Chapter 92 – Plan

“The way you deal with the guests who visit looks just like a merchant.”

It was not an exaggeration to say that almost all the nobles trapped in the imperial capital came to find Rashid. Indeed, such a massive number of nobles visited him, and after finishing his dealings with them, Rashid sent them all to the confinement facility located underground.

It was a confinement facility in name only; from the moment they arrived, all kinds of privileges and conveniences were provided, and in fact, the underground of the Heresy Inquisition Bureau had transformed into something like a semi-hotel.

The clerics in charge of security were turned into servants waiting on the nobles, and the poor meals were all magnificently transformed through the hands of a hotel chef.

Money?

The financial backer was standing in front of Rashid right now.

“I heard you demanded half of their assets.”

Rashid looked at her sourly.

“Is there a problem?”

She smiled instead.

“No. You should row when the tide is in. However, if it were me… I would have asked for all of it. Nothing is more precious than life, right?”

Rashid suddenly wondered if she might be misunderstood because she was too honest.

“The reason for your visit?”

“A contact has arrived. It is a notification from the imperial family to return the Immortal Heart.”

Rashid smiled faintly.

“After killing so many, they must finally be catching their breath. They are even trying to retrieve their item that left the house.”

“What are you going to do?”

“What else?”

Rashid took out the Immortal Heart she had given him and set it down on his desk.

Inside the cube of transparent material, there was a heart still beating.

“Of course, I have no intention of returning it.”

She asked in concern.

“Is it fine even though the situation is different from before?”

“Is it because of the authority?”

“Yes, no one can escape the authority of His Majesty the Emperor.”

She pushed up her glasses.

“Of course, the Evil Eye Killer helps, but it is a temporary measure. And it is not enough just for us not to fall victim, is it?”

Rashid also took out the Evil Eye Killer, which was a monocle, from his breast.

“I hear the price of the Evil Eye Killer has risen?”

“Right now, the seller names the price. It was originally a hard-to-find item, but ever since the rumor spread that the new Emperor has authority.”

She wore a bitter smile.

“The items themselves have completely vanished from the market. The seller truly names the price now.”

“You seem somewhat regretful?”

“I should have gotten more Evil Eye Killers instead. If I did… I would have been happier than I am now.”

“It is just pocket change anyway. Just prepare what I told you well.”

“I am preparing it step by step anyway.”

She regained her lost smile.

“The price of gold does not seem to rise any further. I feel it has dropped a bit recently.”

“Forget gold. Collect mana stones instead.”

Answering with a smile instead, she departed with a final word.

“Then I will convey that regarding the Immortal Heart.”

Rashid sat quietly, looking at the regularly beating Immortal Heart.

Generations of the Emperor’s authority were the result of the first Emperor’s power being passed down.

The main subject of the authority was the first Emperor, and he had passed down his authority through his bloodline.

That was why the imperial family was so obsessed with pure blood, and did not have many successors.

They had been concerned that the power of authority might stray to an undesirable place.

‘If Kaiser fails…’

The way to stop the rampaging Empress of Blood was surprisingly simple.

It was to stab the Immortal Heart in front of him with a knife.

If that were done, the authority would no longer manifest.

‘I am probably the only person who knows this fact.’

It was something that even the members of the imperial family did not know.

For they only had a sense of duty to protect the Immortal Heart as a treasure of the imperial family, and were completely ignorant about the correlation between the Immortal Heart and the authority.

The reason was simple.

That was how the power of authority could be passed down for a whopping thousand years.

If that story had circulated within the imperial family, the secret would have leaked out eventually, and the Emperor’s authority would no longer have been an object of fear.

Because there was a way to break it.

‘My learning of this was also pure coincidence. When I was retrieving the Immortal Heart, I was attacked and its beating stopped once. When that happened, the Empress of Blood did not appear. Because the power of authority had vanished.’

Anyway.

