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Vol. 10 Chapter 8 - The Tsuri-No-Buse Strategy
🕑 Added 2022-04-25 09:10:58 +0000 UTCAt the bridge of Argos, Liam's ship, Theodore was laughing inwardly as he took special care to remain expressionless.
(The fact that Liam's faction is collapsing so quickly shows how fragile it is.)
Inside the bridge, the faces of aristocrats belonging to the Cleo Faction were being projected in the air, and they all seemed to resent and blame Liam for their losses.
'Count Banfield, this is all your fault!'
'You better watch your back from now.'
'I expected more from you.'
Half a year had passed since the war began, and the war was progressing completely in favor of the Calvin Faction.
The Cleo Faction had lost most of the territories it held and had to retreat to the rear.
Many fleets had fled, while some aristocrats turned coat to join the enemy faction.
The aristocrats present in the meeting were there to condemn Liam.
However-
“Is that all? If so, pack up your belongings and scram. I'll fight Calvin alone.”
-being the young and ambitious man that he was, Liam didn't seem to realize that it was time to throw in the towels.
Not only did he fail to keep his allies together, he tried to intimidate them through his anger.
Everyone else knew that the match was over, but Liam still held on to the hopes of winning.
Theodore found this delightful.
(Yes. Continue to struggle and shed more blood. Once this war is over, you'll never be able to go up against His Highness Cleo ever again. It's a fitting end for a young master of a Count's family.)
He looked around and found Tia and Marie facing the floor with bitter expressions.
“Lord Liam, we'll only rack up more losses if we continue.”
“Lord Liam, victory and defeat have been decided. We should either withdraw or enter negotiations.”
The two talented knights tried to advise him, but Liam refused to listen.
“Silence! Your only task was to bring me victory.--Tia, Marie. You two have failed me multiple times throughout the course of this war. Since you guys are so incompetent, I'll have you two help with transporting the injured instead.”
Their new task was to help the injured and collect weapons left behind on the battlefield, escorting them to safety.
As a result, both Tia and Marie were forced to leave the frontlines.
In the end, even Klaus stepped forward to dissuade Liam from continuing.
“Lord Liam, the war has ended. Baron Gurin's home planet is right behind us. We might have the advantage as the defender, but we're outnumbered four to one.”
In response to his advice, Liam brought up his past records with the space pirates.
“Then it should be fine. I've overcome differences in number numerous times. I'll be able to manage somehow.”
“B-but!”
“--Klaus, step aside if you can't follow my orders.”
Theodore decided that it was time to take action after seeing Liam dismiss all his talented personnel.
(This ended faster than expected. Now that he's shooed his close subordinates away, things should be much easier for us.)
◇
Once Theodore was alone on the ship, he connected with Baron Gurin.
Directly sending information to the enemy ran the risk of being noticed.
On the contrary, there was nothing strange about contacting an ally, and he could come up with excuses even if he was suspected.
He was there to report the situation, and he did so through a series of pre-determined exchanges.
“Our side is in a precarious situation. You should prepare yourself, Baron Gurin.”
Considering the Cleo Faction's current status, there wasn't anything strange about what he said.
Hearing this, Baron Gurin opened his eyes.
'Understood. I shall put up a valiant resistance.'
Their conversation sounded as if their were being forced into a corner, but it was all scripted.
What they truly meant was “Liam's been driven to an edge. Get ready to surrender,” and “Copy that.”
Baron Gurin had no intention of fighting from the very start and planned on surrendering the moment the Calvin Faction arrived.
Theodore confirmed with him one last time.
“The Banfield Family has dispatched a defense force, is that correct?”
'Yes, and I'll have them do their best. It was worth the effort going through the trouble of borrowing them.'
Under the excuse that his home planet was in a vulnerable state, he had forcefully borrowed a fleet from Liam to act as a defense force.
Once he surrendered, he was thinking of handing them over to the Calvin Faction, and if they resisted, they would be attacked from both sides.
“With this, we should end the call.”
'Please make sure to be careful.'
When their call ended, Theodore revealed a vulgar smile.
“With this, I'll be able to become a real aristocrat.”
◇
A year after the start of the war...
At the Capital, Calvin jerked up from his chair upon receiving news of the war.
The young aristocrat who had brought the news had teary eyes.
Calvin demanded the man report again.
“We really won!?”
“Yes, Your Highness! Our army has defeated the Banfield Family and occupied Baron Gurin's home planet! The Baron has surrendered, and while the defense force dispatched to the ground by the Banfield Family is continuing to resist, suppressing them will only be a matter of time.”
Conquering Baron Gurin's home planet was an undisputed sign of their victory.
“I'm not convinced. Doesn't Count Banfield still have Klaus, his right-hand man?”
“According to our spy, Banfield insisted on pushing forward despite Klaus's warnings.”
Will Liam really do such a thing?
Instead of relief, Calvin felt more worried.
“--And what of Cleo?”
