How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom: Volume 3

by Dojyomaru

  Having listened to their words, Souma closed his eyes for a moment, and then... gave the order.

  “...Take them away.”

  In an instant, soldiers surrounded the two and removed them from the hall. Owen quietly obeyed the soldiers with a disappointed expression, while in contrast, Piltory continued to cry, “Sire! Please, reconsider!” even as he was being escorted out.

  Once they were taken away, an unpleasant silence fell over the hall. Everyone held their breath, unable to say anything until Souma broke the silence.

  “Are there any other opinions?”

  The other nobles’ opinions were all some variant of “Sentence both of them to death.”

  “The law is the law.”

  “If you let this pass, it sets a poor example to your other vassals.”

  “Any fool who would oppose Your Majesty can be of no use.”

  ...And it went on like that. While what they were saying sounded reasonable, it was clear they were thinking, “We don’t want to displease the king like those two.”

  ...

  I... was having a hard time understanding it. True, the nobles who had remained feared Souma, and they would have a hard time plotting against him. However, when I compared the two who’d been expelled with the twelve who remained, I had to question which group would really of more benefit to Souma and to the country.

  ...No. Don’t doubt him. I decided to believe in Souma, didn’t I?

  I pinched my thighs. As I desperately tried to suppress my internal conflict, I heard Souma whisper, “This is something... that has to be done.”

  Souma?

  “I understand your positions.” Souma stood and raised his right hand up high.

  When they saw that gesture, Duchess Walter’s eyes went wide, the nobles held their breath, and Castor and Carla lowered their heads in resignation.

  Souma swung his hand down as he gave a short order. “Do it.”

  In the next instant, there was the sound of a blade slicing through the air and a splash of blood. And then...

  ...twelve heads fell to the ground.

  ◇　◇　◇

  The book I referred back to when deciding how I should act as king was The Prince.

  Machiavelli’s The Prince was called “the devil’s book,” and for hundreds of years after it was released, it was attacked by the Christian church. The parts most often singled out were, “Chapter VIII - Concerning Those Who Have Obtained a Principality by Wickedness” and “Chapter XVII - Concerning Cruelty and Clemency, and Whether it is Better to be Loved Than Feared.”

  Chapter VIII had as its theme “even though a good, upstanding ruler can lose his country, one who seized his state through vile and treacherous means may, thereafter, live out the rest of his life in peace, without facing rebellion from his people.” In it, Machiavelli said, “I believe that this follows from cruelties being badly or properly used.”

  Also, in Chapter XVII, he reasoned that men are self-serving creatures, and if asked to harm one of two people, they would chose to harm a person they love over a person they fear. This meant “it is much safer to be feared than to be loved.”

  He also said, “When a prince is with his army, it is quite necessary for him to disregard the reputation of cruelty,” noting, “Hannibal of Carthage faced no dissension among his troops or against himself, whether in victory or in defeat. This arose from nothing else than his inhuman cruelty.”

  The Christian church, which preached love, attacked these portions, saying, “What is the meaning of this? Recommending that princes, who should rule through virtue, engage in acts of cruelty!” It angered them, and The Prince was banned.

  Then, partially because of its established reputation as the devil’s book, its content wasn’t closely considered, with extreme statements being given the most focus. It got to the point where misreadings like, “The Prince approves of the use of cruelty,” or, “The Prince says to massacre all who oppose you,” went unchallenged. It also saw occasional calls to reevaluate this tendency.

  However, what I want to say firmly is: Machiavelli did not go into extensive detail about cruelties.

  In Chapter VIII, he did say, “An usurper ought to examine closely into all those cruelties which it is necessary for him to inflict, and to do them all at one stroke so as not to have to repeat them.” But when it comes to the content, he only listed historical examples, and at no point did Machiavelli himself say, “Do it like this!”

  It was the same in Chapter XVII. He credited Hannibal’s wonderful deeds to his inhuman cruelty, but he didn’t elaborate on what cruelty was. Now, what were these cruelties that Machiavelli said were to be done all at once, or the cruelty that was the burden a prince must bear?

  First, Machiavelli said in Chapter XVII that, “A prince ought to inspire fear in such a way that he avoids hatred,” and noted that, to avoid being hated, “He must abstain from the property of his citizens and subjects and from their women.” Then, in the same section, he said, “When it is necessary to proceed against the life of someone, he must do it on proper justification and for manifest cause.”

  This could be reworded, “Even if a prince has just cause, he shouldn’t lay a hand on his subject’s land, assets, or women, and killing is only permissible with proper cause. (Which is to say, killing without a proper cause is not permissible.)”

  In other words, when Machiavelli spoke of “the use of cruelties,” he limited it to “the killing of those for whom you have just cause.” Therefore, how far can those justifiable killings be permitted? Was he saying, as the church condemned him for, that you should “kill all of your enemies”?

  I am well aware that opinions are divided on that point, but I believe the answer is “No.”

  That is because, in Chapter XX of The Prince, Machiavelli himself said this:

  “Princes, especially new ones, have found more fidelity and assistance in those men who in the beginning of their rule were distrusted than among those who in the beginning were trusted.”

