Chapter 96. An Imperial Request

The Emperor smirked once more, and accommodated himself on the chair. He reached for the laptop resting on the desk, fiddled with it for a moment, and then turned it so I could see into it.

On the screen was a drawing of a map. I didn’t recognize any of it at all, since I hadn’t really taken the time to look into maps while I had been trying to understand this world and, most of all, I had been spending a lot of my time training to defeat Reeta.

There were a few red dots on the map, and some lines connecting them, but I didn’t know what they meant. “What am I looking at?”

“This is a world map—of this world, of course,” he said, gesturing with his hand to the screen. “And these are targets that I want to get rid of.”

I frowned and shook my head. “I have no plans on becoming an assassin, much less under you.”

“Oh please. Killing is the sole reason for your existence. From the moment you were chosen to be the Hero of the Holy Gods, that’s the only thing you’ve been doing. Besides…” he said with a smirk. “You already got rid of one of these, so I don’t see a reason for you to stop now.”

I tilted my head and returned a confused frown at the Emperor. There was no memory of me ever killing someone in such a way. “What do you mean?”

“These are bases for those so-called ‘Followers of Leyfall’. A bunch of stupid Earthlings that believe they’re doing what we want them to do, despite the fact that we’ve never given them even the time of day. All they do is do whatever they want while soiling the name of the Empire, and I think you’re already very aware of how they operate,” he said with an annoyed expression on his face.

If that was the case… If what he was showing me on the screen were places where things like what happened with Bo’guth’s daughter happened, then I might be more inclined to follow his request… However, I couldn’t just blindly follow his orders and do the same thing of the past.

“And you’re certain that these are dangerous places? Not just innocent people trying to live their lives?” I asked, crossing my arms under my chest.

He looked at me with raised eyebrows for a second, before chuckling and nodding. “Yes. If these were just common people trying to live, then I wouldn’t care about them. I’m not even looking to attack any demons, skeletons, goblins, or any of those races either—in fact, I’ve been trying to close the gap between the Empire and their people, but as you might’ve guessed, they’re not too keen to come here.”

“Oh!” Nicole suddenly exclaimed, causing us to look at her. She put on an awkward smile and raised her hand. “Sorry… Can I ask a question?”

“You already did… but go ahead,” Lodrick said with one eyebrow raised and gesturing with his hand for her to speak.

“Okay. Is that the reason why there’s cars and some modern technology in the city? Like that laptop or the tall buildings?” she asked, slowly lowering her hand.

The Emperor nodded. “That’s exactly it. It’s my way of showing both my people and the world that the Empire is done with its old ways, and that we have a desire to live in peace with the rest of the world—regardless of what kind of people they are.”

“That is not to say, however”—Asteora suddenly followed up—“that it’s okay for other nations to try to get the better of the people of our world. If they don’t want peace, then we’re more than happy to oblige their desire for war.”

“We’d prefer it not come to that,” the Emperor said with a shake of his head, “I’ve seen the potential for destruction that the people of this world hold—even if they don’t have magic—and I must say that such a clash might just destroy this world without the interference of Gods or God-like Heroes. Better to avoid that at all costs.”

“How could the Empire be afraid of other kingdoms and nations?” I asked with my eyebrows raised slightly.

Every since I was a child, all I ever heard was how the Empire was either winning the fight against the darkness, or conquering smaller nations to join the Holy cause of the Gods, so for the current Emperor—a man so cold—to say that we cannot afford to go to war with another nation was quite surprising.

The Emperor simply chuckled. “We might have a magic supremacy for now, but technology and war experience is something that the rest of this world has over us. So much so, that one might even mistake their creations for magic artifacts themselves. We’re simply too far behind, and having those zealots use our Empire’s name to dirty it and create problems for us is simply not good at all.”

“Then… What do you suggest?” I asked, uncrossing my arms.

“I’ve been the one under the control of the Faith and the Holy Knight Order, but as you might’ve guessed, neither of them is too happy with my leadership. I could force them to kneel under me, which will only cause them to force them out and seek out those fringe groups to get back at me and continue with their same activities,” he said, standing afterwards from his chair to look out the window behind him. “First, as the former Hero of the Holy Gods, you will go and tell the truth of the Holy Gods to them. Your visage should be more than enough to convince people of the words I’ve been trying to get across.”

“And you think they’re just going to believe me when I look like this?” I asked, gesturing to my face, my brown hair, and the black armor. “They’ll either believe that I’m just a look-alike, or brainwashed to be under your control.”

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He half-turned his face to look this way. “That would be true with you alone, but as long as Asteora is with you confirming your identity, they’ll have no choice but to accept it.”

“Wouldn’t they simply say the same about her?” I said, glancing at Asteora.

With a scoff, she dismissed my question while waving her hand. “As big as Lodrick speaks, neither him nor his knights have the power to bring me under him.”

Pausing to consider the request after Asteora’s statement, I couldn’t find a reason to refuse the first part. If it was just telling the people the truth about the Holy Gods, then it shouldn’t be a problem… With a nod I turned to look at the Emperor once more.

“Okay. You said that that was first. Then, what would come next?”

He turned once more and looked over at the computer and the map displayed on it. “I want you to go to those locations, find every Follower of Leyfall base, and get rid of them—completely.”

“Why does it have to be me? Couldn’t you have used the Empire’s forces to do that yourself?”

