Chapter 183: Review (Spoilers Ahead)
I got thrown into this mess without even booting up the game once. To top it off, the only original knowledge I had was a load of nonsense, which is just bleak.
And don’t even get me started on the difficulty level—it’s a total nightmare! Just a little bit of bad luck, or misstepping once, and it’s straight to Bad Ending City!
But somehow, I managed to score a decisive victory against all those odds.
Thanks to my never-failing companions and the collective strength of all the citizens rallying for freedom, all those efforts finally bore fruit.
Dictatorship was abolished, and sovereignty returned to the people.
What waits for us now is the equal society I once casually mentioned—an ideal utopia I had been dreaming of.
It was bound to happen.
It had to happen… but then I saw the results:
[Ian Valderich: Approval Rate 351%]
“Holy crap, what is this?”
Dizziness overwhelmed me. This approval rate makes it sound like a cooking grandpa who can’t brew tea sent a couple of people to the afterlife!
Did I hit my head or something?
I was pretty sure I introduced democracy properly. Leaders were supposed to be elected through voting, and I made every effort to ensure a diverse range of candidates.
Heck, I didn’t even throw my hat in the ring!
How does someone not even on the ballot get such ridiculous approval ratings?
I couldn’t make sense of this situation at all.
Naturally, my gaze shifted to my party members.
I really didn’t want to suspect them, but come on, this was a reasonable doubt considering the circumstances. The probability that someone doctored the votes for my sake was pretty high.
As I directed my suspicious gaze toward the top suspect, Siel, strangely enough, it wasn’t her who spoke first, but Lien.
“Don’t worry about the voting results, Ian!”
She flashed a grin and proudly patted her chest as she declared,
“It wasn’t rigged; I cast ten votes all by myself.”
…That’s basically vote tampering, Lien!
Well, since she looked so proud, I won’t call her out on it. But what to do with her?
Sighing, I had a sudden hypothesis about why such absurd vote counts were showing up.
What if lots of people were thinking the same way?
So maybe that’s how my approval rate skyrocketed past 300%.
‘No way, that can’t be.’
Even if this was everyone’s first experience at electing a leader, I had made sure to clearly communicate the rules. Unlikely that so many would behave like Lien.
I looked at Rubia with the hope she’d shake her head in disbelief…
But she just nodded, her dark circles under her eyes deepening.
“This is the maximum I’ve filtered out the fraudulent votes… the initial count surpassed four digits.”
I rubbed my throbbing forehead again after hearing her words. Looks like we still have a long way to go before we hit true democracy.
‘For now, I guess I can only think positively and move on.’
Expecting everyone to adapt to an unprecedented voting system all at once was a bit much, wasn’t it?
You can’t expect to be full after just one meal, right?
We’ll just take our time getting used to it.
This is something we can tackle gradually in the future, so it’s not as bleak as it seems.
‘In fact, maybe it’s something to be thankful for.’
In this unforgiving world…
I defeated the villain and prevented destruction, yet got ghosted by my school friends after eight years and was forgotten without a reward from the citizens.
Thinking about that, it really is a blessing to have so many supporters.
“This reflects the people’s opinions. I understand your concerns, but we can’t ignore these voices that have come out so strongly.”
Rubia looked at me as she said this.
It seems she was worried that if I seized the emperor’s position, it would distance me from true equality.
But I had no intention of being stubborn in this situation. Honestly, I had a feeling they’d drag me out whether I wanted or not.
“I guess the only thing left to do is give it my all.”
I nodded, saying that.
I’ve never done politics before. If I said I wasn’t nervous, that would definitely be a lie…
But I figured I wouldn’t have too much trouble performance-wise.
Maybe it’s because everyone firmly believes that our wonderful leader will effortlessly turn the empire into a utopia.
I can really feel my abilities for running the country, diplomacy, and task handling skyrocketing!
If I manage to revive the empire, it sure won’t collapse, right?
‘If anything, there’s more than enough talent to go around.’
Like Rubia and Kishua. And dwarves who would make anyone second-guess their skills.
I never imagined I’d say this, but… the former Second Prince of the Empire, who’s capable and loyal? Even if the sky falls, there will be no shortage of talent to use!
‘But there is just one small problem.’
It’s not about the empire; it’s about my future.
I tried not to show my nervousness as I glanced at my gathered comrades.
I just hope my improved abilities include dodging romantic entanglements.
‘Damn it.’
But, of course, the outcome was failure. No matter how hard I stared at my comrades, I couldn’t figure out what actions to take to survive.
Considering that polygamy is legal, I thought maybe I should just shut my eyes and dive right in.
But then I’d start worrying about the order of events, the wedding arrangements, and heirs, and my head would start spinning.
Especially with Siel’s increasingly reckless behavior.
And on top of that, sometimes Rubia visits my room at night after a few drinks after stressing out from work—she’s the biggest problem.
Her healthy physical traits weren’t dwindling; they were only growing, which was a uniquely exhausting ordeal.
But… even then, no sharp solutions came to mind. Once again, I had to shove this problem to the back burner.
‘At least I still have some time left.’
I believe in my self-control.
Surely, I won’t get into a situation where I end up having a child with one of them, get shocked and go berserk, leading to a chaotic wedding affair with everyone!
No way. That could never happen.
Although there’s this nagging feeling creeping up on me. I immediately yanked that suspicious artifact off and stuffed it in my pocket.
“Let’s go; people are waiting for you.”
Just then, Rubia looked at me and said that.
Cheers from the citizens could be heard around us.
The inauguration ceremony is coming up. As Rubia said, it wouldn’t be good to keep those people waiting.
“Wait a moment. There’s still one thing I need to wrap up first.”
But one thing absolutely must be finalized before starting a new tale. Despite the bewildered gaze from Rubia…
I should correctly punctuate the period of the journey I’ve walked thus far, right?
‘I’ve been curious since the start…’
Who was that useless guy?
Who left that bizarre spoiler post?
Strangely enough, getting here might’ve been thanks to that troll post.
Because of that, I could view Siel, Lien, Rubia, and my other companions not as foes, but allies. That tiny delusion built this organization.
Yet, I still hadn’t managed to find out who that person was. I couldn’t uncover who called me to this world.
But… I feel like I can figure it out now.
How this long journey began.
I immediately summoned my power. I interfered with another dimension, even twisted the timeline a bit, but honestly, what I wanted to do was pretty straightforward.
I just wanted to post an outrageous spoiler message.
[Bone And Blood Minor Gallery]
I accessed the familiar community. It’s been more than four years since I last checked it out, but that didn’t really matter.
After getting spoiled about the hidden forces of a long-awaited new release, I was so enraged I couldn’t even forget it.
Suddenly, that obnoxious post materialized right before my eyes. Including the date and time—everything was intact.
‘Seeing this, I…’
I was about to go through a pretty embarrassing time.
I’d bumble through misunderstandings with the villain, somehow establish a weird organization, and kick off various giant events without even knowing what I was doing.
But even still, I didn’t hesitate.
Sure, I might be confused, might precariously walk the tightrope without knowing anything…
But it was bound to be a worthwhile journey.
With a bright smile, I hit the Enter key.
[Just saw the ending; writing this review (no spoilers)]
– Ended up accidentally creating a dark organization (完)