Chapter 7:
House Banfield's Protest Problem
"EVEN DRESSES must be practical! It's not enough for them to be
simply worn. 'True beauty lies in functionality' is my motto!"
I entered the hotel dressing room to find that the interesting designer
I called for had already arrived first thing in the morning. Thanks to the
daily parties we were throwing, Rosetta was running out of dresses she
hadn't already worn. One or two designers just couldn't cut it, so I sent
requests to a good number of people. Now, one of those designers was
going on about functionality, even for single-use dresses. What's with this
idiot?
"Just look at these embellishments!" he raved. "A normal dress
would utilize a disposable shield energy generator, but mine has one with
heightened functionality. It's heavier because of that, but I'm sure as
nobles, that won't be an issue for you."
Most nobles wore accessories that could deploy a protective field
out of fear of assassination attempts. Such accessories produced a barrier
when they sensed danger nearby, but a lot of these field generators were
one-use only. After all, proper generators were heavy and costly.
Some people repurposed their shield accessories, but we couldn't do
that since each accessory was carefully tailored to a specific dress.
Besides, reusing these devices wouldn't be properly evil. Being
economical was good, and if I wanted to be evil I had to spend as lavishly
as I could!
It was hard for me to decipher the looks on Rosetta's and Ciel's
faces as they listened to the man. I wasn't sure they could accept the
designer's notions of enhanced functionality over convenience. We were
requesting disposable dresses from him, but he meant to jack up costs by
giving his garments the functionality of combat gear. The two of them
were dubious about spending so much money on something they would
wear only once, but I myself liked frivolous spending. As an evil lord, it
was my duty to use the tax money I wrung out of my subjects to live
lavishly. That went for disposable dresses just like everything else. In fact,
it was great that I could spend so much tax revenue on something so
pointless.
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I applauded the man's passionate speech. "Wonderful! I like it."
"Th-thank you very much!" The man bowed deeply.
I decided to request something else of him. "I've got another job for
you. Amagi?"
"Yes, Master?"
I called my maid over from the corner of the room and introduced
her to the designer. "This is my Amagi. I've been thinking she needs
something else to wear other than maid uniforms. She should have a dress
too, right? I want you to make Amagi something too."
The designer wasn't sure how to respond to my request, given that
he must have recognized Amagi was a robot. I was sure my knights
standing guard nearby would draw their swords and cut him down if he
said the wrong thing. Heck, I fully intended to kill him myself if he said
anything to disparage Amagi, but apparently the guy wasn't a total idiot.
"W-well, I have no experience designing clothes for androids...but
with some time and thought, I believe I can fulfill your request. Just please
understand that this is somewhat outside my area of expertise."
I liked him even more after hearing his response. One of the
designers I spoke to earlier about making an outfit for Amagi had sneered
and said, "We do not make clothing for dolls." I decided never to order
anything from him again after that. Lucky for him that we were only
communicating over a video call at the time, because I wanted to kill him
for his disrespect. Amagi convinced me not to though, since some noble or
another was fond of him, and it would have been an issue. I almost sent
Kukuri and his men after him anyway, but I knew Amagi would find out if
I went that route, so I gave up on it in the end...for now. I had my hands
full right now, but I still hoped to find time to get back at that designer in
some way in the future. It'd be fine as long as Amagi didn't find out about
it, right?
At the moment, I had to focus on this more cooperative designer. I
told him, "That's fine. I'll send you the particulars. You're free to decide
the budget."
"Yes, sir!"
When the designer accepted my request, Amagi gave me a
reproachful look. "Master, I do not require any dresses."
"Consider it an order, then."
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"But..."
Amagi opened her mouth to persist with her disapproval, but
Rosetta joined me in trying to convince her. I was actually a little touched
by the gesture.
"You could wear a nice dress every once in a while, couldn't you,
Amagi? I'm sure it would look good on you."
With even Rosetta siding against her, Amagi couldn't very well
continue to argue. "Very well. However, I could not stand to dispose of a
garment after a single use, so please allow me to keep it after wearing it."
Yes! Amagi finally gave in!
"Of course!" I said, then I addressed the designer again. "I want this
to be the best dress you've ever made—got it? Whatever the cost, you
name it. This better be a masterpiece...but I don't want it looking gaudy
either. And make sure it doesn't expose too much skin!"
"Y-yes, sir!"
As I watched the designer get to work entering notes on his tablet, I
received a call from Brian. It seemed like lately he was reporting nothing
but bad news to me. I imagined the look on my face was less than
enthusiastic as I opened the communication on my own tablet. And sure
enough...