  With those who may have been hostile at first, if they came to need assistance to support themselves, they could be won over with ease. Once they had been won over, they would work desperately to dispel the bad impression they had left, and so they were much more useful than those who, having not opposed the new prince at first, lived in security.

  For an example in Japanese history, the fierce general who had served under Nobunaga Oda, Katsuie Shibata, should serve as an easy-to-understand example.

  When Nobunaga’s younger brother rebelled against him, Katsuie sided with the younger brother at first, but later surrendered and became his vassal. From there, Katsuie rendered distinguished service under Nobunaga and became his chief retainer. However, if his efforts had been deemed insufficient, he might have been banished like Hidesada Hayashi, who had surrendered with him. That must have been part of the reason Katsuie worked with such desperation.

  Now, getting back on topic, what Machiavelli meant when he spoke of “cruelty” wasn’t “Make sure you kill all who oppose you,” or anything like that.

  Therefore, what exactly did he mean?

  To answer that, we must look to the historical examples Machiavelli used of “cruelties being used well.”

  When Syracuse was attacked by the Carthaginians, Agathocles deceived and killed the senators and people of influence, and then, once he had solidified his own power, he fended off the Carthaginian attack.

  In order to seize the rule of his hometown of Fermo, Oliverotto deceived and killed his uncle who was his patron along with the citizens of influence, then held Fermo for a mere one year.

  As for the man Machiavelli held up as his ideal prince, Cesare Borgia, he murdered those he had reconciled with and solidified his power. Among those he killed was the aforementioned Oliverotto.

  Machiavelli approved of these actions. And what we can see from these examples is that the target of cruelties was allies within your own camp.

  The senators, who
might have been allies as members of the same camp, but would have got in the way of one’s policies.

  The father who stood in the way of one becoming a prince.

  And finally, the ones who had reconciled and become one’s allies, but who could not be trusted not to turn on one again.

  Those sorts of troublesome allies, or to put it more strongly, potential enemies within one’s own camp, were the target of Machiavelli’s cruelties.

  The same can be said of the “cruelty” in Chapter XVII.

  Hannibal was said to be feared by his men due to his inhuman cruelty, but if we are to judge the quality of that “cruelty,” by looking at the contrasting example he gives of Scipio, what he means begins to come into view. Scipio was a great general, but his men betrayed him, and the people under his rule rebelled against him. The reason was that his too-great forbearance kept him from punishing his followers when they engaged in abuses.

  In short, Machiavelli was saying that Hannibal, who was Scipio’s opposite, was able to properly condemn his allies, which made him feared by those who served under him, and regardless of whether he won or lost, they never betrayed him.

  If we think of the target for Machiavelli’s “proper use of cruelties” as being allies who might in future become enemies, along with his other assertion in The Prince that when neighboring states are at war, you should clearly state which side you are on, because if you attempt to remain neutral, you will generally fail, we can begin to see what Machiavelli’s underlying thoughts were.

  Basically...

  “Don’t trust opportunists who join whichever side is winning at the moment.”

  ...That’s about it.

  Machiavelli had served as a diplomat in a time when Italy was rife with scheming and treachery.

  He must have seen countless cases where things were brushed under the rug because someone didn’t want to make a big deal of them, only to see the ones whose transgressions had been overlooked become a major source of trouble later. That was why he said that, even if it was deemed “cruel,” the source of the illness needed to be cut out at its root.

  That was why I had the twelve nobles decapitated.

  More than ten men clad all in black stood behind the twelve beheaded nobles. Their faces were covered in black cloth, and they wore black clothing that resembled ninja outfits. In their hands they held bloody swords, making it plain to see that they were the ones who had decapitated the nobles.

  The sudden intrusion and murder made everyone present gulp. My expression remained unchanged. Hakuya’s did not change, either. We were the only ones.

  “Huh?! Souma!” Liscia exclaimed.

  “Sire! You knaves, who are you?!” Aisha cried.

  Liscia and Aisha both drew their blades and stepped forth to protect me, but I just put a hand down on each of their shoulders.

  “It’s okay. These are my subordinates.”

  Liscia stumbled, “Your subordinates... Huh...?”

  While Liscia was still looking bewildered, one of the men in black approached. While the other men all wore nondescript black clothing, this one alone wore black lacquered armor. He stood nearly two meters tall, with a muscular build that was apparent even through his armor. From his neck down, he looked like some sort of dark knight, but his face was covered with a black tiger mask. The man in the black tiger mask knelt before me, bowing his head. “Master. The mission is complete.”

  The man in the black tiger mask had a low voice that suited his appearance.

  Liscia inhaled in surprise. “That voi... Ow!”

  Liscia started to say something, but I gripped her shoulder tighter. Liscia looked at me with surprise, but when I shook my head... it seemed she figured out what was going on. She quietly sheathed her sword.

  When I looked over to Excel, she seemed to have grasped the general situation, too. There was a slight anger not quite hidden in her smile.

