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

Chapter 52

I continued to read the .

…….

Some say the most annoying thing in the world is when someone stops talking mid-sentence.

I used to think so too. Until I came to this world.

But the most annoying thing since I came to this world was that every time I solved one problem, another one would erupt.

Really…… whenever one problem was solved, another problem would incidentally arise, making it hard to keep my sanity.

That's right. I can say for sure that since I came to this world, not a single problem has ever been resolved cleanly.

So even when things were going well, I never let my guard down.

That being said.

The ongoing ‘Kingdom Reconstruction’ was proceeding swiftly. It was flowing so smoothly that it made me suspicious.

‘The kingdom reconstruction proceeded swiftly… that's a relief. Were all the choices I've made so far the right ones?’

Unable to hide my smile, I continued to read the next page.

…….

About 6 months have passed since the 'Kingdom Reconstruction' began.

The 3rd Knight Order returned after finishing the ‘war on crime’ in other cities.

They confiscated vast funds from the thugs and wicked merchants of each city, and without resting after their return, they joined in training the new recruits.

Everything is going smoothly. The only thing not yet decided is which knights to send to each territory and city as lord proxies.

Since the administrators of each territory and city were absent after the purge of the nobles, people had to be sent to manage those areas before the chaos grew.

Anyway, all military-related tasks, except for the selection of lord proxies, were proceeding smoothly.

Heinshtangl's performance was also respectable. He moderately pressured the merchants and secured contracts for various goods at reasonable prices.

At first, the merchants expressed some dissatisfaction that their profits were not as great as they had expected. However, they were greatly satisfied that the royal army would be escorting their guilds and cooperated willingly.

Thanks to this, we were able to obtain the necessary goods smoothly.

Finally, Kalitos and Vaisar.

Slaves, a hunchback, and a cross-eyed man.

However, their performance in farming and construction, fields where they had more experience than anyone, was ‘amazing’.

As if to show that they were the slaves whom Jereuth had acknowledged and whom the two former dukes had trusted with work, Kalitos and Vaisar commanded the farm and market construction sites with great efficiency.

Their lifelong experience of laboring at sites was being fully utilized.

Everything is going smoothly. It seems to have become so by placing the right talent in the right places and supporting them with strong authority.

This is a first since I came to this world.

One regrettable point was… that the elders of the Mage Tower left me. After taking a long time to finish their revenge on the Kingdom Mage Corps, they left the royal castle.

This was all of the newly written content.

The army reinforcement was proceeding steadily, and the kingdom reconstruction was also going well. Everything I intended and wished for had come to pass.

‘Hmm…… but if the Mage Tower elders left, not everything is going smoothly.’

I checked the last paragraph of the newly written diary again. It was clearly written. ‘The elders of the Mage Tower left after their revenge on the Kingdom Mage Corps was over.’

I knew that the Mage Tower elders would leave me someday. It was a promise made when I brought the elders to my side before the Purge.

However.

‘It's too much of a waste to let the Mage Tower elders go so emptily like this.’

The elders of the Mage Tower were all mages on Seria's level. So letting them go could be called a fatal brain drain.

The future me couldn't have been unaware of that. Yet, the fact that he let the elders go… must mean that it wasn't easy to persuade them to stay.

‘In any case, I have to persuade the elders and keep them here. ……But how do I persuade them? When I talked with the elders at the Mage Tower before, they all seemed like incredibly stubborn old men. They didn't seem like people who would listen to persuasion.’

In the worst-case scenario, there was the option of forcibly keeping them, but that would literally be the ‘worst’ method.

In the first place, I didn't think it would be possible to forcibly keep the Mage Tower elders. I had to consider the terrible scenario where I might provoke their personalities, souring our relationship, and leading them to attack the kingdom.

Most importantly, even if I forcibly kept them, it would be meaningless. People held against their will don't work properly.

‘In the end, it seems I'll have to persuade the elders not to leave……. How should I persuade them to stay?’

As I was thinking intently.

New content began to be written in the .

Ssasasak―.

…….

I knew clearly that I shouldn't let the elders go. They were the top talents of the Plank Kingdom.

The reason I let them go despite knowing that was because I was flustered when the elders suddenly came to me and said they were leaving. I was not prepared to persuade them to stay.

In the end, I couldn't say much and just let them go. I regret it.

Since I knew they would leave someday, I could have prepared in advance.

‘He was so surprised by their sudden visit that he let them go. Just how suddenly did they come that he was too flustered to say anything?’

In any case, the important thing was to prepare to persuade the Mage Tower elders. I couldn't repeat the mistake the future me made.

‘Should I check the rest of the diary first?’

Just as I was about to read the next page of the diary.

―Knock, knock.

―Your Highness, Lady Seria and the elders of the Mage Tower have come to see you.

The elders came to see me?

‘……This is really too sudden.’

I was flustered by the elders' sudden visit. Just like the future me.

I could understand why the future me couldn't say anything to the elders and just let them go.

‘I need to quickly check what's written.’

Sharak―!

I hurriedly turned to the next page of the . It had to be here. The regretful content of the future me after letting the elders go.