"Master Liaaam!!!"
My mood soured in an instant. And I was in such a good mood a
second ago. Brian was always ruining things for me. I told myself that if
he was anyone else, I'd have the guy tortured right about now.
"What is it?"
"The protests! The protests have grown even larger!"
"What? I thought I had Eulisia on that! What happened to her? Isn't
she supposed to be good at cracking down on troublemakers?"
Eulisia was supposed to be an elite soldier, but she couldn't even
quell some simple nonviolent protests? Well, I had to admit, it wasn't like
my elite soldiers should have to be used for such things in the first place...
***
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House Banfield's domain contained several planets with habitable
environments, and once again, there were protests on every one of them
today. The general atmosphere of the protests was unusual, though.
"Takoyaki! Who wants takoyaki?"
"We got yakisoba over here!"
"Get your protest placards here!"
Stalls that provided various foods and services were set up
everywhere. Soldiers performed traffic control, and medics were on hand.
A soldier who noticed some people straying from the march's
designated course reprimanded them gently.
"This isn't the designated march route. Get back on course, would
you?"
"I'm sorry, but is there a bathroom nearby?"
"Right over there."
"Thank you."
These were supposed to be protests, but the atmosphere was more
like that of a festival. Alex, the leader of the democracy movement, was
watching the proceedings, dumbfounded.
Alex had been a college student back on his home planet, which was
part of the Rustwarr Union. He made it to graduation day, but he had never
taken his first step into adult society. Instead, he joined the rebel forces
that opposed the Union, armed with knowledge and youthful passion. He
planned to help make the rebellion succeed and secure a good position for
himself in the new nation they meant to create in the process.
Unfortunately, the rebellion was suppressed before he could make
anything of himself, and he was now a refugee.
When he ended up in the Empire, he thought of a new way to make
a name for himself: launching a democratic movement in a different
nation. The method was merely a method to Alex, not a goal. He was
aware that House Banfield ruled benevolently and was good to its people,
but he took advantage of that to begin his movement. If House Banfield
attempted to suppress his protests, he planned on leveraging that fact to
accuse them of being no better than any other noble house. If they opposed
him too strongly, he would start up an anti-government army and lead it
himself. Thankfully, though, plenty of people came forward to support
him, so he was certain that his movement would succeed.
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That is, until...
"Why are protests that have nothing to do with my movement
breaking out everywhere?"
Alex shouted in frustration, because the people he watched
marching by with placards were advocating for something completely
unrelated to what he thought he was organizing.
"Don't forget your heir!" a protestor cried.
"Fulfill your duty as the lord!"
"Lady Rosetta deserves happiness!"
Liam, the lord of House Banfield, didn't have any children to inherit
his position, so the people of his domain were concerned—especially since
an international war had just taken place. The people realized that in a
conflict of that scale, their lord could perish at any moment. Thus, what the
citizens of his domain demanded...was for Liam to sire a child.
Alex was infuriated that his own movement wasn't gaining any
ground, while these baby-making protests were growing explosively.
"You've gotta be kidding me! This is their chance to gain some rights for
themselves within the Empire's dictatorship!"
"Calm down, Alex." His companions attempted to pacify him.
"How am I supposed to calm down? Why does no one understand?
Is everyone on this planet a complete idiot?!"
A college student carrying a sign with a picture of a baby on it
walked by Alex's group. He gave them an openly judgmental look when
he saw their own placards extolling the virtues of democracy. He stopped
to talk to them, though he didn't look too happy about it.
"You guys are immigrants, right? Do you have a permit for your
protest?" the student asked. "We're holding a pro-heir protest here, so if
you want to talk about your own stuff, do it somewhere else."
Alex did not in fact have a permit for his protest, but he argued with
the man anyway. "We're advocating for people's human rights—"
The college student interrupted him with a sigh. "Yeah, there's no
need for that. To be perfectly honest, you guys and your democracy
movement are just a nuisance here. If you want democracy, could you
advocate for it on a different planet?"
Alex was indignant at the college student's attitude. "What? Oh, I
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see... You're a spy for the nobility, aren't you? It'd be too weird for a
citizen not to want rights. You're just an agent working for the lord,
right?"
The college student replied to the enraged Alex calmly. "Nope, I'm
just a normal citizen, but I did just get back from studying abroad. You
guys don't know anything about how things work in the Empire, do you?"
"How things work?"
The college student furrowed his brow at Alex's ignorant reaction.
He swept a chilly look over the other youths advocating for democracy as
well. "What do you think the Empire does when movements for
democracy get off the ground?"
