Chapter 16:
Touchstone
E VEN WHEN LIAM went through with the arbitrary, malicious "social
welfare" tax hike, he didn't intend it to fund anything specific.
Previously after such an increase, many of his government workers
would just have sat back and let the extra money roll in rather than
spending it purposefully. This time, however, the hike came on the heels
of Liam's vast political purge, so the officials still employed in his
government gave real thought to how to follow through on his orders.
Normally, they would have been thrilled by the tax hike's vague purpose,
but now they discussed the situation amongst themselves.
"He's testing us, I know it!"
"Yes! He's left it all to us as a test!"
"If we screw this up, we'll be executed, too!"
All the officials who had openly betrayed Liam had, naturally, been
executed. Anyone who had committed any kind of wrongdoing had been
punished, including spies from Calvin and other domains. Liam even
prosecuted overlooked crimes like embezzlement. And since Liam had
told them nothing more than to "increase taxes for the sake of social
welfare," leaving all the details to them, these officials were
understandably concerned.
"We have to come up with programs that satisfy Lord Liam, or
we're dead."
Looking terrified, one of the older officials told the younger ones
about an incident from the past. "It was over half a century ago now. Lord
Liam was only ten, and he rooted out all the corrupt officials serving at
that time. It's true Lord Liam is more generous and compassionate than
other lords, but that doesn't mean he won't make severe decisions
sometimes. We've forgotten that over these last few decades."
The younger officials had heard the stories, but not many of the
people around now were there at the time. They'd taken things lightly for
far too long; they'd dropped their guards, and some had taken advantage of
their positions.
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The younger officials gulped at the story.
"I-I heard about this before."
"Yeah. I remember a bunch of government officials being executed
when I was a kid."
"Well, things were much worse back then, so he had no choice,
right?"
They didn't think there was any way Liam would do the same thing
to them.
The older official continued. "If we create a program that serves no
real purpose, we could all be purged by Lord Liam next. When he decides
to do something, he does it. After all, Lord Liam would have no problem
leaving his domain's governance entirely to artificial intelligence."
To some degree, the other officials already knew that, if he felt like
it, Liam would eliminate every last one of them in favor of AI. All too
aware that there would always be someone to replace them, the officials
took their work more seriously.
***
An average family living in House Banfield's domain, consisting of
grandparents, parents, and three children, sat around the dinner table and
discussed the recent tax hike.
"Improving social welfare? Well, if Lord Liam says that's what it's
for, then I'm sure it's true," the father remarked.
The grandfather nodded, sipping his tea. "I'm sure it is. He's a wise
and benevolent lord, that one."
As their parents and grandparents expressed unwavering trust in
their lord, the children gave them dubious looks, unaware of the past.
"But we don't know if he's really going to do that, right?" the eldest
daughter asked soberly.
Her father glanced at her patiently. "That's right. You kids don't
know, do you? You may learn about the past in school, but I'm sure it
doesn't feel real to you."
As part of Liam's policies, House Banfield's citizens underwent
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mandatory schooling. The nine-year educational period wasn't remarkably
short nor long, but since people could also use education capsules, they
ended up with the equivalent of a college education. And it was so easy to
pursue higher education that more and more children were continuing their
education past the compulsory period.
The grandparents and parents understood the children's feelings;
there was no way they could understand just how bad things had once been
here. They weren't fifty yet, and therefore not yet adults, appearance-wise
looking only around ten.
"Things really were awful here before Lord Liam took over," the
grandfather reminisced darkly. "Taxes were heavy for no good reason,
there were few jobs, and when war broke out, conscription was
mandatory."
The children couldn't believe this. "But why? Isn't it better for
rulers if their domains are better developed?"
It was natural that they thought that, but their father considered the
words an innocent child's naïveté. "See if you still expect that when you
grow up and visit territories other than House Banfield's. Not many nobles
have accomplished what Lord Liam has."
As the children struggled to absorb his words, their grandmother
urged them to continue eating.
"Come now, your food will get cold. Don't worry, Lord Liam won't
let anything bad happen to his people."
Once again, the children could only give their elders dubious looks
in response to their unquestioning trust in Liam.
***
House Banfield's military was in the same state of internal crisis as
its government. The members who had been around since Liam's initial
restructuring were mostly fine, but those who had joined later and engaged
in wrongdoing were now having their crimes revealed. The worst sinners
among them were the pirate collaborators.
"You colluded with pirates?!"
