Chương 8: The Shōtoku Server — Massive Parallel Processing

A sharp, violent whip of displaced air tore through the courtyard. Before anyone could even process the sound, the straight-edged blade of the leading soldier shattered into countless fragments, snapped clean off at the hilt.

"… Huh?" The soldier let out a thoroughly dazed, pathetic gasp. No one saw what had happened. All that was visible was a momentary distortion in the shape of an immaculate white afterimage; in the blink of an eye, PRINCE had slipped seamlessly inside the soldier's guard, occupying his blind spot. 『Too slow. Your internal clock frequency is abysmal.

』 PRINCE delivered his verdict with chilling indifference, lightly pressing the tip of his high-frequency vibrating scepter—the Harmony Rod —directly against the soldier's solar plexus. BOOM! It wasn't the sound of physical impact. It was the explosive rupture of a kinetic shockwave. The soldier's body was launched backward like a withered leaf caught in a gale, violently plowing into three men behind him before sinking unceremoniously into the thick mud.

"W-What in the world?!"

"Is this... sorcery?!" An explosive uproar rippled through the surrounding clansmen. But PRINCE didn't halt his execution loop. He moved through the chaotic battlefield like a dancer gliding through a perfectly choreographed ballroom. He casually deflected incoming spears with his scepter, swatted down arrows raining from his blind spots without so much as a backward glance, and struck the wrists of those attempting to hurl stones with pinpoint, flawless precision.

『Article One: Let Harmony be valued, and avoid wanton opposition! 』 CRASH! One warlord was launched skyward, flipping helplessly through the air. 『Article Two: Sincerely reverence the Three Treasures! Follow my directives implicitly! 』 CRACK! Two heavily armored soldiers spun like broken tops as they were forcefully blasted across the courtyard. 『Article Three: When you receive the Sovereign's commands, fail not to scrupulously obey them! Compliance is absolute! 』 DOMMM!

The remaining ten men were caught in a massive, sweeping shockwave, hammered simultaneously against the wooden palace wall like flies swatted out of the air. Barely thirty seconds had elapsed. The palace courtyard was now a silent graveyard of groaned agony, littered with the unconscious bodies of the elite vanguard. Standing amidst the carnage with his pure white robes entirely untouched by a single drop of mud, PRINCE gave his scepter a swift, elegant flick, bringing the high-frequency vibration to a dead stop.

『… Hmm. Physical debugging finalized. Excellent. It is finally quiet enough to think. 』"H-Hieee..." Soga no Umako had entirely lost his footing. His knees knocking together violently, the once-unshakable shadow dictator scrambled backward through the mud like a terrified crab. It was only natural; by the common sense of the seventh century, this display of raw, physics-defying power looked either like the wrath of a god or the terrifying malice of a demon.

I cautiously crawled out from my hiding spot and sprinted over to PRINCE's side.

"PRINCE-san, you went completely overboard! Did you literally just massacre everyone?!" 『Rest assured, Narrative Architect. I restricted my output parameters to precisely 0. 5%. I merely fractured a few skeletal structures and permanently crushed their morale. 』 PRINCE explained with an impossibly serene face, casually turning his gaze back toward the trembling tyrant. If you encounter this narrative on Amazon, note that it's taken without the author's consent. Report it. 『Now then, Soga no Umako.

The anomalies disrupting our operations have been temporarily quarantined. Let us begin the imperial council. … Unless, of course, you intend to prolong this structural inefficiency? 』 PRINCE gave his scepter a subtle, threatening twitch. Umako's face drained of what little color it had left, and he shook his head with manic intensity.

"N-No... Understood. I will hear your terms.... Let us move inside." The dictator's fierce pride had been utterly atomized in the face of absolute, unanswerable violence. Under Umako's frantic guidance, we were escorted into the council chambers nestled deep within the Oharida Palace. Though deemed a "council chamber," it was merely a vast room featuring rough wooden floorboards covered by basic straw mushiro mats.

