Chapter 13:
Planet Augur
"T HOSE STUPID IDIOOOOOOOTS!" I screamed in my office on the
Argos, as I received a report from the surface.
The report came from Wallace, who—despite his earlier complaints
about going down there—was heartily enjoying Planet Augur. He must've
proven more adaptable than he thought, because he was liking life much
more than he'd expected.
His report was full of things I didn't want to hear.
"Aren't you happy everyone worships you?"
"Who told them to worship me like a god? And I don't want
sacrifices! Who told them to offer up those?!"
Ever since being appointed magistrate of Augur, I'd been ruling it
just as I'd told the royals I would. I gave them anything they didn't have
enough of, and I protected the planet from outside threats.
I'd come out here ready to enjoy playing the evil magistrate, but
after seeing them worshiping me like a god, the fun had completely gone
out of it. I was being good and remaining in the Argos to do my work, but
I didn't even need to go to the surface to hear about all the problems going
on down there.
One problem was sacrifices.
"They want to give offerings to their new god. Your charisma's
really something else, Liam." Wallace made his report elegantly, sipping
some Augur-grown tea.
I wanted to punch him in the face as hard as I could.
Well, I guess I can hit him when he comes back to the ship. For now,
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solving this problem comes first.
"Make them stop! Where did this even come from, anyway?"
"Well, they call them offerings, not sacrifices. It's probably because
the last lord made them give him tons of offerings, right?"
The previous lord had made the people of Augur hand over young,
beautiful men and women as offerings. It was in poor taste, but I wasn't
really one to talk since I'd sort of done the same thing. However, I would
never call myself a god and demand sacrifices. Even for a villain, there
were lines you didn't cross. It would be rude to the Guide! Their former
lord, the baron, had gotten in the way of my fun... The bastard!
Unfortunately, I'd already dealt with the guy, but there truly were
too many worthless nobles in the Empire, weren't there? Including me, of
course.
All my other work was proceeding steadily, but the baron's awful
legacy still tormented me. At least, I thought that was the only problem I
had...
"By the way, Liam."
"What?"
"Your former subjects, the immigrants, must have been influenced
by the locals. They got all riled up, saying that the locals couldn't outshine
them, and they want to hold a festival to worship you. I thought it seemed
like fun, so I kind of approved it," Wallace said, without a trace of guilt.
This was his revenge for my bringing him here, I was certain. My
face froze as I imagined a festival for worshiping me. The disrespect it
would show toward the Guide was mortifying.
What frustrated me more than anything was the fact that my former
subjects—the immigrants—were competing with the locals. I'd heard a
little about that, but I couldn't stand how blatant they were being.
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Why are you guys so stupid? Why would you compete over
worshiping me when I've shipped you out to the middle of nowhere like
this? I mean, what the hell kind of competition is that, anyway?
"Rejected! Rejected! I reject all of it! I'm outlawing religion
entirely! They think nobles are gods?! I'm going to be sick!"
"Personally, I think you should give it your approval. Otherwise—"
"I don't care what you think! I'm the law! I'm the rules!"
I cut off the call with Wallace and heaved a sigh.
Gods were supposed to be more like...well, like the Guide. He'd
reincarnated me into this universe and gifted me this fun life. Sure, he had
a shady sort of look to him, but he was a nice guy who was still watching
over me even now. It was utterly blasphemous to put me on the same level
as him.
"Ugh, I can't believe this. Everything else is going so well, this just
pisses me off all the more."
With the call over, Amagi—who had been standing by quietly—
could now speak.
"Master, development of Planet Augur is proceeding on schedule,
but it will take time to further the education of the residents."
It was true that if changes were too rapid, the locals wouldn't be
able to keep up. If rushing their advancement would only result in failure,
it would be better if I took the time to do things properly.
"Yeah. Their way of looking at things probably won't change in the
short time I'll be serving as magistrate. I guess for me it doesn't matter
how much time it takes, since I'll be going back to the Capital Planet soon
anyway."
Well, my plan to enjoy playing the evil magistrate hadn't worked
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out, but I should make sure to fulfill my other goal here. I'd moved some
of my own subjects to Augur for that. They'd have to work hard to make
up for my loss, but I'd give them all the resources they needed.
I sure wouldn't be letting them hold a festival for me, though.
When we were done discussing the education of Augur's citizens,
Amagi changed the subject.
