At the local government office where I work, I was thinking about various things.

My current workplace is very comfortable, with all the trivial matters taken care of.

The annoying bosses and the local thugs connected to them have been wiped out, so there are no problems.

If any arose, I eliminated them with force.

Thanks to that, I've secured a comfortable work environment where no one bothers me.

I've finished my work for the day and am just waiting to go home.

Fifteen minutes left—

I was thinking about various things.

First—I have to win the war between the interstellar nations.

Second, pacifying my territory.

Third, crushing those who mocked the One-Flash Style.

The first and second are essential and time-sensitive.

The third can wait, so I'll put it off for later.

The fact that the One-Flash Style is the ultimate sword art is unshakable.

However, war waits for no one.

Wars between interstellar nations are on such a massive scale that even preparing for them takes time.

Even so, both sides will make their move in a few years.

"Now then, who should I deploy and where?"

I'm currently in the office that used to belong to my incompetent boss's boss.

Although I'm technically still in training, I've cleaned out all the higher-ups, so I'm the one in this position now.

What exactly is 'training,' anyway? I pondered that for a moment, but since I couldn't care less about my job, I quickly stopped thinking about it.

More importantly, there are pressing matters at hand.

"The capital planet is the problem."

If I don't station forces on the capital planet, I can't fight with peace of mind.

As I was contemplating, Kukuri emerged from the shadows.

"Lord Liam, may I have a moment?"

"What is it?"

"—There have been terrorist attacks on the capital planet recently."

"That's a common occurrence."

"But these are suspicious. Their stated ideology is commonplace, but their execution is too skillful. Furthermore, the Imperial agencies aren't making any serious effort to capture them."

Hearing that, I couldn't help but realize.

It's an assassination squad disguised as terrorists.

If Kukuri is the one reporting it, then we're the targets.

Even if they kill us, they'll just make the excuse that we were caught in a terrorist attack.

What a roundabout method. —I should take notes.

"Can you guys handle it?"

"If we push ourselves a bit."

"Then leave it. I have something else for you to do. —Investigate the traitors. But don't make a move. We'll use them."

"Yes, sir. However, regarding the traitors—the Count from the United Kingdom is suspicious, but it will take time to dispatch someone. We have already sent our people to the Unified Government, though."

It seems they sent people to the Unified Government when the demonstrations occurred.

Kukuri, you're a hard worker.

"The Count? He'll betray us. No need to send anyone."

"—Shall we dispose of him?"

"I'll get rid of him when I have time. Don't worry about it for now."

Count Norden, was it? He's a count I had dealings with through Thomas, but he's a corrupt lord from the United Kingdom.

However, I feel like we had a Norden in our domain too, didn't we? A baronial house, was it?

Well, it doesn't matter.

I wanted to get along as fellow villains, but he'll surely betray me once he learns of my situation.

If our positions were reversed, I would definitely betray him.

"Be careful with the information coming from him. And don't forget to plant fakes in the information we send out."

"I hear Count Norden will be taking to the battlefield?"

"I'd like to eliminate him if I get the chance, but—the more pressing issue right now is the capital planet."

They've gone to the trouble of preparing a terrorist group to try and eliminate us.

No matter who I leave behind, I'll still be worried.

—Wait a minute.

Do I really need to go to the battlefield myself?

I'll station myself on the capital planet and restructure the personnel deployment from there.

"This could work. Kukuri, gather the key personnel when you get back."

"Yes, sir!"

◇

There was a knight named Klaus.

Within Liam's knightly order, he was a typical, ordinary knight.

With a decent amount of experience and a tendency to worry, he was a rare, normal knight in Liam's order, which was filled with extremists.

And this very Klaus was trembling with a stomachache.

(You've got to be kidding me!!)

A conference room in a luxury hotel.

Faced with the future personnel assignments being handed out, everyone was bewildered.

Liam sat in his chair, looking imposing.

He didn't seem to be joking.

"Regarding Prince Cleo's expeditionary force, the de facto commander-in-chief will be you, Klaus."

"Lord Liam, I have no experience commanding a grand fleet of several million ships."

"Not a problem."

"No, it's nothing but problems!?"

What did he mean, 'not a problem'? To Klaus, it felt like nothing but a problem.

He was in a position to command not only the Empire's regular fleet but also the fleets of the nobles.

On top of that, Liam was entrusting him with a massive fleet of sixty thousand ships.

Tia and Marie were directing jealous glares at him for being in such a position.

These two were the top one or two most competent troublemakers in the knightly order.

"That's a fine position you've got, Sir Klaus."

"If the burden is too heavy, I'd be happy to take your place."

As he ignored their gazes, Liam's voice dropped.

"Do you have a problem with my choice of personnel?"

Hearing this, Tia and Marie hurriedly knelt and apologized.

"N-Not at all!"

