The process of predicting the future using dream fog started again.
Every day, they sent tens or even hundreds of people and, after a second, dragged them back and tortured them to force them to reveal all they remembered.
The process was brutal, and Alex III preferred it to remain a secret.
However, keeping it a complete secret with thousands working there was impossible.
The news leaked.
Alex III's reputation in the Alex kingdom is in the mud. People think of him as a cruel, evil vampire who eats children for food.
Still, even knowing his atrocities, nobody in Alex kingdom dared to protest.
In any case, Alex III had loyal servants in all critical positions.
Even if ordinary people were to protest, with nobody in power to support them, they would have no chance.
Being an absolute monarch is not as easy as it may look.
Alex III, for example, must always be careful about his surroundings, ensuring nobody is planning any coup d'état, etc.
It's not an easy task.
But Alex III is a good fit for the job.
Over the years, throughout many wars, he collected specific personalities and appointed them to key positions.
He chose those who are immoral, don't care about him becoming evil, and, more importantly, are loyal.
Even with all that, a dictator must be careful about the balance of power.
The dictator playbook is as follows:
Any opposition, or potential opposition, must be crushed with overwhelming force as soon as found. Alex would never allow anyone to grow strong; no matter who, if they spoke one word against him, he would destroy them and their whole family. Spoken language is important. If he allows people to talk badly about him openly, they may try to revolt later.
A dictator should have no mercy. Alex has, of course, no compassion or mercy toward anyone.
People must fear their dictator; people of Alex kingdom fear him more than they fear death; with his recent vampire turn, they fear him even more; no problem on the fear front.
Fourth, people must lose hope; having hope for a better life can cause trouble. People under Alex III have no hope of change or a better life. He made sure to let all know how neighboring countries are all so much worse and how Alex kingdom is the best ever.
Fifth, a dictator must never take one step back, not even one. Alex III will never retreat in the face of the people.
The 5th point is a contentious one.
Some dictators believe that sometimes, doing what people want might be necessary.
Alex III vehemently disagrees.
For example, what if the people protest for, for example, higher wages for their jobs? What if they strike and don't come to work?
Some dictators might cave and grant these kinds of wishes.
However, Alex III considers himself wise.
In that situation, his response would be the execution of all strikers and all who demanded higher wages.
How dare they protest?
If he agrees to tiny wishes, people learn and might protest for bigger changes; tomorrow, they might dare to ask for democracy and elections.
How could Alex III allow this?
Therefore, he never takes a half step back and never caves to even the smallest demands.
He even retaliates.
If people dared to ask for better wages, he would lower wages and kill anyone who protested.
This way, nobody dares ever to protest because they know they will get nothing and even lose what little they have.
Alex III has perfected the art of dictatorship.
As a result of his 'accomplishments,' the people of Alex's country today are numb and so afraid of his retaliation that they will not fight back, no matter what he does.
All levels of power are also closed to people who aren't entirely loyal to him, so there is no opposition in the government.
There is also no parliament or supreme court.
He has absolute, unquestionable power.
Even though the news of thousands of innocents being brutally killed for no reason spread, nobody in Alex's kingdom protested at all.
There were a few protests in some conquered West Forest country cities.
In the face of protest, Alex III ordered suppression with maximum force; he crushed and killed everyone who dared to say anything against sending their loved ones to die in the dream fog.
As a result, in just three months, without any significant problems, Alex III perfected another plan; this time, the plan included people with abilities.
...
Rob nodded as he observed how Alex III was handling things.
He has been taking daily lessons from Alex III on the art of dictatorship.
Rob has to admit he is not as good as Alex in this respect.
He has lots to learn.
Rose, the new prime minister, has been in charge for a few months. She has been doing a good job.
People's lives are pretty good in UISEC.
Still, the top 10% earns 90 percent of the income.
That's because of how the system is set up.
Taxes on USIEC are the opposite of progressive.
The bottom 50% pay a tax rate of 20%, while the top 1% pay nearly 0.
There are many billionaires in the country, while many people are not able to have a home.
With all that said, USIEC is much richer than the neighboring countries.
Even the poor and homeless at least have food.
There are many corporations; however, due to Rob's stance against monopolies, there is a lot of competition among various corporations and companies.
With a limited talent pool, they must offer higher wages to attract talent.
It caused the wages to go high without needing a minimum wage.
