Chapter 563: End of Ambition

Later.

Sitting on the throne, I rest my chin on the hand that is propped up on the armrest and move my eyes across the people in line.

Nuu

The reason I groaned occasionally was not because Im unhappy, its because the extravagant throne made of gold and silver and embedded with jewels was hard and hurt my b.u.t.t. The cus.h.i.+on sewn for me by Maria was rejected by Tristan, Adolph and Nonna, so I couldnt use it.

The fluffy pink cus.h.i.+on with a cat embroidered on it would diminish the majesty of the throne or something.

If I end up getting hemorrhoids and bleeding from the recent overuse of my a.s.s, majesty is the least of your concern.

Fuu

A grin appears on my face as I imagine the b.l.o.o.d.y sight, which causes a serious-looking bureaucrat in front of me to turn pale, making me s.h.i.+ft my gaze to the side.

For me, Im just looking around trying to kill time, but because my innocently wandering eyes landed on the poor guy, I had to look elsewhere.

Your Majesty. I have confirmed that all persons summoned are present.

Celia reports, bending at the waist as she addresses me formally.

Although the distant treatment in public situations makes me a bit sad, having the cute Celia call me king turns me on in a strange way.

I should try this play in bed once.

I see.

I stand up from the throne, picturing a half-naked Celia repeatedly crying out Your Majesty in my mind.

As pressure eases off my a.s.s, a smile naturally forms on my face as well.

Everyone, you did well to respond to the summons made not long after the coronation. There was a bit of a mixup, but its wonderful no one is absent.

Filling the vast throne room are individuals from the capital and other regions who are all above a certain rank.

It seems those with lower standing could not fit and are lined up in the corridor.

Goldonias n.o.bles, feudal lords, bureaucrats, ministers, knightsliterally everyone who supports the nation has gathered.

The number likely surpa.s.ses the attendance during the coronation.

Honestly, I was a little worried. Because Im somewhat hated, I thought people might not show up.

The man whose eyes met with mine starts sweating and furiously shakes his head.

Anyhow, Ive kept you waiting. I had to check if anybody was missing after all.

The person at the very front row trembles.

Is he imagining what would happen if he didnt choose to attend?

That might be due to the effect of crus.h.i.+ng five disobeying houses at the coronation.

Some of the partic.i.p.ants are injured with their arm in a sling and some are too old to stand up straight.

They probably came fearing the worst if they skipped.

I dont know whether they are admirable or just cowardly.

Alright then, err lets begin the what was it againah, the appointment ceremony.

I flutter my new black cape, allowing for the blood red clothes to peek out in the gaps.

My Dual Crater is left leaning next to the throne out of its sheath.

Celia and the others suggested this setup to increase the intimidation, but if only the throne was made of bone and the high-quality carpet on the floor was an animal pelt, I would be a barbarian king.

As written in the invitation letter, I thought it was about time to officially decide positions. Keeping them the same is also fine if there are no inconveniences, but I figured why not since the leader changed. So

Everyones tension heightens at the sudden break in my sentence.

Im not purposely delaying, its that I dont know where Celias third cue card went.

I silently turn to Celia.

All hail King Hardlett!!

Celia raises her voice, as if she understood my predicament.

No, thats not it.

Long live King Hardlett! Long live the Kingdom!

Myla, Irijina, and Tristan, whose toes were stepped on by Celia, also cheer.

Long live King Hardlett! Long live the Kingdom!

Everyone else joins in.

Of course they are not praising me from the bottom of their hearts.

They simply dont want to incur my wrath if they dont yell loud enough.

To prove my point, those who seem timid are straining themselves, while those who have a braver appearance are matching the tone of others out of courtesy.

This is a pretty good method to measure courage.

Okay lets move, its starting to get annoying.

To be polite, I first lazily introduce Gildress, who has yet to go home, and then proceed to the main topic.

On a side note, the girl accompanying him is a naughty daughter of a merchant family he hooked up with at a bar a few days ago.

Nonna heard a scream in the guest room on that night, and when I stepped inside to check, Gildress was f.u.c.king her from behind in a weird savage half-twist position.

That was all it took for the girl to completely fall for him and she ended up becoming his attendant.

He came buckets inside of her without contraception so she will probably be taken home, pregnant.

It feels bad knowing he took away a potential woman of mine.

Dammit, I forgot what I was going to say.

Hiiee!?

Oops, I directed it at someone unrelated.

The official announcement of appointments, Your Majesty.

Celia reminds me.

Right, first is Tristan. I appoint you as the Military Commissioner.

haaah.

Tristans sigh contrasts with the surprise that spread among the crowd.

Military Commissioner? The position created by the previous king will be taken over as is?

