Chapter 14
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 14
Chapter Title: I'll Become the Black Curtain
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“M-Me too! I'll donate the mining rights to the iron mine in my western territory to the imperial family!”
“My private army of 3,000... no, 5,000 men! I'll incorporate them all into the imperial guard!”
“I'll provide 100,000 seok of military rations! Please accept it!”
Tears and fervent pledges of loyalty erupted from every corner. It was like a life-or-death auction. Who could offer the most wealth? The sight was almost comical.
Just moments ago, these same nobles had been whining about empty treasuries and trying to snatch even crumbs from the commoners' bread. Now, sums rivaling the empire's entire monthly budget poured from their mouths like a flood.
The scribes were scribbling down the nobles' rapid-fire donation lists, their wrists on the verge of snapping. Elicia stood frozen, mouth agape at the unbelievable spectacle.
I watched the chaos with a satisfied nod. I patted Duke Geller on the shoulder, and he jumped in surprise before flashing a servile grin.
“See? You could do it all along. Why play hard to get? If you'd done this from the start, no one would've lost face.”
“Y-Yes, exactly! We simply failed to express our deep loyalty sooner! Ha... haha... hahaha...”
But there was always one fool who hadn't grasped the situation—or who relied too heavily on their family's prestige and acted stiffly.
“Th-This is unjust!”
A middle-aged noble with a mustache shot up from the corner seat.
“I am the head of the esteemed House Hestia, a storied lineage with an unbreakable pact with the imperial family!”
He slammed the table and pointed accusingly.
“Even a legendary hero can't seize noble property or force conscription without due process! This is blatant overreach! As long as imperial law stands, I refuse to condone such barbarism!”
The room went deathly silent. The other nobles eyed him like he'd lost his mind and was begging for death.
“Hoo.”
I turned my gaze to him.
“What's your name?”
“Be-Benjamin... Benjamin Hestia, Count!”
“Hestia? Rings a bell.”
I stroked my chin and approached slowly. With each step, his eyes trembled.
“That's right! My ancestor stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Lord Kasian at the forefront during the Great War 500 years ago, a great knight who dominated the battlefield!”
He proudly thrust out the faded medal on his chest. It looked like a family heirloom.
“How dare you treat me, in whose veins flows that noble blood, like a fraud! I can't endure this insult! My house has served the empire for generations...!”
“Ah, I remember now.”
I stopped and clapped my palm.
“Philip. Philip Hestia. Right?”
Benjamin's face lit up. For a hero to remember his ancestor was glory for the house—and a lifeline for survival.
“Ooh! As expected! Lord Kasian remembers my forebear's fame! He was the empire's shield and...”
“Fame my ass. Do you know how much hell that bastard put us through?”
“...Pardon?”
His beaming smile froze solid.
“Wh-What did you say...?”
“Why do you think I remember that guy? His skills? Hell no.”
I slung my arm over his shoulder.
“Back in that canyon, supplies cut off, everyone starving to death. That idiot got drunk, crashed the supply wagon off a cliff.”
“...!”
“Our whole unit chewed tree bark for a week because of it. You know that foul-tempered elf mage in our party? He was one of the guys she beat black and blue.”
“L-Lies! Impossible! Our family history says he single-handedly fought a demon legion commander and heroically took a grave wound...!”
“They wrote a damn novel. Did he debut as a writer after I left? Think about it—does it make sense for a human to fight a demon legion commander and walk away with just wounds?”
I clicked my tongue. Dig into any of these fools' lineages, and I'd know them all—or at least their descendants from my aides' aides.
“Hey.”
“Y-Yes...?”
“Don't pull that 'I'm so-and-so's descendant' or 'our bloodline's so great' crap in front of me. Unless you want every grave in your family tree dug up.”
I flicked the medal on his chest.
“And if you wanna play pedigree...”
I pointed to the head of the conference table.
“I'm blood brothers with that emperor's ancestor. The guy your family worships like a god? I rolled in tents and drank with him.”
I stared straight into his eyes.
“By lineage, I'm your great-great-great-granddad's peer. By rank, I was commander; your ancestor was my aide's aide. So where do you get off flaunting pedigree? No respect for hierarchy?”
“S-Sorry! I've committed a mortal sin!!”
“Double your donation.”
“Thank you... Wait? D-Double?”
“What? Don't like it? Want me to go by the book? Drag a supply wagon off a cliff like your forebear?”
“I'll do it! I'll sell the family pillars if I have to!!”
“Hey, scribe! Hear that? This guy's bursting with patriotism. Record it as is.”
“Yes, sir!”
And so, our very democratic donation drive concluded.
The results were a resounding success. In just two hours, we'd secured five years' worth of budget and a full division of regular troops ready for immediate deployment.
I smiled contentedly at the towering stack of donation pledges.
Of course, beneath it lay the nobles' tear-streaked wails, but who cared? These were heirs who could live lavishly for generations anyway. Consider it a diet plan.
“See? Squeeze, and it comes out.”
I shook the pledges satisfyingly and tossed them on the desk. Elicia alternated between the mountain of documents and the nobles slinking out like cattle to the slaughter.
That night, in the imperial office.
I perched on the windowsill, gazing at the night sky, and spoke softly.
“Alright, fire's out for now.”
“...”
“Princess. What'd you think of my methods today? Perfect, right?”
Elicia flinched before answering cautiously.
“To be honest, it was too extreme. Nobles live on pride. They bent outwardly, but they'll be sharpening knives inwardly.”
“Not bad.”
I chuckled and turned.
