Chapter 37: Beyond good and evil

(Ethan's POV)

At the end of the past six days, we reached the borders of the rebellion area east of the capital. I wanted to end the rebellion here as quickly and cleanly as possible and return to the capital, but that didn't mean I wouldn't give it importance.

Frankly, the reason I wanted to suppress the rebellion was definitely for my own interests. For now, I had already started initiatives to handle the money-making business, and I had many ideas, so I could manage the money part. If I wanted the throne, the other thing I needed to gain was the people.

Yes, the common people. In this world, most common people were generally not valued by the nobles, and this was because, according to the nobles, the common people had low Kaizer power. There were very few exceptions, but most of the people had low Kaizer power, and these Kaizer powers were too weak to be used in a war.

Moreover, since they couldn't get training, they used their already limited Kaizer powers very minimally.

This is how society in this world had evolved. After thousands of years of evolution, it had created such a society. Hierarchy based on Kaizer power. As a prince, it was quite normal for me to have strong Kaizer power. After all, my ancestors, who had high Kaizer power, had more power than other people, and thus they saw it fit to establish a kingdom. After all, they were strong.

I can definitely say that the hierarchy in this world is harsher and clearer than in the world of my previous life. However, alongside all this, there is one thing that the arrogant nobles don't know or ignore: the power of the masses.

No matter how high a person's Kaizer power is, if they enter a war against tens of thousands of people, they will definitely lose. If all the normal citizens in the Asina kingdom rise up, I can't say they would clearly win, but it's certain it would be a huge threat to the king. At the very least, it would be clear that the Asina kingdom would collapse.

In short, the reason I personally want to stop this rebellion is so that the people will look favorably upon me ascending the throne and unfavorably upon my brothers. In fact, one of my business ideas is to establish a company that produces a daily newspaper.

After all, the people never change by themselves; they are shaped, and to shape the people, you need to do propaganda, and newspapers are great tools for propaganda. Anyway, these are my long-term plans, and I need to think more about them, but for now, I need to focus on the rebellion.

Fortunately, the rebels don't organize in a scattered manner; they generally gather together. There are many rebel camps in the forest or the mountains, but for now, we need to recapture the villages that the authority of the Asina kingdom hasn't reached.

From the beginning, this rebellion was quite small and local, but when I looked at the reports, it was clear that it grew due to the foolishness of the regional lord. Therefore, I definitely need to strip that lord of his noble title, and since I was sent here with full authority, I can certainly do that.

After stripping a lord of his noble titles, the most he can do is sue me, but he definitely can't win. After all, the rebellion had grown so much that the most prestigious units of the royal army, the cavalry unit, had been sent... at least on paper.

In the army, there were three thousand cavalrymen and only fifty archer soldiers.The rest were infantry units This was because cavalrymen were not very important for the capital, but archers were very important. After all, in a situation of defending the capital, the most needed things are archers and then infantry.

So even in the units given to me, there was very fine craftsmanship, and this was the work of the royal officials. Another reason I respect them.

One of the important reasons, though not the biggest, that the Asina kingdom still stands strong despite being in the middle of the continent and neighboring three powerful states is definitely the royal officials.

"I need to win them over too."

I was lost in my thoughts while riding the horse, thinking about the future. I usually traveled in a carriage because I knew from my previous life that traveling long distances on horseback was not healthy for the back, but since we had already entered the rebellion area, I was on horseback.

However, now I regretted it; for the sake of my dignity, I always had to stay upright and in a respectable posture.

Somehow, I could manage this. When I looked at Emilia riding next to me, my upper lips curled. The light armor she wore and the long sword at her waist made her very attractive. Her mature beauty was seductive. It was quite pleasing to have such a strong and beautiful woman by my side. If she accepts my proposal when the time comes, I think I would be very happy.

*Swosh!*

My eyes widened in shock when I saw the soldier fall in front of my eyes, and I immediately looked at the fallen man. He had been hit right in the middle of his head with an arrow. When I saw Emilia quickly position herself as a shield for me, I snapped out of my trance and tried to find where the arrow came from.

But when another arrow was shot, I quickly grabbed Emilia and pulled her off the horse with me.

"Your Excellency?"

While using my horse as a shield, I pulled Emilia close to me and looked into her eyes. Seeing my expression reflected in her pupils, I realized I needed to calm down.

"Huh..." I took a breath and activated my Kaizer power.

To use Kaizer power, you need to activate it. It can be compared to loading a magazine into a weapon, but you have to load the magazine every time. Within just a few seconds, I activated my Kaizer power and stepped out calmly from behind the horse. Although Emilia wanted to step in front of me, I prevented her.

"Your Excellency, allow me to do my job," she said.

"Emilia, let me protect the woman I love," I replied, looking at her.

When her face turned beet red, I turned to the forest and looked in the direction the arrow had been shot from, but the cavalry had already formed a circle around me to protect me.

"Your Excellency, please stay behind us," one of them said.

I nodded affirmatively and stood behind the knights. Although I was not afraid to fight, I decided to wait for now because I didn't want Emilia to rush into battle and endanger herself.

About thirty minutes later, a cavalryman approached us on horseback, dismounted, and came to me. He knelt down and, with his hand over his heart, began to speak.

"Your Excellency, we have captured the rebels who dared to attack us and lined them all up. What are your orders?" he asked.

"Take me to them," I said as I mounted my horse.

"Yes, Your Excellency, we left them just behind us," he said, leading the way. S~eaʀᴄh the Nôvel(F)ire.ηet website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.

A few minutes later, I saw five dozen men with their hands and feet tied, sweating and kneeling, looking at me. I quickly approached and looked at each of their faces. Every one of them seemed quite frightened and desperate.

Also, when I looked at the motionless bodies in the back, I realized that the rebels who had attacked us were more numerous than just these men.

I stopped my horse and looked at my soldiers standing right behind the rebels.

"Rising against the great Asina kingdom, disregarding the authority of the great King Richard, disrupting the balance and morals of society, and on top of all that, attempting to assassinate a member of the royal family... It seems all of you truly wish to die, huh?" I said in a loud, booming voice.

My words were clear, and the message was unmistakable.

"Your Excellency, we didn't know it was your army! Please spare us! I have a wife and children!" one of them stepped forward and begged. But when he saw my cold gaze, he stopped as if his feet had taken root in the ground, although he was already within the range of my sword.

When I saw the man's head fall to the ground, his fellow rebels' eyes widened in shock. Some of them began to cry, and I even noticed that the ground beneath one man became wet as a foul odor spread, but my face was cold and hard as a marble.

"I sentence all of you to death for all the crimes you have committed," I said, and as soon as I spoke, the sound of my soldiers drawing their swords rose behind the rebels.

"Please, my lord! I have a newborn baby!"

"Your Excellency, my mother is bedridden and has no one else. Please spare my life. I'll even become your slave if you want!"

"Me too, me too! Please spare my life!"

...

As the crowd's pleas began to affect my modern conscience and I felt the results of my modern moral upbringing, I said, "Do it!" and lowered my hand.

The sight and sound of dozens of heads being severed from bodies at once made me sick to my stomach, but I controlled myself. When I saw that only one rebel was not dead, I angrily spurred my horse to join the soldiers there...