Chapter 1:
Treachery
THE UNITED KINGDOM OF OXYS made its move. When news of this
reached the Capital Planet, it sent everyone into a frenzy. The Empire was
used to the occasional border skirmish, but a real invasion was an entirely
different story. The coming conflict would involve clashes of not just
thousands of ships, but millions, and the United Kingdom had already
made it clear they were dead serious in their intentions.
"Three million ships?" I asked.
"Y-yes! The United Kingdom has formed a massive fleet centered
around the nations that started the internal unrest to atone for their
misdeeds. Lord Liam, this is very bad!!!"
In worst-case scenarios, true conflicts between intergalactic nations
could go on for hundreds of years.
I sat in my hotel room and casually sipped my coffee. "I see."
"Y-you see? Lord Liam, are you taking this seriously?"
The one who brought me this news was my personal merchant,
Thomas Henfrey, who was also serving as my contact in the United
Kingdom. It seemed that arrangement was already proving to be useful
since he was immediately able to provide me with this intel.
"It's got nothing to do with me," I replied. "This is a job for the
military. Right now, I'm nothing more than a civil servant."
A pale-faced Thomas had rushed into my hotel room while I was
enjoying a morning beverage before going into work. Right now, he
looked at me as if he couldn't believe his ears.
"Th-that may be so, but I don't think the military alone will be able
to deal with this! The Empire's nobility will surely be called on to fight."
So they were gonna come to us with "Nobles of the Empire, rise up
with us in the face of this crisis!" or something like that? I couldn't say I
was too keen on the idea.
"Well, if they call, I'm not answering. I'm still in my training
period, and in the military, I'm only in the reserves."
Page 21
According to Thomas, three million enemies were closing in on us.
True, this was a crisis, but the Empire was a vast intergalactic nation. If it
wanted to, it could send out twice that number of Imperial Army ships to
fight them off, but it was still bound to drag its allies into danger as well.
There would be plenty of nobles like me who'd be content to watch
from the sidelines without taking part in the fight themselves. After all,
evil lords never got into trouble that they didn't have to. The Empire could
likely win the war, but it was still up against three million enemies and
therefore bound to suffer serious losses. Could I be confident that I
wouldn't be affected by those losses?
"We'll limit our involvement and only provide funding and
supplies."
"That...may be wise." Thomas calmed down when he heard my
reasonable compromise. Did he really think I was actually going to fight in
the war myself or something?
As I continued sipping my coffee, I received a communication from
Claus on my tablet.
"Lord Liam, I apologize for the interruption, but I have an urgent
message for you."
On the screen, Claus looked anxious, and if Claus was anxious, then
something really serious must be going on.
"What is it?"
If this had been a message from one of my more aggravating
subordinates—like Tia or Marie—I would have hung up on them
immediately. Of course, those two would probably find a way to get
excited about me treating them coldly. I always felt like they were getting
the better of me somehow, so I was tired of dealing with them. In that
respect, Claus was exactly what I wanted in a subordinate right now.
"We've received a request from the palace. They want us to join the
fight in the war with the United Kingdom."
"We refuse. I'm busy."
"The problem is that Prince Cleo's been chosen as the conflict's
supreme commander."
"What?!"
Page 22
***
In the United Kingdom, there was a noble by the name of Count
Pershing who received aid from Liam via Thomas. This connection of
Liam's was a count who ruled over a planet, but the king he served was
one of those supporting the rebellion. Because of that, Pershing was being
forced to participate in the invasion of the Empire as atonement.
Pershing had benefited greatly from Liam's support. From the very
beginning, he had never intended to do anything for the United Kingdom's
sake...but he didn't intend to do anything for Liam's sake either.
Everything he did, he did for himself.
"So you want me to help you lure Liam onto the battlefield?"
Pershing said.
It was an Imperial merchant who came to meet Pershing this time,
not Thomas. They nodded, grinning. "There are some nobles making a big
scene in the Empire right now, you see. They'll be the ones fending off the
Kingdom's forces."
When he heard what the Imperial merchant had to say, Pershing
realized there were people in the Empire who planned to make use of this
war in their own power struggle. "Imperial nobles are pretty scary, hoping
the United Kingdom will take out their opposing factions for them."
"In exchange, we'll make sure you always have information on the
fleet Prince Cleo commands."
Count Pershing smiled. That's good, he thought. If I have constant
updates on the enemy's position, there should be plenty of opportunities
for me to make a name for myself in battle.
