Chapter 96: For the Crown (1)
The Leonhardt Empire was an absolute monarchy.
It might seem a little strange that the Leonhardt Empire was an absolute monarchy even though it was much more advanced than Earth and could even be considered a futuristic world. However, it seemed to be a common occurrence in the universe.
"Of course, it was different from the Middle Ages on Earth. Even if you"re not a n.o.ble, you would be able to enjoy a decent freedom and equality. Even if you"re a n.o.ble, it doesn"t give you the right to trample on the lower cla.s.ses. Most importantly, every cla.s.s expresses full support of jus sanguinis [1] and at the same time… they are also supportive of meritocracy."
"…How can jus sanguinis and meritocracy coexist?" I asked.
"Because there are abilities that exist in the bloodlines."
The Imperial family was at its peak. They inherited the powers of the Golden Lion G.o.d who was powerful even among the High-rank G.o.ds. Following that, they were also born with exceptional looks, high intelligence, st.u.r.dy bodies, as well as an enormous amount of soul energy and power. They were raised to lead the Leonhardt Empire.
"Though I"m not in a position to say this... It"s unfair huh."
I was surprised by the fact that there were people who were destined to be leaders from birth and were born with the power of the bloodlines. Since Leonhardt Empire was a much more advanced society than those on Earth, the citizens should be relatively more civic conscious. How were they able to tolerate this illogical categorizing of cla.s.ses that was decided from the moment they were born? Transcendents transcended logic to attain their status but those of certain bloodlines just needed to be born and could become leaders.
However, Celestia looked at me as if I had just said something foolish.
"The world is originally unfair, you idiot. Are you trying to say that every single human on Earth-34 began their life at the same starting point and lives a life that is determined only by effort?"
"…"
I couldn"t refute her statement. Of course, there were no n.o.bles or royal families on Earth [2], but that did not mean that people on Earth lived an equal life.
The fate of many had been decided from birth. It depended on their country of birth, and also, their parents. There were certainly some who would say that there was no hierarchy in a democratic society. However, even so, it was deceitful to say that the children of day laborers and the children of conglomerate chairmen were of the same cla.s.s and on equal terms.
"I know what you"re thinking about, but the Leonhardt Empire would not have been established without His Majesty the First Emperor in the first place. It has only been 300 years and it"s a well-recorded history, so all the people knew that for a fact. Even though things turned out this way…"
"Even if things become a mess?"
"...That"s right."
Tadak, tadadak.
Celestia was typing nonstop even while talking to me. After organizing all the data that popped up in front of her, she identified the contents and gave her approvals on the doc.u.ments. Then, she ordered the departments that were in charge.
"But it"s more peaceful than I thought it would be."
I imagined the worst possible situation now that the Emperor was dead. It had only been a few hours after the Emperor had agreed to the marriage between Celestia and me. Yet, he pa.s.sed away. I realized that his pa.s.sing away had disrupted all of Celestia"s smooth plans.
To be honest, I wouldn"t have been surprised even if a missile flew towards Celestia"s stronghold, Starlight. However, contrary to my expectation, there were no attacks from the outside.
"Have you already forgotten how many Emperors have died so far? The system that prepared for the Emperor"s death had already been in place for 100 years."
"...In the first place, there"s a system that was designed to take into account the Emperor"s death?"
"That"s right. But honestly, even I couldn"t have imagined this current situation. Unlike the Emperors so far, my Father thought he had the Imperial authority completely under his control… Diana! Is there no individual investigations on Lennon Pharmaceuticals?"
Celestia turned her head and asked instead of explaining further. Diana shook her head in response while reviewing various materials on a hologram screen that floated in front of her.
"Lennon Pharmaceuticals is a company that is affiliated with our Starlight, but we have only started funding them recently so there"s no proper surveillance system in place."
"What about the Inspection Department?"
"It"s impossible to trust them completely since the Crown Prince already has widespread influence."
"It"s as I expected huh..."
