"My motto is practicality, even in a dress! Just having a decorative function isn't enough."

An interesting designer has arrived.

Today, I'm having new dresses made for the party, but as expected, one or two designers aren't enough, so I had a large number of them called.

Among them was a man who would add as many features as possible to a disposable dress.

—This guy's an idiot.

"Look at all these ornaments! In a normal dress, you'd have a disposable shield energy generator, but this dress has a much more robust one. It does add to the weight, but for a noble like yourself, it's no problem!"

Dresses for high-ranking individuals are fitted with such devices out of fear of assassination and the like.

However, they are mostly disposable.

Well-made ones are too expensive, creating a cost issue.

You can't just naively think you can attach it to a different dress.

The dress and its ornaments are a set.

Reusing things is not evil.

Frugality is a virtue—the very act that an evil lord detests most.

Rosetta and Ciel, who are listening to the man, have indescribable expressions on their faces.

They probably can't agree with the foolish designer's opinion of "function over usability!"

Even though I said it's disposable, he's giving it the functionality of a combat suit.

But, I like idiots like this.

The rich are meant to waste money.

No, that's not right.

An evil lord is meant to live in luxury with the taxes squeezed from his people.

That doesn't change, even for a disposable dress.

I applaud the man.

"Wonderful! I like it."

"Ah, thank you very much!"

"I have an additional request for you. Amagi."

"—Yes, Master."

Amagi, who had been watching from the side of the room, approached me, so I introduced her to the designer.

"This is my Amagi. I've been troubled by the fact she only wears a maid outfit. She needs a dress too, don't you think?"

The designer looked troubled.

My knights standing around me looked ready to draw their swords depending on the designer's response.

If he said anything to belittle Amagi, I'd kill him on the spot.

However, this guy seems to know his place.

"—W-well, I have no experience making clothes for an android. If you could provide me with the specifications and give me some time, I should be able to manage."

There were some designers who scoffed and said things like, "We don't make clothes for dolls like that."

That one was over a comms link, but I'll never place an order with him again.

I thought about killing him, but Amagi told me to stop because he was apparently a favorite of some noble and it would be troublesome, so I gave up.

—However, she didn't say I couldn't get revenge, so once things settle down, I will have my revenge.

As long as I move without Amagi finding out, there's no problem.

More importantly, it's the man in front of me now.

"As for the budget, bill me for whatever you like."

At that, Amagi looks at me, her face reproachful.

"Master, I have no need for a dress."

"It's an order."

"—But..."

As Amagi showed her reluctance, Rosetta joined in to persuade her.

You—you're a surprisingly good person.

"Amagi, wouldn't it be nice for you to wear a dress once in a while?"

"—Yes. I understand. However, it would be a waste to make it disposable, so if I may be allowed to store it myself..."

Yes! Amagi gave in.

"Of course! —Hey, this is a one-of-a-kind piece. Make it well. You can spend as much money as you want. Prepare a masterpiece. But I won't forgive anything gaudy."

"Y-yes, sir!"

As I watched the designer hastily get to work, a communication came in.

—It's Brian.

"Liam, you got what you deserved!"

I felt like he was saying "Serves you right!" and I instantly became displeased.

Brian, if it were anyone else, I'd be torturing you right now.

"What is it?"

"The demonstration—the demonstration has gotten even larger."

"Whaat!? I'm supposed to have people assigned to that! Right, what about Eulisia!? She's supposed to be competent, isn't she!?"

Can't she even quell a single demonstration!?

◇

The Banfield family's territory.

Demonstrations are being held again today on various planets.

"Get your takoyaki here~"

"Yakisoba here~"

"We've got placards~"

Food stalls were lined up, and with so many people gathered, various services were being offered.

Soldiers were directing traffic, and doctors were on standby.

"That's not part of the course. Please return to the route."

"Excuse me, where's the restroom?"

"It's over there."

It had turned into a kind of festival-like commotion.

Staring at this scene in stunned silence was the leader of the pro-democracy movement, who had immigrated from the Unified Government.

He had just graduated from university and had no experience as a working adult.

He had graduated from a good university and was just about to start his career when he got caught up in a rebellion.

At that time, he tried to gain social status by cooperating with the rebel army—but the rebel army was defeated.

Drifting from place to place, he ended up in the Empire. Thinking of a way to rise up in this land, he became the leader of the pro-democracy movement.

The Banfield family ruled benevolently and, above all, was kind to its people.

He exploited that fact to start a pro-democracy movement.

If they suppressed it, the Banfield family would be no different from other nobles, so he was prepared to fight to the bitter end.

He even intended to become the leader of an anti-government army.

Fortunately, there were factions willing to cooperate with them.

In reality, the lord of the Banfield house, despite being a noble, was kind to his people.

He thought his plan to rise up by exploiting that would succeed, but—.

"Why aren't our activities spreading at all!?"

—The demonstration had grown larger, but its content was terrible.

The demands of the citizens marching with placards were not about democratization.

