Chapter 3:
Mad Dog Marie
HALF A YEAR had passed since I'd come to primary school. Normally, by
this time we'd be having a long break where I could return to my domain, but
students weren't permitted to go home during their entire first three years. The
reason for this was that there were students who threw a fit about not wanting to
go back to school once they'd had a taste of the comforts of home again. How
stupid.
Even if we couldn't return to our home worlds, we could at least leave the
school property if we had permission. It was a ridiculously inconsistent policy.
Students with more money than anything had luxury liners sent from home and
instead spent their vacations aboard their ships.
I thought I might go stir-crazy in such a boring environment, but there was
at least some fun to be had at school in the form of matches between mobile
knights.
"Sounds like the sort of entertainment nobility would come up with. At
least it's some kind of fun."
From the spectator seats in a sort of coliseum, I looked down at the arena
floor, where giant holographic images of mobile knights fought against each
other with weapons. It was a live stream of an exciting fight that was currently
occurring elsewhere, and I found myself enjoying the show.
The mobile knights fought against each other with swords, piloted by
students of the primary school. Once a year, a tournament was held for students
in their third year and over to fight one-on-one in mobile knights and show off
the results of their training. In participating, though, they had to understand that
there was always a chance a match might result in a fatality. Some students
perished through simple bad luck, while others just went too far. The incredibly
stupid reason these tournaments were still held despite the risks was, as we were
told, "so you students will grow into fine knights."
In the match I was watching, one side felt they were at too much of a
disadvantage and threw in the towel, bringing the round to an end. The first-year
students in the audience around me cheered at the spectacle, but the man sitting
next to me was shrieking in despair.
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"Oh, come on! You could do better than that!" Wallace, now my
underling, held his head in his hands after losing a bet. "Nooo! I lost
everything."
People gambled on the tournaments, and Wallace had just lost everything
he had. Yeah, this guy's an idiot. I'd been giving him an allowance every month,
which was expected since I was his patron, but something about it didn't sit right
with me.
Eila, also seated nearby, glared at Wallace. "Do you have to make so
much noise? Can't you go somewhere else?"
She was being rather aggressive, but Wallace just laughed it off. "Harsh as
always. You don't have feelings for me, do you? Is this that thing where you
pick on the person you secretly like?"
He likely meant it as a joke, but a vein popped out in Eila's forehead, and
her face had taken on a fearsome expression. Were girls even supposed to be
able to make that face? "What? What did you just say to me?"
Eila was normally a very cheerful, sweet girl, but for some reason, she
acted like a completely different person around Wallace.
"Just joking," Wallace apologized, frightened.
Kurt just sighed on the other side of him. "You just don't learn, do you,
Wallace? You really should catch on that Eila doesn't appreciate your jokes.
And by the way, it's stupid to bet everything you have on a dark horse."
"Well, isn't it boring if you don't take chances?" Wallace argued, ignoring
that Kurt made a very fair point. "I mean, if I had won, I would have made a
fortune. Today I was just unlucky."
"Unlucky enough to lose everything."
"Oh, shut it! Yes, I know, all my money's gone... The next two weeks are
going to be rough."
My lackey was shooting me looks, but I just ignored him, because I wasn't
about to give him more allowance.
As the next match began, Kurt said to me, "A lot of the mobile knights
participating are personal craft."
"Yeah, but they're just mass-produced units with superficial
modifications. All these people care about is looks."
Tournament participants had two choices: they could rent a training craft
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or use their personal machine. Most just used rentals, but those with money
tended to bring their own mobile knights. Between rentals and personal units, the
latter had the overwhelming advantage. Under those circumstances, one might
wonder whether these fights were even fair.
Wallace was jealous of the rich students with their own craft. "Using a
personal unit with superior specs to win is unfair. I'm an Imperial prince and
even I don't have one."
Apparently, just because you were royalty didn't mean that you got your
own mobile knight.
"I'd want to fight with my own unit if I could, though," I mused.
Wallace gave me a baffled look. "You have a personal craft, Liam?"
"I do."
"Your machine's called the Avid, isn't it, Liam?" Eila piped up, rejoining
our conversation. "It's super strong!"
When the subject of the Avid came up, Kurt's tone grew excited as well.
"It's something to aspire to, having your own personal mobile knight. I'd love to
have one someday, too. The Avid has a lot of modifications though, doesn't it?
Isn't it hard to maintain?"
"Sure is. Oh, looks like the match is ending."
***
The tournament came to an end, its final victor being a baron from a
remote domain called House Berkeley. Even though the child of a count had also
participated, a baron of lesser rank had claimed victory. Did that mean actual
skill was what counted in these matches? If that was the case, this was more
appealing to me. It would feel good to beat down actual skilled opponents with
the overwhelming might of my Avid.
Was this Berkeley person who won actually all that strong, though? From
my point of view, he didn't seem all that formidable... Well, it was probably just
the level the students here were at.
