The Strongest Dull Prince’s Secret Battle for the Throne - Chapter 715

Three years had passed since Wilhelm's death.

Erik was now a lonely and solitary person.

And an extremely busy one as well.

At the time he was tasked with stabilizing the chaotic empire, retaining the loyalty of influential nobles, assisting the emperor, fulfilling his duties as the Minister of Foreign Affairs and engaging in petty power struggles with his siblings.

All while Leah's health gradually declined.

Amidst all this, Dantalion, in the guise of Wilhelm, had approached Erik.

Dantalion, who possessed Wilhelm's memories, proposed a deal to Erik.

"Accept our rule and in return, humanity will be allowed to survive."

Erik accepted his proposal.

He wore the mask of a man who would even ally with demons for humanity's sake.

Meanwhile, the power struggle with his rebellious siblings had continued.

While trying to minimize civilian casualties, Erik expanded his own influence.

As the most powerful faction at that time, if he did not act, then there would be no significant moves in the battle for the throne.

Furthermore, not exhausting the most powerful faction meant minimizing humanity's depletion.

This kept chaos at bay, yet Erik detested these irregularities that could alter the future written in the diary.

Therefore,

When Leonard entered the fray and changed the dynamics of the imperial succession struggle, Erik decided to eliminate Carlos.

Carlos, who had strong heroic tendencies, was, despite his aspirations, rather mediocre.

He was kind and lenient to others, making him prone to trusting people too easily.

Believing what he wanted to believe and seeing what he wanted to see, Carlos was difficult to control and had the potential to disrupt many things in the future.

Thus, Erik had steadily set the stage little by little, while being unnoticed by anyone.

____________

"Apologies for disturbing you at this hour, General Dominic."

"Is there something you need, Prince Erik?"

Despite Erik's sudden appearance in his bedroom, General Dominic remained calm.

He got out of bed and stood up to avoid showing any disrespect to the prince.

Dominic was the honorary general of the Imperial Guard.

He was a man of principle who had publicly criticized Erik and his siblings for their power struggles.

The prince he had chosen to support was Leonard.

While Leonard had grown as a leader, he was still rough around the edges and lacking in many areas.

However, he was truly a worthy successor to Crown Prince Wilhelm.

Therefore...

"I don't have much time, so I'll keep this brief."

"Go ahead."

A prince visiting the General unexpectedly without any prior notice was no trivial matter.

Erik simply stared at Dominic.

Dominic had been an imperial soldier since Erik's childhood.

Erik had led the empire alongside Wilhelm and was known for his wisdom.

But recently, he seemed to have lost his way and was blinded by power.

Or so it had seemed.

However, his eyes showed no such cloudiness.

"I need your life."

"May I ask the reason?"

"With your death, Leonard will be forced to enter the succession struggle… And since he won't voluntarily join, your death is necessary."

"Why would having a formidable opponent join the throne battle benefit you? It wouldn't serve your interests."

"Even if it doesn't benefit me, if it benefits the empire, then it's fine. Leonard is the only one I believe to be able to carry on the next era of the Adrasia Empire."

"That's a delightful thought."

Dominic smiled as he said this.

Then Erik handed him a small vial.

As someone who was familiar with imperial investigations, Erik knew of many types of undetectable poisons.

And this was one of those poisons.

As Dominic took the poison, he murmured.

"Since Prince Wilhelm's death, it seems like everyone has lost their way. Nobles, soldiers, commoners, all of them have become clouded. Does power drive people mad? Where should one’s loyalty be directed? What should us soldiers do? These worries never ended. But... I know that it has always been worth pledging my loyalty to the Adlers and there's nothing more gratifying in doing so."

"Thank you, General Dominic... In these chaotic times, you were a proud soldier of the imperial army and I am grateful for that."

"Glory to the empire."

Dominic drank the poison in the vial, handed it back to Erik and calmly returned to his bed.

Erik bowed to him and then left the room, respecting Dominic's fearless demeanor towards death.

_________

"So, you're the vampires that have been designated as S-class monsters?"

"We're not monsters!"

"After committing countless crimes, now you say that?"

The two vampires, Sam and Dean, were classified as S-rank monsters.

And Erik had secretly captured them.

He already had many skilled individuals under his command, including Raphael and Burkhardt.

Capturing them wasn't too difficult as those two had been on the run and were isolated from others.

"I have a job for you two."

"You think we'll let you humans use us...?"

Even while tied up and unable to resist, Dean continued to glare at Erik.

But Erik's gaze, one as dark and deep as the underworld, instinctively terrified Dean.

A spine-chilling stare.

"I'll say this once. Do the job."

"...Alright."

"Take this whistle and contact the fifth prince, Carlos. Present the plan to him as everything will be arranged on our side. All you two just need to do is act. Do this and you'll be freed with your wanted status even being lifted."

"You think we'll believe you?"

"If you don't, I'll kill you right here."

They were cold words.

There was no doubt they would be killed here if they refused.

