Chapter 44: Solon (Part 2)
“I think you need to be executed.”
The room fell completely silent. Meanwhile, Theo froze.
“…Ha… hahaha…” Theo let out an awkward laugh. “That’s a good one. A joke to lighten the mood after a long meeting, hahaha…”
“Uhh, no,” Solon replied flatly while sipping his drink. “Not particularly.”
Theo’s smile disappeared instantly.
“…What do you mean executed?!” he asked carefully.
“Yeah, can’t do that to the boss,” David chimed in casually.
Theo immediately looked relieved. Finally, someone talking with common sense.
“I already asked the system ‘bout that before,” David continued. “Said if I kill the boss, all of us summons disappear too.”
For a completely different reason, apparently.
“Is that so…” Archimedes muttered while rubbing his chin thoughtfully.
“Ah. I see.” Solon nodded slowly. “That would indeed be troublesome.”
“AND EXECUTING ME ISN'T?!” Theo barked. “Also, why the hell were you asking the system about killing me in the first place, David?!”
“Ah, no hard feelings, boss.” David grinned sheepishly. “Never know if I’m workin’ for another bastard king again. Figured it was worth checkin’, haha.”
“It is common practice to deal with incompetent leadership through swift execution, that’s how democracy was born in Greece” Archimedes added dryly, as if explaining basic mathematics.
“Frankly, I would still advise it before the situation worsens.” Solon said casually. “But since we apparently we’ll disappear if Theo dies, we will have to find another solution.”
Theo stared at the three men in disbelief. Just a few minutes ago, he had been admiring them as the legendary historical geniuses, now they were calmly holding a committee meeting about whether or not to kill him.
“Wait-wait-wait!” Tara suddenly slammed both hands against the table as she stood up. “What in the hell is happening here?! Why are we suddenly discussing executing Theo?!”
Theo nearly wanted to cry from relief. Thanking God that someone in this room still possessed normal human instincts.
Tara pointed directly at Solon.
“You there, new guy,” she snapped, fully back in her chief mode now. “Why are you suddenly saying Theo is our biggest problem?”
“Well, technically, you are also part of the problem, miss elf,” Solon replied without hesitation. “But since most of your decisions come from Theo’s recommendations, your guilt is comparatively lighter.”
Tara’s eye twitched.
“Then explain,” she ordered sharply.
Solon closed his eyes for a moment and let out another long sigh.
At this point, Theo had completely lost count of how many times the man had sighed within just two hours of being summoned into existence.
“He is the reason this alliance is turning into a mess,” Solon said calmly.
He shot Theo a disappointed glance before looking back at Tara again. Theo immediately flinched under it.
“Right… this may take some time.” Solon muttered with dry sarcasm.
He raised one finger.
“He spent months here building people loyalty toward the people around him without even trying to build a decent system.”
A second finger followed.
“He gathered eight villages into one place while assuming farming alone would somehow solve everything.”
Then a third.
“He placed all nine chiefs on equal standing because he thought keeping everybody happy would make things run smoothly.”
A fourth finger rose.
“And despite claiming everyone is equal, he openly turned Blackstone into the most advanced village while the others still live miserably.” Solon’s voice remained flat and steady. “So now resentment and jealousy are naturally building up and becoming a constant complaints.”
Tara visibly stiffened because she could not deny any of it.
She was the one handling the complaints every day, and the more Solon explained things, the more the entire situation started sounding painfully obvious.
Then Solon raised the fifth finger.
“He introduced salt currency while assuming a large stockpile of salt would automatically create a functioning market.” He looked around the room with clear disappointment. “Surely someone here understands inflation?”
The tent went quiet.
“Now, Tara, was it?” Solon continued. “Would you prefer I stop there, or should I continue with my other hand?”
He casually waved his unused left hand toward her.
Tara didn’t answer. Instead she slowly brought her fingers toward her lips, processing everything he had just said.
“…I see,” she muttered slowly. “That actually makes sense… Does this means Theo really does need to die.”
She seriously thinking.
“What part of that makes sense?!” Theo snapped. “Will all of you stop trying to execute me?!”
He immediately stood up and started defending himself since apparently nobody in the tent intended to stand on his side.
“Look, everything I did,” Theo argued, “I did it because I wanted to build a society as advanced and powerful as the one I came from back on Earth!”
Solon finally turned fully toward him.
“And that,” Solon said calmly, “is exactly why you became the problem.”
Then he let out another long sigh, already sounding exhausted by the fact this conversation still had to continue.