The young aristocrat switched from being in a dreamy state to reporting with a serious expression.
He too was concerned with Cleo's behavior.
“Our Black Ops personnel have been watching him, but he hasn't made any suspicious moves. He doesn't appear to be contacting Liam in any way, and everything is going as planned. To be honest, something feels wrong.”
Cleo, who had been in the lead when it came to the battle for succession, had come to seek help from Calvin, who had been backed to a wall.
Anyone would've found this suspicious.
At that time, Calvin had no choice but to take his hand.
If he had killed Cleo there and then, Liam would've simply found someone else to replace him.
It would be meaningless to do so, and Cleo had never been the subject of Calvin's fear.
It had always been Liam, and he chose to cooperate with Cleo as the latter wasn't as terrifying as the former.
But Calvin still couldn't wrap his head around what had happened with Cleo, not to mention Liam's defeat.
“Tell our allies not to become complacent. If Count Banfield was such an easy opponent, we wouldn't have been driven to a corner in the first place.”
Calvin gave the order to remain sharp, and the young aristocrat straightened his back in response.
“I'll relay your order, Your Highness!”
“Good, I'll remind them again myself later on.”
Things had ended so smoothly that he couldn't bring himself to feel relieved, worried that this might all be a big trap of some kind.
After the young aristocrat left his office, Calvin held his head in his hands.
“It's over. I've won. But why does he still terrify me so much?”
To get rid of his anxiety, Calvin decided to hold himself back from feeling happy until he had well and truly won.
◇
At Baron Gurin's home planet, there were thousands of battleships floating above the arcology that functioned as cities, blocking sunlight from reaching the ground.
At the bridge of one of the battleships, a Calvinist aristocrat who was the fleet's commander was basking in his victory.
He was a commander leading a fleet consisting of several thousands ships.
“His Highness the Crown Prince mentioned a secret weapon, but we didn't need something like that after all.”
His second-in-command shared his sentiment.
“A secret weapon wouldn't be a secret weapon anymore if it's revealed.”
“You're right. And there's the saying that we should let sleeping dogs lie.”
The secret weapon sent by Calvin took up much space in the ship as the weapon required careful adjustments to be made. It wasn't easy to handle, so specialized staffs had been sent as well.
The commander, however, had not been told of the details.
He wanted to know what the weapon was, but he didn't want to get involved in anything dangerous.
The commander looked down at the arcology from one of the windows with his second-in-command.
“Anyway, what a horrible condition it's in. I'm a lord as well, but I can assure you that this is the worst territory there is.”
“Baron Gurin's a notorious fool. It's a mystery as to why His Highness Cleo roped him in.”
“Must be something to do with politics. Not that I would know.”
The commander hadn't been informed of the situation.
His second-in-command told him about their future schedule.
“Leaving that aside, we won too spectaculously. We'd need to re-schedule everything.”
“It's not over, is it? On the ground, there's still a unit that belong to the Banfield Family. I heard our allies are heading there, yes?”
“Baron Gurin has told us exactly how many of the ground forces there are. Getting rid of them will only take some time.”
“--I wouldn't want someone like that on my side.”
The end to the war was in sight.
Just as the two were feeling relieved, an ally ship floating a few kilometers away suddenly exploded.
Surprised, they turned to look as the battleship exploded and plummeted to a location near the arcology.
The second-in-command shouted at the operator.
“Report what's happening!”
“We're being attacked from the sky!”
“Enemy attack? But there should be allies up in space.”
The sirens rang and instructed them to assume first-class alert.
Meanwhile, allied ships continued to explode, letting out light.
Some of them started attacking at the sky, but it was allied ships that fell.
Allied ships rained down on them, crashing into one another.
“Is it the Banfield Family?”
Just as the commander took his seat to assume command, the operator revealed the enemies' affiliation.
“N-no, this crest belongs to Baron Exner!”
For a moment, the commander was confused as to who this Baron Exner was, but he eventually remembered that there was a Baron who was close with the Banfields.
“The upstart Baron!? I thought he seceded from--”
Immediately following this, a white mobile knight appeared and swung its sword down at the bridge of the battleship on which the commander was presiding.
And with that, the commander's consciousness faded away.
◇
Inside the cockpit of the white mobile knight, Kurt was acting as its pilot and fighting while checking his surrounding.
“Telling us to fight as we enter the planet's atmosphere--this is crazy.”
The mobile knight which Kurt was riding was a state-of-the-art equipment given to him by Liam.
One of the mass-produced models had been specially customized for him, and now it was called the White Knight.
The aircraft had been painted white and was equipped with a type of sword Kurt was skillful with.
Other aircrafts following Kurt's descent, but they were gray and plain in appearance, making it seem as if they didn't belong to the same model.
“Strike them before they unleash their mobile knights!”
His subordinates replied in unison to his command.
'''Roger that!'''
Kurt took a glance at the arcology where small allied ships were making their landing.
