I Didn't Want to Become the Emperor of This World

Chapter 28

Outside the royal palace, seeing the ‘real’ lives of the people of this world, my mind went blank.

‘……To prevent the rebellion, I must ensure these people can live at least a human life. But I don't have a shred of confidence that I can. How do I save this hell?’

Before coming to this world, although I lived a poor life, I never went without food. If I worked part-time, sacrificing sleep, I could afford not only meals but also coffee, and I could attend university.

It was the same after I came to this world. Even though I was subjected to all sorts of scorn and insults from the nobles, I never once felt like I was ‘going to starve to death.’

But right now, before my eyes, there were countless people starving to death.

Could that be called a ‘human life’?

‘……The kingdom's situation is much worse than I thought. Truly.’

As I watched the beggars in silence for a while, Jereuth asked.

“What are you thinking so hard abou…… no, about?”

“I was thinking that this is not a human life.”

“Not a human life?”

“Yes. There is a life that every human being should be able to enjoy as a basic right. But those people…… aren't they living a life worse than beasts?”

“A life worse than beasts.”

Jereuth repeated my words and then shook his head.

“At least they are there of their own will. The ones truly living a life worse than beasts are a separate matter.”

“……Are you saying there are people living a life worse than theirs?”

“There are. No, there are many. In this kingdom, on the continent, and on the islands.”

After speaking as if in passing, Jereuth took the lead.

“Is there any place you would like to go? Or anything you want to see.”

“I don't know much about the world outside the royal palace…… Ah, if there is a ‘market,’ I would like to go and see it.”

“A market?”

“Yes. If the situation in front of the royal palace is like this, the market will probably be in a terrible state too, but I feel like the market is where the most people gather and where it's the most vibrant.”

“Hmm…….”

Jereuth pondered for a moment before nodding.

“Alright, I will guide you to the market. But you must promise me one thing.”

“A promise?”

“Yes. Under no circumstances should you stray from my side. As you said, the market is a crowded place, so there's no telling what might happen.”

After finishing his words, Jereuth tightened his grip on the sword hidden in his bosom and also gave Elly a look. Seeing his glance, Elly also moved closer to me and Jereuth.

“Then I will guide you to the market.”

***

The market was about a 30-minute walk from the royal castle.

As we got closer to the market, the number of people increased, and conversely, the number of beggars decreased.

‘Why are there fewer beggars the closer we get to the market? Wouldn't the market be a better place to beg?’

I had such a question, but by the time I arrived at the market, I understood why there were no beggars around here.

It was thanks to the large sign at the market entrance, which read:

[Plank Royal Capital 1st Market: Entrance Fee 10 Donghwa]

[By permission of Count Talon, the market manager may prohibit and independently punish begging and other illegal activities within and outside this market.]

[Market Manager— ‘Diego’]

‘An entrance fee? Does it cost money even to enter the market? And who is this manager named ‘Diego’? Is he a noble?’

While I was pondering this, Jereuth led me and Elly towards the market entrance. Just then, some rough-looking—at a glance, gangster-like—men approached us and shoved Jereuth in the chest.

Thwack!

“……What the, why is your chest so hard?”

The thug, who had shoved Jereuth's chest as if to pick a fight, was taken aback instead.

Then, clearing his throat to assert his authority, he spoke again.

“Ahem! Hey, old man. The entrance fee?”

I was flustered by the thug's sudden robbery, but Jereuth replied as if he was used to it.

“Here you go.”

Without any resistance, Jereuth took a bundle of money from his pocket and handed it to the thugs. I had thought Jereuth might not pay the thug, but it seemed he wanted to avoid any trouble for now.

As the thugs checked the money pouch, their eyes widened as they glanced at Elly.

“Oh…… a wench I haven't seen before? Are you a pimp, old man? How much for that wench?”

A pimp, in simple terms, is a manager of prostitutes. Seeing them talk like that, it seemed those thugs thought of Elly as a prostitute.

