abcnovels
Chapter 95
Chapter 95
Chapter 95: Losing Control
“A smart man turning dumb is a fish that is easiest to bait; This is because he is highly-educated yet is unable to see through his own arrogance. The foolishness of a fool isn’t anything unique, what is funny is a smart man doing dumb things; That is because he is using all of his abilities to prove his stupidity.”
“In the country of idiots lies a smart king. He feels that he is nobler and greater than the Gods.”
“Oh, my brothers, please do not say that. The dignified lord is swinging about his stave of authority as he tries to ascend to the high throne. If you were to talk bad about him, fear that he would raise his stave of maggots to beat you.”
“Hmph, the narrow-minded Emperor who can’t even accept words of truth. Those arrogant words of yours that described the God of Law as a countryside bumpkin are arousing the laughter of the Gods in the Heavens.”
“Oh, who gave this hilarious Emperor the confidence that with his short lifespan and his country, he is able to look down on the immortals?”
“Perhaps, it is because of his loud voice. At least, with his furious roar, he is able to make those crows shiver.”
“Or perhaps, it is because he is very rich. At least, he is rich enough to use jewels as ornaments on trees and to lay mats for the road.”
“Or perhaps, it is because he is strong. At least, those 40 unlucky fellows intend to present their own flags and serve him obediently as his lapdogs.”
The comical trio, despite being blocked by Legend-rank guards, continued to sing their own songs.
“Hahahaha!” “Hehehehe!”
The hall has been plunged into chaos. The maniacal laughter of the three short fellows echo throughout the hall while the nobles (crows) shiver in fear.
“The Emperor’s voice is resonant? Hmph, the entire country might hear his furious roar but that man never needed to shout. Even when facing a penniless farmer, even when interrogating the noble SemiGods, he only had to take out his codex and slowly talk the senses of our Liu Huang Mountain City to the other party.”
“Let us slowly wait for the noble time to determine the weight of their words. 300 years later, when only ashes of the bones of the great Emperor are left behind, will his arrogant words be mocked by future generations? The solemn immortal, will he have realised his dreams and changed the world with his own rules by then?”
“The Emperor’s country is very wealthy? Oh, in order to put up a show, he opened his own national vault extravagantly to flaunt his fortunes, using jewels to decorate their greenery and using milk to fill the rivers. The judges of the countryside isn’t that wealthy. They are so poor that they often spends beyond what they earn, writing a loan to pay for their bread tomorrow.”
“But, in his country, as long as you work, you won’t starve. As long you follow the law, you will be respected. Every single civilian can enter his office to complain about what is plaguing them or express their hopes for the future. But, your country is one where human eats human. The greedy nobles are wolves. The cunning merchants are innocent sheeps in front of the wolves but they turn into tigers when facing the civilians. As for you, the great Emperor, the almighty one who feeds on wolves and tigers, have you ever walked through the districts of normal civilians to listen to the ‘moaning’ of those sheeps who are in so much pain that they find it hard to live on. Have you listened to how they sell their sons and abandon their daughters just so that they can fill their stomach today?”
“The Emperor’s country is strong? I’ve heard that your Royal Guards are Silver Cross (Mark of a Silver-rank) Elites, that voice can make your neighbouring countries tremble. Then, do you know that in the Underground World where the strong reign supreme, even Golden Triangles (Mark of a Gold-rank) are only pawns in battle. Do you know that we have just eliminated a Demon Count that is able to rival a true God, together with his army, exiled the evil Dragon Empress and beheaded the Beastman Sovereign who once commanded an army of over ten thousand Golden Triangles?”
“We don’t have nobles that protect their land and civilian because our land do not belong to anyone. Our city doesn’t have any army but if the shadow of war looms over our homeland, we are willing brave warriors who can give up everything to protect it. We have many enemies, but we have even more friends whom we are willing to believe in. But you, the great Emperor, the Emperor who is envious of the Gods, do you think that after losing your royal crown and stave, when your homeland is under threat, how many of your people are willing to give up their lives for you? How many nobles are willing to die for the country? How many allies will come to rescue you and how many won’t stab you in your back?”
“The young Emperor who raises his rotten stave, you might think that you are a dignified monarch, but you’re just a grandstanding clown.”
“An immoral person who killed his father and siblings, you think that you can look down on that man. But, regardless of whether it is your morals or your value of existence, you can’t even compare to a strand of hair from that man.”
“The foolish Emperor who envies true God, you think that you’re powerful and rich. In actuality, you don’t even know what it means to be strong. In front of that Lord, in front of the truly powerful, please remain humble.”
“You think that you are very incredible.”
