I actually really like this proactive take on the villain protagonist, where his goal is to achieve world peace and universal brotherhood through what amounts to terror, because his wish was always for a peaceful world, and the treachery sent against him put him all the way on the bottom of the cynicism sliding scale. It's so much more refreshing than the "whoops I accidentally took over the world, sorry" fumbling that you see in Overlord, which people often compare this to. He's not like Ains, even though he is playing a 'role' for the sake of achieving something, but that role he's playing, he takes very seriously. This is a serious and non-isekai take on the same general premise, and the character is honestly MUCH stronger for it. The idea that he's deliberately doing the humans a favor by killing all the corrupt nobles and merchants while leaving the uncorrupt ones alive to plot his downfall is really great, that's so good. He's taking out the trash and making humanity stronger while also offending them and provoking a response. This is how you do a proper villain protagonist. We're not being told that he's a genius, we're being SHOWN it.
Also, shout-outs to Grom, honorary lieutenant of the Thot Patrol.
