Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 170

170: The Imperial Guard Training Manual

The Perte Empire was a modern nation, founded by a coalition of desert tribes.

If you counted from the time they began calling themselves the ‘Perte Empire,’ they were the youngest of the three great nations, but if you included their tribal history, they were older than both Rank Kingdom and the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal.

The tribes had been rivals, but they worshipped the same sun and fire god, Perte, and had maintained their existence by forming an unconditional alliance against external threats.

Then, the balance of power shifted.

A war of tribal unification broke out, and like a row of dominoes, the power structure of the desert was rewritten in an instant. They had always worshipped the same god and had an alliance against external enemies.

The tribal chief who had claimed that this was not an invasion, but a unification for the sake of prosperity, was a rather wise ruler.

And so, with little bloodshed—a unified armed force emerged in the desert.

Several generations later, the founding emperor, who would later be known as the ‘Father of Perte,’ declared the founding of a nation in the name of God. They had begun to fight not over oases, but to escape the desert, and now, the desert region made up about two-thirds of the empire’s territory.

From its origins, it was a pure military nation, in some ways the most similar to Listrea.

And the pride of the Perte Empire was the Imperial Guard.

Their strength came from their pure physical ability, their refined physical enhancement magic, their high-quality equipment, and the culmination of all these factors, their high level of training. They were said to be the finest warriors in the empire.

There was no lie in those words. There was no secret to their strength. They were simply, purely, strong.

But their origins were… special.

The empire was one of the nations where slavery still existed. They were clearly defined as ‘property,’ and were protected by law, so abuse was, in theory, forbidden. But it was still forced labor, and the concept of human rights did not exist.

The Imperial Guard were all former slaves.

This was, of course, a top secret. If the disinformation unit hadn’t obtained the Imperial Guard’s training guide—a ‘Manual for Creating Loyal and Resilient Soldiers’—no one else—not even the Imperial Guard themselves—would have known.

They were incredibly resilient warriors, who swore loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor and the Perte Empire.

They were similar to the Holy Knights of the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal, who maintained their high morale and training through their faith, but also quite different.

First, they focused exclusively on physical ability. Offensive magic was, for the most part, used by the enemy, and their own mana was used to power their magic weapons and armor. Warriors did not need offensive magic—that was their philosophy.

And it was a rational one. Offensive magic was draining. And it was the specialty of the ‘demons,’ who had dark elves and demons among their ranks. To fight the enemy on their own terms was the act of a fool.

And in fact, if you refined your physical enhancement, even a human could compete.

But to bridge the gap in raw physical ability, you would normally have to rely on numbers.

However—about one in a thousand was a hero, born with exceptional physical ability or mana capacity, who could transcend the racial barrier.

And the empire had chosen to turn every single one of these gifted individuals into a warrior who was convenient for the empire.

There were no exceptions. No individual freedom. No freedom of occupation, no freedom of thought. If you were suited to be a warrior, you became a warrior.

Because they needed the strongest warriors on earth, who swore loyalty only to His Majesty the Emperor and the empire.

The trick, once you understood it, was simple.

If one in a thousand had the potential, then you managed the entire population and selected that one from a thousand.

To that end, the empire had established a strict census system, a system so advanced it was almost an anachronism in this world.

Or rather, ‘in advance’ was not the right word. Because no other country had such a sophisticated census. It was common for taxes to be assigned to each region, for the local lords to collect them, and for the rest to line their own pockets.

This was the same in Listrea, except that the rewards were fixed, and there was little room for personal gain. And as for the census, it was one of the most disorganized on the continent.

This was perhaps due to their long lifespans. There was no need for strict ‘management,’ and a culture that valued honor over money was deeply ingrained.

…But that was also why some were a little… corrupt… and that was a source of funding for the dissidents, so I wanted to reform the legal system once there was peace. Not being obsessed with money was a virtue, but since money could also be a weapon that killed people, not paying attention to it was a vice.

Now, as for the empire, they made full use of this census system to provide free health checkups for all newborns.

Therefore, the Perte Empire had a lower infant mortality rate than Rank Kingdom, which didn’t pay much attention to the common people, and the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal, which had many healers, but where parents often prayed to God until it was too late.