“But actually you are hardly it.”
“You’re a joke.”
Alright, the three of them insult him one after another, Darsos’s face turns bright red. In the end, the three short fellows got arrested by the Emperor’s personal guards. Or perhaps, one should say that they surrendered after realising they were unable to defeat them. However, those who are more sensitive could feel that this matter has yet to come to an end.
Hoyle and the rest don’t care about politics or anything else, they’re just bastards with many problems on them. But, they know who is the one who gave a good life to the citizens of Liu Huang Mountain City. So, even if you are the almighty Emperor, as long as you insult the benefactor in their heart, they will still put you in your place.
The human Emperor who mocked the true Gods and the short Gnomes and Gray Dwarf who mocked the Emperor. In the eyes of the onlookers, especially in my eyes, it is something that would be written in the annals of history.
As I expected. Two days later, something happened.
“… The nonsense of the three short fellows has been made into a comical bar tune. Now, the tune is spreading in many of the bars and tea houses in the public district. Given how widespread it is now, I’m afraid it’s too late to stop it.”
The momentum of history cannot be stopped. But, that so-called momentum is forged by countless individuals and events. In the country-level battles both on the surface and in the shadows, the three fellows are insignificant but often, it is these insignificant figures who do astounding things.
“There must be a mastermind manipulating it behind the scenes. The lyrics are picked off the original words of those Gnomes and has been worked on, so the artistic level is rather high. Even our playwrights and music experts say that it is the work of a master… They even said that it might become a legendary piece.”
“The archbishop of the God of Law Krose has sent an official note, demanding us to release the prisoners as well as to explain for the disrespect to the God of Law. The Nore the 6th from the Church of Holy Light has sent a message through the urgent communication channel to express their dissatisfaction with us and request for us to explain for the disrespect towards a true God. There are also 9 other Churches of true God that are watching the matter and severely warned us, demanding us to give them an explanation.”
“The Royal Guards have found a giant robot in the temporary quarters of those three fellows. That should be the present that they intend to present and based on the primary investigation from our royal engineers, it is indeed very advanced and there are quite a few techniques involved in it that could be helpful for the progress of our country’s engineering study. But, it is a pity that the Gnomes refuse to cooperate with us. Not only so, someone let the word out and privately criticised the Emperor for repaying gratitude with enmity, mocking the Emperor for his lack of tolerance.”
“The intelligence organisation ‘Midnight Rose’ has sent a warning that there are idle chatter describing how you murdered your predecessor to ascend to the throne. Of course, these are unfounded claims but your prestige is being affected as a result of these rumors. As these vile rumors spread, civilians are starting to call Your Majesty as ‘The Foolish Emperor who Envies the Gods’. There are even people who are spreading rumors that our Auland Empire has the ambition of annexing the other countries. Out of the 40 countries, there are at least 30 who are wavering now and they are communicating in private. They seem to be scheming against us.”
Reports of bad news are stacked one after another on the table. The pen is mightier than the sword. The young Emperor is facing with his greatest challenge ever since he was confirmed for enthronement. This is a formless enemy, yet at the same time it is the doings of countless opposing forces, making one unsure of where to start tackling the problem from.
From a certain sense, Darsos can indeed be considered a wise king. At least, under his rule, his subordinates dare to point out his mistakes as well as the bad circumstances that are occurring without worrying for their head.
“Darsos, you really overdid it this time. Disregarding everything else, just for a little verbal conflict, you got pinned with the crime of looking down on a true God, resulting in hostility from the Churches of Gods. This is really a foolish decision.”
As Darsos’ good friend and brother, only Hermit dares to point out the Emperor’s fault to him. But, at this moment, Darsos is also very vexed. Recalling the matter back then, it is really unlike how he usually settled things.
“Indeed, staying away from women is the right choice. Beauty really harms people.”
Darsos finally recalls that the reason why he was so annoyed and why he failed to censor his words. It is most probably because of that ‘Reyne’ by his side.
Being criticised and mocked in front of the lady that one likes, even the most humble and prudent person would not be able to suppress the rage in their heart, needless to say the Emperor of an empire who holds great authority in his hands.
“The contract probably played a part as well. After all, those are the words of the Devils. More or less, there are some problems with the language of the Lower Realm.”
Language itself holds power. The language of the Lower Realm will incite negative emotions. The Chaos Language of the Divine Arts and the Blasphemous Language of the Art of Truth are spells that utilise the Devil Language and Demon Language from the Lower Realm. Comparatively, the Virtuous Language and the Sacred Language are spells that use the God Language and Angel Language from the Heavenly Realm.