One colonel, a graduate of House Banfield's military academy, had
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been letting pirates go in exchange for bribes, then distributing the money
and valuables to allies.
Now that Liam himself didn't fight many pirates anymore, a number
of soldiers had slacked off in their duty to eradicate the criminals. Some
were even getting big heads, since the pirates were frightened of House
Banfield and willing to bow to its soldiers.
The top brass were horrified to see this behavior come to light.
"H-how could they be so stupid?"
"Lord Liam will be furious if he finds out!"
"If we don't report them, it's our heads that are going to roll."
The generals were scared stiff because Liam came down hard on
pirates. They had been in the military long enough to see his fury on the
battlefield. Since Liam hated pirates with a passion, he'd surely be just as
merciless with collaborators, and the military investigation had revealed
many among his field officers.
"How should we go about the arrests?"
"I don't care if you have to get rough—just be thorough!"
"Have every officer found to be colluding shot to death."
Liam had run his domain for more than eighty years now. Thinking
it was about time for a thorough restructuring, the top brass decided to
carry out their own purge of corruption in their ranks.
***
"There weren't as many idiots as I expected," I said, albeit with a bit
of disgust, as I read the reports various departments had sent my office.
"Embezzling, bribes, colluding with pirates. Yeah, that's about it."
I'd never trusted my human subordinates in the first place, and I was
surprised to find so few traitors.
Amagi had brought me some afternoon tea. As I sipped it, I chatted
with her.
"House Banfield is far superior to most other domains in that
regard," she assured me.
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"Good. I don't mind treating loyal pawns well."
"Why not direct some of that kindness toward your subjects?"
"They shamed me, so they should suffer the consequences."
I would never forget everyone laughing at me during that hearing
where they played videos of protesting subjects demanding I father an heir.
Eulisia, in particular, had embarrassed me. And that reminded me...
"Amagi, what's Eulisia up to?"
"Miss Eulisia? Let me see..."
Amagi did some investigating and found Eulisia was in fact right
here in the mansion.
***
"You're terrible, Lord Liam!"
"You're the terrible one! I sent you to suppress the protests, and
instead you joined them! What's wrong with you?"
Although Eulisia had participated in the protests herself, she at least
hadn't sided with the traitors and Isaac. Was she loyal or disloyal?
Apparently she'd holed up in her room, terrified of how I might punish
her.
"I can't believe your people, ignoring a potential concubine like me!
I've been sitting around in here worrying about whether you'd kill me!"
"I forgot about you myself."
"You're a monster, Lord Liam!"
I still needed to punish her. Eulisia was my connection to the
Imperial Army, though—I couldn't just execute her.
At that point, I came up with the perfect idea. I'd just offered to put
together a special guard for Rosetta, but she had no military experience
herself. She needed an adjutant to ensure her guards functioned as a unit.
Meanwhile, Eulisia had connections in the military and Imperial weapons
factories. She was another talented problem child, and I wanted her to
show that talent more consistently. She wasn't busy right now, so I
decided to let Rosetta have her.
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"In any case, since you don't have anything better to do, help
Rosetta set up her new guard unit."
"Huh?" Eulisia made a face.
"You're capable with that sort of thing, aren't you?"
"W-well, I could do it... But aren't I your potential concubine, Lord
Liam? Won't it be awkward working with your future wife?"
"If you're smart enough to figure that out, guess I don't need to
worry. Anyway, this should be punishment enough for you."
"That's not nice! You can't just come up with my punishment on the
spot!"
"Do everything Rosetta asks. I'll give you a decent budget. Put
together a good team for her, hear me?"
I figured I'd start funding the venture by giving Eulisia some of my
pocket money now. I wasn't sure exactly how much she'd require, but
enough to buy a few dozen ships was probably fine. I transferred a sum
from my digital wallet to Eulisia.
She looked at me in surprise. "Huh? You're investing that on this?"
"It's enough, isn't it?"
"Enough for...erm... What sort of scale are we talking about for this
guard unit?"
"Whatever you put together with that amount. Okay, get to work."
***
After Liam departed, Eulisia was left to agonize over the task he'd
entrusted her with.
"'Whatever I put together'? Did he realize how much he gave me?
Did he add an extra three or four zeros?!"
He'd allotted a ridiculous budget—enough to purchase an entire
fleet. In fact, it would be difficult to assemble a fleet of the size the funds
permitted. In the past, Tia had prepared tens of thousands of ships in no
time at Liam's request, but that was thanks to her unique organizational
skills. Eulisia didn't have the same skills, though she possessed abilities
far beyond the average soldier.
