I’m the Only One Who Can Put the Tyrant To Sleep Chapter 118

“The name of the Haisen Empire?”

Ian smiled as he looked at the emperor before him. He was certain now—the man had almost taken the bait.

“Yes. What I want is Your Majesty’s permission to invade the Dietrich Empire in the name of Haisen.”

The emperor’s face stiffened.

“You’re asking me to lend you soldiers?”

“No. I am enough on my own.”

“What?”

“All I need is the justification that my invasion is for Haisen. Not a baseless massacre, but a war between empires, guaranteed by Your Majesty’s word.”

“You mean to say you’ll attack the Dietrich Empire alone? Do you truly think you have a chance of winning?”

Seeing the emperor’s incredulous expression, Ian merely shrugged.

“It’s because I’ll be alone that I do.”

He began to explain.

“When invading an empire, the goal is to seize the palace and kill the

 

 

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“That’s impossible.”

I muttered in disbelief.

“A war? There’s no way Ian would start a war.”

“Why not?”

“Because war… war isn’t just…”

It wasn’t simply about taking the throne. Once war began, both victor and loser alike would suffer enormous damage.

“Ian wants to rule this empire. Wouldn’t starting a war only hurt him as well?”

“That’s why he’ll be aiming for a war without casualties. No—more precisely, a war with the fewest possible casualties.”

“What?”

Caesar pointed to the map spread across the table.

“Even though bad blood between the Haisen Empire and ours has run deep for years, war has never broken out. Do you know why? Because of this river.”

He tapped at the wide river drawn to the right of the empire.

“It’s so wide, and its current so violent, that leading an army across would cause terrible losses. Haisen doesn’t have the manpower to afford that. And it’s impossible for that many soldiers to use teleportation scrolls.”

Teleportation scrolls were difficult to craft, even for skilled mages. Each one was costly. Having an entire army use them was impossible.

“Wait… are you saying Ian plans to make teleportation scrolls for soldiers?”

“No. He has no need to. Ian can create soldiers himself.”

Caesar’s brow furrowed as if recalling an old memory.

“Stone soldiers. Solid ones, carved from rock.”

“Then… don’t tell me… you mean he’ll invade all on his own?”

I looked at Caesar in shock. But thinking about Ian’s personality, it wasn’t all that strange.

He never trusted anyone. He enjoyed acting alone.

A sudden fear gripped me. If that were true, then even at this very moment Ian could be teleporting into some corner of the palace.

“…Wait. But inside the palace, artifact usage is restricted. That means teleportation scrolls can’t be used here, right?”

“Correct. Even if he tries, he’ll be forced outside the barrier—just near the palace. And from there, it’s only a few steps to the palace itself…”

“What if we expand the barrier to cover the whole empire? Then Ian could never get in.”

“If we did that, all the economic activity that depends on artifacts would grind to a halt. We can’t keep it that way indefinitely, not when we don’t know when he’ll attack.”

Artifacts were deeply tied to commerce. Caesar was right.

“Then, how about this? We release the barrier in just one place inside the palace!”

“In one place?”

The thought struck me, and I hurried to explain.

“Yes! For example, just this office. That way, when Ian tears his scroll to reach the palace, he’ll automatically appear right here. We’d know exactly where he’ll show up!”

Ian would aim for the palace. If the whole palace was sealed, he’d be sent outside the barrier. But if just one room was left open, he’d be drawn straight into it.

“Or… we could turn that room into a prison! Walls sealed with impossibly thick stone, so he can’t break out. Wouldn’t that restrain him?”

“…If it were him, he’d just create another scroll immediately and escape.”

“Ah…”

Of course. If he could enter, he could leave. The moment he realized it was a trap, Ian would slip away.

Seeing my spirits sink, Caesar spoke gently.

“It’s not a bad idea. Even if we can’t restrain him, just knowing where he’ll appear would give us a far better position.”

“But what happens after that? We’d still have to fight him…”

Caesar fell silent. The last time they faced Ian, he had ultimately let him slip away.

Though back then, we didn’t even know what his ability was.

Ian created. Caesar destroyed. In the end, it was a battle of speed.

Would creation come first, or destruction?

But Caesar has to see something with his eyes before he can erase it. That puts him at a disadvantage…

Suddenly, I looked up.

“Wait. What if Ian’s power has a weakness too?”

“A weakness?”

“Yes! Your Majesty’s ability does—you have to see something to destroy it. Maybe Ian’s works under similar conditions. Actually, it’d be strange if it didn’t.”

If he could endlessly create without any limitation, Ian could build entire worlds. Could his power really be that boundless?

“That makes sense.”

“If we can figure out the condition, maybe we can seal his ability!”

If Ian’s eyes were as crucial to him as Caesar’s were to his, then perhaps covering them would be enough.

There’s hope.

Speaking brightly, almost as if we had already found the answer, I saw Caesar nod.

“Then, Eve—you focus on uncovering his weakness.”

“What?”

“I’ll work on other methods.”

“What kind of methods?”

“Oh, various ones.”

Caesar brushed it off vaguely.