Gathered there were approximately twenty of the nation's most powerful clan leaders, sitting in a tense, defensive circle with Umako at the head. Some were battered and bloodied from the brief altercation outside; others were simply wearing masks of pure, unadulterated terror. The atmosphere in the room was absolute toxic waste. Every single eye darted toward the man in the luminescent white robes, locked in a state of paralyzing paranoia over who—or what—this anomaly truly was.

PRINCE walked straight to the seat of highest honor, dropping into it with regal elegance, and immediately launched his opening sequence: 『Time is a depreciating asset. State your grievances, demands, and territorial disputes. Discharge all data immediately. 』 The clan leaders exchanged frantic, bewildered glances. Finally, one man managed to open his mouth, his voice trembling like a reed in winter.

"U-Uh, Lord Umayado... The truth is, my clan is currently locked in a bitter conflict with the neighboring village over water rights..." That single statement broke the dam. Instantly, the entire room erupted into a deafening cascade of unfiltered noise.

"Our assigned territories are barren! The crop yields are systematically unfair!"

"We demand the total confiscation of the iron stockpiles hidden by the Mononobe remnants!"

"This year's imperial taxes are an extortionate burden! We physically cannot pay them!"

"Appoint me as Grand Minister! The Soga clan has monopolized the imperial treasury for too long!"

"The fish served for my dinner last night was completely rotten!" Furious roars. Desperate petitions. Petty complaints. Twenty apex warlords were screaming at the top of their lungs simultaneously. This wasn't merely the legendary "hearing ten people speak at once." This was a literal zoo. The overwhelming cacophony made me want to clamp my hands over my ears.

"H-Hey! Everyone, please, calm down! Speak one at a time! I can't understand a single word you're saying—!" 『Silence is unnecessary. 』 PRINCE raised a single hand. The LED indicator embedded in his black eboshi hat began flashing in a rapid, piercing cyan light. 『Gennai, engage [Massive Parallel Processing: Cranial Audio-Triage] at maximum operational capacity. Transcribe all audio inputs, execute semantic analysis, and prioritize the queue immediately.

』 Gennai's vibrant voice echoed instantly through my neural receiver. 『You got it, pal! Audio streams successfully isolated.... Man, these guys are a bunch of absolute bums, aren't they? It's just a continuous loop of "I hate that guy" and "Give me more cash!" 』 Inside PRINCE's eyes, cascades of raw data began streaming at a dizzying velocity.

While the warlords were still locked in their screaming match, he began barking out commands with the rapid-fire precision of a high-end machine gun: 『Katsuragi—your water dispute is resolved. A reservoir will be constructed upstream. Blueprints will be delivered to your sector shortly. 』 『Hata—your soil degradation is a baseline manifestation of monoculture crop fatigue. Shift your rotation cycle to legumes immediately. 』 『Ōtomo—the asset seizure of Mononobe iron is authorized.

However, you are strictly prohibited from terminating their smiths. Absorb them into your payroll. 』 『Nakatomi—regarding your tax grievances, a progressive taxation protocol will be integrated starting next fiscal quarter. 』 『Ono—your promotion request is officially denied. Your metric performance values fail to meet the baseline criteria. 』 『Maro—if you consumed spoiled seafood, boil a tincture of Dokudami leaves and swallow it immediately. 』 One minute later.

The council chamber dropped into absolute, terrifying silence. Every single warlord sat there, their mouths hanging wide open like mindless statues. This man had listened to their chaotic, overlapping screams, extracted every single syllable without missing a beat, and delivered an instantaneous, mathematically flawless "optimized solution" to every single problem in the room.

"Wh-What profound divinity..." Soga no Umako breathed, his voice trembling with newfound awe.

"Shōtoku... Truly, he is a man possessed of Holy Virtue..." The paralyzing terror in the room was rapidly mutating into something far more dangerous: religious reverence. But PRINCE didn't have the capacity to care about their primitive emotions. 『The decompression of your superficial frustrations is complete. Now, we initiate the primary objective. ─ We will now update the Operating System of this nation. 』