I asked Celestia upon seeing her agonizing over things, "Is there something wrong? No, that aside, what are you doing now?"
"Protecting the inheritance. There was an inheritance set for me in the case that Father pa.s.sed away. Before we enter the Imperial Palace, we have to take care of all this."
"Shouldn"t we first figure out who harmed the Emperor?" I questioned.
Diana, who was standing next to Celestia, then explained.
"According to the reports and Senate announcements, an unidentified energy bomb blew up the entire Palace where His Majesty resided. The criminal’s ident.i.ty remains unknown, but most of the members of the Imperial family are considered as suspects."
"What? Then, don"t tell me..."
"That"s right. I"m both an heir to the inheritance and a suspect at the same time. The same applies to all the royalties you were supposed to meet tonight."
As Celestia explained, her eyes had never left the materials that were in front of her. I pointed to one of them.
"Erm, paragraph 25 of the previous page is a legal pitfall."
"What?"
Having turned to the next page, Celestia raised her eyebrows and turned back to the previous page. Instead of asking me, "What do you mean pitfall?", she calmly read the paragraph I had just mentioned for a few times.
"Alaina[3], what"s the average profit margin for Buda Construction?"
"It"s 4.87%. The plant has a profit margin of 5.36%, energy at 5.25%, civil engineering at 5.10%. These three had a relatively high profit margin, and architecture activity has a profit margin below 3%."
"Alright, then… Ah! I see! These d.a.m.n b.a.s.t.a.r.ds didn"t take into account any of the operating expenses nor the increase in material prices! Based on this data, everything would have a decreased profit margin of one to three percent. Especially for investments in land development businesses and private businesses, isn’t the simple rate of return 0.43% and 0% respectively? It looks like a good deal on the surface but the more construction we do, the more losses we will incur! And especially projects like terraforming! If we do it even just once, there would be a huge deficit!"
"...Wow."
I was astonished by Celestia who managed to swiftly pinpoint the issue despite the subtle hint I gave. She was a beautiful idol, but she was frighteningly competent when it came to work. She only overlooked the issue because she had to do an excessive amount of work in such a short time. If she had time to spare, I believe she would have been able to realize it on her own accord.
"Dae-ha! Are-, are there any other errors like this?"
"I haven"t had a close look so far... Can you put them all up on the wall on the right side?"
"Diana."
"Huh? But…"
"No buts. Have you already forgotten that he"s my husband? We don"t have time, so hurry and put it up!"
Diana couldn"t overcome Celestia"s reb.u.t.tal. She operated the pad and the right screen turned black. Then, dozens of doc.u.ments popped up on it.
As I started reading the doc.u.ments, Celestia also continued reading the doc.u.ments she was looking at. It seemed she planned to finish up more work while I was checking the doc.u.ments, but there was no reason for this job to continue for so long in the first place.
The moment I glanced the doc.u.ments over, everything would be done.
"No. 2, 7, 11, 23, 40, and… No. 52. Three of them are malicious fabrication of data, and two of them are missing some data. The last one is a little weird though? On the contrary to the others, there"s too much of a gain for you."
Needless to say, I didn"t know exactly what the doc.u.ments or contract was about. I wasn"t some sort of business owner, so there was no way I could understand the reports, contacts, and financial statements of such a s.p.a.ce-scale business.
However, I could see the t.i.tles.
Just like how I saw the t.i.tle of the trash thrown away by the old lady next door, or how I was able to see the t.i.tles of Gigas and Artificial Intelligences, it was also possible to identify the t.i.tle of objects.
In other words, it meant that I was able to know the moment I saw a piece of problematic doc.u.ment or paper.
"Wow, Dae-ha, do you want to get a job under me, a job? No, not just that. I"ll let you be in charge of a couple of companies."
"Don"t say nonsense and just wrap it up, wrap it up alright. You said you didn"t have time, right?"
