Chapter 140
Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 140
Chapter Title: Liberation Army
“...Second Prince?”
“Oof— pfft—”
The face of Second Prince Akail popped out from inside the mask.
Akail thrashed about with a pained expression and shouted.
“You bastard... Stop this!”
Akail swung his sword from within his robes.
He was trying to destroy the nets from the fish farm.
The nets would snap soon.
I had to prepare the next attack, but seeing the prince emerge from the mask made me pause my calculations for a moment.
I couldn’t fathom why the prince was attacking the imperial castle.
“What are you doing there?”
Why was Akail even here?
From the circumstances, it was clear he was involved in this beast invasion.
Boom— boom—
Then the walls suddenly started rumbling.
Someone on the other side was trying to break through the sedimentary rock I’d used earlier to block Akail.
Clank— clank—
A hole burst open, and over a dozen masked figures poured out.
They were armed with artifacts, swords, and the like.
I had no idea why Akail had joined the rebels, but there was no time to think about it now.
It seemed impossible to take them all on.
Blowing open a hole with an explosion and escaping seemed like the best option.
Just as I moved to cast the spell with that in mind,
I halted the calculations right before the magic manifested.
“Everyone, make way. Just a moment.”
A woman stepped forward, blocking the rebels.
She pushed through their ranks and removed her mask.
“Ian.”
“Yuna senior... Your Highness?”
It was Yuna.
Not just Akail, but Yuna too.
I didn’t know what was going on, but one thing was clear.
I had definitely warned Yuna about the beasts invading.
Since she was the culprit, she must have released them immediately upon hearing it, before anyone else could act.
I’d effectively reported it to the criminal herself.
But why Yuna?
“...What is this?”
“Come with us for now, Ian. I’ll explain once we’re safe. It’s dangerous here.”
Voices of imperial soldiers echoed from above the sinkhole.
They seemed to be coming down.
“Nothing dangerous will happen to Ian. I guarantee it.”
“...Understood.”
I released the spell on Akail.
Akail, who had been submerged up to his eyes, coughed and spluttered as he dropped to the ground.
I also cleared away the sedimentary rock wall.
“They’re coming!”
Yuna put her mask back on and led the group.
Akail was injured and soaked through, but he ran on, breathing heavily, as if it didn’t matter.
Ting—
Something metallic fell from the fleeing Akail.
He didn’t notice, either because water was in his ears or from the rush.
I picked up what Akail had dropped and followed them.
‘Who is she?’
It was a locket, the kind used to hold a precious person’s photo.
The photo inside showed a blonde woman who strangely resembled Yuna.
But she looked older than Yuna, more mature, and far more resolute.
“Seal the passage.”
After moving some distance, Yuna ordered the masked figures.
They collapsed the ceiling to block the path.
The ceiling crumbled, and the ground shook.
On the verge of being buried in the collapse, the masked figures started running again.
“Damn... Wait! I dropped my locket!”
Akail shouted then.
The masked figures screeched to a halt.
Their faces were hidden, but I could feel their shock.
“If they find that over there...”
“Let’s break through again. We can’t leave traces.”
“Because of that bastard, I got soaked... Ugh...”
The masked Akail glared at me.
The masked figures were already trying to reopen the collapsed passage.
Indeed, fugitives couldn’t afford to leave traces.
“I picked it up. So hold back on the insults. You’re the suspicious ones anyway.”
“Ha...!”
“Good thing. Let’s get moving.”
“Ugh... Hand it over.”
Akail snatched the locket from my hand with a snap.
Then he, the masked figures, and I resumed running.
“Is that Yuna senior’s picture?”
“No reason to tell you.”
“Then I’ll report it to the crown prince.”
“...Annoying prick. It’s not Yuna. It’s my sister. First Princess of the Roylord Empire, Julia Sunrise.”
Julia Sunrise.
I’d never heard the name before.
Of course, it was natural for there to be first, second, and third princesses above Yuna.
Compared to the fame of Crown Prince Arthur and wastrel Prince Akail, I’d barely heard rumors about the princesses.
