Chapter 14:
The G'doire Autocracy
T HE AUTOCRACY'S INVADING FORCE consisted of three million ships,
whereas the Algrand Empire defended their territory with five million
ships.
In the control room of the Autocracy's fortress-class flagship, Isel
studied a simplified map of the battlefield.
"Calvin's pretty tenacious."
Isel was surrounded by brave warriors, almost all of whom had been
bested by him and now followed him as a result. They all shared a
warrior's bond, won through battle. Even his military advisors were
muscular, formidable-looking men.
One of those advisors said to him, "The prince is merely hiding by
focusing on defense, but the Empire has its fair share of powerful warriors.
Our allies are having a tough time against them, it's true."
Isel wasn't surprised to hear it. After all, their enemy's forces
outnumbered them by two million.
"Still, something's not right. I'm sure Calvin's surrounded himself
with elites, but the rest of their forces just seem cobbled together."
Isel crossed his arms and perused the map's data on their enemy's
forces. The ships around Calvin were cutting-edge, but if he looked at the
bigger picture, some forty percent of the Empire's force appeared to
consist of outdated ships they'd scraped together to boost their numbers.
The Autocracy, on the other hand, used no outdated vessels. Since
power was everything to them, war was considered holy. It was
unthinkable not to show care in the equipment one used, so their military
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was kept much more strictly upgraded than the Empire's.
Isel held his hand out. "I can't keep screwing around with Calvin
forever. We should hurry up and settle things soon."
Thus, Isel's fleet began to close in around Calvin's.
***
Along with all the excited warriors on the bridge stood the Guide.
Might is absolutely everything to these people. I simply do not
understand it.
He glanced to his side, where G'doire stood. The Guide took a
deferential attitude toward him.
"Such dependable pawns you have! I see why you like that boy Isel
so much, G'doire!"
G'doire shot the sweet-talking Guide a look. "What's going on
here? I was expecting to see thrilling bouts between powerful warriors, but
this whole thing has been a let-down so far!"
G'doire blew steam from his mouth, his octopus head turning red. It
seemed he was reaching the end of his rope.
"The enemy does nothing but stick to a half-hearted defense!" he
griped. "The battles are all just ships taking potshots at each other from far
away! It's boring!"
He was displeased by the way Calvin was fighting, so the Guide
desperately attempted to pacify him.
"Things will change on the battlefield soon. I've just maneuvered
things to that effect."
G'doire and the Guide had pulled Liam closer to the battlefield.
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They'd thought he would join in the fighting, but he'd ended up serving as
a magistrate at the rear, which had surprised both of them. G'doire, in
particular, was more and more furious by the day that he had yet to witness
Liam's famous Flash technique. He was somewhat placated by Liam being
on the battlefield himself now, but he complained endlessly about the way
Calvin fought, and he was finally losing his patience.
"I want to see Liam! I want to watch my Isel kill Liam up close!"
The enraged G'doire slapped the Guide's face with his tentacle legs.
"O-ow. P-please stop that, G'doire."
You bastard! I would crush you if I hadn't lost all my power!
G'doire slapped the Guide forward and back, then grabbed him by
the lapels and lifted him up. "Bring him here now!"
"Huh?"
"Bring Liam to the battlefield now! Make him fight my Isel!"
"Y-you ask the impossible! I'll disappear if I so much as get near
him as I am now! Besides, I've already made my move!"
"I don't care, just do it!"
Determining that it was useless to say anything more to G'doire
when he was this upset, the Guide reluctantly agreed.
"Okay, okay!"
"You should just have agreed in the first place, stupid!"
The Guide clenched his fists before the angry G'doire.
You call me stupid? You'll be next, after Liam.
Telling himself he had to be patient, the Guide disappeared.
***
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Right around the time the Autocracy began to change its war
strategy, Marion paid a visit to Planet Augur. He crossed his arms in front
of a large monitor aboard his ship as it arrived in Augur's spaceport. The
spaceport displayed on the screen was still under construction. At the
moment, it more than fulfilled its function, but with construction
continuing it was sure to grow even larger.
Marion broke out into a cold sweat as he considered the speed with
which Liam had constructed this enormous spaceport.
"He's a monster, just like I heard. If he's built all this in such a short
time, I guess I can't criticize his work."
Marion was visiting Augur on an inspection to see whether Liam
was performing his role as magistrate adequately. Though this was the
outward reason he had come, in reality, he was there to sabotage Liam for
Cleo and Lady Annabelle—to trap him somehow.
"Well, the spaceport may be fine, but I'm sure if I dig I'm bound to
find dirt somewhere... And if I don't, I can just make some up!"
