, unable to endure the tyranny of the nobles. So it might be a bit of an overstatement to say that all bandits are evil.”

“Those who became bandits out of necessity due to the tyranny of the nobles?”

When I asked back, Jereuth nodded and replied.

“Yes. There aren't many, but there are a few such bandits. Those bandits are said to not touch the common people and only attack the nobles and wicked merchants who exploit the people.”

“If they are bandits who don't touch the common people and only attack bad nobles and wicked merchants…… you could call them ‘good bandits’. You could also call them ‘righteous bandits’.”

“……Your Highness, whatever the reason, a bandit is a bandit. I don't think it's right to call them ‘good bandits’.”

“Let's just call them ‘good bandits’ to make it easier to understand. But if those ‘good bandits’ don't plunder the people, what do they eat to live? Do they farm or something? With my ‘war on crime’ and the noble purge, I've eliminated all the wicked merchants and nobles, so it seems those ‘good bandits’ would have no one to plunder.”

“Hmm…… I haven't investigated that far. I will look into it.”

Hoo—.

This was the content written on this page for now.

‘……There's a lot to consider for the bandit subjugation. I thought I could just push through with numbers.’

My head hurts. Is it because there are so many things to worry about?

I pressed my temples firmly to calm the headache and tried to think calmly.

‘Alright, let's sort this out. Four years from now, the bandits will eventually cause a disturbance. And Jereuth opposes my large-scale subjugation of the bandits. For several important reasons.’

Then what choice did the future me make after hearing Jereuth's advice? Did he listen to Jereuth's words and postpone the attack?

‘Or…… did he just go ahead with the attack?’

The advice of the kingdom's top knight was that now was not the time to attack the bandits.

So for the future me, listening to Jereuth's advice would be the rational decision.

But the future me would have wanted to get rid of the bandits as soon as possible. Because he would have known that if they joined forces and became a single army, they would be a great threat to the entire kingdom.

‘In the end, what did he do? The future me.’

As I asked myself a similar question again.

Ssasasak—.

As if answering my question, new content was written in the diary.

…….

Despite hearing Jereuth's advice, I decided to attack the bandits. Because I didn't know how long it would take to prepare everything perfectly as Jereuth said.

I wanted to subjugate the bandits before they could grow their forces and gather. I wanted to eliminate them before they could one day inflict great damage on the kingdom.

Even if the preparations were insufficient, I believed that subjugating the bandits right now was the way to clean them up with minimal damage.

Yes, I believed so.

“……I understand, Your Highness. Then I will prepare for departure.”

When I ordered the subjugation, Jereuth seemed to be lost in thought for a moment. But he no longer opposed my words and prepared for departure.

…………Omitted.

―March out!

As such, Jereuth and the lords who received my command led their armies and spread out across the kingdom.

To clean up the bandits.

It seems the future me eventually decided to attack the bandits as soon as possible.

The reason for making such a choice was valid, but I felt uneasy about the future me's choice to ignore Jereuth's opinion.

‘If ignoring Jereuth's advice and deciding to subjugate the bandits leads to a good result, then I can just push forward with the current policies. It means I don't have to go through any new hardships.’

But what if it leads to a bad result?

‘Then I'll have to come up with some other method. Based on the content of the .’

It goes without saying, but I hoped that the future me's choice was the right one. I hoped that boldly attacking the bandits before they could join forces was the right decision.

‘Let's read the next page. It will be there. Whether the future me's choice was right, or a blunder.’

Gulp—.

Swallowing a dry gulp tinged with tension, I turned to the next page.