"Well, I'm sure they put the pressure on to suppress them, but that's
no reason to—"
"The typical noble's response is to burn the entire planet to ash to
save them the trouble of rooting out all the rebels. So now you know why
we'd rather not go down with you for your stupid movement, yeah?"
"B-burn?" stammered Alex. "They wouldn't go that far, would
they?"
"Of course they would. There are plenty of examples from the past."
The worldly college student knew of several planets that had been
utterly destroyed because of growing democratic movements. In his
history lessons, he learned of planets turned into seas of flame to serve as
examples. In fact, some nobles went even further in their efforts to nip
rebellion in the bud and saw to it that their people's education was so
limited that thoughts of democracy would never enter their heads in the
first place.
"Listen, we're provided a full education here," the college student
went on. "We can even study abroad. Do you really want those rights
taken away from us because of what you're doing?"
Alex still couldn't accept what the student was saying. "You're no
better than livestock! You want to spend your lives sucking up to the
nobility? If you're human, you should think for yourself a little more.
Besides, who's to say the next noble who takes over here won't make
everything worse? Aren't you worried about that? You want to live your
whole lives according to someone else's whims?"
The college student was disgusted with Alex. "According to
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someone else's whims, eh? And things were different for you back in the
Union?"
"What was that?"
"For example, lots of people are killed in space pirate attacks, right?
In that sense, we're all basically at the mercy of someone else's whims. To
me, the current lord's rule isn't bad at all. What guarantee do you have that
things would be better after people gained independence?"
"I see it's not just the nobility that's the problem. Everyone here has
stopped thinking. You're all rotten."
"Then why did you even come here? If you want to preach
democracy, move somewhere else. No one's gonna stop you from
leaving."
Alex was astounded. He couldn't comprehend the people of House
Banfield, who didn't advocate at all for their own rights.
While he stewed, someone who was obviously important in the
domain appeared at the protest. A large number of soldiers accompanied
her as her guard, and mobile knights cruised in the sky, keeping an eye out
from above.
"Looks like something's starting," one of Alex's friends said to him.
The college student walked away, and Alex shifted his attention to
the arrival of this big shot. "Wonder who that is. Let's see what's going
on."
As they edged closer to get a better look, Alex thought: Okay, so
this is a planet full of idiots, but I should consider it a good thing that I've
found out how easy they are to manipulate. If this important person is
about to make a speech, I'll just look for all the holes in it, then get more
people to join my cause by refuting their words. He wanted to use this as
an opportunity to draw more attention to himself and recruit more people
to his cause.
Standing atop a floating armored vehicle was a woman in a military
uniform holding a microphone.
She then addressed the crowd. "Protesters! There is no need to make
such a fuss over the lord's bedtime affairs! Break it up, everyone!"
Alex realized who this beautiful blonde woman was. "Hey, isn't that
the lord's concubine or mistress or something...?"
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One of his friends looked her up on a tablet and nodded. "It sure is.
There's plenty of information on her."
Alex wondered what kind of speech she would give, but apparently,
she was only here to break up the protest. Thus, the crowd booed her.
"Lord Liam needs to fulfill his duties as a noble!"
"We're serious about this!"
"Hey, aren't you his concubine? This is on you too!"
News of Liam pulling Eulisia out of the military for his own
purposes had spread throughout the domain, making the people assume
she was now Liam's lover. However, in response to the words they
shouted, Eulisia trembled. Tears filled her eyes.
"I-it's not like I..." Eulisia's job should have been to call on the
protesters to disperse, but instead, what she shouted into the microphone
came straight from her heart. "It's not like I haven't tried! I did everything
I could to get Lord Liam to make a move on me, but he won't show any
interest!!!"
The crowd quieted down when they heard that.
One anxious citizen mumbled, "What... Does the lord hate women
or something?"
Eulisia heard the man and cried even harder into the microphone. "I
would have been able to give up if he did! But... But he says he likes
women fine! I devoted my whole youth to becoming his secretary! Just
recently, I had to go retrain with the military...and he said he didn't even
know that was where I was! And then he told me to come back here and
quell the protests! Did he forget about me altogether after not seeing me
for a few years?!"
The hard work she performed every day seemed to be pushing
Eulisia to her limits. More than anything else, she couldn't forgive Liam
for just forgetting about her.
She clutched the microphone in both hands. "I want to... I want to
go on dates too! He takes Lady Rosetta to parties every day now, but I
have to work? Why? Can't I just have some fun for one day? Late at night,
I cry when I think about how I'm only getting older... I get more and more
anxious every night, lying there thinking about it!"
