"..... Did you just say.. thirteen percent?" I questioned Percival's claim with an incredulous tone and flabbergasted expression.

He instantly nodded, rubbing his forehead in pain. "As you may know, your majesty, the Exuperius kingdom is host to a population of around fourty million people. Thirteen percent of that would be about three hundred and ninety thousand."

With an audible swallow, he continued. "Due to your father's conquest as well as all the rebellions he put to the sword, poor administration, famine, disease, improperly addressed battlefields, repeated burning of fields, raids, high crime, high homelessness rate and many, many other factors caused by the sectorial failings of the kingdom, ..." He trailed off, seemingly at a loss for words. "I believe we should be happy that the death toll is only this much."

I stared incredulously at the people here. "I have a question for all of you. Was my father truly so powerful that you could not dethrone him? It seems to me like he just wanted to cause as much death and despair as possible."

The court shared a collective sigh. "Perhaps, we could slay him if we worked together, but nothing could unite us like this, not even he."

William approached my throne with a jaded expression. "You are the first person in all of time that has managed to bring peace between the knights, mages and the church."

I see. So these two martial orders fought the church as well as among themselves, until my father came along.

"While I would not call this peace among you, I suppose it can classify as a ceasefire." Humming a bit, I calmed myself as I pondered the situation.

"What happened to our grain stores? Did they get burned down in the war?" Percival gave me a stupified expression.

"What? No, I-uh.. my lord, every settlement keeps its own granary-"

Letting out a massive sigh, I continued. "I see. I understand now. This is where the crisis is born.. we have no national grain storage."

Katrin turned to look at me with an inquisitive glance. "National grain storage? What does that even mean, Klaus?"

"It means that we should create great imperial granaries focused on producing and storing food over the entire year which we can use in case of emergency." Rising from my seat, I walked over to the map of our nation and with the help of a piece of charcoal, made four crosses at different sections of the map.

Then I turned towards Percival. "Say, what's the status of our treasury as of right now?"

He blinked as his eyes focused onto the markings on the map. "We have approximately twenty-two thousand, five hundred and thirty six gold coins, with a monthly income of three hundred and sixty, two hundred and seventy of which is used for monthly expenses, which totals to an income of approximately ninety gold coins per month, sire."

I blinked. That's enough to seem like it's a lot of gold.. but I've played enough strategy games to know that even that much can easily be used up.

Still, I suppose that there's one good point to my father's conquest's after all.

"That should be good enough." With that said, I returned to my throne and addressed the court. "I do believe that this is a good enough cause to declare an emergency situation, right?"

"An emergency situation, sire?" Most of the court looked at me like I was an alien trying to explain FTL.

I sighed. "Yes. I shall address the nation as a whole and explain it in a way that even the dumbest peasant will understand what is happening."

They all instantly panicked. "Y-your highness! Exposing the truth to the ignorant masses is a bad idea! They will rebel against us and cause even further problems!"

Nodding at them, I laughed. "As well they should, you incompetent fools."

With another massive sigh, I quickly continued. "But fear not, I will make good use of the speech to rile the nation into a frenzy for the common good." Lauging lightly, I pointed towards the map I marked.

Percival suddenly interjected. "These spots are the most fertile locations in the kingdom, right?"

"That is correct, Percival. They are also the locations of our future Imperial Granaries." He hummed but said nothing.

"My liege, could you explain to us what exactly you mean when you say Imperial Granary?" Asmodeus questioned me with a cough.

"It's exactly as it sounds; an immense granary sorrounded by fields whose purpose is to continuously produce food all year long." Percival quirked an eyebrow at me.

"My lord, growing crops all year long is impossible. The environme-"

"Is something we can solve with magic, domes and crop rotations." I didn't let him finish, causing the court to erupt in murmurs.

"Please explain what you mean once again, your majesty." Percival's expression did not change, but there was a slight tinge of hope in his tone.

Hmm.. how to best explain this? Well, let's just follow the lineup~.

"First off, it is clear that much magic will be required if we want to save as many people as possible. I have been told that mages often grow crops in hothouses to protect them from the cold but what if there was another way?" Smirking lightly, I turned towards Asmodeus.

"Would it be possible to create an object that produces artificial sunlight?" He looked at me with a confused expression for a few moments, then rubbed his chin in thought. "It should be. I mean, I can't possibly fathom why you would want such a thing, but so long as it's just the light, sure?"

"Because crops need sunlight in order to grow, Asmodeus." Katrin chuckled at him, alongside much of the present court.

He harrumphed and looked away with a click of the tongue. "And how am I supposed to know that? I am a wizard, not a damn farmer. If I want a crop to grow, I can just force it to mature with my magic."

"Oh?" That caught my attention. "So you can increase the growth rate of crops with magic?" 

"Indeed. Such things are paltry circus tricks for a grand wizard... Not that I would ever debase myself to using such a lowly form of magic." He grimaced and wiped invisible dust from his shirt.

