Lonely Attack on the Different World (WN)

Day 76 – Late Night, The Capital

In the end, not even 30% of noble families remained. And the remaining decent noble families had their strength reduced, leaving them with little spare strength to create branch families.

However, those that were connected to the corrupted nobles, wouldn’t ever be allowed to assume a public post, enter into the service of some noble house, or be restored in rank. We lack both noble houses and personnel, but the black-haired boy and his associates flat out refused becoming nobility.

Handing over all of the achievements to the Royal Family without taking any rewards and refusing to accept a rank, and having no interest in fame and honor. The only thing he wants is apparently 『Affection Rating』, as I understood, it an important item which prevents one from being scolded despite doing nothing wrong, but after checking the palace’s vaults and records, just in case, I found nothing of the sort… I would’ve been shocked if there was such a thing there. Well, allowing him to quietly carry off some stuff from the Royal Treasure, can be considered a sort of a gratitude, even if in form only, but considering that it’s a treasure of a broke Royal Family without anything of value left there, it would’ve hardly been enough to make up to him even if he took everything.

「Mellotosam, we don’t have enough noble families. It’s going to hinder proper administration, do you have any capable individuals who can be given a title? I’m sure you have lots of such people in the Frontier, so gimme some.」

「Nope. Also, nobility has low popularity in the Frontier, you know? Our house, for once, is quite poor, and the overall image of nobility is 『Dangerous』, 『Arduous』, 『Will be teased by the boy』, so there hardly would be anyone interested in becoming one.」

It was an unpopular profession! No, that’s actually the correct outlook. If people look with envy at nobility who are supposed to work and fight for their sake, then there is something very wrong going on. But to think there is such an opposition to receiving a title, is Omui doing alright?

But that’s the Count of the Frontier, so this much is expected.

House Omui’s history is a series of endless fights and death against the strongest monsters without any assistance or support. That’s why no one wants to become a noble themselves. And that’s why everyone admires and idolizes them. A great difference from the Royal Family.

But to think that being teased by the boy is a part of nobility’s image…

「Reporting, they took the bait. End of report.」

「What do you mean, end of report! Are the boy and his companions safe, is probably a silly question, they obviously are… But what about the numbers?」

A message from Terrysel arrived. The boy and his companions became bait, luring in all of the rebellious nobles by flaunting such a last chance to them. If they go out defenseless and unarmed, bringing the Princess and the young lady of the Frontier, then surely, the nobles would rush to abduct them, and if they are that stupid, then they would have no one to blame for their downfall but themselves.

In fact, the letter that previously came from the Frontier is the perfect answer to that.

『For what reason the nobles of the country awaiting its destruction at the hands of dungeon masters are picking a fight with a person capable of slaying those dungeon masters? If this is a suicide attempt then please don’t come here and die on your own. By Omui.』 that letter marked the breakdown of negotiations, which led to the split in the Kingdom. The culprit responsible for that letter is currently sitting next to me, monopolizing a massage chair.

But that is the answer. All those things that made the nobles go blind with greed, be it the maidens’ beauty, the enormous wealth, or royal blood, are nothing more than a nice extra, while their true nature is that of Dungeon Slayers. Trying to abduct the strongest combat unit on the continent… If they were capable of pulling off such a feat, they would’ve been able to kill a dungeon master on their own, don’t they understand that?

The beauty of the maidens and two royal coins that he purposely flashed in their faces, overwhelmed the nobles with greed. And with them underestimating him due to the effect of the theater play, they ended up completely duped.

No sort of a noble would be able to escape the punishment after assaulting the guest of the highest honor invited personally by the King. Crushing their families wouldn’t raise any legal challenges. They were cornered and pushed down to the point where they no longer can snake their way out of the issue. From the beginning to the end, everything was part of the trap, and its bait were the strongest executioners.

「It’s over.」

「Yeah.」

The history of the Kingdom is over. The comrades that shared the same will and rose up for the sake of the people are the current noble families, and 70 percent of them are now gone. 70% no longer had that will.

The heroic tale of the Kingdom’s foundation decayed and died out. But since the Royal Family remains, that will must be carried over even so.

「Mellotosam… What do we do?」

With 70% of the nobles gone, governing the land is impossible, having said that, leaving a corrupt administration is also meaningless. We cannot let everything go to waste in such a fashion after having so much done for us.

「What kind of question is that? If there was something you could do, you would’ve done that a long time ago, no? Since you haven’t done anything, there is nothing you can do. It’s impossible for you.」

「Even so, something has to be done… Even if it’s not possible, I absolutely cannot afford to give up after what that boy has done for us.」

The nobles’ administration resorted to secret accounting without reporting the actual numbers. The documents were tampered with, making it impossible to even tell which one is correct. There isn’t enough information to govern the land. It’s to the point that there is no telling how long it would take until it’s possible to properly govern the country again if we start everything from zero. But even if we can’t finish it during my reign, it is still something that has to be done. We have to press forward, no matter how slow the pace might be.

