The Adventure of a Boy with the Mind of a Middle-Aged Man

"Please remain calm, your Majesty. What will we do if you lose focus here!" one aide said.

"That's right. If you ask around, it seems that Grey Millard wounded Hero Yukihiro and punched Duke Cyrus's son. In addition, doesn't the Cyrus side have moral ground here?" added the young secretary.

Georg stared at his secretary in disbelief and gaped like a fish, but soon turned red in the face and shot up in a rage, grabbing the secretary by the collar.

"You.......How long have you been my secretary!? Moral ground!? A person from Grey's side died! And he was just trying to save a woman from being killed by that idiot son of Cyrus's."

"You say that but isn't that just what Sieg had heard from Grey's side!?" protested the secretary, who normally refrained from talking back. Soon, voices of agreement began to rise up.

"He's exactly right, your Majesty. All the eyewitnesses say it was due to The Fools taking revenge on the Radorus and turning things violent before Hero-dono stepping in to save them," one official said. "That's all."

"No matter how excellent he may be, he's just a child," another chimed in. "He readily believed what The Fools said---he was naïve."

"In the first place, it's unthinkable for Hero Yukihiro to be placed at his wits end at the likes of a single spell. He definitely used a cowardly trap on Yukihiro."

Georg didn't even object to his statement and just sat down and cradled his head. The prime minister, a man in his 40s, heaved a sigh before throwing out, "Your Majesty, do you realize how urgent this is?"

"Yeah, more than you would think. So, what's the situation?"

"Duke Cyrus demands the following two points. First, put Grey Millard on trial for this incident in Thermax, somewhere the Commerce Guild doesn't hold very much influence. Second, hand over his various rights as reparation for his illegal acts upon Cyrus's side. That is all."

"That worthless maggot!" the emperor spit out in vitriol. "He's committing a taboo without a care in the world!!"

"Your Majesty."

The prime minister once again tried to calm down the emperor, who had stood up and was shaking in rage.

The emperor turned to a maid behind him and snatched a cup off her tray, chugging the cold water.

"Sorry. Continue."

"Naturally, the Commerce Guild fiercely objects to the second condition of transferring Grey's rights. Several executives are proposing that we quickly withdraw from the guild, and we would have no choice but to do that if we were to accept Duke Cyrus's second condition," the prime minister explained.

Immediately, everyone began looking around in bewilderment.

Grey's rights would simply end up in Duke Cyrus's hands; there wouldn't be much of a difference. So why is the guild getting so angry?" the secretary asked.

Emperor Georg knit his eyebrows for just a second, but soon returned to his poker face.

"Prime minister, explain to this idiot."

"There's a huge problem," the prime minister began. "The Commerce Guild is the ultimate believer of might makes right; they're an organization that endlessly chases after profit. They also prize their own rules as one of their assets. Moreover, Grey's rights go hand in hand with the guild's main leadership, so to them, simply handing over his rights is an unforgivable crime."

There's plenty of other reasons," the emperor added, "but in general, it's as the prime minister said. And this timing of eliminating Grey from Sutherland is also quite suspicious. Even you dull idiots should be able to see who's behind all this, right?"

The emperor's aides immediately paled. So they've finally began to understand the gravity of this situation.

"Is your Majesty trying to say that both the Amrzs Kingdom and the Holy Kingdom of Esters are involved?"

"I don't have any proof yet, but Grey's plan showed us a ray of light out of this unprecedented disaster. And while enacting out his plan, this occurred. If we look at who profits the most from our empire's destruction, the truth becomes almost apparent."

The room erupted in a nervous chatter like the buzzing of a beehive.

"Save your racket for later! Sorry, but I can't go along with your unproductive conversations anymore," said the emperor. "So, do you think we can defend against Cyrus's demands?"

"As a result of Cyrus's side persistently spreading their lies, all the officials in this room---as well as almost all the citizens of Sutherland---are seeking for a fair trial in Thermax. It doesn't seem like we can avoid that," explained the prime minister. "My reports state that Sutherland's Department of Justice have proclaimed they will send Grey over tomorrow morning."