At first, Marion approached Liam as a friend, trying to find his
weakness in order to use Liam for his own ends. Then he'd met Randy,
Lady Annabelle, and Cleo, and Marion's life had changed dramatically.
"That took longer than I thought it would."
Marion had been planning to make use of Liam from the very
beginning.
His ship docked in the port and was secured in place by a giant
robotic arm. The crew respectfully cleared a path for Marion as he headed
for the ship's exit. As an official of the Capital Planet—an inspector—
Marion ranked high above the crew members, indicating just how
powerful officials were in the Empire.
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He disembarked and found his escorts waiting for him in the hangar.
They were knights who served Margrave Algren. Since these knights
served the main Algren line, Marion found it a bit odd that he hadn't been
met by knights who served his father, the viscount.
"Is there a reason you're the ones greeting me?" he asked them.
"We were ordered by the margrave to welcome you here with all
respect, sir."
Though he was surrounded by knights, Marion considered them his
allies. It seemed like an overly heavy security detail, but that in itself
didn't bother him too much.
"The head of the main family said that, did he?"
By the time Marion grew suspicious, it was already too late.
One of the knights gave him a wide smile. "It's all thanks to you
that Count Banfield has sent us his support, Lord Marion! The margrave is
thrilled."
Before Marion could think Impossible! the knights had drawn their
weapons. Even with the physical enhancement he'd received as a noble,
Marion was no match for all these muscular knights. He gulped, a cold
sweat dripping down his back.
"And what's this...?"
The knight wiped the smile from his face, replacing it with a
murderous scowl. Marion slowly raised his hands, sensing from the
knight's attitude that they wouldn't hesitate to attack if he made any wrong
moves.
Seeing that, another knight said coldly, "Count Banfield is waiting
for you."
"Li—Lord Liam is?"
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What's going on? Why is Liam's name coming up? I never
introduced him to the main family...
Since he'd been planning on using Liam for his own machinations,
he'd never so much as mentioned him to the main branch. If he was going
to say anything to them it would only have been after he was sure he could
make use of Liam—but there had been no point in that after Marion
switched plans to getting rid of him.
The knights smiled darkly at the confused Marion.
"The count has prepared a change of clothes for you. He picked
them out himself, so I'm sure they'll look wonderful."
"S-stop it!"
Marion's eyes opened wide, and he resisted as much as he could, but
the knights pinned him down and took him away.
***
Now that the spaceport was more or less functioning, there was only
one thing to do, and that was party. My countrymen might have been
fighting a war, but that didn't matter to me here at the rear. I'd called a
special guest to make an appearance too. And, as the party host, I planned
to enjoy myself thoroughly.
"It's a pretty strange sight, though."
It was a standing-buffet style party, but we were holding it in a zero-
gravity space, so attendees were standing on the walls and ceiling in
addition to the floor. It did look unusual, but it was nothing astonishing
here in space. And it allowed for more accommodation since we weren't
limited to the floor alone.
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Incidentally, I'd left all the planning to Wallace, but he still didn't
seem too pleased about the event.
"I can't believe we're partying back here at the rear when Calvin's
out there fighting on the front lines," he complained. "Are you trying to
harass him or something?"
Well, I couldn't say that wasn't a factor at all in my plans, but for
the most part I just wanted to have a party.
"I actually hoped it would be a little grander, personally."
"If you went any more extravagant than this, the guys on the front
line would flip."
"What do I care? They're all political enemies anyway."
"We're all still Imperials, aren't we? Besides, we're only safe here
because they're fighting over there."
"Calvin really is unlucky, isn't he? Well, if the fighting comes out
this far, I'll just run."
It didn't feel too bad to gaze down on Calvin from a superior
position.
I looked at the glass in my hand, which was made so that the liquid
inside wouldn't fly away despite the lack of gravity. When I shook the
glass, its contents trembled like jelly, but as soon as it touched my lips they
transformed back into liquid.
As I wet my whistle with some alcohol, I said to Wallace, "Calvin's
a talented guy, but things must be tough for him."
"What do you mean?"
I was sure Calvin wanted to focus solely on the fight with the
Autocracy, so it had to be a headache for him that Lady Annabelle was
making moves on the Capital Planet in his absence. Of course, it was hard
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for me to imagine that Annabelle acted on her own, since she'd spent so
long cooped up in the palace until now. It was strange timing for House
Lengrand to be getting involved too, though with Randy as their heir you
could easily assume they were simply that short-sighted.
Personally, I couldn't shake the feeling that there was someone
behind all of them.
"I just mean Calvin and I both have people messing with us. Calvin
just happens to be the unluckier one."