In any case, Akail was a siscon.
Not content with his little sister—he was into his big sister too.
Thud— thud—
After that, we sealed off passages several more times as we raced through the tunnels.
The paths were incredibly winding.
It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say they’d tunneled through the entire capital’s underground.
After repeating the process a few more times, we arrived in a massive underground space.
Once everyone was inside, Yuna fiddled with mechanisms at the entrance.
Moments later, a heavy boom echoed as the space sealed shut.
It seemed like a space prepared over a long time to avoid detection by the imperial family.
“Whew... We seem to have shaken them off safely.”
The masked figures sighed in relief, one by one removing their masks as they entered the underground space.
“Come on, Ian. I’ll explain.”
I followed Yuna into the underground space.
It was a space that could rightly be called an underground ‘base’.
Pillars stood everywhere to withstand the deep underground pressure.
It was divided into various areas like a single building.
The walls and floors were made of materials infused with magitech,
and artifacts of unknown purpose were installed securely throughout.
Yuna and Akail led me to one of the rooms.
“What the hell is this place, Your Highness?”
“Call me Yuna senior, Ian. That’s what we agreed.”
“Is that really important right now?”
“It is. I’m not a princess anymore.”
Yuna hung the mask she held on a wall hook.
Then she dried Akail, who was still damp, with magic.
“Ian. First off, I have a favor to ask. Please don’t tell anyone about what happened today. Anywhere.”
“That depends on what’s going on.”
“...Fine. I’ll explain.”
It was a statement no one would have expected from a princess’s mouth.
“We are the Roylord Empire Liberation Army.”
I stood there blankly for a moment.
A princess in the liberation army.
The combination itself was a contradiction too hard for my brain to process.
But Yuna’s expression was utterly serious.
For now, I decided to hear her out to the end.
“My brother Akail and I are leading the liberation army to free the Roylord Empire. Hard to believe, but the empire is rotten right now.”
“I don’t get it. Isn’t the empire enjoying unprecedented prosperity?”
“Yes. To be precise, we’re ‘consuming’ the prosperity His Majesty’s generation built.”
“Consuming it?”
Akail clicked his tongue as he looked at me blankly repeating the question.
Leaning against the wall, Akail took over the explanation.
“The empire’s current prosperity comes entirely from His Majesty’s expansion wars.”
“Didn’t the crown prince swiftly restore the war-torn lands and restore peace to the imperial citizens?”
“Right. Big brother did handle the aftermath well. He stabilized the empire by distributing the wealth from the wars. That part was fine.”
It was a truly bizarre story.
Up to here, their actions made no sense.
“The empire fattened itself on resources from His Majesty’s wars. The problem is Big Brother didn’t stop there. He keeps stuffing food into an already full belly.”
Imperial citizens were said to enjoy welfare beyond historical precedent.
“So even commoners are prosperous.”
“Prosperous without lifting a finger. They don’t farm, but the imperial family provides subsidies and rations. That alone has made citizens richer than during the wars.”
“Not just commoners—nobles too, to varying degrees. High nobles’ wealth and power weakened. The imperial family raised taxes and reduced high nobles’ authority. Meanwhile, low nobles gained more.”
“High nobles must have rebelled fiercely.”
“At first. But Arthur brother pushed through, and high nobles lost authority to resist. The imperial family’s power was immense post-war.”
“Noble houses lost many troops in the wars. The imperial family too. With a need for new knights, they announced they’d accept nearly all into the imperial knights. And imperial knights hold the highest honor.”
“Aspiring knights all flocked to the palace. Nobles couldn’t rebuild their forces.”
“As a result, nobles ended up on equal footing. Local nobles once sought merits to come to the capital; low nobles strove for higher titles or merits. No need anymore.”
So that’s why parties overflowed in the empire every day.
Nobles became equal before the imperial family, eliminating reasons to earn merits.
Plus, the imperial family blocked paths to higher titles and positions in exchange for equality.