I decided to look into entering one of these tournaments. Back in my
room, I got on my communicator and contacted Nias at the Seventh Weapons
Factory.
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Nias was an "intellectual beauty" type, with dark hair cut above her
shoulders. When she heard my request, her eyes behind their glasses grew wide.
"Are you crazy, Lord Liam?"
"Of course not. You're doing maintenance on the Avid, aren't you?"
"Actually, maintenance is done, so it's in storage right now. The Avid
can't be strengthened any more, though. Any further enhancements would ruin
its balance. It would be easier to make a whole new craft from scratch."
"I don't care, just do it. I'll pay whatever it costs."
Every time we met, Nias pestered me to buy more battleships from her
factory, but she balked at a simple request of mine. I just wanted her to fix the
Avid's shortcomings and make it even stronger before I entered this tournament.
Before I came to this school, the Avid hadn't been functioning well. I'd
asked the Seventh Weapons Factory to correct these issues, but the response of
Nias and the other engineers there had been, "The machine can't keep up with
the pilot's skills." Didn't that just mean that it was time to make the craft
stronger again?
"It's not a matter of money. No matter how much you pay, it simply can't
be improved any further. Well, maybe it could be enhanced by using a whole
heap of rare metals, but..."
I hadn't been expecting that. "Rare metals? Do you mean orichalcum?"
Orichalcum was a staple of many fantasy worlds, and it existed in this one
too. It was an incredibly strong metal, so rare that it was extremely expensive
and hard to get ahold of. However, it wasn't something that you could just buy if
you had enough money—sometimes you couldn't get any no matter how deep
your pockets were. Apparently, Nias needed several different types of metals as
rare as that.
"Orichalcum, adamantite, mithril... We'd need those, and more. We'd
need more experienced engineers too. And then they'd all be tied up with this
project for quite a while, so everything would probably cost more than a basic
fleet of ships."
It took a vast amount of money to process such rare metals into a usable
state, too. As Nias pointed out, it'd be more reasonable to have a whole new fleet
of ships constructed than spending the funds, resources, and personnel on
something like that. From a budgetary perspective, what I wanted to do was
absolutely foolish. Nevertheless, I wanted something cool over being practical.
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"I see. So you can improve the Avid if you use rare metals, then."
"Well, sure, but I think they'd be hard to obtain even for you, Lord Liam.
I'd suggest giving up on modifying the Avid and just having a whole new craft
constructed."
Throw away the Avid and construct a new machine? There was no way
I'd do that!
"No, I like the Avid. These new craft aren't my style."
What I was asking, in terms from my old life, was basically something as
impossible as taking a classic car and giving it the specs of a modern,
computerized model. "Give me a navigation system, convert it to electric power,
and add all these other functions too!" Nias, in turn, was asking why bother
starting from a classic car in the first place? She wanted me to get a new model,
but this was a question of personal taste. I had no intention of compromising.
Nias gave in to my persistence. "All right, I'll draw up a list of what I'll
need, so you can contact me when you've got the required materials and funds.
We'll really need a test pilot to get this done too."
"Test pilot?"
"Yes. You'll need to give us a pilot with skills as good as yours—no, just
one skilled enough to operate the Avid would do. If you can do all that, we'll
accept your request to strengthen the Avid."
Even though she said all this, her tone suggested what she was really
thinking was, "I'm sure you won't be able to do all this, so please just give in
and buy a new model."
You know, I always thought Nias was a bit of an idiot, but has she even
forgotten that I'm a count? If it were someone else, I'd have her punished for her
insolence! Well, fine, if you're going to be that way, then I'm going to do it! If
that's the attitude you want to take, then I'll show you how serious I am.
"You won't go back on your word, right, Nias?"
"Of course I won't. If you can get all this stuff together, then please
contact me. Though, I wouldn't mind if you just give up and buy a new model, or
maybe some ships—"
I cut the call in the middle of her babbling, and opened a new call to
contact home.
Amagi came to the monitor. I was relieved to see she appeared untroubled.
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"Have you been well, Amagi?"
"You asked me the same thing yesterday, Master. Is there something you
need?"
Talking to Amagi almost let me forget how much Nias had annoyed me.
"I'm sending you a list of things I want you to get for me. We've got rare
metals created by the you-know-what in storage, right? Send 'em to the Seventh
Weapons Factory, as quickly as possible."
Amagi confirmed receipt of the list. She remained as expressionless as
always, but even she looked a little surprised at its contents. The vibe I got from
her definitely said, "Are you seriously asking this?"
"Are you sure about this?"
"Of course. It's all for the Avid. We'll spare no expense."
"Is this not an unusual amount of materials just for modifying one mobile
knight?"
"It's a challenge from Nias. She thinks I won't be able to get it all
together. So I'm going to do just that. I want to see what kind of face she'll make
when I do."
"Very well."
"And send her as my test pilot."
