I went to see the former Lieutenant General of the Parcion Army.
Since a trial was necessary, he was currently living in a detention center established at the Chronos Army’s garrison base. You might wonder why he was in a detention center if I had already smoothed things over, but the answer was simple: it was to prevent any attempts at silencing him through assassination.
To ensure his safety, I had my own chamberlains and Personal Guard attached to him, making sure he lived comfortably despite his status as a prisoner of the King of Chronos.
When I entered, the former Lieutenant General was staring at a pro wrestling broadcast. He was sitting in his chair, watching the match with such intensity that he didn't even notice me come in.
"Hey there, old man."
He finally snapped out of it.
"K—Your Majesty! My apologies!"
"Do you like pro wrestling?" I asked.
"E-err... yes, very much so."
It seemed Parcionians might actually prefer this kind of sport over motor sports.
"Anyway, about the verdict..."
"I—I see... The schedule for the execution, then." The Lieutenant General looked down, his voice heavy.
What the hell was he talking about? There was no way I was going to execute him. We were long past that stage.
"I need you to return to duty, Lieutenant General. Or rather, things have escalated into a Great Purge that goes far beyond your initial list, and we’re desperately short-handed."
"Eh? What did you just say?"
"There were some idiots who helped themselves to the budget I distributed to feed the children. At this point, I have no choice but to kill them."
The Lieutenant General looked up and flinched. Oops—my expression must have shifted into that of an ogre. Smile, Leo, smile.
"Can the fools in this country not distinguish between money I’ll overlook if they siphon off a little, and money they absolutely must not touch?"
The Lieutenant General’s knees knocked together with an audible clatter. I was wearing a thin, cold smile. Sometimes when you're truly enraged, you have no choice but to laugh.
"Lieutenant General, you’re going to help me. You have no right of refusal."
"Y—yes... as you... wish."
He was shaking like a leaf.
"Also, regarding Parcion—it’s being annexed into Chronos. I’ve arrested the leadership one after another, including the current General Secretary. From here on out, I’m imposing Chronos Law. No right of refusal, and no transition period."
"Ye... yes..."
"Pick out the trustworthy personnel from the Army for me."
"U-understood."
"Oh, right! Lieutenant General, as of now, you’re promoted to Marshal of the Parcion Army."
"N-no, please!"
His voice sounded like a desperate plea, but I ignored it.
"Congratulations!"
Things moved with lightning speed after that. Every young person I caught drinking in the city during the day was immediately conscripted. I also drafted the unemployed—the ones who were smart but had too much time on their hands. After all, the purge had left us with a massive labor shortage.
I even sent self-proclaimed musicians and artists into the Army. Rest assured, the Public Relations department had a mountain of work waiting for them. From that point forward, we were going to be cranking out propaganda! We were masters of the craft, after all.
I expected the citizens to be outraged, but they were actually delighted. Why?!
Simultaneously, we began rounding up the Elite Citizens one by one. How dare they target the food budget for children? The weak should just die? Fine. In that case, it was only fair if I trampled all over those bastards instead!
Claire was also in Serious Mode, catching them left and right.
To the local residents: I didn't need any more of their nonsensical tips and snitching. Surveillance? I wasn't doing it personally. The Fairy Copy-chans were performing high-intensity surveillance.
Look, I didn't care about people badmouthing me. Even Wifey wouldn't get angry over mere insults. Although, if anyone insulted Wifey to my face, they’d better be prepared for a few broken bones. Anyway, I was fine with being public domain. The only surveillance I needed was on the network's documents. An accounting analysis made most corruption transparent.
The Copy-chans weren't created irresponsibly, either. They mentioned that once they got bored of their work, they planned to live as humans. Given their numbers, it shouldn't be an issue. I decided to just dump that whole matter onto Wifey.
Next came the incineration of the Village of Evil Customs. We were arresting local power brokers by the dozens. This was the true effect of imposing Chronos Law: the sheer terror of finding out that the outrages permitted until yesterday had suddenly become illegal today.
Cry! Scream! Beg for forgiveness!
I mean, really—the moment a tenant planted fruit trees on leased farmland, the landlord would demand they hand it over. Or they’d start their own arbitrary tax collection. It was infuriating, but I’d have them resolve those as civil cases...
Ah, right. People were flooding the law firm? Save them, Raymond!
As for the idiots, they were slated for forced relocation. In the first place, these people didn't even have a private property system! Who did they think they were, acting like landlords?
Yeah, yeah—tawake, tawake. You want to divide the fields? Fine, let’s divide them up then. I corporatized the collective farms and made the workers official employees. As for the state-owned public corporation that had been managing them? I was dissolving it, obviously!
Hyah-hah!
It was fine, really. I had already prepared the sacrifices: the executives of that public corporation. They had been embezzling the employees' wages by inventing arbitrary "fees." How stupid could they be? If they had just made a little pocket money through bribes during contractor selection, or proposed development plans for their own land to earn relocation fees, I might have looked the other way. I’d even have let them skim a little for drinking parties. Just a little!
But don't steal tens of percent of the budget! And don't start charging people for rationed goods on your own!
So, they were arrested and sent to a frontier planet. I could have executed them, but that was a hassle. Instead, I’d have them live an Otherworld Reincarnation Life. They could go reconstruct civilization themselves from scratch!
I designated that planet as a Forbidden Land. I left them there with a nature-loving local governor who could communicate with the outside world, and then I simply abandoned them.
"I-is that not... essentially the same as an execution?"
The former Lieutenant General, now Marshal, looked completely appalled.
"I left behind tool blueprints and technical manuals printed on paper treated to prevent degradation," I explained. "And for the record, the governor has technical data for escaping the planet. I’ll even meet with the governor once every three hundred days in Galactic Empire Time."
"...Are you honestly telling them to read and learn all that?"
"Well, I’ve been doing this in the military since I was fifteen, haven't I?"
The Marshal let out a long sigh. "A-and what will you do with the combat engineers?"
The combat engineers had been embezzling like crazy too. Well, unless they were high-ranking, their crimes weren't fatal—but I wouldn't forgive anyone who touched the kids' meals.
"Oh, stop it. There’s no way I’d kill precious engineers! I’m just going to work them to the bone until the day they die."
I dispatched them to build a spaceport to establish a route with Rosaria. It was perfectly safe; the overall scale of the project was so massive that any attempt at sabotage would be pointless.
Hah-hah-hah! Devote yourselves to extravehicular activity!
Thus, I ruthlessly pushed through a hard landing for the nation. To my surprise, the cries of "Long Live the King!" only grew louder. It wasn't just on the Capital Planet; voices of praise rose from every corner of Parcion.
"You’re far too much of a Conquering King..." even Charlotte muttered to me.
"To have tamed Parcion like this... it’s already the stuff of myths," Polina said. I had begged her on my knees to serve as my secretary, and even she was stunned.
As for me, I decided I would just go sleep off my exhaustion for a while.