The Treacherous Minister's Silver Tongue
Even Adran tried to stop me when I first offered to apologize.
The hot-blooded young officials might turn violent if I showed up, he warned.
I ignored the warning and went anyway, meeting the civil servants who had suffered because of me.
Their reaction was explosive.
In the worst possible way.
"Kill that treacherous bastard!"
"You fat pig!"
"Do you even know how much damage your evil laws have done to the Empire?"
I bowed at the waist, yet the meeting room stayed filled with insults and furious shouts.
A few looked ready to hurl objects from the table.
Karia half-drew her sword before I barely managed to calm her.
"I will make amends for every wrong I committed against you."
"Hah! How exactly?"
"You think a few coins will buy our forgiveness?"
"You disgusting pig!"
The fiery young men kept jeering and cursing.
Then I silenced them with a single sentence.
"Compile every law you believe the Empire urgently needs and send it to me.
I will take those bills straight to His Majesty and persuade him to enact them."
"......."
"List the harmful laws I helped pass as well.
I will convince His Majesty to repeal them."
The room fell utterly silent.
The officials stared at me, wide-eyed.
Even Adran looked shocked.
Only a treacherous minister who had once bent the Emperor to his will could offer such a solution.
"His Majesty listens to no one but me.
Since my silver tongue ruined the Empire, only my tongue can fix it.
Send me every urgent matter you can think of.
I will go to His Majesty myself."
"You would truly do that?"
Their voices had turned desperate.
I smiled brightly and nodded.
"Of course.
I know your passion better than anyone.
We fought bitterly enough for me to understand.
In the end, I was the fool and you were simply spirited young men.
Yet you also cared most deeply for the Empire."
Karia, Karl Hansen, and I bowed once more in sincere apology.
"I know every person here was beaten and imprisoned because of me.
I wish to compensate you with money.
No amount will ever be enough, but please accept it.
Living expenses, medical bills—I will pay ten times what you lost."
No one shouted that I was trying to buy them.
The officials murmured among themselves, visibly shaken.
Now was the moment.
I pressed the advantage the same way I had with Selene’s faction.
"Furthermore, I will build an academy in the capital for commoners!"
Their confused faces turned to outright astonishment.
I knew their ideals well.
These were the young men who believed wider education would end noble tyranny.
I was offering exactly what they wanted.
One official shot to his feet.
"An academy? In the capital?"
"Law, administration, music, astronomy, mathematics—and I will ask Princess Selene to send the Magic Tower’s finest scholars, alchemists, and mages as professors.
Commoners will finally have the chance to learn."
"Commoners have no money.
How will you cover tuition?"
"I will pay for everything—operating costs, tuition, all of it free.
The Merchant Guild earns enough in a single day to fund the academy for a year.
When you have money, you should spend it well."
"I am not only speaking of capital commoners.
They already have some wealth and education.
Commoners in the provinces deserve the same opportunity."
"Portu Commercial City and my own Elrond domain are overflowing with provincial commoners.
I will post notices seeking talented young people for the academy.
Many parents will send their children.
Those who claim they need their children for farm work—I can persuade them."
"Many cannot even read.
What then?"
"I will establish elementary schools across Portu and Elrond.
Places where children can learn letters, basic arithmetic, and history.
I will fund them all.
The best students will advance to the academy.
That solves the problem, does it not?"
The proposal was irresistible.
After I finished, the officials huddled together, their expressions gradually brightening.
"Idealistic.
Truly idealistic."
"Landor is the richest man on the continent right now……"
"We cannot waste time.
We need textbooks and trained teachers."
"I know the right people.
We can handle it ourselves."
The mood shifted rapidly in my favor.
I smiled at them.
"I will not deny my past crimes—how I hoarded wealth through corruption and crushed anyone in my way.
Even if I wished to be punished, His Majesty would never allow it.
Once again, I am truly sorry."
"......."
