An Arcanist's Citadel 12 (Patreon)

An Arcanist’s Citadel

Chapter 12

-VB-

The opinion of an individual did not matter.

Qin Shi Huang, or Hidemasa (or Hi’de) to his close friends and family, tapped all of his fingers in succession, producing a rhythmic drum that echoed in his throne room.

Because, of course, he had a throne. He ruled over a planet! Over an entire star system! He had planetary vassals in all but name and even tributaries sending him yearly tributes. 

He was an emperor in everything but name. 

But alas, humanity of this era had inherited the previous era’s disdain for authority and monarchy. They didn’t see how their “democratic” system was anything but a corruption of the old rule by families or nobles. 

Hi’de truly believed that humanity could not have a true democracy. It wasn’t possible on a large scale. Even a small village had corruption. Hell, an organization within a small village would have corruption and self-interest taking over. That was what it meant to be human - to be an ever self-seeking creature. 

Several rules might keep that corruption to a minimum, things like instilled noblesse oblige, debated philosophies, and world experience. Perhaps even place laws to promote fairness and punish corruption. Ultimately, however, that was most one can do. 

After all, one could not ignore the law to destroy corruption. That was tyranny. Lawlessness.

Of course, that was unless one already possessed a tyrannical form of government like the monarchy.

“The problem with monarchy then is the fact that it depends too heavily on the top,” he hummed as he glanced to his right, where his eldest daughter stood stiffly. 

The not-quite heiress to his new empire.

“What does that mean, Chuzhi?” he asked her. 

“I-It means that the leader has to be capable and willing to make decisions with limited information.”

“... A decent answer,” he hummed. “The extension of that answer should be ‘gather capable advisors and enforcers, gain a hold of their weaknesses, delegate lesser decisions to them, have them reinforce your weak points, and reward good results.’”

She quickly wrote that down into her notes. 

His thirteen year old daughter was too studious. 

He adored that. 

Hi’de, as Qin Shi Huang, gestured to the woman kneeling in front of him. “And do you remember her?” 

Chuzhi nodded. “She is -. Was your minister of labor.”

“And do you know what that position entails?”

“Yes. The Minister of Labor observes, adjusts, maintains, and regulates the level of labor each district assigns to its people,” she rattled out. “Um. The minister is supposed to do more limitations than extensions.”

“Indeed. She is, in essence, a guardian to ensure that while each district maintains its optimum level of output. However, her job description explicitly states that she is to be the shield that prevents extensive overwork for short term gains. She failed in this deliberately.” He nearly sneered at her. But he didn’t. He was an emperor, and the emperor did not so readily show emotions. 

An emperor’s wrath needed to be felt, not just seen. It needed to be used, not patterned. 

An emperor’s wrath must be feared. 

The woman shivered from where she knelt in the last fine clothes she will ever wear. 

“Her crimes are thus: accepting bribes, falsifying documents, assisting in espionage, assisting in murder, assisting in sabotage, and deliberately downplaying the level of infiltration that had dug into our empire,” he listed out. “There are more, many of which are technicalities, but I don’t care for that. I care about the fact that we have a traitor in our midst.”

“Citizen Maria Sanchez-Kong. Did I not provide you with prosperity?” he asked. 

She didn’t respond at first. She briefly looked up before looking back down. Tears ran down her face because she knew what was about to happen. 

“Did I ignore your complaints?”

Nothing.

“Did I abuse you?” 

Nothing. 

“Did I hurt you?”

Nothing. 

“Did I order you to abandon your morality? Did I ask you to slaughter innocents? Did I ask you to force people to work 16 hours a day?” 

Nothing. 

“Were you not paid well? Did you not receive special privileges that few others can boast to have? Did I forbid you from being fair? Speak up, because if I have wronged you, then I may lighten the sentence.”

Nothing.

Nothing.

Nothing.

“Judges,” he turned instead to the men and women who served as the judicial backbone of the empire. Some were here in person but the vast majority were present over a video call. He wouldn’t ask them to leave their jurisdiction just so they can pass one sentence that would be drawn out when, in the same length of period, they could be doing more of their work right after this session. “You have examined the evidence. You have had time to deliberate. You also had time to discuss with one another over the past week. What is your recommendation?” 

Recommendation. 

Because for a high case such as this, the courts did not make the call.

Only the emperor did. 

The head of the High Imperial Court stepped up, one of the few who were here in the flesh.

“Your majesty, considering the innumerable evidence against the defendant, we can only recommend one sentence.”

The elderly man looked up.

“Execution.”

Qin Shi Huang nodded. 

“Then let it be so.”

And with a gesture of his hand, a slice of mana shrieked through the throne room.

And beheaded the former minister where she knelt. 

Blood sputtered out and her body fell sideways. The body twitched and spasmed before quieting down. 

He turned to look at his daughter, who looked on with a pale face. 

“And when misdeeds are performed in your name, it is your duty to carry out the sentence. Understood?”

“Y-Yes, papa.”

He let that slide. 

Then he snapped his fingers, and the clean up crew entered the throne room.

“Make sure she is buried along with the criminals in an unmarked grave. Let it not be said that the emperor desecrates bodies to send a point.” 

But the body itself was a message to those outside of his empire. 

Oh, he knew who she got her bribes from…

-VB-

“So she’s dead.”

“Jeanne” of Systems Alliance Intelligence Institute hummed. “We did not think that the New Qin emperor would be so quick to execute. On fabricated charges as well.”

“Most of them weren’t.”

She glanced to her left. Sean, who had returned from Elysium, sighed as he pinched the bridge of his nose. 

“So she really was corrupt?” 

“It’s why we even bothered to contact her,” he replied. “But now that she’s dead along with most of the corrupt bureaucrats in this purge, our eyes within New Qin are gone.”

“Hmm. Should we send in more agents?”

“Personally? I’d rather not. New Qin is happy being left to its own thing. Leave them be.”

Jeanne wasn’t so sure. 

“We’ll leave this up to the director, but I think he’ll send in a few people. His connection with the Elysium Butcher demands that we find out more about him than even before when he was just the biggest eezo exporter.”