For some reason, I found those people who thought of Elly as a prostitute very annoying.

No, perhaps it was natural. Since they had treated Elly, a person certified by the as ‘my person,’ like a prostitute.

“How about 50 copper for one night? If she's a virgin, I'll give you a little more, up to 60 copper—.”

“That child is my granddaughter. If you say such words one more time, I will not forgive you.”

“……Not forgive me?”

As if he didn't like Jereuth's words, the thug put on a fearsome expression. The atmosphere turned grim in an instant.

“This half-dead old geezer…… Do you know who I am?! I am Sir Diego's—!”

Just as the thug was about to shout.

Another thug who had been watching the situation from the side stopped him.

“Hey, stop it. Don't go picking a fight with someone who paid the entrance fee and get scolded by Sir Diego again.”

“……Shit.”

The thug cursed and spat on Jereuth's chest.

Ptooey—!

“Watch your back at night, old man. If you want to see your granddaughter and grandson go home alive.”

“I appreciate the advice.”

Jereuth nonchalantly wiped the spit from his clothes with his hand and led me and Elly into the market. Even as we did so, the thug glared at Jereuth, and with another eye, he looked at Elly with greed.

They didn't pay much attention to me; I don't know if it was because I was a boy or because I had my hat pulled down low and they couldn't see my face.

Anyway, from what I've felt so far, the royal capital is a typical ‘dark city’. A dark city managed by thugs.

‘Outside the market, people live by begging, and to enter the market, you have to pay an entrance fee. But the ones managing that market are thugs.’

I suddenly recalled something I had read in the . One of the reasons the people of the kingdom started a rebellion was the tyranny of ‘thugs and gangsters.’

‘But how are the thugs managing the market? In a medieval-level civilization, shouldn't the market usually be managed by soldiers?’

I asked as I followed Jereuth into the market.

“Grandfather. Why are thugs like them managing the market?”

“Because the nobles gave them the right.”

“The nobles?”

“Yes. Most of those thugs are under the protection of the nobles. They face no punishment for whatever they do inside or outside the market. In the first place, they create their own laws and regulations to rule the market.”

So, they are thugs who manage a state-sanctioned market?

It couldn't get more messed up than this.

“Those thugs probably don't know that the nobles have been purged yet. The same goes for the kingdom's people. So, when the purge of the nobles is announced, the thugs' power will probably crumble a lot.”

Jereuth spoke with a slight hint of hope, but I knew that the world wouldn't unfold so hopefully.

‘No. The rebellion happened even after the nobles disappeared. The people were angry with me for leaving the thugs alone. That means…… even if the nobles disappeared, the thugs' influence didn't decrease at all.’

Perhaps when the nobles were around, the thugs acted as their enforcers, but after the nobles disappeared, the thugs might have become even more rampant, pretending to be nobles themselves.

‘There's no need to tell Jereuth that much.’

While I was lost in thought, I entered the market.

But it wasn't the kind of ‘market’ I had imagined.

‘……This place looks like a black market.’

Usually, when one thinks of a ‘market,’ it's a place where people display goods, haggle, and buy and sell.

But the royal capital's market didn't have that kind of atmosphere. Everyone was covering their faces, speaking quietly, and secretly buying and selling goods.

In the first place, there were no stalls for displaying goods. Instead, they kept their goods tightly wrapped in bags and took them out upon receiving money, or they took money at the entrance of an alley and brought the goods from inside the alley. It was as if they were conducting illegal transactions.

“Is this the largest market in the royal capital?”

“That's right—.”

Just as Jereuth was speaking.

Thud!

A child of about my height bumped into Jereuth. Looking at the face, the age also seemed similar to mine, but the child was extremely shabby. I shouldn't say this, but honestly, the child had an odor that was hard to bear.

“S-sorry! I was in a hurry—!”

The child apologized to Jereuth and tried to leave. The voice was somewhat feminine, as if the child's voice hadn't broken yet.

