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Vol. 10 Chapter 6 - Last Stand
🕑 Added 2022-04-11 10:39:47 +0000 UTCOn the other side of the monitor is Kukuri, who I've sent to the Capital, and when I hear his report, I close my eyes in annoyance.
“--The Seventh Weapons Factory was robbed of the mass-produced Avids?”
'Yes, the Calvin Faction had the Empire requisition them. The Seventh Weapons Factory was then placed under surveillance to stop them from reporting to Lord Liam.'
Inside the monitor, some distance behind Kukuri, I can see a teary-eyed Nias crying on the floor.
'My rare metals~'
She's devastated that her rare metals were taken away, so much so that she doesn't seem to mind the fact that she was put under surveillance.
Seeing this, Eulisia, who's in her maid outfit, makes an indescribable expression.
“To think you'd worry about rare metals even in such dire circumstances.”
'B-but all the rare metals that I've been stockpiling had to be put into mass producing Avids again! All my plans are ruined! They said it's 'cause they have to start building them from scratch again. That's too cruel, I say! Lord Liam, can you prepare some more rare metals for me?'
Even Kukuri seems perplexed by her shamelessness.
Nias looks at me in the eyes, not showing any signs of asking about why Eulisia is in a maid outfit.
That just goes to show how upset she is about her losses.
Kukuri awaits my instructions.
'Lord Liam, your orders please.'
“I'm busy at the moment, so I can't prepare any rare metals for you. That said, Calvin's awfully impatient this time. What does he wish to accomplish by robbing the mass-produced aircrafts?”
If it was simply to reduce our firepower, I'd have to say that it wasn't the right move.
To begin with, I wasn't planning on having Fuuka, Rinho, and Ellen participate in the war.
My juniors are too busy doting on Yasuyuki to care anyway.
Hence, if he did it to reduce our strength, it would be considered a failure on his part.
Since he had the Empire forcibly take the aircrafts away from us, he would no doubt come under fire from others aristocrats, not because they wish to protect me, but because of their fear of one day having their properties seized from them.
Kukuri responds to my inquiry.
'We're collecting information inside the Capital, and it seems like the Calvin Faction is making a lot of risky moves, opposite of how they normally behaves.'
“Are they putting their all into this battle?”
'Yes. Calvin's been pushed to a corner. Lord Liam, there's something I wish to inform you about.'
“What is it?”
◇
At the Capital, Calvin came out of the room where the Emperor resided, appearing extremely exhausted.
His knights who were waiting outside approached Calvin to support him, but he had them step back.
“It's fine.”
“But Your Highness, you'll collapse at this rate.”
“Don't worry about it. If others see me being supported as I walk, they would find it strange.”
After adjusting his breath, Calvin started walking as he recalled his meeting with [Bagrada Noah Algrand], the Emperor of the Algrand Empire.
(Father has changed since he took the throne. He used to be a kind man, yet none of his former kindness can be seen anywhere.)
During his childhood, his father had been kind and gentle.
However, everything changed after he became the Emperor.
(That's what it means to bear the weight of the crown.)
The pressure that he felt from the Emperor was so great that just talking to him drained Calvin of his mental and physical strength.
Calvin had also been training, but the feeling of intimidation that came from his father was something else.
“Why did His Majesty request for Your Highness?” a worried knight asked.
Upon being asked about the sudden summon, Calvin replied, not stopping on his track.
He was walking at a fast pace, trying to shake off his concerns.
“If I lose in this proxy war, I'll be stripped of my position as Crown Prince, and the position would be given to Cleo.--Then, I'll be handed over to Count Banfield.”
Hearing this, the knights became pale.
Calvin has had numerous conflicts with Liam in the past
Once he was handed over to Liam, the latter could do whatever he pleased with the prince.
Not to imply anything dirty, but he would be allowed to take things out on the prince for everything he's done throughout the years.
Worse came to worst, if the enemy faction got hold of him, Calvin might eventually rue the day he was born.
“I-is it because of the requisition? Your Highness, how can we be sure that Cleo hasn't betrayed us?”
“Nothing would come of worrying over that. Instead, we should focus on trying to win.”
(That's right. There's nowhere left for me to retreat.)
He thought of his family, namely his wife and children.
(If I were to fail, my family will be erased. I must avoid that at all cost.)
An aristocrat that belonged to his faction rushed up to him with a bright expression on his face.
“I bring good news, Your Highness!”
◇
“DAMN IT ALL!!”
At the bridge of her battleship, Marie roared in anger, kicking her chair and destroying it.
The monitor showed the wreckage of the Cleo Faction's fleet.
Clearly frightened, the operator confirmed their next course of action with Marie.
“W-we've picked up distress signals, h-hence we'll be moving to their rescue.”
“Hurry up!”
Marie was frustrated as their allied troops had suffered defeat at the hands of the enemies.
She had rushed to their rescue, but she was too late, and the enemies had escaped.
“CHRISTINA! That minced woman must be shittin' with me!”
She hacked at her broken chair several times with her sword to relieve her stress, frightening those around her.
Marie was furious as Tia had been put in charge of their command while she was stuck wiping the latter's ass when she failed.
Exasperated, Marie's lieutenant tried to calm her down.
“Please calm yourself. Lady Marie isn't at fault here.”
“But I'm the one that has to report to Lord Liam that we weren't able to rescue our allies on time! And yet you're telling me to put up with that!? Cuz of that minced meat's mistake, I have betrayed Lord Liam's expectations! I refuse to let that go!”
