Chapter 210
[12th Round] Why Are You Here?
I helped the heroes. Even if the state coffers were temporarily empty, I could sponsor them. If any of the Five Great Disasters were killed with that money, I would be better off.
But I couldn’t forgive anyone who was aiming for me.
► Advice: Cadet Kang Han Soo, he did do the wrong thing, but if you torture and execute him, it’ll deal a huge blow to your Reputation and Personality. You shouldn’t get your hands dirty just for this.
Miss Trainee’s words made sense.
Looking at Lemon, who was trying to resist the knights, I spoke.
“Stop. I will give Lemon, the traitor, a chance to justify himself. Serve the empire for the next two years. After that, I will no longer hold you responsible for your sins. Even if you desire to leave at that time, I will allow it. However, if you try to escape before that, then I will make you regret that you were born into this world.”
“C-cruel… But I understand!”
It was impossible to escape from me. With the help of the teacher’s authority, I could check the location of any hero at any time. That was, of course, unless he hid in some dark cave.
I also read Lemon’s thoughts as a precaution.
“I spent 90 years on the entrance exam, and as soon as I got into the secondary education course, this happens? d.a.m.n it! Whose fault is this? I went to the Northern Continent to get the Sword Princess, but I lost to some strange kid and ended up in F cla.s.s…”
He didn’t seem to be thinking about escaping, but he thought about something that I couldn’t ignore.
Sword Princess and a strange kid…
I wanted to hear more about them, but I couldn’t be caught reading minds like teachers, so I endured.
As a result, all problems with the heroes were resolved. However, if that were the only reason for this meeting, I wouldn’t have gathered so many important figures.
It was important, of course, to make them bow down since that befitted an emperor, but they weren’t here to shout “Glory!” and disperse. If I just wanted to fill the throne room, I wouldn’t have gathered aristocrats.
Slowly rising from my throne, I spoke.
“Let’s start building trade routes. All cities in the empire will be linked to the capital, Mollanpolis. Do not worry about construction costs. All you have to think about is keeping the roads, which will soon be completed, in good condition.”
“Your Majesty, excuse me for my impudence, but did you just say the roads will soon be built? Did I hear that correctly? My ears must already be letting me down because of old age…” Asked the old duke cautiously, the father of the former queen.
I replied confidently.
“Watch carefully what your emperor is capable of.”
***
The universe loved me, so my presence had an impact on the environment and weather of the Holy Mollan Empire.
There were never such situations where cities or villages were closed due to curses or deadly diseases. There were also no floods or droughts throughout the year, allowing all of my territories to gain a good harvest.
But in neighboring states, everything was different.
In the Holy Empire, which occupied 30% of the Central Continent, there was no harvest due to a terrible drought, and in the Trade Republic, all ports were closed due to tsunamis and floods.
Small princ.i.p.alities also had a hard time.
Such was the law of nature.
If it rained a lot in one place, there wouldn’t be enough in other places. There had to be a balance.
This year wouldn’t be any different.
“Food is a weapon.”
But I didn’t use it as a weapon. There was a good harvest last year, but not enough to send it for export. And given the spike in elf births, we needed to stock up on supplies.
But this was just a standard business theory.
I, the MAX-Cla.s.s Hero, was more than that.
Because of the powerful love of the universe, I sometimes forget that as the master of Saintess H, I shared the Infinity skill with her.
I could endlessly use fantasy resource skills.
If I wanted to, I could create a “Divine Order of Knights MAX” that would be much more powerful than the angels, or I could gather an “Army of Dark Energy Followers MAX” that would grind the Demon Lord to dust.
Regardless of choice, I could easily go to war.
And is it only this?
I didn’t know how strong the Five Great Disasters were, but if one hundred thousand Holy Knights with Divinity MAX joined me, they could be easily dealt with.
But I didn’t do that.
The empire wasn’t perfect yet.
Any power that its owner couldn’t control would turn into a terrible poison.
Even if Max-ranked lunatics and paladins betrayed me, receiving the love of the universe, I was confident that I could destroy them even if they numbered in the hundred thousand or millions.
But what would happen to my son?
I didn’t want an empire that would fall immediately the moment I stepped aside, even if it was a country that would disappear after the end of the test, like a mirage.
