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

Chapter 37

When I announced that I would give a speech to the knights and soldiers right before the ‘war on crime’, Jereuth flinched for a moment. Then he nodded and replied.

“Of course, Your Highness. It would be a great help if you were to personally boost their morale before the operation. However……”

“However― what is it?”

“Um…… It’s nothing. My apologies.”

There was nothing more frustrating than someone stopping mid-sentence.

Jereuth seemed to be about to say something important but then trailed off.

“Then I will slightly adjust the operation schedule to commence after Your Highness’s speech. The operation begins in three days, so I ask that you prepare your speech by then.”

“Yes.”

With my short reply, Jereuth took a step back. Then, Heinshtangl, who had been standing beside him with a very nervous look, handed me the documents he had brought and said.

“Th-Then, this time, I will report on the plan to manage the markets of the royal capital after the ‘war on crime’. Before that, there is something I would like to say first…… Your Highness, I hope you will forgive me even if the plan I have prepared is different from what Your Highness desires.”

It was still somewhat unsettling for me to see an adult, who was much older than me—even by the standards of my age before I came to this world—speak while trembling like this.

Still, trying my best not to show it, I smiled at Heinshtangl.

“You may speak comfortably. I am not a bad person who gets angry or doles out punishment just because your thoughts differ from mine. Nor am I a bad person who gets angry without reason.”

“……Ah, yes.”

Heinshtangl replied awkwardly and continued.

“Then, first, I will report on the state of the markets in the royal capital. Currently, there are three markets in the royal capital. The 1st market in the center, the 2nd market in the west, and the 3rd market in the south. However, all three markets are not properly managed, so there are many empty buildings, and quite a few are in danger of collapsing. Therefore, the most urgent task is to repair those buildings…… and for that, quite a bit, no, a ‘significant’ amount of funds and manpower will be needed.”

At first, Heinshtangl spoke awkwardly while glancing at me, but as he continued, he seemed to loosen up. His explanation to me was easy to understand, as if he had practiced a lot.

However, I felt sorry for Heinshtangl, as his explanation wasn't registering well in my mind. Because right now, I was inwardly composing the ‘speech’ I had to give in three days.

‘I’m not exactly used to speaking in front of others. It’s one thing to give a presentation at university, but a speech is a whole other matter.’

While I was having such thoughts, Heinshtangl calmly explained what he had prepared. For the time being, I cleared my mind of distractions and focused on listening to his explanation.

Rebuilding the royal capital’s markets was just as important as the morale of the troops before a war.

***

“Then, Your Highness, we will take our leave.”

“Yes, you’ve worked hard.”

After the report, which lasted for about an hour, Jereuth and Heinshtangl left the room. As soon as they were gone, I threw my tired body onto the bed.

Thud.

I wasn't trying to sleep. I was just trying to rest a little. I had no time to sleep right now.

As I lay on the bed with one arm covering my eyes, Elly, who was organizing the documents, asked.

“Your Highness, you seem tired. Shall I turn off the lights?”

“No, I’m just going to close my eyes for a moment. Just a little. Really, just a little.”

I once heard that even if you don't sleep, just closing your eyes helps with fatigue recovery.

So I intended to just close my eyes…… but.

‘……I’m sleepy. I shouldn’t be lying down.’

It felt like I would fall asleep if I let my guard down for even a moment, so I got out of bed right away. I had to give a speech in front of the knights and soldiers in three days, or more accurately, in about two days, so I had no time to rest like this.

As I got up from the bed and sat back in the chair, Elly spoke cautiously.

“Are you planning to prepare the speech you mentioned to the Commander earlier?”

“Yes. I have to give the speech at dawn in three days, so I don’t have much time. I’ve prepared some of it in advance, but it’s still not enough.”

“Um…… Your Highness, in that case, how about speaking to the Commander and postponing the ‘war on crime’ by a day or two?”

“Postpone it?”

“Yes. I’m worried because you look very tired. If we postpone it by even a day or two, I thought you could rest in the meantime. You could also prepare more for the speech.”

Worry was clearly evident in Elly's voice. I was grateful that she cared for me that much, but I couldn't postpone the ‘war on crime’.

‘The said that the ‘war on crime’ was a success when it started in three days. So I must keep to that timing.’

It didn't necessarily mean that things would go wrong if I didn't keep to that timing. Still, it was naturally better to stick to the schedule mentioned in the if possible, so I intended to match that schedule even if it was hard for me.

