Solution - II

"How nice of you, Captain Philip, how nice of you think like that. Did you forget why are you are here in the first place?"

"I know Lyson, I know why I am here, but I think I never said I will become the emperor," replied Philip in an indifferent tone.

"Oh, you will. I will make you the emperor."

"No, you can't."

"You don't have a choice, Captain. It has been written & you will follow it at any cost. Now start working on that gun." said the system in a monotonic voice devoid of any emotions.

"Why should I? I don't need a gun."

"I don't think you understand, Philip."

"I clearly understand Lyson. I clearly know what I said. This thing is a double-edge sword & you know it. It's too easy to kill someone with this gun & also far too easy to get killed by the same gun. And I don't want to kill or get killed. I am done with that life."

"I see." said Lyson with a sigh. "But do you think someone else besides you won't invent it? Do you think people won't die? Do you think countries will not go to war with soldiers carrying guns to kill each other?"

As the words spoken, Philip's face stiffened. Even if he won't do it, then someone else will. Gun was the key towards destruction. It never helped to create a family, it always ruined it.

Making it would only make this society worst. People would fight for power to get this & soon chaos would unfold, which would be far more critical than the upcoming Civil War.

"Can you save them, Max? Tell me, can you save them? It's the inevitable end. Someone is going to do it, anyway. It can be you or him. So what's your choice?"

"No. I won't. These people deserve better. This world doesn't need that reaper."

"Fine. But you will regret it."

And both the screen & the voice disappeared before Philip's eyes & he laid down on to the bed.

It was now clear that he had been reincarnated into this world as a duke's son named Max, which was acceptable. But this system's overly obsession with him being an emperor was too much. He now had enough power & wealth to live off his life. Still, it wanted him to do something he never wanted to.

***

3 Days later.

Inside a spacious office, a man with blonde hair & blue eyes was sitting behind a large wooden desk, with a grim expression on his face. Things were not going well, as his advisors were too idiotic enough to not to understand the gravity of the situation.

The room was also filled with 10 advisor & his son Max was standing beside him as to see the decision-making process.

"I think we have joked enough. Now let's discuss what's necessary?" sadi the Duke.

"Yes, Lord."

"Tell me then how do you guys plan to solve the upcoming civil war....?"

"Milord..." Everyone's expression changed from a happy one to a shocked one within seconds after hearing the words civil war.

"Yes."

"Civil War."

"Don't tell me you guys are dumb enough to think that nothing like that would happen, judging from the current situation in our region."

"But Lord, we are importing enough food & supplies to keep the region in its shape and maintain the army." Replied a man with grey hair.

"But for how long...?" asked a man probably in his thirties. He was the youngest present in the room beside Leon.

"What do you mean, how long? We have survived hundreds of years like this & we will survive for another hundred years."

"Only in your dreams." said the Duke in a sharp tone. These people, who were his so-called advisors, were fairly useless in accounting major tasks. They only knew how to sleep & waste time doing nothing. The faith in the 100-year-old system would not work at this point cause no one was accepting it anymore.

"You." said Anselm, pointing towards the man who was boasting about the 100 year survival."Tell Max, what was the contract?"

"Yes Lord, but does he want to know?" asked the man with a sly smile. It was not the first time he was ordered to do something similar to this and knew very well what the result would be. Leon would promptly deny & would leave the room.

"You want to know, right?"

"Yes." said Philip, nodding his head to the duke's words. He knew about the whole thing beforehand but wanted to know what theses so called advisors think of it or simply he just didn't want to face the angry duke. Yeah, the latter part is true.

"What?" asked the man with a shocked expression. His expectation was denied within an instance.

"Just explain." said the Duke once again with the same bitter tone as before.

"Yes Lord. So the contact named Trinity was signed between the states when the empire was formed 200 years ago. And the rules were quite simple as Lexius's were put in-charge of security, Arlet's were for Economy & Carlston were for Food supplies. And the same is going on till this day."

Philip nodded, saying nothing as it was the very basic of what he had also seen in the library, but what was so important that Anslem wanted him to know by asking this dude?

"So, was there any pricing things were written in that contract?" asked Philip to that guy.

"No, there was nothing like that written on it, but pricing system was done by the Late Emperor upon agreement with three dukes."

"Was the price fixed, or it was told to increase overtime?"

"It was told to increase by overlooking the current state of the empire & under direct authority of the Emperor."

"Then how are the prices got so astronomical? Didn't you guys oppose?"

"We did... But their reasoning was fairly plausible."

"Like how?"

"Inflammation, worker labour, transportation, taxes." Replied the man politely. He was surprised that the worthless son of the duke was asking valid questions about the matter.

"And you guys didn't think about doing anything to that?" asked Philip. These guys knew prices were increasing & was impossible to keep up with it. Still, they did nothing to solve the matter or to become self-reliant.