Chapter 9:
A Family Squabble
ON THE CAPITAL PLANET, Calvin was holding a meeting. The topic of
discussion was House Banfield's current confusion. The nobles in Calvin's
faction couldn't hide their excitement at Liam's disappearance.
Watching their meeting from the shadows was the Guide, still in his
diminished hat form.
"Time to make your move!" he exclaimed. "With my assistance,
you can ransack Liam's domain all you want!"
The Guide egged them on behind the scenes, not caring how
desperate he sounded to his own ears. The nobles didn't hear his
comments, but the look in their eyes changed.
"Your Highness, this is an opportunity. We should attack Liam's
domain with everything we have! If we do, surely we'll win!"
His allies were getting riled up, but Calvin was as calm as ever.
"We'll lend aid to anyone who wants to take action quickly. But we will
make no moves ourselves."
The nobles reacted with surprise to Calvin's words.
"We won't? Why not?"
"What?!" the Guide screeched. Calvin apparently didn't intend to
take advantage of the opportunity before him, and in the Guide's current
weakened state, he couldn't manipulate the man.
Calvin calmly went over the reports in front of him. "It's difficult to
believe Liam could be caught like this. If summoning magic was all it took
to throw House Banfield into turmoil, we would never have had so much
trouble with them in the first place. I'd say there's a good chance this is a
trap."
When Calvin held firm that House Banfield must have possessed
measures against summoning magic, the fire in the nobles' eyes went out,
and they regained a sense of composure.
"I-it's true there's a possibility it's a trap, but would House Banfield
go so far? Things really are breaking down in their domain. Are you sure
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we shouldn't hit them with everything we've got right now?"
Calvin was just as aware as the other nobles of the opportunity
before them. Still, he had no intention of getting involved in the situation.
"There's no need to set foot in the trap he's set for us. If it turns out
this isn't a ruse, House Banfield's power will weaken without our
interference."
The nobles exchanged glances.
"Even if Liam manages to return, the mess he'll come back to will
take years to clean up."
"Decades, in the worst case. Maybe even longer."
"No need to get involved. Rather, we should take this chance to
build our own strength."
They all agreed with Calvin.
The Guide was not pleased with this turn of events. "Fight, cowards!
Isn't this your big chance? Why are you chickening out now? I'm
supporting you here!"
The tiny-limbed hat pounded its fists on the meeting table furiously.
***
"We are House Banfield's legitimate successors! I, Christiana Leta
Rosebreia, will carry out Lord Liam's will! Death to whoever opposes
us!"
"We who shelter Lady Rosetta are House Banfield's true
successors! I, Marie Sera Marian, declare here and now that everyone
who opposes us dies!"
On House Banfield's home planet, Claus found himself sweating
bullets. For reasons he couldn't fathom, he had taken command of House
Banfield's Royal Guard, and Liam's elite force had elected to follow him.
Claus was well aware of his mediocrity as a knight, so his situation was
frankly ludicrous. Still, he approached his work earnestly, focusing on the
tasks in front of him as best he could. Although...
"What do you mean, Lord Liam's two most trusted retainers
betrayed him?!"
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Tia and Marie were central figures in Liam's knight corps. Claus
knew just how strong both were, and Liam obviously placed a lot of trust
in the women, despite the way he spoke about them.
Yet in his absence, those two knights had revolted, each claiming
they should run things with Liam gone. Tia had begun commanding a fleet
without permission, while Marie took Rosetta and started gathering
security and defense forces to support her cause.
"I knew they didn't get along," Claus muttered, "but I didn't think
they'd start their own revolts. What do they think they're doing at a time
like this? Not to mention..."
House Banfield was inundated with visitors, most of whom were
trying to exploit Liam's absence to profit in some way.
"I heard House Banfield is without an heir. I'm related to the head
of the family preceding the previous head, so I thought I should come
provide whatever aid I'm able to."
"The heir should come from our family. House Astread was once a
branch of House Banfield. The leaders of Prince Cleo's faction are
backing me, so I demand to be made standing head of the house."
"I'm carrying Lord Liam's child—honest! This baby is the next
head of House Banfield!"
These opportunists swarmed them from dawn to dusk almost every
day, clearly after nothing more than House Banfield's wealth and
influence. Claus was the only person in a position to deal with them,
despite having other tasks to take care of. To make matters worse, space
pirates strayed into House Banfield's territory constantly, and dealing with
them fell to Claus too. His stomach was killing him, and the two top
knights who should have been his allies were aggravating his nausea.