Celestia snorted upon hearing my words and checked the doc.u.ments I picked out. Unlike Diana who was standing next to Celestia in a state of confusion, Celestia did not hesitate at all.
"As I expected, she… She probably knows about it to a certain extent."
Celestia knew I possessed a G.o.dly bloodline. On top of that, she met Hawa who had come to Albatross to meet me.
In fact, if this much information was given, it was natural to make an inference that would be similar to the absolute truth. Most of all, didn"t she see me giving orders in person?
"Machine G.o.d Dekarma."
Even if he wasn"t a being of some high-ranked G.o.d status like the G.o.d of Civilization and Information, he was still a First-Tier G.o.d. He was someone who once instilled fear throughout the whole universe with his mighty power and authority. He was the guardian deity of the Legion, the archenemy of the Union. So, if I were of his bloodline, it wouldn’t feel strange regardless of what my powers were. Rather, I was currently too weak.
"But still, the situation is pretty severe. It"s almost an attack at this point. Can they even be regarded as a vessel to the Imperial family?"
"They are vessels to the Imperial family according to the Imperial law only. But in actual fact, they don’t acknowledge my status and I can"t do anything about that."
Just because there were royalties and n.o.bles, it didn"t mean that the n.o.bles had any kind of territory under their control. The Emperor was the only one who owned the Empire. The royalties and n.o.bles under him had no territory. Instead, they had businesses, real estates, intellectual property rights and other similar things.
"In other words, the n.o.bles are basically some sort of… chaebol [4] household?"
"To put it in radical terms, then yes. And the royalties would become the owners of their respective households and businesses."
However, now that the Emperor had pa.s.sed away, some companies would then be under Celestia as part of her inheritance. Be that as it may, the businesses had other plans in mind. The other members of the Imperial family wanted to prevent Celestia from becoming more influential by gaining an enormous amount of wealth and a.s.sets.
"Imperial Princess-nim, it"s almost time."
"Already? Well, fortunately, it"s almost all sorted out… Get ready. Oh, the gun is unsealed, right?"
"Yeah."
"Can you bring it?" Celestia asked.
"Wait a minute."
Alaina answered and left the room. I found the completely random term weird.
"Gun?"
"It"s a gift for you. Thanks to you, I"m able to relax a little bit."
Alaina returned with a box which size was commonly seen in shoe stores. The only thing to note was that the box was made out of wood and was decorated quite luxuriously.
Clack.
As there was no need to decline the gift, I opened it without hesitation. A black pistol with a simple design laid inside the box.
"…A revolver?"
I was fl.u.s.tered. No, in the first place, what was this kind of anachronistic design doing in the Great Universe Era?
Celestia said with a smile as if she had antic.i.p.ated my reaction, "Its name is Shadow Stalker. Despite its appearance, it"s a high-tech weapon. It"s one of the gifts that the Kendler Saints gave to the Emperor."
"Huh, what do you mean this is a high-tech weapon?"
I held up the black revolver, Shadow Stalker. For a moment, I could feel Alaina flinching while holding the box.
Celestia explained, "It was originally meant for me, but it didn"t fit, so I sealed it. I polished my Magic Bullet Skills, so it"s difficult for me to display my full power unless it"s a Magic Gun type weapon."
"What is this if it"s not a Magic Gun?"
"Well that"s obviously an item made of pure scientific technology. That"s what the Kendler Saints who gave this to the Emperor said."
Celestia said with a smirk, "That"s the fruit of a type IV Civilization."
1. Jus sanguinis is latin for the right of blood, and in this case, it basically means that people of every cla.s.s believed in the right and authority of the bloodlines.
2. I think by Earth, the author was conveniently referring to Korea as a context rather than the whole Earth.
3. The raws wrote Alaina here but I think the author probably typed the wrong name and meant Diana. The same goes for the other mentions of Alaina in this chapter.
4. Chaebol is basically a large family-owned business conglomerate. For example, Hyundai, LG and Samsung.