"I see. Then I suppose I'll have to find someone else to fill that spot. Someone who wants to be useful to everyone and not only to himself in these dire times." Asmodeus cringed visibly and looked away in defiance.

What an incredibly selfish person. "Your majesty!"

An old man teleported into the middle of the court and bowed. He had the signature grey robe and wizard hat, as well as a cane made out of multiple sticks with leaves growing out of them. In fact, there are several rich, green vines sprouting from the top, as if the staff was made from living wood. "Speak."

"Aye. My name is Fibrus Hrusteniac. I am the highest authority on nature magic from the north. I believe that I can be of much use to your majesty in this current time of crisis." The old man bowed gracefully and spoke with a soft tone.

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Before I could reply to him, Asmodeus yelled out in rage. "Under whose consent do you dare approach his majesty?! I do not approve of th-mhmph?!"

A vine grew out of the nearby plant and promptly blocked the Grand Wizard from talking. "With all due respect, you are not my king any longer, boy. And with what you just tried to stop, it is clear that your authority will die out completely soon enough."

Asmodeus ripped the vine asunder with pinkish energies. "I am the Grand Wizard, the strongest mage this side of the world!" He furiously weaved his magic at the old man.

"And as I am your greater, you will listen to me! If our nation starves, the we will grow enough food to sustain it, but you are forbidden from giving aid to the rest of this filth!" An uncharacteristic show of emotion is given to us all as Asmodeus turns towards the court. "Your majesty is right. All you've done is create a ceasefire! We are not at peace, you knights and fanatics! Your crimes against us have not been forgotten and we will absolutely not aid you in saving your uneducated, stinking people!"

Quirking an eyebrow at him, I questioned Asmodeus. "Even if it means making yourself an enemy of mine?"

The grand wizard burst into laughter. "You? You are a worm, Klaus. A worm that just so happens to possess a unique power!"

He grinned savagely at me as I smirked right back at him. "You are an amusing entity. Watching you try so hard to keep this shitfest together is a fun pastime and all these fucks acting like they legitimately have hope for you is an even bigger joke!"

He leaned into my face, still chuckling. "That's right! With your power, you aren't worth shit to me, nor can you do anything I don't approve of! Such is the fate of a worm~."

Then he started walking around the court like he owned the place. "So here's a better idea for all of you cunts! Make me the king of Exuperia and my mages will provide the people with all the food they need~."

Some people murmured in honest contemplation and I couldn't help myself but smirk. "Or, you know, stick with me instead and use this opportunity while the grand wizard is surrounded by enemies to get rid of him."

To nobody's surprise, after such a display of arrogance, Asmodeus suddenly found himself stuck between Katrin and Williams aura-drenched blades, a strange spell from Truth that seemed to coat the mage in golden chains, the many weapons of the paladins raised over his forcefully prone form glowing with wrathful light and a dozen mages pointing wands of elemental magic directed straight at him.

It took him a bare moment to compose himself, his expression twisting from panic to a cold, emotionless frame. "You do realise that if you kill me, there will be nobody to protect you once the knights decide to invade again."

He addressed his traitorous mages first, to which they all collectively shrugged.

"You'll have to excuse us for wanting to give the new King a chance instead of you." A young lady dressed in pale blue and covered by a black cloak spoke first.

"Gotta agree with miss icicle over there. You've been ordering us to burn crop fields in every recent engagement and that ain't sittin' that well with me no more." An ebony babe in a rather revealing red dress and hands on literal fire was next.

Finally, the druidic old man from before rose from the ground after being struck by Asmodeus a few moments ago. "You would have us turn a blind eye to the deaths of over three hundred thousand people, Asmodeus! Truly, you fit your namesake, Devilsson!"

"It is to protect our nation and freedom as mages! Surely, it is only a matter of time before that worm on the throne starts banning or restricting it's use!" I quirked an eyebrow at him. "Why would I do that? Magic is useful. However, there are many things that it can do that are simply not plausible for allowance. Necromancy, for example."

Asmodeus' gritted his teeth as he replied. "See?! He is just another ignorant bafoon!"

"Necromancy is a mistake."

"Undead exist only to burn!"

"Such foul magic cannot be allowed to continue prospering under our watch."

He blinked in horror at his former comrades. "W-what? Years ago, you all swore an oath to keep all magic free! Was that a lie?!"

"If we want people to stop fearing mages, we need to start forbidding it's worst excesses."

"My oath didn't include starving hundreds of thousands for the greater good and burnin' their fields to cinder, 's far as I remember."

"Our oath is meaningless if we must use force to make it real!"

By now, Asmodeus was completely livid. "Enough! I see that I am the only one here capable of honesty!"

He struggled hard against his captors, but it seemed to be entirely a futile effort. "You cannot kill me! For my heart is enchanted to explode unpon my death, releasing all of my magic and killing you all at once. You cannot imprison me because I will just teleport myself out of any prison!"