“No, Commander Jereuth has already said the operation will commence in three days, so I will stick to that schedule. If I suddenly change the schedule now, it could mess up the Commander’s plan.”

“I see……. Then, I will bring you some tea that is good for fatigue recovery.”

“Thank you.”

Elly bowed her head slightly in greeting and left the room.

Turning my gaze from the departing Elly, I took out the speech I had written in advance.

The content was as follows.

Respected knights of the 3rd Knight Order, and soldiers.

This ‘war on crime’ is to bring down the iron mace of justice upon the criminals who threaten and oppress the Plank Kingdom and its people, whom I love.

You, who protect the honest and hardworking people of the kingdom and uphold the law, are the heroes of this kingdom and…….

Every time I read the speech I had written, I honestly cringed a little. Still, the content I wrote was in a formal style ‘befitting a Crown Prince’, so it didn't feel wrong. It wasn't well-written, but it felt passable.

‘Will the content of this speech be able to raise the morale of the knights and soldiers?’

Originally, the future where I gave a speech before the ‘war on crime’ did not exist in the . But now, Jereuth had said he would set aside time for me to give a speech before the operation commenced. In other words, a small variable had arisen in the foreseen future.

‘So, I need to check the . To see how the future will change when I give a speech with this script.’

Ssh―.

Leaning back slightly in my chair, I stretched out my arm, took the from the bookshelf, and opened it.

As I expected, the content of me giving a speech had been added to the .

…….

At one in the morning on the day of the ‘war on crime’, at the royal palace training ground.

I gave a speech to boost the morale of the knights and soldiers. It was a speech I had prepared quite diligently in my own way.

「”Respected knights of the 3rd Knight Order, and soldiers. This ‘war on crime’ is to bring down the iron mace of justice upon the criminals who threaten and oppress the Plank Kingdom and its people, whom I love……”」

However, since I wasn't used to speaking in front of others, my speech was unavoidably awkward.

Until I ascended the platform, the knights and soldiers had looked on with a hint of anticipation, but it was obvious they were quite disappointed by my clumsy speaking skills.

I had been mistaken. The had stated that the morale of the knights and soldiers was low, so I thought I could solve it by simply giving a speech of encouragement.

But if I was going to give a speech, I should have done it ‘properly’.

To the knights and soldiers, I was no longer just a ‘frail, young Crown Prince’. I was the ‘young but brilliant and fearsome Crown Prince’ who had purged the nobles in one fell swoop.

So, for someone like me to give a clumsy and formal speech, it was only natural for the knights and soldiers to be disappointed.

The morale of the knights and soldiers was already low because they were attacking commoners of the same kingdom…… I feel like I made things worse by giving a clumsy speech.

I regret it again. If I was going to give a speech, I should have done it properly. It wasn't about saying formally nice-sounding words, but about it coming genuinely from the heart.

Only then could I have raised the morale of the knights and soldiers.

I belatedly remembered something I had heard once―「”What’s important in a speech is not skill, but sincerity. A sincere speech, no matter how poorly delivered, can move the hearts of the audience.”」

But my speech was already over. The knights and soldiers were leaving the royal palace training ground, disappointed.

I don't know if it was just my imagination, but the shoulders of the knights and soldiers leaving the palace seemed to be slumped.

Surely they won't go beyond letting the thugs and wicked merchants go and actually lose the ‘war on crime’?

I hope not.

That was the end of the newly written content. And as soon as I read it, I found myself covering my face without realizing it.

‘This content…… is basically saying the speech was a failure?’

This would be a complete bust. Didn't I just create a problem by doing something unnecessary?

Even the phrase that was in the before the speech, 「’The ‘war on crime’ was superficially a success.’」 had disappeared.

In other words, because I gave a speech, the outcome of the ‘war on crime’ itself had become uncertain.

‘Should I cancel the speech even now?’

If I canceled the speech, at least the knights and soldiers wouldn't be ‘disappointed’ in me.

The problem of the knights' and soldiers' low morale due to attacking commoners of the same kingdom would still remain, but it would be better than them being disappointed in me.

That thought naturally crossed my mind.

But.

‘Canceling the speech is not the best alternative. It’s not an alternative, it’s running away.’

