Chapter 6:
Randy
MARION AWOKE in his apartment on the Capital Planet. He sat up
and looked down next to him at the naked woman he'd picked up the night
before. A light blanket covered her but did little to hide the curves of her
body beneath it.
Marion got up and raised a hand. In response, the window shades
rose, flooding the room with light. He got ready for work and had
breakfast. All he had left to do now was leave the apartment, but his guest
wasn't waking up.
Exasperated, he called out to her sweetly. "It's time to get up, my
lady," he cooed.
Finally, the woman woke up. At first, she looked around the room as
though she didn't know where she was. Then she must've remembered the
night before; her face went red.
Marion smiled. "Adorable," he said, reaching out to her hair, but the
woman flushed and gathered her scattered clothes, racing into the
bathroom with them. Marion shrugged. "And you were so enthusiastic last
night. Well... I've got to be getting to work."
He looked down at the scenery from the window. Outside stretched
a gray expanse, the usual view the Capital Planet offered. Looking up, he
glimpsed the artificial sky above them.
"It's so filthy here; I just can't grow to like it. Still, the women are
just my type."
He found them captivating despite hating the Capital Planet. Marion
smiled to himself at that thought.
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***
"Well, good morning, Liam."
I heard Marion's voice as soon as I got into the elevator. Just from
his cheerful greeting, I was already sick of him. But since there was no
escape route in an elevator, I had no choice but to humor him.
"You smell like perfume again," I pointed out.
Marion got out his tablet, bragging to me about his success the night
before. "I found a cute girl and picked her up. Oh—here she is."
The perfume smell was because of a woman, at least according to
Marion, but the one he showed me on his tablet was different from the last.
He must really have been fooling a lot of girls with those cute looks of his.
Lately, he kept showing them off to me, as if bragging about his conquests.
He apparently liked the strong-willed type; all the women looked mature.
"You should join me sometime, Liam. In our position, you can have
your pick."
When women found out you worked in the palace as a government
official, they got a different look in their eyes. On the Capital Planet,
bureaucrats were winners among winners. I'd heard all manner of stories
that officials like us had their pick of local women, backing up Marion's
claim. Since I wasn't interested, however, my only thought about this was
I'm surprised you don't get tired of it. After all, picking up girls like that
wasn't an evil lord's way. I was only interested in bending resistant
women to my will. Anyone who'd just come along with me if asked
wasn't worth my time.
"Tell 'em you'll head back to the boonies after your training," I said,
"and see how fast they run away."
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Girls who dreamed of the big-city life weren't interested in moving
to the sticks. However much money a guy earned, they wouldn't go with
him when he left.
Marion seemed to understand that, though. "When it's time to part,
I'll do that, sure. You really don't fool around, though, do you? Worried
about your fiancée?"
He thought I didn't want to be unfaithful to Rosetta? Was this guy
an idiot? Why should I care a bit about her? She might've belonged to me,
but I didn't belong to her. I just didn't fool around because, if I did that too
much, I'd get crap about it from Amagi and Brian.
"Now that you've taken the first step, you must go all the way,"
Amagi would no doubt say.
Brian would say, "I see you've finally taken an interest in women,
Master Liam! I only ask that you please beware honey traps. Beyond that,
I'll say nothing more."
On second thought, would they actually support my picking up
women? Either way, I didn't want to deal with the commotion that fooling
around with even one woman would cause.
"There aren't any women worth my time," I told Marion.
"You've never found a single one?"
"Nope. Well...I guess that's not strictly true."
After my statement, a single girl with pretty blue hair had flashed
through my mind. Her name was Lillie. She was innocent, untainted by the
capital, but I had no idea what she was doing now. Her clear skin and
pure-white dress had made her stand out among the other Capital Planet
women, and not in a bad way.
Just as I was worrying about whether she'd already embraced the
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capital's terrible, flashy styles, Marion peered into my face.
"What...?" I asked.
"Well, you went silent, so I wondered if someone did catch your
eye."
"It's none of your business." I tried to bring the conversation to a
close.
Marion must have really wanted me to come on one of his hunts. He
was being awfully persistent today. "Come on, let's have some fun
together. I just know you being with me will bring up my success rate. It's
fun to go out and get your fill, you know."
Looking at his sunny face, I could easily picture him getting stabbed
one day. Still, Marion was another noble just like me, if a rotten one. We
had the abilities of knights, so we couldn't really call ourselves nobles if
we let some common girl stab us.
The elevator reached our floor, so we got out and headed for our
work area. It was first thing in the morning, but Randy and his goons were
already crowding around my desk. When they spotted me, they started
talking in voices just loud enough for me to hear.