  “I am going to insist... on a proper explanation for all this later,” she seemed to be silently saying. When a beauty like her got angry, it was an incredible sight to behold.

  I felt a chill run down my spine as I tapped Aisha, who still hadn’t relaxed her guard, on the shoulder. “Aisha, you put your sword away, too.”

  “B-But...”

  “His name is Kagetora—‘shadow tiger.’ He is the leader of the intelligence agency, the Black Cats, who report directly to me.”

  When I said that, the agents of the Black Cats held up their swords in front of themselves in unison.

  I had been caught out by the Empire’s secret service in Van, the capital of Amidonia, so I had recently organized this unit under my direct command to focus on intelligence operations.

  To be more precise, I had greatly increased the number of agents Hakuya already had, refined their skills, brought on Kagetora with his superb abilities as a commander to lead them, and then reorganized them into a unit under my direct command.

  They were a unit with many mysteries. The identities of the members were unknown. It was also unclear why, though the unit had only formally been organized the other day, they could act in such unison.

  The greatest mystery was Kagetora’s identity. The way he commanded his unit as if they were his own arms and legs... it was almost like he were a veteran general of some sort, but was there anyone like that in this country?

  Just who could he possibly be? No one knew his true identity.

  “...Hey, Souma,” Liscia said slowly. “Is Kagetora...”

  “No one knows his true identity. Got it?”

  “Ah, right...”

  Liscia looked like she didn’t know what to say, but she nodded. I immediately gave an order to Kagetora and the Black Cats.

  “Once the nobles’ bodies have been disposed of, contact the units from the Forbidden Army lying in wait around their mansions. They are to charge in and secure evidence. If there is any resistance, suppress it.”

  “By your will,” said Kagetora.

  The Black Cats began to clean up the bodies, immediately departing.

  Kagetora looked to Liscia one last time, then left the great hall. Once they had left, Liscia gave me a slightly harsh look.

  “...You’re going to explain all this for me, right?” she demanded.

  “I know,” I said. “But I’m not sure where to begin...”

  “Maybe you want to start with why you killed the nobles.”

  “Well, yeah, that would be your first question...” I said.

  I began to slowly explain my reasons for this murder.

  “Now, as for the reason those twelve had to die, they were also connected to Amidonia,” I said. “That’s something that both Hakuya and Georg had confirmed through their independent investigations.”

  “They were spies for Amidonia, you mean?” Liscia asked.

  I shook my head. “That’s not quite accurate. I said ‘also,’ didn’t I? They were connected to Amidonia, to the corrupted nobles, and also to our side.”

  “Huh? What do you mean by...”

  “They were opportunists,” I said. “They side with whoever’s winning.”

  Those nobles had always cooperated with whoever was on the winning side, in order to avoid trouble themselves.

  When the kingdom had been in decline, they’d had underground connections to the Principality of Amidonia. When the civil war had broken out, they’d supported the corrupt nobles from the shadows, while remaining uninvolved themselves. They had always fomented discontent while securing their own safety like that. Only thinking of their own profit and self-preservation.

  “They profited by providing supplies and personnel with resistance groups, and if the winning side shifted, they’d crush their current allies to win acclaim for themselves,” I said. “If suspicion turned on them, they would foment rebellion elsewhere, so as to keep the investigation from catching up with them. It seems they did it again and again under your father’s reign.”

  Having learned what was going on behind the scenes du
ring her father’s reign, Liscia was at a loss for words. “No...”

  “Now, what made them dangerous was that they never directly rebelled themselves,” I said. “When the advantage was on our side, they acted almost like loyal vassals, so it was hard to bring them to justice. That’s because when things were going our way, they actually did their jobs.

  “The more confident a ruler is in his ability to maintain power, the more forbearance he has, the more he wants to trust his vassals, the more he will fall into a trap like that. ‘If I can build a stable administration, it should be fine. There’s no need to reduce the number of allies I have,’ he’d think.”

  “But... you had them killed, right?” Liscia asked.

  “That’s because I don’t see my rule ever being stable,” I said. “In fact, I think someday I may be forced to stand at the crossroads of fate. When that time comes, I guarantee you that those opportunists would have hurt me. I don’t want you, or Aisha, or Juna, or any of the people I care about to get hurt, and then think, ‘If only I had disposed of them back then.’ If that ever happened, I’d probably go crazy. That’s why, here and now, I decided to nip it in the bud.”

  In Machiavelli’s The Prince, he said this: “I hold it to be true that Fortune is the arbiter of one-half of our actions, but that she still leaves us to direct the other half, or perhaps a little less.”

  In this world, a person’s rise or fall will be decided by whether their actions are suited to the era in which they live. However, that can only be judged by those who come later. Nobunaga Oda, Napoleon... Even if they are geniuses in their time, once the times no longer suit them, they will be destroyed.

  Machiavelli had likened fortune to a raging river.

  He said that, though the sudden change of fortune cannot be stopped, if one prepares for that change in advance, its flow can be made less unrestrained and dangerous.

  The important thing was to not be optimistic about one’s situation, but to be resolute and do what needs to be done when it needs to be done.