Just emphasizing "her" was enough for Amagi to understand who I was
referring to. This was what it meant to have a valuable assistant who got me.
"You wish Marie Sera Marian to be the Avid's test pilot?"
"Yep. Let's put her right to work."
My choice was Marie Sera Marian—a female knight who had joined my
house when I saved her from her petrified state.
***
Several months later, Nias trembled in fear before the sight of a mountain
of rare metals that had been delivered to the Seventh Weapons Factory—the
very materials she herself had requested.
"You actually went ahead and sent me all this stuff? I mean, where did
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you even get it?!?!"
Standing in front of the pile of rare metals sent by House Banfield was a
female knight with long, straight, lilac-colored hair that fluttered behind her. She
wore an outfit with pants that looked easy to move in, despite being embellished
with metal arm and leg guards. She had clear, pale skin with purple eyes, a sharp
gaze, and vibrant purple lipstick to match. She was slender, and her tall height
made her appear even thinner. In holsters on her hips were a pair of pistol-like
weapons.
Liam's new knight candidate, Marie Sera Marian, greeted Nias with a
serene, refined tone. "Marie Marian, reporting for duty as the test pilot of the
Avid. I look forward to working with you, Engineering Captain."
The documents Nias had just received with the arrival of this woman
showed a middle name for her, but since Marie wasn't yet fully qualified as a
knight of the Empire, she had given only her first and last names when
introducing herself.
"Huh? Err, I..." Nias did her best to process the situation, Marie put a
hand to her slightly reddened cheek and gave her an almost entranced look.
"This is a direct order from Lord Liam himself. I will do anything I can to
see his project succeed, so I hope you'll help me achieve that."
The dashing, tall woman was making a face almost like a maiden in love.
Seriously, though... Just who is she?
Nias had been to Liam's mansion many times in the past, but she'd never
heard of this knight named Marie. She had to be skilled if Liam had sent her
personally, but if that were the case, then Nias felt like should have already
known about her.
One of Nias's staff members stared at Marie thoughtfully. The aged,
skilled engineer looked as though he was remembering something. "Marie?
Marie Marian? Seems like I've heard that name somewhere before..." He
thought about it for a while, but in the end, he just couldn't remember where he
knew the name from.
Nias shot Marie a suspicious look. The woman seemed too thin and pretty
to be a knight. "Err, can you really pilot an older craft without any of the modern
assist functions? There are hardly any people who can do that nowadays, you
know?"
Can this woman really pilot the Avid?
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Marie smiled, oblivious to Nias's concerns. "Back in my day, you weren't
considered a real knight if you used assist functions. I understand that Lord
Liam's Avid is a difficult craft, but I assure you there won't be any problems.
I'm eager to see what sort of fight it will put up." Her cheeks were flushed and
she fidgeted with excitement. "Lord Liam has left his personal craft in my
hands! Nothing could make me happier!"
Huh? What's with this lady? Nias's first impression of Marie was that she
was just a suspicious weirdo who sounded like a noblewoman for whatever
reason.
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Still, in front of the documents before her, Nias felt her spirit as a skilled
engineer flare up inside her. I'll never get another opportunity to go all out with
so many precious metals again. I should do everything I've always wanted to
with this machine. I bet I can learn a lot from it!
Nias started drooling at the thought of the experiments she could run, and
testing things she'd never had an opportunity to try before. She wiped her mouth
clean and decided to get started right away on the Avid's modifications.
"Well, let's get started, then."
True as ever to her own desires, Nias got started right away on the Avid's
enhancements.
***
Marie, the Avid's new test pilot, thought back to the events of that day
when their nightmare began.
We were all thrown into hell that day.
She could still remember the face of the man who became emperor on that
day two thousand years ago. The man had waged a fierce battle of succession
with his siblings and had come out on top of it—and when he won, he began to
purge not only his opponents, but anyone who so much as supported one of
them. He probably either became paranoid and wanted to prevent possible
attempts at revenge, or just wanted to eliminate anyone who knew the truth
about how he had removed the competition. At this point, Marie didn't care
which it was, but there was one thing she knew for certain.
I will never forgive that rotten bastard for petrifying us and jailing our
consciousness in those stone bodies for two thousand years. And I will never
bend a knee to any royal who inherited that man's blood.
Marie didn't take sides in the succession conflict at the time. She instead
was a renowned knight, and one of three especially formidable warriors who had
contributed much to the Empire. Due to her skill and popularity, she'd had
dealings with various members of the royal family, but they were more like mere
acquaintances to her. Marie's true loyalty was to the Empire itself. Marie had
intended to devote her services as a knight to whoever ultimately became the
emperor.
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Marie had a close friend at the time, a noble girl who was a bit of a
tomboy. It was this friend who got caught up in the succession conflict.
I begged for her to be spared. I threw myself into my work and did
everything he asked of me, followed every order to produce whatever results he
desired. And yet, he still...
