He Died and Receive an Overpowered Tyrant System

Planning Out the Next Move

…

"So let us go back to the question Littoria presented, is it possible that we can ally ourselves with the Red Brigade? There is one but one answer: no."

"Allying ourselves won't be possible? The gentleman seemed interested in cooperation, did he not?" As Sophia thought back to their meeting with the Red Brigade, she asked Ernest to explain his reasoning.

"I don't suspect they bear any animosity toward the United National Socialist Party. And when he said he wanted to cooperate with us. I believe he was telling the truth. I wouldn't be all shocked to learn the kingdom the same thing, however. After all, if they'd completely cut ties with the kingdom, there would be no reason for them not to work side by side with us." Littoria concurred. "Quite so. In fact, they would want to join forces with us as quickly as possible to be ready if the kingdom decided to take action."

"Exactly. Right now, the Red Brigade is wavering. They're trying to figure out who to support, the United National Socialist Party or the Kingdom of Crentis."

Ernest's assessment of the situation was right on the mark.

A few days before Conrad's meeting with the United National Socialist Party he'd sent a message to Erica Strasser, one of the Four Imperial Grandmasters standing in for King Philip II. "We of the Red Brigade slew the villain who was willfully weakening the kingdom from within but we bear no hostility toward the Kingdom of Crentis as a whole. Long live the king." It had contained the exact same sentiment he'd gone on to express to the UNSP earlier that day. Simply put, Conrad was fence-sitting.

"Hey, I mean, given the Red Brigade's position, you can't blame him for playing the opportunist. No matter who he picks, it's gonna mean war, so obviously, he wants to play both sides for a bit to give his exhausted army time to recover. What other choice did he have, being sandwiched between two major powers like that?" Jasper said.

Ernest nodded in agreement, "The spy has it right. It's hard to consider an act of bad faith. No, the reason I said we won't be able to ally ourselves with the Red Brigade is a wholly separate matter...The thing is, Sir Conrad told us an unforgivable lie."

"He...lied?"

"That's right. He told us that he didn't know where the gold statue was. The moment he said so, however, the movement of his eyes, the shifting of his tongue, and the creases in his face all signaled that it was a complete and utter falsehood. He knows exactly where the statue is. I'd bet he's already gotten ahold of it."

"Wh?! Is that true?!"

"I don't have any hard evidence, but...It's easy to detect lies when you're looking straight at someone in the eye. It's a skill I developed."

"Yeah, I figured Honestly, I was thinking the same thing." Jasper agreed.

"Oh? What tipped you off?" Ernest questioned.

"Duke Gustave had this aide named Pierre, and he was a spy for the Red Brigade. Pierre was the one in charge of shipping off the gold statue, so if he knew how soon the coup was, why actually send the statue to the capital? So, you know, I figured something was up."

"Yeah, that's definitely weird...Actually, it's sus as hell," Mike observed.

"So wait, the old guy Conrad's trying to steal the gold statue for himself?" Sophia asked, rejoining the conversation, Littoria gave the inquiry a nod.

"Makes you wonder about their former leader, Count Grebel. The Red Brigade nobles could've orchestrated that 'battlefield death' of his."

"That's pretty likely." Jasper agreed.

"Either way, no group that's willing to steal a gold statue for personal gain while they have commoners eating one another just to survive will ever actually get behind our reforms. Before long, they'll try to mend relations with the kingdom and turn on us," Ernest stated flatly. "Simply put, they are swine."

Such deduction of Volksfuhrer only raised more questions from the others.

"But if you knew all that, why'd you tell them that we'd pay for the restoration efforts? As your new minister of finance, I simply don't understand what you're up here. Not to mention that the USNP coffers are drying up."

"Those f*****g swine…" Mike was infuriated.

"Volksfuhrer, let us handle this and we are going to assure you that we're going to track the statue. That way, we wouldn't have to spend any of our own money, and we'd be able to expose those Red Brigades geezers for what they are," suggested Jasper.

"Indeed, that would be preferable, would it not?" Sophia added.

"It'd only take us three days to hunt it down. What's our angle?"

Ernest shook his head, however, and refused the three's suggestion.

"That won't be necessary."

"Why not? Is three days too slow?" Jasper asked.

"Because this is a military matter." Louis cut in, "Volksfuhrer, with your orders I can mobilize a battalion on the Gustave domain and reduce those swine into smithereens." Louis suggested.

"Military action is also not necessary." Ernest sighed as he raised his two fingers. "There are two reasons. The first is that we still haven't confirmed Gustave's death. As I understand, the man was downright obsessed with the statue. If he is still alive, stealing it back will be his top priority. And that's all the more reason to not have it anywhere near us."

"Ah, you're right…" Jasper had experienced Gustave's power firsthand so he knew all too well the danger the man posed.

"So we're basically using the Red Brigade as our shields?" Littorio asked.

"That's part of it, but there's a more important reason."

Ernest paused for a moment, then explained.

"Even if we found the statue and exposed the Red Brigade's corruption, it wouldn't actually end up hurting their cause."

"Why not?" Jasper wondered aloud.

"Because of how loyal the Gustave domain's people are to the Red Brigade now...right?" Littoria interjected.

