I’m Going to Destroy this Country

The envoy couldn’t believe the scene before his eyes.

Not only was the appearance of the platinum-haired man impossible to look away from…

‘What is this.’

A shocking scene was unfolding before his eyes.

No matter how many times he looked, there were bloodstains everywhere. The culprit who created this was probably the platinum-haired man.

Um… So that means…

‘T-Torture?!’

Indeed, the platinum-haired man was in the middle of beating someone with a strange tool.

The man being beaten was a notorious villain manager quite famous in the underworld.

The envoy’s pupils couldn’t help but shake. He tried to understand this bewildering situation.

‘What’s going on? Did the Blue capture him because he’s a criminal…?’

Ah, that’s it! That must be it!

Yes! The righteous junior family head of the Blue must have set out to eradicate an extremely vicious group!

Yes, that must be it…

“Ah, where are you doing bottom dealing, you bastards! Do you want to die?”

“?!”

B-Bottom dealing?

The envoy was wondering what on earth this meant, but he heard even more dumbfounding words.

“Ah, it’s unfair! You’re the one who cheated, junior family head! Besides, we haven’t even dealt the cards yet?!”

“You were going to cheat anyway.”

…What? What did he say??

Don’t tell me the Blue junior family head was gambling?

No! That’s not the important part!

The junior family head was cheating like a card shark?!

“Damn it! I’ll tell everyone that the Blue’s leader used violence and trickery!”

Then the platinum-haired man chuckled.

“Go ahead? I can do whatever I want? I have an indulgence because I’ll become a Saint.”

What?!

The platinum-haired man poured a bottle of alcohol over the other’s head.

Glug glug glug glug!

When the bottle was empty, the man tossed it aside. Then he picked up a torch.

“Alright, if you don’t want to burn to death, hand over everything here.”

“?!”

As he was about to set the man on fire, Shuri, who couldn’t stand it anymore, raised his voice.

“Isaac! I told you to stop!”

Then Isaac clicked his tongue.

“What, Kim Shuri. Why are you interfering with my money-making?”

“There’s a guest here!”

“A guessst?”

Isaac glanced at the Julius kingdom’s envoy.

Then, pulling out a rope with his gloved hand, he said:

“Should we tie him up too?”

“Hey!!”

“We need to take care of witnesses.”

Shuri popped a vein.

“He’s your guest! More importantly, don’t be rude to the royal envoy!”

“Royal envoy? Oh, he’d fetch a crazy high ransom, huh?”

“Hey!!!”

The envoy looked at Shuri as if asking if this person was really him. Shuri coughed, ahem, as if embarrassed.

“The one you’re looking for is over there. That person is the one who will become the Blue family head.”

Hmm. Right. Though it’s hard to believe.

“He won’t extort money from you since you’re a guest. Probably.”

…What? What?

* * *

Back at the mansion, Shuri drank tea almost like he was drinking cold water.

“I thought he might have matured a bit when I heard he went on a training journey!”

Shuri looked at Isaac as if he was fed up. Compared to when he graduated as an apprentice, Isaac had really grown a lot.

‘Well, that’s to be expected. He’s sixteen now.’

His face was still youthful, but his development was fast, so at a glance he could even look like an adult.

But why is the contents still the same…?

“What about Grandmother? Didn’t she go training with you?”

As soon as Melissa’s name came up, Isaac made a face like he had bitten a bug.

“I ran away, so I don’t know. I don’t want to know either.”

“You ran away?!”

Shuri stood up abruptly as if asking what this meant.

“Hey! Didn’t Grandfather say he’d teach you the Cardinal’s vision when you become a 1st-class priest! I’m already a 2nd-class priest now, how long do I have to wait for you… Ack.”

As Shuri hurriedly covered his mouth, Isaac raised an eyebrow.

“2nd classs? Don’t tell me you took the promotion exam while I was gone?!”

“…”

Shuri avoided eye contact.

Isaac’s gaze became even more fierce.

“You traitor! I told you not to go above me!”

Shuri covered his ears at Isaac’s cursing.

In fact, Isaac had failed the promotion exam.

Was it because his skills weren’t good enough?

Not at all.

To become a 2nd-class priest, which is an intermediate priest, you just needed to meet the minimum holy technique standards to pass.