"Complain about Lord Liam's decision?! Never! B-But, are you truly certain about Sir Klaus? I hear he has no track record of commanding a fleet of this scale?"

There were only two people in Liam's camp with experience in wars between grand fleets of several million ships.

Those two were Tia and Marie.

During her time as a princess knight, Tia had participated in a war where fleets of that size clashed, in cooperation with other nations.

As for Marie, she was once renowned as one of the Three Knights of the old Empire.

She had also participated in wars between interstellar nations, commanding one of the wings.

She was far more experienced than Klaus.

"Lord Liam, I fear the burden is too great for me—"

"You can do it. I'm sure of it. I'm putting Tia under you, so work her to the bone. And, Chengshi."

Liam called out the name of Chengshi, who had shown no interest until now.

She was the unhinged knight who had tried to kill Liam.

"Yes?"

"You're the strongest one we have. You will serve under Klaus and guard Prince Cleo."

"—You trust me?"

"If you carry out the job you've been given, I'll 'play' with you again."

Hearing that, Chengshi blushed and shivered.

Klaus thought.

(Wait, Lord Liam! Does this mean you're just dumping the two biggest troublemakers on me!?)

Marie timidly raised her hand.

She had a lonely expression, as her name hadn't been called.

"Lord Liam, what about my assignment?"

"—You will lead three thousand ships and hunt pirates. I'm entrusting you with the defense of the territory. It's a small force, but I expect you to hold the line."

"Y-Yes, sir!"

Being tasked with protecting Liam's territory was also a sign of his great trust.

After all, Liam would be living on the capital planet for a while.

Klaus was worried about that as well.

"Lord Liam, how many forces do you intend to leave on the capital planet?"

"—Three thousand should be more than enough."

"N-No, that's far too few! The nobles of the Calvin Faction will definitely not miss this opportunity!"

"That's fine. You all just need to ensure Prince Cleo's victory. I'll be relaxing on the capital planet and observing."

He said 'relaxing,' but it was obvious the capital planet would become a battlefield too.

Leaving Liam there was—extremely dangerous.

Even thinking of him as bait, it was too risky.

"B-But—"

"You're being persistent! —More importantly, what about Eulisia? I was planning on putting her to work as well."

When Liam asked about Eulisia, who wasn't present, Klaus tilted his head.

"Um, if you mean Lady Eulisia, Lady Rosetta mentioned she was having her return to the military for a while. Something about her getting lazy recently."

"—What is she doing at a busy time like this? Recall her at once! I'll give her work to do in our noisy territory."

Had he forgotten about Eulisia?

Klaus found himself doubting his master.

(There might not be a concubine path for her after all. —Sigh.)

◇

After leaving the conference room, I immediately went to a fitting room.

The person I had summoned was Patrice of the Newlands Company—one of my purveying merchants.

Right now, he was attending to Rosetta.

"It looks wonderful on you, Lady Rosetta."

"U-Um, what are we going to do with so many dresses? This is the thirtieth one already."

"They are for parties."

"We're going to parties? With this many, I won't have to worry for decades."

"No, you won't wear a dress more than once, so you'll go through these in about a month."

"What!? Oh, are they all cheap, perhaps? They're disposable dresses, I see."

"Yes, they are quite inexpensive. The price is about this much."

"S-So expensive! But I guess thirty dresses would cost that much?"

"Ah, that's for one dress."

"—Huh?"

Rosetta froze in astonishment.

Beside her, Ciel was frozen in the same way.

I was having dresses prepared for Ciel as well, so she could attend the parties.

The earnest Ciel-chan probably hates the idea of wearing expensive dresses to parties.

—I, on the other hand, love it.

Wasteful extravagance is the true pleasure of being a corrupt lord!

Now, as for why I'm doing this—it's because I'll be holding parties every day on the capital planet.

I planned to spend my time on the capital planet indulging in pleasure.

If anyone tries to mess with me while I'm doing that, I'll just deal with them.

It's better to lie in wait for the enemy than to go searching for them.

After all, the parties I'll be attending are held under a different name—but I'm the one pulling all the strings behind the scenes.

I'll have the idle-looking Wallace manage the daily parties, while I just attend and fool around.

Patrice approached me.

"Lord Liam, a message from the high officials of the Unified Government. They say they were not involved in the demonstrations. In fact, they were surprised. They said it's unbelievable that their people would start a demonstration so readily."

As a result of my generous welcome, some people must have gotten the wrong idea and been incited by agents.

I don't really care about that, and I never thought the Unified Government was involved.

They've probably infiltrated some spies, but everyone does that.

"I wasn't very suspicious of them in the first place."

"—What will you do with the ringleaders of the demonstration? If we follow the Empire's way, you'd have to burn the entire planet. In fact, that's what they were concerned about."

"How kind of them to their former citizens. I won't burn anything. But they will face retribution."