Even now, her blood boiled when she recalled it. Caught up in the awful
conflict, her friend's family fell from grace. Marie couldn't just stand back and
watch that happen, so she had done whatever she could to come to her friend's
aid. The Empire had demanded military achievements, and Marie had provided
them, piling up victories in battle for the Empire's sake, always hoping that in
return her friend's family would be shown mercy. But all that waited at the end,
however, was betrayal.
When Marie returned from her final victory, the emperor had her arrested
and made use of an insidious process to turn her and her subordinates to stone,
along with others who had only loyally served him. As an additional cruel touch,
he had seen to it that they remained conscious as they lived out the next two
thousand years as stone statues. These victims were made into a display piece, as
a warning to anyone who might oppose the emperor, but after a while people
stopped even coming to look at them, and finally more than a thousand years had
passed without a single soul stumbling upon them. At least, not until Liam
appeared.
I remember how he looked even now.
Liam had seen to it that elixirs were used to deliver them from their living
prison. She remembered that as he had looked down at all of them, her hands
reached out to him, tears spilling from her eyes. Illuminated by the lights above,
Liam shone with a divine splendor.
Who could have predicted that I would cross two millennia to end up
serving Lord Liam? Life truly is miraculous. However...
Marie's sole regret was that she had been unable to end her old friend's
torment.
***
On the Capital Planet, Tia was hard at work serving as a government
official as part of her path to becoming a knight of the Empire. As Liam's
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foremost knight candidate, Tia was currently working for the prime minister.
She was receiving special treatment, but that was largely because of her personal
abilities. Her superior skills had caught the eye of the prime minister, so she had
earned the enviable position honestly. It was clear to anyone that she was on the
fast track to success, and she was in a position to be envied.
At the moment, Tia was in a reference room, perusing information on
Marie Sera Marian. The data was top secret, and she obtained it using dubious
methods.
"Marie Sera Marian. An Imperial knight from two thousand years ago..."
Most records of Marie had suspiciously been erased, but there was some
mention of her in old documents. Marie had been a leading knight of the Empire,
but she ended up being imprisoned in a petrified state by the vindictive emperor
of that time.
The ancient records made mention of a nickname Marie had been given as
a result of her ferociousness in battle... A nickname that hardly matched her
appearance: Mad Dog.
Even the little scraps of data Tia had uncovered made it clear that Marie
had been part of a trio of talented, even legendary knights. Tia furrowed her
brow and realized that she was feeling...jealous.
"That relic is going to be so full of herself, being entrusted with Lord
Liam's personal craft. How incorrigible. 'Mad Dog' Marie, huh? She's just a
mutt!"
True, she was a skilled knight, and Liam had acknowledged her abilities
as well. The first task he gave her was to serve as the test pilot for the Avid's
modifications. That he would recognize and entrust this newcomer with such an
important job was unbearable to Tia.
"You have not earned the right to serve Lord Liam!"
The more she fumed, the more Tia saw Marie not as a colleague, but an
enemy. She had an inkling that Marie felt just as threatened by her as well.
They had both been recognized for their superb abilities and were
therefore rivals vying for the position of Liam's head knight. Rather, it would be
fine if that was all, but they considered each other more as enemies to be
eliminated.
"I'll make her understand who is more deserving of being Lord Liam's
head knight."
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Tia closed the files on Marie.
***
Back at school, Rosetta was overwhelmed with feelings of hopelessness. It
was now a year into the school's curriculum and her grades were still dreadful.
Her end-of-the-year ranking was pretty close to the bottom for her overall year.
But of course, compared to the rest of the students in the First Campus, Rosetta
was dead last.
"I worked so hard. What else can I possibly do?"
She had studied to the point of forgoing sleep, but she could never catch
up to her classmates. No matter how many times she checked the grade rankings
on her tablet, she never showed meaningful progress.
As she stumbled through the halls with despair plain on her face, some
students who weren't from the First Campus came walking toward her. In the
center of the five-person group was Baron Derrick Sera Berkeley, a third-year
student. Rosetta had heard only bad rumors about him, so she wanted to steer
clear. She turned her face away and tried to pass by the group quickly, but
Derrick lunged forward and grabbed her arm before she could.
"Oh? Where do you think you're going, beggar?"
Rosetta tried to shake off his grip, but he was too strong; she was stuck.
Every day, Rosetta diligently trained to improve herself, but Derrick, who likely
went to no such efforts, had been strengthened by education capsules enough
times that he was far stronger than her.
This was the reality of their world: effort was meaningless in the face of
wealth.
"L-let go of me!" Rosetta resisted, and Derrick took a mean-spirited
pleasure in her struggles.
"Oh, don't be so cold, Rosetta—the destitute duchess-to-be."
Derrick's guffawing hangers-on reminded Rosetta of the nobles who had
mocked her at the party she'd attended as a child. She wanted to curl into a ball
at the memory.