No need to serve as vassals anymore, so nobles just eat and play. Yuna added.
“You’d think a high noble would rebel against the imperial family at least once.”
“All crushed as rebellions. Think about it. In this peaceful era the imperial family created, complaining about lost power? Others would stone those greedy bastards.”
That’s how the current imperial family formed.
The empire’s original power structure was a pyramid.
The imperial family turned it into a rectangle.
Essentially equal layers below the imperial family.
“That’s why we royals had to act. Even ducal nobles can’t exert power anymore.”
“But for what? This situation isn’t bad.”
Still, I couldn’t understand.
What was wrong with this equality?
“Fine for now. The problem is the future. Commoners stopped working. Taxes come in to redistribute for welfare, but no work means no taxes.”
At first glance, it sounded like evil lord talk.
“The imperial family acts like it’s giving all collected taxes to citizens, but behind the scenes, they’re filling the imperial treasury.”
“Corruption...”
“Still fine now. Taxes are plentiful. But as taxes dwindle and the imperial vaults fatten, what happens?”
“...The imperial family gains absolute power.”
“Imperial citizens’ labor is already declining. More taxes even if they work. They’ll realize too late.”
The imperial family currently lavishes welfare and food on citizens.
With full bellies, citizens absolutely support the imperial family for now.
If taxes take most earnings, they’ll just stop working.
But if the imperial family later cuts welfare and rations?
Citizens will grow discontent.
Yet they can’t resist. The imperial family already holds immense power.
They’ll have to work, only to lose it all to taxes.
A more horrific control than pre-welfare begins.
Once hooked on generous rations, they can’t survive without; earnings all taxed.
Rebelling nobles will already be powerless.
If this future arrives unchanged,
the imperial family can perfectly dictate this vast empire.
“In the past, frontier counts and local nobles held power, so the imperial family had to watch them.”
“Obviously...”
“Not anymore. Arthur brother will swallow all empire lands. We must stop him.”
I roughly understood the liberation army’s goal.
But Yuna’s claims felt like distant future worries.
Above all, would the real crown prince do that?
“But that assumes the crown prince is a villain. He might truly love his citizens.”
Pfft... Big Brother’s not a villain? Ridiculous...”
Akail sneered.
“You know His Majesty took ill. Suddenly, inexplicably. It was Big Brother Arthur’s doing.”
“...Really?”
“If not for that, we might not have formed the liberation army. Not solely because of it, though.”
“You think it’s normal for a battlefield commander to suddenly become a dementia-ridden old man overnight? Not just Father—many opposed Big Brother and vanished without a trace.”
Numerous doctors and healers failed; the emperor hasn’t recovered.
Purged ones buried under the crown prince’s high approval.
Akail’s fists trembled as he spoke.
At least it didn’t seem like a lie.
The emperor’s illness did have inexplicable parts.
“That’s why I entered Merhen Academy. To gather mages not tied to the imperial family, to fight them.”
“Is that why you’re playing wastrel, Your Highness?”
“Wastrel life brings in money easily. Also to survive.”
Akail said with a bitter expression.
“So, Ian. I’ve been thinking about this. Will you join us?”
“...Me?”
“As I said, we need mages to fight with us. Mages are powerful forces.”
The liberation army would need forces independent of the imperial family.
There were imperial mages and guild mages close to the throne,
but mage society had plenty operating regardless of the empire.
Mage society fundamentally shares power with the empire.
“I believe you’ll one day reach 8th circle—no, surpass it to archmage duke level. If things continue, soon the empire’s vast citizens will suffer imperial plundering. Like frogs in boiling water, unaware as it heats, dying in delusion of peace. Can you lend your strength for them?”
It was complicated, but essentially Yuna wanted me to join the fight against the crown prince.
To dethrone him and normalize the empire.
“...”
I opened and closed my mouth, unable to respond.
I did aim to become an archmage duke someday.
But should I join this?
If I refused and truly masses suffered...
I opened the gallery and discussed this with the galrums.
After some deliberation, I made my decision.
“Sorry.”
I refused.