Lord of Disease (JP-GL) 368

368: A Distortion in the Twilight

“—When I heard that you were going to burn the entire country, I doubted your sanity, but the damage to the capital seems to have been surprisingly light.”

A mocking voice echoed in the luxurious, but dim, room. Everyone gathered here, both men and women, were dark elves with long, bamboo-leaf-like ears. So, even though it was still daytime, and the only light was the light that streamed in from the gaps in the closed curtains, there was no problem with having a conversation.

But normally, you would open the curtains to let the light in, or you would light a lamp. To have a secret meeting in a dark, closed room was like saying you had something to hide.

“Yes, what was lost was great. But should we be glad that our traditions were not lost?”

“…However, this ‘reform’ is too much.”

“You speak so frankly…”

“We cannot let that poisonous insect run rampant any longer…”

Currently, a ‘reform’ was underway in Listrea. While they had been subtly obstructing it, it had had little effect, and all the bills were likely to pass.

While they had their own opinions on the marriage system, the most pressing matter was—the reform of the tax system, which would begin with the establishment of a family register and would take over a decade.

It was based on the ‘registration of all citizens,’ which I had heard had been implemented in the Perte Empire.

While they had argued that it was an excessive control by the state, in reality, there were almost no disadvantages. It would increase the administrative burden, but the greatest enemy, the humans, were gone.

The resources that had been allocated for the war were now being used to improve the lives of the people.

The tax system, which had been rather archaic for the continent… was a system where the number of residents and the economic scale of each region were roughly grasped, and the person in charge of that region would pay a designated amount to the state.

It was a simple system, operated in the name of honor. Rank Kingdom was similar, but their tax rate seemed to have been quite harsh, and compared to that, the people seemed to have a sense of… relief.

Incidentally, the new system was apparently modeled after the Perte Empire, but it was said that since there were many deserts and it was difficult for the residents to move, it had been easy to grasp the situation. On the other hand, there had been a different kind of trouble, with the nomads in some regions.

Incidentally, in the Holy Kingdom of Etrantal, the number of residents was roughly grasped in the form of a parish, and the collection was a little more in line with the actual situation than in Rank Kingdom, and the tax rate was significantly lower. …But there was a ‘custom’ of ‘donations’ to the state and the church, and in reality, it seemed to have been about the same as the Empire.

The family register system itself had been considered several times, and the argument was sound. It would allow for a more detailed collection. And some would be cheaper, and some would be more expensive. That was the nature of a tax reform.

And with increased transparency, corruption would be exposed.

If you underreported the number of residents or the scale of the economy… the difference would simply go into your pocket. And it was only natural that there would be ‘expenses’ in the ‘collection.’ The trick was to not do it openly.

Those who had gathered there were aware that they were engaged in wrongdoing, but they had no intention of neglecting the people. They would not commit the folly of milking a dairy cow to death, or of wringing the neck of a chicken that could lay eggs.

There was no need to rush. They, who were a long-lived race, had a long time, and in the current monetary economy, if you had a little… more gold than others, you could spend that long time comfortably.

It wasn’t that they hadn’t given anything in return. They had protected the people as soldiers. …And they had received a reward for that. That was all.

But many soldiers had fallen, and the Listrea Demon Kingdom’s army would probably not return to its former size. It had been established to counter the humans, and it had lost its reason for being. If it was just a matter of dealing with the magical beasts in the country, then even now, it was enough, and even if they were to have a surplus, they probably couldn’t expect a large increase in their numbers.

And the forces that could be left to play… would also be gone.

“We must teach them… who has truly protected and supported this country.”

There was no doubt that they had protected and supported this country. But it had been as a parasite.

“Then let us use the ‘wedding.’”

“Yes. An undead, with a member of the same sex. And a maid, at that. How… spineless…”

They chuckled in the dim room.

“On that battlefield, many of the elite have fallen… and we have preserved our forces.”

There had been a force that had been deployed in the rear, as a ‘final line of defense.’

The six armies of Listrea had all been greatly weakened.

And above all, the army that had been established for the purpose of ‘destroying the enemy’s domestic infrastructure’ was no longer needed in Listrea, now that the war was over.

“The Lord of Disease’s job is over.”

Everyone nodded, satisfied.

“—That is the situation.”

Liz was in her assassin’s garb, black leather, with only her large knife removed.

After she had finished her intelligence gathering, she had come to my room, and after I had finished listening to her report, I looked at her face again.

