"Ordering me around as she pleases, that damn minced-meat woman!"

On the bridge of the battleship, Marie was kicking and beating a punching bag—or rather, a lump of metal prepared for that purpose.

She was venting her frustration on the punching bag to suppress her anger and excitement.

The bridge crew, accustomed to Marie's outbursts, ignored her and continued with their duties.

Standing beside her, her adjutant knight tried to calm the rampaging Marie.

"It's a shame we couldn't take down Viscount Traid, wasn't it?"

Marie glared at her adjutant's wry smile, resentful of the orders from the minced-meat woman—Tia.

"We were so close to finishing them off!"

Her tone was rough, but one could say this was the real Marie.

To her adjutant, her pseudo-aristocratic tone of speech sounded like nothing more than a facade.

She was just on edge from the battle, and her true way of speaking was coming out.

"The order was to let them escape and observe their movements. Besides, didn't Lord Liam strictly remind you to follow the minced-meat woman's orders on the battlefield?"

"Guh!?—Damn it all!"

With Liam's name brought up, even Marie had no choice but to silently obey.

Before the battle, Liam had warned Marie to "obey Tia's orders."

This was Liam's decision to prioritize the judgment of Tia, who excelled in command, in order to deal with the punitive force.

She punched the lump of metal, bending it into a 'V' shape, and as she panted, Marie began to regain her composure.

Her purple hair, stuck to her sweaty forehead, felt unpleasant, and she used her hand to lift it and sweep it back.

"We're going to pursue the influential nobles to wherever they've fled. In the meantime, let the troops rest."

"Understood."

While her adjutant issued orders to the crew, Marie steadied her breathing.

(It's true that it's less troublesome to round them up and wipe them out in one go rather than chasing them around. But no matter how many we thin out, the enemy still outnumbers us. If we're to fight their assembled forces, we'll need to be prepared, I suppose.)

Tia had her reasons for giving the order, and Marie had figured them out.

She also understood that a direct clash would result in casualties on their side.

Therefore, Marie turned to her adjutant to issue her own orders.

"Have a detached force pursue the smaller enemy fleets. Also, issue a strict order to prioritize and crush any supply fleets we find."

Her long-serving adjutant complied with Marie's command.

"Understood. By the way—"

"What is it?"

Marie glared at him for making small talk, but the adjutant just grinned.

"I hear Lord Liam is making the same moves."

Hearing this, Marie's body began to tremble.

Her cheeks flushed red.

"As expected of Lord Liam! He reached the same conclusion as that minced-meat woman even faster than I did!"

◇

Meanwhile, Tia, upon hearing the news that Liam was going around defeating small enemy fleets, covered her mouth.

It wasn't out of surprise, but to hide her grinning face from those around her.

Receiving the report on the bridge, Tia praised Liam's actions.

"—So Lord Liam had already predicted this would happen, even before I started gathering the enemy."

Her female knight adjutant asked what she meant.

"Are you saying Lord Liam read Lady Christiana's strategy?"

"That's not it. He anticipated this outcome and is prioritizing attacks on small fleets and supply convoys. Without any discussion, Lord Liam and I reached the same conclusion—this is the bond I share with him, something that fossil woman could never have!"

She was overjoyed that she had caught up to Liam's thinking, and that the two of them had taken the optimal course of action without any consultation.

For Tia, this was proof that they were connected by a deep, invisible bond.

Her adjutant deeply agreed.

"You have the deepest relationship with him among the knight order, Lady Christiana. It wouldn't be strange for there to be a special bond between master and servant."

"I know, right?! Right?!"

Squealing with delight, the two of them, given their apparent ages, looked just like students chatting happily.

If they weren't wearing their knight uniforms, they would just seem like a noisy pair.

But the content of their conversation was dreadful.

"If we annihilate the enemy like this, Lord Liam is sure to praise me. To surpass Klaus, who successfully defended the home planet, I need an achievement of this magnitude."

"Yes, we'll wipe out every last one of them! This will be their graveyard!"

As the two chatted cheerfully, an operator approached with a report.

"Um, excuse me."

The cheerful Tia turned to the operator with a smile.

"Yes?"

"Actually, Her Excellency Marie is also taking the same actions as Lord Liam—Eek!?"

However, the moment the operator mentioned Marie's name and reported that she was acting in the same way as Liam, Tia's expression became blank.

"I don't need that information. Regarding that fossil woman, could you just tell me whether or not she is following my orders?"

"Y-yes, ma'am!"

Terrified by the expressionless Tia, the operator scurried back to her station.

Tia then clasped her hands together as if in prayer.

"Lord Liam, please await good news."

◇

Eulisia rushed onto the bridge of the flagship, Argos.

The reason was that she had heard a direct report from a messenger who had just arrived on the Argos.

"Lord Liam! Lieutenant General Christiana is—"

I turned only my head toward the flustered Eulisia and, with a small sigh, told her I had already received the report.

"I received the report over the ship's comms. She plans to gather the enemy and crush them all at once, right?"

"You told me to ask the messenger directly, yet you act like this? Isn't that strange!?"

"I only told you to get all the details you could from the messenger."

The higher one's position, the less accurate the reports from below become.

Unless I investigate myself, there's no way to know the details.

