Chapter 178: The Symbol of Dictatorship (7)
Chapter 178: The Symbol of Dictatorship (7)
In what manner do rebellions typically arise in the medieval era?
Most people live their lives without ever revolting, but a look at human history reveals that rebellions have occurred quite frequently.
Rebellions are rare during eras of peace and prosperity.
If people can make a living—if their bellies are full and their backs are warm—they don't think about starting a revolution.
Correction.
They don't think about joining one.
There have always been those who wish to rebel; the important question is whether others will sympathize with them.
A truly terrifying rebellion is one where every single member of the insurgent force actively participates.
—We can't live like this anymore!
Whether it's a king or anyone else, if life is utterly destitute while the powerful live lives of debauchery on their accumulated wealth, resentment festers.
If you can't even feed your child a single grain of rice and are forced to cut off your own flesh to feed them, while those wealthy bastards over there slaughter suckling pigs only to spit them out and laugh heartily?
"Anyone would become a rebel then."
Those who rebel against power are usually other entities hoping to become the ones in power, but if many join that rebellion, it's highly likely the fault lies with the ruler.
—The reason it's so hard for us to make a living is that the Lord collects 80% in taxes!
Unless it's a place like Fermaton, where people's minds are corrupted by the Curse of the Infinite Labyrinth.
—We can't live like this any longer! Noble or not, let us all rise up and kill that aristocrat! Rise up with scythes and hammers, peasants!
—Tenant farmers of all nations, unite!!
Most people rebel when it truly becomes difficult to survive.
Making a living is a matter directly linked to human survival.
If you pay an enormous amount in taxes but feel no benefits—if, instead, the state constantly tries to seize and embezzle your property—anyone would take up a scythe or a hammer and plunge it into the Lord's chest.
'That's a standard rebellion.'
Such is the revolution led by ordinary peasants.
However, the revolution I intend to start is headed in a slightly different direction.
It's the same in that it stimulates primal human desires, but that desire isn't for survival—it's 'sexual desire.'
"Laura."
"Yes, Young Lord Ruji."
"If one day I suddenly put a chastity belt on you and forbade you from having sex, how do you think you'd feel?"
"Hmm..."
Laura frowned, her expression becoming incredibly serious.
"I wonder..."
"What do you think you would have felt before you became my Knight Captain? Back when you were an adventurer."
"Back then, I probably wouldn't have cared much. In fact, I might have thought I was wearing equipment that would prevent me from being raped by Goblins or Orcs."
"And now?"
"...I'm not that kind of pervert, but I think I'd die pretty quickly without sex with you, Young Lord."
Laura rubbed her face against my chest.
"It might be different if I'd never known it, but now that I do, I can't stop. You know what they say—there might be people who have never done it, but there's no one who has done it only once in their life."
"True."
Whether it's masturbation or sex, sexual desire is a primal human urge.
Even in the midst of war, love blossoms and children are made. In certain myths from Central Europe, entire sagas begin and end with sex.
"The people of Fermaton have already begun to be submerged in the sexual culture you've created, Young Lord."
Like paper soaking up water, the modern cheats I brought—all sorts of sex industries—have begun to spread, centered around Fermaton.
"Just as I've come to enjoy outdoor blowjobs while having sex with you, everyone else is paying close attention to your moves while pretending they aren't. They curse you, calling it madness, but they're secretly anticipating how the next thing you present will benefit them."
"I suppose so. Even right now, everyone is going wild just for a chance to have their first experience with a Succubus."
Through modern knowledge and my cheats as a reincarnated soul, I am certainly increasing our wealth.
Even if I created Penisilin instead of penicillin.
Even if I created Breast-Shaped Magic Stones instead of glass crafts.
It is an undeniable fact that all these things are greatly aiding Fermaton's assets and power.
Take right now, for instance.
Just by selling entry tickets for sex with a Succubus, I'm earning a staggering amount of gold coins. Isn't that why I'm in this vast bathtub right now, bodies entwined with Laura?
"Laura. Do you ever feel disillusioned because I'm developing the territory in this direction?"
"Me?"
"Yes."
I subtly tested the waters.
"You might think that Ruji Fermaton should have the strength and knowledge to develop the world and achieve wealth through other means. Have you never wondered why everything I do is related to sex?"
If Laura knew about my past life...
If she knew that Ruji Fermaton wasn't originally like this...
Her answer to this question would be—
"...Is that important?"