"Congratulations, Lord Randy!" one of his lackeys praised him.
Randy looked bashful. "Thanks."
The others flattered him the same way.
"Now that you're officially working for Prince Cleo's faction,
House Lengrand will only get more important."
"I'm sure I'll be busy soon," Randy noted. "You guys will help me
out, right?"
They were discussing him joining Cleo's faction—around my desk
for some reason. This early in the morning, and I was already so annoyed.
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Marion grinned at me. "They're provoking you."
"Let them." I ignored the group and sat at my desk, where a file was
waiting for me.
Randy sat on the edge of my desk. "Hey, Liam." His manner was
too familiar. When he laid a hand on my shoulder, I scowled at him.
"Who do you think you are? Get that hand off me," I warned.
Randy ignored me, acting as if he outranked me. "Prince Cleo
summoned me today, so you see, I'm quite busy. You'll do my work for
me, won't you? After all, we're members of the same faction now. It's no
skin off your nose, is it?"
A few days ago, I'd gotten word from Cleo that he'd allowed House
Lengrand to join his faction. That in itself didn't surprise me. If anything, I
was a little surprised it was all he'd done.
"No, I don't mind. As head of the faction, it's my duty to look after
newcomers like you. Go wag your tail at Prince Cleo in hopes that he'll
take a liking to you. Your family's late enough to the party already.
You've got a lot of work ahead of you kissing ass," I said, smiling.
Randy's expression changed, his cheeks trembling, presumably
because he was holding back anger. Jeez. He's a noble, and he can't even
keep a poker face? I thought. Then I remembered how much time he'd
have spent at home being waited on hand and foot. He wasn't used to
people picking fights with him, so he didn't know how to react. I was sure
he was the type who lived like a king at home—just like me!
Just barely maintaining his cool, he rose from my desk. "Well, I'm
counting on you." He left with his flunkies, practically oozing frustration.
Having watched the whole thing, Marion gave me an exasperated
look. "Well, this is trouble. I didn't think Prince Cleo would actually let
House Lengrand join his faction. I can't imagine that it was necessary to
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let them in just like that after all this time."
I figured letting one or two riffraff nobles aboard wouldn't change
anything at this point. Still, anyone who only joined now that things were
going our way would be quick to betray us if the situation changed. Letting
people you couldn't trust get anywhere near you was ludicrous—or so I
wanted to say. "I'm looking forward to seeing how far they get, myself."
Picking up the file Randy had left on my desk, I saw a good amount
of data inside. Even one little file like this contained plenty of work for me
to do. He'd probably gone around finding additional tasks to throw in
there.
As I closed the file, Marion asked, "Need some help? You'll be
working overtime tonight if you're going to finish that whole thing."
"Want to know one of my least favorite words?"
"Let me guess: overtime?"
"You got it in one." I had a policy not to engage in overtime, and I
didn't want to back down from my principles so easily.
Marion grinned as he watched me. What an annoying guy. Well, if I
want to leave on time tonight, I guess I've got to get a little serious today.
***
Randy and his lackeys were using the break room, despite the fact
that they should've been working. Ditching that work, they relaxed in the
café-like chamber. Some even smelled of alcohol, but no one reprimanded
them for that. The room was always full of young nobles who should've
been completing their training, and everyone pretended they were doing
their jobs.
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Randy had stopped by to kill time until his meeting with Cleo.
Meanwhile, his lackeys made fun of Liam, evidently having taken his
attitude as a bluff.
"He acts tough, but still, he took on all that work."
"I'll acknowledge his military record and personal ability, but he
sucks at politics. It's obvious that he's just some border noble from the
sticks."
"And leading all those stupid hick nobles will be our job, right?"
House Lengrand's territory was relatively close to the Capital Planet, and
their home planet was fairly advanced, which was why they ridiculed
nobles like Liam from the outlying regions.
Still, Randy couldn't be as blithe about things as his lackeys, after
the warning his aunt had given him. "Prince Cleo arrived at his current
position with the help of those border nobles and their military might. Do
not pick fights with them outside the arena of politics." Randy glared at
one of his flunkies, who quickly revised his attitude.
"Of course, Lord Randy."
Randy didn't make light of Liam's personal strength or the military
might of House Banfield. He considered his future plans.
My aunt wants me to drive him out of the capital soon, but is that
really something I can do? I mean, if it's possible, it'd be convenient for
me as well, but...
Now that he had Cleo on his side, Randy wanted Liam off the
Capital Planet. If that happened, he was sure he could take control of the
faction.
I don't care how strong you are, Liam. Don't think you'll be able to
survive in the world of politics.
Randy intended to fight Liam in an arena that had nothing to do with
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his combat prowess.