I dont know if hes bold or insensitive. Not to mention that person succeeding Lord Radhalde, his benefactor and someone he himself cut down, is an average-looking

Tristan slumps his shoulders at the unwelcome gazes.

Yes, I agree. Why dont you pick a differentoww!!

Celia stomps her steel boot on Tristans cloth shoe.

I humbly receive the position. I dont have a single complaint!

After Tristan is forced to accept out of desperation, he then ends with an oath of allegiance.

Next, the Government Affairs Commissioner will be you, Adolph.

Yes Your Majesty. I will do my utmost for the sake of the people and the kingdom.

Adolph knows hes the only one who can do the job and I dont have anyone else to leave the job to.

This position will also be kept? Doesnt Your Majesty reject the previous kings way of doing things?

Not really.

I only became king because I wanted to, not because the former king did anything wrong.

Tristan-dono and Adolph-donowe dont have any common acquaintances so its unknown what kind of characters they are. This is a problem.

If the nature of the positions dont change, then they will be the two wheels that support the nation. In that case, a struggle for dominance is inevitable. Who is better for us to joinand who is the superior one?

Unlike Erich and Kenneth, I dont think these two will fight each other.

Furthermore, Adolph has times where he sticks to his opinions till the end, meanwhile I can only see Tristan yielding midway.

If anything is said, Tristan will just go Okay, then take responsibility. Im resigning. and run.

Of course, if that happens, Celia and Irijina will chase after him and drag him back.

Myla, you will be the captain of the Royal Guard. You will defend my surroundings and the capital area.

I will do so even if it costs my life!

What a satisfying response.

Theres no comparing it to Tristans sigh.

Position-wise, the captain of the Royal Guard doesnt have as much authority as the Military Commissioner who overlooks the entire army, but having a role that protects the capital, she and her unit can act more independently as a separate ent.i.ty of the military.

Royal Guard captainI see, Myla-dono will be His Majestys

W-well, Myla-dono is also recognized for her talent and isnt someone who s.n.a.t.c.hed the position purely with her body

Thats right.

And because Myla is turning red, Ill lop off your head if you say anymore.

Next

I lift up Celia, who is making a face like its the end of the world beside me.

Celia will be the captain of my escort unit and lead follower. She will be protecting me rather than the capital or the palace and acting as my a.s.sistant.

Celias smile returns and I give her a kiss.

I call Marta over, a.s.sign her as my secretary, and also give her a kiss.

this is easy to understand.

She is his lover. Does His Majesty even need bodyguards?

Her and the secretary girl must service him together. As for me, Id be jealous if she was ten years younger.

I kiss Celia a few more times and then let her go as she writhes from the comments of the onlookers.

I feel a pressuring gaze from Irijina next.

I appoint Irijina as the captain of the capitals independent mobile strike force. She will patrol the capitals perimeter and exterminate any threats.

Understood! I will protect the capitals peace!!

I hear Tristan and Myla whisper to each other.

Independent mobilewhose command is she under?

Basically, she will be running as she pleases everyday, capturing any suspicious individual she sees. It sounds closer to a hobby than a job in the military.

Alright, next is

The intelligence officer system will be abolished. In its place, I will establish a new domestic intelligence minister who will monitor the behavior of the n.o.bles and bureaucrats as well as the rule of the feudal lords. The intelligence officers will be switched to public bureaucrats and the minister position will be given to Rebecca.

The announcement causes a stir to ripple at a different wavelength than before.

Intelligence officersthose people who used to be in the kings shadow will now be bureaucrats.

The one acting as secret informant will be a minister? Is it a matter of graceno, maybe it was past due.

But wait. Its irritating that those eavesdroppers have gained status, but theyre less scary. At the very least, it doesnt have the same bad feeling of not knowing whether an informant reported when the previous king is wavering on a decision.

Rebecca, who already has an idea of what this implies, is calm.

So youre saying we are to investigate in the open?

Thats right. And in return, they will be given the authority to prevent any number of people from interfering with the investigation. You can enter the bedroom of a wicked governor, the vault of a feudal lord accepting bribes, and the hidden room of a negligent Military Commissioner. If they resist, it is tantamount to defying me.

I say the last part loud enough that it echoes throughout the whole room.

Then I follow it up with a voice soft enough that only Rebecca can hear.

You are still hated, but at least your existence is public. If you produce results, you will stack up many rewards. And obviously you will be favored more than others. I have an ulterior motive after all.

The downward-facing Rebecca smiles.

She bends down to thank me and slips something in my shoe.

Come anytime.

That is the key to her office.

Of course since Im the king, I can enter any room at any time.

Deliberately handing me the key must be a sign for that.

Is something the matter, Your Majesty?

Youre slightly leaning forward.

Moving on.

Honestly, everyones reaction to positions other than Rebeccas is within expectations.