The future of USIEC looks good.
However, recently, there have been many rumors about its president online.
People have put out videos about him being a ghost.
Most saw it and only thought of it as a ridiculous rumor.
A few neighboring countries blocked it as a show of goodwill toward Rob.
Rob nearly threw up blood when he heard so many surrounding countries' showing him goodwill.'
If they block the news, his plan would fail.
Therefore, he ordered his ministers of connections and communications to let them know that they did not need to clock the rumor.
But, as time went on, even more countries blocked it.
It was a headache.
Rob doesn't want them to know he wants the rumor spread.
He couldn't directly tell them 'spread the rumor.'
He must act like he doesn't care.
But, as a result of his savage invasion of Five Star, those countries fear him so much that they don't want to let their population insult him and give an excuse for an attack.
They fear Rob to say, "Your people call me a ghost, and I'm angry with you, so I'm going to invade."
His minister of communication, Mike, listened to him and nodded.
"I understand, Mr. President," he nodded.
"Okay, go and do as I told you," Rob said while waving his hand.
He couldn't directly stop them from blocking the rumor.
But he could do it indirectly.
He plans to become a champion of 'internet freedom.'
He will sanction any country that blocks any website or imposes any censorship on the internet in general.
...
The next day, Rose, the prime minister, came to visit.
"How are things going?" He greeted Rose with a smile.
Rose smiled and said, "Thank you, Mr. President; today, I came here to ask a question."
"Sure, ask anything you want," Rob said warmly.
"Mr. President, do you want me to be a puppet?" she asked with a serious tone.
"What?" Rob frowned.
Rose said, "The plan of sanctions for countries with internet censorship infringes on the domain of the minister of trade and economy; your order will render my position powerless."
"Then, I will withdraw my order so that you can issue the order yourself; that way, your authority will not be undermined," Rob said.
Rose said, "But, Mr. President, I do not share your opinion regarding internet censorship."
"You don't?" Rob asked with a deep frown.
"Your plan is bad for trade and has no benefit for us," Rose said.
Rob rolled his eyes and remained silent.
"You want to disobey me only a few months after I appointed you?" he said coldly.
Rose said, "Mr. President, I am not your subordinate! I will not blindly follow your plan!"
She continued, saying, "If you are not satisfied with my performance, I will resign!"
"You!" Rob wanted to curse.
After thinking for a while, he said, "You are not allowed to resign! Now, get out of the presidential palace. The plan goes as I said!"
"Mr. President…" Rose wanted to say.
"Go, or I will throw you out!" he said.
Rose left reluctantly.
"Damn it!" Rob cursed.
In the last few months, he secretly spent much capital making Rose look like a real, independent prime minister.
Now, it came back to bite him.
"Alex III, I messed up! Give me some advice here," he said, waiting for the dream switch.
...
"That idiot!" Alex sighed.
In his opinion, Rob did lots of useless things.
From keeping the parliament and 'Democracy nonsense' to appointing a prime minister who wasn't loyal and appointing generals who were 'qualified' and not loyal, all were dumb decisions.
In Alex's opinion, loyalty is the only qualifier; everything else is negotiable.
"It is still not late! Do as I tell you! First, start appointing only loyal people to high-ranking military positions,"
He continued. "Then, cancel the next election and choose a loyal person as the prime minister."
"Increase taxes on billionaires! Those billionaires with all that money can cause a lot of trouble! Why should a civilian have billions? That kind of money should be confiscated for important governmental purposes."
"Start doing these now; otherwise, you will eventually lose the tight control you have," Alex warned.
...
Rob heard what Alex said and sighed.
He is unwilling to implement those reforms.
Still, the matter with military generals has to be implemented.
Letting people who are not entirely loyal to him hold military power is very dangerous.
As for eliminating elections, he is unwilling to do it.
Confiscating billionaires' money is a no-brainer.
Any country that starts confiscating money for no reason would suffer terrible consequences.
Nobody would even dare to invest in the country; after all, they would fear another confiscation.
Rob doesn't want to be the dictator of a weak, isolated country; he wants to make USIEC economically strong, a country that doesn't need armies to destroy others.
As for higher taxes for the rich, in Rob's view, it would stifle economic growth.
"Set up a meeting with Rose," Rob ordered his secretary.
First, he must negotiate and see if compromise is possible.
If not, he will have no choice but to remove Rose.