The emperor placed his palm over his forehead and groaned at the ceiling, but quickly straightened his jaw and turned towards the prime minister.

"Then what about handing over the rights?"

"The empire is a signatory of the Commerce Guild, so the Department of Justice will decide whether his rights lay outside of Sutherland or not. Basically......"

The prime minster stopped short and the emperor burst out in laughter before saying, "In order for the guild to not kick us out, we either have to have Grey win the trial, or that greedy bastard named Duke Cyrus has to voluntarily withdraw his complaint......"

Because there's a lot of complications when dealing with the Commerce Guild's rights in Sutherland, they will provide the judge for the trial, and the empire's Department of Justice will simply serve a more businesslike role.

The Commerce Guild doesn't slack when it comes to gathering information, so as long as the trial is conducted here in Sutherland, they'll expose the truth to the world.

On the other hand, Thermax is one of Duke Cyrus's territories, so the trial and the final decision will all go as Duke Cyrus desires. It's simply an execution ground disguised as a trial.

"There's still some time for Grey, albeit not much. Right now we should be discussing the soon-to-come undead attack," the prime minister said.

"Yeah, that's right. However, they've had one of their own killed and even have had Grey captured. Do you really think they'll cooperate?" asked the emperor.

"I've received a report that Sieg managed to secure their cooperation since they said, 'Sagami Co. will cooperate this time alone.' It seems Dimer McGwire, Grey's grandfather, has somehow managed to persuade them."

"As expected of Grey's subordinates and his grandfather. What happened is regrettable, but I'm thankful towards them."

The emperor closed his eyes and folded his arms, but soon after stood up and raised his hand and declared, "Then right now, we'll do everything to fire back at the undead. Under my name, I'll use Sagami Co.'s achievement of winning the war to expose the truth to all the citizens of Sutherland and return Grey to this land where we will conduct the trial. There's no other option."

Relief spread throughout everyone as if they had seen a ray of hope out of the empire's destruction, but the prime minister shook his head with a bitter smile before saying, "The army has withdrawn from Grey Millard's plan, and I advocate that they stick to the original plan and start filling in the holes."

For a while, Georg stared into the distance as if his soul were stolen, but maybe because he finally understood what was happening, gave an ear-piercing roar.

"Hear me, parasites that leech off the empire and maggots who only know how to bring others down!! If you want the empire to fall then just get exterminated by yourself! Don't bother us humans!!"

"Your Excellency the prime minister, did the Millards fill in the holes?" the young secretary hesitantly asked with a pale, ghost-like face.

"Naturally, they've made some snarky comments that preparations to begin immediately have been made."

"Obviously! If it were me, I'd slaughter all the undead in a rage!!"

"So, what should we do?"

"Kukku, what should we do? That's obvious. In any case, this empire will end with my generation. Court nobles? The Cyrus family? Bring it on I say!!" the emperor yelled with bloodshot eyes as he scratched at and teared at his golden hair.

"Y-your majesty, please remain calm!"

"Shut it, you! Tell the lords every word that I'm about to say! The emperor, Georg Rose Archive, will use Grey Millard's plan! And any who object to this will be branded as rebels and become the enemy of our empire! I'll place them in the front lines and work them until they die!!"

"Your Majesty, that's a bit......"

"Just tell them!! I won't allow any objections!! You understand!!?"

"Sure......"

The struggles of middle management. There's no other words that could more aptly describe their faces.

"I can't hear you!!"

"Yessir!!" they shouted and exited the room while holding back tears.

"Your Majesty, everyone is on edge. Don't work them too hard."

"Yeah, I know. I know, okay. I'll apologize to everyone once everything ends."

The prime minister bowed once to the emperor, who had laid his head on the table in a complete turnaround from the authority he displayed before, and exited the room.

And now, while twisted, we've reached the climax of the undead extermination.