“I have no words to offer, Your Majesty. My deepest apologies.”

Dia, having heard the news from me, bowed her head with a somber expression.

It must be shameful for her, having failed to detect and report the presence of traitors in advance, and now hearing it from me instead.

If someone like Duke Roze had made such a mistake, I would have been furious. But with loyal Dia, there’s no need for that.

“Their accomplice has enough influence to freely enter and exit the Triell estate. It’s no surprise the Intelligence Division, focused on the Demon King, the Hero, and the kingdoms, missed this. However, from now on, pay more attention to internal affairs as well.”

“I will keep that in mind, Your Majesty.”

“Your Majesty. Giel Vendio, at your call, has arrived. May I enter?”

Ah, the Commander of the Imperial Knight Order. He’s here now. It would have been better if he had come with Dia.

Now I have to explain everything all over again.

“You may enter.”

With my permission, a knight clad in pitch-black armor entered.

The Imperial Sword, the Shadow of Arhan.

The Shadow Sword, sworn only to Arhan and no other empire, commander of the Imperial Knight Order.

Giel Vendio, though one of the top ten warriors on the entire continent, was known for his absolute loyalty to Arhan, just like all the knights in the order. He was one of my trusted subordinates, akin to Duke Fael and Minister Dia.

“Sir Giel. Unfortunately, it appears there are traitors within the empire.”

I relayed the information I had received from Roze to Giel. As soon as he heard it, his face turned a bright shade of red, visibly seething with anger. It was quite amusing to watch.

“Such…! Your Majesty, just give the order. I will lead the Knight Order and bring you the heads of those traitors.”

“Calm yourself, Sir Giel. The important thing here is not the surviving members of the Lute family. Those scoundrels were never the main issue to begin with.”

“They are likely nothing more than mere puppets.

It would be much more advantageous for them to use the heirs of a Marquis family to approach the other vassals of the empire, rather than some mysterious group.”

“Then...”

“Work with the Minister of Intelligence to investigate the forces aiding them. I will grant you unlimited authority in this matter—don’t hesitate to investigate anyone. Your targets are all the nobles of the empire.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

“I will send a separate notice to my siblings and the vassals, requesting their cooperation.

As for the counts and lower-ranking nobles, feel free to investigate them at your discretion. If anyone refuses, you are authorized to execute them on the spot. I won’t hold it against you.”

The Imperial Knight Order is the Emperor’s sword.

There may not be any nobles foolish enough to defy the Knight Order and refuse an investigation, but it’s always good to be prepared.

“Yes, Your Majesty. However, when you say ‘all nobles,’ do you mean even the northern...”

The North? Ah.

“There is no need to investigate them. Simply send someone to inform them of the situation within the empire and request their help in capturing any traitors or accomplices they might come across.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

“Good. You may both leave now.”

After issuing my orders and dismissing them, I returned to my work.

However, even as I tried to focus, the thought of that mysterious group kept lingering in my mind, making it hard to concentrate.

‘Who exactly are these people?’

To be honest, under normal circumstances, I wouldn’t have paid much attention to the existence of traitors or their accomplices.

The imperial family in The Chronicles of Xian was strong.

If the Hero failed, the imperial family would step in and defeat the Demon King themselves.

Of course, the imperial family would suffer considerable damage in that scenario, but the key point is that if they used their full power, they could still kill the Demon King.

And I’ve made that already powerful imperial family even stronger.

I distributed some of the fateful encounters meant for the Hero to my own subordinates, recruited some of the Hero’s allies and companions, and collected all the hidden opportunities across the continent that Xian didn’t need.

I also eliminated any political rivals who posed a threat to imperial authority early on.

So, even if some mysterious group is targeting me, it’s more of an annoyance than a real problem.

The real issue is that I’m currently preparing for war.

Starting a war without resolving internal problems first would be madness.

‘Should I delay the war…?’

No, unfortunately, the timing of the war is not something I can control.

I’ve already pushed the five kingdoms into starting it, so the war will begin the moment that old man Jer loses control.

That means I need to finish cleaning house before the war begins.

I don’t need to catch every last member of that mysterious group.

I just need to figure out if any of the empire’s nobles are collaborating with them, and if so, who they are. Once I eliminate those few, the war can proceed as planned.

If it’s an external enemy, not an internal one, then adding one or two more won’t make much difference.

_________

“Haha, so you’re saying such people exist?”

“Indeed.”

I shared the news about the traitors while dining with Duke Fael.

“Traitors, huh? Vile creatures. Ah, Your Majesty, what about seeking the cooperation of Duke Audas, no, Sir Xian?”

Asking Xian for cooperation, huh?

It’s not that I hadn’t considered it.

“Xian’s influence is small, and he has no network of informants, making him ill-suited for this kind of work. Besides, if Xian moves, his companions will move too, and I would prefer they not get involved in imperial affairs.”

“Ah, that makes sense.”

Letting the holy kingdom or those sharp-eared elves roam the empire under the pretext of catching traitors? That would be like bringing in a tiger to chase off wolves.

“But Your Majesty, you seem quite exhausted. You don’t look like someone who’s just worried about a few traitors. Is there something else troubling you?”

Duke Fael, being one of the nobles who truly understands the strength of the imperial family, didn’t seem to view the traitor issue as a serious matter.

Ah, now that I think about it, I haven’t told him about the upcoming war.

