My Disciples Know That I Am Strong

Episode 12. Destroying Power (3)

The only ones left in the meeting room were the two Grand Dukes, the Duke of Tori, the Princess Se-Ri, Countess Hostess, and myself.

Even though there are escort knights left, they will dedicate their lives to their lord, so there is nothing to disclose.

Countess Hostess would have wanted to leave, but he would not have been able to move because leaving this place would be like saying, ‘I embezzled.’

“Yes. What do you want?”

“…… Prause, should we talk? The information is yours.”

At her words, Rexton’s poker face collapsed in an instant. Perhaps it was such an unexpected statement, he opened his eyes wide and looked at me.

“You… ….”

Are you referring to me as if you could just say it yourself? I was trying to get Rexton to see her again. Tsk.

Apparently, she didn’t figure it out herself, and it was clear that she didn’t want to take credit for herself.

Because she is overly conscientious.

“How the hell did you get that information? Even Secret Garden wouldn’t have known that? No… …. Come to think of it, she heard that from the Secret Garden.”

She looked puzzled at Rexton, who started muttering something to herself.

I thought she would bring my information to the Secret Garden.

They are a group that will reveal any information if they pay more than their own lives.

However, the important thing there was how far it was revealed after paying the amount.

I think there will be surveillance attached even at this moment, but at least I had a wish that the relics would not be known.

It could be a headache if others took the weapons or equipment that the warriors needed to use first.

It was true that when Sylphy’s ring and the stone of purification were sold on the black market, it became impossible to completely hide the relic.

However, seeing that Ella looked at Sylphy’s ring and thought it was a pretty good piece of equipment, it was safe to assume that she regarded an artifact with a level of probability twisting as a mere artifact.

In addition, even if the artifact is passed on to them, it will not be known unless it is someone who knows the information about the game, and in the process of researching it, there is no choice but to go through trial and error.

In the first place, I don’t know where the artifact is hidden or what it looks like.

Of course, there was no need to be anxious because it could only be obtained by overcoming appropriate difficulties in the case of the final weapon.

Once you get the final weapon, the rest of the weapons will eventually become useless.

“I heard that you never used the secret garden’s information network. Even though there is no information guild as big as Secret Garden in the empire.”

What are you talking about, all of a sudden.

“Prause, who is behind you? Who is bringing that information? Tell me right away.”

“…… ?”

“If you think about it, it was. Who would have thought that I would take the Spirit King with me? If that’s the case, it’s understandable that you killed the black dragon and that you’re a hero.”

Did you hear about the Spirit King from the Secret Garden…….

But what strange misunderstanding is this man having?

It is true that Ariel’s help prevented the damage around her, but she never directly helped her in any fight.

If receiving the aura itself was helpful, there was nothing to say.

…… Ah, except for the knight commander Gaho blew away.

“…… For some reason, the King of Spirits only goes with them. He never signed a contract.”

“What? Then…… Are you saying that the power you have is entirely yours?”

“Yes.”

He frowned in disbelief.

“Amazing. I heard that even the first warriors had a hard time dealing with the demons without a contract with the spirit.”

That’s probably not the case.

Due to the setting of the first hero, there was no difference, although the type of talent may differ from that of the current hero.

However, there was no one to raise the first warriors according to the direction, so they could not achieve perfect growth and had no choice but to fight the man-man battle. That’s why the proportion of active spirits increased.

Of course, it is true that there is nothing wrong with the help of the spirits. If he signed a contract with the spirit while possessing the power of a hero, it would be icing on the cake.

“…… Isn’t the more important thing than me, the princess tax collector?”

“No, the important thing is you. Isn’t it because of you that Princess Se-ri has changed so much and that she was able to declare war on the crown prince with confidence?”

Hey. That’s why I didn’t want to talk about it.

To her others, it was enough for her to know that I had helped her. Seri had to be the main character here.

