This war was not fought simply out of the personal greed of the Emperor who could not give up the war of conquest, but it would be a noble war for future descendants.
People feel uplifted by being involved in something noble and great. Would anyone be so crazy about religion that they would sacrifice their lives for no reason? The legitimacy of 'nobility' had that much power.
"So, I'm asking all the people watching right now. What should we do? Should we really gain immediate peace by selling the future for a single word from those demons, or should we gain the future by turning our overflowing national power against them now that the Empire is enjoying its heyday?"
A boiling voice that made you forget that it all started with the Empire's merciless war of conquest.
As if in response, somewhere out there, 'We must win for the future!' A voice was heard shouting.
This is why public speaking is scary. You can calmly discover loopholes in logic by reading and re-reading the text and pondering the content, but in a speech that touches your emotions and paralyzes your reason, if you get emotional even for a moment, it passes by before you can even think about the content, making it difficult to notice loopholes or contradictions. . Because of this, everyone shows the same reaction as if they are under hypnosis.
'Besides, once you get into a mood like this, even those who care about reason won't be able to point out the flaws in logic...'
From the Demon King's point of view, this should be cut off midway. Instead of the internal strife that was intended, it looks like they've come together as one.
Just when it seemed like this war of words was going to end on the Emperor's side, applause was heard.
Clap, clap, clap.
Everyone's eyes turned to the demon realm's screen, right next to the Empire's screen. There, the Demon King was clapping his hands with the corners of his mouth smoothly raised.
A light voice continued as if cold water had been poured into the atmosphere.
"Excellent. It was a great speech."
"..."
"But. No matter how well you package it, that's the bottom line, right?"
It's random, but I think I understand why the Demon King allowed the Emperor to interfere with video magic.
"The Empire will not give up on conquering the continent."
Because it's fun.
Although they had been fighting a war of nerves all along, they never had the opportunity to meet face to face and have a war of words with someone they had never seen before. Of course, I would have been happy to induce it.
"..."
".."
The heated atmosphere cooled down.
It was a mistake for the Emperor to try to deal with logic in the first place. I'd rather face it like the Demon King...
Just as the Demon King said. It was transformed into something plausible, but in the end, when you open the packaging, the core message is, 'We can't give up conquering the continent, so let's go to war.' That's about it. Since the demon realm's early speech saying that they would withdraw obediently if the Empire stopped the war of conquest was answered with a war, it was only natural to tie it in like this.
'Is it a close match?'
It was the Emperor's defeat.
Although there was still a little bit of propaganda left, it would be difficult to have the same effect as before no matter what words you repackage it with, since the Demon King himself has torn up the packaging like this. It would be difficult to reverse this atmosphere right now. It's a dangerous situation where you could fall down if you touch it. What did the Emperor choose in an uncomfortable situation where almost all humans were glaring at him?
"If you look at it that way, isn't this the conclusion of the demon realm's argument: to keep the Empire in check and seize the moment to take over the human world?"
He grabbed the other person by the collar and fell with them.
To give another example, instead of throwing away or avoiding a flying fist, you would completely give up your defense and strike the fist in the same way.
A strong will to never die alone!
The Demon King covered his mouth at the unexpected remark, then lowers his head and shook his shoulders. The laughter, which was barely audible, grew louder as time passed and burst out loud through magic.
"Ha ha ha! Ha ha ha ha ha!! It's really fun!"
"..."
"This is the first time I've laughed this hard in years! I admit it. You are the best, Emperor! Maybe I would have coveted you before I met him!"
I feel like I'm encountering a lot of scenes today that I've never seen before.
The Demon King laughed out loud. He always smiled like a mask, but this was the first time I've seen him smile so loudly.
... But why do I have chills...
***
"I have chills..."
"... Sir."
"Chills..."
"Marquis!"
"Yes? What?"
I quickly woke up from my thoughts and raised my head. I made eye contact with Dan, who was looking at me with worried eyes. When had he approached?
... He's too close. It's a burden, so please stay away.
"Are you okay? You keep muttering that you have chills."
"Ah... it's okay."
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes."
"Then, please complete the paperwork quickly."
"Now that I think about it again, I don't think it's okay."
"If you lie, you will lose your hands... No, this is not it. It'll become a habit."
What?
"Even if you lie, I won't believe you."
"... Are you still gambling at the guild?"
"What kind of scary words are you talking about? My guild was very clear from the start. We have never done anything like opening a gambling house under the guise of a merchant guild and collecting commissions or hiring players to steal money from the players, and we will never do anything like that in the first place."
"... The explanation is very detailed..."
It's better for my mental health not to delve into it.
Dan went back to his seat as if nothing had happened and looked at the documents again, but suddenly something caught my eye and I narrowed my eyes.
"Looking at that document, it doesn't seem to be yours..."
"Oh, I brought it because I had to process documents related to the upper part... Damn Lowfel upper part! Also!"
The documents were crumpled.
I knew that the guild of Lowfel's was the guild that held this market tightly until the guild of Dan's rose. It was also the reason why Viscount Lowfel was not ignored by the Empire.
It seems like he was rivals with the Dan's guild now...
"Maybe they started an argument?"
"They signed an exclusive contract first for something we were looking to distribute!"
"Of course, there are a lot of checks... At this rate, it would have been more difficult to get into that market, so what did you do?"
"Hu huhuhu..."
A sinister smile even at first glance.