Derrick ran his eyes over her appraisingly. "Pretty enticing physique
you've got there, for someone of your limited means. It makes sense for a family
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that sells their bodies to excel in that area though, doesn't it?"
Derrick shoved her and she went flying, her tablet falling from her grip. It
hit the floor and its screen activated, displaying the grade information she'd just
been looking at. Derrick picked up the device, and when he and his buddies
studied the information on the screen, they burst out laughing, holding their
stomachs.
"D-don't look at that!"
Rosetta tried to retrieve her tablet, stretching her arms for it, but the much-
taller Derrick lifted it out of her reach.
"These grades are a little too low, don't you think? You're a complete
failure of a noble. You're even worse than a commoner, aren't you?"
When Rosetta's body thumped against Derrick's as she grabbed for her
tablet, he smirked and grabbed her by the arm..
"Aah! L-let go of me!"
"Aw, c'mere."
This time, however, Derrick pulled her toward an unused classroom. He
threw her into the room, and then he and his lackeys surrounded her.
"Your family gets its genes from talented nobles, doesn't it, Rosetta?
Here, I'll give you some of mine right now." Derrick unbuckled his belt and
looked down at Rosetta with lust in his eyes.
Rosetta broke out in a cold sweat. "Wh-what are you saying?"
At first, she thought he was only toying with her, but then she realized he
was all too serious.
"You should be thanking me—you get to pass on the superior genes of
House Berkeley. But don't be so brazen as to call yourselves House Berkeley,
though. We'll never acknowledge your kid, got it?"
Rosetta wanted to scramble to her feet and flee from the slowly advancing
Derrick, but his hangers-on had her surrounded and there was nowhere for her to
run. She was angry at herself for being too powerless to resist. Why do I have to
be so weak?
"Heh heh, don't mind if I help myself to a little future duchess." Derrick
reached out and easily held Rosetta down, despite her attempts to resist.
"S-stop! Someone, help me!"
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Through the classroom's open door, she could see students and teachers
passing by in the hallway, but all of them pretended not to notice her plight.
Why didn't they try to stop Derrick? He was just a mere baron. The truth was, no
one dared earn the ire of the family known as the Pirate Nobles, lest an ugly
situation break out in the Empire. They were too afraid to upset them, so no one
would go up against him just to save the lowly Rosetta.
Why is this happening to me? Why? Is it my fault? Is it House Claudia's?
Why are we still atoning for a sin committed two thousand years ago?
Derrick covered her mouth so she couldn't scream, and Rosetta cursed her
own helplessness.
Just then, one of Derrick's goons went flying.
"Huh?"
For a moment, Derrick and his lackeys were dumbfounded, but then they
turned their heads toward the classroom door. Standing in the doorway were
Kurt and Wallace, with Liam ahead of them.
"Well, I thought I'd see what all the commotion was about. Who the hell
are you guys? Haven't seen you before."
As Liam gave Derrick's group a puzzled look, Wallace seemed to catch on
to the situation and all the blood drained from his face. "Liam, that's Baron
Berkeley! Derrick Berkeley, a third-year!"
Kurt apparently didn't realize the implications. He must not have been
familiar with House Berkeley. He said, "You're the one who won the
tournament. Aren't you a student from the Second Campus? What are you doing
here?"
Liam also seemed to not know anything about Derrick. He looked at the
upperclassman haughtily. "What'd you come here for? Whatever. You're an
eyesore, so get going. I'm in a bad mood right now."
This was clearly a disrespectful way to talk to an upperclassman, but the
thing that set Derrick off was hearing the name "Liam."
"So you're Liam, eh? Well, I'm Baron Berkeley, and if you think you can
get away with talking to me like tha—aah!" Before he could finish, Derrick flew
across the room.
Liam had closed the distance between them in a split second and smashed
his fist into Derrick, but it had happened so fast that it took Rosetta a few
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seconds to process it.
Liam was enraged. "If you think you can get away with talking to me like
that, think again! I'm a count! Show me some damn respect, Baron!"
He walked up to Derrick where he lay on the floor and kicked him.
Derrick's lackeys were stunned momentarily, but they snapped themselves out
of it and leapt at Liam.
One of them growled, "Who do you think you are, you country bumpkin?
Banfield, you're done f—"
This time, Liam sent the lackey flying with his fist. "You'll address me by
my proper title! You're just some baron's goon! Know your place!"
Liam singlehandedly bested Derrick and the other students from the
Second Campus. Kurt and Wallace frantically tried to stop him, but they were no
match for their wrathful friend.
Kurt cried, "Liam, violence isn't the answer!"
Wallace shouted, "Aaah! Liam, if you're going to fight, pick your
opponents better!"
Derrick's goons lifted him from the floor and bolted into the hall, but
Liam couldn't pursue them with his two friends clinging to him. "Lemme go,
you two! Derrick, you bastard! I'll remember your face! You just wait!"