"Construction of the spaceport is also proceeding on schedule, as
well as the military base on the surface."
"That pirate wreckage came in handy, huh?"
In my hand I held a golden cube—the alchemy box, an outrageous
tool that had the ability to convert matter. With it, I could gather up all the
debris from my pirate hunts and convert it into resources for building my
bases. This tool was another present from the Guide.
Not all was going according to plan, however.
"Our development of Planet Augur is attracting attention," Amagi
warned me. "Some nobles are alarmed by the speed of our progress."
A map of the region of space around Augur was displayed atop my
desk, with lines showing the routes that could be traveled to other planets
and bases via long-distance warp. It looked to me like a crummy 3D
model, though.
"So we've got some neighbors who aren't happy about the
development, eh?"
"Yes. No one is likely to start anything with the Autocracy war
going on, but I have received several reports of ships entering our territory
without authorization."
In other words, the war was the only thing keeping them from
stirring things up. As soon as I was gone, they might pretend to be pirates
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and loot the area. It wasn't realistic for me to come save them every time
they were attacked, and I didn't want to have to go to the trouble anyway.
In which case, what should I do? Well, it was simple.
"Guess I should go introduce myself."
Amagi cocked her head expressionlessly. There were those who
found this mannerism of hers unsettling, but she was obviously just being
curious, so I thought it was cute.
"Introduce yourself? To whom?"
"To my old coworker's family."
***
I called up Nias at the Seventh Weapons Factory and her sleepy-
looking face was displayed on my monitor. Her glasses were crooked, and
it looked as though she hadn't touched her hair at all since waking up.
She'd probably answered the call in a rush without thinking, but I really
felt that she should pay a little more attention to her appearance.
"You look like a mess."
She seemed a bit embarrassed to be caught sleeping, but her
annoyance at being woken up won out in the end.
"I was sound asleep! If anything, you should be impressed that I
answered so quickly!"
I felt a little bad for waking her up, but when I'd checked the time at
the Seventh Weapons Factory, I saw it was around noon there. I had
assumed she'd be awake then, so I was just as surprised as she was that I'd
woken her.
"Were you on the night shift, or pulling an all-nighter, or
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something?"
It was annoying to be contacted when you were busy. I figured I'd
allow her a certain amount of rudeness, depending on her answer, but now
that she was fully awake, she said clearly, "Nah, I was just drawing up
blueprints for fun until a little while ago."
"For fun, eh?"
"I was so focused on them I didn't notice three days had passed,
and I figured I should probably get some sleep, you know..."
She winked and stuck her tongue out, as if she had no self-
awareness whatsoever. Yes, this was the kind of person Nias was. Her
skills and abilities were the real thing, but otherwise there was something
off about her.
"Go to sleep at night."
"I was sleeping, but I can't just ignore a call from you, Lord Liam!"
Despite her grumbling, I was a valued client of the Seventh
Weapons Factory and Nias was more or less my liaison. Considering the
amount of money I poured into her operation, she had the obligation to
answer when I called, even if it was on her day off. She was more than
well paid enough for that, and in fact it kind of pissed me off that I was
paying her to work on what should have been a day off for her.
In any case, because she'd just been sleeping, Nias was in an
awfully relaxed state of dress. I was a little excited by the sporty
underwear I could see peeking through the gaps in her pajamas.
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Amagi was standing right next to me, eyes boring into me, so I
hastily cleared my throat. "Ahem! Anyway, let's talk business."
"Business?! You mean you're going to buy some more of our
products? You are, right?!"
Mentioning money seemed to wake Nias up completely. She
adjusted her glasses and put on a serious face. So this is what it means for
someone's eyes to light up. Ever since I'd met her, she'd been the
mercenary type.
"A new ship, some mobile knights, and some other stuff. I want
them on the double. You've got plenty of leftover stock, right?"
"You don't have to put it that way. They're just waiting their turn in
the warehouse."
"Business as usual for you guys."
If they had extra stock lying around, I could find a use for it. It came
down to that.
Nias looked mystified, though, as if she found it strange that I'd be
buying ships and mobile knights from them.
"I'm happy that you're purchasing items from us, of course, but I
haven't heard anything about House Banfield losing any of its arsenal
lately. Does this have something to do with the Autocracy?"
Nias was of course aware of my appointment as Planet Augur's
magistrate. She was probably curious why I was stocking up on military
equipment when she hadn't heard that I'd lost any battles.
