Kelper:

The Emperor was eating lunch and looking gloomy. It was a very luxurious lunch. None of that grey goop twice a day for him. He was at the dessert stage.

Uck. This pastry isn't all that good. It's such a pain; the only way to get good pastry chefs is to capture them from a non-slaver country. And the last good one has died.

I'm the Emperor, but I can't even eat as well as some vermin going to one of their so-called restaurants.

He briefly wondered what it would be like to casually stroll down a street full of people he couldn't instantly control and enter such a restaurant.

Some highly specific orders imposed by his grandfather were activated, and he forcibly pushed away such irrelevant thoughts.

Then, without warning, he got a Voice of the World message about the new vow of destroying slavery that the Misfits had made.

"What! I killed those vermin! And they have come back?"

He did his best to recall his history of heroes.

"Some heroes are reincarnated, but once only! Not twice."

"And it is still a 100% vow!"

"And how come these stupid vermin can make vows, and 100% vows at that, and I, the emperor, can't?"

Ding! Because a vow must be about something you voluntarily choose to do. And it cannot be either too easy or too hard.

Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

Since all slaves beneath the Emperor either do not have any choice in anything they do or (in the Blue's case) a reduced choice, then they usually cannot make vows.

And, in your case, you control the entire slaver nation. So, generally speaking, anything you choose to do will happen. So, usually, there is nothing for you to make a vow about.

The Emperor was shocked. He had never received such a detailed message from the Voice before.

The Voice spoke to slaves rarely, and such messages were terse and to the point.

What? What does this mean?

Wait! Doesn't this mean that I can make a vow?

His attitude improved remarkably.

This is something new to do. It is getting boring around here. This could add a bit of excitement.

He promptly tried to make a vow, saying that he would crush these Misfits and the rest of Manifestoria with an army of a million slaves.

Ding! Of course you can crush them with a million slaves. There is no need for a vow to achieve that.

Oh. Do I need to make it fewer slaves?

So he tried again with only a thousand slaves.

Ding! A thousand slaves will be defeated. Not easily, but they will be defeated. Then you will send in the million slaves. Still no compelling reason to make it a vow.

A frown appeared on his face.

Perhaps I need to lead them personally? But, if my force is defeated, I could get killed also.

But maybe that's OK? For thirty years, I've been the absolute leader of tens of millions of enslaved people. All those things I thought I could accomplish when I started. Half of them were meaningless after all; the other half failed.

I am compelled by my collar to keep on going, to keep on increasing our borders, never to relax the imposition of slavery, and never to make the orders easier for lesser slaves.

I'm just as controlled as the other slaves, aren't I?

Those stupid vermin, how do they keep on going?

And don't talk about that stupid 'love' stuff. It's all lies, damned lies.

Hmm. Grandfather always said that I would come to this point. After all, he eventually arranged his own death, thus making me the Emperor.

I'll have to think this through.