Your Excellency Is Strong, but My Art Style Is Above Yours! Chapter 39

No need to doubt it. I was the one pulling the strings behind all this, because I slipped money to your superiors and seniors."

"..."

The atmosphere immediately became rather subtle.

But Iori seemed completely unaware and continued, "As for why I went to such lengths to gather you all here, naturally it is because you possess corresponding value.

As rare Imperial Arms users, aside from Mr. Fashion here, all of you were previously unknown. Your outstanding talents could not be put to use, nor could you gain the promotion of your superiors."

This was something Iori had wanted to complain about in his previous life:

Why were they clearly Imperial Arms users, yet used almost like ordinary soldiers?

And Imperial Arms like Possession of the Evil Spirit and Noble Chariot were obviously meant to charge across battlefields, so why were they being used as assassins and police forces?

The Revolutionary Army, an organization rebelling in the provinces, had placed all its strongest fighters in the Imperial Capital as assassins!

The Empire also treated its Imperial Arms users as expendable consumables... Truly a pair of crouching dragons and fledgling phoenixes!

Perhaps it was because, in their eyes, the Imperial Arms mattered more than those who wielded them. After all, people like Esdeath, who could break past the limits of an Imperial Arm, were extremely rare. Most Imperial Arms users could only bring out the weapon's inherent power.

Some Imperial Arms even consumed lives—literal "consumables."

But Iori would not waste them like that. Familiar with the anime's settings, he had easily found these Imperial Arms users within the Empire's massive military structure.

Aside from Mr. Fashion, whose rank was relatively high, the others were either ordinary soldiers or low- to mid-ranking officers. Lan, the handsome man whose looks were only slightly inferior to Iori's, was even a civilian official. Apparently, he had once been a teacher.

Thus, while the minister had yet to openly turn against him, while Syura's name still carried weight, and with just a little financial influence, it had been easy to transfer them under his command.

"But from this moment onward, your fates have changed!

I value talent rather than background. So long as you have ability, you can receive the treatment you deserve under me.

Do not panic. Sit down and have a cup of tea first. There is no enemy before us!"

The Most Conscientious Boss in History ### Had Iori not interfered, then according to the original plot, Will and the others would have been recruited by Esdeath after she lost the Three Beasts. She would have formed a special police organization called the Jaegers, specifically to deal with the Night Raid assassin group led by Nadjeta.

Though they were villains in the original work, Iori felt no psychological burden whatsoever about making these people work for him.

Analyzing them one by one, Will was a standard hot-blooded youth—honest, loyal, diligent, and steadfast. He was also the easiest sort of person to handle.

Boros looked strange and sinister, but he actually had a decent personality. He had done plenty of dirty work for the Empire in the past and harbored a strong sense of guilt deep down. In addition, he had a beautiful wife and adorable daughter. He could be considered a winner in life.

Nothing was easier to control than a man with weaknesses...

Though this honest fellow probably would not dare betray the Empire, once he boarded Iori's pirate ship, it would no longer be up to him!

Heh, this was for his own good too. Even if he became an Imperial traitor by following Iori, neither he nor his family could possibly end up worse off than in the original story... Perhaps he might even get lucky and earn honor for his wife and children.

There was not much to say about the blond handsome man, Lan. A pervert had once tortured and murdered the students he cherished, and Lan had never been able to let go of it.

Using the Revolutionary Army's intelligence network and Syura's, Iori successfully found that pervert. After bringing him before Lan and allowing him to take revenge with his own hands, the elegant and intellectual beauty had long since become Iori's utterly loyal subordinate.

—The only slightly troublesome ones were Seryu and Mr. Fashion.

Both of them had certain mental issues. One was excessively paranoid, while the other took excessive pleasure in things. They were the sort whose weaknesses were difficult to find even if you knew all their information.

Mr. Fashion was a scientist, but he favored human modification. He also had no moral sense whatsoever, someone who could trample any law or ethical standard for the sake of his experiments.

Honestly, Iori did not like people like that. But he had to admit that this fellow's technological capability was the best in the entire world. So, Iori had already laid down three rules with Mr. Fashion: he could not use civilians as test subjects. In compensation, Iori would provide him with more research funding and exceptionally high-quality experimental subjects—such as high-level Dangerous Species, or perhaps members of the Rakshasa Four Ghosts.

Mr. Fashion had readily agreed, though judging by his breezy attitude, he would probably be unable to resist breaking the agreement sooner or later.

It did not matter. Since Iori had decided to accomplish something great in this world, he naturally would not wait for the plot to unfold at its own pace. Perhaps before the original main storyline had even begun, he would have already brought everything to an end.