Its well-understood that an usurper like me will promote my own followers to important posts.

There are other various positions toobut they actually havent been decided yet.

I walk in between the people tightly packing the room.

I stop in front of a man who has a nervous look on his face.

Do you have a special skill?

I manage the familys rural demesne so my expertise in agriculture is above average

Satisfied, I nod.

Then you will be the minister of agriculture.

Huh?

The man unconsciously expresses his disbelief, then realizes his rudeness, and immediately tries to rephrase.

B-but I am a frontier baron. And I dont have experience working in the cap

I hold up a hand to interrupt him.

Im not interested in your history. Will you do it? Or not?

He closes his eyes for half a second and then reopens them.

Please let me do it.

Good. Work out the details with Adolphand tell me your name. It doesnt look good if the king doesnt know the names of his ministers.

There was no commotion.

The others were all frozen solid.

What do you have?

Errr, there is a small mine in my territory so I have craftsman

Then engineering minister it is.

My father left me with an outstanding debt of 20 years so I have to work two jobs at once to repay

I guess I need a minister of commerce.

I actually evaded the eyes of the kingdom and conducted various businesses with the barbarians in the remote regions

What a hopeless guy.

But if he can win over savage tribes without protection from the kingdom, he might be able to be minister of foreign affairs.

I like flashy things so I spent all my fortune to have a giant copper statue erected, which I personally oversaw

30 meters tall? So that ugly thing that I saw from the balcony was yours?

Hes foolish, but his zeal and ability are impressive. Lets have him try being the minister of construction.

Adolph and Tristan watch as I appoint new positions one after the other.

The two of them nod their heads with tired expressions.

I do not know who is best suited to be minister aside from those close to me.

Im just avoiding the initial chaos from picking those who already had that position or those who have experience as ministers, even though I know problems will emerge later.

Since I dont have the knowledge to begin with, its practically the same as choosing at random.

Whats important is checking whether they are motivated. I cant have anybody who lacks the drive.

I scowl at Tristan, who looks as if he wants to say something.

And even if the minister is incapable of doing anything, Tristan heads the military and Adolph heads the government, so everything wont collapse right away.

Once we discover the person is useless, we just have to replace them.

Its like a lottery with endless draws, so one of them will eventually be a hit.

And we just have to repeat the process for each minister until we a.s.semble all the pieces of the puzzle.

In exchange, well be fatigued though.

Tristan heaves a sigh and something drifts from Adolphs head.

Overworking someone like Tristan, who slacks off anytime he can, is just right.

And for Adolph, its cooler to be completely smooth rather than have half-grown fuzz.

As I progress with the appointment of ministers, the high-ranking n.o.bles especially watch with their jaws hanging.

Y-youre appointing positions haphazardly! And youre doing it for the positions that should normally be the foundations of the country like agriculture and foreign affairs!

Its ridiculous! Its foolish no matter how you look at it! The issue isnt even with social standing or status! The country will fall!

At the same time, others voice their opinion unusually quietly.

It truly is senseless. Lineage and accomplishments dont matter. Are you really choosing at random!?

Wait, but if thats the case and we perform better than expected, then perhaps even us low-ranking n.o.bles can

The eyes of the low-ranking n.o.bles sparkle at the prospect of becoming ministers, which to them is a hard enough chance to come by, let alone working for the kingdom.

Their hearts were not stirred even when I or Myla-san was appointed to important posts. After all, were connected with the new king. Its natural for us to be given big responsibilities, unlike them.

Adolph scratches his head lightly and continues.

But with such a reckless way of appointing, n.o.body knows what kind of appealing role will come their way next.

Humans dont always live by reason or righteousness.

Plenty of people are happier to live under an usurper king at a higher rank than under a rightful king at a lower cla.s.s.

Submit them with violence and win them over with lures of profit

Tristan continues from where Adolph trailed off.

Then bind them with the lawright? We will need to build a system they can trust. Its not my job though.

Ill leave that to you two.

Its a bit late at this point, but theres a lot of hair on your shoulder, Adolph.

Are you alright? Its not normal.

After the commotion which was the nonsensical appointment, a different whisper began to circulate.

I guess most of the notable jobs have run out

How strange. Isnt that man not appointed?

Everyones gazes start to focus on the silent, sculpture-like Leopolt.

I havent given Leopolt a position yet.

I thought he would be the Military Commissioner for sure.

Rumor has it that his discord with His Majesty is connected with the plot to usurp the throne. He is undoubtedly His Majestys most trusted va.s.salits impossible for him to jobless.

Isnt he creating a new position? Honestly, I am not fond of him. I hope he gets a position which doesnt interact with me.

I turn to Leopolt like I only just realized I missed him.

Oh right. I forgot about you, Leopolt.

