Name: Too Clever By Half....
Item: How a Realist Hero Rebuilt the Kingdom
Rating: 15
Author: MrHistor

Too Clever By Half.... · Waifora

I really wanted to like this. I like the premise of a hero reforming a kingdom through statecraft and economic reform. Unfortunately, the author knows nothing about these subjects and it shows. The hero has only the simplest understanding of the concepts he is trying to apply and, if you actually understand the subject, it is painful to watch.

The protagonist isn't clever in the least, the stuff he gets right is rudimentary, but he's treated as a genius for it, which he is, only by comparison, as almost everyone in the entire kingdom and beyond are unfathomably stupid. Still, he makes many outrageously stupid decisions, which would, realistically, virtually guarantee the destabilization of the entire kingdom.

Spoiler, click to view

For instance, with the help of one of his three dukes, he staged a phony rebellion against himself with the goal of rooting out corrupt nobles. He did not, however, inform all the dukes of the plan and the one duke who was left out of the loop sided with his friend who he believed had a good reason for his rebellion. It should be noted that part of the functions of the dukes (which each commanded a portion of the military) was to be a check on the king's power and prevent tyranny and Souma had risen to power very quickly and suspiciously and was seeking to subsume the armies of the dukes, taking full command of all branches of the military.

Souma, of course, is able to crush the phony rebellion, at the cost of many lives and valuable resources. He (seemingly) executes one duke and enslaves the other one, along with his daughter and executes the corrupt nobles who had supported the rebellion. At this point you should put on your realist hat and think about what he just did and how bad things look.

Two out of the three dukes tasked with overthrowing a tyrannical king took up arms against him. He had them enslaved or killed and appears to have taken one of their daughters as a hostage. He abolished the one check he had on his power, taking full control of the military and then proceeded to execute scores of nobles. It doesn't exactly make him look like a legitimate ruler, does it?

It's even worse when you realize the military branches he took control of would (realistically) be filled with loyalists to the two dukes, and likely wouldn't see him as legitimate given his actions.

If that isn't bad enough, he immediately has to repel an invasion from a foreign power after his phony rebellion, which he does successfully, but then charges into the foreign kingdom, kills their head of state and becomes an occupying force.

I shouldn't have to say why this is bad, but I'm going to anyway. He essentially set the stage for a civil war, a military coup and a foreign war, all in one fell swoop, but it's portrayed as though he is a political mastermind and the realistic consequences never materialize.

Moreover, he is presented as noble and concerns himself with not wanting to become a tyrant, but somehow doesn't realize that he staged a false flag attack, slaughtered and enslaved his own citizens and removed the only check on his power.

Additionally, he knows the duke and the girl he enslaved are both loyal to the kingdom and only rebelled because they genuinely believed he was a tyrant. However, he continues to keep the girl as his slave, turns her into his maid, physically tortures her through whipping and sexually humiliates her daily in front of the entire kingdom (for entertainment), to the point that she is suicidal (which she can't act on because of her slave collar) and this is mostly played for laughs. This is supposed to be the good guy? The one who never wants to become a tyrant?