Her lieutenant shrugged before smiling lightly.
“But it's not all bad, is it? --Use this chance to kick her down. Then, Lady Marie can stand next to Lord Liam in her stead.”
“--You're right. We're heading back the moment we're done with this rescue mission. I'll report that minced woman's mistakes to Lord Liam.”
“That would be wise. We haven't had the upper hand since the beginning of the war.”
Several months had passed since the war began, and the Cleo Faction had suffered defeat after defeat.
Though the defeats were minor and only served to put them at a slight disadvantage, Liam's reputation would inevitably drop if they continued to lose.
Marie couldn't accept this and bit her nails.
“--But it's strange that she's off the marks by this much.”
Marie was usually hostile to Tia, but she still approved of Tia's abilities.
Her lieutenant pointed out the possibility that the enemies might have a good commander as well.
“There must a good commander on the their side. Besides, the Calvin Faction has been pushed to a corner. Wouldn't that explain their unity?”
“Sure, there's that, but my sixth sense is tingling.--Someone on our side is provoding information to the enemies.”
When spies were brought up, her liutenant didn't seem too surprised.
“But of course. We've sent some over as well.”
“I think the traitor is someone standing close to Lord Liam.--Investigate Theodore thoroughly.”
Her instincts pointed to Theodore's betrayal.
◇
Around the same time, Tia, who had not only failed to send rescue personnel in time but also suffered countless defeats, had her head hung low before Liam.
Her face was pale, and cold sweat ran down her forehead.
Theodore, who stood next to Liam, couldn't help but laugh at the female knight's pitiful figure, remembering how she was treated better than him despite only being a vassal.
“Months have passed since the war commenced. What do you have to say for yourself, Miss Christina?”
Tia raised her head and glared at him.
Theodore, bearing the brunt of her killing intent, took a step back.
“W-what's with that attitude!? It seems she doesn't feel responsible for our losses. Off with her head, now!”
Liam intercepted Theodore's speech.
“Tia is my knight. You have no right to make such decisions.”
Annoyed at being pointed out the truth, Theodore attacked Liam as the military supervisor.
“Then who's going to take responsibility for this? His Highness Cleo is greatly disappointed by our continuous defeats.”
(But well, I guess I am leaking your information.)
Theodore laughed vulgarly in his heart, but he noticed Klaus's gaze coming from the other side of Liam and collected himself.
(--Anyway, why isn't he dispatching the knight he's most proud of? Sure, this female knight is top notch, but she'll still inferior next to Klaus.)
Some time has passed since the war began, but Liam hadn't sent Klaus into the battlefield yet.
All he did was help Liam with minor adjustments, so in Theodore's eyes, Klaus wasn't being used to his maximum potential.
(Since he hasn't sent Klaus in yet, does it mean he's not serious? Is he giving the young knight a chance to gain experience?)
Theodore tried to guess what was going through Liam's mind, but he felt creeped out by the stares that Klaus occasionally gave him.
The man in question didn't utter a word and only looked at him in silence--terrifying Theodore greatly as he worried that his cover was blown.
(As expected, he's a dangerous man. If not for him, I would've sent Liam to his grave by now.)
He had been leaking information to the enemies to defeat Liam, but the results hadn't been great.
◇
The time he hated most was finally over.
After Klaus returned to his room, he finished some of his tasks and fished out his prized stomach pills from his desk drawer.
“Haaa...Our military supervisor, Theodore-dono, should be milder in his speech. I get that he's angry that we keep losing, but being angry won't get him anywhere.”
The Cleo Faction's fleet lacked cohesion as Theodore kept butting into certain matters.
“Also, should I bring that up to him? No, would that hurt his pride?”
Klaus was racking his brain over a matter related to Theodore.
That being...
“If I point out that his nose hair is showing, he'll probably feel humiliated. I wonder if I should point it out or not. Has nobody else noticed? But then again, Lord Liam doesn't bother looking at Theodore-dono's face very much.”
...Theodore's nose hair.
They were normally hidden, but his nostrils widened whenever he mocked others, revealing his nose hair for the world to see.
After noticing this, Klaus couldn't help but worry over what he should do with Theodore.
To point out or not to point out, that was the question for Klaus.
“If Lord Liam notices, he'll probably tell him outright, but he doesn't make that kind of expression before Lord Liam.”
He even thought of gifting Theodore a nose hair treatment tool, but he could easily imagine how angry Theodore would be for hurting his pride.
And that was why Klaus was in a dilemma.
“--In the first place, why's my position next to Lord Liam? If I wasn't beside him, I wouldn't have noticed the nose hair.”
He wondered why his designated spot was beside Liam.
After all, all he did was take care of some miscellaeneous tasks.
He was aware of being Liam's Head Knight, but it felt like he was been overestimated.
“Ahh~the medicine's working its magic.”
Just as he was about to go to sleep after taking his favorite medicine, he received a call.
“Who's calling me at this hour? --L-Lord Liam!?”
It was a call from Liam.
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Brian ( ´・ω・｀): “As brothers in ulcer pain, it's painful to see how demanding Klaus-dono's work is. Having said that, nose hair, eh? Pointing it out would be the merciful thing to do, is it not?”
Wakagi-chan m9( ゜д゜): “I bet Wallace's life that Theodore would hold a grudge if he does that!”
Brian ( ´・ω・｀): “Oh, right...this Brian is relieved to hear that Volume 3 of 'I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!' is being well received. Please show much love to the 3rd volume which depicts the encounter between Lord Liam and Lady Rosetta.”
