This guy is definitely stupid.
He’s not just stupid—he’s beyond stupid.
‘What was his name again? No, it doesn’t matter. He’s nothing more or less than a fake Pram.’
***
“You should at least know where that army was used.”
“What are you talking about?”
“You people only see what you want and ignore the rest. The nuns I raised took a lot of money and used it to save the poor.”
“Lies!”
And this is why people believe in demons.
Demons are cunning, and these idiots are fools.
“Those nuns were trained under Ashtar’s assassination guild. They didn’t squeeze the lifeblood out of commoners.”
“L-Lies.”
“And those nuns were deployed in Ashtar’s Second Demonic War to hunt down the Demon King’s Four Heavenly Kings, who dared to invade Ashtar and kill commoners.”
“That’s impossible!”
“In short, this is all you amount to. With your pathetic intelligence and lack of proper information, you were nothing more than puppets for the demons.”
“Noooo!”
Crunch!
I imbued my mana and shattered his leg bone.
“Just so you know, dealing with someone like you is already annoying.”
“Aaaagh!”
“But now that I’ve become this person and a noble, I understand. Crushing weaklings like you is actually fun.”
‘Back when I was in the Hero’s Party, I couldn’t even dream of this. If anything, that damn party had me trapped. I endured and endured. I was good at pretending to fit in, after all. But now that I have this body and the power to wield authority, I see just how pathetic this world is. And I’ve realized how fun it is to exercise the power I hold.’
‘From this position, I can make anyone I dislike disappear without a trace. Yeah, that’s a good thing.’
‘In the land of ruin where I used to live, at least it was isolated from the outside world, so I could eliminate anything I didn’t like.’
There were limits when I was in the Hero’s Party.
But now, finally, things are different.
There are so many fools around me.
I became the Duke’s daughter.
I became a Saint and a Grand Secretary.
So, I can abuse my power a little.
At least, that’s what I think.
“Graaaah!”
“Oh, but that doesn’t mean nobles aren’t disgusting either. I just want to get rid of nobles, demons, and idiots like you all the same.”
Thud!
I’ll just erase anything that annoys me.
Human or demon, it doesn’t matter.
If it’s a hassle, it’s gone.
Though in this process, the Emperor and the nobles have their uses.
Especially the Emperor of the Empire—he knows something I don’t.
One time, I told Aslan something.
Atlerina is like a miniature empire.
Unfortunately for you, your former fiancée treats the Empire as nothing more than a toy in the palm of his hand.
***
“Ugh… are you an evil witch?”
I stomped on him even harder.
Now that I think about it, that bastard Hero used to enjoy getting stepped on by Syria and Ella.
Thinking that this trash might be the same way, I just removed my foot.
“Who knows?”
“How could a Saint do something like this!”
‘And what exactly stops a Saint from doing this?’
“As a Saint, should I just stand by and tolerate idiots like you?”
“Kh… ugh…”
Oh. It looks like this is almost over.
I no longer hear the clash of weapons or feel the flow of mana.
A quick glance shows that the students of Atlerina are all alive, with only a few minor injuries.
Not a single casualty.
This proves that even those noble idiots will fight well if they’re trained properly.
“Well, while I was toying with you, it seems everything else has been wrapped up.”
“Gasp!”
‘Why the surprise?’
Oh, right.
Even though I only borrowed a small fraction of a demon’s power, I still beat him senseless.
Tsk, tsk.
“I was only playing with you to pretend I was doing my job as a Saint, but now it’s all over.”
Looking around, I see a few survivors.
“Ugh… p-please… s-spare me…”
“Please, have mercy!”
They begged for their lives.
‘But should they be spared?’
I laughed triumphantly as I stepped on the fake Pram.
“What a pathetic sight. Look, your comrades are begging for their lives.”
“Olivia!”
“Yes, Croissant?”
For once, Croissant was acting commendably.
“What should we do with the survivors?”
“That’s up to you. Kill them to show that nobles are strong and that they shouldn’t dare challenge us again. Or, grant mercy to those worms.”
Honestly, they might choose mercy.
“Hmm… I’m not sure…”
“Then let me tell you something.”
“Please, go ahead.”
Well, since they’re asking, I might as well tell them.
They seem to need justification.
“If they had won, would you still be alive? Of course not. These fools believe that just because you’re nobles, you wouldn’t execute them. They think that, for the sake of noble dignity and honor, you wouldn’t kill those who surrendered.”
“They look down on you while believing they have every right to kill nobles. But they think the same rules don’t apply to themselves.”
It’s obvious.
It’s something I can tell at a glance.
Even in the kingdom, there were people like this.
They didn’t want to overthrow the kingdom.
Instead, they cooperated with the demons to take down the nobles.
Why?
Because it was wartime.
Because every head counted, and they couldn’t afford to execute people.
“Oh…”
“That should be enough of an answer.”
A perfect answer, if I do say so myself.
“Wait a second. Usually, in situations like this, shouldn’t we interrogate them to find out who’s behind it?”
Fair point.
At least they weren’t completely useless.
I held up one finger.
“One person is enough for that.”
Then, I casually pointed to the fake Pram, who was still pinned beneath me.
Slice!
One of the nobles killed a man who had been begging for his life.
“Yeah. That’s it. No hesitation—just kill them.