"Shall we exterminate every single one of those traitors, Lord
Claus?" one of his people asked him.
"Lord Claus, if we kill them, you'll become head knight for sure!"
"Now that you have the Royal Guard and elite force on your side, no
one can stand against you, Lord Claus!"
His hot-blooded subordinates were trying to promote him—and
trying to get him to battle Tia and Marie. Claus gave them firm orders,
desperately enduring the pain in his stomach.
"Maintain the status quo! We must protect the home planet until
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Lord Liam returns."
Claus had no desire to exploit this crisis to get ahead. He remained
focused on nothing more than keeping things running. His subordinates
weren't happy about that, however.
"Well, if those are his orders, we'll follow them..."
"I still think he'd be guaranteed the head knight role if he made use
of this situation."
"Lord Claus is the one person protecting House Banfield now.
Shouldn't he get more recognition?"
They were mostly complaining about Claus's circumstances, not
Claus himself. Still, Claus was aware of their feelings, and they made him
nervous.
Th-this isn't good! At this rate, my men will blow everything up and
start a war! Lord Liam, please come back!
***
Keith and the knights who'd accompanied Isaac acted as if they
owned House Banfield's mansion. They wholeheartedly believed they
were House Banfield's true knights, since they'd formerly served the
family for generations.
They were kicking back in a luxurious lounge meant for the family's
top brass, opening expensive bottles of alcohol to enjoy as if it was their
right. Joining them in the lounge to feast and drink were those cozying up
to the new management. It wasn't just the three government officials.
Some of the mansion's human maids, servants, and even military
personnel turned up. That showed how many people had joined House
Banfield out of ambition, not loyalty, during Liam's rapid climb to
success.
Among the revelers was one of Calvin's spies, along with an
operative from another country. Both aimed to add fuel to the fire while
House Banfield was in chaos. Keith knew about the operatives, but left
them alone, simply because they were actually cooperating with him. He
believed their assistance could help reinstate him as House Banfield's head
knight.
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Enjoying another glass of expensive alcohol, Keith reflected on the
current state of House Banfield. "I'm impressed by the growth they've
achieved in the last hundred years."
Beautiful women in dresses and maid uniforms saw to his every
need. Keith's skills as a knight notwithstanding, his enjoyment of women
and liquor marked him as the worst kind of man. And he was basically a
traitor to the family; he'd abandoned House Banfield when Liam was
young.
As one might expect, the knights who served a man like that were
treacherous ruffians themselves. They'd ransacked the mansion, bringing
whatever treasures they found back to the lounge and divvying them up.
"Check out this sword! This thing's jaw-dropping!"
"I found a state-of-the-art mobile knight in the hangar. It's my
personal craft from now on, got it?!"
"Hey, I want a personal craft too! Would you find me one?"
They were more like bandits than knights.
Finally, one knight did something unthinkable. He returned to the
lounge dragging a maid robot—one of the mass-produced units working in
the mansion. Her clothes were torn, her joints destroyed by his
mistreatment. Having reached the lounge, the knight seized the maid
robot's head and tossed her in front of Keith and the other men. Oddly, the
maid robot strove to escape them. Seeing her struggle with her mangled
joints made the men burst into laughter.
"Liam's a serious pervert to have dolls like this all over the
mansion!"
"He has no pride as a noble. He's just some brat trying to look cool
by hunting pirates."
"Hey, it's 'cause of him we can live it up like this. How about
showing a little gratitude?" one knight said with a mocking laugh.
"Won't it be a pain if he comes back?" asked another,
acknowledging that they could only do as they liked because Liam was
gone.
"No need to worry about that," answered Keith. "Prince Calvin will
support Lord Isaac's ascension to head of the household."
"Really, Keith?"
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"It would benefit him for Lord Isaac to run the family. Liam is
Prince Calvin's enemy, after all. So there's no doubt about it."
As Keith said this, he glanced at Calvin's spy, who nodded and
smiled in confirmation. Even if Liam returned, there would be no place for
him here.
Uncertainty dispelled, the knight trampled the maid robot. "Then it
won't be a problem if we break Liam's little dolls, will it? It makes me
sick to see them wandering all over the place."
He raised his foot to stomp on the robot again, but a voice rang out
in the lounge.
"What do you think you're doing?"