The protesters exchanged looks with each other. Eulisia was sobbing
into the microphone now, so the protesters began to console her. Some
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young girls even cheered her on.
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"Y-you can do it!"
"You'll get there someday, Miss Eulisia!"
"I-it's all right! You're pretty! You're so pretty!"
Eulisia continued venting her pent-up frustrations. "I want him to
make a move on me too, but he won't! What am I supposed to do about it?
I'd do anything if it'd get him interested, but nothing I've done has
worked! It's not my fault!!!"
***
"After that, the 'Don't Forget About Miss Eulisia Either' protests
started, in addition to the 'Treat Lady Rosetta Right' protests. I will say
that Lady Rosetta still commands most of the populace's attention,
however. Her popularity is really something else. Why, it moves me to
tears!"
As Brian reported to me on the state of the protests, and a little too
joyfully for my tastes, my fists trembled at my sides. What in the world
had Eulisia done? She completely ruined my image as an evil lord. My
carefully cultivated image of being viciously villainous was reduced to
merely that of a commonplace bad guy. The current perception of me
seemed to be that I was just a stingy jerk who wasn't feeding a mutt he
took in. I can't let this stand!
"Incidentally, there are also those calling for you to take on a new
concubine," Brian continued.
"Why the hell do my subjects think they can tell me what to do? My
harem is my concern alone! I'm not taking orders from anyone, okay?!"
Brian's eyes became cold, and seeing that made me all the angrier.
H-hey! If it weren't you, Brian, I'd cut your head off for that, you know!
"Your number currently stands at zero, Master Liam."
"Huh? What number?"
"From the day you first stated that you intended to form a harem, up
until today... Your total count of kept women currently stands at zero."
"Huh? I-it does not!" I protested. "I have Amagi! She counts!!!"
"Even if she did, she would only count as one. You have yet to lay a
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hand on Lady Rosetta, and you've completely neglected Lady Eulisia, a
woman you pulled from a promising career in the military. I have to admit
—I've seriously considered joining these protests myself."
"Screw you! I don't take orders from anyone! I have my own tastes,
okay?!"
I'm just supposed to put together a harem because everyone around
me tells me to? I'm expected to take a woman to bed because I have some
duty to do so? What a load of bull! I'll only bed who I want to bed, when I
want to bed them! I'm not backing down on that!!!
"Your preferred tastes can be considered after the more pressing
issue of your heir is resolved."
I was at a disadvantage against Brian and his sound arguments, but
that didn't mean I wasn't thinking about ways to get back at my subjects
for pulling this crap with me.
"Just wait 'til I get back home," I said. "I'll tax the living daylights
out of those good-for-nothings. They won't even be able to think about
holding protests when I'm done with them."
Brian didn't react to that, ignoring it like I was only ranting. Instead
he resumed his report. Hey, isn't this guy a little too rude to me?
"Ah... I look forward to it. Anyway, on the other hand, the
democracy movement didn't gain nearly as much traction as I feared it
might. That fire may as well be extinguished by now."
Well, I was thankful those protests had quieted down, at least.
"Democracy, eh? Make sure you figure out who the idiots were behind
that movement. They're my enemies. Human rights, my ass. All they want
is my authority for themselves."
"Master Liam?"
Brian gave me a questioning look, but I went on without waiting for
him to catch up. "Whether or not nobility exists, there will always be
people in a role of authority," I said.
No matter what the system of government was, there were always
rulers and there were always subjects. A world without a class system?
Something like that couldn't exist. Without nobles, politicians would just
have all the power. Then, you had the gap between the rich and the poor to
consider too. There was always a minority with all the power to rule over
the masses.
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To be honest, I supposed democracy would have been a better
system than a hereditary nobility system, but I didn't plan on giving my
authority to anyone else and I didn't care what happened to the masses.
And neither did the people who clamored for democracy. Only a tiny
fraction of them truly cared about fairness, and I was sure the rest just
wanted to seize the authority I wielded for themselves.
No, even if they started out with pure ideals, once they had
authority, those rebels would inevitably be corrupted by it. I understood
that well, having risen to a position of power myself. Authority was
alluring and led people astray. I didn't think that was necessarily a bad
thing though, not when it came to myself. In fact, I wanted to be led astray
by authority. I wanted to drown in its allure. After all, I was an evil lord.
"If they want to depose me and rule in my stead, then they need to
show they're more powerful than I am. If they can do that, then they can
have my power. If they can't...then they should be treated as the losers
that they are, right?"
If they wanted to overthrow me, I invited them to try, but they had
better be ready for the consequences when they failed. I wasn't kind to my
enemies. I would crush these people thoroughly.
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