The reason I gave her the information from her game was to wrap up the fact that she was a competent human being.

I wanted to instill awareness that I was just pretending to be incompetent.

However, it was just frustrating for me to reveal all the facts. I can understand her trying to take care of me in her own way.

“Right. Prause is not just strong. His way of thinking is very flexible, and he can even penetrate the psychology of others.”

From noble mtl dot com

How far are you going to overestimate?

Praise you. I’ve raised your self-esteem for two months, so be a little conceited.

“I know. Because I’ve been through that once.”

My face almost turned red when I praised him this much. I scratched my head shyly.

“Now, let’s talk about you guys.”

“I want you to tell me about that information network.”

The information network is a piece of sh*t.

I just knew the game information.

But you can’t say, ‘This world is based on the game world view, and I’m the one who played that game.’

“Do you have any reason for me to tell you that?”

“… If you tell me, I will become Princess Seri’s force.”

“Le, Grand Duke of Rexton… That is, betraying His Highness the Crown Prince—”

“Shut up. Otherwise, I will kill you before revealing the corruption.”

Rexton glares at the hostess who unknowingly intervenes and presses her. Count Hostess stings and backs away.

When he looked at me again, his expression was more gentle than cold and rational.

It was a deliberate change of expression to give the deal a little more advantage.

“So what is the answer?”

To be honest, it was a really tempting proposal.

My mouth watered at the thought of this opportunity to capture him once and for all.

But it wasn’t worth telling him what I knew.

To be precise, no matter what deal I offered, I had no intention of letting you know that I came from outside the world, or that this world was based on the world of the games I played.

If he is on my side, in fact, the tax collector becomes emperor is no different from the emperor. But even without him, I was able to make the publican emperor.

And when Se-ri became emperor, Rexton had no choice but to follow us, whether he liked it or not.

“…… I’m sorry, but I can’t tell you about the information network. It’s not even something to be informed of as a transaction in the first place.”

“Then, the information about the corruption that Princess Se-ri said cannot be trusted.”

Even with that said, from the moment the suspicion was presented, he continued to doubt it.

Having doubts meant clarifying information.

Surely, from the moment he leaves this conference room, he will launch an investigation to uncover all the irregularities.

And even the smallest embezzlement will not be tolerated.

So he will have no choice but to trust me, no matter how I get the information.

Everything will be true.

“No matter how you get it, all of this is true, and you are free to believe. What… Even if you say this, you will definitely investigate.”

“…… I’ve felt it since I’ve visited you before, but I feel like you know me very well.”

I replied with a smile. Then, he took the rolled parchment out of his inner pocket and handed it to the publican.

She didn’t forget to hand it over to him when she suggested that it would be okay for her to hand it over as a standard.

“Here is written about the person involved in corruption and embezzlement goods. What do you think the Grand Duke of Rexton is going to do with this?”

“…… What do you want?”

“All I want is to become emperor.”

He shook his head at the princess’ suggestion to push him.

“It’s not worth it to listen to that. From now on, if I do my research, the value of that information will only make me a little more convenient. Besides, what will be the benefit to me when you become emperor? Apparently, they say that we have to achieve harmony with other races, but doesn’t that mean we have to free the slaves?”

He spoke with his arms crossed and became a merchant with a deal ahead of him.

“That’s right.”

“Princess tax collector, you’re just now understanding and studying the flow of the empire, so you don’t know much about it. Slavery is now a pillar of the Empire’s economy. Trying to break that axis could lead to economic risks. Are you aware of that?”

I expected that there would be comments from before.

As he said, slavery was a part of the empire’s economy. And that too on an incredibly massive level.

It was because the infrastructure was almost perfectly built in a matter of decades, and it had high commercial potential. And at the center of that infrastructure was Rexton.

He expected from the beginning that the slave market would become a big industry, and he worked hard to build the infrastructure.