Armed men came out one after another from the ships to initiate a ground battle.
“Don't forget to support the ground forces. We most rescue Baron Gurin at all cost!”
'''Yes sir!'''
Rescue huh...Kurt let out an inward sigh.
(My subordinates are fighting with their lives on the line. It hurts my conscience to lie to them.)
◇
The ground force that had entered the arcology was being led by Tia.
“Oh Baron~ Where are you~”
Tia was dressed in a pilot suit which also functioned as a power suit.
With a rapier-type weapon in her right hand and a pistol in her left, she shot at enemies whenever one appeared.
Inside her helmet, she smiled with bloodshot eyes.
The enemies set up a barricade as a sign of resistance, but Tia simply kicked the ground and jumped over the barricade.
She landed somewhere with lots of enemies and swung her rapier, decimating them.
The blade of her rapier bent, easily penetrating the enemy's armor.
Then, she approached a lucky survivor and held him down by placing her foot on his chest, prompting the enemy soldier to let go of his weapons and raise his arms in surrender.
“P-please spare me! I was just following orders!”
“Where's the Baron?”
The enemy soldier answered her question immediately, feeling threathened by her rapier.
“H-he ran away. We don't know whether he's fled or went into hiding, but we were ordered to buy him enough time to escape even if it costs us our lives.”
Tia kicked the enemy soldier and knocked him out. Then, she ordered her men to detain him.
“Tie him up. Also, go check whether any vehicles have escaped through the sky, even small ones.”
The signaller did as ordered, and an answer soon came back.
“All the ships that tried to flee have been detained, but the Baron wasn't in any of them.”
“Then it must mean he's hiding somewhere.--We must find him. Lord Liam has demanded that he pay for his sins.”
Tia searched around the mansion with some knights and the ground forces, and soon, a soldier noticed something.
“--Over here.”
What the soldier found was an entrance to a hidden room disguised as an ordinary shelf.
However, there seemed to be some sort of mechanism to opening it.
“This might take some time.”
“That so?”
Hearing this, Tia kicked the shelf and forcibly opened up a passage to the hidden room.
In the corner of a luxurious hidden room, Baron Gurin was shivering in terror.
“Hiiii!”
Inside the room, there were countless antiques and piles of rare metals that formed a mountain, all of which were the Baron's properties.
Tia sheathed her rapier.
Seeing this, Baron Gurin misunderstood the message and let out a sigh of relief.
“Y-you've come to rescue me? Phew, thank God. I was worried of what will happen if I got caught by the Calvin Faction.”
“Good for you.”
Tia smiled and threw a punch at Baron Gurin who had stood up and approached her.
The Baron was blown away and crashed into a wall.
Tia walked up to him and grabbed the Baron's long hair.
Then, she began a dramatic speech.
“Oh, what a shame! We rushed over to rescue the Baron, but we were too late!”
“W-what do you mean you were too late!?”
Knowing that they weren't there to help, Baron Gurin tried to escape, but he wasn't able to free himself from Tia's iron grip.
“There are people awaiting you, people whose planet was ravaged because of an incompetent lord. I'm sure they have a lot of beef with you. It's the complete opposite with Lord Liam.”
Baron Gurin was then dragged out and thrown in front of the citizens that the ground forces had brought.
They were people who held a grudge against the Baron, and despite the Baron's attempt to escape, his calf was stabbed before he could do so.
“That hurts! Someone, help!”
The people surrounded him and started attacking with their weapons, which didn't consist of firearms but rather tools such as swords and spears that once decorated the mansion.
“It hurts, you say!? All because you, we--”
“My family is gone because of you!”
“Reform my ass! Because of what you've done--”
The Baron was terrible at politics and management, and the people that suffered under his rule gradually turned him into a pulp.
As a lord, his body had been strengthened, but there was no room for escape with Tia and Liam's soldiers surrounding him.
Tia, who had been watching this unfold, appeared dipleased, and her lieutenant pointed this out to her.
“Is something displeasing you?”
A lord being lynched by his people. This was a taboo in the Empire, and the lieutenant thought Tia was displeased by this, despite it being part of the strategy.
However, Tia was feeling annoyed for a different reason.
“--I wanted to be up there in the sky so that I could deal with Theodore.”
He had tormented her, so Tia wanted to personally end the man.
She was disgruntled that she wasn't allowed to do so.
Her lieutenant shrugged.
“I'm sure Klaus-dono will wrap things up properly.”
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Wakagi-chan (゜д゜): (Reading through the comments...)
Wakagi-chan（゜言゜）: “Even if humanity is destroyed, a sacred tree such as myself will survive!”
Brian (´；ω；｀): “It's painful. A plant with no trace of divinity is claiming to be a sacred tree.”
Brian (｀・ω・´)ノ: “On a different note, Volume 3 of 'I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!' is ranked 2nd in sales for Kindle's light novels(as of April 27th). This is all thanks to everyone's love and support. This Brian is extremely grateful.”
