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Vol. 10 Chapter 5 - Parenting
🕑 Added 2022-04-04 10:14:29 +0000 UTCAfter Cleo left, the Guide came out of a toy box that was in the corner of the room and approached the girl in his hat form.
“All this hardship, just for them to constantly produce failures. I've been getting a decent amount of negative emotions thanks to that, but they really are a bunch of good for nothings!”
The Guide expressed his anger towards Cleo and the manager of the institute, only to be lifted up and hugged by the girl.
“How are we going to play today?”
The girl that Cleo and his associates had prepared to kill Liam was as innocent as a baby.
She didn't question her orders to kill Liam, and whether the act of killing was considered good or evil didn't matter to her.
She would do the deed she was told to do, and the Guide was her playmate.
“Let me tell you a story today.”
“Yay! I love Mr. Hat's stories!”
“This is a tale about how I suffered under the hands of that villainous Liam. That's right--I used to go around in search of negative emotions, actively making people unhappy. All I wanted was a teeny bit of entertainment.”
The Guide used his arms and legs that stuck out of the hat to emphasize his last point.
“But Liam, this evil man, made my life miserable! He robbed me of all the fun in the world and forced me to accept feelings of gratitude! All I ever did was seek enjoyment from other people's suffering, yet Liam has deprived me of this joy.”
The girl had undergone accelerated growth and had only been installed the minimum amount of knowledge, which meant she lacked the ability to accurately judge right from wrong.
Hence, she felt sad after hearing the Guide's story.
“Poor Mr. Hat.”
Quite frankly, the Guide didn't like the feeling of being pitied.
'Why do I have to be pitied by you? Disgusting.'
However, the Guide liked this girl who was miserably unaware of the situation she was in.
(Even so, what a twist of fate. She's a failed product, yet she's the one with the highest potential.)
She was a girl despite being Liam's clone, and the Guide saw her as a complete failure in the beginning.
That said, he helped her as he felt much more at ease helping a girl than clones that looked similar to Liam, and she was still alive precisely because of his help.
“Fufufu, make sure you grow nice and proper so that you can kill Liam one day.”
“Yeah! I'll do my best!”
The girl grew quickly under the Guide's parenting.
◇
A giant fleet that belongs to the Cleo Faction has gathered near Baron Gurin's home planet.
Flagships arrive one after another, and aristocrats come aboard my ship [Argos] in small boats where they are then led to a large conference hall.
The super-dreadnought class battleship is needlessly large, spanning over several thousand meters, but the space is still limited.
In spite of the limited space, numerouse aristocrats have gathered in the large conference hall for a standing party.
Common sense dictates that we have a meeting and discuss strategies, thereby increasing the chance of winning as much as possible.
However, for a villain such as I, a party is much more to my taste.
To raise our spirit in preparation for the big war ahead, a lavish party is being held.
--Oh how villainous this feels!
“Hmm, I think I'm staring to get the hang of this,” I mutter quietly.
Inside the party venue, I see Baron Exner and Kurt approach me.
“Liam!”
Kurt greets me cheerfully with a raised arm.
When Kurt arrives before me, we shake hands and proceed to talk.
“It's been a while since we've met each other like this. So, how's military life treating you? All good?”
“I'm fine. I'm taking some time off from the military though.”
“I see that you're as serious as ever. Don't forget that you'll be succeeding the Exner Family. Before you take over the territory, you should let loose and play around.”
“I don't have the leeway to play around.”
“That sounds just like what you'd say. Give me a call when you want to return to the military. I'll send a messenger over telling them to give you preferential treatment.”
“Liam hasn't changed one bit, huh.”
We've contacted each other on several occassions, but it's been a long time since we met face-to-face like this.
It's different meeting someone in person, and our conversation start to heat up.
Just at the right time, Baron Exner joins us.
“What a grand party this is. No one would think we're heading for war after seeing this.”
The Baron appears exasperated, but even more so impressed by the scale of the party and the venue, not to mention the luxury inside my flagship.
Baron Exner and Kurt are fellow evil lords, but they don't flaunt their wealth like I do.
Furthermore, the size of their territory is much smaller compared to mine, a Count's.
I very much respect how they try to squeeze out as much as possible from such a small territory, but the problem lies in the fact that they're satisfied with that alone.
They should learn how to spend as well; as of now, they try to save money almost to a fault.
“Please enjoy your time here. Oh, and would Kurt be participating in the war on the Baron's flagship?”
I turn the conversation towards Baron Exner, and Kurt takes a step back, not taking part in the discussion.
Since a discussion is being held between the heads of the families, as someone who's still in the position of a successor, it seems he's withdrawn from the conversation.
“I'll be leaving him with a hundred ships from my fleet. He's still too inexperienced to be in the front lines. As such, I'll have him watch from the rear.”
“Indeed. In case of an unfortunate accident, things would turn ugly if the head of the family and its successor is on the same ship. Shall I have him join up with my reserve force?”
“Will that be alright?”
If they have a powerful fleet like mine, they can be on the same ship together.
However, it's normal to split up so as to avoid the worst case scenario where both the head and the successor die at the same time.
“Yes. In fact, I've offered this to the others as well.”
There are quite a number of parents who wish to have their beloved sons and daughters stay in the rear.
The opposite is true as well.
In some cases, the successors are put in the front lines while the family heads stay in the rear.
It's my duty as the Commander to make sure that the people who get sent to the rear get to spend a luxurious time.
--In reality though, they serve as hostages.
If the family heads and the successors in the front line misbehave, the hostages will lose their lives.
Understandably, Baron Exner seems a little hesitant, but he eventually promises to leave Kurt with me.
“Then I'll leave him to you.”
I won't treat him as a hostage. As long as he follows orders, he'll be able to have a good time in the back.
