Chapter 685: Assassin

Modern day society would be the one to judge how good or bad a politician was because the moment that a politician’s reputation was ruined, that would be the end of their political career. The end result of overly seeking to represent the needs of “the people” would be a loss of self will, and in the great majority of situations, the majority opinion wasn’t actually necessarily the truth or the best course of action, but rather just the one which appeared to be the best to everyone.

Because of this, any politician who was supported by the masses would actually themselves be controlled by the will of the masses. Even the most skilled politician who had been in power for a long period of time would only be someone who was more skilled at riding the flow. What accomplishments such a politician could achieve wouldn’t be dependent on the individual’s personal abilities, but rather how beloved they were by the God of Fate.

It would take several years or even several decades before how good or bad a politician was could truly be determined. Only when the politician’s successor’s successor’s successor did a bad job would people recall the predecessor while cursing their current lives as they fondly recalled the past together with their old friends.

Only by having worse lives and a foolish new leader for comparison would people discover to their astonishment that their previous leader had actually done a decent job, and that all their previous complaints back then were actually about a golden age. That foolish leader they always complained about had actually done well, and now that people looked back at the past, the seeds that leader planted had all started sprouting, and the leader’s seemingly foolish policies actually caused the people to benefit after so many years. Meanwhile, the successor’s seemingly beautiful plans and goals were still nothing more than plans or goals even decades later.

There was also another type of person apart from regular politicians.

Such people wouldn’t even know why they started becoming leaders. In fact, their motivation to keep moving upward wouldn’t even be for themselves.

“…My country is about to be finished, and the people are having such a hard time. I must defeat the enemy and reclaim my country.”

“…If this continues, we’ll have less and less land to live on. That won’t do…”

“…I must work hard for the sake of my people. We must learn the strengths of other species…”

Most would overthink things or have insufficient ability, dying along the way. However, there would always be those who were geniuses or simply more talented than others. They would have goals and dreams that maybe others would consider laughable, childish, and impossible to realize. However, they would persist along their chosen path, and reach the peak as if they were blessed by the Gods, achieving what others could only dream of.

Such people would finally leave their own mark in history. Or, perhaps it would be more accurate to say that they created history. Since they were part of history itself, perhaps these people could most accurately be referred to as “historical figures”.

But looking at it from another standpoint, their personal fates were the exact opposite.

Politician would forever be a highly profitable job. Since they would have no opinions of their own, anyone could hire them to speak for their cause. As politicians would naturally try and choose to join the winning side, politicians would always be standing on top of society and enjoying endless glamor and wealth until they completely failed by choosing a losing side.

It was easy for modern society to determine who was a skilled politician or not. Those who were the victors amongst all the endless schemers were naturally the more skilled politicians.

However, leaders would have different fates awaiting them. Although they would do more, this also meant making more mistakes. Their glory would also be filled with complaints against them. The final result might be good or bad. But, when it was necessary, the leaders would also make their own decisions, even if such decisions would destroy their own future.

Their accomplishments would be discussed by future people. Perhaps future people would be grateful, or perhaps they would be furious. Regardless, the leaders would leave their traces in history.

Historical figures would be even more extreme. They had spent a great deal of effort, but they might not have gained that much. Perhaps they might not even die a pleasant death. For instance, from my previous world, Yue Fei, Joan of Arc, Shang Yang, and so on all had grand accomplishments praised by countless people, but they all met with tragic death before the end naturally came for them.

Such people would become historical figures, role models for future people to look up to. Countless people would also exclaim over them. They would even become popular topics of fiction stories. The difference between historical figures and politicians or ordinary leaders was that people would never forget about their historical figures unless that entire species or culture was extinguished.

Eich was a cruel world—cruel to the point where centralized authority was the norm, and where the high efficiency brought about by dictatorial government was better than anything else. Politicians’ survival space would typically be limited to only those specialized countries.

Any chaotic era would produce heroes. All these years of war meant that countless new heroes would appear. However, very few heroes would actually be able to leave their mark in history. Those who did would often have some things in common, such as forgetting about themselves for the sake of a certain purpose.

As I watched Kakagar walk off, I recalled various people from my memories: Ayer, Aso, Orloss, and Estrada. Each of them had different goals, and some of those goals even conflicted with each other. However, they all had some things in common.

Although none of them was around in the mortal plane anymore, traces of them and their goals still remained in this world, influencing the future path of the world.