It was Brian.
Keith stood, rolling his eyes at Brian's indignation. "It's bad for
your health to get so angry, old timer."
Despite Keith's mocking manner, Brian reproached him, red-faced.
"Living it up in the lounge from the crack of dawn?! Destroying the
mansion?! Laying hand on Master Liam's personal belongings?! Release
that maid robot this instant!" Brian gazed at the mangled robot anxiously.
Amused by his attitude, Keith taunted the butler. "What is there to
be scared of? It's just some doll. They're all the same, aren't they?" He
kicked the maid robot over to Brian.
"Tateyama?! L-look what they've done to you..."
Seeing that Brian's face had blanched, Keith reached the wrong
conclusion. So, he's scared to stand up to a first-rate knight like me? I
suppose I should give him credit for even trying. Still, he's a little too rude.
Keith took great pride in his status as a knight, and found it
infuriating to be challenged by someone without that status—case in point,
a butler like Brian.
"Don't make me angry, Brian. I can use my authority to have you
dealt with, if need be. If you wish to keep serving House Banfield, I
suggest adjusting your behavior toward me."
Brian's eyes narrowed at Keith's arrogant attitude. "If I'm required
to betray Master Liam, I'd rather leave this mansion."
"So devoted. Can't say I understand your loyalty, myself."
"I doubt you could. You abandoned House Banfield, after all."
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"We just left to protect Lord Cliff. The new blood here is awfully
arrogant, though. They could use some education, don't you think?" Keith
believed he and his followers were House Banfield's true vassals, and
Liam's knights were nothing more than greenhorns.
Rather than dignifying Keith with a response, Brian simply picked
up Tateyama and started from the lounge. "Let's get you fixed up,
Tateyama. Don't worry, everything will be all right."
Seeing Brian speak to the maid robot as if she were human, Keith
and his cronies laughed derisively.
In the doorway, Brian issued one final warning to his former
coworker. "Master Liam is a compassionate person, but he can be
frightening as well. I would prepare myself for his return if I were you."
"That is frightening!" Keith raised his hands in mock surrender. "Do
you really think I'm scared of a guy who isn't even here? Anyway, by the
time Liam makes it home, everything in this domain will belong to Lord
Isaac."
The invading knights and other traitors laughed.
***
Horrifying rumors flew through House Banfield's mansion that day.
"You can't be serious!"
"I-it's true. I saw a knight abuse her."
"I-I heard she got broken! This is terrible! We'll be punished, too!"
These human maids had been pale since that morning, but quickly
composed themselves when the head maid Serena came along.
"You're being noisy," Serena scolded them. "This household's
maids must carry on with their work even at times like this."
The maids looked anxious.
"M-Ms. Head Maid, um..." stammered one. "Well... We heard the
knights who took over the mansion broke one of Master Liam's personal
servants." The human maids weren't allowed to call maid robots "dolls,"
so they'd termed them "personal servants." "Do...do you think we'll
be...?"
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The maids trembled, but it wasn't Serena they were afraid of—it
was Liam.
Understanding that, Serena reassured them. "Why would you be
punished if you weren't present for the incident? If anyone was to be
punished, it would be me, the one responsible for them. Do you
understand? Now, get back to work."
"Y-yes, ma'am!"
As the maids left, Serena manipulated her bracelet device,
displaying a hologram in front of her. It was a chart of her subordinates'
attendance records. Several hundred of her workers had been absent, not
counting those who were ill or on paid leave. The incident with Tateyama,
however, had spurred about half of those cozying up to Isaac to return to
their posts. They must have figured out just how terrible the newcomers
were, just as the frightened maids had.
"These numbers aren't as bad as I expected," Serena mused.
She had thought there would be more traitors, but her subordinates
were more steadfast than she'd guessed. In addition to being a supervisor,
Serena was an educator, and she was pleased to see her students excel.
They weren't all excelling, however.
"We do have underachievers. Or are they just too ambitious?"
There were still maids trying to get close to Isaac rather than
returning to work, although they should have known Liam would never
abide someone damaging Tateyama. If that incident hadn't given those
maids pause, there was no saving them. Serena simply wrote them off.
***
Lying in my bed in the castle, I chatted with Kunai, who sat upright
beside me.
"I identified the individuals who sent those assassins, Master Liam,"
she informed me. "A minister and several generals were involved."
"Yeah? Well, dispose of them," I told her curtly.