The best way was for me to succeed with the speech. In a way befitting the ‘young but brilliant and fearsome Crown Prince’ that the knights and soldiers expected, as mentioned in the .

I calmly organized my thoughts.

‘In the future, as the Crown Prince, I will have many occasions to give speeches in front of others. And there will be even more when I become king. A speech is an essential performance that a person in power must give to their followers.’

So, I couldn't run away every time I had to give a speech. Therefore, I decided to treat this ‘war on crime speech’ as preparation and practice for more important speeches in the future.

I cast aside my weak thoughts. Instead, I decided to prepare for the speech that was destined to fail.

‘Let’s read the slowly again. There must be a reason why my speech failed. A crucial reason besides my lack of speaking skills.’

As I thought this and read the diary carefully, one sentence in particular bothered me.

……It was a speech I had prepared quite diligently in my own way.

‘A speech I had prepared quite diligently in my own way…… This might be the reason why my speech was so poor.’

Other people thought of me as a ‘brilliant and fearsome Crown Prince’, but I knew I was not such a great person. I was just a perfectly ordinary person who gave answers by looking at the answer sheet called the .

So, for someone like me to give ‘a speech I had prepared quite diligently in my own way’ was a natural conclusion to failure.

‘The fortunate thing is that there’s a hint in the diary on how to make the speech a success.’

I re-read the content at the end of the .

……I regret it again. If I was going to give a speech, I should have done it properly. It wasn't about saying formally nice-sounding words, but about it coming genuinely from the heart.

Only then could I have raised the morale of the knights and soldiers.

I belatedly remembered something I had heard once―「”What’s important in a speech is not skill, but sincerity. A sincere speech, no matter how poorly delivered, can move the hearts of the audience.”」

‘Words that come genuinely from the heart. If I put that into the speech, I can move the hearts of the audience even without speaking skills…… is that it.’

I closed my eyes gently and thought. About my true feelings.

‘My true feelings are……’

The reason I was carrying out the ‘war on crime’ was to prevent the rebellion of the kingdom's people in the distant future.

To prevent the rebellion and live, that was the biggest reason.

But now, another reason had emerged. I wanted to punish the thugs and wicked merchants.

I wanted to crush those trashes who bullied others just because they had some power, who ran rampant as they pleased, and even cut off people’s wrists.

‘No, to be honest…… right now, I don’t really care about preventing a future rebellion. My anger at wanting to get rid of those trashes is greater.’

I felt like I had come to understand a part of my true feelings that I didn't even know I had.

Just like the anger I felt when the nobles whipped the gardener to death for a trivial reason, I was angry at the thugs and wicked merchants playing with people’s lives in the royal capital.

Come to think of it, I had this anger even before I came to this world. It annoyed me to see those who had destroyed others’ lives through various crimes to amass vast fortunes appear on the news, living in luxury.

It wasn't out of a sense of heroism or justice, but a feeling I had as an ordinary person.

Honestly, who wouldn't feel that way? If they were an ordinary person.

‘But back then, I couldn't do anything. Because I had no power.’

But now was different from back then.

Now, I could do anything. I had that kind of power.

As I thought, I tore up the formal speech I had written ‘diligently in my own way’ just a moment ago. That speech, which was destined to fail.

Rip―!

I casually threw the torn speech on the floor, took out another piece of paper, and began to write a speech that contained my honest thoughts.

‘I don’t need a speech that a noble Crown Prince would say. Let’s write the anger of a truly ordinary person. The anger at the suffering of good people tormented by thugs and wicked merchants.’

Scribble, scribble―!

When I wrote the first speech, it took quite a long time to write.

But now, it was unstoppable. As I wrote down my anger and thoughts as they were, the speech was completed in an instant.

And it rolled off my tongue without much practice. To the point where I didn't even need to write the speech down on paper.

***

On the day of the ‘war on crime’, at the royal palace training ground.

Heavily armed knights and soldiers stood in formation with somewhat stiff expressions. Their spirit, ahead of the ‘war on crime’ that would begin in about an hour, was quite sharp.

The reason they were all gathered like this an hour before departure was for the Crown Prince's speech.

Ssh―.

Jereuth, who was standing on the training ground platform, took off his helmet and tucked it under his arm. He then looked at the knights and soldiers, gauging the atmosphere.

‘The atmosphere is not very good.’

The ‘war on crime’, an attack on the commoners of the same kingdom, even if they were criminals.