"The new minister of finance got it right," Ernest affirmed. "As far as the masses were concerned. In their eyes, that group could do no wrong. Even if we were to find the statue and expose the greedy nobles for their wrongdoing, they could just claim not to believe them. In fact, even if people didn't buy that kind of excuse, they wouldn't care. For them, anything is preferable to Gustave." Ernest explained.

"Ah…" muttered Jasper.

"At that point, all sir Conrad has to do is return the statue, and they'll forever hail him as the 'model knight who righted his subordinate's misdeed.' Then, our position will weaken for having accused him. If that happened, we'd be done for. Nothing we did from then on would ever earn back the trust of the citizens. Remember this, our ideals revolve around the people of Crentis, if we want to expand our movement, we just have to earn the support of the populace, just like how Lex is doing in the southern cities." Ernest continued. "The Red Brigade has the confidence of the Gustave domain. Even if they're wholly in the wrong, any aggressive action we take against them carries considerable political risk. Human beings like to assume that anyone they believe in is always right. Whatever plan we choose needs to take that psychological habit into account. For now, we need to win the people over gradually. That way we can turn all the people in the Crentis on the kingdom, sparking a civil war, which would then be our time to pounce."

Which is definitely true. In Ernest's world history, Hitler used the Reichstag fire of 1933 to pounce by blaming the communist even though there is a possibility that it was caused by nazi operatives. Nothing is certain though, historians are still debating on which side is true. Ernest's plan is like the French Revolution, with a single push of natural disaster the people revolted but to Ernest, instead of natural disaster, he'll push the people with power.

After all, people in this era don't yet realize the power they hold as a whole.

"An astute observation. So that's why you agreed to handle the restoration efforts," Littoria deduced and continued. "I'm impressed by your insight. I think I've taken an interest in you…"

Ernest suddenly felt a chill from his right side, an ice-cold gaze pierced through her body, cast directly towards Littoria.

"I'll take that as a compliment," Ernest reduced the tension building up. "The more resources we put in, the less responsibility the Red Brigade will take on. These are the nobles who stole the gold statue for personal gain, after all. If they can get someone else to pay for the recovery, nothing would make them happier."

"So while overlooking their corruption, you plan to have us UNSP carry out as much of the restoration efforts ourselves as possible and win the people over that way?" reasoned Louis.

"Exactly," Ernest replied. "Right now, the Gustave's commoners' trust lies solely in their saviors: The Red Brigade. If we bring their misdeeds to light, they won't be happy, but they'll continue looking to the aristocracy for leadership. They've little other option, after all. It'll be a different story once our party grows more popular and we establish ourselves as a realistic alternative by facilitating the domain's rehabilitation. This will be the moment to expose the Red Brigade for what it really is. In the meantime, the gold statue will serve perfectly to distract Conrad and his allies from proselytizing. They can line their pockets all they want. Unlike hearts and minds, money can easily be recovered by force."

With that, Ernest swept his gaze out over his assembled friends.

"It's for those reasons that we won't be attacking the Red Brigade for the time being. I hope that's enough to convince you all."

All five of the other UNSP nodded.

"Good, on that note, let's go over your individual assignments."

Having received their approval, Ernest began to distribute the new orders.

"Now, most of them haven't changed much from our time in Eighbury. Sophia, I want you to get in touch with Lex and Wayne, I want them to pause their expedition to the southern region. I want them here to organize speeches to win people over."

"Understood."

"I can imagine Lex's and Wayne's faces when they received their new orders."

"Well, they don't have much of a choice. But you don't have to worry about that as I will reward them for their deeds they contributed to the UNSP."

Ernest faced Littoria.

"Littoria, as your first job as minister of finance is you to manage our finances to support the relief efforts. As far as I know, we still have a lot of money in the treasury, I want you to manage it and distribute it according to our needs."

"Very well then. I shall not fail this first job you handed out to me."

"Nicholas, I want you to mobilize the protection squadron to aid the relief efforts."

"Understood."

"There's still a problem though, I want to prioritize improving health conditions for the impoverished, which means more people, more food, and more medical supplies. Sorry Littoria, it seems like your workload has increased."

"Not at all. With Gustav's ports, getting stuff will be a cinch. Distributing it's gonna be trickier, though. Gathering up food and supplies from Brachride and Leonhard and spreading it throughout Gustave is gonna take more carriages than we've got."

Most of the horses in the Gustave domain had been killed and eaten already.

However…

"I already came up with a solution for that particular problem in advance." Ernest grabbed something from the floor, it was a black slab of rock. But it was a smartphone he purchased from the system shop.

"What is that?" Littoria asked.

"This is a communication device...hush for a second…Hello, Guilhem. Is the freight truck ready?"

"Yes sir! We already produced ten of them and as for the drivers, the dwarves will be the one."

"That's good to know." Ernest hung up the phone.

Then he moved to Jasper and Mike.

"Now you two, you'll continue working alongside the Red Brigade."

"You want us to keep an eye out and see if they are acting fishy, right?"

"That's certainly the part of it, but...I've heard that the Red Brigade isn't necessarily monolithic. I want you two to contact anyone you think is truly willing to cooperate with the UNSP. We'll need them when we officially declare our nation."

"Understood." The two bowed.

Since they have their assignment now, Ernest announced what he will be doing.

"As for me. If our nation is to rise, there's something I need to do…" As the Volksfuhrer tried to finish, however.

"Ah, hold on just a moment. I'm afraid that won't do."

Louis interrupted and cut him off.