As Leopolt steps forward, I inform him before he kneels.

I appoint you as the Commander of Border Defense.

Eh?

The surprised one was Celia.

I thought you planned for Leopolt-san to be appointed as Supreme Commander and for the post to be rotated between him and Tristan every ye

I close Celias mouth with my hand while keeping my eyes on Leopolt.

W-what is going on?

Myla asks Tristan, who shakes his head seriously for once like he doesnt know the answer.

Would that be the border with the Empire?

I reply to Leopolts question with a grin.

No, the north one. Ill have you guard the border with the Federation.

After an audible silence, someone murmurs.

A-a demotionits essentially a banishment! An invasion by the Federation is impossible. Protection is not needed in the north!

What does this mean!? Wasnt he one who achieved the most distinguished service!? The usurpationahem. I mean, I heard he played a large role in the changing of kings.

I even heard it was his suggestion to begin with. It wouldnt be odd if he received the highest rankno, it would we weird if he wasnt at least promoted to prime minister, so why!?

Everyone mutters in confusion, while those close to me are speechless.

Leopolt is composed as usual, like hes wearing a mask, and simply fixates his eyes at my feet.

May I ask you to tell me the reason?

Sure, why not. I cant trust you so I dont want you by my side. Traitors are repeat offenders. Im not one to talk though.

I spit out cheerfully.

You think that I will betray Your Majesty?

I do. If you dont like me or the way I do things, you will do it again. I should be cutting you downbut youre the reason Im sitting on the throne. If I kill you, my luck will decrease.

A deafening silence dominates the room.

Even the thousand people filling this room dont seem to present and only the words and breathing of Leopolt can be heard.

I am loyal

No need to sing your praises. Gather 200 troops and depart tomorrow morning. Ive seen the northern border once and its a nice place with lush forests. You can enjoy yourself counting treesoh yes. I guess Ill add the supply of firewood to your mission.

Leopolt stares into my eyes for a few seconds, though it feels like time slowed down, then bows and turns on his heel.

He proceeds to exit the hall as he was ordered to.

That is when the silence breaks and the whispering voices resume.

Apparently there is more to the situation than we know.

His Majesty is by nature a military man. He doesnt like strategists.

He looks like a shady and unlikeable guy to me. Both the previous king and His Majesty theyve had it. Hes out of luck.

Now theyre starting to talk as they please.

As I thought, n.o.body that sees Leopolt likes him.

Aegir-samaummuurk

Celia is teary-eyed.

Myla and Irijina are dejected.

But I deliberately ignore it all.

Fumu. Its been a long relations.h.i.+p. I can give him a farewell.

I retrieve a bottle of alcohol from behind the throne and chase after Leopolt.

To repay someone whos been through thick and thin, a single bottleis nothing.

I feel rea.s.sured when I hear Tristan.

This is going well.

I grab Leopolts shoulder, shove the bottle into his chest and mutter emotionlessly.

How is it?

Even excluding the turmoil of regime change, the ratio of forces between the two sides is so great that if we fight 100 battles, we will lose 100 times.

Of course, Im referring to none other than myself and the Olga Federation.

We will prepare our military while waiting for the right opportunity. Whether that be political conflict, local rebellions, or major natural disasters

Will 200 scouts be enough?

Leopolt looks down at the bottle given to himand, while pretending to have a shaky hand, answers.

It is enough to grasp the characteristics of the terrain. In fact, spies are what I need more than scouts.

Thats the reason the intelligence officer system was abolished.

When they are reorganized under the minister of intelligence, it will allow promising individuals to be moved secretly.

No one will realize if the number of intelligence officers going public has lowered slightly.

Then I will deploy only a few scouts and a small punitive force as planned. That will make the banishment seem more realistic.

I glance at a certain man.

The man, who sneers despite being nervous, has a strong bond with the n.o.bles of the Federation.

There are many others who similarly share strong ties to the Federation.

If I publicly say that Im sending Leopolt to the northern border, word will get out immediately.

But with the act, he is merely a former va.s.sal who has been demoted.

Anything you do is fine as long as you dont get discovered, so do your best. Let me know when the opportunity presents itself. You wont betray me as long as Im aiming for the chance, right?

Leopolts thin eyes seem to open one millimeter more than usual.

How far do you envision going?

Ive been having many conversations without subjects lately.

Well, as far as possible, of course. Once I go as far as I can

I hit Leopolt on the head with a bonk.

Next Ill demote you to the south.

Now its time for me to ask one more question.

Although its a ruse, I did say a lot. Did I offend you?

No, not really.

I didnt think so. Hes not that sensitive.

I also dont feel anything when I badmouth you. Its good that you are who you are.

Leopolts eyes seem to widen another one millimeter.