"As expected, gambling..."
"I'll say it again, that's not it. We succeeded in distributing Deusa tea leaves, which had always failed, and made customers aware of the existence of this guild."
"... You're the same."
"There was no choice but to break down the monopoly system. They were the bad ones. Rather, the Marquis' hand stopped it."
Shit. In the end, do you have to go around and process the documents?
I sighed and moved my hands. I'll have to take some time to think about this again, so I'll put it aside...
'What was I thinking about before Dan called me?'
Oh, right. I was thinking of the war of words between the Demon King and the Emperor.
What was the result of the war of words at the time?
'It was probably a draw.'
My mind gradually went to other places.
I put down the pen and rested my chin. Dan, who opened his mouth as if to point out something, but I called out one step ahead and spoke first, blocking his speech.
"But who won the war of nerves between the two monarchs at that time?"
"Was there a winner? They exchanged blows with each other, but at the end, they coolly grabbed each other by the collar and fell into the mud together."
"Is that so?"
"Yes, they spoke well during that time. Thanks to that, the continent has become a rough situation."[1]
"Rough..."
Are you saying it will develop further from there? I'm really... scared of what kind of situation will be born from this.
I turned my head to look away from him and went back to thinking.
In fact, I was curious about the reactions of the people of the Empire, so as soon as the video magic disappeared, I put on my robe and went outside. To conclude, the Emperor could be said to have achieved only average results.
'No matter what the ending was, there are those who support the Emperor's previous remarks because they make a lot of sense, and those who have bad feelings toward the Emperor, thinking that no matter what the previous content was, it means that he will not give up conquering the continent and will start a war with the demon realm. The ratio of people who don't care how things go in the world, and even if they did, would say that it's not something they can do anything about, the ratio is 1 to 1 to 1... '
Ah, there was also a person who discussed the Emperor's personality, pointing out that he liked the Demon King. Was it there? Well, that person also belonged to the group of people who had bad feelings towards the Emperor... There were people who were curious as to who 'that guy' was that was mentioned when the Demon King burst out laughing, but it quickly died down.
While most people were debating right and wrong, there were people who were uniquely educating others.
***
"Did you see it, Paul? That's how you say it. In particular, that one seems to be a war of words between individuals, but its main purpose was to incite the majority, so it will be a very good textbook that can be examined from various angles."
"It's all good, but why bother using the Emperor's appearance as a textbook…"
"Whether you like the other person or not, you have to learn what you have to learn."
The content was quite interesting.
"The Demon King used a simple method of obscuring the point of his words and then catching us off guard, so let's move on. ... To be honest, the Demon King could be said to be proactive, but he seemed unmotivated."
"It definitely seemed like the reaction was based on interest. Even when he spoke, it's was if he was tapping an interesting bug..."
"Is that so?"
Did he? Now that he think about it, the Emperor's words were overwhelmingly numerous. Even though the Demon King could have ended the call, he just listened quietly and only said a few words lightly.
'Those few words were heavy enough to deal the final blow, but...'
"As you know, the best thing to do in a war of words is to completely defend against the opponent's attack and counterattack. But there's no way things could go that easily, right? If defense is difficult, you have to find another way. In the video a little while ago, when the demon called the Commander of the 1st Corps said that they would step down if the Empire gave up on conquering the continent, what did the Emperor, who has a great weakness of never giving up on this, do?"
"... Instead of answering directly... he diverted the conversation. He attacked by pointing out the loopholes in the opponent's statement."
Attack to evade. And then the attack was carried out under the guise of a counterattack.
"That's right. That's why it's important to listen carefully to what the other person says and find loopholes. If the opponent's attack is of a type that you cannot respond to, you must attack in return."
"So I can think of this as evading and counterattacking."
"Yes. And yet, when the Demon King pointed out his weakness and evasion became impossible, what did the Emperor do?"
Ah, this was easy.
"He brought down his opponent as well."
"Good answer! Do you know why the Emperor did this? It was not a simple war of words between individuals. A war of words in front of the majority must never be lost. How many times have I told you about the importance of images? Images really influence a lot of things. The morale of the soldiers, the difficulty of inciting the public, in addition to the individual perception of the speaker..."
The explanations continued one after another.
He taught really well. The student was also smart and answered well.
The wind was cool and the weather was good. I slightly lifted the hood of my robe and raised my head to look at the sky. The sky was so clear that it was hard to believe that there had been a declaration of war by the Demon King.
'Ha, yeah, a fucking declaration of war.'
Now war was really happening. Not with another kingdom, but with the demon realm!
Ah, I suddenly felt like I was under a lot of stress. For some reason, it felt like the stress was getting higher and higher...
"Cough."
Well, it wasn't an illusion. I was under a lot of stress.
I thought calmly, wiping the red liquid flowing down my chin with the back of my hand.
...My questions had been roughly resolved, so I should go back now. To my mansion, where documents that I wanted to throw as kindling awaited at any moment. Without thinking, I lowered my head and made eye contact with the man who was teaching the child.
"Got it? Silence equals defeat. If it's a simple argument between individuals, it may be okay to lose, but if other people are watching, even if it means getting stuck in the mud with the other person..."
"...?"
What, why did they stop talking when they saw me?
... Oh, maybe it's because I vomited blood... No, but my hood was almost taken off! They must have seen my face!
[1] FYI it originally said "good textbook" here... no clue what that means so I'm changing this to better fit lol.