A Madman
She isn't part of the Emperor's faction?
"Though I do think he's much better than those dimwitted nobles. Teehee."
Then it's basically the same thing.
I stared at her, my gaze filled with annoyance at her dizzying way of speaking.
Luniere countered my glare with a playful wink.
...Well, she was pretty.
I decided to forgive her.
"So, what is the reason?"
"Hmm?"
"The reason the nobles are clashing with the Emperor."
I had a feeling she'd been subtly leaving out the causes and only telling me the results.
Even for someone like me, who was used to Korean history where subjects and kings openly clashed, today's meeting felt a bit excessive.
Since she said she wasn't part of the Emperor's faction, surely she could tell me?
At my blunt question, Luniere's eyes widened slightly before curving into a gentle smile.
"Oh, I can tell you."
"Oh...!"
"But not for free."
"Excuse me...?"
The only thing I have to offer... is my body?
I pondered for a moment before replying.
"If you don't mind this worn-out, aging body, you can have it."
"Pfft... What on earth are you talking about...!"
Luniere gasped in shock, then burst into roaring laughter.
I felt a small sense of pride.
After laughing for a good while, Luniere finally managed to stop and apologized.
"Sorry... I'm really sorry. I'm not usually someone who laughs this easily."
"You say that, but you laugh every time I see you."
"That's because you're hilarious. Phew..."
Finally brushing away the remnants of her laughter, Luniere asked,
"First, do you know what situation you're in?"
"That I'm a die-hard royalist?"
"Not quite that extreme, but you are indeed in the Emperor's camp. You said so yourself, and the Emperor saved you. It's not actually a big deal. You were a royalist even before you lost your memory, so it's actually quite natural."
"Well, that's a relief."
"Though, of course, you weren't usually this dramatic."
"Well, that's not a relief."
Luniere continued, holding back another chuckle.
"You're practically the Emperor's right-hand man now. The nobles will see you that way, and the Emperor has decided to treat you as such. He was highly satisfied with your performance today. He was probably agonizing over how to win you back, so he must have been thrilled when you walked right into his arms."
"Tsk..."
Hearing Luniere's words made my stomach churn.
I realized all over again just how massive my mistake had been.
If I had just stayed quiet, I could have lived a peaceful life, going with the flow. But that damn Qi Sensing...
But I couldn't help it.
He said he was going to send me to the east.
Right in front of those monsters.
I had no choice but to tremble.
"There will be a separate reward for you, too. Though I don't know what it will be."
"Well, that's a relief."
"Are you doing this on purpose?"
"Yes."
Luniere patted my shoulder once more, sending a jolt through my heart, before finally getting to the point.
"The reason the nobles and the Emperor clash... Yes, there is a very clear reason."
"And that reason is...!"
Prompted by Balthazar's eagerness, Luniere smiled and spoke.
"It's because the Emperor lacks humanity."
"Humanity...?"
What, like a perfect human lacks charm or something?
"For example... take today. If not for your actions, most of the eastern settlers would have died. No support would have been sent."
"Ah..."
So he was a cold-hearted man.
"The Emperor is a very cold person. He is always driven by logic and rationality."
I wondered if that was actually a bad thing, but then I remembered what she had just said.
That countless settlers would have died.
"In the words of the nobles, unlike the benevolent First Emperor, he lacks a human heart."
Honestly, I wondered if they really hated him this much just for that.
"Using that logic and rationality, he completely wiped out the eastern nomads with whom we had maintained a decent relationship. And as a countermeasure for the southern erosion zone, he ordered indiscriminate conscription and troop deployment."
"What?"
"He cut off the large-scale relief efforts in the north, and in the west, he drastically raised taxes. I believe it was only three months after his coronation..."
The Emperor is a total lunatic.
Just as Balthazar thought, the Emperor was indeed a madman.
Drastically raising taxes on the west's core interests, ordering the unconditional slaughter of the eastern nomads who had been friendly, declaring unlimited conscription across the entire south, and heavily slashing the relief aid that had been distributed throughout the south.
Any single one of these was a major issue that would normally take months of debate, yet he had pushed them all through solely on his own authority.
Since he did all of this shortly after ascending the throne, the nobles had essentially been blindsided.
There was a very good reason why the nobles were collectively calling for the Emperor's downfall.
Luniere smiled at Balthazar's silent shock.
"The nobles felt what you're feeling right now, but several times stronger. Since then, the balance between the royalists and the noble faction has completely collapsed, leading to where we are today."