‘Looking closely, the child also looks like a girl.’

The child tried to leave quickly, but Jereuth's hand was faster.

Grip!

Jereuth suddenly grabbed the child's wrist and twisted it without mercy. The pain must have been immense, as the child screamed.

“Aaaack—!”

“……?!”

Before I could even say, 「”What are you doing!”」 at Jereuth's sudden outburst, Jereuth snatched a bundle of money from the child's pocket.

“If you're going to pickpocket, you should look at who you're dealing with.”

……A pickpocket? That young child? And that fast? But is that really Jereuth's money pouch?

As I stared blankly back and forth between the child and Jereuth, Jereuth spoke to me.

“What do you wish for me to do? According to the market's law, a pickpocket's wrist is cut off. Or we must collect the price of the wrist.”

“C-cut off the wrist?”

“That's right. That is the law made by the thugs who manage the market, the so-called ‘managers’. ……So, what do you wish for me to do?”

Jereuth spoke indifferently and firmly, but I could tell his voice was trembling slightly. He, who had not shown a hint of wavering when he declared he would purge countless nobles.

‘Is he asking me whether to enforce the law or to just let the child go.’

I had already said after the Purge, ‘My word is the law.’ So, whatever I said would be done.

Of course, that was a fact shared only between me, Jereuth, and Elly for now.

“First, let go of the arm. It's just a child.”

“Understood.”

At my words, Jereuth released the child's twisted arm but still held onto the wrist.

“P-p-p-please spare me. If my hand is cut off too, m-my family will really starve to death! P-please……!”

As her arm was freed a little, the child shed tears as if pleading with me. It seemed she had understood in that short conversation that I was the one who held the decision over her wrist.

Seeing how she grasped the flow of the conversation, she might be a rather smart child.

I had no intention of cutting off this child's hand, but I asked first.

“You said ‘if your hand is cut off too,’ does that mean many in your family have had their hands cut off?”

“S-seven of them.”

……Seven people? Seven people had their wrists cut off for pickpocketing?

Do the people of this world do such things so nonchalantly?

“How many are in your family? What are your parents doing while you're pickpocketing?”

“Th-there are a little over twenty in my family. We are orphans living together…… My parents passed away in the war against the demon tribe. My father died in the war, and my mother was…… by the nobles.”

“……”

“S-so please, I beg you! I-I-I will never pickpocket again! Please let me go just this once! Please!”

The child said she would never pickpocket again, but this one would probably go right back to pickpocketing as soon as I let her go. Because there would be no other way for her to make a living.

I was angry. Not at the child, but at the nobles who had made people like this.

‘Did those noble bastards let the people of the kingdom live like this while their own bellies were so full of fat?’

It made me feel ridiculous for having felt a prick of conscience for killing people during the Purge.

If I could turn back time, I would want to kill them myself.

I decided to calm down a little and think calmly.

‘I read it in a book when I was in school a long time ago. The ones who suffer the most from war and poverty are the children. So, if I see how this child lives, I might be able to understand the reality of this kingdom in more detail.’

While I was thinking silently for a moment, the child continued to cry nonstop. The dirt and grime covering her face were washed away by her tears.

First, I decided to ask for her name and where she lived.

“What is your name? And where is your home?”

“Yo-Yoanna. And my home…… I-I don't have one.”

Yoanna? I've heard that name somewhere. Where was it?

Ah…… I remember.

‘If it's Yoanna, she's the woman mentioned in the who led the people's rebellion. Does that mean this child is the one who will start the rebellion later on?’

I had found the prospective leader of the rebel army in an unexpected place. However, since only I knew that fact, I continued to ask questions calmly for now.

“Even if you don't have a home, you must have a place you stay. You're not sleeping on the streets, are you?”

“We all gather and sleep on the streets……”

“……Then where do you gather and sleep?”

“Under the city walls.”