This would mean that in addition to the attacks from the United
Kingdom, Cleo's fleet would be undermined by his own Imperial allies.
The fleet would make the perfect prey on the battlefield, and the Empire
wanted this fleet to lose.
Pershing didn't take the deal right away, however. "Of course, Lord
Liam has been very kind to me, you know. It's not easy for me to betray
his trust."
Count Pershing demanded more compensation, and the Imperial
merchant grinned again. "Of course. In the event of your success, we shall
provide whatever you desire as a reward. This is just the advance
Page 23
payment."
The merchant offered him a vast sum of cash and a long list of
resources. Count Pershing could hardly contain his glee.
It seems you've made too many enemies inside the Empire, Count
Banfield. I'm afraid you'll have to give your life for my benefit now.
***
Prince Cleo's residence in the palace had been in an uproar since the
first thing that morning.
"Command a fleet of millions? You haven't even received military
education, Cleo!"
Cleo's sister Lysithea couldn't hide her frustration. While she was
royalty herself, she had become a knight in order to protect her younger-
sister-turned-younger-brother Cleo.
Cleo watched his furious sister serenely. "Calm down, Lysithea. I've
learned the basics in an education capsule."
"Education capsules are impressive, I know, but they only install
knowledge in you. If you don't make use of it through practical
experience, that knowledge is meaningless. If capsules were all it took,
then we'd have no need for military schools!"
Education capsules could impart whatever raw knowledge they were
programmed with into a person's head, but that person then had to apply
the knowledge in the real world to master it.
Cleo turned his head from his exasperated sister, pouting slightly.
"I'm sure it'll be Count Banfield commanding the fleet and not me,
anyway."
"Count Banfield can only command 100,000 ships at most,"
Lysithea corrected her brother.
"Huh?"
"His personal ability won't prepare him for commanding a fleet in
the millions. Those kinds of numbers can only be mobilized by someone
with the requisite rank. Do you think Count Banfield has someone of that
rank working for him?"
Page 24
Even when he went to war with the pirate nobles of House Berkeley,
Liam commanded a combined fleet of fewer than 200,000 ships. The count
was talented, but this battle would be on a scale he was not capable of
handling.
"N-no..."
Lysithea held her head in her hands. "I'm telling you, the count is
too inexperienced. Talent isn't the only thing required to command a fleet
of millions of ships. Experience is vital. Plus, you'd also need thousands of
subordinates to carry out your orders."
And those thousands of people—hundreds of thousands, really—
would have to be educated officers themselves. They needed not just
soldiers for this operation, but skilled commanders. A mere count had no
hope of providing such numbers.
"If we had years to prepare, things would be different, but we don't
have the time. We can't win a war with an unorganized army."
Cleo resigned himself to Lysithea's logic. It seems this is as far as
we go, Count Banfield.
A grand role such as this would normally fall upon the shoulders of
the emperor or the crown prince. Success could make a real difference in
one's right to ascend to the throne, so this should have been Calvin's
moment to shine, and yet he personally recommended Cleo for the position
instead.
Tears came to Lysithea's eyes. She knew that what Calvin desired
here was to see his brother fail. "This is just awful. If you step down as
supreme commander in the middle of the Empire's big crisis, you'll lose
the support of all the nobles currently on your side. If you accept the
position, we have no chance of victory in the long run."
Even if they successfully repelled the invasion, they would have no
way to continue their feud with Calvin's faction afterward due to the
damage it would surely do to their forces.
"Calvin truly is a troublesome foe," Cleo muttered.
Lysithea agreed wholeheartedly. "I'd expect nothing less from the
man who defended his position as crown prince for so many years. His
title's not just for show."
The throne seemed just within reach, but at the same time, much too
far away for Cleo to ever attain. This situation caused Cleo to reflect on
Page 25
Liam himself.
Count Banfield isn't omnipotent, but just a young man without much
experience in the world. I guess in that way, he's just like me.
When he realized that Liam, a man he previously thought of as
practically flawless, actually had weaknesses after all, Cleo felt a little
relieved...perhaps even happy, though he didn't understand these feelings
himself.
***
What awaited nobles upon graduating from college was a sort of
two-year internship, similar to the two-year military service period they
were required to complete after graduating from the military academy.
After college, nobles were expected to gain some hands-on experience by
serving in a minor government position.
My position was in a building in a remote area far from the palace.