—If you only heard that, it sounded like a very good country.

If it weren’t for the fact that anyone who showed promise was, without exception, sent to the slave pens, the fundamental policy of the Imperial Guard’s creation manual.

While engaged in forced labor, which also served to build up their bodies, they were indoctrinated with loyalty to the empire and the emperor by a ‘mentor.’

And, though it was a secret, mind magic was used.

And the wonderful… no, the terrifying thing was that they didn’t use ‘strong mind magic.’

The ‘strong mind magic’ I had been subjected to was, to some extent, a complete enslavement. It created a doll that barely thought for itself, that only followed the most basic instructions. It was a difficult spell to use, and its use was generally limited to restraining political prisoners who couldn’t be killed but couldn’t be set free, and for perverts who preferred their partners to be dolls.

It was a rather advanced spell, so few could use it.

But ‘weak mind magic’ was different.

Not everyone… but many could use it. And the mentor would act kindly towards the exhausted boys and girls, and… gently slip into the cracks of their hearts.

This technique was almost a form of mind magic. Whoever came up with it was a genius who understood the human heart… and had no heart.

The mind magic they used was just a little, just enough to lower their guard. To make them more receptive to their words.

They slowly, gradually, instilled loyalty to the empire in the children who were engaged in what would undoubtedly be considered child abuse in modern Japan.

And from here, it was the part that chilled me to the bone, the depths of human darkness.

This was, of course, a state-sponsored program, but the facilities where the slave labor was carried out were… ‘raided’… for violating labor standards or for obtaining slaves through illegal means.

And the ones who rescued them were the ‘Empire.’

The Imperial Guard. The mentor was a government official who had infiltrated to expose the crime of illegal slavery. The setup was quite elaborate, with a ‘script’ that even included a scene where the mentor was subjected to violence by the facility staff, ‘to protect the children.’

…There was no room for free will.

Hard labor. No education beyond basic reading, writing, and arithmetic. No chance to broaden their horizons. The kind adult who protected them was subjected to violence. And sometimes, they were, too.

But they were taught that it was ‘wrong.’ That it was ‘evil.’ And that the ‘Empire,’ the ‘Imperial Guard,’ would make everything right. That they were ‘justice.’

And… they were invited to join the Imperial Guard. So that their families would not be attacked by the remnants of the criminal organization. And this was not forced. The ‘heroes’ who had saved them smiled, held out their hands, and said,

“Will you not swear loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor and fight with us to protect the Perte Empire?”

…And their smiles were not lies. Their words were not lies. They said it from the bottom of their hearts.

Because they, too, had been ‘saved.’

Because there were children who were in the ‘same position.’

Because they knew the ‘words they had been happy to hear.’

Because they purely, from the bottom of their hearts, wanted to save the children before them—

…And this was an annual event.

All of it was a charade.

Humans were terrifying. And the darkness was too deep.

I understood why Clarion had been so pale.

The words, written in a detached, bureaucratic tone. The theory, systematically constructed so that anyone could carry it out. The very lack of any malicious intent was what made it so… chilling.

But it wasn’t that the humans of this world were particularly cruel.

While I didn’t know if it was this extreme, raising former slaves to be elite soldiers, their loyalty fueled by gratitude, was a simple and effective method that was even recorded in the history books of my world.

And besides, if you stood on a battlefield without any strength, you would undoubtedly die. If you had strong warriors, you could save more people.

And those warriors, because they had human hearts, believed it was an honor, a happiness, to protect those behind them, to swear loyalty to something precious, to fight alongside their comrades who had shared the same fate.

There was no unnecessary danger in the process. It was all a carefully orchestrated trial. And what was protected by it was the entire empire. And by extension, the entire human world.

The pain of their childhoods was designed to be healed. A system designed to make all citizens happy.

But it was… it was… so…

I didn’t think humans were a heartless race. But humans were capable of this.

Of seeing even kindness as just a tool.

Of being kind to innocent children, just to make them take up a sword. And even to manualize it, to carry it out year after year.

They were capable of it.