For the current anti-imperialists, a beating is the best medicine.
“From the start, those people are nothing but traitors to the Empire. We’re in an era where even bandits outside the city are executed on the spot if they have the ability to resist. So what about traitors?”
“That’s why the nobles wield their swords and cast their spells.”
“Whoa there. These kids are really out of it, huh?”
***
Syria appeared, riding on her bear.
“Yeah. I didn’t come here unprepared. I had already considered the possibility that these fools might get overwhelmed.”
“You can say that again.”
“Just in case, I had my bear set up an ambush.”
That was a good idea.
But this time, the nobles had put up quite a fight.
Syria pouted, unimpressed.
“Anyway, that wraps up the battle. The skills test should be perfect, too.”
There was no need to receive an official evaluation from the knight order.
‘The exam results?’ Everyone got a perfect score.
Honestly, after all that fighting, anything less than a perfect score would have been strange.
Naturally, Lyon was ecstatic. Very much so.
When he met with me, he praised me as the representative of our group.
“Oh, truly impressive! To think you took them all down. Atlerina’s level is just as expected. At first, when I heard something was coming out of the dungeon, I was a little skeptical… but as expected of the daughter of Ashtar. No wonder you’re so confident. Like father, like daughter.”
‘And yet, why did you raise your child like that?’
I wanted to say that, but I held back.
I didn’t want to sound like a whiny girl who couldn’t stop complaining about the Lily incident forever.
“By the way, what kind of family was the Fram household?”
“They were close to ours. There’s supposedly a survivor from that family in the knight order. I couldn’t intervene directly just because we were close, but I did give the knights orders to keep an eye out for them.”
“Oh, really?”
I never expected them to be that close.
Judging by the atmosphere, it wasn’t just a casual relationship.
‘If someone were to hear this, they’d be utterly dumbfounded.’
“What? Did that man die or something?”
No way.
“No, that’s a fake.”
“A fake?”
Judging from his reaction, they must have been really close.
“That so-called ‘survivor’ was the one who killed the entire Fram bloodline and pretended to be the last one left.”
“What?!”
Lyon slammed the table in fury.
Even so, this matter was something I had to handle.
I needed to figure out what was lurking behind all of this.
“I understand that you’re angry, but could you leave the Fram matter to me? As a saint and grand master, this falls under my authority.”
“…Fine.”
Lyon frowned but nodded.
“Of course, I have no intention of letting him live.”
“As you should.”
The only reason I spared him was because I needed someone to interrogate.
It was pure chance that he was the last one left.
“Oh, but before that, I’d like to hear more about the Fram family.”
“Hmm, I suppose you’ll need that information for the interrogation. I’ll tell you.”
Lyon proceeded to explain the history of the Fram family.
To my surprise, they were a noble house that had genuinely cared for commoners despite being knights.
How absurd.
That nameless fool had slaughtered nobles who had actually treated commoners well.
In doing so, he had become no different from them.
‘Now then, how should I shatter his mind?’
***
Western Outskirts of the Imperial Capital
While the anti-imperialists were being slaughtered in Plant territory, a group of people was holding a secret meeting in Pega, on the western outskirts of the capital.
“What if something goes wrong in the Plant household?”
“That side can afford to stall for time. After all, our ultimate goal isn’t the kids in Plant.”
“Then what?”
“Certain nobles who have been cast aside by the emperor and central aristocracy have agreed to open the floodgates leading to the capital’s underground sewer system. They’re even providing us with private soldiers.”
Indeed, all the attendees of this meeting were anti-imperialists.
More than that—they were members of a cult called the New World Order, now conspiring with the Empire’s discarded nobles.
“The nobles? They’re working with us?”
“Ashtar’s purge of dissenters through his daughter left them seething with resentment. It wasn’t just that the imperial family sided with him—he also secretly eliminated noble factions trying to strengthen their positions.”
“Now, they don’t know when their heads will roll, so their dissatisfaction with the imperial family is only growing. The New World Order is backing us, and these cast-off nobles want to see if siding with us can work in their favor.”
The Imperial Capital was an impenetrable fortress.
‘But if it was opened from the inside?’
Even discarded nobles still had the ability to move freely within the capital.
‘If this plan succeeded, they could overthrow the imperial family and retreat before things got too chaotic.’
“Still, isn’t working with nobles against our ideals? Aren’t we just being used?”
“And if we are? It doesn’t matter. As long as we bring down the imperial family, the nobles will tear each other apart in a power struggle. That will give us our opportunity. Think of it as us using them instead.”
The others, seeing the logic in that argument, smirked in satisfaction.
“So, once the nobles are at each other’s throats in a war for dominance, that’s when we rise up?”
“Exactly.”
“Hahaha. Now that sounds interesting.”
“But what about the saint? That Ashtar woman is said to be quite powerful.”
The man in black expressed concern over the saint’s strength, but some shook their heads.
“Heh. Unless she can teleport across vast distances, there’s nothing to worry about. She’s just some woman who got famous by borrowing her family’s name.”
“That’s right.”
“Now, prepare yourselves. There’s not much time left until the Empire falls!”
One of the anti-imperialist leaders shouted the command to his subordinates.
The time was drawing near.
At the break of dawn, the gates to the Imperial Capital would finally open.