Liz, with no emotion in her eyes. Her tone was completely flat, and her emotions were perfectly suppressed, and yet, that very perfection conveyed her irritation to me.

“Good work. —So, what is the skill of the enemy’s assassins?”

Since Liz had returned safely, it was impossible that they were better than her, but we had to be cautious.

“There are none.”

“…What did you say?”

“I said, there are none.”

“…Ah, I see. So, there are information gatherers with no combat ability?”

The word ‘assassin’ gave the impression of a being who directly assassinated people, and that was true, but skills like espionage and infiltration… or, to put it crudely, thievery, were also included in the skills of an assassin in this world.

The survivors of the Sixth Army’s assassination squad had now sealed their assassination techniques and were scattered throughout the country as spies, using their infiltration skills.

So, the words ‘there are no assassins’ meant that there were no one with assassination skills. …If I didn’t think so, it wouldn’t make sense. But she repeated herself.

“There are none.”

“You’re lying.”

“I, too, still think I’m being played… but.”

“That’s right.”

It was true. The ‘unstable elements’ were a part of the Second Army, the Dark Knights… mainly dark elves, with a few beastmen mixed in… or so it seemed. As far as I knew, they only had regular forces, and no assassins. And yet, they were not usually listed as assassins on the documents, but were given a dummy registration. For example, Liz was a former member of the Royal Guard, and she was, and still is, the vice-commander of the Sixth Army. Her position as a maid was not official, but was included in the various duties of a vice-commander. The fact that many thought she was just a maid, a decorative vice-commander, because of her charm, was probably her own fault.

So, even if there was no one who looked like one, I had thought that they would have assassins in their private employ…

The ‘battle’ with them had been mainly on paper.

Underreporting and padding. It was a fraud, but there was no clear evidence… or rather, it was the kind of thing that could be dismissed as an ‘administrative error.’ And besides, it was a tax system that had accepted a certain margin of error, and had been reluctant to allocate the resources to it. As long as you had honor, you wouldn’t make a big mistake.

The unstable elements, while their ideology was close to that of an extremist, were also parasites who would not openly rebel. Listrea had not had the strength to perform a surgery to remove them, to drink a strong medicine.

“But the possibility of being played is very small. In other words, without assassins, without accurate information, those people are clearly intending to rebel against the Sixth Army—no, against the Listrea Demon Kingdom.”

“…I’ve been in this country for a long time, and I’ve experienced a lot… a lot… and I thought I was used to it… but I still don’t understand the feelings of a rebel.”

…I had given them a final chance. If they accepted the ‘change in the environment,’ then fine. If they disliked the change, and saw it as an evil, and if they were to try to harm this country to maintain their position as a parasite. Then I would drag them out and eliminate them.

“Me neither. I have no need to understand the feelings of a fool who does not understand reason, pride, or even profit and loss.” Liz spat, flatly. The darkness in her emotionless eyes sent a chill down my spine. Mainly, in a sexual sense.

I stood up from my chair and approached her.

“…My tastes have been warped because of you, Liz.”

“Huh?”

I hugged her and, to prevent her from escaping, I reached for her head and kissed her. Then I carried her to the bed, in a princess carry.

Liz, her eyes still emotionless, with the effect of the mental adjustment spell [Optimization], obediently wrapped her arms around my neck. To kiss and to princess-carry smoothly, you needed the full cooperation of the other person.

“It’s still daytime.”

“That’s what a canopied bed is for. A premarital negotiation with a cute bride.”

“It’s a little late for that.”

“It is.”

I laid her on the bed. I closed the canopy, and it became dim, and we were alone in a small world. One of the good things about becoming a Greater Wraith was that I could see Liz’s face clearly, even in the dim light.

The mental adjustment spell [Optimization], which Liz was fond of using, was not actually a spell that erased emotions. It was a spell to calm the mind and to optimize one’s actions for a purpose. To be able to do what was necessary, with the pain and the fear still there.

So, the fact that she was smiling, with her emotionless eyes. And the fact that she had grabbed the cord of my amulet and had pulled me closer, and had kissed me. All of it was ‘optimized’ for her.

I gently touched her long ear and smiled.

“I like the usual Liz, and your angry face, and your embarrassed face… I like all of it. But when your eyes are without light, you look like an assassin, and I love it. …It reminds me of when we first met.”

Liz’s smile deepened.

“I think your tastes were warped from the beginning, Master.”

I had a feeling her wit was also being optimized.