But in the end, disorder in the Kingdom means suffering of the people. This chaos is bound to spread into the provinces too. But it’s unavoidable since we had to dispose of the nobles who were supposed to do that, and without enough successors it will take an enormous amount of time to go through all of the investigation and research required to compile the necessary information. In the end, the people will end up being inconvenienced the most by it.

(*Thud*)

「I said that it’s impossible for you, Diarusez. And it’s not like I can do either.」

Having said that, he threw several bulky books at me. The title of the first one is 『Something-something… Playkingdom? No idea what it’s actually called, but these are the management proposals for the Kingdom of that Playking dude, or more like a plan, I guess? Kind of?』 and the contests are… Complete information on the state of the Kingdom in minute details, including unaltered taxation numbers, harvest volumes, population, precise figures and information for villages and towns, all compiled together.

The truth that the Royal Family couldn’t obtain no matter what means we used is neatly put together here. This is… If this is true, then more than half of the Kingdom’s taxes was pocketed by the nobles, while the people were taxed at almost double the prescribed rate… To think the corruption that continued for dozens or hundreds of years was this fatal. The Kingdom was bound to perish at this rate.

If all of the figures known to the Royal Family were altered and falsified then it’s only natural that any countermeasure made based on them can only make the situation worse, and how many mines are there in towns and villages that the royal family doesn’t know about… Such a thing is impossible without the Capital’s bureaucracy also being in cahoots.

And another book 『Pockets with pocketed money? Well, not literally? Probably?』 is the list of official and shadow accounts. Who moved money where under what pretext and how it was hidden is written down in great detail… As expected, there were accomplices, huh. First provincial officials would embezzle, and report falsified numbers to their local lord, then, the lord of the domain would embezzled themselves and only then pay their share of tax to the Kingdom, which is then embezzled by the Kingdom’s bureaucracy before it makes its way into the treasury. The money that reached us was ‘pocketed’ multiple times and all of the numbers falsified. Everything was rotten to the very core.

With this 70% of the officials are going to disappear too. The entire administration will have to be rebuilt from zero. But it’s possible with this book. The entire structure of the pointless rights, interests, and concessions is already written down here without any need to investigate it, so everything can be handled with just a third of the initial budget and manpower. In the end, 70% were simply embezzling money without doing any work anyway. And that is on top of being paid a large salary.

The suggestions are listed with the descriptions of procedures that have to be followed to carry them out, potential issues that might arise, and ways to counter them. …With this book not only government officials, but even regional lords and even the King might as well be mere decorations. Simply following this is enough. But even if we follow this book to the letter, there is no future for the country unless we obtain a proper understanding of it. To govern this Kingdom for the ages to come we have to develop the ability on par with this book.

Not to mention that the Kingdom was saved.

The writings are perfectly compiled and backed up by thorough research. In other words, everything was settled from the beginning. It means that it was already decided that the Kingdom is to die and be established anew.

Just how much time it took to carry out such a meticulous investigation, and then compile, understand, and calculate all of the vast information involved? Such a terrific amount of survey and reports would require several years of work from an entire country. Moreover, not only does it mention what should be done, but also what action will lead to which result, a blueprint for the Kingdom’s future.

「So this is the power that gave the Frontier a new life… I’m just being handed everything on a silver platter.」

「The same goes for the Frontier. And the Frontier’s version is even more detailed than this. It’s alright.」

So something even more amazing than this exists?! From what I heard, there are all sorts of books, from those on specific industrial and agricultural policies to public works schedules and budget plans, from mine development plans to new crops, city plans, flood control, and even defense plans. Makes sense that the territory will be reborn. It’s enough to found a new country.

In other words, they could’ve abandoned the Kingdom, propping up Omui as a new state, while leaving the Kingdom to its demise.

That’s what it must mean. That’s how far we have driven the Frontier into the corner.

「Reporting, all of the nobles’ troops were captured and taken into custody. The noble district was devastated and collapsed in the process. It’s currently being converted into an empty lot. End of report.」

So that’s why they went outside to lure them out. Now, even if the nobles won’t be executed, they will have nothing left, losing their rank, mansions, and assets. Yes, just like those orphans.

In other words, they were outraged for the orphans. The Kingdom and the nobles are just a little something that happened along the way. Those that bullied the children were bullied out of everything in turn, while we ended up getting saved for the sake of creating the future for them, getting handed those books for that purpose. As if saying, follow through with your 『Royal Family for the People(children)』 properly.

We were entrusted with the future of the children that we once failed. We have to carry this through. The thing we were entrusted with is way too great after all.