Kunai looked pleased to receive this order. Is she a workaholic?
"Yes, Master Liam! May I ask what you intend to do about Kanami?
Shall I dispose of her at the same time? She's entirely too disrespectful to
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you."
Given Kunai's capabilities, she could likely destroy Kanami, but I
couldn't bring myself to get rid of the girl. "Leave her be—things are fine
for now. I get the feeling she'll be fun to tease."
"Are you sure?"
Kunai was probably confused because I was usually ruthless. For
some reason, though, I didn't want Kanami eliminated. I just found myself
wanting to tease her more. It was a strange feeling.
"I'd rather amuse myself with her than get rid of her," I insisted. "I
want everyone who's plotting to kill me dead, though."
A minister and some Erle Kingdom generals had wanted to
assassinate me because I allowed beastfolk into the castle. In their
position, I'd probably have felt the same way, but that wouldn't get them
off the hook. Anyone who sent assassins after me needed to be prepared
for the consequences, simple as that. If you tried to kill someone, you
couldn't very well complain when they killed you instead.
"This group was apparently prepared to assassinate the heroes even
before you were summoned," Kunai informed me.
"What? When they summoned us, they were ready to kill us?
Typical. I guess I'd do the same... Who am I kidding? No, I wouldn't.
That's nuts."
Say you were in so much trouble that you had to summon a hero for
help. Banking on assassinating that hero would just be stupid. If you'd
summoned them because you couldn't kill a demon lord, how could you
kill the even-tougher hero? If you were able to accomplish that, you should
just have assassinated the demon lord to begin with.
Any country that ended up in this position was beyond help. They'd
clearly gotten what was coming to them.
"If the queen's incompetent, everyone else around here is going to
be incompetent," I complained.
"I have to say I agree, Master Liam."
Kunai agreed with me about everything. I found myself hoping she
didn't end up like Tia and Marie. That thought made me worry about
whether the two knights were behaving themselves in my absence. I didn't
want to consider the mayhem they might cause—and there was no point
doing so at the moment, so I stopped. For now, I was busy poking holes in
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this country and its problems.
"That queen really—"
A knock on my door interrupted our chat.
Even with the door closed, I guessed who had come to see me.
"What does Kanami want?"
Kunai pulled the door open for me, vanishing immediately as she
revealed Kanami's scowling face.
"This is all your fault!" Kanami cried.
"Huh?"
She'd come in swinging, but I wished she'd at least be more
specific. I didn't know what was supposed to be my fault, or why. I could
guess, though.
"I can't read minds. You'll have to give me more than that," I
teased, smirking.
Amusingly, that irritated her even more. "I'm talking about Queen
Enola! She's pretty much our age, and she had to take responsibility for an
entire country! How can you be so cruel to her? You made her feel bad.
You're supposed to be a hero!"
What is she saying? Does she just sympathize with that pathetic
queen because she sees her as a good person? What an idiot.
"She's a ruler," I said.
"So what? She's still a young girl."
I sighed at the depth of Kanami's ignorance. "Neither age nor
gender matter for rulers. All that's required is that they do their duty."
"Still..."
"You really are stupid."
"St-stupid?"
Kanami looked enraged. It amused me so much that I decided to
teach her a thing or two, although I recognized that it was pretty out of
character for me.
Why did I have a hard time leaving her alone? Just because she
shared my daughter's name? They weren't the same person. This was a
different world, a different time, and actually reuniting with my daughter
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would be beyond miraculous. The likelihood was practically zero; it was
just unthinkable. If we ran into each other despite that, it would be
preordained. But fate wouldn't bridge the gap between me and my
daughter. We'd turned out not to be related by blood, and nothing
emotional connected us, either. In my own way, I had tried to raise her
with love, but in the end it was pointless. That was why I didn't like kids.
"Would you tell Erle Kingdom's casualties 'Your queen did the best
she could! She's really kind, and a good person!'? How would the people
whose families were killed react to that?"
"W-well, they might not accept it. But I'm sure—"
"You really don't understand anything."
Ultimately, a ruler required ability above all else, especially in this
kind of aristocratic system. Morality had to be a secondary consideration.
Enola might have been a good person, but as a queen, she was a failure.
I knew from personal experience what happened if a ruler had
ability, but not ethics. If you took a piece of crap and made him king, his
subjects would treat him like a sage so long as he improved their
circumstances. Any ruler who made citizens' lives better was hailed as
wise and benevolent, regardless of their character. Valuing morality over
ability was stupid. All people got from raising up an incompetent saint was
poverty and starvation.