***
"Cleo, why are you listening to Randy?!"
As Cleo was signing electronic documents in his office, Lysithea
burst in angrily. Cleo sighed, signing a petition. Part of it was annoyance at
Lysithea, but mostly it was because of the document's contents. It was a
request for financial assistance from nobles who claimed they were
impoverished.
He'd received plenty of petitions, but many were rather dubious like
this one. The nobles requesting his aid complained of difficult
circumstances, yet almost all were just reaping what they themselves had
sown. Even knowing that, Cleo signed request after request for aid, as if he
were trying to get rid of as much money as he could.
Continuing this assembly-line work, he asked the trembling
Lysithea, "To what do you refer?"
"I'm referring to Randy! And what is that?" The blood drained from
her face when she noticed the requests Cleo was robotically signing. "A-
are you signing all of those?! You'll only attract more leeches if you grant
people aid so easily!"
Momentarily forgetting about Randy, Lysithea tried to stop Cleo
from signing the documents, but Cleo wasn't simply doing so for no
reason.
"Many are in need, due to the G'doire Autocracy's invasion. I can't
just ignore them."
When he gave her a reason like that, Lysithea couldn't dispute his
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actions so easily. She herself supported helping those suffering from the
Autocracy's invasion, but she couldn't hide her unease at the haphazard
way Cleo offered his aid to anyone and everyone.
"You should discuss these things with Count Banfield first."
Her suggestion caused Cleo to burst out laughing.
Lysithea was bewildered by this. "D-don't laugh! It's his money!
You can't just give it away without consulting him!"
Lysithea's words were entirely reasonable.
Cleo raised his head to look at her. "I thought about it, but I intend
to give Count Banfield a more important job to do."
"A more important job?" Lysithea asked dubiously.
Cleo smiled. "I've got the perfect appointment for him. Worrying
about requests like these is beneath him."
"It's not wise to offend him, you know."
"I understand that. If a puppet like me wants to survive all this, I
need the support of a major noble like himself," Cleo said cynically.
Lysithea looked as though she wanted to object, but quickly
abandoned the idea. "You're still... Well, what is this job for Count
Banfield?"
Cleo glanced down at the electronic document before him and
signed it without even reading it. "There's a house that's caused something
of an issue, you see. The Empire's impounding their territory and putting it
under direct imperial control. Since the territory's on the border, we'll
need to send someone out there to serve as magistrate. I've elected to send
Count Banfield."
"What...?" For a moment, Lysithea couldn't even react to the all-
too-sudden news. A noble had caused a problem and was having their
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position and territory taken from them, but if the Empire confiscated their
planet, they would need to send someone to rule it on their behalf—a
magistrate. Thus, Cleo had decided to send Liam to serve as this planet's
magistrate.
"You're sending Count Banfield away from the Capital Planet?!"
Even with Calvin gone, Lysithea didn't think it was wise to send
Liam away from the planet too. Cleo had foreseen this and tried to
persuade her with the rebuttal he'd already thought of.
"Count Banfield is incredibly skilled at governing planets. He
single-handedly rebuilt the society on his home world, after all. Any new
territory under direct imperial control will be secure with him at its helm."
"I don't care how fit he is for the job! Don't send away people you
can't replace!" Lysithea was on the verge of tears now, as Cleo told her the
circumstances of the planet Liam would be dispatched to.
"That's just how important this planet is, Sister. Many imperial
citizens are considering evacuation from the G'doire Autocracy's invasion
route. The Empire needs to prepare a planet for these refugees, as well as
one that can provide support to the army from the rear. This is a very
complicated problem."
Upon hearing that this was a necessary plan for the Empire, Lysithea
found it hard to argue.
"The prime minister has approved of it, as well," Cleo added. "He
said it may be tough for a young person who still hasn't completed his
training, but he's certain that Count Banfield can handle it. Plus, if we can
pull this off, winning the war won't be Calvin's victory alone. He'll have
to admit that we had a hand in it."
Lysithea's shoulders slumped. She was ashamed of her inability to
think that far ahead.
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"I didn't know you'd put so much thought into this. I'm relieved to
know you've considered all that. I have to confess, I've been a bit nervous
since you suddenly said House Lengrand could join the faction."
Since House Lengrand had previously abandoned the two of them,
Lysithea clearly still distrusted Lady Annabelle.
Cleo didn't say anything in return, so Lysithea repeated, "You really
have thought this through. I'm a little surprised."
Cleo smiled. "It wasn't my idea. I actually got it from someone
else."
Lysithea cocked her head. "Someone else?" she asked, but Cleo just
chuckled, not revealing this someone's name.
"You'll find out soon enough."
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