"...If it was based on logic and rationality, he must have had his reasons, right?"
"Oh my. Surprisingly, you might actually get along well with the Emperor."
Was that... a compliment?
Balthazar tilted his head slightly out of habit.
Luniere pointedly ignored it and continued.
"He did have his reasons. The appeasement policy toward the eastern nomads was only allowing their power to grow, and the southern erosion zone had to be stopped at all costs. There were valid reasons for the north and west as well. But from the nobles' perspective... the outcome was simply too harsh. After all, they are the ones who have to carry out the orders."
"Hmm..."
As she said, the perspective of the one giving the orders and the one executing them couldn't always be the same.
The Emperor only had to issue a single decree, but the lords below had to personally push their own people into hell.
Above all, this country possessed a system closer to feudalism than an absolute monarchy.
On paper, the Emperor held absolute authority, but in reality, it functioned like a feudal system with decentralized power, where everyone managed their own affairs.
Just looking at the Grand Council, it was clear that the lords ruled their own territories and merely reported back.
The central authority itself was strong, but the way it operated was feudal.
The Emperor was there to grant permission, not to exert absolute control.
It had been that way ever since the First Emperor.
The great and benevolent First Emperor had never wished to oppress or control anyone.
He had merely said, 'I shall become a fence to shelter you,' because everyone sought him out.
Thus, the Empire was born.
An empire consisting of a single mediator and five kings.
This nation was a feudal coalition masquerading as an absolute monarchy.
Balthazar's soft brain couldn't quite grasp this concept yet.
In his common sense, an emperor was naturally an absolute ruler.
But since even the First Emperor had never acted like an absolute monarch, the nation still maintained its feudal foundations.
Although the previous emperors had gradually expanded their royal authority, they were still far from being absolute.
That didn't mean the Emperor and the nobles were equals, but their relationship was far from a strict vertical hierarchy.
Still, thinking of it as an absolute monarchy for now didn't cause any immediate issues.
"There certainly is a clear reason."
"Right?"
Even from Balthazar's perspective, which was tailored to absolute monarchies, this was a reckless move.
If the Emperor pushed things this blindly, the nobles were bound to push back.
If they stayed quiet now, they would have to stay quiet when similar demands were made in the future.
Besides, they said this country had a territory vast enough to be called a great empire.
There was no way the Emperor could rule all of this alone.
The nobles' power was bound to be immense, yet he had ignored them and forged ahead anyway. A backlash was inevitable.
I understood up to this point.
What I was curious about was something else.
"Are there even any royalist nobles left?"
If he beat down the east, west, south, and north equally, who could possibly be left?
It was practically like fighting the entire country.
Even the existing royalists would have defected out of sheer terror at his sword dance.
Or did he discriminate when he struck?
Well, he is the Emperor, so surely he had some kind of plan...
"None."
"...Really?"
"Yep. Those left... can be counted on one hand."
"Were there not many royalist nobles to begin with?"
"There were plenty. In the south and the east."
"Ah."
So he beat them all up without discrimination.
Well, at least he was fair...
"Still, the majority of the central and capital nobles are still royalists. For them, the Emperor's authority is their own authority. They couldn't leave even if they wanted to."
"Ah..."
That was not welcome news at all.
It meant even the capital nobles were thinking, 'Yeah, that's a bit much.'
"As a result, he has lost control over the regions outside the capital. Even if reports come up, how can he trust them?"
"Judging by today, he definitely shouldn't."
"Exactly."
In the first place, most of the bureaucrats were nobles.
I had heard that most nobles who couldn't become heads of their families chose to become local administrators.
This meant that both the ones writing the reports and the ones delivering them were in the hands of the nobility.
"The people he can trust and delegate to are far too few, yet there is so much to do. On top of that, he has to determine whether the reports are true or false. It's a total mess."
"Is it even possible to verify them?"
"For the most part, no. The Emperor only handles a few major issues directly."
"Because of a lack of manpower?"
"Because there is no one to trust."
"..."
What a complete shitshow.
Is this even a country?
Why do they even call this an empire in the first place?
Isn't it just a coalition of kingdoms?
Having finally grasped the truth, Balthazar's face grew increasingly grim.
It was only natural, considering the rope he had grabbed onto was completely rotten.
Just as Luniere, seeing his expression, was about to deliver what little good news remained, Balthazar spoke.
"So, Luniere. What is it that you want from me?"
The blue eyes meeting hers were pure, yet deep.
"...Oh my."
Luniere smiled softly and spoke.
"Aren't you forward..."