I Favor the Villainess Chapter 127

The Naa Empire lies towards the east of the Bauer Kingdom.
In regards to the other countries that we've been involved with up until now; to the west of Bauer was Appalachia, Sousa was towards the south, and Rolo was located beyond a desert area west of Appalachia.
As you can tell from those geographical positions, out of every nation in the Allied Forces, Bauer was the closest to the Empire.
In the end, Bauer has to face the most risks and carry the heaviest weight of responsibility on its shoulders.

Since Manarisama was the one who initially proposed the idea of the Allied Forces, I thought that Bauer wouldn't have to bear most of the burden, but when it comes down to diplomacy, it was a dog-eat-dog world that disregarded the feelings of individual people.
No matter how well I knew Manarisama as an individual, I had no idea what Sousa's interests were as a nation.
Of course, the same was true with Bauer. If it was only for the sake of humanity and justice, Bauer easily could've turned the Empire's offer of peace down and sided with the Allied Forces in a large-scale battle.
However, considering Bauer's current state of national affairs, that would've been a poor decision.
For the time being, even if it was just for show, Bauer had no choice but to back down and accept the offer of peace.
For the Empire to strike and take advantage of the Allied Forces' weakest point like that, you could say that the Empire's tactics were quite cunning.

Although the Empire was largely considered a thorn in Bauer's side, a lot of citizens in the Kingdom seemed to have the wrong idea of what kind of place it really was.
Most people probably thought that the Empire was ruled by a ruthless dictator, exploited its own citizens and dedicated all of its funds towards expanding their military forces.

"…… Somehow, it feels a little different than what I imagined."

After we arrived in the Imperial capital, Ruhm, we got off the carriage and were now in the middle of walking towards the Imperial Palace.
Claire-sama was the one who gave her impression as we took a stroll through the streets of the Empire.

"The city is quite lively, and there are hardly any soldiers to be seen around here."
"Well, we are in the middle of the central marketplace, after all. If it wasn't this lively, the Empire probably wouldn't have any spare resources left to devote towards invading other nations."

Both the shopkeepers that were advertising their goods and customers alike had bright looks on their faces, making the city seem like it was bustling with life.
In the shops that lined the streets, there were lots of different items that were being sold. Not only were they selling local products, some shops that were even selling specialty products from nations that were annexed by the Empire.

"And I was surprised to see the level of racial diversity here too. There are people with hair and skin colors that you would never see back in the kingdom. What's more, nobody here appears to be enslaved or overworked. No citizen here appears to be treated any differently from each other."

This was also a new sight for me, since I grew up in Japan, where most people had brown eyes and black hair.
Of course, when I first found myself in Bauer, it also felt quite exotic to me, but that being said, the Empire was very racially diverse.
This was largely due to a general policy set in place by the Imperial government.

"Claire-sama, do you remember what the principle behind the Imperial policy is?"
"It's a meritocracy, isn't it? It's the same policy as the one his late majesty, Rousseau, enforced."

As expected of Claire-sama, who was well-educated.
She was quite well-versed even when it came to the policies of neighboring countries.
However, although she wasn't wrong, she wasn't exactly right either.

"The Empire's meritocratic system is even more thorough than Bauer's."
"Meaning?"
"Claire-sama, we already know that the Empire invades and annexes other nations, right?"
"Yes."
"The Empire incorporates those nations into their own territory, but anybody who has the ability to work will be employed regardless of their nationality."

Although the policy was fiercely detested by the rulers of those annexed nations, it seemed that their subjects were surprisingly happy with it.
For a talented person whose abilities have not yet had a chance to shine under a spotlight, having their nation conquered by the Empire could actually be seen as a godsend for some people.

"If I remember correctly, the current Minister of Foreign Affairs for the Empire is from Rasha, a nation up north that was annexed as well."
"Are you telling me that they're letting people who aren't even native to the Empire handle their diplomacy!?"
"Yes. It wasn't always like this, though. The current empress was the one who made things this thorough in this past decade or so."

The Empire used to be aggressive with their diplomacy, but when the current ruler, Empress Dorothea, took over the throne, she began planting the seeds of rationality and unification within the Empire.

Dorothea Naa was the second-born princess of the previous emperor.
Right, the current ruler is actually an empress.
Originally, every emperor would be succeeded by a male heir with each passing generation; however, by using a combination of her wit, violent political tactics and stoic rationality, Dorothea managed to usurp the throne from her own father.
When her father died, all Dorothea said was this:

"――This was just the quickest way to get things done."

That was what she uttered when she was just seven years old.
Of course, perhaps she had adults supporting her back then, but eventually, the impact she had on the Empire was too great for her to just be considered a figurehead.

"It is quite the terrifying story."
"But she has truly proven her abilities. Not only is Dorothea skilled in handling political activities, she also stands out with her level of swordsmanship. Rod-sama told us this before, right? Out of her two names, one of them is the "God of the Sword"."
"Something about single-handedly defeating an entire battalion from Sousa, was it? That's――"
"None of that was an exaggeration. That's just what happened."

Dorothea was what one would call charismatic.
Although the Empire was a dictatorship, it was unshakable due to just how competent its monarch, Dorothea, was.
Perhaps you may have heard of this before.
It's been said that a dictatorship nation ruled by a competent monarch was actually better than a democractic nation run by an incompetent leader.
There were some things about that theory that I disagreed with, but I do think some parts were worth listening to.

"Dorothesama isn't that scary, though."

A man from the Empire, who was also showing us around, spoke as he gave us a wry smile.
Just from the tone of his voice, you could tell that he didn't blame us for anything, and that he was already quite used to trying to clear up such a common misunderstanding.

"It's true that there are a lot of dangerous stories and anecdotes about Dorothesama. However, anybody who has ever spoken with Dorothesama directly has come to like her. She is quite a charming person. I'm sure all of you will understand as well when you meet her."

From the tone of the man's voice, he sounded like he was familiar with her.
He must've had an audience with Dorothea before.
He spoke with such familiarity, it felt as if he was introducing one of his good friends to us.

"I was also against the Empire at first. I am from a country towards the south called Sisi. When the Empire conquered the nation, there were a lot of demonstrations and various protests at first, but those activities died down quickly. Most people found it way easier to live under Dorothea's reign than being ruled by the nobles of Sisi."
"So that is why you are not resentful towards the Empire?"

Claire-sama cautiously asked him.
The man laughed,

"That's right. If anything, I feel grateful."

Was what he responded with.

"You will soon be able to see the Imperial Palace from here."

When we looked towards the direction of where the man was pointing, the sight of a huge building came into view.

"So that's.….. the Palace……"

The residence of Empress Dorothea――which, unlike the Royal Castle of Bauer, looked more like a fortress than a palace.
Rather than being a place that was brimming with authority, it seemed like a strict and sturdy building that was well-prepared to fight off any enemies.
Just going off the appearance of such a dignified building alone, you could probably guess what type of person the empress was.

"There's something I forgot to say."

The man stopped, turned around to face us, and said:

"Welcome to the Naa Empire."

We're back with chapter 10! I apologize for the delay in releasing this part, but all future releases for the remainder of this chapter will be posted at the same time every day (11 AM UTC). There are 16 parts to this chapter, so there'll be an update each day up until early March. Enjoy!

Chapter end