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“Sly Fox” Kakagar had also seen through everything, yet chose to give up on his country, apparently using his own method to change the future as well.

The sly fox who had just been discussing his thoughts on politics transformed back into a vulgar merchant in the blink of an eye, focusing whole-heartedly on his new role. I kept feeling more and more like I had underestimated Kakagar.

“…Of course you underestimated him. He easily managed to fool you into forgetting that you were going to punish him for selling off military resources that should have been meant for the army. Did you forget about that already just after a few words from him?”

Harloys’ words caused me to pause in surprise. Indeed, no matter what reason there might be, privately selling off military resources marked for the Mist Alliance military was definitely wrong. The Mist Alliance was issuing these anti-fire resources for the sake of combat preparations. Even if Kakagar no longer had an army which could use these resources, shouldn’t he be returning the resources back to the allied army headquarters? What was with him privately selling off these resources? How were we supposed to enforce military discipline if everyone acted like him?

“Forget it, this is a matter for the Mist Alliance military. Why should I intervene?”

Still, I didn’t really care about Kakagar’s actions, because of the current issue on my plate.

Just as some people used their “foolish actions” to cause the world to underestimate them, there were others who were overestimated regarding their intelligence and lack of limits due to longstanding inheritance from their ancestors. From a certain standpoint, ever since the elves lost their last ruler of the old Elven Empire, their tribal system where elven kingdoms were ruled by elders kept producing slyer and slyer politicians. In fact, the political system of conferences and council members that was becoming ever more popular was also an elven “invention”.

In a way, although the elven kingdoms needed to have authority and the support of their people to exist, not only did they have a council of elders system, they even had clashes of benefits between the different elven species and elven social classes. Elven royal authority was also constantly restricted. If an elven king wanted to do something, he would first require the support of a majority of the elven elders within his kingdom. This really did fit my definition of politician.

I wouldn’t say that politicians were all naturally shortsighted or anything like that. However, the elven elders always refreshed my worldview of how lacking in limits they truly were as they challenged my sense of reason.

“…Those moon elves had actually contacted the Holy Church? In fact, the moon elves even suggested the Northern Divine Battlefront Alliance to the Holy Church as an idea to contain the Mist Alliance?”

I had a secret missive from Suana in my hands, while the elven messenger in front of me was trembling in fear. A mysterious chill had frozen the ground within the tent, while an icy wind expressed my fury. I didn’t whatsoever doubt the veracity of this news that Suana sent me. It was that I couldn’t believe what bastards those moon elves truly were.

Originally, I had only thought that the Northlands moon elves wanted to be free from the Mist Alliance’s control, wanting independence. Yet, I didn’t expect that they would directly “contact the enemy”. But, logically speaking, this was indeed a possibility I had missed. This was simply an extension of the classical political strategy of “attacking close neighbors and allying with those far away.” Since the moon elves wanted to break free from the Mist Alliance, and they couldn’t count on the Elven Gods anymore, it seemed only natural that they would turn to join the Holy Church, one of the most powerful factions in Eich.

And with the establishment of the Holy Church’s Northern Divine Battlefront Alliance to contain the Mist Alliance, we would have to concentrate more on this southern threat, which would reduce the pressure on the moon elves.

“The moon elves still have yet another plan…”

The middle-aged elven messenger seemed rather hesitant. It would seem that some things probably hadn’t been written down in Suana’s message out of fear that the message would be intercepted, so the messenger would directly inform me.

I snapped my fingers. Harloys added some extra anti-detection magic on our tent as I walked up to the messenger.

He glanced around nervously with eyes filled with anxiety. I became more and more interested in what news he could have to tell me. What could possibly be so difficult to tell me?

“…The moon elves intend to assassinate Empress Harloys, and have even sent out assassins already. Apart from that, they, they…”

I paused in surprise on hearing this, but then felt that this was hilarious. Harloys was currently my magical pet. It would be literally impossible to kill her unless I was killed first. Attempting to assassinate her would be meaningless.

However, the elven messenger hadn’t finished speaking, as he had a panicky expression while looking at something behind me. He finished by shouting, “…and they also intend to assassinate you!”

I hurriedly turned around to face him with my sword already unsheathed, yet he had suddenly vanished, leaving nothing behind but empty ground illuminated by moonlight. The next instant, I felt a mysterious chill on my back.

Under the watch of the moonlight, that seemingly honest elven messenger suddenly charged at me while wielding a blue dagger coated with venomous toxin!

Oh, so he was the assassin.