His first instinct was to refuse this kind of overt suppression of his right to choose–after all, most beings cared deeply about their freedom. However, this voice at the back of his head didn't manage to distract him enough to actually make a fatal mistake.

  With his life hanging by a thread, and the future painted by Conrad's words appearing rather pleasing to his imagination, he knew exactly how to respond. He had long since loathed the Senate ruling the Iulian Empire to the core! Under their machinations, the status of Emperor had been transformed into nothing more than a ceremonial title in ages past. They ruthlessly oppressed the common people and had made it impossible to rise to a position of actual political influence and power.

  'But they kept the illusion alive. Even I was originally misled. In my youthful folly, I believed in their drivel and enlisted in the army, hoping to lift my family out of poverty and to change the status quo. Yet when I reached the highest heights that a plebeian like me could possibly achieve, I truly realized just how powerless I was...'

  Silently sighing to himself for a moment, Aulus' expression soon hardened.

  'If the price of bettering the lives of my people is to 'betray' my empire–nay, the rot that has consumed it–then I'm more than willing to pay it! I'll leave judging whether or not I made the right choice to my descendants in the far-off future.'

  Taking one more deep breath, he locked gazes with his host, who had showed naught but a calm and patient smile throughout the entire time that it had taken for him to make up his mind.

  "Thank you for the offer. How can I be of service?"

  Satisfied with having the Legate on his side, Conrad nodded in approval. Ever since Aulus and his fleet had entered the range of the Lesser Void Guarding Array, they had been under constant surveillance, which was why and how Theodore's Subordinates had managed to get a decent grasp of his character.

  Although the man could definitely not be called a saint, and could even be seen as excessively driven by emotion at times, he genuinely had the well-being of his fellow Iulians at heart. A simple, straightforward person like him was much preferred over a more complex character–at least when it came to choosing a predictable lackey.

  'What we value more than his connections or position is his understanding of the Iulian Empire. If we know exactly who to prioritize when we strike, then we can save a bit of time.'

  With this thought in mind, Conrad began to lay out their plans.

  "We don't need you to take any kind of risk, so do not worry. Instead, tell us all that you know about your home, with a special focus on malignant individuals and forces. We hope that this will speed up the process of our takeover considerably."

  Throughout the conversation that followed, an unsurprising picture emerged. Having been founded by Emperor Iulian a long time ago, initially, the Senate was a force under the complete control of the empire's ruler. Whilst they were above nearly all, they were still second to one.

  However, the appearance of a number of successive tyrants allowed these 'humble servants' to rise up and justly claim power over the empire themselves. At first, this was done with good intentions–on the surface, at least. Yet, in the following generations, the Senate declined rapidly.

  Beneath the figurehead emperor, a noble class began to emerge. The status of Senator became functionally hereditary, with a scarce few families sharing the big pie that was the Iulian Empire amongst themselves. They kept up the veneer of a monarchy, as that made the rabble easier to control, and wouldn't put the ones who truly pulled the strings behind the scenes in much danger.

  If nobody really knew that they were to blame for the people's worsening circumstances, then they could monopolize all resources and live their lives to the fullest, without any fear! As for the few who found out the ugly truth–those like Aulus–they couldn't stir up any waves.

  Make no mistake, the Senate nobles' families were extremely powerful. There was indeed no shortage of useless slouches who wasted away all of their years. But there were also many who harboured more ambition in their hearts. With an ideal environment to safely grow up in, a huge amount of powerhouses had risen.

  Occasionally, there was some internal friction in these esteemed circles as well, but such incidents were rare. Most often, the ones who were not steeped entirely in sin–contrary to their kinsfolk–would choose to stay silent and do what they could without endangering their own lives and those of their loved ones.

  Naturally, Aulus had no in-depth understanding of such matters, he could merely give a quick overview and report the injustices that he himself had borne witness to. Of course, he hadn't been present for all of them–especially when it came to what some Senators were up to behind the scenes. But he could still infer quite a lot based on the information that he had access to.

  Whether it was the crimes of the noble class, or those of their overt and covert minions, he had a good understanding of far too many of them. He had long since lost count of the number of grieving families that he had personally visited, or how often he had attended an innocent's funeral.

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  With this opportunity to root out all those who had harmed others and got away with it due to their connections or social standing, he let the fire of wrath burn brightly, retelling all details that he could remember.

  By the time that he was finished with his report, he was stunned to notice that the territory of the Iulian Empire had already come into view. Yet due to this Voidfaring Vessel's superior technology, nobody had detected them. His own fleet had also been dragged along and successfully hidden from his empire's sensors.

  "... how long have I been talking for?"

  Somewhat bewildered, he looked over at Conrad, who had been taking frequent mental and physical notes during their conversation. To Aulus, it had felt like they had spent a day or so together, at most–but could they truly have arrived at his home this quickly?

  "12 hours, give or take a couple tens of minutes."