"You're always so cool, Liam. Myself, I live in fear every day after
hearing the Imperial Army's starting to lose ground."
I looked toward the room's entrance.
"Oh, looks like the guest of honor is here. Come on, let's go say our
hellos."
A woman entered the venue surrounded by female knights. She
wore a cute dress with a short skirt that showed off her long, slender legs.
Well, I call it a dress, but it was more like the frilly getup a pop idol would
wear. I'd gotten it for her myself, since I knew she usually wore pants.
Wallace cocked his head when he saw her. "I feel like I've seen her
somewhere before."
Of course he had.
When we approached her, the woman furrowed her brow, showing
obvious displeasure. She was holding her skirt down as if she was
uncomfortable wearing something so short. With her other arm she
covered her chest, which didn't normally draw so much attention. Her face
burned with shame and anger.
That's exactly the expression I wanted to see.
"Long time no see, Marion," I said. "You look much better like this,
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I have to say."
Marion was a woman. When I addressed her, she responded in a
trembling voice, and her words were awkward, as if she was being forced
to say them.
"I-I appreciate...the invitation...Lord Liam."
"Sure. Have fun."
Marion looked away in frustration, so I turned to Margrave Algren,
who stood beside her.
"It's been too long, Margrave. I can now say this spaceport has been
graced with the presence of a margrave who protects our country's
borders."
"Accepting your invitation was the least I could do, Count Banfield,
after all the aid you've provided us."
We flattered one another to show off to the rest of the partygoers
how well the two of us got on. From this, everyone understood that House
Banfield was lending its support to Margrave Algren. However, all I really
cared about was flaunting this relationship to Marion.
I was saying to her: Look how friendly I am with your main family.
The margrave went on about the military equipment I'd sent him.
"We'll be able to use those cutting-edge craft you sent in real combat in a
few months. This is a great relief to us."
"I'm glad to hear it."
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At first, Marion was shocked as she listened to my conversation
with the margrave, but her expression quickly changed to anger.
The margrave's eyes were cold as he looked at her. "I hear you
looked after Marion while she was on the Capital Planet too."
"Yes, we got on quite well, I'd say. Wouldn't you, Marion?"
I grinned at her and Marion looked away, not meeting my eyes. She
must have felt humiliated, being forced to appear at this party in that cute
outfit. Or maybe she was frustrated that I'd seen through her plan?
"I gave Marion the task of gathering support for us on the Capital
Planet," the margrave complained, "but she forgot her duty and fooled
around on her own. What a troublesome girl."
Members of both the margrave's main family and the viscount's
branch looked upon Marion coldly due to the moves she'd been making in
her own self-interest.
She'd ignored orders from the main family, and her own home as
well, to seek aid from influential nobles. Well, maybe they were less
"orders," and more a request that Marion obtain aid if she could while
working as an official on the Capital Planet. Regardless, what she'd done
instead was plot to take over House Algren. Neither the margrave nor the
viscount was pleased to learn of her maneuvering on the Capital Planet.
"You seriously thought I hadn't noticed anything?" I asked her.
"Guess you've got a cute side yourself."
Marion glared at me, vexed that I'd seen through her plan.
"How's it feel to waltz straight into the trap you intended to set for
me? I'd love to hear."
"Damn you!"
The second Marion raised her arm to slap me, the margrave's
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knights moved in. Kukuri's hidden subordinates took action as well. At
this rate they'd haul Marion off, but I wouldn't be able to have my fun
anymore if they made short work of her just like that.
I grabbed Marion's arm myself and squeezed. Her face warped in
pain struggled to absorb the force of my grip.
"Ghh! L-let go, you creep! Pervert!"
"Big talk for someone making the moves you were. Still, I enjoyed
seeing you make a fool of yourself. You did pretty good for a two-bit
villain."
"Wh-what do you know?!"
I let go of Marion and shoved her away. The knights caught her.
Then I turned to the margrave. "Please excuse me."
"I apologize for my relative's behavior," he said. "I'll punish her in
any way you deem fitting."
"Oh, there's no need for that. What do you say to just giving her to
me? I don't think that's a bad deal for you, Margrave."
The margrave considered this, then accepted my proposal. He eyed
Marion and told her simply, "Do not squander Lord Liam's kindness."
Before leaving with Wallace, I told Marion, "You look cute like
that."
Marion's face went red up to her ears, and her eyes widened. She
seemed to be fighting to keep tears from spilling from them.
"You're awful, Liam," Wallace said, seeming to sympathize with
her.
"Hey, she tried to use me. I'd say I'm pretty kind to let her off like
this."
Considering what Marion tried to do, this was awfully lenient, if
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anything.
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