Rosetta was rooted to the floor in shock. All she could do was rearrange
her disheveled uniform and stare at the scene before her.
Liam looked unsatisfied, but he'd calmed down enough to notice Rosetta,
at least. He reached a hand out to her. "You okay?"
Rosetta just slapped his hand away with a dry crack. The sound echoed
through the room for a moment, and for a moment, Liam didn't realize what had
happened.
When he understood, he frowned. "What was that for?"
Rosetta returned Liam's glare, tears in her eyes. "Don't touch me. My
family may have fallen low, but I am still a future duchess. I owe no thanks to
the likes of you!"
Normally, Rosetta likely would have thanked him, but she had reached
such a defeated state in her life that all she felt for her savior was frustration.
This, coupled with the fact that it was Liam who had saved her, the object of her
resentment, made the young woman unable to say more.
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Shakily, she stood up and left the classroom to flee, but she still felt a
twinge of self-disgust. Why am I such a fool? I can't even thank him!
She hated herself for being so powerless. She hated everyone around her
for looking down on her and not coming to her aid. And then there was Liam,
who did whatever he wanted with his personal power and the power of his
status, and who dazzled her so much that her envy was a form of hatred. Beneath
the hatred, she was grateful he had been kind to her, but it was a humiliation on
top of her humiliation to receive his charity.
I wanted to be like that. I wanted to be like Liam.
Rosetta felt like she was reaching her mental and physical limit as time
passed at this school.
***
While I watched Rosetta run off, I thought to myself, Oh, she's good.
She's great!
I was a count, but she was going to be a duchess, so she deemed herself
too superior to owe me any gratitude. She hadn't said as much in words, but her
attitude couldn't have made it any clearer.
"Liam, do you understand who that was?" Wallace asked me, his eyes
flicking about nervously.
I grinned at him, sensing his uneasiness. "Of course I do, and I've taken a
liking to her."
Kurt gave me an exasperated look. "Your bad habit is rearing its ugly head
again, Liam."
This piqued Wallace's curiosity. "Bad habit? Hey, is Liam a problem child
or something? Well, is he?"
Kurt just gave him a vague answer. "He's not a problem child... He just
has some issues."
"Aww, tell me what you mean!"
Kurt knew me well from all our time training together, but he apparently
didn't feel like explaining things to Wallace. After all, Wallace was an idiot,
though he was fundamentally a good guy—not a villain like me and Kurt.
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Still, I guess I needed to make sure Kurt didn't spill too much. "Don't say
that. A person has to have their hobbies and all. You wouldn't get in my way,
would you?"
"Would there be any point?"
"See, you get it. Just sit back and watch."
I wanted Rosetta to submit to me entirely. Her only emotional support was
her family back home. How entertaining would it be to see that haughty noble
lady obey my every command? I was attracted to the docile, obedient types, but
sometimes I really wanted to see a woman who made it obvious how little she
cared for what I thought.
I recalled something an old coworker, Nitta, once mentioned to me in my
previous life. He described a strong-willed woman in a period drama who chose
death over submitting to a villain. This situation wasn't exactly like that, though,
and he'd also discussed other dramas he'd seen in which evil men finally
succeeded in making iron-willed women submit to them.
I felt like I was being the ultimate evil lord in this moment. I found great
satisfaction in the fact that ultimately, my subordinates would always go along
with whatever I wanted...especially my devoted knights-in-training, Tia and
Marie. And I did like that about them, but people are greedy creatures. Every so
often, I'd like to make a defiant person submit to me as well.
The blood of an evil lord was stirring in my veins. Kurt might be
somewhat critical of me, suggesting it was a bad habit of mine to become
obsessed with a controversial challenge, but I wouldn't let him get in the way of
my fun.
Rosetta... You'll curse your misfortune for being chosen by me. I'm going
to trample over all that you are!
***
Liam headed off to his room in the student dorms. Kurt watched him
leave, then sighed now that he was alone with Wallace. Still, he seemed to look a
little happy for some reason.
"Geez, Liam never changes."
Unlike Kurt, however, Wallace had grown quite nervous. "Is Liam really
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gonna be okay? I don't want my patron to up and disappear on me. I mean, he's
up against the Berkeley Family now."
"'Family'? He's just a baron, right?"
Wallace was shocked to learn that Kurt was so uninformed about the
Berkeley Family. "Y-you don't know about them? They're called the Pirate
Nobles; they're a pretty dangerous bunch. In numbers alone, they're probably
bigger than a duke's family."
House Berkeley ruled their domain in an unconventional manner for an
Imperial noble house. They were essentially a wide collection of related barons;
hence their "family" moniker. Once a child came of age, they were made a
baron, given a slice of the domain's territory, and were forced to become
independent. However, Derrick's father, a baron himself, was the one who
actually oversaw the entire conglomeration of territories—the big boss of the
family.