Laura kissed my cheek and gave a silly grin.
"You have your own path, Young Lord. Whether it leads through sex, food, or some other knowledge, it doesn't matter. What matters is that you seize power so absolute that no one dares touch you, right?"
"...Right."
A past life.
None of that matters at all.
What matters, as Laura said, are survival and power.
All roads lead to Rome; whether I use sex or something else, I just need to secure enough power so that neither the Kingdom nor the Empire can mess with Fermaton.
That is the correct answer.
"I've gained confidence thanks to you. I'm going to spread even more sex, even more sexual culture from now on."
"And the start of that... was 'pornography,' you said?"
"Yes."
Human beings.
Especially men.
"Once they watch porn, they won't stop at just once. Even if they don't watch the same video again, they'll go looking for another one."
The moment they see a sex video containing both visual and auditory information, they will all crave it like mad.
"The varieties will be infinite, the supply will be infinite, and the acts will be infinite. We're just at the starting stage, so it will take time to build up a library, but in a few months, we'll have a mountain of Image Magic Stones."
"They'll surely leak into the Kingdom and the Empire through the black market, and they too will come to crave Fermaton's 'sex.'"
"Exactly."
What should I call this business?
What should I call this large-scale project?
Nothing has quite clicked yet, but simply calling it 'sex' wouldn't be a problem.
Well, if I had to give it a name...
A very special experience for XXX.
Special Experience XXX.
S.E.X. for short. In other words, sex.
"Countess Zenith wants it. She wants Fermaton to have power that rivals the Kingdom—not just standing as equals, but looking down upon it."
Through sex, we gain power.
"Charlotte wants it. She wants the Empire's rule to be shaken so the Emperor loses power and falls, and she wants to take that place for herself."
Through sex, we gain a nation.
"Yoanna wants it. She wants the Empire itself to burn."
Through sex, we tear everything down.
"And I want it. I want Fermaton to become the ultimate power group."
There, Fermaton will not fall, nor will anyone be ousted. It will become the center of the continent, the heart that moves the world.
"Once started, there is no stopping. What began with sex must end with sex."
It's definitely not because I'm obsessed with sex.
"Laura. I'm only saying this because it's just the two of us."
This was the sex room, the bathtub.
"...Until we conquer the entire continent with sex, is it okay to keep sucking the Infinite Labyrinth dry?"
"Are you asking for my permission, Young Lord?"
"Of course. It's my contract with you."
I placed my hand on her waist to keep her from getting up.
"I will get rid of the Infinite Labyrinth someday. I promise you that."
"From your perspective, isn't it more beneficial for the Infinite Labyrinth to exist?"
"It's more beneficial for it to be gone. If we want to go on a honeymoon later, we'll have to go outside Fermaton. We can't exactly go on a honeymoon in the Infinite Labyrinth, can we?"
"......."
Laura's eyes curved into crescents.
"Until the day we can self-sustain all the resources obtainable from the Infinite Labyrinth on the surface, within the city of Fermaton."
It was vague at first, but results were starting to appear one by one.
"Look. The Succubi now. With Astarotte becoming the Succubus Queen, we've become able to mass-produce Succubi, and based on this, we can use them to create Magic Stones."
Wringing out Mana Milk using the breasts of Succubi.
Using the Succubi's abilities to squeeze essence from men's dreams and gather mana.
And now, using the Succubi's pussies to drain men of their cash.
"For now, we'll use Magic Stones and cash to engage in intermediary trade between the Kingdom and the Empire. But that's unstable. These are the kind of people who would start an Abalone War."
One day, the Kingdom and the Empire might suddenly force a halt to trade.
"Ultimately, Fermaton must become a place that is self-sufficient even without the Infinite Labyrinth. A world where there's no trouble making a living and no burden in having sex."
I reached out and took Laura's left hand in mine.
"To create that world, I will go with you until the very end."
Crunch.
I put Laura's left ring finger in my mouth and bit down lightly.
A deep teeth mark remained on the last joint of her ring finger. Laura, still wearing a faint smile, overlapped her body on top of mine.
"Young Lord."
Laura also lifted my left hand and slid it into her mouth.
"Young Lord."
Mwah.
Instead of leaving a teeth mark, she used her wet lips to create a ring of water around my ring finger before pulling her head back.
"I've already marked my claim on that honeymoon. You understand?"
"Of course."
We looked at each other and joined our bodies.
The thing that connected Laura and me.
That, too, would be sex.