Chapter 1
Chapter 1
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 1
Chapter Title: Emperor Reinhardt
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Emperor Reinhardt
He was referred to by two main epithets.
Frowning Tyrant.
And War Maniac.
Because of the endless wars that suited his name, the people starved.
Politics stained with blood and fear. Poverty and famine ran rampant.
But even a devilish emperor was ultimately human.
News that the emperor had died due to Hero Malfiel's successful rebellion began to spread like wildfire across the entire empire.
People everywhere rejoiced at Emperor Reinhardt's death.
Not a single person mourned his death.
Not one.
'My head hurts.'
Seated on the throne, he clutched his head.
Twisting his body, he struggled to resist the pain.
But this throbbing headache that clenched his teeth wouldn't adapt no matter what.
'This damned worm.'
A sensation like worms crawling inside his head.
I've had headaches ever since I was a child.
But renowned doctors scoured from every corner of the world, and treatments with holy power from saints and the holy emperor—all were futile.
Far from easing, the symptoms only worsened.
Only one exception.
Only the battlefield, which stirred extreme tension, let him forget this agony.
Thanks to that, the empire's territory flourished.
It brought fully half the continent under the empire's dominion.
A feat no other emperor had ever dared to accomplish.
Something that deserved praise and glory.
But I still had headaches.
"Frowning Tyrant Reinhardt. Emperor who deserves to die."
Malfiel.
The son born between human and god. The one who felled the great monster Hydra with his bare hands and captured the underworld's guardian dog Cerberus alive to claim an immortal body.
The great hero who received the title 'Valhalla' from the gods—the first human to do so. A living legend!
The term true inhuman monster was made for him.
He, who had lived a life in stark contrast to mine, had finally arrived before me.
"......Seeing your ugly mug makes my head hurt even more."
I said, clutching my pounding head.
The imperial palace ran red with blood like a river.
Not one soul was spared. All were slaughtered.
By that monstrous Malfiel.
So I had no choice but to ask.
"You could've taken the palace bloodlessly. Why slaughter them all?"
The imperial palace was already in Malfiel's clutches.
The hordes of nobles and soldiers who followed him would've handed over my head without a drop of blood spilled.
Yet Malfiel hadn't left so much as an ant alive. He'd killed every last one.
"Because no pure humans remain in this palace."
"Hah, that hardly sounds like the words of a celebrated great hero."
"It needs cleaning. To purify this rotten empire, this world."
I agreed with that completely.
But I didn't bother asking why he'd killed innocent children too.
I'm mad, but that bastard's no slouch either.
He peddled hypocrisy under the banner of false justice.
A zealot with justice as his obsession. That was Malfiel.
"It'll be recorded as my doing anyway, so your conscience stays clean."
The mad emperor didn't want to die alone, so he killed the kids too!
Obvious tabloid fodder.
I could see it clear as day.
Malfiel shrugged.
"History belongs to the victor."
True enough.
Winner takes all, loser gets nothing.
I'll go down as the worst tyrant, while Malfiel's hailed as the savior who slew him.
'Crazy monster bastard.'
In a way, it was inevitable.
The continent's top Sword Master and an eighth-circle Archmage couldn't stop that one man.
A literal one-man army.
'I should've killed him before he completed the 12 Feats.'
The twelve feats that only the god-acknowledged could perform.
No one in human history had ever succeeded—until Malfiel rubbed it in everyone's faces by doing just that.
Immortal body and all, what chance did I have?
"Kill the devil emperor Reinhardt!"
"Follow great hero Malfiel!"
A beat late, the raging mob stormed the palace, wielding pitchforks and the like.
Eyes brimming with fury alone.
"Sad, isn't it? A death no one mourns."
His mouth curved into a smile, belying his words.
Rumble!
Crackle!
In that instant, lightning vast enough to fill the palace surged toward Malfiel.
[Thunder God Descent]!
The true form of Malfiel—half-man, half-god, conqueror of the twelve feats.
An inescapable death sentence.
Sheer showmanship.
Parading his mythical feats for all to see.
Classic attention whore move.
Suddenly, I wondered.
'Did the worm in my head drive me insane, or is this my true self?'
Without the worm, without the pain—would I still have lost it?
Or was this madness my nature all along?
That very moment.
Rumble!
Malfiel gathered the lightning into arrows and unleashed them at me.
BOOM!
***
[… Charging complete.]
[…… '[Nano Machine Zero]' is starting up.]
[Nano Machine Zero] End