Ch.13Ah~power!! Choking on that burning love… is something I don’t want.

# Chapter 13: Ah~Power!! Choking on That Hot Love… I Don’t Want It.

On my way back to the beloved motherland, or rather the capital city of Ka’zan.

“Minister, why did you specifically leave behind the Third Fleet that His Majesty assigned to you?”

The transport ship had been extremely crowded on the way there, filled with crew members, legion soldiers, legion command, and Third Fleet liaison officers.

On the return journey, with only crew members and Execution Authority personnel aboard, the ship was much quieter. As I was wandering around the empty corridors out of boredom, Riel, who was beside me, struck up a conversation.

‘No, how can you just openly talk about such things.’

I almost scolded Riel for bringing up such a sensitive topic, but…

Actions before words, as they say. I quickly glanced around and realized the area was empty enough for Riel to speak freely about such matters.

“Well, the reason isn’t anything special… I just found it burdensome.”

“Wha?”

Riel’s expression transformed into something incredibly complex, reminiscent of a malfunctioning realistic doll robot.

“Come on, was what I said really that shocking?”

“Ababababa…”

It seemed even her language module had been affected by the shock, rendering her unable to speak properly.

Eventually, our cutting-edge humanoid, Ms. Riel… only managed to complete her self-repair after arriving with me in my quarters.

“Recovery complete, all programming functioning normally…”

[Long-term Quest: Give This Robot Emotions!]

[Teach your tutorial robot new emotions!]

[Each time you help her learn a new emotion, you’ll receive a new reward!]

[New emotion: Something between shock and contempt.]

[Reward: Repair of Riel and recovery of player’s fatigue]

As I clicked my tongue at the pathetic quest reward that appeared after so long, the fully recovered Riel finally spoke…

“Are you insane, Minister?”

“That’s what you say right after waking up? How sad.”

Perhaps this is how parents feel when their child first enters the rebellious phase.

“To save this poor minister, Riel’s kindness is needed.”

“Stop talking nonsense and tell me why you really did it.”

Seeing her persistent seriousness, I stopped joking around and decided to match her tone.

“Considering you were once a tutorial bot, you don’t think it was simply the Emperor’s goodwill, do you?”

“Nnngh, that’s true, but still.”

After saying that, I opened my status window to examine the current faction situation in the Empire.

[Holy Seveli Empire Faction Power Rankings]

[1st: Neo-Imperialism 24%]

[2nd: Iron Will 21%]

[3rd: For the Emperor 16%]

[4th: Peace and Prosperity 14%]

[5th: International Isolationism 5%]

[Neutral and Others 20%]

[Currently, ‘Neo-Imperialism’ is the dominant faction in the Empire.]

“The fact that he assigned the Third Fleet specifically, and not some other fleet, was a sophisticated political maneuver.”

“The Emperor, to you?”

I nodded at Riel’s question and continued.

“The current situation in the Empire is essentially divided between two factions.”

“Neo-Imperialism and Iron Will, you mean.”

In the original game, these so-called factions or powers existed in all empires, including the one I played.

And the same was true in this world.

“As you know, those two factions are powerful enough to pose a threat even to Artraia.”

“But His Majesty also has his own direct forces, doesn’t he?”

When Riel mentioned a few names, I shook my head and replied.

“Even if you combined all of them, they’d barely be enough to face just one of those factions.”

“Ah… you figured that out well. But what does that have to do with anything?”

At Riel’s question, I took a sip of tea to moisten my mouth.

“Ultimately, Artraia needs the power of a new faction to keep those two in check.”

“Hmm…”

“And if you exclude those two factions, plus Artraia’s faction, what major faction remains? It happens to be the peace-oriented one.”

“The peace faction?”

I could see Riel’s expression contorting dramatically upon hearing my words.

‘Thanks to the quest, her emotional expressions are quite diverse.’

While I was admiring her range of expressions, which was far richer than most people’s, Riel began spewing vitriol toward the peace faction.

“Those self-proclaimed peace advocates who constantly trip us up, make a fuss about everything, and challenge every imperial agenda?”

“Concept.”

“What?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Riel was so angry she couldn’t even maintain her usual demeanor… this is rare.

“Those damn bastards deny the Empire’s sacred mental connection, deny the Minister’s sensual hands that manipulate the world from behind! Always saying ‘Oh, we don’t want to do this’ whenever anything comes up!!”

“Uh…”

“They even refuse the touch of the Emperor who received divine blessing from the high celestial god! Ugh!”

But our Holy Seveli imperialist, militarist, spiritualist, world-conquest-dreaming electric sheep’s madness isn’t what we need right now.

“Be quiet!”

*THWACK*

“Eek!”

Only after bringing down my special pacification baton on Riel’s small, cute head were we able to continue our conversation more calmly.