But when the next emperor suddenly announced that he would abolish slavery, he had no choice but to refuse, as he would not only suffer a great loss, but would also end up denying the efforts he had made so far.

“I know. But that’s a short story anyway. There are definite ‘limits’ to slavery.”

“Short term? Limit? It is becoming a means of accumulating great wealth, not enough to be maintained for decades, but can this be called short-term?”

“There is always a rebellion against exploitation.”

“Half-year? Are those who have expressed their aspirations to become the emperor feared in half? If so, I must have misread you.”

That’s why I said it was short-term.

When the resistance rises, everything is over.

Slavery will be of no use whatsoever, and will only build resentment against one another.

In addition, this was not the only limitation.

“How can the Grand Duke of Rexton, who gave great power to the empire’s economy, not know the limits of slavery?”

“…… What?”

“I am not just talking about exploitation.”

One more thing she learned after living in Aus Territory for two months.

It was a ‘flexible freedom’ created according to the rights granted to other races.

Other races basically had a habit of accepting nature rather than developing new items, so they did not develop civilization like humans.

Also, instinct always preceded, and when battles took place, they adopted a method of pushing with force rather than planning a strategy. That’s why he was defeated by humans.

Although they were slaves, they lived under human civilization and learned.

And other tribes who were given freedom began to work and purchase goods freely with their own labor power as value.

Seri sees the scene and realizes that the economic activities of humans and other races are not much different.

That was her first step in her economy, where she learned her first.

“Do you know how much the population increased as other races were absorbed into the empire?”

“About 120 million. Do you think you don’t even know this much?”

“That’s right. Currently, the Empire has absorbed other races and has a total population of 220 million. Do you know what this means?”

He nods his head as if for granted.

“An increase in population is an opportunity to expand the market.”

“That’s right. The difference between 100 million people consuming and 200 million people consuming is huge. However, with the introduction of slavery, the economic rights of other races were taken away, and we are still conducting economic activities only with humans. Even with a much bigger market and bigger money to roll.”

“But other parts of the economy have grown more than before.”

“I guess so. Slaves were brought in as cheap labor. I would have spent more on extravagance. Can that really be called economic expansion?”

She took a short breath and opened her mouth again.

“It is true that the size of the economy has grown through slavery. However, slavery prevents the expansion of the market and only causes the resentment of other races to continue to accumulate. If one day another race rebels like that, we will lose our labor force as before, and furthermore, it will become a great threat to the empire.”

He was speechless. Seriously, I put my hand to my mouth and think about it.

Actually, Rexton must have known about it. She’d be able to increase the size of the market.

But it must have been because there was an order from the imperial family to oppress other races.

At that time, it must have been a very sensitive time, and there was nothing good about being out of the eyes of the emperor, so there was no choice but to follow.

Besides, changing the infrastructure while it has already been built is a big risk, so you might have thought it best to keep the current situation.

“But isn’t it the same that other races still hate the Empire?”

“That’s not much of a problem, but… …. Aside from that, the other races that live together rubbing their skin together didn’t seem to hate humans.”

“How can you be sure?”

“Because the Aus Spirit is already living like that.”

“!”

Rexton looks at Aus.

He couldn’t tackle him as long as there was a precedent that had already been proven.

“Surely so.”

He shook his head up and down a few times as if he was convinced.

“Anyway, you mean slavery…… They are blocking the expansion of the market.”

“As expected, you are the Grand Duke of Rexton. That’s the point.”

“Then let me ask you something. What are you going to do if they do not work when they are freed from slavery?”

“That’s nothing to worry about. Other races tend to value hard work. It’s because I lived in an environment where I would die if I didn’t work. Thanks to that, I can pride myself on being much more sincere than humans.”

Even if he can’t help but stand on the side of the crown prince, at least with these words, he will be able to get rid of the justification for supporting slavery.

“…… I don’t know how they kept such a talented woman rotten.”

He laughed weakly, and a smile appeared on his face.