The problem was this ‘minimum holy technique standard’…

“I’ve never seen someone so extreme as you…”

That’s right.

Isaac got perfect scores in everything else, but he scored 0 points in ‘healing’, ‘taming divine beasts’, and ‘hymn’ techniques.

Of course, those holy techniques, which are the White faith’s specialties, required having a heart for others and abandoning greed.

It seemed a bit shaky, but still, to think he would fail…

‘Is this really our next family head…’

Yeah. In short, it means he’s completely hopeless at all holy techniques for protecting others!

Compared to that, how about the torture side!

‘…The highest score since the founding of the Holy Empire!’

What kind of guy is this?

The examiners couldn’t close their mouths.

It’s usually hard to get a high score in torture techniques.

‘It’s fortunate he wasn’t dragged off as a heretic because his purification technique score was high!’

No, the Red Cardinal was very happy and wanted him to become his successor, so is that okay?

Anyway, this was why Melissa had taken Isaac away. Though Isaac really hated it.

‘I thought I was going to die worried about my identity being discovered.’

So he stayed with her for a while and then ran away. During the remaining time, he focused entirely on magic while in closed-door training.

‘Now I need to find my body and the fake Skeleton King.’

He raised his rank to 8th like that.

It’s still low compared to when he was the Skeleton King, but it was quite sufficient. He cultivated real power to fight against them.

“By the way, how was the training of my slaves while I was gone? Didn’t they say they were dying to see me?”

“…”

Does this bastard have a conscience?

Even now, they freeze up and have seizures just at the mention of training.

‘Now that I’m back home, I’ll work them hard again.’

“Well, if there’s anything special, your 3rd generation slaves… no, the 3rd generation priests have come to hold a grudge against His Holiness the Pope.”

“A grudge? Why?”

Shuri looked dumbfounded.

Does this guy really not know the reason?

That’s because when the 1st generation first entered, they cursed Isaac while coughing up blood during his training.

-This is fraud! We’ve been deceived!

-Save us!

-Take us back to before the faith selection!

All the new recruits cried during training, saying they had been deceived. And Isaac said this to those 1st generation recruits:

-You’ll die by my hand if you don’t bring in juniors?

In the end, the 1st generation actively recruited 2nd generation recruits while trembling in fear.

And the 2nd generation? Those who belatedly realized they had been deceived flashed their eyes.

Of course, it was good that they reached 10 years’ worth of training in just 1 year thanks to Isaac, but…

-Shit! You think we’re the only ones who’ll suffer?!

-If we die, we die together!

After that, the 3rd generation entered, and these 3rd generation recruits were also about to do the same marketing while shaking with anger at being deceived, but…

-

-Shit! Pope!! Who are you to stop us!

-Die! We’ll invade the Papacy and assassinate you! Damn it!

Shuri grimaced as he recalled the 3rd generation recruits who had the best abilities but had turned to the dark side. The 1st and 2nd generations also cursed the Pope, but they couldn’t surpass the 3rd generation’s anger.

“His Holiness the Pope has completely become public enemy number one. Even now, a year later, they’re going crazy trying to assassinate him if they see him. I heard all items related to His Holiness the Pope are being destroyed…”

“Pfft!”

Is that actually a good thing?

“I guess working them hard was worth it. It’ll be helpful when dealing with the Pope later.”

“…”

…Did this bastard just say he’s going to deal with the Pope?

“What have been the Pope’s movements since then?”

“He keeps asking for the sacred relic, but it’s quiet. It’s a bit suspicious that he’s just staying still.”

“Is that so? Then keep watching. We need to deal with the Pope.”

At those words, Shuri looked even more dumbfounded.

“If you hate His Holiness the Pope so much, why didn’t you attend His Highness the Crown Prince’s coming-of-age ceremony?”

Then Isaac looked at him as if asking what nonsense he was talking about.

“Not attend? Why would I not attend?”

For Isaac, the Imperial Family was an important card.

He needed to maintain a friendly relationship with the Crown Prince by participating himself.

“Isn’t Shablis’ coming-of-age ceremony in 5 days? That’s why I arrived in Hella to match the date.”

“…It is on the 5th, but it was last month.”

“…”

Ah.