◇
After Kurt left Liam, he went around to greet other aristocrats who would be in the rear helping out with the logistics.
He wanted to speak a bit more with Liam, but he understood that the latter was very busy as the fleet's Commander.
Even at parties like this, aristocrats would come greet him one after another, and dealing with them was a part of his duties as Commander.
“Just like always, he's got things together.”
While holding a glass of liquor, Kurt watched Liam from a distance before turning to look at the party venue.
'Why are they having a party before a war?' some might ask.
If military officers were to hear of this party, they'd be irked, with only those at the rank of General and above showing some understanding.
Even though people here had some military experience, they were, at the end of the day, aristocrats.
They preferred parties over meetings, and conversations flowed better when they were in parties.
The right clothes for the right occassion-that was Kurt's evaluation.
(If you spend too much time in the military, you start forgetting about what it's like being an aristocrat.)
Liam personally met with a number of family heads and their successors, telling them that they would be sent to the rear as logistic personell.
The anxiety on their faces were wiped clean, though many were still worried as they were being sent to the rear in exchange for business related favors. [1]
As he looked at the faces around him, Kurt noticed a woman walking up to him.
She was a short-haired woman wearing a dress with short skirts, and she appeared rather embarassed.
When she arrived near Kurt, she stopped on her track and greeted him.
“I'm Marion from the family of Viscount Olgren. Kurt-dono, I'd presume?”
“That would indeed be me. Olgren, you say...are you perhaps a family member of Margrave Olgren, the one responsible for keeping the Empire's border with the Kingdom of Dominion?”
“I'm from the branch family.”
Kurt recalled Liam's story seeing the smile on [Marion Sera Olgren].
(The traitor who snuggled up to Liam so that she could leak information to the enemies?)
He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly in disgust, and Marion caught this.
“There's no need to get worked up about it. The Count's forgiven me.--Or rather, I'm still being punished for it.”
Marion liked to dress up as a man, even as she attended parties, yet Liam forced her to join this party all dolled up.
Some piqued Kurt's interest.
“I thought neither the main family nor the brach family of Margrave Olgren would be joining the war?”
“I'm a hostage. The main family wants to show the world that the Olgren Family will always be by the Count's side. If I'm all that's needed to show this, it's a cheap price for them to pay.”
Yare yare, seeing Marion shake her head, Kurt put his lips on the glass of liquor.
As a woman who betrayed Liam, Kurt couldn't see her in a favorable light.
“It's a miracle you're still alive after betraying Liam.”
“In exchange, he humiliates me and works my fingers to the bone. Liam-senpai is a real slave-driver.”
Marion expressed her frustration of being dressed up as a woman.
While ranting about how Liam “worked her to the bone”, she looked around at her surrounding in a particular manner.
(Is something going on? Also, she's calling Liam her senpai--she's being overly familiar with him.)
Kurt felt something was wrong.
Marion bowed and left
“I'll be excusing myself as I have a lot of things I have to do.”
◇
In the corner of the party venue, Baron Gurin was enjoying the sake and the food that were being served.
“Wonderful. These drinks and food are all items that aren't available in my territory. Even in the Capital, these would be considered rare luxuries.”
Theodore, who was watching the Baron up close, had a frown on his face.
“Baron, have you forgotten your role here?”
“Don't worry. I've begun extracting resources out of Liam and breaking down the faction from within. How about your side?”
When the subject of the conversation shifted to him, Theodore began talking about what he's been doing.
“I'll be boarding Liam's flagship and monitoring him from the side.--Please be careful with how you handle inside information.”
“But of course.”
Theodore tries his best to mask his frustration while watching Baron Gurin go crazy with the food and drinks.
(People that are born into riches are well and truly useless.)
Despite being born into nobility, Theodore's status was low, which eventually led to an inferiority complex.
To him, this party was no different from a joke.
(A war is imminent, yet they're having a party while being completely at home.When His Highness Cleo takes the throne, we'll have them all eliminated, and I'll receive a position I rightfully deserve.)
He was burning with an ambition to make it big as an aristocrat.
◇
After the party ends and everyone disbands, I return to my room.
“Welcome back, Master.”
“--What are you doing inside my room?”
With three robot maids behind her, Eulisia bows at me.
For some reason, she's in a maid outfit.
“At least pretend like you're happy!”
“Those are my maids' constumes, and to begin with, your task this time is to act as my support.”
What's she doing? Has she forgotten her responsibilities?
Seeing me pull back, Eulisia starts crying on the spot while shouting “You're terrible!”
“I mean, you're about to marry Lady Rosetta, but you haven't made my position any clearer! Aren't I supposed to assist you on the battlefield and such? Then being your partner at night is also part of my--”
“I already have one.”
I cut her off, to which Eulisia makes a pathetic display of herself by clinging to me as she cries.
“You don't! There's clearly nobody here to act as your partner!”
“Silence! My marriage is right around the corner!”
Eulisia makes a scene, and I receive a call just as I'm trying to peel her off of me.
“Who's this?--Kukuri?”
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Brian (´；ω；｀): “The day has finally come. Volume 3 of 'I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire' is on sale starting today. This is all thanks to the readers' support. Brian's moved to tears.”
Wakagi-chan ( ゜д゜): “Everyone seems to just looove robot maids. How 'bout having a chapter dedicated to Naegi-chan at the end of the book?”
Brian (*´ω｀*): “Hahaha, the plant's making funny jokes.”
Wakagi-chan (；゜Д゜): “It's not!?!? C'mon. I've contributed so much in promotions, a special appearance isn't too much to ask, is it? I want to stand out more! More stagetime I say!”
Brian (*´ω｀*): “Volume 10 will continue to be released, but please show Volume 3 of the light novel much love as well!”
[1] Not sure if I translated this correctly tbh