When that time came, if Mr. Fashion failed to recognize what was good for him... Well, Iori would have done all he could.

Seryu Ubiquitous, nicknamed Justice Girl, or Dog Girl.

She was even more troublesome than Mr. Fashion, because her sense of justice was so strong that it did not distinguish between good and evil, while her personality was so innocent that it became cruel—people like her only believed in what they wished to believe. They had neither weaknesses nor desires and simply could not be reasoned with.

But who was Iori?

A true hero who could laugh and chat with Kurotsuchi Mayuri. How could he possibly limit himself to conventional methods when solving problems?!

Without the slightest psychological burden, he decisively chose to use a hypnosis device on Seryu!

In addition, Iori had already investigated her background. Her parents had died early, and throughout her childhood, she had always admired her teacher, the Imperial Capital Guard Captain, "Ogre Ouga."

She obeyed him in everything, and that twisted sense of justice had been instilled into her by him.

However, she had clearly never watched Bleach and did not understand what "admiration" truly meant. In reality, Ogre Ouga was a complete scumbag. He had even been the one to kill Seryu's parents, then hypocritically took Seryu in and taught her only to cultivate a suitable tool for himself.

On the second day after Seryu joined the group, Iori had someone bring Ouga over. He used Mr. Fashion's truth serum to make him confess to all his crimes, including how he had murdered Seryu's parents for money and disguised it as a killing by bandits.

—Seryu, who had been standing outside the room, heard everything. She suffered a complete mental breakdown, rushed in and killed Ouga on the spot, then fainted from the blow.

Iori took the opportunity to use the hypnosis device and make a slight adjustment to the obsessive, twisted "absolute justice" in her heart.

He had not completely brainwashed her because Seryu's willpower was very strong, and Kurotsuchi Mayuri's product was not the forceful sort. It could only perform conceptual substitutions on certain cognitions in her mind.

Originally, her standard for judging "evil" was "the enemies of justice—the Empire." Iori changed it into "the enemies of the general."

The general idea was that Iori represented the Empire and represented justice, so his enemies were the Empire's enemies.

At the same time, Ouga's former image as her "teacher" would be replaced by Iori. This would not purify Seryu's heart, but it would allow her to be used by him. Iori was extremely satisfied with this.

On the third day, Iori used Shangri-La to move Boros's family to the Far East Island Nation, then showed them the prestige he held there.

He spoke frankly to the masked man. The situation was growing increasingly unstable, and although Boros was an Imperial Arms user, he could easily lose his life amid such turmoil. When that happened, what sort of fate awaited a young, beautiful widow and her daughter in such a world... That was not difficult to imagine.

Then Iori offered Boros terms he could not refuse:

His wife and daughter would be settled in a city in the Far East Island Nation. It was neutral territory rarely touched by war, and the generals defending it and the martial arts masters there were all swordsmen Iori had trained. Having witnessed Iori's strength, they revered him like a god.

Boros's wife and daughter would have dedicated protection there. They would absolutely be far safer than if they remained in the Empire!

And so long as Boros swore loyalty to Iori, his wife and daughter could receive that protection!

Boros, a good man, considered it carefully before agreeing:

What else could he do?

Not only would he no longer have to do dirty work, but his family had also been settled in advance. What more could he possibly ask for?

Such benefits were absolutely one of a kind in the feudal Empire!

Besides, they had already been moved to the Far East. If he did not agree, was he supposed to swim back...

—And so, though he had used some methods that could not be shown in public, Iori subdued these five Imperial Arms users in merely three or four days.

Together with the samurai under his command, his strength had already surpassed that of the Jaegers in the original work.

As one side rose while the other declined, even if Esdeath returned to the Imperial Capital, it would be quite difficult for her to form another Imperial Arms squad... If Iori found the time to eliminate a few more Imperial Arms users, the Empire would probably have no one left besides ordinary troops~

--

On this day, Iori brought his subordinates to a certain commandery and, as usual, began confiscating estates, building his presence and goodwill among the people.

However, his CG did not update immediately. Apparently, for "reputation" to rise into "legend" and provide Art Style Value, it needed a certain amount of accumulation and time.

Back when he had slaughtered the Hundred Demons in the Far East Island Nation, the Art Style Value had risen so smoothly largely because the local people were generally superstitious—they already liked creating gods.

The Empire's common people, comparatively speaking, were much harder to please... But Iori believed things would happen naturally when the time was right. There was no need to worry about it.

That night, he stayed in the governor's residence, alone in the study, contemplating what to do next.

"In the original story, after the Revolutionary Army launched its uprising, it rapidly captured city after city and caused the Empire to collapse at an unimaginable speed. Aside from the Imperial Army's corruption and incompetence, it was probably also because the governors across the land were fence-sitters... There were likely many of their people within the military as well.