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"W-well, I guess I just have to figure it out with Lady Rosetta. We'll
need to find a place to order the ships from, too. The Third Weapons
Factory? Given this project's scale, we'll get complaints if we don't take
bids from multiple factories."
Eulisia felt she would struggle to use up the huge amount Liam had
handed her.
"Isn't a personal guard a few hundred ships at most? It would be
weird for Lady Rosetta to have a force the size of Lord Liam's Royal
Guard. Is his aim to give her tons of military power?" She tried to
understand Liam's thought process. "Maybe he didn't notice he'd added
all those zeros. No, that couldn't be it. Lord Liam wouldn't do this
arbitrarily, though."
For all Eulisia knew, Liam might explode in anger if she put
together a ten-thousand-ship fleet. But he was just as likely to blow up at
her if she left most of the money unused. Needless to say, she knew full
well she wouldn't survive an attempt to pocket any of the funds.
"Think...think, Eulisia! He'll forget you for good this time if you
screw up, so you need to figure out how to do this. Oh, wait...I know!"
Since Rosetta's security force likely wouldn't see much action,
Eulisia initially thought she might put together a fleet of mediocre ships,
and just make sure they looked good. But if she applied this excessive
budget that way, she'd end up with far too large a fleet. She needed to put
the money into the ships' quality.
"If the force consists of elites, it will just be slightly larger than
average. This amount will only cover only around a thousand cutting-edge
ships. The fleet probably won't see real combat, but it'll sure look the part,
and function as well if it needs to."
Rosetta's guards would be there to protect her, although all they
really needed to be capable of was getting her to safety quickly when
required.
"If Lady Rosetta disagrees, I'll just have to come up with some
other approach. But this should work fine."
She decided to whip up a proposal and see what Rosetta thought.
***
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Having gone over Eulisia's proposal, Rosetta wasn't sure what to
think.
"Would this really be okay?"
She hadn't imagined Liam would enlist his potential concubine
Eulisia to put together her new security force. Rosetta had her own
thoughts about that, but she couldn't contest Liam's decisions. Besides, it
was true that she needed an advisor, since she hadn't attended a military
academy herself. Eulisia was a brilliant soldier, so she'd be perfect as
Rosetta's aide.
"I guess there's nothing I can do," Rosetta said to herself. "Marie
made Darling angry—she can't go back to being a knight for a while."
Rosetta was used to relying on Marie for most things, but the knight
had angered Liam and been stripped of her position, at least for the time
being. She was currently receiving an education from Serena.
As Rosetta looked over the proposal again, her maid Ciel was lost in
thought at her side. Rosetta recalled that the Exner family had a military
history, so maybe Ciel would have some insights on the matter.
"Ciel, do you have any thoughts?"
"Well, if you'll permit me to speak freely..."
"Of course. I want to hear your opinion. How should I set up my
guard force? Sorry... That question is far too vague, isn't it?"
Realizing the nature of Rosetta's concerns, Ciel hardened her gaze.
"The security force of a noble's wife is usually a few hundred ships at
most. If it were larger, there would be a risk of family discord escalating
into armed conflict."
"I see—my having too much power could be bothersome. Even a
security force is an army, after all. It should really be under Darling's
command." Tension between her guard unit and the regular army might
come to a boil without her even being aware.
"How about creating a full force of a thousand ships, but only using
three hundred or so at a time, and rotating them out?" Ciel suggested. "The
inactive members could have time off, train, or do some other work."
"Other work?"
"Many nobles can't protect themselves adequately, Lady Rosetta."
Nobles with territory on the Empire's outskirts in particular.
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"I see... I could have my guards defend them."
"Yes. You could essentially attend to matters a count like Lord Liam
doesn't have time to deal with. Your security force would be powerful
enough to resolve small conflicts."
"That's a great idea!" Rosetta exclaimed, happy to hear she could
help Liam in such a way. "Darling receives so many petitions for
assistance, I heard he can't deal with them all. I'd love to handle some of
his less important work."
"You'd need a proper command center too."
"Wait—you mean I'm going to have a base?"
"Well, of course. Your guards will need to work independently from
the army, after all."
"I suppose I should ask Eulisia about all this."
***
When Rosetta left to discuss their ideas with Eulisia, Ciel pumped
her fist triumphantly.
