Inside the Baharuth Empire Imperial Palace.
The magnificent and luxurious Imperial Palace, with its interior mostly decorated in gold and blood-red colors. A golden-haired youth was carefully reading documents in his hand, dressed in a retro yet wild formal attire. Although this outfit was exquisitely designed, it exposed a part of his torso, and he wore various gold ornaments.
This youth was the Emperor of the Baharuth Empire, known by the infamous title of the Blood Emperor—
Jircniv Rune Farlord El Nix.
He was called the Blood Emperor because he began purging the nobility shortly after ascending to power.
This act caused immense bloodshed within the country.
He stepped on the corpses of those nobles, successfully extending the life of an empire that was already in its twilight years.
Even with the title of a tyrant like the Blood Emperor, his position in the Empire was unshakeable.
He was determined to develop the Empire even better.
So he was busy almost every day.
Although he always hid his busyness and silently endured it, only he knew that even though he was still young, his pillow was covered in fallen hair every morning when he woke up.
If this continued, he would eventually go bald. His handsome image probably wouldn't last much longer. But there were too many things that prevented him from resting assuredly. Although purging the nobles made the national treasury more abundant than ever before and elevated the imperial family's power to an unprecedented level, the sudden purge of so many nobles left too many vacant positions throughout the country. This couldn't be filled in just a few years, and the work from these vacant positions could only be remedied by the remaining people.
As the Emperor, his workload was the heaviest.
Sometimes he even regretted it, thinking he shouldn't have inherited the throne in the first place.
But it wasn't about whether he wanted to back then; there was no freedom to speak of when born into the imperial family. So he seized the throne, and just when he thought the days ahead would be better than before, he realized he was wrong. Being an Emperor was such an exhausting task.
"Your Majesty, this is the cabinet's roster."
Jircniv's expression didn't change when he saw the roster, but in his heart, he was furiously cursing the cabinet ministers as traitors! Couldn't they see he was already so busy he was losing hair, yet they kept pestering him to choose consorts! Did he look like he had the energy to make children for them right now?! Although he silently cursed those ministers a hundred times, he maintained his kingly demeanor on the surface.
"Put it there. I will look at it when I have leisure." Looking at it was impossible; he would burn it as soon as he had time. What a waste of time!
"Your Majesty, the research department has developed a new weapon. This is their budget application."
"Mm, approved." Jircniv took a careful look, picked up the stamp, and pressed it down.
He then continued to handle state affairs.
He only got a short break during mealtime. Although he was the Emperor, the Blood Emperor's work seemed even more miserable than that of a corporate slave.
At least a corporate slave's daily workload has a visible upper limit, unless they encounter a heartless boss forcing them to work overtime. But the Blood Emperor's workload had no visible limit; no matter how much work he completed, as long as it wasn't rest time, there was always an endless amount of work that he needed to continue.
And these were all matters of national importance, which he could not take lightly. He calculated that if he continued at this intensity, he could finish all this work in five years at most. This was the result he calculated, including future work progress, so there was no need to worry about more work extending this time. Once these tasks were completed in five years, and the vacant positions were refilled
with new personnel, he would be free from this hell of work.
At that time, he would definitely visit the biggest red-light district, drink the strongest wine, and talk about life with the most beautiful women.
The Emperor, currently still full of strong motivation, probably didn't know that if he continued with such high-intensity work, his passion would gradually cool and become numb one day. By then, he would only want to rest, rest, and rest, not wanting to do anything at all.
"Your Majesty, good news!"
Just as Jircniv was eating, a noisy voice shouted from outside.
"It's Fruda. You don't need to stop him; let him in."
A white-haired old man with a beard almost reaching the floor ran in quickly. Others truly feared he might fall and die. In his hand, he held a letter, which seemed to be the good news he wanted to report to the Emperor.
"Fruda, tell me, what good news is worth you coming to me personally?"
Jircniv was very expectant. He recognized the old man's abilities; otherwise, he wouldn't always provide a budget to the Magic Research Department. This old man was the Chief Court Magician of the Baharuth Empire—
Fluder Paradyne.
This magician was already two hundred years old, a lifespan far exceeding human limits. To live so long was enough to prove the old man's capabilities.
Jircniv's ability to purge the nobility was inseparable from Fluder's support. Without military power superior to the nobles, even as Emperor, he might not have been able to purge those parasites sucking the life out of the Empire.
It was precisely because he had brought in strong military leaders and this Chief Court Magician, gaining absolute military power, that he was able to accomplish the great task of purging the nobility.
"Your Majesty, do you still remember the student I mentioned to you?"
"Is it that child with innate special abilities? I remember that child has abilities similar to yours."
"Exactly, I think very highly of that child."
"Oh? But that child is from the Field family, isn't she? Are you here to plead for her?"
"How could that be? I don't care about the Field family. And what I want to tell you today isn't about that child, but about Astrea."
Fluder handed the letter to the Emperor.
A week ago, Astrea was expelled from school because she couldn't afford the tuition. Her hometown address is in the same place as the Field family. I wrote a letter to that child, asking her to help me look after Astrea. The content of this letter is her report to me about Astrea's recent news.
Astrea, huh?
Gil remembered that girl.
The Astrea Family has always been the Guardian of the Empire. Although they enjoy the hereditary title of Duke, they only enjoy the honor and have no noble privileges whatsoever.
This was the only noble he didn't dislike.
When the Astrea Family's matriarch met with misfortune outside, he even wanted to help that young lady.
But he never expected that young lady to abandon the Astrea Family's honor, pawn all her family assets, and run off to a Magic School to study magic.
He even personally tried to persuade Astrea back then, but he didn't succeed.
He looked curiously at the contents of the letter.
Although that Astrea fellow gave up swordsmanship, the blood of the Empire's Guardian flows within her. As the Emperor of the Empire, he couldn't ignore her.
"That fellow finally decided to change her mind?" Gil finished reading the letter and couldn't help but laugh. "I said back then that she would definitely regret it. Your student did well. Let her continue to monitor Astrea. If she does this well, I will reward her handsomely."
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