Translator: Tsukii

Editor: PalenMisha

Read at Watashi wa Sugoi Desu!

Chapter 31 – Riot desuwa

After crushing several swarms of grasshoppers, the group of red grasshoppers I was waiting for finally arrived. Mei had already evacuated from the horror, so I was the only one here. That meant I could enjoy things as much as I wanted.

“Aah, disgusting insects are cwawling all ove mah bodeh.”¹　

Unfortunately, the grasshoppers’ teeth couldn’t pierce through my skin, so the red grasshoppers decided to ignore me, giving me ignore play instead. I thought they would crunch on my human head, but their mouths weren’t that big, so it was disappointing. There was a grasshopper that entered my mouth when I opened it, so it did give me a peculiar experience at least.　

When I ate the red grasshopper, it tasted like blood and wasn’t delicious desuwa. Its texture felt similar to shrimp so I did have some expectations, but it felt strangely hard. The feeling of it going wild inside my mouth was quite stimulating so I enjoyed that a little, but it was still not tasty desuwa.　

Since it was so disappointing, I was definitely couldn’t be blamed for burning them to a crisp. Burning down things that I didn’t like, that was exactly how a tyrant would act desuwa. The grasshoppers were spread over a wide area wrapped in a whirlpool of flames, so they jumped around crazily. Due to this, the fire spread further so it became easier for me.　

As a result, the remaining swarms of grasshoppers chose to take a detour around my territory. It seemed these grasshoppers could contact the hordes behind and tell them, “This place is dangerous,” so they seemed to have some sort of intelligence. But since I managed to annihilate them to some extent, the final damage should be reduced desuwa.　

Well, they would still strike a wide area of the empire, so famine was unavoidable. Since they didn’t drink all the water dry, people wouldn’t starve to death immediately. I guess it was only a matter of time before starving people resorted to rioting.　

“We’re going to build a lot of castles around the territory of the kingdom. If we do it now, we can work people like slaves just by giving them food. I want about 10 castles that are all of a particular appearance to be built.”　

I had built a lot of sturdy forts and castles around Narorosa Duchy, but since my territory had expanded, I also wanted to build castles outside my original territory. Many people lost their assets, so if I paid them with food instead of money, they would work like horses pulling carts.　

Looking at the framework of the castle that got bigger day by day, I felt excited even though I understood it would take some time before it was completed. Aah, I would be happy if the gigantic building anthropomorphized and robbed my virginity, though…　

Also, due to how often I asked for castles to be built within my territory, our construction technology improved quite naturally. Really, I even wondered why I built this many castles within the territory. Building castles was the greatest wasteful spending in the world, so I kept building them, but looking objectively, I was definitely a troublesome ruler. I was definitely a ruler that should have revolted against desuwa.　

“Crecia, give the castles around Narorosa Duchy to the members of the knight brigade who played an active part during the last war and this locust swarm.”　

“Certainly.”

Since managing castles was a hassle, with the new castles emerging, I decided to throw the management of old castles to the members of the knight brigade. It would be highly paid, and they could hire servants, so there should be no problem even if they were given castles. I also took over some of the baron territories and handed them over. With more territories handed off, it became easier to manage after all.　

While I was doing that, a riot occurred in the neighboring Herson Kingdom, with people who were dissatisfied with aristocrats beginning to take action even in the urban areas. The Herson Kingdom was bordered by the Hein Kingdom where Maria was active, so democratic and communist ideas were spreading.　

Before the empire collapsed, I guess some kingdoms would break from the inside. As expected, the power of newspapers couldn’t be underestimated. Seeing how easily they could influence even the political ideas of neighboring nations, I guess the current state of the Hein Kingdom should be quite interesting desuwa.　

And sure enough, King Herson requested reinforcements, but I rejected him. We got along during the Empire’s invasion against the Arcelus Kingdom and fought together for some time during the withdrawal battle, but that didn’t mean I had an obligation to help him. In the first place, I was aiming to be a tyrant, so I wouldn’t help if there was no merit in doing it desuwa.　

In addition, in case King Herson was overthrown, those rioters would most likely flow to this side desuwa.  By suppressing those rioters and declaring, “I won’t accept refugees,” it was possible for me to lower my reputation further desuwa. Recently, I thought my reputation was too high, so I would actively take advantage of the opportunity to lower it.　

Tsukii Note:

Our queen might not be so well versed with history, but back in the feudal era, being granted a castle by a ruler was the second most appreciated gift for the vassals, just second to being granted a territory to rule. 

Of course, if it was granted to people who were only well versed in financial management, enemies from outside would immediately strike it, so that one could be considered as indirect bullying… but the things that our queen granted to those members of the knight brigade who raised their achievements through war weren’t located at the border territory, but at the outskirt of capital.

Being granted a castle that was close to the ruler’s main territory was proof of trust, and that applied to most nations in the feudal age(after all, if people who are stationed there raise a flag of rebellion, it would be easy to capture the capital and the ruler).

People were paid by food to build castles, allowing them to not suffer during the famine. Said famine was caused by locust swarms (A disaster. Therefore, the ruler held no responsibility over it), and since the food support would continue at least until next crop harvest, it showed the ruler’s disaster countermeasure was an achievement worthy of thunderous applause. Not to mention during famine, food could be the most expensive commodity out there, so technically, people were paid more than their effort was worth.

Then as for her decision of denying refugees from entering the nation, people could just enter the nation before they become refugees by relying on their family inside the territory (at least until that method was denied as well). Not to mention from a citizen’s perspective, there was no need for them to share their food support to strangers they knew nothing about, and they would definitely prefer a ruler that knew priorities well… Rather, even in modern times, people who make noise about morality and human rights over denial of refugees were either those fools who weren’t related to the nation who rejected refugees yet completely believe in absurd idealism or the people on the refugee side who tried to guilt trip the nations into helping them.

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