--- Part 2, Chapter 1 —

“There’s no one left.”

After the wolf’s death and a brief victory celebration, I shut myself away in my office, buried beneath an endless stream of reports.

“There’s no one left.”

Following two consecutive wars, the empire had lost a significant portion of its manpower.

The strongest elites—like Giel, Feltz, and Duke Fael—were still intact, but nearly everyone just below their level had been wiped out.

Count Darhan, who had been in charge of the academy, was dead, and those who had maintained the eastern territories in the absence of a lord had either perished or defected. Many nobles across other regions had also died, leaving too few to govern even the existing lands, let alone any newly conquered ones.

As I sat there, lamenting the situation while buried in documents, Dia slipped quietly into the room.

She had been coming and going so often lately that I told her not to bother with formalities. 

On the first day, she insisted on maintaining propriety, but after nearly a hundred visits in a single day, she grew accustomed to entering without a word.

“Minister Dia?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

“Is there a new report?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Across the empire, calls for vengeance against the beastfolk are intensifying. The hardliners demand total eradication, while even the moderates say they should never again be allowed to form organized groups.”

It was an unsurprising response. After all, the beastfolk had invaded overnight, killing families and lords without warning.

“Anything else?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Sir Frio, the vice-captain of the Imperial Knights, lost his younger sister at the academy—murdered by a beastfolk. As a result, the Imperial Knights overwhelmingly support extermination.”

I paused for a moment of silence in her memory, then looked back at Dia.

“When is the joint funeral for those who died at the academy?”

“In two days, Your Majesty.”

“I will attend. And the Royal Guard—how do they feel?”

“Only the first and second divisions fought the beastfolk directly, and their losses were minimal. 

As a result, their stance is relatively moderate—though only when compared to the hardliners. 

Even so, they’re deeply unsettled by how easily the empire was invaded.”

I nodded. “I understand. In truth, wiping out the remaining beastfolk wouldn’t be difficult now that their core fighters are gone.”

Many clan leaders had died within the empire, and their main forces—including their chieftain—had been destroyed by the Grand Duke. While each beastfolk was said to be formidable, the ragtag remnants posed no real threat without proper leadership.

“The real question is what to do once they’re gone. The beastfolk territories are vast—managing them is another story.”

Dia let out a small sigh. “Indeed…”

The empire’s greatest problem, yet again, was the lack of personnel. The South and East were nearly lawless, and in other regions, many lords had died.

“We also need to incorporate Daman and Tamiel.”

Daman’s massive army had been completely destroyed by the Mage Corps, and Tamiel’s elite forces had been annihilated by the Imperial Knights. With no effective military left, these two nations would have to be absorbed—but the question was who would manage them.

Taking them under my direct control was out of the question; the central territories alone were already stretching the empire’s administrative capacity to its limits. It would be too much of a burden.

“Minister, what do you have for me?”

“Your Majesty…” Dia hesitated. “A rebellion has broken out in Daman.”

“A rebellion?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. After losing their entire army in that misguided campaign, public sentiment toward the royal family plummeted. Five noble houses joined forces and imprisoned the king. 

They’ve announced that they will rename Daman to ‘Chamber’ and plan to rule under a council of five houses.”

“Hah, how absurd.”

“They’ve contacted our intelligence department, asking permission to send an envoy to Your Majesty.”

I shook my head. “Ignore them. Daman is still Daman.”

Whether the king was trying to dodge blame or had truly been deposed wasn’t my concern. Still…

“Minister, do we have the means to control them?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Their new regime appears unstable. They’re looking to us for support to secure their hold, so we could easily set up a pro-empire government.”

“That won’t be enough. I want Daman—or Chamber, as they call it—reduced to nothing more than a puppet state. Minister Dia, pick one of those five houses and install its leader as the new king. Deploy an elite unit of the Imperial Knights to guard them. You’ll oversee the operation personally. Cooperate with Sir Giel.”

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

Daman was a large country. Though its military was weak, it had considerable wealth and territory. Fully annexing it would be too cumbersome for the empire right now, so turning it into a puppet state was the best move. We could decide later if a complete takeover was warranted.

“What about Tamiel?”

We couldn’t simply leave it alone. They had invaded us; there had to be consequences. But how exactly to proceed?

“Wiping them out completely would be difficult.”

Unlike the beastfolk, Tamiel hadn’t caused severe losses to the empire. 

Their elite troops had been decimated by the second and third divisions of the Imperial Knights, and their king had been slain by Giel. 

Although many said “Destroy Tamiel!”, few demanded the wholesale slaughter of its people—doing so would seem excessive. In truth, public feeling was more disdain than anger.

And their land was practically worthless.

“Maybe we’ll use it as an exile territory.”

“Pardon?” Dia’s eyes widened.

“We have a good number of traitors this time, yes?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.” After Giore came back, many of his followers defected.

“And we haven’t executed them all, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Chaos had slowed the process of dealing with them. They were nobles, after all; knights had to handle the executions properly. Yet our knights were busy hunting down the beastfolk remnants and keeping order.

“Minister, let’s bury this rebellion.”

“...I’m sorry?” Dia’s eyes asked if she had heard right.

I understood her reaction. Given how I’d executed nearly everyone who posed a threat to my authority, it must have been shocking to hear me choose a different path now.

“Minister, this is the third rebellion since I took the throne.”

“Ah…!”

“Not even ten years have passed, yet I’ve already faced three uprisings. What will future generations think of me? Let’s just bury this one quietly. In the official records, write that these traitors did nothing to repel the beastfolk invasion and ran off to save their own hides. As punishment, they’ll be exiled to what was once Tamiel. That’s all.”

They’d never been a serious threat in the first place. Whether they lived or died made little difference. Being forced into exile there would be humiliation enough.

“Yes, Your Majesty. I’m sure these disloyal nobles will be relieved by Your Majesty’s mercy.”

“Disloyal, indeed. When the empire was under attack, they fled to save themselves. There is no greater betrayal.”

And so, those who had defected with Giore were now considered cowardly deserters.

Rather than being executed, they would be exiled to Tamiel, destined to fade away in obscurity.

“While we’re at it, gather up all the other troublesome figures—the ones we can’t quite justify executing but don’t want around—and send them as well. Let Tamiel serve as our new exile territory. I’ll think of a suitable name later and formalize it.”

Truth be told, I had ordered too many executions already. Having an official place of exile might help temper that in the future.

“Understood, Your Majesty.”

“We’ll also need someone to govern Tamiel’s lands. Someone who can’t be swayed by a bunch of exiles, who’s loyal, and who won’t think this is a demotion… but is there really anyone like that?”

I sighed. “Hah… There’s no one.”

“Your Majesty… about the beastfolk who traveled with the Hero.”

“Ah, yes. That business.”

That fool Xian. I told him to bring the beastfolk here, but he let them flee to the Great Forest. If they had come to the capital, I could have staged a simple trial and exiled them under a travel ban. Now things were more complicated.

If they stayed in the Great Forest, that was one thing, but if they joined forces with the elves and rallied the scattered beastfolk, that could be a real problem.

“Minister, we still have a communication link to the Elf Queen, correct?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. We obtained one during the Anti-Demon Lord Coalition talks.”

“Bring it to me.”

Pressing a hand to my throbbing temples, I took the communication device from Dia. As the Elf Queen’s image flickered to life, the pounding in my head only grew worse.