To describe it in Japanese terms from my previous life, I was stationed in
something like a town hall out in the countryside. It frustrated me that I
was pulled from the fast track I should have been on and dumped in some
backwater place. Normally, a count like me would be working a cushy
palace job, but instead, I was sent to the sticks. I was so far out that they
should have prepared a place for me to stay near where I was working, but
I was commuting every day from my hotel. On the other hand, cars in this
reality were incredible, exceeding the capabilities of small jet planes from
my past life. In a quality car, you could easily commute to the other side of
the planet if you wanted to.
So anyway, here I was, working in a town hall out in the boonies...
and my superior was just infuriating. While I was at my desk, getting
ready to go home, he called out to me with a disgusting grin on his face.
"Saaaaay, Liam. You commute all the way out here from the capital,
don't you? I'm sure you have the money, so why don't you rent a place
nearby?"
This superior, the thirtieth or something son of a large noble house,
was my instructor during my training. Luckily for him, he was born into an
important family, but that family was so huge that all he'd amounted to
was a small-time backwater bureaucrat. With a bit more skill, I'm sure he
Page 26
could have ended up with a decent position in the palace, so the fact that
he was here said volumes about his abilities. He had an overabundance of
pride in his meager abilities despite the fact that he never did any work
himself, and he spent his time on the clock messing around or playing
games. Everyone here seemed to have given up on him, and his superiors
never said anything when they saw him fooling around.
Normally I would have ignored him, but today he sent me more
work to do right as I was supposed to be leaving.
"Oh, and please finish with these files today. We'll need them
tomorrow, after all."
A huge mass of holographic documents opened in the air all around
me. I glanced at the clock; I was supposed to be gone in a few minutes. I
could tell at a glance that it was too much work for me to finish in that
time. He was obviously trying to bully me.
My superior set his hand on my shoulder. "You'll have to do as I
say during your training here. I'm not gonna go easy on you just because
you're a count."
How dare he speak to me like that? I smacked his hand off my
shoulder, grabbed his head, and slammed it onto my desk.
"Ow!"
My superior was bewildered, like his pathetic brain couldn't keep up
with my actions. I held him down with one arm and pressed his head into
my desk. The wood cracked under the force, but I didn't care; I could
afford a replacement.
"Who do you think you are, ordering me around?" I told him. "I'm
not listening to a word you say, whether you're my instructor or not."
This was no way for a trainee to speak, but I was a count. No small-
town official was going to boss me around.
"H-how dare you speak to your superior that way? I'm reducing
your score for this!"
Instructors graded their trainees, but I didn't care how low my score
was. I wasn't staying in this job for long, so I didn't care how I was
evaluated. Besides, I could easily bury whatever evaluation this peon gave
me.
"It's inexcusable that someone like you is even my superior in the
first place. Do you understand the position you're in at all?" I asked,
Page 27
pressing down on the man's head even harder. There was a nasty creaking
sound beneath him, but I wasn't the one in pain, so I paid it no mind.
For the record, I had nothing against undisciplined superiors. As an
evil lord, I was a prime example of one myself. I just couldn't take that
there was someone like that above me. I knew I was being hypocritical, but
I was a villain. I could get away with it.
"Why are you giving me work to do at the end of the day? Aren't
you supposed to be a manager? Managing the work is your job. The
question is, how the hell do you still have work to hand out at a time like
this?"
"Nnggh..."
My desk's surface snapped from the force, and my superior's face
was driven half into it. I figured he couldn't talk like that.
"This is your mistake," I went on. "You deal with it."
I let him go and he trembled.
"Y-you bastard! You think you can get away with—"
I didn't think that; I just didn't intend to let him get away with this. I
pressed down on my incompetent superior's head again and it creaked
unpleasantly. Everyone else around us looked on in fear, but I didn't care
about that.
"You finish the work," I said. "It's your mistake, so that makes
sense, doesn't it?"
It was clear I was willing to crush his head outright if he defied me,
and I guess he wasn't so stupid that he didn't realize it.
He went quiet, and all the blood drained from his face. "Y-yes, sir,"
my nominal superior squeaked.
I smiled at him. "You said it needed to be done by tomorrow, so it
must be possible. That means you can do it, right?"
It was obviously not an amount of work that one person could
complete, even if they went at it all night. My superior was trembling. "I-I
can't..."