He shook his head and grunted in annoyance. “All of those places are outside the Empire’s territories, so if I were to launch an invasion—or even an incursion—with my own knights, they would see it as me provoking war. It’s under those pretensions that those Followers of Leyfall have been operating.”

“I thought that they were working for your sake…” Nicole said with a soft voice.

“Hmph. That’s what they tell the world and the media, but we exterminate anyone that comes with those pretensions to our territories, so they know full well that they and their actions are not welcomed here.”

“But!” Nicole exclaimed, raising her hand again, “We were on the streets yesterday… and it looked to me like even the people here want to fight demons…”

With a sigh, the Emperor looked out the window once more. “You are correct. It’s hardly been enough time for the people of this Empire to change their mindset and view of things. The peasants and most of the nobles are still set on the old beliefs.”

“Are you going to get rid of the Faith as well?” I asked, now that he brought up the people.

Lodrick shook his head. “No. People still need a higher power to believe in. What I want to do is change the values of their higher power so they don’t hate the dark beings anymore, and instead strive for a peaceful world—but that’s something that I should worry about. You worry about what you’re tasked to do.”

“Then… am I supposed to do that alone?” I asked, since there were a lot of dots on that map.

Seemingly surprised, the Emperor raised his eyebrows. “You need help? I thought that as the Hero of the Holy Gods you were strong enough to not only kill a God but to destroy a world. Such a little mission shouldn’t be a problem for you.”

With a grumble, I decided that there really wasn’t a reason to refute him… after the past few months, my power had reached a point where I think only the most powerful mages in the world would be able to defeat me.

“Then I guess… defeating them shouldn’t—”

“No,” he interrupted, giving me a serious look, “You are not to defeat them. You are to exterminate them; not leave any of the leadership alive, and not allow any of the smaller grunts to find a reason for vengeance.”

I couldn’t help but raise my eyebrows in surprise. The idea that I had to go on a killing spree when I came to see the Emperor hadn’t crossed my mind, but now that he said it, I was starting to feel like backing away from his request completely.

“Why should I do that? I’m not planning on doing the same thing I did in the name of the Holy Gods, only under your name this time,” I said with a deep frown.

“Because of this world’s damned ‘human rights’,” he said with a near mocking tone, “We’ve already had to deal with ‘officials’ and ‘delegations’ complaining that we can’t execute dangerous criminals for their crimes—even those for whom death would be too much of a kindness are asked to be treated ‘humanely’, so if you allow them to go free, those people are going to find a way to continue with their operations.”

“Then… you’re asking me to break this world’s laws?”

He considered me with an unreadable expression. I wasn’t planning on yielding under his gaze, so I just glared back at him. After a moment, he looked away, widely shrugging as he did. “Fine. Do as you please, but know that if you don’t get rid of them, chances are that the same kind of destruction that you caused is going to be caused by someone else with the same blind beliefs that you used to carry and spread.”

I scoffed at his near tantrum. “And yet, you’re asking me to carry the burden of such a thing—even asking me to blindly follow your orders to kill a lot of people that may or may not be evil.”

“I shall be the one to take responsibility for it,” he replied without hesitation, seriously looking at me. “Besides, you should know that you’re in no position to be asking for anything after all the destruction that you caused in our world. You should at least work on ensuring that peace is withheld in this world.”

“By blindly killing those who oppose you?” I immediately asked back. “There wouldn’t be a difference between then and now if I did.”

After a moment of glaring at each, Lodrick relented once more with a heavy sigh. “Very well. You don’t have to exterminate them all, but make sure that you end their operations. I’ll handle everything after that.”

“If that’s the case…” I trailed off with a hand on my chin.

The request that Asteora had for me—to meet with the Emperor—had been achieved. And the reason for this meeting was so that he could use me—and the authority that I used to carry—to get rid of the old influence that I had on the people. It wasn’t an unreasonable demand, especially if people from both this world and our world were using the words of the Holy Gods that I used to spread as an excuse to go into yet another war.

However… I turned my eyes to the serious looking Lodrick. He was patiently waiting for me to give him an answer, but I just couldn’t really trust him when he had his own family killed, the Pope, and many other people… So for me to just accept his request could be a big mistake.

He chuckled after a moment. “How about you think about it, talk about it, and give it some time?” he said as he moved over to his chair and settled on it. “The sooner that you decide, the better, but there’s no hurry. In the meantime, I encourage you to have a look around, and—oh, I nearly forgot. The nobles are probably wondering about you. They foolishly gathered at the Royal Throne room expecting me to talk to you there, so you should go meet them and let them know who you are and why you’re here… Or not. Up to you.”

“Very well. I shall do that,” I replied with a nod. “If there’s nothing else, then we’ll take our leave.”

With a go-ahead gesture directed at the door, the Emperor wordlessly sent us off. Behind me, Nicole and Asteora stood up, while Helena moved to the door to open it in one quick motion.

Outside stood the same knight that had been here before. He looked just as stoic as one would expect from a knight. It seems like being forced out wasn’t an issue for him. However, once he noticed us leave, he glared and brushed past us to go back into the room. I ignored it and turned to the butler that took us here.

I didn’t want to agree with the Emperor’s request right away, so it might be a good idea to see what his nobles were thinking—despite how annoying that might be.

“Please take us to the throne room,” I said to the butler, who only gave a glance at the inside of the Emperor’s office.

Lodrick nodded with a soft smile on his face, and the butler turned to look at us with the same serious expression that he always had. “Right this way.”