They will be punished for causing a disturbance in my territory.

"More importantly, can you win the war against the United Kingdom? Even if you do, I believe your faction's power will be greatly diminished. Also, don't you have a shortage of personnel?"

Aren't you lacking in talented people?

I smiled at the concerned Patrice.

"In this world, investment is important, you know."

"Do you have some connection?"

"—The time has come to collect. That's all."

I've been sending the youth of my territory to study abroad for some time now, and I suppose it's about time they started working for me.

Military personnel, government officials—there are plenty of people who have received my support.

It's a secret that I'd forgotten about them until now.

"Manpower isn't an issue. As for the war—I'll make use of the traitors."

Watching Rosetta and Ciel try on one dress after another, I looked forward to the events to come.

"Patrice, this battle is already won."

"I should hope so, we can't have you losing. Even if you defeat the United Kingdom, the Calvin Faction will be waiting for you afterward."

This guy doesn't understand anything.

The opponent I said I've already beaten—is Calvin.

That Calvin bastard, he thought he was sure to win and made a careless move.

I never thought Calvin would move this quickly.

I can only be grateful for this good fortune.

◇

The Imperial Army's Seventh Arsenal was experiencing an unprecedented economic boom.

"Ahahaha, I can't stop laughing!"

The Cleo Faction was being dragged into an interstellar war, and the Third, Sixth, and Ninth Arsenals were tasked with producing their weapons.

The Seventh had been left out, but then a massive order came in from Liam.

Beside the cackling Nias, her junior watched the factory operating at full capacity.

She was smiling happily too.

"It seems the Exner barony is replacing all their weapons too. Wow, Count Banfield is so generous."

He was being lavishly generous to the lords within his own faction whose fleets were a cause for concern.

He was providing them with state-of-the-art battleships, mobile knights—and all sorts of other equipment.

Because Cleo was participating in the interstellar war, the Empire had promised its full support, at least "officially."

They could build and sell weapons without having to worry about anyone.

What's more, the more they built, the more they sold.

He even bought up their existing stock; it was a situation where they couldn't stop laughing.

"Wartime demand is amazing, isn't it?"

"The war itself hasn't started yet, though. Well—but still."

However, the weapons the Seventh Arsenal was producing—even the new models—were all items that had been modified in response to complaints from the Banfield family.

He didn't like the design.

He didn't like the interior.

The performance was the same, but they were all weapons with unnecessary features added, uncharacteristic of the Seventh Arsenal.

They didn't really want to build them, but the Seventh Arsenal's pure models weren't selling.

They were completely unpopular.

They received absolutely no orders for anything other than the Banfield family specifications.

"Our pure models have only sold a few units. Our pride is in tatters."

"I didn't design them, so it's not my problem."

The Cleo Faction was prioritizing war preparations, even if it meant overextending themselves, so weapons were selling like hotcakes.

Furthermore, Liam was lending money to the lords.

Liam was succeeding in strengthening his faction while further increasing his influence within it.

He was making bold moves under the pretext of the war.

Nias cupped her cheeks with both hands, a slovenly look on her face as she gazed at the battleship before her.

"M-More importantly—my new state-of-the-art battleship is what matters! Look at this magnificent performance!"

The three-thousand-meter-class flagship battleship built for Liam was the ultimate warship, lavishly constructed with rare metals.

"I even used rare metals in the power source and engine. The output is on another level. The output! The cannon barrels are made of Arondight, and for thermal conduction—"

Doing this would undoubtedly make it the strongest! —But there was no budget or resources.

That's why it was a phantom giant battleship that existed only as a theoretical product.

However, thanks to Liam, it was completed.

Nias had completed it.

"Gufu, gufufufu—"

Since it didn't look like Nias would be returning to reality anytime soon, her junior went back to work.

"Well, we're making a huge profit, so it's fine by me. Still, the nobles of the Cleo Faction really picked a good time for a generational change."

With the release of new weapons, the current mainstream weapons had become obsolete.

It turned out that the Cleo Faction was the first to undergo a generational change in their weaponry.

Brian (´・ω・｀): "I feel a certain sympathy for Sir Klaus. More importantly, I, Brian, am relieved to see that Lord Liam seems to be working diligently at his training assignment. This is fortunate."

Wakagi-chan ( ゜∀゜): "Tomorrow is finally the release date for [Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs, Volume 5]! Everyone, please buy it! If you answer the survey, you can read a bonus story of over thirty thousand characters as a reward. I'll finally be making my appearance!"

Wakagi-chan ( ゜言゜): "You absolutely have to buy it, and vote for me in the popularity poll!"

Monica ( ゜∀゜): "And the day after tomorrow, on January 31st, [Sevens, Volume 9] will be released! Please support this one as well!"

Brian (´；ω；｀): "My precious screen time has been hijacked... this is painful."