Ch.107I had a feeling something like this would happen.

In Polistory, if public opinion and the monarch’s choices continue to clash, a specific event will trigger.

The effect of this simple yet ominous event called “Disobedience” is straightforward: citizens refuse to follow the game system’s commands.

For example, if you issue a construction order, citizens won’t build anything.

Even though materials fall from the sky, they simply snort dismissively and do whatever they please.

The citizens have completely lost trust in the monarch’s existence, so they no longer obey authority. Consequently, the monarch must choose between imposing a barrier or doing nothing.

Imposing a barrier would allow even ordinary people to notice, ending the disobedience event as quickly as possible. However, the trade-off is that the stigma of being a dark tyrant becomes a permanent trait attached to the monarch’s image. If you do nothing, you’ll inevitably be reduced to a machine that only creates barriers all day.

So what’s the method to resolve this event with minimal damage?

“There isn’t one.”

That’s right.

There isn’t.

From the beginning, the disobedience event was more of a result than a process, closer to credits than an event.

Is it the game system’s kind way of telling you in binary, “If you’re sitting in that position, you should do it properly!”?

Usually, by the time the disobedience event appears, the country is already in shambles. Essentially, this event appearing means little more than “We can’t show you a game over screen because of what you’ve accomplished so far, so just watch your city wither and die.”

But what truly makes this event frightening is something else: respected individuals among the citizens begin to independently establish a new order to replace the now-nominal monarch.

And since these individuals typically unite people through anger and hatred in a devastated nation, they are invariably skilled at inciting the masses. As power allocated to the monarch becomes concentrated in mortal hands, the nation gradually begins to decline.

Having united people through hatred and anger, they naturally project that unified force outward. First, the military swells disproportionately, followed by the expansion of the military industry needed to sustain it.

That much is fine, but the problem is that only that much is fine.

Naturally, an army that consumes resources continuously creates conflicts to avoid its own collapse. The politicians who should control the military are willing to do anything to maintain their power, so self-regulation cannot be expected.

In fact, looking at this pattern, it’s the classic cliché of a dictator emerging during post-collapse chaos, manipulating the masses.

These are the types who incite the public by claiming that even those bound by mortal fate can seize their own destiny… but at heart, they’re petty individuals who envy and resent immortality, willing to sacrifice countless lives to preserve their own.

In this world, the power of mortals could never overcome the authority of immortals. Their influence was nothing but a paper tiger that would be devoured by countless demons and beasts once the barrier fell.

Yet always, humanity—whether mortal or immortal—can only realize its mistakes through bone-cutting pain and flesh-tearing agony.

“Long live Fahrenheit! Revenge draws near!”

“Do not fear the war to send those who killed our families to the angels’ court!”

“Our cause is just! Our hatred is clear!”

And so Fahrenheit was becoming the Weimar Republic of the interwar period.

Fueled by extreme hatred and transcendent resentment, they began preparing for war by executing not only non-citizens but also citizens who didn’t conform to majority opinion.

Plains where green shoots once grew were now stamped with boot prints like brands, and dungeons once frequented by adventurers were now visited by recruits under the pretext of “training,” with poor support.

As a result, Fahrenheit, having become a legion with a state, was left with only legion soldiers moved by hatred, and soon war would begin again.

*

“Well, well.”

It’s not particularly surprising.

No, rather, it’s surprising in a different sense because they’re acting exactly as I expected.

The Allied Nations were already extremely wary of the rampaging Fahrenheit, seriously considering not only reserve mobilization but also total mobilization.

Of course, as relations between Fahrenheit and the Allied Nations deteriorated, traffic had been cut in half, but wanderers who still thought dying by the sword was a better fate, and money-crazed coachmen obsessed with earning more, continued to transport goods and personnel along the northern roads.

It was foolish, but thanks to them, at least minimal information, manpower, and supplies were exchanged. Today, at least, they should be called merchants rather than peddlers.

“What should we do now? It seems Grand Monarch Marcus has already lost his authority.”

“I suppose so. By now, Fahrenheit’s palace must be like a house of mourning.”

Even in a country gone mad like that, no nation would humiliate or treat their monarch as a subordinate, even if they stripped away their authority.

The moment a monarch turns off the barrier, their lives become as fragile as candles in the wind.

Actually, there’s no need to turn off the barrier completely. One could simply shrink it just enough to cover only the palace.

Others would all die, but those favored by the monarch would witness from within the cramped palace as their families and friends became a mere evening snack for demons. This would be the most effective way to remind the people of the monarch’s overwhelming power.

However, this would literally result in the extinction of almost the entire nation except for a tiny fraction, so such an extreme measure couldn’t be taken lightly.

“Whether he’s lost authority or is playing along… we don’t have enough information to confirm yet. Perhaps the agitators currently blowing their trumpets are actually the Grand Monarch’s agents.”

“We lack information… I’ve heard the Adventurers’ Guild is also closely monitoring the situation… what will happen now…”

The aide swallowed his gloom as he answered.

The previous war was war in name only. It was nothing more than a single localized battle and a series of looting.

But this war is different.

A total war against 10 million subjects… or beyond that, ethnic cleansing. On a battlefield where hostility and killing intent have reached their peak, even a five-year-old child can become an enemy, and an eighty-year-old elder can become an ambusher.

Especially now, the young people of Fahrenheit are those who witnessed with their own eyes their fathers being trampled to death under military boots and their mothers being brutally violated by Allied Nations soldiers.

In other words, they too have revenge as their justification.

Fahrenheit and the Allied Nations. Both have crossed a river of no return and passed the point of no return.

All that remains is when the war will break out, how it will break out, and finally, where it will break out.

“Sigh… truly. How troublesome.”

“T-troublesome, you say?”

“Yes. War is troublesome.”

The aide looked at me as if he couldn’t understand my response.

Well, it was understandable.

For ordinary people, war isn’t just troublesome—it’s a life-changing event that could ruin their lives. For bureaucrats in administrative positions, it’s literally an extreme event requiring the total mobilization of all national resources.

And depending on the outcome, the rise and fall of dozens of nations could be determined, and the fate of millions or tens of millions of lives could be decided. That’s what war is.

Yet, I dismissed it as merely troublesome.

“Are you afraid of war?”

I asked the aide.

“Of course, I am afraid.”

The aide answered.

“Then continue to be afraid, while I continue to find it troublesome.”

“Your Majesty… are you not afraid of defeat?”

Defeat…

Fear…

“No. I am not afraid.”

“Why not?”

“…Aide. If you knew those who hated you, would you fear them?”

At my question, the aide couldn’t ask further.

I don’t know if he failed to grasp the meaning of my question or if he was simply contemplating his answer. It didn’t really matter either.

What’s important is that no matter what antics Fahrenheit pulls, I can prepare an appropriate counter.

After all, Fahrenheit is ultimately nothing more than a mid-boss weaker than a plague to me.