Having stare at the contract for too long, negative emotions unknowingly welled up inside Darsos. At the same time, the demon sword itself causes one to side towards Chaos. When he walked out of the chamber, his feelings were already very pent up, so it was natural that he would explode in rage after being mocked in public.
“It’s too late to say all these. What’s done is done. What is important now is to fix it.”
If he just misspoke, it would still be easy to deal with. But, given that the one he insulted prepared a big gift for him, it made him look ungracious and narrow-minded instead.
As the bizarre song started to spread around the entire city at rocket speed, the ‘beautiful title’ of ‘The Foolish Emperor who Envies the Gods’ got attached to him before he received the title of the King of Winter Wolves.
For an Emperor in the feudal era, authority and honor are much more important than their life. Sometimes, reputation can equal to one’s might. When an Emperor loses his honor and reputation, the nobles under his control will refuse to listen to his commands.
All these weren’t a result of someone’s scheming but sometimes, mistakes that pile up as a result of cause and effect can be even more fatal than the plots of an enemy.
This is especially so when Darsos and the Auland Empire weren’t really that stable internally. His father and siblings might have fallen from the stage but the influence that they left behind hasn’t been plucked out yet. Furthermore, the noble warlords are looking at the situation closely for an opportunity to push ahead their ambitions. How could they miss an opportunity that allows them to lower the king’s authority and honor without losing a single soldier?
Those little countries who are forced to join the alliance are already full of resentment. It is still manageable if there are no flaws in the Auland Empire for them to pick at. But, now that a weakness has appeared, they are gathering in flocks to stab at it so as to seek an opportunity for them to break away to become independent.
If it was 3 to 5 years later when Darsos has a firm control over the country, these wouldn’t pose as a problem. However, Darsos has been suppressing the internal and external situation with force in recent times, his situation is as though he is sitting on a volcano in this instant. Now that he finally misspoke and a hole has appeared in his defense, his opponents won’t just let it slide.
Thus, under the efforts of different factions, even without them colluding together, the rumors and the bar tune spread swiftly and all kinds of hidden problems came crashing in simultaneously.
“Since the mistake has been done, then let’s just go through with it. Throw the three of them into our most secure prison and prevent them from meeting anyone. If we were to let them out, it would show that we are weak. Return a message to Nore, use slightly more tactful wordings and say that it was just a slip of the tongue and apologise for it. As for the Church of the God of Law, since we have offended them thoroughly, then just ignore them totally. As for the rumor, let our intelligence group create a few more unbelievable rumors so as to divert the discussions…”
Even in a disadvantageous situation, Darsos calmly came up with solutions one after another to tackle the problems one by one. Even if it is a little too late, it’s still quite an impressive feat.
“…That, Your Majesty, Lord Hermit, I have just received 2 new pieces of information.”
A official suddenly rushes in and his words stops abruptly. It doesn’t seem to be good news.
“Speak, what worse news can there be. I can take it.”
“I don’t know how the bar tune spread into the royal family prison, but the Gnomes have been humming it the entire day. Due to that, the other prisoners also began singing along. They’re all mocking… There are some that say that the Emperor of this generation is useless and that the Auland Empire is going into decline.”
“Pah!”
Despite knowing that they are just mocking of failures, words that won’t affect him in anyway, Darsos is still unable to suppress his surging emotions. He smacked on the table with great force and the expensive red phoebe office desk split into 2.
TL: Red Phoebe is a type of wood.
The room suddenly turns silent. A moment later, the low voice of the Emperor after pushing down his bursting emotions rumble in the room.
“Alright. What’s the next one? What other bad news is there?”
The young official replies shakily.
“The East Mist Communal Country declared the faith of the God of Law as their national religion and Princess Reyne placed her honor on the line to guarantee the innocence of the three men. Furthermore, she guarantees that the present they gave out is a priceless treasure and they weren’t disrespectful towards the Emperor in that sense. They demanded us to release them instantly.”
“Boom! Kacha!”
This time, there is no salvage for the expensive office desk. After Darsos smacks the table in a rage, not mentioning how the entire desk was destroyed, a hole even appears on the floor.
“As expected, women are not trustworthy!”
————–
At the same time, below the river, a figure is currently diving underwater and beside him is a black cat who is walking slowly in the water.
“Is this it? There’s a reaction from the key? Let’s hurry up, we don’t have much time left.”
PS??????????????????????????????????…..??????????????????????????????????????RI
Well, to be fair, Darsos hasn’t even become the Emperor yet and it isn’t practical to expect him to exact such changes instantly. I mean, Roland had a hundred years behind him. Also, the background and history of both places are different.