So, the two had no choice but to accept Erik's proposal.

"Alright...!!"

"We'll do the job!"

"Good... Just so you know, it doesn't matter if you betray Prince Carlos, but... you know what will happen if you betray me, right?"

They would be killed.

In the most gruesome way possible.

They would regret everything they had done at the time.

The two could imagine that future.

Erik was that terrifying.

How could a person have such a cold gaze?

This guy was dangerous.

He must never be made an enemy of theirs.

So, Sam and Dean ‘accepted’ Erik's job.

__________

A new faction was emerging within the empire.

But it was still too small.

It needed to grow stronger and bigger.

"You're late, Arnold. What were you doing?"

"Oh, Erik-aniiue. I was waiting for the escort knights who were late to pick me up. I apologize for the delay."

"No need to apologize since you don’t even feel sorry, do you?"

"I do. A little."

"It was a poor choice of words on my part. You don’t feel sorry towards us, right? That’s always been how you are."

"If you put it that way, then yes. I don’t feel sorry as I didn’t feel like I caused any trouble."

A smile almost crept onto Erik’s face.

His grown-up younger brother was a bold, fearless and nonchalant individual.

"You’re quite interesting, Arnold. Sending Elna ahead was a good decision. Continue making such accurate judgments and if you’re valuable to me, I won’t treat you or Leonard poorly."

"You seem to be already speaking as if you're the emperor?"

"I am the next emperor. Since no matter how hard Gordon or Zandra try, that fact won’t change. Remember that."

He wouldn’t easily yield the lead to them.

He had to be a high wall for them.

They mustn’t think that they could challenge him easily. They also shouldn’t think that they could reach him so quickly.

If he gets challenged, then he would have no choice but to retaliate.

The current power gap was that evident.

Hence.

"Don’t get too cocky."

"I will keep that in mind, Erik-aniiue."

He then warned him.

While having high expectations for him.

__________

There are times when help is also needed.

To achieve success, one must always keep moving.

But that creates opportunities for many other attacks.

When Arnold and Leonard were dispatched as ambassadors to a duchy and left the capital, Zandra’s faction began attacking Leonard’s faction.

In response, Erik kept leaking information about Zandra’s faction to Gordon.

Since her information had also been leaked by Arnold, Zandra’s movements were completely anticipated.

Both of them seemed to have taken precautions while they were away.

"Did Gordon move well?"

"It seems so. Now Zandra-sama’s faction can’t keep attacking Leonard-sama’s faction."

"We won’t move but keep the reins on our subordinate nobles tight. Command them to avoid any infighting."

They had many chances to win if they acted.

But they didn’t.

Because their goal wasn’t simply just winning.

_________

When progressing with their plans, many unexpected events had also occurred.

"How did it go?"

"The assassination failed. However, even if he survives, he won't be able to speak for a while."

"I see. Good work then."

The assassin Xiaomei was under Erik’s command, but Erik didn’t explain anything to her.

She just did what she was told to do by him.

Normally, this would cause distrust between them, but Xiaomei followed orders faithfully.

Thus, the kidnapping of Krista went surprisingly well.

Though it wasn’t something to panic over.

Despite feeling a slight cold sweat, the end result was that they managed to eliminate several ugly power-hungry officials also known as the capital's garbage.

It was no big problem for them to handle.

"Now Leonard and his faction won’t stay silent and they will clash with Zandra’s faction. It’s a good trend that’s happening."

"However, the Amsberg prodigy will likely be dismissed as a royal guard because of this incident."

"That’s a temporary thing. They must punish her so she’ll be reinstated once things have cooled down."

"Even temporarily, Leonard’s faction can now use Elna von Amsberg freely during that period so she’s now a highly dangerous individual. I thought she was more manageable without a sword, but even without a sword, she’s like a different person. She’s like a monster."

"She’s from the Amsberg family. They switch their mindset during combat so it’s not surprising that you said that. If she becomes bothersome to us, I can suggest reinstating her as a royal guard."

"Shouldn’t she be eliminated?"

"She’s a promising future vassal. No emperor who had bad relations with the Amsberg family has ever lasted long. In this case it’s good to earn their favor here."

"But..."

Xiaomei’s insistence was due to her judgment of her danger.

Elna von Amsberg.

It was natural that she should be politically eliminated.

But that was impossible.

"I am different from the other candidates. While they are desperately aiming for the throne, I am already thinking beyond the throne. I’m on a different level where I don’t want my future pawns to resent me. Besides, Zandra and Gordon will continue to act without me."

"Understood."

"Continue following Mother’s instructions in the Consort Palace. And for now, heal your wounds as it’s not yet the time for us to act."

"Yes, Prince Erik."

Elna had to stay close to the Empire.

For more than just her abilities.

She could support the two younger princes.

With her, they would be able to grow larger.

And eventually become humanity's future swords.

While looking forward to that time.

Erik unintentionally let out a smile.

TL's Notes:

Man this Erik lore is something else. I love how the author is cooking with the story so far.