“Oo-ooh…”
“Woo-oo-oo…”
“Oo-ooooh…”
With the help of Magic Power and the skill “Control the dead,” which I learned on the Western Continent, I revived the ghosts of those eaten by monsters, killed by robbers, committed suicide due to rape, killed in combat, executed criminals who fell from a ledge, knocked down by a carriage.
I gave the souls of those who couldn’t ascend to heaven a new body and brought them to the capital.
One thousand, ten thousand, one hundred thousand, one million, five million…
The inhabitants and the heroes trembled.
I told them not to kill them, however, but only to observe.
“Oh my G.o.d! How many are there?’
“Even the Phantom King Shakespeare couldn’t have summoned so many undead…”
The heroes who lost Alex and Lanuvel and were now resting at the expense of my compensation suspected me. However, thanks to the effect of the Gifted ZZZ, I was granted the ability to pretend to be ordinary, preventing them from finding anything.
But the subjects who didn’t see my status were confident that “the emperor had incredible skills,” which made things more complicated.
The locals didn’t welcome the power of controlling the dead.
Living next to walking corpses of family and ancestors on the Western Continent was common, but not on the Central Continent.
If word spread that the Hero was desecrating corpses, it would cause enormous damage to my Reputation.
Therefore, I said only one thing:
“Glory to Master Mollan!”
“Glory!”
“Glory!”
“Glory!”
I returned all credit to the greatest teacher to ever exist.
Finally, the effect began to appear because I praised Master Mollan for a year. The subjects stopped suspecting me and began to tremble before the enormous might of my master.
About 20 million undead began to build the roads.
They were completely naked, like newborns. They dug the ground using only their bare hands and sharp stones.
No pay, no days off, no social security.
They were unarmed, which caused their combat power to suffer, so they were sometimes attacked by monsters, but their inexhaustible endurance and numbers couldn’t be defeated. To eliminate the Monster Bosses, I sent Golem Guardian D and Hero Lemon.
Forests were cleared, hills leveled.
Mountains with lakes were no exception.
Due to non-compliance with safety rules, many of the dead were carried away by the river, and then they disappeared in the depths of the lakes, but these losses were quickly replenished.
Even the mermaids living in the lake weren’t an obstacle.
“Greatest Emperor of the Holy Mollan Empire, my name is Aqua, and I am the mermaid princess representing the Lake of Sorrowful Songs.”
Lake of Sorrowful Songs.
It was a huge lake located on the border between Dumplings and the Holy Kingdom. It was so gigantic that it could be called a small sea, and most of Fantasy’s freshwater mermaids lived there.
One could even say that it was the Kingdom of Freshwater Mermaids.
Geographically, it was part of the Holy Mollan Empire, but these stupid fish were only interested in finding a strong male, so they were not loyal to me. Still, they didn’t resist and simply remained neutral.
Mermaid Aqua, living in this lake, was the Hero’s companion.
When the dead appeared in their territory, a conflict arose among the local mermaids, and in order to solve this problem, their princess, Aqua, was sent by their queen to meet with me.
▷ Race: Mermaid
▷ Level: 999+
▷ Job: Hero (Experience 200%)
▷ Skills: Spear Mastery S, Heat Resistance S, Pursuit S, Singing A, Fort.i.tude A…
▷ Status: Excited, Shivering, s.e.x Drive, Patient
Her skill ranks were higher than in elementary education, but her status was worse than ever.
“Stink- beautiful mermaid, what brings you here?”
“Well…”
“Look at me when you speak.”
“I-I apologize.”
Aqua had her own inn near the lake, so she knew a lot about human society. She was one of those rare mermaids who followed etiquette, and even now, she tried to observe the rules of decency.
But who knew that her gaze would fall on ‘that’ part of my body.
The spirits that lived between the legs expressed their displeasure, but the princess wasn’t aware of it.
“Princess Aqua, I have a lot to say, but first, I want to know if you have the right to represent all mermaids before the ruler of the Holy Mollan Empire. I do not want to ignore the opinion of the… beautiful mermaids living in the Lake of Sorrowful Songs. Do you, as a princess, have the right to take responsibility for your people?”
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“I do. I have complete power.”
I expected such an answer.
The Mermaid Queen was just a stupid fish, not versed in human politics. Fortunately, instead of power, they only had s.e.xual intents in their heads, so there was no possibility of a coup d’état on their part.
But Princess Aqua was different.
She was still a mermaid, however, and still had her limits.
“Then that’s enough. Princess Aqua, if you sign this agreement, then I will raise you in an aquarium in my office. What will be your decision?”