They maintained their peerage at a low level to limit their obligations to
the Empire. They valued financial gains over advancement in noble society. This
made them a bit of an odd group.
On top of that, the means by which they earned their profits was most
unbecoming for their noble status: piracy. Normally, a criminal family like
House Berkeley would have been eliminated, but their contributions to the
Empire were not trivial. They specialized in supplying the Empire with hard-to-
obtain elixirs year after year, which made it difficult for the Empire to cut ties
with them.
Hearing all this from Wallace, Kurt finally understood his new friend's
nervousness. "Pirates... Now I get it. That makes sense."
"If you get on their bad side, they won't show you any mercy. Liam
should formally apologize right away."
Kurt shook his head at Wallace, knowing Liam would never do such a
thing. "That's not happening. It's Liam who shows no mercy to pirates, after
all."
"But this is different—they're nobles! They may be engaged in piracy, but
they're still nobles, and powerful ones!"
"As long as they're committing piracy, they're nothing but bandits to
Liam. He's already wiped out the fleet of one noble who was involved in
piracy."
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Wallace gaped in surprise. "He'd go that far? B-but this is House Berkeley
we're talking about. Liam can't beat them! They've got real pirates working
under them, too! They're practically the big boss of all the pirates operating in
the Empire!"
Even if his friend heard all this, Kurt knew none of it would alter Liam's
view. "I'm even more sure he won't apologize, then. Liam would never tolerate
piracy of any kind. In fact, I strongly suspect he'll try to take them down
instead."
Wallace dropped to his knees on the spot and slammed his fist against the
floor. "There goes my independence! It's all over!"
Anticipating House Berkeley's retribution, Wallace could only tremble in
fear.
***
In the student dorms of the Second Campus, the recovering Derrick
looked rather pitiful with several bandages adorning his face.
"I'll kill that Liam guy."
Angry at Liam for the beating he'd received, he immediately decided to
kill the boy. No one around him objected to that decision in the slightest. In fact,
Derrick had decided that killing him wouldn't be enough.
"I'll destroy his domain. I'll take everything from him, and then slowly
torture him to death."
If the Guide had heard this, he no doubt would have been dancing with
joy. Unfortunately, the Guide was nowhere near.
"Did you get any information on him?" he asked one of his lackeys.
"Y-yes! Umm, this is what we have right now."
Hastily gathered information on House Banfield was projected into the air
from the underling's tablet. It indicated that House Banfield's home base was
protected by a considerable amount of firepower. From this, Derrick understood
that taking them down wouldn't be a simple feat.
"I see they own a reclaimed planet." The planet currently under
development in Liam's territory caught Derrick's eye.
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His man reported, "That world is only protected by a defensive force of
about a thousand ships."
Derrick's battered face broke into a smile, revealing that he'd lost his front
teeth. "Contact home and have a fleet prepared from my domain. Gather up
some pirates for me as well. And we're gonna use that, too. We'll send all of it
to his home base and wring everything out of that plentiful domain of his and
plunge it into ruin."
Derrick was basically a noble in name only, but he had his own small
domain and a fighting force to go with it. There was a limit to his own firepower,
but he could bolster that force with the families of his hangers-on and pirates and
ultimately scrounge up a force of ten thousand.
"So you think yourself a 'pirate hunter'? I'll show you the real terror of
pirates. You'll regret making me angry, Count Banfield."
Derrick's villainous sights were set on House Banfield's domain.
***
At the command center for the defensive force that protected House
Banfield's pioneer planet, quite a commotion had arisen.
"Commander! A fleet of six thousand ships is headed our way!"
"Six thousand?" The commander in charge of the defensive force was
shocked at the sight displayed on the control room's enormous main screen. The
fleet appeared to be a mix of pirate ships and the personal forces of various
nobles.
The entire base had been thrown into disarray and confusion. In response
to the impending attack, communications operators frantically relayed orders.
"Is it really six thousand?" the commander asked his subordinate.
"Y-yes, sir. There's no mistake."
The restored planet's defensive forces had been augmented, but they still
numbered only one thousand ships. They could probably scrape up more from
the surrounding area, but they wouldn't even be able to muster a full two
thousand, and doubtfully in time to meet the attack. They were greatly
outnumbered, but so far, the commander felt confusion rather than hopelessness.
He simply couldn't understand how or why this situation had developed.
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"Where are these idiots even from? They must be pirates from some far-
off territory if they're here to pick a fight with House Banfield. Figure out who
they are."
His staff attempted to gather information on their enemy, but all the
Empire was able to give them at this point was that they were a collection of
small-scale pirate gangs.
One of his people told him, "There don't seem to be any noteworthy
pirates among them. It looks like just a bunch of small fries banded together.
What I'm curious about, though, are the ships that appear to belong to the fleets
of nobles... We can't tell which houses yet, however. What should we do?"