"It does, but it won't be me using them."
I grinned and for a moment Nias appeared to ponder my words
before giving up.
She sighed. "What are you planning this time?"
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"They're just presents. Is it so strange to give nobles suffering in the
war with the Autocracy some cutting-edge equipment as gifts?"
"Well, if it's just aid for the war effort, that's not really odd. So
what kind of numbers were you thinking?"
I hadn't considered numbers at all, so I looked up, running some
calculations. However, I quickly grew bored and stopped trying to get the
math exactly right.
"Oh, ten thousand ships to start?"
When she heard that number, Nias's jaw dropped. She stayed still,
her mouth hanging open, for some time.
***
On the front lines of the war with the Autocracy, Calvin—in
command of the Empire's forces—widened his eyes at the report he'd just
received from a subordinate. He'd been in the middle of a war meeting in a
large council room filled with soldiers. The report, delivered by a noble
who'd dashed into the room, was more than enough to shock him.
"Liam's behind our army?!"
He'd never expected Liam to show up anywhere near the battlefield,
and the other nobles of his faction and the soldiers fighting with him felt
the same way. They had no time to deal with Liam right now.
Losing his composure, Calvin raised his voice without meaning to.
"Who's responsible for this?!"
He certainly hadn't called Liam to the war zone. That battlefield
worked in Liam's favor, after all. Calvin was having enough trouble with
the Autocracy, so Liam showing up at the rear of his forces was a
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nightmare. He felt as if he were trapped in a pincer attack between the two
of them.
Seeing Calvin's panic, a young noble raised a hand and stood
confidently. He'd been sent to replace another lord who had fallen in
combat.
"Your Highness, let's use this opportunity to crush Liam. We just
need to let the Autocracy through to the rear and allow the two to destroy
one another," he suggested.
This was met with disapproval—from both the soldiers and the other
nobles.
"Absurd! That would mean allowing the Autocracy into Empire
territory!"
"I swear, young people these days..."
"Even if we could take out Liam that way, if we lost ground to the
Autocracy, it would just do more damage to His Highness's reputation!"
The young noble frowned at this talk of reputation. He couldn't
seem to accept that argument, but Calvin was relieved by the other nobles'
reactions. For the most part, they were in agreement. Some of the younger
members among them needed more experience, but the majority of his
faction felt that they shouldn't make any careless moves.
Calvin pulled himself together. "We'll focus all our energies on the
Autocracy for now. We'll keep an eye on our rear, but I don't want anyone
starting anything with Liam. We can't fight on two fronts right now."
For the moment, Calvin wanted to avoid conflict with Liam more
than anything.
***
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After the meeting, a couple of young nobles sat grumbling in the
ship's lounge.
"His Highness is too afraid of Liam."
"He'll lose his chance at victory this way."
"Can the crown prince of the Algrand Empire really be so faint-
hearted?"
Currently only people affiliated with the young nobles were in the
lounge, so they could complain to their hearts' content. The heirs to their
families had already been killed off in the war, and they were aiming to
take over in their stead now. Many family heirs and promising young
people had met their end in the war with the Autocracy. These younger
nobles wanted to make a name for themselves in the war, but the reality
was that they were fighting an entirely defensive battle. There wouldn't be
grand opportunities for heroism like the young people expected.
Sitting on the bar and watching them was the Guide.
"I just love foolish young people. Especially when they don't even
know how foolish they are."
He got down off the bar and spread his arms wide. Black mist filled
the room, which the young nobles breathed in. Their eyes became
bloodshot, and their words grew more and more extreme.
"Maybe it's time to take matters into our own hands."
"Good idea. Even if we disobey orders, if we can take out Liam
doing it there's no way we'll get in trouble."
"I can't wait to kill that bastard."
The youths toasted to their ill-advised ideas. The Guide had done
nothing more than give them a little extra encouragement, yet the results
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spoke for themselves.
"Heh heh! That should do to move things along for now. It's
unfortunate that I don't have the power to do much more at this point, but I
suppose I'll just have to be satisfied with this."
He'd absorbed enough negative emotions on the battlefield to
recover his energies somewhat, but he was still far from one hundred
percent. At least he'd been getting plenty of practice lately in using small
amounts of power more efficiently, though if he were at full strength he
wouldn't need that skill in the first place.
"Curse you, Liam. Soon, I'll finally be freed from those nauseating
feelings of gratitude from you!"
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