"All right! Lady Rosetta will finally have some power now, if only a
little. Even if she can't do much at first, with a small force of elites, she
can make ties with lots of other nobles. At some point, she'll have so much
power, Liam will be forced to take notice!"
Ciel was, of course, allying herself with Rosetta to knock Liam off
his pedestal. For that to happen, Rosetta had to gain power.
"Eventually, Lady Rosetta will realize Liam is actually a bad guy...
and when she does, she'll have to stop him."
Liam tormented his subjects just for his own amusement, and
Rosetta would understand that one day. Ciel was sure of it.
"Just wait, Liam. I'll stop your evil deeds, I swear it! I'll get my
brother away from you, too!"
***
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"I fear Lady Ciel is attempting to incite Lady Rosetta to future
insurrection," Kunai warned me.
While advising Rosetta on how to operate her security force, Ciel
was apparently plotting something. I knew all about this, naturally,
because Kunai had secretly observed their conversation and immediately
reported it to me.
Had Ciel forgotten she was plotting in my mansion, or what? "She's
so stupid it's almost cute."
"Do you really intend to allow this, Master Liam?"
Ciel's actions amounted to betrayal, but I'd finally discovered a girl
with steel will. It'd be a shame to get rid of her now. Still, I didn't intend
to let her get the best of me.
"Leave Ciel be, but call Rosetta in here."
"Yes, sir!"
Kunai vanished, and a short time later, Rosetta arrived at my office.
"Do you need something, Darling?"
Seeing the gentle way Rosetta smiled at me, I wished she would
take a page out of Ciel's book and plot to kill me in my sleep or
something.
"I'm told Ciel suggested using your guards to take care of my
busywork."
"You heard about that?"
"Of course I did. And I won't allow it."
"I-I thought you might not."
I didn't really care about her pitching in, but I didn't want her going
along with Ciel's plan. According to Kunai, Ciel was thrilled right now—
sure that Rosetta was doing exactly as she suggested—but I was the one
who had Rosetta in the palm of my hand!
"I want you to do what you want with your guard. Don't just do
what somebody else tells you to. You can get advice, sure, but the decision
should be yours alone. It's your security force."
Having said that, I'd leave the matter to her for now. Rosetta's
military training only consisted of basics we'd learned in primary school.
She didn't have real experience, so any ambitious exploits would end in
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failure, or at best, accomplish little. I wanted to see Ciel fretting over her.
"What I want...?" Rosetta echoed.
"Like I said, don't just use someone else's ideas. If you don't want
to decide, I'll scrap the whole fleet. If that makes sense, get going
already."
I chased Rosetta out, Kunai's head immediately popped out from
my shadow.
"Was that really adequate, Master Liam?"
In truth, the balance in my electronic wallet was three zeroes smaller
than it should have been. I guessed I had accidentally transferred way
more money to Eulisia than I'd meant to, but it would be super
embarrassing to admit I'd made such a mistake and demand Rosetta give
the money back. I would just have to pretend it didn't bother me.
"We'll let her do as she likes. I want to see what she and Ciel settle
on."
"And Miss Eulisia?"
"If I get to see her fall on her face, it'll be amusing. Otherwise, I
don't care."
Eulisia wasn't like Nias, who had strong and weak points—she was
more consistently incompetent.
"For now," I added, "I want to get back to the Capital Planet and
complete my training. I've only got four years left, and I spent too much
time here."
I was anxious to finish training so I could freely enjoy life as an evil
lord. As I mulled that over, I received an emergency communication from
my friend Wallace, who was back on the Capital Planet.
"Th-this is bad, Liam!"
"Oh, it's just you, Wallace."
"This is no time to be so calm! Something catastrophic has
happened!"
"I think you could stand to be a little calmer. What happened?"
"The Autocracy declared war against the Empire!"
"Oh yeah?"
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I'd wondered what he was so freaked out about, but it turned out
some other intergalactic nation had picked a fight with ours. That didn't
impact me; I wished Wallace would only call about stuff that was a little
more important.
"How can you act so casual about this?"
"Because I don't care about it. Anyway, I'll rejoin you there soon to
finish training."
"Huh? You're not going to fight in the war? I thought for sure you
would!"
"I only like fights I know I can win. It's not like I'm just a
warmonger, you know. Besides, it'd be a pain. I just want to get my
training over with."
Why the hell did Wallace think I was going to fight in this war?
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