Nobles were known to engage in piracy from time to time, for various
reasons like making money or plundering the domain of nobles they were in
conflict with. The Empire tended to deal with such instances delicately. If one
house crushed the enemy house too thoroughly, it could set off a larger-scale
conflict due to the hurt pride of the defeated noble.
However, House Banfield had a different way of doing things. Since Liam
had zero tolerance for pirates, his military followed his lead and showed no
mercy to anyone engaging in piracy, regardless of potential consequences.
"Does that look like another noble's military to you? That's not good.
That's disrespectful, you know. No noble would stain his hands with the likes of
piracy."
"I apologize for my rudeness, sir."
It was a bald-faced exchange between the two of them, but they fully
intended to deal with the opposing armies the same as they would pirates,
regardless of whether or not there were noble military ships among them. That
was House Banfield's policy, and even though Liam wasn't present or aware of
the attack, that wouldn't change.
The commander announced, "Pirates have come to attack the world we've
put so much work into, people. Intercept them at once."
His words dispelled the men's confusion, and they went about responding
to the situation as their training dictated. The defensive force would not panic
and would simply carry out their duties whether they were massively
outnumbered or not. After all, their greater number was the only advantage the
enemy had over them.
The commander gave further orders to members of the control room's
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crew. "Quickly evacuate noncombatants from this vessel so we can get up there
and meet the attack as a defensive base. Don't forget to contact our home planet
as well."
Liam had purchased an absurdly huge fortress-class vessel from the
Seventh Weapons Factory on impulse after catching a glimpse of Nias's sports
bra. The great ship had been stationed on the developing planet to act as a
ground base, but now the commander wanted to take it aloft to join the rest of
his fleet.
The ship was of superior performance in every way and was basically a
mobile fortress. It had been constructed from the ground up like a stationary fort,
very much unlike the repurposed asteroids that pirates tended to use as their
forts. The craft was in the shape of an immense sphere, thus capable of attacking
in any direction. In addition to this, all the ships and mobile knights the
defensive force now deployed were of the same quality as those in use by the
Imperial army. They were far more capable than anything the pirates would
have.
The commander continued to feel disbelief as he studied the enemy's fleet
on the main screen. "There are still pirates keen on picking a fight with us, and
they're attacking our fortress-class with only six thousand ships? Are they
idiots?"
Even six thousand ships would never be enough to take down a vessel of
that size.
***
Commanding the mixed fleet of six thousand ships was a military officer
of House Berkeley who was a veteran of space piracy.
"Why do they have a monster like that stationed at a damn frontier planet?
Are they idiots?"
The fortress-class ship had joined the battle, and on his bridge's main
screen he watched the spherical vessel obliterate his allies one after another.
Each report he received from his subordinates made him grimace in
consternation.
One of his bridge operators cried out, "Commander, none of our attacks
are getting through! They're advancing on us with the fortress-class as their
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shield!"
"What?! This is insanity!"
Normally, a fortress-class ship would stay in one place and not move
much, but this monstrosity was at the front of the pack. This being the case, the
mongrel fleet of allies had no choice but to retreat. Even as they fled, however,
House Banfield's force mercilessly shot them down, and soon the mixed fleet
was reduced to about half its original size.
All around the bridge, his people shouted out reports.
"I-it's no good. All of our allies are breaking off and fleeing."
"Our mobile knight squadron can't penetrate the fortress-class!"
"Sir, we just spotted enemy reinforcements! Fifteen thousand of them!"
The commander Derrick had entrusted with overseeing the attack snatched
the hat off his head and threw it to the floor. "We're surrendering! Open
communications with them!"
The operator did as ordered, but soon turned to the commander wearing a
look of despair. "S-Sir, they've responded. 'We don't negotiate with pirates,'
was all they said"
"What? Do they not know we're the Berkeley Family? Goddamned
country bumpkin nobles!"
The commander couldn't believe that House Banfield wouldn't accept
their surrender. Any other noble would have let them off the hook at this point,
but House Banfield seemed intent on destroying them to the last man.
"Lord Derrick has entrusted us with that thing. We've gotta get out of here
no matter what it takes, all right? Even if it's just us, we have to survive this!"
"Commander, the enemy!"
The moment the commander decided to abandon his allies, his ship
received a direct hit from an energy beam that reduced him and his entire crew
to ash.
***
The fortress-class and the rest of the defense force endured until the House
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Banfield reinforcements arrived, and between their two waves of ships the
remaining enemy was crushed completely. The pirates pleaded for their lives,
but they were ignored, and soon there were no more enemy voices over the lines
of communication.
However, the defensive force already had the enemy on the ropes, so by
the time the allies arrived, the enemy had already begun to flee. Those that
missed their chance just ended up boxed in by House Banfield's reinforcements.
Still perplexed, the commander of the defensive force cocked his head and
said, "What were they even trying to do in the first place?"
Derrick's mixed fleet had been annihilated, failing catastrophically in their
attempt to destroy Liam's frontier planet.
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