His expression twisted into an ugly smirk, carrying the frame of an assured victor as the people around him seemed to take a step back.

"The only thing you worms can do is let me walk out of here freely! I'll be waiting for you on our next field of battle~." He finished with a laughter as evil as his previous one.

I merely quirked an eyebrow at him, then turned to face Truth. "Can you disable his magical barrier?"

He seemed to consider this as Asmodeus laughed even louder. "Oh? What's the little wormy worm gonna do? Pop my heart and kill everyone? Break all my bones~? Ha! I can heal myself later! Your actions are without consequence to one of my power, Klaus!"

Truth finally decided to answer with a nod. "I should be able to prevent him from using it for a few seconds, yes."

"Then do it." My simple command was enough for the others to steel themselves and push him back as the mage began to panic once again.

"H-hey! Didn't I just tell you that it's useless! Your powers can't do anything to me!" His tone turned into complete panic as greyish energies were cast upon him.

I smiled as I inserted my crimson tendril into his skull. "On the contrary, my friend. I just have to kill you without letting you die~."

His expression twisted with pure confusion. "What?! That's does not even make any se-...."

Within an instant, it was over. A single curved cut at the cellular level...

And his entire frontal lobe was cleanly separated from the rest of his brain, with the small mercy of instant cauterisation so he does not bleed out.

Well, mercy is a debatable subject in this case.

His body went limp and his eyes glazed over. "Huh.. what was I doing?"

"Ah. Asmodeus, my friend! It's dinner time. You should go to the kitchens~." My joking tone echoed throughout the throneroom as he nodded, drooling lightly.

"Food? I like foooood..." He turned around and walked a few steps forward before stopping.

".... Huh... What's this? Where am I?"

"Ah, hello Asmodeus! Why, we were just preparing to go to sleep. That's right! It's sleepy time~."

He blinked as the entire court grimaced in horror with the smile he showed. "Sleepy time! I love sleeping!" Then he comically let himself fall onto the hard floor, effectively knocking himself out.

I let out a sigh, already becoming annoyed at the play. "Have his body checked for magic that activates on death, remove it, then kill him."

A few people grimaced but nodded, with the guards taking the retarded mage by the hands and dragging him away.

"What a fitting end for the Viper." His own mages spat on the ground where he walked in disdain.

"..your majesty. May I please know what exactly it was that I just helped you do?" Truth asked me with a rather terrified expression.

I pointed towards my skull. "Different parts of the brain control different parts of the body. I just separated the part of it that controls certain functions from the rest~."

"But the body is animated by the soul, not the mind..." He muttered out in disbelief.

With a sigh, I rose my hand and spoke. "It is a shame that it had to end this way but be certain that the exact same fate awaits any who would seek to disrupt the stability of the kingdom... And by that I mean death, not specifically retardation."

Percival chuckled and smirked. "Yes, your majesty. You've made that abundantly clear to everyone here these last few days."

William harrumphed. "My son will be saddened that you stole his kill, but from my point of view, the Viper deserved worse than he got."

Katrin sighed. "Hearing that it was he who ordered the incineration of our fields was a death sentence in the eyes of the many. Especially with timing this poor..." Hmm, she seemed suspicious of something.

Come to think of it, is Asmodeus really someone to act this rashly? Even if he is cruel and apathetic to others, I somehow didn't get any impression of him being an emotionally driven man.

With wide eyes, I stopped the guards. "Stop! Don't kill him. Take him to my room instead."

They blinked in confusion but nodded nonetheless.

The court turned towards me in surprise. "Err, your majesty? Why the change of heart?"

"You. Mage. You called him Devilsson. Explain." The druid blinked and quirked an eyebrow at me. 

"Uhm.. well, it is common knowledge that the former royal family is descended from demonkind and frequently conspires with them for greater power." He replied as things finally clicked in my head.

"Argh..." I sighed out loud and facepalmed. "So what's the chance that that was a demon possessing a human body instead of a man?"

Everyone went quiet for a few good minutes. 

Then Truth broke the silence. "It would explain many things. His love for dark magics, the murder of his entire family, his focus on the rule of the strong..."

"But if it is true then the possession must have happened very long ago." The druid looked at me with confusion.

"Right. As the old man says. Ya might just not know Asmodeus well enough, yer majesty~." Red ebony spoke with a smug expression.

And the frosty one finished. "Indeed. An outburst of arrogance like this is nothing new for the Grand Wizard."

.... "An outburst, you say?" Turning towards Truth, I asked the already pondering avatar. "A partial possession? Maybe the demon wasn't fully in control? What do you think, Truth?"

"It is possible, but I would have to check him quite completely to be certain of anything." I nodded towards him. "A thought for later, I suppose."

Then I addressed the court once more. "In any case, I am sure we could all use a break after this ordeal."

Closing my eyes and raising my hand up, I concluded the court. "We shall reassemble in thirty minutes time to discuss the imperial granaries in greater depth. Until then, my subjects, stay safe."