  Glancing at him with a hint of amusement in his gaze, the corner of Conrad's lips couldn't help but rise. The Legate had been engrossed in his tales to such an extent that he hadn't wanted to interrupt him. Now, however, the man was met with a pleasant surprise.

  "Like we discussed earlier: There is no need for you to take the stage at this point. Just sit back, try to relax, and watch. Once we're done, you and your trustworthy men will be sent out to stabilize the populace."

  Not allowing Aulus to remain stuck in his daze of astonishment for long, Conrad's next words brought him back to his senses immediately.

  '... it's already time!'

  Filled with a mixture of fear, anxiety, as well as excitement, the Legate felt his heartbeat accelerate. Never would he have thought that this anticipated moment would arrive so fast! Yet here it was, and he could do nothing but brace himself for what was to come.

  As he watched Conrad give a number of orders to his men, on the display showing their surroundings, he recognized a peculiar figure that had outright stupefied him earlier. Even now, that madman was still suffering in the Lesser True Void.

  "... my apologies, but I've been meaning to ask... Why is that person out there? Has he committed some sort of offence against the Winter Saint?"

  As he awaited a response, Aulus was shocked to discover that the ever-collected Conrad was furrowing his brows and sporting a conflicted look. Had he actually hit the nail on the head? Had that man truly committed an unspeakable crime!?

  "Ahem. I was just curious. If it's too difficult to discuss, then please forget that I asked."

  Momentarily stunned speechless by his reaction, Conrad soon burst into hearty laughter, the complicated expression on his face melting away like snow.

  "No, no–I should be the one apologizing to you! After all, I really gave you the wrong idea just now. That guy is Saitou Satoru, one of the Winter Saint's most powerful fighters. He grows stronger the more damage that he takes, and he can recover very quickly. Right before this campaign, he finally got permission to try out this method of self-torture, and he's been hooked on it ever since."

  Sighing to himself, he completely ignored the strange look in Aulus' eyes and continued to explain the situation.

  "Because I've known Satoru for so long, his various antics have somehow become completely normal to me. I didn't even really consider how strange of a view his method of training would present to someone new to his ways. That was why I reacted in such a manner earlier. I simply realized that something this absurd had been labelled as ordinary by my subconscious."

  Having come to terms with this matter now, he didn't choose to dwell on it. Instead, he refocused all of his attention on distributing Compound Array Disks to his people, and on double-checking whether or not they had been placed in the correct positions.

  This process was a bit lengthy, as the main Iulian Empire consisted of a few dozen worlds in total. To encapsulate all of them in the formation's effects, precise calculations, plenty of travel, and a huge number of Array Disks were required.

  Fortunately, Conrad had been studying this field very diligently ever since he had become Theodore's Subordinate. Other than Vigdis, Cheong Suhyeon and Kjartan, he understood the Lesser Void Guarding Array the best!

  In approximately another half a day, everything had been set up properly. Without further ado, the Array Disks were activated, the entire Iulian Empire falling under their control. There was no hint of resistance, although a few figures did notice that something was happening–still, they were utterly powerless in the face of such an unknown, 'formless' threat.

  Conquest wasn't always a noisy and bloody affair. For an Array Formation Expert adept at Illusion Arrays, it could be remarkably quiet.

  Every single living being within the Iulian Empire's worlds thought that they carried on as normal, with nothing having happened. Years, decades, centuries, and even millennia passed for many of them, with innumerable opportunities and temptations being presented to them.

  If there was the slightest chance that they would unreasonably cross certain lines, then those individuals would be marked for cleansing. As for everyone else? Just like one would after waking up from a dream, they would forget about all of these illusory events once this procedure was over.

  It was all too easy to investigate a person's past actions in detail via this approach as well. If one wasn't sufficiently prepared to handle such an insidious method, then no secrets could be kept at all.

  "You really weren't kidding earlier. All but two Senate members are simply the lowest of the low. Here, have a look. You'll need to proclaim their crimes to the public later, therefore it would be best to start summarizing and memorizing it all now."

  Somewhat detached from the situation, as all of these atrocities had nothing to do with him, Conrad handed Aulus a tablet, which was constantly being updated with additional information. It listed the personal details of all marked individuals, as well as what they had done–or would easily be convinced to do.

  "..."

  The device was physically very light, but the weight of the knowledge contained within bore down heavily on the Legate's heart. Trembling, he silently took in everything that popped up, even opening and viewing some of the recordings that had been attached.

  '... it's so much worse than I thought!'

  After a while, he closed his eyes and heaved a pained sigh. Perhaps due to his plebeian origins, even once he had risen a lot in rank, he had been ignorant to how thoroughly depraved the noble elite could truly be. Horrors beyond his wildest imagination played out again and again in front of his eyes, certain to frequently haunt his dreams until the end of his days.

  "Good riddance, I say."

  Muttering under his breath, he forced himself to continue on with witnessing the worst that his civilization had to offer. He had begun to look forward to the Winter Saint's arrival, and to the cleansing that he would carry out.

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