“Your Majesty! I am not a decorative fish…’
“What will be your decision?”
“Please give me time to think.”
I turned the Lake of Sorrowful Songs into a tourist attraction.
Changing the old dreary name to Mollan Lake, I made the place a center of entertainment with lovely mermaids as service staff.
Gambling houses, aquariums, restaurants, hotels, concert halls…
A local commute service was introduced from the very first day, which utilized boats pulled by mermaids.
According to the agreement, the freshwater mermaids living in Mollan Lake had become my pets.
They were now the private property of the Holy Mollan Empire’s Emperor, so if anyone hunted or injured them, they would immediately be declared a traitor and sentenced to death! I cared about the welfare of my subjects, after all.
Of course, all the income earned by the mermaids went into my pocket.
Nine months pa.s.sed that way.
► Surprise: The endless capacity for work of the dead is impressive. It feels as if I just witnessed the industrial revolution.
‘And no emissions, Trainee Teacher.’
On Earth, the emissions led to global warming, causing glaciers to melt and the level of the world’s oceans to rise.
But I didn’t blame Earth. There was no magic there.
Instead, I laughed at the savages of the Fantasy World. They had such an amazing energy resource, but they didn’t use it for anything but the silliest reasons, making their lives harder than they needed to be.
That aside, the trade routes were completed.
All towns and villages were now linked to the capital, Mollanpolis.
Channels and reservoirs were dug to avoid flooding.
Farmlands were expanded, and new villages were built.
But there were no farmers to cultivate those lands.
I solved that with the help of the dead for now, but I needed to increase our population faster.
After all, in the empire, which my son would rule, there would be no undead. He could mobilize people, but with such a huge territory, it would be difficult.
There was nothing to be done about it. He didn’t have the “Infinity” skill after all.
“Your Majesty, amba.s.sadors have arrived from the Trade Republic.”
Their ports were damaged, due to which communication with the Eastern Continent was interrupted. As a result, the Trade Republic was unable to solve the food problem on its own.
They somehow survived by smuggling food from the Holy Mollan Empire, since in the name of Master Mollan, export was strictly prohibited.
To solve this problem, the traders came in person.
But they still lasted a long time. Or was it because the Holy Empire had a bad harvest this year?
“Tell them to wait. I’m feeding the fish.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Princess Aqua, who almost bit off my finger, ducked back into the huge aquarium.
Splash-Splash!
Even if she was called a traitor to the race, she still lived with a happy expression on her face.
I heard that she would go to the pond of the imperial garden when she was bored and would have fun there with Mermaid A.
“Drug Hero, it seems that you were given the wrong job.” The First Spirit said, sitting on my head and watching the growth of the Holy Mollan Empire.
“I think so too. If the Hero job hadn’t constrained me, I would have been able to run the country more effectively.’
If I were not a hero, I could’ve easily united the world with the help of war and not this slow method.
Still, it was worth fearing Master Mollan!
“The inhabitants of Fantasy should be grateful for the foresight of the First Angel, who made a hero out of you.”
‘What does that mean?”
“To keep my life intact, I will use the right to remain silent.”
Not just one or two amba.s.sadors had arrived from the Trade Republic.
For the sake of negotiations, a variety of heads of trading companies and successors personally arrived.
As expected, they demanded food. And in return, they promised various concessions.
“I see no real benefit for me here.”
Some old mines, a port abandoned by pirates, an offer to marry someone’s daughter, etc.
It didn’t sound that bad, but all this wouldn’t benefit the empire.
“Your Majesty, what are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you come here without finding out a little about me?”
These arrogant hucksters wouldn’t be able to easily cheat a hero who had prophetic dreams. I knew the situation in the Trade Republic like the back of my hand, just like who they were. The successor of Trader D, adopted daughter of Trader U, son of Trader P, younger brother of Trader G, daughter of Trader K, adopted son of Trader T, daughter of Demon Lord, daughter of Trader J, wife of Trader S… Huh?
What did I just say?
I looked over the faces of the traders again. As expected, I found a surprise.
She disguised herself, but my eyes couldn’t be fooled.
How could I forget her vile chest that even the Holy Sword bounced off of? How naive. Since she was disguising herself, she had to change her body to a normal one.
“What are you doing here?”
The MAX-Cla.s.s Hero had discovered the violent Demon Lord’s daughter!