But I never planned to rely on ordinary armies to fight for supremacy anyway. What matters are those top-tier Imperial Arms users.

Akame is strong, but her Imperial Arm has limitations. Brandt, the user of Possession of the Evil Spirit, is a fierce general, but that guy will probably be difficult to persuade. Then there is Mine with Pumpkin... As expected, is Nadjeta the key?

She genuinely cares about the people. Night Raid probably will not become my enemy.

That only leaves General Budo and... Esdeath."

Iori pondered silently. "The Ice Queen's personal strength is the ceiling of Akame ga Kill!. Her personality is resolute and ruthless, with no weaknesses. She worships the strong preying on the weak and cannot be persuaded with words, so force is the only way to communicate with her.

Furthermore, she possesses great charisma and knows how to command troops. She is a battle maniac with brains.

All I can say is that it is fortunate she has little interest in power and is simply obsessed with fighting and cruelty. Otherwise, if she had even a little ambition, becoming an empress would not be all that difficult.

...Tch, it seems there is no other solution after all. Do I have to fight her properly?"

This was likely the strongest enemy Iori had ever encountered. Even the Dragon King of the Far East was probably slightly inferior.

Everything else was manageable, but Time-Space Domination truly needed to be treated cautiously... In the original story, it seemed she only developed that move after meeting the male protagonist, so she probably did not have it yet at this point in time, right? Even so, he had to be careful.

He was feeling somewhat irritated. Had there simply been too many trivial matters lately, disturbing his state of mind?

"Hey, it is almost dawn. Do you four still intend to make your move?"

Iori clicked his tongue and spoke toward the darkness beyond the window. "Perfect. I have had enough of these trivial affairs and need some opponents to vent on!"

Bang!

The window, crafted from fine wood, instantly shattered. Amid the glass fragments flying like blades, a long, thin spike shot toward Iori like a crossbow bolt—

Whoosh!

The wind swept through everything in the room. Shards of glass sliced open the expensive carpet and left knife-like marks on the table, yet the spot where Iori stood remained completely unharmed, as though shielded by an invisible barrier.

The attacker's eyes widened in shock, her pupils contracting as she stared ahead in disbelief:

The fingernail she was so proud of, which could extend and retract freely and easily pierce steel, had actually been caught between someone's thumb and forefinger. It could not advance even half an inch!

"Is that all?"

Iori used the Spell Discard Chant. A point of white light gathered at the tips of two fingers on his right hand, which he swept together—

Hadō #2: Tsubamegaeshi!

Slash!

A chilling flash of light swept past, and a massive spray of blood immediately burst from the slender assassin's chest!

Do You Have Many Question Marks? ### "Ah—!"

With a scream, the female assassin clutched her wound and flew backward, while Iori glanced at the fingernail he was still holding in his hand.

An interesting ability. She seemed capable of completely controlling every part of her body. She had actually made her fingernail fall off on her own—quite decisive.

Unfortunately, the vast gap in strength could not be bridged by willpower and decisiveness alone.

With a flash, Iori arrived outside the window. Aside from the injured woman, three more figures stood atop the wall in the darkness, looking down at him.

Iori swept his gaze over them and nodded almost imperceptibly. As expected, they were the Rakshasa Four Ghosts.

These four were the minister's personal bodyguards and his most capable assassins. They had helped him eliminate many political opponents.

Incidentally, both the minister and his son Syura had once trained in martial arts at the Imperial Fist Temple, while the Rakshasa Four Ghosts were the temple's most outstanding disciples. It was hard to say whether their service under the minister was related to that connection.

Perhaps the Imperial Fist Temple was also one of the minister's supporters.

"It seems Honest can no longer tolerate me."

Iori showed no awareness whatsoever of facing many opponents alone and even had the mood to joke. "Or has that fellow received enough money and decided it is time to 'set things right,' hand me over, and silence public criticism?"

"..."

The Rakshasa Four Ghosts did not answer Iori's question. A petite, cute girl with wheat-colored skin and revealing clothing stood atop the wall and cautiously said to her companions, "This guy injured Reika in an instant. She is the second fastest among us... This target is no ordinary person."

"Precisely because he is strong, we are needed! Attack together. It will be troublesome if his subordinates react!"

A towering, burly man who resembled Sha Wujing stomped through the bricks and stones, crashing down toward Iori like a massive boulder!

His hands and feet were unusually large, and his clenched fists resembled heavy hammers—

Boom!

The force of the wind blew away the surrounding dust. Iori's body shook, and the stone tiles beneath his feet immediately cracked and burst apart!