Orc Harem Vol 3 Chapter 12

Chapter 12: To Have a Choice

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Rurine suppressed her agitation from hearing the suggestion of assassinating the first prince Falta while opening her mouth.

「Can Ork-niisama, do such thing?」

「Do you know about the revolution that occurred in Braille Kingdom, the Soleryud Revolution?」

「Of course I know about it……the royalty there was living in extreme  extravagance and waste while burdening their people with heavy taxes. On  top of that was their haphazard political measures. The military lost  their temper because of that and caused a coup d’etat. The people also  responded to that and rose in insurrection. But, it all ended in a  failed attempt due to Ork-niisama’s endeavor.」

The final test of the wise king Vareo to me was to stop the revoltion  that occurred in Braille Kingdom that was a vassal state of Forland  Kingdom.

Forland Kingdom couldn’t possibly stay quiet when a vassal state came  crying at them for help. Furthermore the royalty there could be  considered as a relative of Forland’s royalty, so this country couldn’t  possibly abandon them.

「I killed many people in order to prevent the revolution from  succeeding. That revolution couldn’t possibly be allowed to succeed.  ……After all it was obvious that tens of thousands of lives would be lost  if that revolution succeeded.」

If the revolution succeeded, the military and the people would be in  charge of the government even though they had never received any  education for running the government, nor the experience or the  connection required. They wouldn’t be able to run the country properly.

The bigger problem than their lack of knowledge was their lack of connection.

For good or bad, almost all of the countries around Forland Kingdom  used monarchy system. The royalty of each country had formed connection  with each other through marriage, so all of them counted as family  relative with each other.

Therefore, they wouldn’t associate with people who became the country’s ruler through killing their relatives.

If that happened then Braille Kingdom would be isolated. That would  be no different from them being given economic sanctions. Sooner or  later they would arrive on a dead end. People dying from hunger would  appear in succession and they would feel tricked because they only  cooperated with the revolution because they believed their life would  become better through that. After that their dissatisfaction would  explode before long and caused civil war.

Braille Kingdom’s neighboring countries would also try to crush the  country in order to clear their resentment from having their relatives  killed. But their biggest reason was because they couldn’t possibly  allow a precedent of a country getting better after the monarchy was  overturned to be created. If such precedent was created, they feared  that the risk of revolution occurring in their own country would  heighten and negatively influenced their ruling.

And so, the surrounding countries would be forced to destroy Braille Kingdom due to both emotional and practical reasons.

Braille Kingdom would be as good as destroyed and their people’s lives exposed to danger if the revolution ever succeeded.

「If that revolution succeeded, it would be just as Ork-niisama said,  the blood of tens of thousands of people would be shed. I myself think  that one day the era of monarchy ruling will end. But that time isn’t  now. It’s still too early for that.」

「Exactly. That was why, I used assassination as the most effective  method. I gave up saving everyone right from the start. I only focused  on solving the problem by making the least sacrifice necessary and cut  down those who had to be cut down. ……What kind of people do you think I  killed to achieve that objective?」

「Was it the military leaders who caused the coup d’etat? Or perhaps those who incited and led the common people?」

「Yeah, I also killed those guys. I targeted and killed the fellows  who were stubborn and had no intention of sitting in the negotiation  table. I made their death looked like sickness or accident. I killed  those guys while arranging so that those who could be talked with became  the leader. It would be impossible to even have a negotiation without  doing that……but, the number of royalties and nobles who I killed was  even more than that. Do you understand why?」

Rurine made a bitter expression.

「Compared to the military and common people, very few of them had the  temperament for negotiation. Those who are born with noble blood are  often convinced that they are special being. They wouldn’t compromise at  all with the common people and military officer who they thought as  inferior being. They had no intention of making even a single  compromise. There was no way such people could be negotiated with.」

Negotiation was an act of searching for the point of compromise for both sides.

It was held with the premise that both sides would make compromise.

Most royalties and nobles were unable to do that when facing the  military or common people. It didn’t matter how dangerous the situation  was. After all they had been under the impression that they were special  being since their birth.

It was only natural for the other side to listen to them. That was the common sense of such people.

「Exactly. At first I moved around to persuade them. I explained to  them how bad the situation was, how harsh Braille Kingdom’s treatment of  their people compared to the other countries, how foolish their  political policy was, and how the same thing would only happen again  even if they managed to suppress the revolution miraculously this time. I  kept telling them how only destruction awaited if the country didn’t  change……even so they wouldn’t understand. That was why, I killed them.  Those who had no intention of sitting on the negotiation table, whether  they were military, common folk, royalty, or noble, I erased them all.  Only then it finally became possible to hold a discussion. It was from  such discussion that both sides compromised with each other, found a  common ground, and that revolution ended.」

As long as both sides could just talk with each other, the rest was  quick. The excessively sloppy political measure that forced great burden  on the people was revised into a proper rule and a politician was  dispatched from Forland Kingdom to serve as watchdog so that the proper  rule was enforced.

Many nobles whose rights were taken away protested, but they were  made to shut up by Forland Kingdom’s influence and the hint of purging  that still became a rumor even though it was done under the veil of  secrecy.