I knew I was a failed ruler myself—in terms of lacking humanity—
but I worked around it. Deceiving my subjects allowed me to represent
myself as a great ruler while doing as I liked. Fortune smiled on villains
like me.
Kanami hung her head. She seemed to have brains enough to get the
gist of my little lecture.
"When your subjects are in jeopardy, 'doing your best' is expected
—obvious. Wanting praise just for that is childish. A ruler who can't
produce results is worthless to her subjects."
"B-but..."
"Go tell the people who lost their families and homes to go easy on
Enola, and see what they say. 'Sorry it wasn't enough, but the queen did
her best!' Ask them if they forgive her. Would you, after hearing that? Can
you really say you wouldn't hate her? You're defending the wrong
person."
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"Ugh..."
"The queen doesn't want to help her people," I added, when Kanami
couldn't find the words to refute me. "She only wants to help herself by
appearing kind in other people's eyes. She wants to be let off the hook
when everyone sees her doing her best."
I could have gone on, really. I wasn't one to talk, but there were a
ton of things about that queen I took issue with. Of course she was a good
person, commendable in plenty of respects, but she was the worst ruler
possible.
I mean, I'd never given a crap about my subjects. I just wanted them
milked by heavy taxes. And since they'd humiliated me with those protests
about an heir, I needed revenge on them. I made a mental note to increase
taxes as soon as I got back.
"I can guess exactly what kind of people your parents are," I told
Kanami. "You must have been raised by fools. What did they think they
were teaching you, anyway?"
To frame it positively, Kanami was a good girl who was considerate
of others. In my past life, I'd wanted to raise my daughter to act similarly.
But I'd been wrong about many things back then, and I'd obviously been
wrong about that. This girl behaved like a fool with no idea how the real
world worked.
Kanami glared at me, anger plain in her eyes. "Don't talk about my
dad like that."
"Huh?"
"Don't insult my dad!"
"What? You love your papa that much?"
"Not my papa! My dad. Just don't insult him."
Her reactions to the two words suggested this "dad" of hers had
instilled her wishy-washy compassion, which really pissed me off. It was
terrible to think there was another gullible sucker out there, acting like I
had, and that his flawed thinking had infected his daughter.
"I see. Unfortunately, it's easy to see your dad is a bumbling fool
who taught you ignorant nonsense. I'm guessing he told you crap like 'you
should be nice to people.' I bet he'll pay for it, too. Maybe he already has.
I can imagine what kind of miserable end he—"
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"Stop it!"
I must have been right on the money about Kanami's worthless
father. Her fists trembled; she was about to draw the sword at her waist.
Kunai rose from Kanami's shadow and punched her in the gut,
knocking her out. The woman's eyes were crazed, and she pulled out her
knife to lop off Kanami's head.
Gazing at the unconscious girl, I knew she was the victim of a
worthless father, but I also knew she actually loved him. That was the big
difference between Kanami and her dad, versus me and my daughter. I
grabbed Kunai's arm, preventing Kanami's head from rolling. "Down,
girl."
"Do you mean that?! She tried to draw her sword on you, Master
Liam!"
"She kept me occupied. Take her back to her room—and don't lay a
hand on her, hear me? She's my toy, remember."
Looking at Kanami, I felt jealous of this "dad" of hers. He might
have been a fool, like I was in my past life. But to his daughter, he was
good father worthy of love.
***
As Liam looked into the distance thoughtfully, something sat
despondently in the corner of his room, watching him—the unseen spirit of
a dog. This dog was saddened to see Liam assume his daughter hadn't
loved him as he compared himself to Kanami's father.
The dog slipped through the castle's walls, headed for Kanami's
room. Inside, Kanami sat on the floor, crying, legs pulled to her chest.
"I'm sorry, Dad. I got so mad when he insulted you, but I had no
right to be angry after how I betrayed you."
The dog brought his face close to Kanami's, but couldn't touch her;
there was no way to comfort her. Frustrated, he left the room to go help
Liam somehow.
Climbing to the highest point in the castle, the dog let out a long
howl. The sound carried all the way to Liam's drone, which hovered in the
sky transmitting its distress signal. The drone amplified the dog's howl,
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sending it farther out to call to those whom Liam needed.
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