To stop the Empress of Blood, stabbing the Immortal Heart was enough.

However, the reason he did not do so immediately was to protect the Immortal Heart.

‘If Kaiser succeeds in the revolution, the Immortal Heart will be entirely mine.’

The Immortal Heart was a kind of insurance.

In the unlikely event that a day comes when his strength falls short.

A precious artifact that allowed him to bet on a 95% probability.

Here, the method of transplanting the heart could be solved with magical tools.

Because magic for mutual heart transfer was actively being sold at the Magic Tower in scroll form.

So the only thing to consider was the probability of failure.

5%.

‘In the game, the 95% was visible, but in reality, only the 5% is visible.’

Rashid, laughing lightly, stood up from his seat.

Looking at his wristwatch, it was time for him to arrive.

* * *

Rashid reached the confinement facility located in the Heresy Inquisition Bureau’s underground, and soon encountered the disarmed clerics.

“Are you serving the people inside well?”

“Yes, we are providing as much convenience as possible.”

“If there are visits, permit them unconditionally. Do not worry about the time either. It is necessary.”

“Yes, Inquisitor. I will convey everything so there are no setbacks.”

Rashid, nodding lightly, headed inside with the visiting guest.

Inside, making the term confinement facility meaningless, there were numerous nobles and high-ranking figures gathered in small groups, enjoying alcohol and card games.

It was the result of transferring all the original prisoners elsewhere and leaving only them.

Clang, clang, clang!

As Rashid rang a bell, everyone’s gaze gathered on him.

“How is it? Have you all been doing well without any shortages?”

Without exception, they welcomed him with bright smiles.

“Are you here, Inquisitor?”

“Your consideration is good. At this rate, I might not even think about leaving.”

“I am doing well without any shortages. As you can see, I have many friends too.”

Hahaha!

“Nothing else, but I came here like this because there is someone I urgently want to introduce.”

No sooner had he finished speaking than someone peeling off a face mask revealed his identity in front of them.

It was Kaiser, who had been disguised as another person.

“Is that man… the representative of the Golden Age Party?”

Rashid confirmed it.

“Yes, that is correct. I called him to introduce him to you all.”

Kaiser also spoke up.

“There are those who are acquaintances of mine, and some who are meeting me for the first time. I will introduce myself formally. Wolfgang Kaiser. I am the immortal revenger holding the position of the representative of the current Golden Age Party.”

Those confined here were all related to various political parties including the Golden Age Party, the Council, and the Guild Federation.

In fact, they were the establishment who survived after touching the Emperor’s wrath.

Kaiser broke the ice as he walked toward them.

“How good would it be if we could succeed in the revolution by gaining only the support of the people?”

Kaiser displayed a warm smile as he threaded through them.

“However, for the revolution to succeed, the support of you, the existing establishment, is also desperately needed, rather than just the people.”

The expressions of several nobles who did not welcome him stiffened.

Kaiser, recognizing this, spoke.

“Of course, I believe there are those who find us objectionable due to mismatched intentions. I understand. Not everyone in the world can harbor the same intention as us. However.”

Kaiser stopped.

“I believe you will absolutely agree on one goal. That is the collapse of the current imperial family.”

When his words ceased,

the voice of Rashid, who had been watching from afar, reached them.

“The new Emperor is driving everyone into fear by putting her authority forward. Every day, she continues public executions of hundreds of people. Later on, she will kill in units of thousands. She is a person fully capable of doing so. Because she will do anything to protect the imperial power.”

His words continued.

“And in the Empire dominated by that madness. This is probably the only place where you can stay comfortably. But you cannot live like this forever, can you?”

Those seated generally agreed, but a few were still in a state of severe antipathy.

“Does supporting the Golden Age Party provide the answer?”

“That may be so, but no one can stop an Emperor who has authority. It is not called authority for nothing.”

Rashid did not deny it.