“Look, Theo,” Solon said, his tone calmer now, though still carrying that same exhausted patience, “it’s obvious you came from a country and an era where systems already existed long before you were born.”
He leaned back slightly in his chair.
“Laws. Markets. Government structure. Social order. People followed them because generations before you already followed them.” Solon looked directly at Theo. “Do you think all of those systems appeared overnight?”
Theo immediately hesitated.
“Uhh… no…”
“Of course not,” Solon replied. “It must have taken dozens, maybe hundreds of years before those systems became stable.”
Which, unfortunately for Theo, was completely correct.
“And yet you somehow expect that by introducing your way of life to these tribal people, they will simply accept it and adapt immediately?” Solon continued. “No. That is why you rely on tricks. Emotional manipulation. Fear. Performance. Pressure.”
He gestured lazily toward Theo.
“The threatening performance. The necromancer image. The speeches. The promises.” Solon sighed. “You keep forcing society forward through temporary measures and theatrical pressure.”
Theo stayed quiet.
“Listen carefully,” Solon continued. “I actually agree that your methods were necessary at the beginning. These tribes were fragmented, distrustful, and directionless. Using deception and manipulation to unite them was reasonable.”
Then Solon’s eyes narrowed slightly.
“But now you still think every new problem requires another trick.” His voice remained calm, but the criticism behind it landed heavily. “Another performance. Another shortcut. Another forced solution.”
He folded his arms.
“Do you genuinely imagine your civilisation was built that way?”
Theo opened his mouth—
Then closed it again. No answer came out.
Slowly, he sat back down in his chair, completely deflated.
“…But still,” Theo muttered weakly, “jumping straight to execution feels a little extreme…”
“I can build a cage for him in my tent, ja. Very simple structure.” Archie suggested casually.
“No you won’t!” Theo immediately snapped back to life.
Then he looked toward Archie and David with genuine disbelief.
“And seriously, you two also think I’ve been screwing this up?”
“Ja.”
“Yep.”
They answered at the exact same time without hesitation.
Theo stared at them like he had just been betrayed by his own party members.
“Then why didn’t either of you say anything earlier?!”
“Not my business,” Archie replied immediately.
Honestly, Theo expected that answer from Archie. So he turned toward David instead.
“Well, like I told you before, boss,” David said with an awkward smile, “politics ain’t really my field. Back in my days, I had advisors handling that kinda stuff for me.”
Theo deflated all over again.
“Alright,” Solon said, “since executing you is apparently not an option, and imprisoning you would only confuse the people, then we will settle for something simpler.”
He pointed at Theo.
“You stop doing all the nonsense you’ve been doing until now.”
Theo frowned immediately.
“No more necromancer theatrics to scare people into obedience,” Solon continued. “And no more introducing random new concepts to the population without consulting me first.”
“Ugh… yes, yes, I get it,” Theo scoffed. “You know, you could’ve just asked normally instead of jumping straight to execution.”
“Why?” Solon asked, visibly confused.
Theo blinked. Then he looked around the tent and realized that David looked equally confused, so did Archie. Even Tara looked like Theo was the strange one in the conversation.
That was when it finally hit him.
Every single person in this tent—Earth-born or not—came from an era where human life was cheap enough that “remove the problem” was considered a perfectly reasonable management strategy.
“…You know what, never mind,” Theo muttered with a defeated sigh. “Fine. I’ll listen to you.”
At that moment, Theo finally realized something painful.
All those kingdom-building fantasy stories written by his former author victims—where society magically evolved the moment somebody introduced democracy, industry, or modern laws—were complete bullshit.
Turns out people did not immediately embrace progress, mostly because real people were stubborn as hell.
“Good,” Solon said. “Then I believe this meeting is finished.”
He gathered the leather sheets filled with notes and stacked them neatly to the table, which is impressive since leather doesn’t behave like modern papers.
“Now then,” Solon continued, “before I leave to inspect Blackstone personally, let me ask one more thing.”
He looked directly at Theo.
“Are you absolutely certain there are no more ‘modern’ ideas you already introduced to the people that you haven’t tell me?”
Theo waved weakly from his seat.
“No. That’s everything. I already told you all of it on the way here.”
And then—
The tent flap suddenly opened.
“Uh, Chief? Vice-Chief?”
Greta stepped inside casually.
“It’s already been eight hours since my work shift,” she said. “Can I go home now?”
Theo froze solid.
Across the table, Solon slowly buried his face into one hand and let out the longest sigh yet.