"But can you focus on the present and the future instead?
While you waste time trying to punish me, most commoners still suffer under exploitation.
I have money.
You have knowledge.
Let us combine our strengths and change things together."
The sharp, hateful glares no longer came.
Some looked as if they thought I had gone mad.
Others seemed unsettled by the change in me.
A few appeared quietly moved.
"When the Empire finally finds peace and every commoner is freed from exploitation—when every industry runs stably even without me—then come punish me for my crimes.
I will gladly wear the shackles with a smile.
So please……"
I bowed once more.
"Help me.
The commoners whose pockets are filling because of my businesses and the jobs they create—they need you."
Silence lingered.
Then a gentle voice spoke.
"For now……we will watch."
"An academy exclusively for commoners in the capital is certainly encouraging.
The elementary school idea is excellent as well."
"We will support you.
If that is what you intend, attacking you now would be foolish."
Friendly voices rose.
I lifted my head slightly.
Their faces remained complicated, yet they had decided to accept me—for now.
"We will select the laws to enact and the laws to repeal and send them to you.
Please persuade His Majesty."
"Of course."
I grinned at Adran.
To anyone else my squinty-eyed, glasses-wearing smile would have looked thoroughly villainous.
Adran no longer glared at me with disgust.
He simply watched me, still visibly unsettled.
The next day, I kept my promise.
Persuading the old Emperor was not difficult.
"Your Majesty! It has been far too long! Haha!"
"Oho! If it is not Landor!"
"Work has kept me away, Your Majesty! Haha!"
I arrived bearing expensive imported sweets, silk, perfume, and every kind of tonic and restorative.
I personally dabbed perfume on the Emperor, fed him the sweets, and told him amusing stories.
"I built an amusement park, Your Majesty.
An ice rink and sledding slope made of snow.
It has become quite the popular spot for commoners! Haha!"
"How splendid, Landor.
Very splendid indeed."
The reason I could win the Emperor’s favor was simple.
With his judgment failing and his family distant, I was the only person who treated him like a friend.
In the original novel I had used that bond to ruin the country.
Not this time.
After spending the entire day entertaining him, the Emperor smiled with deep satisfaction.
"The tonic you gave me fills me with strength, and the perfume and oils you applied leave a pleasant scent.
I slept soundly.
It has been a long time since I felt this good.
Thank you.
Whenever I meet you, only pleasant things happen."
Emotionally moved, the Emperor leaned against me, voice trembling.
I patted the old man’s back.
"I am glad I can bring you joy, Your Majesty."
"Is there something you want?
Anything you desire, I will grant it."
Smiling, I took out the list of harmful laws to repeal and beneficial laws to enact that Adran’s officials had prepared.
"Your Majesty, please look at these.
Laws that must be repealed and laws that must be passed."
"Hmm……my eyes are too dim to read them clearly.
What do these bills do?"
"They are the measures the Empire’s finest minds have brought forward to restore our faltering nation.
The harmful laws will be abolished."
"Ah……I see."
The Emperor struggled to make out the writing, then sighed and waved his hand.
"You are a loyal subject.
You would only bring good laws.
I grant my permission.
Bring the royal seal!"
The Emperor stamped both the repeal and the enactment documents without hesitation.
In the original novel those stamps would have sealed the Empire’s doom.
Not this time.
"Your Majesty’s grace is boundless!"
"Let us visit the bathhouse together.
No better place for frank conversation! Hahaha!"
I had a maid deliver the sealed documents to Prince Adran.
Watching her hurry away, I smiled.
The Vineyard Party.
Those bastards.
They dared spread rumors to sabotage me?
As they say, after eating sweet potatoes you need soda to wash them down.
Among the bills the Emperor had just approved was one that would hit them exactly where it hurt.
[Farmer Relocation Rights Act]
In short, it allowed peasants suffering under tyrannical lords to flee their domains and settle in better ones without punishment, granting them legal residence rights.