That was the truth of what happened at Braille Kingdom.

At the surface, it looked like no big battle occured anymore after  Forland Kingdom interfered. The revolution was halted very peacefully  and after that the country became stable.

It was a miracle that was praised as the great feat of the wise king  Vareo. But so many blood was shed like that behind the scene. I judged  the hindrances as cancer and decisively cut them off from Braille  Kingdom.

「I was puzzled how a country that had been so close to ruin managed  to get back on its feet like that……so that was what actually happened.」

「That’s right. It wasn’t a miracle or anything, it was just an  application of brute force. Does your opinion of me decrease because of  that?」

「No, rather my opinion of Ork-niisama has improved higher. The  strength required to accomplish such feat and the decisiveness to make  such decision must be extraordinary.」

I smiled wryly.

I see, this girl too was someone standing at the side that was  looking at reality. Those standing at the side of being a leader had to  look at reality instead of dream. Because if the leader believed in the  future, embraced sweet illusion, and held wishful thinking, only ruin  would await them.

「But Ork, what you did was completely brute force. It didn’t feel like a politician at all. That was just being an assassin.」

That was how it looked to Tita.

I opened my mouth to correct her but I stopped. Rurine was already opening her mouth. She was going to say what I wanted to say.

「That’s wrong. It’s really amazing that Ork-niisama possess the  strength to carry out such action. But what’s even more amazing than  that is his ability to ascertain who should be killed, to choose who  would be convenient to become the leader, and to arrange so that the  people he chose would become the replacement. Although Ork-niisama used  foul play to remove the troublesome opponents, such act would only  constrict his own neck if he used his strength in a wrong way.」

「That’s certainly true. Normally you won’t be able to see who the bad  person and the good person is. I also can’t imagine at all what to do  after that to make sure so that the good person will become the person  in charge.」(Kururu)

「I became able to do that thanks to the teaching of the merchant god  and the wise king. Appraising people is the most important skill to have  both in business and in politic.」

The ability to ascertain people and political strength. Only after  having those two that it became possible to use this cheating method to  its maximum effect.

I was showered by respectful gazes from Tita and Kururu after so long.

「Now then, I’m telling this story to explain that I have the strength  to do something like that and a person who has that kind of thinking.」

「I understand completely.」(Rurine)

「……Also, I have taken a look at the document but, this seems to be a  situation where such method is required. I have predicted that things  will become like this, but I was hoping that my prediction is wrong if  possible.」

I was reading the document while making that talk.

The more I read the document, the bigger the resignation inside me  became. If possible I didn’t want to take the rough method, but this  situation was already beyond help.

Of course, first I would use a method that didn’t use that kind of brute force, but the prospect of success from that was thin.

「Allow me to add on the explanation too. The first prince Falta is  already proceeding with the annulment of the peace treaty with the demon  king. This decision will be approved by next week. Messengers to  announce that decision will be sent while the army will be dispatched at  the same time. They are planning to attack the elf village at the  west.」

Tita reacted hearing the word elf.

The elf village here wasn’t the tribe of wind protector that Tita  came from. It was a different tribe of elf. Yes, it was the tribe that  had interaction with the Evol Orc village.

Naturally I also had acquaintances there. Perhaps, that elf girl there was my first love.

But, right now I thought of Tita who was also an elf to be someone cuter than her.

「He will intentionally launch a surprise attack at the same time with  the peace treaty annulment sp that the monster side will be caught  unaware. The army will definitely win by targeting such minor tribe, and  they will be able to capture the elves that have a lot of demand in the  market, so the profit will also be great……and most of all, there will  be no taking it back anymore after Forland Kingdom do such thing. Not  only the kingdom launched a surprise attack, their comrade is also  kidnapped and sold as slave. The demon king faction absolutely won’t  forgive such act. The war will be unavoidable.」

Rather this must be the first prince’s aim.

Perhaps he was making this kind of move that couldn’t be taken back anymore even knowing the risk that he could be erased.

If such act was carried out, even Tou-san would become unable to stop the war between human and monster.

Thank god I created Orc Car.

If I didn’t have that, it was possible that it would already be checkmate by the time I arrived in the palace.

「Yes, there won’t be any way to stop the war anymore if this plan is carried out.」(Rurine)

「My only worry is the possibility that we are already too late by the time I kill the first prince Falta.」

「Such possibility exist. ……If the army is dispatched, we will need to go through some procedures even if we want to stop them.」

「Yeah, that’s right. If the army dispatch itself cannot be stopped,  we have to prepare a mean to stop the army even after it has been  dispatched.」

I could stop an army by myself.

It would be difficult but possible.

I could also do something like leaking this information to the elves  beforehand. Just from that things would end up very differently.

Fortunately, that elf village was a bit special. That man was there.

The invisible assassin.

「Yosh, our course of action is decided. What’s left is only to form a  plan based on it. Give me one night. I’ll think up the plan during that  time.」

There wouldn’t be any discussion.

I’d decide everything by myself.

There wasn’t anyone who raised any protest to that.

How far I could go with this.

I felt slightly uneasy, but let’s just give it a try.