No one would want to deliver a report that might incur my displeasure.

But Eulisia is different.

This woman, somewhere deep down, looks down on me.

I don't like it, but in the sense that she doesn't care about incurring my displeasure, Eulisia is a valuable asset.

"So? Did you hear anything interesting?"

Eulisia returned to my side, and with a dissatisfied look on her face, she relayed the casual conversations she had gleaned from the messengers.

"It's the same as always. Her Excellency Christiana was apparently quite excited, saying she'd arrived at the same conclusion as you, Lord Liam."

That Tia... it seems she's deliberately letting the enemy gather to wipe them out in one fell swoop.

She really goes all out.

I'm just hitting the enemies I see, so how on earth did she come to the conclusion that we're on the same page?

"She really is the same as always. And what about the messenger from Marie's side?"

"Apparently, she's been using a lump of metal as a punching bag to relieve stress lately. Placing her under Her Excellency Christiana's command was a mistake."

She has the gall to point out my mistakes to my face.

"If I let Marie run wild, there'd be no coordination. She'll just have to endure it for a while."

In terms of personal relationships, Tia and Marie are the worst possible match, but in terms of abilities, they're not a bad pair.

In fact, they're a good match.

Marie is suited for frontline command, while Tia can direct the entire operation from the rear.

They're just different types, but both are competent commanders.

No matter which one I placed as supreme commander, victory would have been certain.

Eulisia, unable to affirm my thinking, suggested there must have been a better way.

"Wouldn't it have been better to simply unify the chain of command under His Excellency Klaus?"

"I've also entrusted him with the defense of the home planet. It would be cruel to give him too much work, wouldn't it?"

"Are you perhaps too soft on His Excellency Klaus, Lord Liam?"

"I love competent subordinates."

Klaus really is exceptional.

Even compared to Tia and Marie, his stability is on another level.

Those two are competent, but not enough to push Klaus aside and make them supreme commander.

"Well, he did actually manage to defend the home planet from the enemy's main force. I'm wondering what to give him as a reward once the war is over."

It seems Eulisia doesn't doubt Klaus's abilities either.

"He defended the home planet magnificently. There was hardly any damage to speak of; he's truly the Empire's strongest knight. It's a good thing he came to serve the Banfield family."

Hearing Eulisia's words, the surrounding military personnel grew tense.

They were worried about when I might finally snap at Eulisia's disrespectful attitude.

Eulisia, why don't you try reading the room for once?

"From my perspective, it's more of a mystery why he was treated as a common knight, unable to get promoted."

The reason he came to the Banfield family was that the house of his former lord was destroyed.

It's completely baffling why a house would fall with Klaus in its service.

Apparently, he wasn't valued highly and remained a common knight—it's all too mysterious.

Eulisia let out a small sigh.

"It's possible he was seen as a threat because his abilities were too high."

"So it's that pattern."

"Shouldn't you be more careful, Lord Liam? If you favor him too much, you'll suffer terribly when he betrays you."

In my past life, I heard a similar story from a junior colleague.

There was an emperor who, after founding his nation, successively punished and gave the cold shoulder to the loyal retainers who had served him with distinction.

When I first heard that story, I thought, "How cruel."

But now that I'm in a position of power, I understand.

When it comes to betrayal, the most frightening ones are not the mediocre or incompetent, but the capable.

It's the competent ones you should be most wary of.

However, my case is different.

"If I die because of Klaus's betrayal, it just means that's all I amounted to as a man."

Tension ran through the bridge at my words, but Eulisia, oblivious to the atmosphere, continued the conversation.

"You're as bold as ever. Aren't you afraid?"

I know the pain of betrayal.

That's why, from the very beginning, I haven't trusted anyone.

I value Klaus because he produces results.

"I've never trusted anyone from the very beginning."

When I said that with a faint smile, the atmosphere on the bridge grew even worse.

An evil lord—from the moment I decided to walk the path of evil, I resolved not to trust people.

I give them my confidence, but not my trust.

This is the nature of a corrupt lord.

Since the mood had soured, I stood up from my seat to return to my quarters.

"I'm resting for the day. Call me if anything happens."

With just those words, the bridge crew saluted in unison and saw me off.

◇

(What a pitiful person.)

Eulisia felt sympathy for Liam.

Though his words were usually harsh, his actions were undeniably those of a wise ruler. She felt as if she had just glimpsed the darkness he carried.

It's been a long time since she first got involved with Liam as a saleswoman for the Third Weapons Factory.

Since she started working by his side, she's had more opportunities to get to know the man named Liam.

(The more I learn about him, the more I see the darkness he holds. He grew up in an environment where it's no wonder he'd turn out that way, but it's a miracle he grew up as sane as he did.)

Liam's darkness—it began when he was abandoned by his parents as a child, saddled with a title, a territory, and an enormous debt.

As Eulisia watched the door Liam had exited through, one of the soldiers approached her.

"Madam Secretary's remarks send a chill down my spine. There are only a few people in the entire domain who can speak to Lord Liam like that."

"He was actually enjoying it, you know."

When she said that Liam had enjoyed their conversation, the soldiers' faces twitched.

"We wouldn't dare say such things, not even as a joke."