「‘If I had done this, I could have persuaded them to stay with me!’」 - something like the regret of someone who let their lover go!

I checked the next page of the diary.

…….

What use is it to have regrets after the elders have all left, but I couldn't stop regretting.

Especially the more I learned about the elders' abilities.

The elders each had their own specialized field of magic. Among them, an elder named ‘Benjamin’ specialized in communication magic, and he was the mage who developed the 'magic caller' I use to call Elly.

‘Communication’. That is a technology that could be said to be the most important for my future rule of this kingdom. If I could invent something like a telephone or a radio with magic, it would be an enormous help.

But like an idiot, I let go of the expert in that important technology.

It was so, so regrettable.

Hoo―.

A sigh escaped me out of regret for letting the elders go. Seeing me, Seria asked cautiously.

Seria was there with me when the elders bid me their final farewell.

“Your Highness. Are you sad about letting the elders go?”

“Yes, I am. What's the use in touching a dead son's balls, but…….”

“A dead son's balls?”

“Ah, it's a saying. It's similar to the saying ― you can't put spilled water back in the glass.”

Seria nodded calmly and continued the conversation.

“As expected of Your Highness, who has read many books, you speak so eruditely. I pride myself on having read many books, but I've never heard such a saying.”

“Haha…… yes.”

“Still, I hope you won't be too disappointed. I am here, so I will do my best to fill the void left by the elders.”

Was she trying to comfort me in my gloom? Or was she trying to cheer me up with praise?

But despite Seria's efforts, I couldn't bring myself to smile. It was because I was too regretful about letting go of not only Benjamin, the master of ‘communication magic’, but also the other elders who were masters in various major fields of magic.

Unable to overcome that regret, I asked Seria.

“Lady Seria. I know it's too late to talk about this, but what could I have said when the elders announced they were leaving to make them stay?”

“Hmm…… I'm not sure. The elders are people who do not reverse a decision once made. So no matter how Your Highness tried to persuade them, it would not have been easy to keep them. So I hope you don't blame yourself too much.”

Seria comforted me, saying that letting the elders go was not my fault or incompetence.

“However, if the elders had known how much Your Highness respects mages and acknowledges the value of the technology they possess, they might not have left. Mages fundamentally feel favorable towards people who understand and respect magic. ……I'm the same.”

Seria spoke awkwardly and then cleared her throat.

Hmm, hmm―.

“Also, if Your Highness had said you would support magic research at the kingdom level, they would have definitely stayed. The elders love magic more than anyone, so if you offered to help with that, they would have been very tempted.”

It was very good advice.

Though it was advice given too late.

“Thank you for telling me. The elders have already left, so I can't bring them back, but it will be a great help when persuading other mages.”

“Hmm…… Your Highness, if you really want to boost your mage forces, it might be a good idea to bring the ‘Lous family’ to your side. The mages of the Lous family are not exceptionally skilled, but they are a traditional mage family.”

“The Lous family?”

“Yes. They had little connection with the Kingdom Mage Corps, so they survived this purge.”

The mages of the Lous family… I remembered who they were.

‘They were the mages who frequently visited the royal castle after the elders left.’

‘Lous’, the head of the Lous family, had pledged allegiance to me after the elders of the Mage Tower left and was helping me in various ways.

Looking at it that way, he was a grateful person, but I got a somewhat suspicious feeling from Lous.

A feeling that he had some ulterior motive.

“Would it be difficult to bring in other mages from the Mage Tower besides the Lous family?”

“It won't be easy. Mages who have entered the Mage Tower once do not easily come out. Of course, some like me or the elders come out due to special circumstances, but that is a very rare case.”

“I see……. Still, I can't give up on the mages of the Mage Tower, so I will meet them later. I'll meet the mages of the Lous family before that, though.”

I said, forcing a smile.

However, I couldn't help but feel regretful about letting the elders go. If I had known what Seria just told me in advance, I could have persuaded the elders not to leave.

But it was already too late.

It had been a while since the elders left the royal palace, so they might have already left the kingdom.

This was all of the newly written content.

Truly, it contained exactly what I needed right now.

‘By the way, there was an expert in communication magic among the elders… if I had just let him go, I would have been kicking myself in regret.’

As stated in the , ‘communication’ is an essential technology for running a nation. Throughout all ages, communication technology was considered a military asset.

For example, things like the ‘beacon fires’ used to signal emergencies by lighting fires on high mountains.

Then, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Wait. Come to think of it, I think I read some book about communication magic when I was holed up in the library before……. What book was that?’

I could almost remember it.

First, I quickly skimmed over the persuasion method Seria mentioned in the that could have made the elders stay.

‘To persuade the elders… I need to say that I respect their magic and will support their research at the kingdom level, is that it?’

Actually, this wasn't 100% certain either. Because this was what Seria told me after the elders had left, saying, 「‘If you had said that, the elders might have stayed.’」

Still, for now, I had no choice but to persuade the elders using the method from the .

With the information I had now, this was the best I could do.

Hoo―.

I took a deep breath and spoke.

“Yes, come in.”

It was time for my eloquence to be put to the test to prevent the kingdom's best mages from leaving.