"You can do it, right?" I urged. I kicked him, and he rolled away
from me across the floor, eventually striking the wall. He remained there,
shaking, so I repeated myself again for good measure. "Get it done by
tomorrow. You said it could be done, so you'll take responsibility,
Page 28
won't you?"
I walked over to my incompetent superior and peered down at his
face. It was covered in tears and snot. I took on a quieter tone, sounding
like a supervisor myself. "You better finish it all by tomorrow, without any
assistance. I'll squash your head flat if you don't."
"Y-yes, sir."
The end-of-day bell rang, so I tidied up my things and prepared to
leave. Overtime? That was something for people who weren't evil lords. I
wouldn't be caught dead doing it myself.
"Be seeing you," I called on my way out. "Hope you get all that
done by tomorrow."
My attitude toward my supposed superior was the very height of
rudeness, but I was a count. In the Empire, nobility wielded absolute
power. A man who couldn't even succeed by using his family's
established name had no right to be arrogant with me. I was the real deal,
and not just on the inside. I was the only one with real influence in society.
Noblesse oblige—the idea of a noble's duty—was simply an illusion.
This incompetent superior of mine was really stressing me out
though... Maybe it was time to make some improvements to my
workplace.
***
The next day, I was summoned before the superior of my
incompetent superior. He was a blood relative of my immediate superior,
meaning he was also a member of that large noble family.
From his tone, my boss' boss clearly looked down on me.
"Apparently you did as you liked in the military, but this is a government
office. I expect you not to act like those savages in the army."
My trembling, incompetent superior hid behind his boss, and the
bastard was giving me a smug look.
Seated on a couch, I ignored the two of them and looked over some
holographic documents.
I guess the big boss didn't like my attitude because he started yelling
at me. "Do you think everyone will simply bow down to you? My family
Page 29
is part of Prince Calvin's faction! I'm not afraid of you!"
Nobles were beyond help, myself included. When you lived life
completely spoiled because of your position, even good people could rot
into villains. There were plenty of intelligent nobles though; not all of
them were as useless as these two.
Still looking at the documents, I asked the boss, "Do you feel better
now that you've chewed me out?"
He didn't answer, so I looked up at him.
He snorted. "You're awfully confident, aren't you? I know you're
off to the battlefield soon. I bet you're regretting pissing off Prince
Calvin!"
If there was one point I empathized with Calvin about, it was the
fact that our factions were so big that we had to expect incompetents like
this to be in the ranks. Well, I could always lessen the burden some for the
crown prince.
"I admit, I am feeling irritated about that," I said. "By the way, why
don't you take a look at these documents? They're evidence of your
corruption."
I made the documents larger for them to see, and my two superiors
initially showed some surprise, but that quickly gave way to smiles. They
weren't even scared about having proof of their corruption thrust before
them.
"What of it? This is nothing special. Every—"
"Everyone's doing it? I don't care," I said. "I have material here to
remove you, which I intend to do to make myself feel better. I was just
lamenting about the state of my workplace, but with you two gone it
should be a lot more comfortable around here."
It was proof of just how incompetent they were that I was able to
uncover evidence of their misdeeds so easily. There would be no issues
getting rid of both of them.
I snapped my fingers, and armed soldiers marched into the room.
My two superiors were shocked at the appearance of these hulking soldiers
in their powered suits.
"Don't move!" the soldiers shouted at them. "Put your hands behind
your head and get down on the floor!"
Page 30
"Wh-who are you?!"
The soldiers kicked my superior and his superior to the floor and
promptly apprehended them. Once they dragged the two useless men
away, their commander came to me and saluted.
"Thank you for the tip," he said.
"You work fast." I reported these men's wrongdoings as soon as I
discovered them. I was always good at rooting out corruption like this,
ever since my early days working with Amagi—and I was good at cleanup
too.
"We have a message for you from the prime minister. He says,
'Thanks for the quick work.'"
It was so funny, I burst into laughter. "What, you guys work directly
for the prime minister?"
"Yes, sir!"
"I owe that guy. Guess I should thank him too."
Later, I'd have these fast-working soldiers send the prime minister a
bribe—a gift, rather. I never forgot to reward the people who helped me
out.
I was really weirdly unlucky lately though... I got sent off to the
boonies with an incompetent boss at a workplace full of corruption, and I
was being dragged into a stupid war to boot. Nothing but trouble was
coming my way these days.
The war I was being dragged into was between intergalactic nations,
so it was going to be on a grand scale. To be honest, it was a lot more than
I could handle. Really, what the heck was going on?
Page 31