“Spot on. Terror politics works for one moment only. Think I'd do it not knowing that? I did it anyway because this calls for emergency surgery.”
Terror has a short shelf life. Humans adapt, building tolerance even to fear. A forcibly compressed spring always snaps back.
In our time, the Demon King was a continent-wide enemy, his terror suppressing internal dissent. But now? Weak justification, no focal point.
Power matters most, in the end.
“Princess.”
“Y-Yes?!”
She snapped to attention, her awe toward me half-mutated into fear.
“The emperor right now.”
“Father?”
“Yeah, that tub of lard.”
I rubbed my chin and dropped the brutal truth in a dry tone.
“Honestly, he's beyond salvation. Scrap heap bound.”
“...!”
Elicia's pupils shook. Calling the current emperor refuse? It was lese-majeste worthy of execution, but she couldn't deny it. She'd seen and felt it herself.
Why else risk the mad gamble of summoning a legendary hero gone 500 years? Instinct told them the current emperor was hopeless.
“Leave the country to him, and it'll be trashed again within a year of my departure. Bet on it—he'd sell the empire smiling to any noble who fills his belly.”
How could I be sure?
I'd seen plenty of imperial scum selling souls to demons for longevity back then. When desire trumps power, their words are always the same.
“But he's the rightful heir and the empire's symbol. As his daughter, what can I...?”
“Symbol? Fine, leave him as one.”
I gripped her shoulders tight. She looked up, startled.
“You do it.”
“D-Do what?”
“Regency.”
“P-Pardon...?”
Elicia's jaw dropped wide. I worried it'd unhinge.
“Park the emperor on the throne as a figurehead. You take real control—state affairs, appointments, and the military command I secured.”
“I-Impossibility! I'm inexperienced... and as a woman, how could I...? No imperial princess has ever taken regency in history!”
“Who said now?”
I locked eyes with her terrified gaze.
“I'll handle it now. I'll be your black curtain.”
“...You, Lord Kasian?”
“Yeah. I'll handle the dirty work and bloodshed. Crushing nobles, threatening the emperor—that's on me. You watch and learn from behind.”
“...”
“I'll set the board. When you're ready, step out as regent.”
“B-But...”
“No buts. If you don't, the empire disintegrates the moment I leave. Two choices: fix it with me, or watch it burn.”
Elicia bit her lip.
“And what? Can't because you're a woman?”
I scoffed.
“You wasted your history lessons. You never saw Lucia. Know how terrifying she was?”
“The Saintess? Legends say she was the most compassionate and noble...”
“Compassionate? Noble?”
My lip curled.
“Sure, when healing. But she wielded her mace better. Always smashing enemy skulls while chanting prayers. 'Lord, receive this lamb unto thee.'”
“...”
“Once, cardinals bullied her, so she kicked in the door, beat them all, then healed them smiling while preaching repentance. Total maniac.”
Elicia's face paled. Her innocence shattered.
“Truth is, our hero party that saved the world 500 years ago? Personality-wise, we were all wrecks.”
People blather that war turns pure heroes into monsters, that its tragedy broke us.
But I disagree. War changes people, sure—but only the rotten survived it.
“Think logically. Would sane folks jump into a mad gamble where failure means world-ending doom and lives worth less than flies? Sane people hide and tremble.”
“Isn't that courage? Noble sacrifice...?”
“Courage? Madness.”
I recalled my old comrades' faces.
Hero Kyle, the protagonist—sane-ish by game hero standards, but his overzealous justice drained allies dry.
Preaching crap like 'Even villains can be friends!' while trying to convert demon officers.
Erendel the elf with baked-in racial bias. Alexander, whose brain was all muscle, bellowing mindless charges in briefings.
Damn... looking back, I was the only normal one. I marveled anew at my wholesome, everyman sanity.
“Anyway...”
I pulled from my bosom the tome used as a pedestal in the imperial library.
Bam!
It hit the desk with a thud—heavy stuff.
“This? Your ancestor's work. See the title?”
The Prince for Dummies
Author: Alexander von Reinhardt
Total: 1,567 Pages
“'For Dummies'? That thing would snap your neck as a pillow.”
“Musclehead Alexander wracked his brain for it. 'Even idiots like me can get it,' he said. Crude, but a solid field manual.”
I opened it and tapped the table of contents.
Chapter 1: A lord who can't give is forgiven; one who can't take is deposed.
Chapter 2: Diplomacy is talk until your sword's at their throat.
Chapter 3: Fastest way to fill an empty treasury? Raid the enemy's stores.
Damn... the content's... Good thing he wasn't crown prince.
“The content's too...”
Elicia trailed off. It clashed with the noble kingly virtue and benevolence she'd studied—pure barbarism.
“Too radical? Savage?”
“I can't deny it. Sounds like justifying plunder and slaughter.”
“Wrong.”
I shook my head firmly.
“It's about responsibility.”
“Responsibility?”
“Playing nice and indecisive, letting people starve—or getting bloody hands to feed and protect your own. Which makes the better lord?”
I tapped Chapter 3.
“Alexander was dumb, but no coward. Took all the hate, gave the gains to the people. That's how he unified the continent.”
I shoved the book into her chest.
“You're the empire's last hope. Slack off playing good princess, and it'll crumble the second I leave.”
Elicia hesitated, then took it with a grave expression.
“Good posture.”
I smiled, standing.
“Oh, right. Won't be in the palace next week. Don't look for me.”
“Huh? Where then...?”
I gazed north, at the silhouetted smokestacks beyond the window.
“Visiting the smithy.”
500-year-old magitech. Time to check how much had regressed—or if anything usable remained.