“That is correct. If things continue like this, everyone will kneel before the Emperor’s authority. But that is not what I and everyone here want. Of course, the same goes for the party representative who came all the way here.”

It was a part that the two had already discussed.

Kaiser, perhaps thinking it was better for him to lead the conversation rather than himself, just smiled and waited quietly.

“Furthermore, the authority possessed by the Emperor will grow stronger as time passes. While there are a few restrictions now, even those will disappear later. When that happens, the imperial family that symbolized fear and authority in the past will descend again.”

Faced with the bleak reality, some even sighed.

They could not see the future.

“However, we cannot just watch blankly like this. That is why I plan to propose a path to you.”

In fact, this proposal was also first devised by Rashid.

Locking eyes only with Kaiser and waiting, the power possessed by the Emperor continued to bother him too much.

“What is it?”

“It is simple. We will artificially instigate chaos.”

“Chaos?”

Rashid continued his explanation.

“The situation that was chaotic under fear and the Emperor’s authority will gradually find stability. The empty state treasury will be filled with the confiscated assets of the nobles, and once the treasury is filled, the currency value, which was falling day after day, will also find stability again. However, that is not a good thing for us.”

It would be the Emperor’s victory.

But there was no way he would tolerate that.

“The Empire, or at least the imperial capital, must be more chaotic than it is now. The currency value must plunge through the floor into the basement and become a scrap of waste paper, and the citizens of the imperial capital must not even have their basic needs met. Simply put, they must starve.”

The important part was what came next.

“When that happens, the citizens of the imperial capital, exhausted by starvation, will turn into rioters and pour out onto the streets.”

“Is that not too extreme?”

The Emperor continuing the Reign of Terror was itself extreme.

In the end, sacrifice was inevitable.

“That is the only way to survive. Otherwise, the era of the Emperor will arrive again, and there will be no place for us to stand. You will not be able to escape this place either. Because the Emperor will never show mercy.”

“How cruel.”

Those who expressed concern were an extreme minority.

Because the majority of the nobles were listening to the story quite positively.

“Is there a method?”

At a certain noble’s question,

Rashid told them what he had thought of.

“First, we will dump all the national bonds we hold. If you all here and the Guild Federation, which supports the current Golden Age Party, dump the national bonds simultaneously, the price of the Empire’s national bonds will turn to waste paper, and at the same time, the Empire’s currency will also turn to waste paper.”

From here, Kaiser continued speaking.

“That is not all. Our revolutionary army will move secretly to raid food warehouses and paralyze the distribution networks. Groceries will not be found on any street in the imperial capital. With the currency losing its function and the distribution networks paralyzed, the imperial capital will become chaos itself.”

The nobles who understood this nodded.

“I understand. It will certainly… turn upside down.”

“Ultimately, the citizens will be placed at a crossroads. Amidst starvation, they must choose between compliance and resistance.”

Kaiser displayed a cruel smile.

It was a demeanor truly worthy of a politician.

“I have no doubt that they will choose resistance. And we plan to lead the citizens, who have turned into rioters out of hunger, under our Golden Age Party.”

The night of revolution.

It was not far off.

The day when the Emperor, miserably dragged down from the throne, would stand in front of the guillotine.

“There may be those here who do not share our intentions, but what does that matter? They must want to drag the Emperor down immediately anyway.”

Rashid spoke up again.

“First, we will dump the national bonds. I believe the amount of national bonds you all hold here is not small too. But that alone is not enough. So convey to everyone you can contact that we will dump all the national bonds at a specific time.”

He also added these words.

“If they want to live, it would be better to dump the national bonds. Because only then will the Emperor die.”

Telling them to dump the national bonds and turn them all into waste paper.

One of the nobles with a bitter expression spoke up.

“It will be a disaster.”

Rashid did not deny it.

Because it was what he wanted.

“Of course it will be a disaster. Because hyperinflation, no, ultra-hyperinflation will arrive.”