I must have made a mistake while hurriedly reading the letter.

Seeing Isaac’s expression, Shuri sighed deeply as if he had expected this.

“What are you going to do? His Highness the Crown Prince is completely upset now.”

“…Upset? Over that?”

Shuri said that’s not how he should talk about it.

“The coming-of-age ceremony is originally supposed to be held at 18, but His Highness Shablis ended up having it at 21, right?”

The Imperial Family’s coming-of-age ceremony is a major national affair. If you ask why it was delayed by 3 years, the reason is simple.

[The Pope didn’t do it, right?]

That’s right.

Important ceremonies related to the Imperial Family were presided over by the Pope.

And just like he had delayed the succession ceremony during childhood, the Pope indefinitely postponed the coming-of-age ceremony as well.

‘He’s a petty bastard.’

By saying the Crown Prince doesn’t have the Pope’s recognition, he’s trying to ruin his image externally and instigate the nobles and imperial citizens to prevent his ascension.

‘The heir to the throne that the Pope is pushing is not Shablis, but another prince.’

It’s not that the Pope chooses the Emperor, but without the Pope’s approval, the ceremony can’t proceed. It can’t be said that there’s no influence at all.

And in the Holy Empire where the sun and moon coexist, the harmony between the two was important to the nobles and imperial citizens.

The problem is that one side keeps trying to cross the line.

“There have been rumors that His Majesty’s health has been poor for a year now. Talk of changing the throne is starting to come up.”

“!”

Changing the throne. This was a major issue for all nobles, including Eshua.

And it was a coming-of-age ceremony held in a situation where the power struggle between the Pope and the Crown Prince had reached an all-time high.

But a noble doesn’t attend?

‘It means they won’t recognize the Crown Prince, like the Pope.’

And Isaac didn’t participate on top of that?

“It’s not that Eshua didn’t participate so it doesn’t matter… but His Highness the Crown Prince… waited quite a long time. He didn’t say anything, but I thought I was going to die of fear.”

Isaac laughed sheepishly, seeming inwardly apologetic.

That’s understandable to be angry about. How much had the Crown Prince given to Isaac and been good to Eshua for about 3-4 years.

‘I should clear up the misunderstanding.’

For now, the problem while being outside was his own body.

‘I need to find that to pass the promotion exam.’

Why is that needed for the promotion exam, you ask?

-To become a 2nd-class priest, you either pass the minimum standards… or solve an unresolved mission.

Unresolved mission!

The Empire had a list of unresolved missions that ancestors couldn’t achieve, like quests. If you achieve one, it can substitute for most exams.

In short, a nepotism system!

And surprisingly, among them was ‘Finding the Skeleton King’s body’!

‘Plus, if I have my body, I can find the fake Skeleton King too.’

For some reason, perhaps due to someone’s intervention, the fake Skeleton King’s hiding place couldn’t be easily found. So he needed to either raise his magic power more to unlock higher tracking magic.

Of course, since the sacred dragon who had his body was close to the Imperial Family, he could just ask the Crown Prince and be done with it, but…

‘They say he’s not showing himself even to the Imperial Family.’

What should I do? My body?

‘It seems to be wrapped in a barrier, I can’t even feel its presence.’

At that moment, someone entered while looking at them cautiously.

“Um…”

As the Julius envoy appeared, Shuri stood up apologetically.

“I’m sorry for keeping you waiting. It’s been a while since I’ve seen a dear family member, so our conversation went on. Now, Isaac. This is your guest.”

“What. That thing was still here?”

Thing…!

The Julius envoy squeezed his eyes shut. He wondered if he could trust such a guy, but they desperately needed Isaac.

“Actually, I came because I have something to ask the junior family head directly.”

“Was it about mobilizing manpower? Sorry, but I’m a bit busy.”

“But…!”

“I need to find the Skeleton King’s body. The others will help you sincerely.”

Then, for some reason, the Julius envoy’s face brightened.

“That’s exactly it!”

“What?”

“The Skeleton King’s body has appeared in our kingdom! Demons and dragons… they’re all rushing in, it’s chaos. And the only one who can handle the Skeleton King’s body is Eshua, no, the junior family head who remained fine even after eating the Skeleton King’s body…!”

What did you say?