“Ah, Duke. In truth, I’m planning to wage a large-scale war soon.”

“What…?”

“I’ve already instructed the Minister of Intelligence to spread false rumors about the empire and the imperial family being weakened. Soon, I’ll convene a continental meeting and pressure the kings of the kingdoms.”

Now that I think about it, the traitor issue could be useful when dealing with the other kingdoms. I could point to one of them as the mastermind behind the rebellion and use it as an excuse to investigate, which will surely provoke them.

“Hmm… A war, you say…”

“When the war begins, I’d like the Fael family to handle the Kingdom of Anon.”

“Well, alright.”

Anon isn’t a small or weak kingdom, but despite me entrusting him with the entire kingdom, the duke casually continued his meal without much reaction.

“Your Majesty, is there really a need to wage war against all the kingdoms? Sparing Jer and Daman might be more beneficial.”

Indeed. From a purely profit-and-loss perspective, it would be better to leave those two kingdoms intact.

Jer is a fairly powerful nation, and a war with them would be costly, but conquering them wouldn’t yield much in return.

As for Daman, their king is so incompetent that we can exploit them without even going to war.

But my decision to wage this war isn’t based on minor gains.

“Duke, have you learned nothing from this upcoming war?”

“Learned something from this war…?”

The duke didn’t seem to grasp what I was getting at.

“Duke, I’ve learned many things. Especially from observing the elves, beastfolk, and demons.”

“Elves, you see, are unified under their World Tree and its representative. An entire race pledges loyalty to one leader. The beastfolk are the same. “

‘Though they are divided into wolf clans, tiger clans, and so on, they unite under the banner of their federation and pledge loyalty to a single leader. Even the demons—all of them follow the Demon King.”

“Hmm...”

“Do you remember when the Anti-Demon Alliance was formed? When the Elf Queen and the Beastfolk Chieftain decided to go to war, their entire races joined the fight. But what about humanity? How did we act? Even after I repeatedly warned of the Demon King’s threat, pressured that old man Jer, and even after the Demon King’s army attacked Anon, we only joined the alliance at the very last moment.”

“That’s true.”

“We humans must be the most disorganized of all the intelligent species on this continent.”

Humans are the most numerous species on the continent. Even if you combine the total populations of the elves and beastfolk, they still don’t match our numbers.

But if you ask whether we’re the strongest species? Well…

“I can’t stand this any longer. Now that the Demon King is dead, the elves and beastfolk will undoubtedly start acting up. If those two species wage war, do you think humanity stands a chance?”

Duke Fael took a moment to seriously contemplate my question.

“Humans are by no means weak, but... indeed, it would be difficult for the empire alone to face the entire elven or beastfolk race.”

“Exactly. We have no idea how many elves live deep in the Great Forest, how long they’ve lived, or how many master-level fighters they have. We wouldn’t even know that the Elven Queen has twelve Royal Guards, all master-level, if the Demon King hadn’t stirred things up.”

Even in the game, the full strength of the elves was never fully revealed.

In most routes, they remained neutral in the war against the Demon King, and even in the few routes where they did participate, it wasn’t in full force.

“The same goes for the beastfolk. Until the war, we didn’t know that all their tribes formed a united federation and swore loyalty to one supreme leader. Individually, their tribes might not seem threatening, but united? We can’t even begin to measure their strength.”

“Your Majesty, if you’re concerned about those two, wouldn’t it be better to conserve our strength and form alliances with other kingdoms, rather than rushing into war?”

I shook my head.

“Duke, I cannot trust the kingdoms. If war breaks out, they’ll be the first to stab the empire in the back. But fortunately, the empire still has time.”

“Time, Your Majesty?”

“Think of Duke Audas and his companions.”

“Duke Audas’ companions...? Ah!”

“Exactly. The Elven Princess, the Beastfolk Chieftain’s successor, the Saintess of the Holy Kingdom, and the rising star of the Mage Tower. They each represent major powers outside of the empire and the kingdoms.”

“Are you saying you formed the party with that in mind?”

“Of course. If efficiency in slaying the Demon King was my only concern, I would have deployed the empire’s elite forces instead of those inexperienced youths. I would have asked you to handle things, rather than sending Rael.”

What I aimed for was to attach the next generation’s rising stars to Xian. You must have noticed how close they’ve become.

After defeating the Demon King, instead of returning to their respective factions, they chose to travel together.

And they’ve done more than just bond. They’ve seen Xian’s power up close, more than anyone else. As long as Xian remains within the empire, those factions will have to think twice before starting a war.

Xian’s presence in the empire gives us time. We must use it to prepare.”

“So, Your Majesty, are you also planning to go to war with the Mage Tower and the Holy Kingdom?”

The Mage Tower and the Holy Kingdom.

Neither of these factions is one that can be absorbed through conventional warfare.

“Unfortunately, no. The Mage Tower and the Holy Kingdom cannot be conquered, unless every last mage and follower disappears. Even if we wage war, we could never truly annex them.”

Many of the Empire’s magic battalions are filled with mages who also have ties to the Mage Tower. Most of their teachers still reside there.

And how many of our citizens are followers of Kiria? Not just commoners, but a significant portion of the nobility are believers in Kiriya. If we were to declare war on the Holy Kingdom, it would undoubtedly spark rebellion.

“But in the end, they are still human. If a war breaks out between species, they’ll side with the empire. The key difference between them and the kingdoms is that they can be trusted.”