———————

A little later.

“The conversation got sidetracked, but where was I?”

“You were talking about the factions.”

As Riel rubbed the large bump on her head with tears welling in her eyes, I nodded and continued.

“Right, the power of the remaining factions, excluding ‘that’ faction, is… honestly at a pathetic level, isn’t it?”

“Yes, the next largest is the isolationist faction.”

“And the rest are all similarly sized neutral or minor powers.”

Thinking about it, I shuddered as I recalled Artraia’s plan, which differed from the original game.

“As you know, Artraia was trying to use me to create a new faction favorable to him.”

“What’s wrong with that?”

But when Riel, my only confidant, responded so innocently, I momentarily wondered if I was the one in the wrong.

“It would be better, wouldn’t it? If a faction forms around you, it would make your activities much easier.”

“I don’t want that.”

How could that possibly be good?

“Do you think a faction created that way would be normal?”

“What do you mean?”

‘Is she deliberately playing dumb?’

Seeing Riel pretending not to understand or deliberately changing the subject, I sighed and decided to be direct.

“If such a faction is created, I’ll obviously be forced to lead it!”

*BANG*

I slammed the table as I stood up, while Riel sipped her tea and said:

“Isn’t that good? If you do well, you might even be worshipped as a saint.”

“No, damn it!”

*BANG*

“I! Just! Want! To! Be! Left! Alone! Damn it!”

Why can’t this cursed empire just leave me be?

“But Minister, if you lead a faction… essentially all the remaining neutral factions would join you, wouldn’t they?”

“That’s what I don’t want!”

Artraia’s reason for wanting to make me a faction leader is purely to counter the two major factions.

“Let’s be frank, if I create a faction as its leader, considering potential defectors from other factions…”

“Yes.”

“How much percentage do you think we’d have?”

“Well, at least 20%, don’t you think?”

After hearing Riel’s estimate, I quickly checked my status window for the projected numbers if I were to create a faction.

[Minister’s Faction (Temporary) 51%]

“…It would be at least over half.”

“Hoeee, Minister, you’re more self-aware than you look.”

Riel giggled with a half-teasing tone, but upon seeing my clearly serious expression, she began to show signs of panic.

“Eh, really?”

“Yeah.”

“The status window says that?”

“Yeah.”

“Oh boy, we’re screwed.”

“Yeah.”

And for good reason—it would essentially mean controlling the majority of the Empire.

“At that point, one option would be to depose the current Emperor and make you the new one.”

“No, that would be the end.”

I pulled up a quest window I had kept hidden for quite some time and read it aloud.

[Main Quest: Conquer the galaxy with the Holy Seveli Empire.]

[Current Progress: 15%, Galactic Ranking: 5th]

[Warning! Quest will fail if a faction opposing imperial ethics gains power or if the Empire’s name is changed by another nation!]

“You seem to have forgotten, but if I create a faction, take over the Empire, and rise to power… the ‘Holy Seveli Empire’ itself would cease to exist.”

“Ah.”

Honestly, I’m not without ambition myself.

But if that means my own downfall, I must avoid such a scenario at all costs.

“But Artraia has no way of knowing this, and I can’t tell him either.”

“I see.”

Finally understanding my actions, Riel could only nod her small head.

“So what we need to do now is head straight to the Imperial Palace in the capital.”

“And then?”

“Immediately hand over command of the Third Fleet and five legions that Artraia assigned me as a secret mission, and then request a long vacation.”

“Oh.”

————————–

But upon returning to the palace.

Inside Artraia’s room…

“Yes, you’ve worked hard, Arto.”

“…Well, um.”

“But you know, those five imperial guard legions and the Third Fleet I assigned to you… you just abandoned them and came back?”

“…”

“Do you have any idea how much political capital I spent to assign them to you? Hmm?”

“…”

*Stomp stomp*

“Say something, will you? Come on, say something.”

I had to endure being stomped on by Artraia, who wore a bright smile while thick veins bulged on his forehead.

At least he showed some minimal restraint by removing his high-heeled boots before stepping on me.

‘If he had stomped on me with those, I’d have holes in me by now.’

*Stooomp*

“You’re thinking about something else again, aren’t you?”

“No, I was just contemplating which factions I should negotiate with next for the sake of the Empire and the Imperial Family.”

“We agreed to call that ‘thinking about something else,’ you workaholic.”

Nevertheless, the unreasonable oppression and violence directed at me showed no signs of stopping.

I desperately called out to Riel, who was nearby, for help.

“R-Riel! Help! Help me!”

“Riel, stay where you are.”

“Yes, sir.”

But faced with Artraia’s sharp command, Riel could only shrug helplessly.

“Argh, even you, Riel!!”

It would be another three hours before I would escape from the Emperor’s direct torture.