Ever since the knights and soldiers learned of it, the army's morale had continued to drop.

As morale fell, an inexplicable sense of burden and rejection spread through the army like a plague.

Of course, it hadn't fallen to the point where they couldn't fight. The remaining army in the Plank Kingdom had fought in the war against the demons, and their trust and loyalty to Jereuth were immense, so unless something truly decisive and shocking happened, their morale wouldn't drop to a non-combatant level.

Nevertheless, the low morale of the troops was naturally not a welcome thing. Of course not.

‘This force is the royal family’s best and only force at present. But if their morale is this low…… this time, the ‘war on crime’ is about getting rid of thugs and ruffians, so they’ll manage somehow, but in the future, if His Highness Leonardo commands them to do anything, there could be a problem.’

Even so, Jereuth couldn't roughly scold the knights and soldiers. There was nothing more foolish than reprimanding troops with low morale. Jereuth had seen countless knights who had ruined their armies by doing such idiotic things.

Jereuth, who had been lost in worried thought for a while, took his eyes off the knights and soldiers. He then thought of Leonardo.

‘I hope His Highness gives a good speech, but…… honestly, I’m a little worried. No matter how brilliant he is, there’s no guarantee he’s good at giving speeches. Given his personality, he won't be too nervous to speak properly, but if he gives a clumsy speech, it could have a counter-effect―.’

Just as Jereuth was continuing his heavy thoughts.

―Thud.

The sound of footsteps came from the stairs behind the platform. It was a small sound that broke the silence of the quiet dawn.

When Jereuth turned to where the sound was coming from, Crown Prince Leonardo and his maid, Elly, were ascending the platform.

For some reason, Elly was carefully holding several neatly folded royal flags in her arms as if she were holding a baby.

Jereuth greeted Leonardo.

“You’ve arrived, Your Highness.”

“Yes, Commander.”

Leonardo responded with a slight nod to Jereuth and went up onto the platform. His steps were calm and composed. It was like the gait of a knight engaging in a duel on the battlefield.

It was something you couldn't imagine from a young boy who was only twelve years old.

At Leonardo’s dignified attitude, Jereuth vaguely felt that his concerns were unfounded.

‘Indeed, I don't need to worry about anything he does. He will surely give an excellent speech.’

Just as Jereuth was faintly smiling, thinking his worries were unfounded.

Screeeech―!

Leonardo brought his finger to the 'Amplification Artifact' that amplified his voice. As his finger got closer to the artifact, an unpleasant noise echoed throughout the training ground, but thanks to that, everyone’s attention in the training ground was forcibly drawn to Leonardo on the platform.

Receiving everyone's gaze, Leonardo spoke. His clear voice resonated throughout the training ground.

「”I am Leonardo, the Crown Prince.”」

―…….

「”Knights and soldiers. You will soon have to bring your swords down upon the commoners of the same kingdom, people who you might even call friends or family. Even if they are ‘criminals’ like thugs and wicked merchants, that is not an easy thing to do.”」

The speech began with a formal greeting. It was such a standard speech that it didn't stir any particular emotion in the knights and soldiers.

‘Hmm, unexpectedly a little…… disappointing.’

The moment Jereuth made his honest assessment inwardly.

Leonardo began to say something that no one in the training ground had expected.

「”―If you thought I would speak so weakly, you are mistaken. So, if there is anyone among you who mistakes this ‘war on crime’ as an attack on the commoners of the same kingdom, then discard that thought. If you cannot discard such a delusion, then lay down your sword right now and leave this place.”」

―……?

「”This ‘war on crime’ is not an attack on the commoners of the Plank Kingdom. Absolutely not.”」

At Leonardo's suddenly changed words, the expressions of the knights and soldiers changed. To say that this ‘war on crime’ was not an attack on the commoners of the same kingdom was the exact opposite of what they had been thinking.

「”A week ago, for the first time in my life, I left the royal palace and went out into the streets of the royal capital. And I saw it. The people of this kingdom are living in hell.”」

The burden of ‘attacking their own people’ had not yet disappeared from Leonardo’s speech, but a change had clearly begun in the hearts of the knights and soldiers.

Leonardo’s speech continued.

「”This war on crime is about saving the good people of the kingdom from that ‘hell’. And the ones who created that hell are the thugs and trash merchants, and they are my enemies and your enemies.”」