“So where is that—.”

It was then that I was asking the child.

“What are you doing in the middle of the market street? I've told you time and again not to block the road, haven't I?”

A rough man's voice came from behind. I turned around to see a man of the same type as the one I saw at the market entrance—a ‘thug’—standing there.

“Hmm? Did you catch a pickpocket?”

“It's not a pickpocket—.”

As I was about to answer, Jereuth answered the thug instead.

“That's right.”

“Then you have to cut off the wrist.”

“We decided not to cut it off.”

“Then you have to pay the price for the wrist. Who's going to pay?”

The price for the wrist?

“Count Talon, who entrusted this market to me, said, ‘Make and uphold the rules of the market.’ And the rule of this market that I made is ‘a pickpocket either has their wrist cut off or pays the price of the wrist to the manager.’ As you well know.”

The thug continued to speak menacingly without a second thought.

“The price for a wrist is 5 silver. Who's going to pay? The little brat caught pickpocketing? Or you, old man?”

“Are you saying we have to pay even when we, the ones who were pickpocketed, are willing to forgive the pickpocket?”

“Of course. Because that's the rule I set, with the authority given to me by Count Talon. If you can't pay, you can give me your wrist instead.”

“……”

“The harvest is quite plentiful today. To think I get to cut off four wrists.”

The thug took out a dagger from his bosom. He said he had cut four wrists, and indeed, the dagger was disgustingly stained with dried blood.

Seeing that dagger, Yoanna trembled so much her teeth chattered. It seemed she had seen a wrist being cut off herself, as the fear was clearly visible in her eyes.

“P-please…… S-S-Sir Diego, please…… Please! I-I'll do anything! So please, just not my wrist……!”

Diego?

‘Is that thug the manager of this market, Diego? The one written on the sign at the market entrance earlier.’

Hearing that thug's words, I finally understood. Why people had no choice but to cut off a pickpocket's wrist so mercilessly.

They had no choice. If they didn't cut off the pickpocket's wrist, they would have to pay with their own money or have their own wrist cut off.

‘This is absurd. That the thugs would arbitrarily make such a ridiculous law. And that the nobles would allow it.’

As expected, neither the nobles nor these thug bastards were human.

“……”

Unable to contain my anger, I raised my head and glared at the thug. The thug, seeing my gaze, let out a hollow laugh and shouted.

“This little shit dares to glare at me—!”

Just as the thug was about to grab me by the collar.

Tuk!

Jereuth, in an instant—a true ‘instant’—blocked the thug's hand and threw a hefty bundle of money at him.

“It's a pouch with about 800 copper. That's much more than 5 silver. Can you just let it go with that?”

“You're going to pay for the price of the wrist and for being rude to me with this?”

“Yes. So, can we go?”

“……?”

Diego picked up the bundle of money that had fallen on the ground, checked it, and then let out another hollow laugh.

“What are you? Who are you to spend such a large sum of money so casually?”

“You don't need to know. I'll ask again. Can we go?”

“My goodness…… I can't understand. You're spending this money for a pickpocket?”

“……”

“Ah, perhaps you have such a preference, old man? You don't look like the type to like kids, but surprisingly, you are, I see?”

The thug—Diego—cackled, insulting Jereuth, then turned around and walked away somewhere.

‘I see why thugs are one of the reasons the people of the kingdom started a rebellion.’

If such people are left alone, of course the good people will get angry. But according to the , it seems my future self had left them alone.

So, I must not leave them alone.

Not that I had any intention of leaving them alone in the first place.

“……Head Knight. If we mobilize the knights, can we eliminate all the thugs, including that guy named Diego? Without any mercy.”

I asked Jereuth in a voice that Elly and the pickpocket child wouldn't hear.

Jereuth replied without hesitation.

“I can do it by myself. Just give the order.”

Jereuth brought his hand to the sword hidden under his shabby cloak.

As if he would go and cut down Diego right this instant.