"Don't forget about an heir~!"

"Fulfill your duty as a lord~!"

"Make Lady Rosetta happy~!"

Liam, the lord, had no children.

The reason they felt a sense of crisis about this was that the Banfield family was involved in an interstellar war.

The citizens realized that in a war of that scale, it wouldn't be strange if their lord died at any moment.

The leader was furious, seeing the "baby-making demonstration" spread explosively while their own movement went nowhere.

"Don't mess with me! This is our chance! A chance to gain our rights in the dictatorial state that is the Empire!"

As his comrades were calming the leader down, a university student who had been listening walked by, holding a placard with a picture of a baby on it.

Seeing the pro-democracy placards held by the leader and his group, the student made a face of clear disgust.

"You guys are immigrants, right? If you're going to protest, did you file the proper application? We're busy with the baby-making demonstration over here, so go do your thing somewhere else."

"W-we are fighting for the rights people are born with—"

"Yeah, we don't need that. To be honest, could you stop doing that in this territory? It's frankly a nuisance."

"Whaat!? You must be an agent! It's strange for the people not to want their own rights! You're a spy for the lord, aren't you!"

The university student calmly retorted to the enraged leader.

"Nah, I'm just a regular citizen. Though I did just get back from studying abroad. More importantly, don't you know how things work in the Empire?"

"H-how things work?"

"The nobles are the kind of people who think it's easier to just burn down any territory where a pro-democracy movement starts. Spare us from getting dragged into this because of your activities."

The university student, who had seen territories outside of Banfield rule while studying abroad, knew of planets where pro-democracy movements had flourished.

He had seen it in historical data, but the Empire's decision at the time was—to turn an entire planet into a sea of fire as an example to others.

There were also many planets where education was kept to a minimum so that people couldn't even conceive of democratization.

"Listen, here we can study, and the public institutions function perfectly well. We can even study abroad. If we lose all that because of you guys, it won't be a laughing matter, you know?"

"—That's the thinking of livestock. Do you really want to live your life wagging your tail for the nobles!? As a human, you should think for yourself and live! Besides, there are examples of things getting terrible when a new generation of nobles takes over, right!? Aren't you guys worried!? Can you live with someone else holding your life in their hands!?"

The university student was exasperated.

"In this day and age, plenty of people die when space pirates burn their planets, you know? Besides, I don't think the Lord's rule is bad. And hey, is there any guarantee you'd do well if you became independent?"

"You're rotten. Not just the nobles. You people are rotten too, your thinking has stopped."

"Why did you guys come here? If you like democracy so much, just move somewhere else. Our territory doesn't even restrict emigration."

Being told "if you don't like it, you leave," the leader was dumbfounded.

What in the world was going on?

The leader couldn't understand.

Just then, it seemed an important person from within the territory appeared.

A large number of guards were prepared, and mobile knights floated in the sky, on alert.

His comrades spoke to the leader.

"Leader, it looks like something's about to start."

"A VIP, maybe? Let's see what happens."

The leader shook his head and shifted his train of thought.

(That's right. This planet is inhabited by such fools. I can surely take control of it. In fact, it's better that I've learned they're just easy-to-handle idiots. If some big shot starts a speech, I'll refute them and gather followers who sympathize with me.)

He decided to use this as an opportunity to stand out more and increase his allies.

Standing on the roof of a floating armored car, holding a microphone, was a female soldier.

"To everyone participating in the demonstration—you must not make a fuss about the Lord's private affairs. Disperse immediately!"

The blonde woman was beautiful.

The leader knew of this woman.

"Hey, she's the lord's concubine or mistress, right?"

"Y-yeah, I think so. The files said something like that."

He wondered what she was going to say, but she only told them to stop the demonstration.

Boos could be heard from the crowd.

"We're serious about this!"

"Fulfill your noble duty~!"

"Besides, aren't you his concubine? Do your job~"

Eulisia was a talent Liam had recruited from the military, and this fact had been reported in the local news.

Customarily, she would have become his mistress or concubine, so the citizens thought so as well.

But upon hearing that, Eulisia began to tremble.

"I-I tried to!"

From there, what was supposed to be Eulisia persuading the demonstrators began, a cry from her very soul.

"I tried my best, you know! I worked so hard to get him to make a move on me—but Lord Liam shows absolutely no interest!"

The participants fell silent.

One person—.

"—Huh, maybe he hates women or something?"

—At that, Eulisia burst into tears.

"If that were the case, I could have given up! But, but—he says he likes women just fine. I dedicated my youth to becoming Lord Liam's secretary! And this time, I was thrown into a military re-education facility, and he doesn't even know about it! What's with that!? On top of that, he tells me to return to the territory and quiet the demonstration—I haven't seen him in years, and he's completely forgotten about me!?"

With her daily intense workload, Eulisia must have been near her breaking point.

She vented all her complaints, microphone in hand.

"I—I want to go on a date too! Lady Rosetta gets taken to parties every day now, but what's with me only getting work!? It wouldn't hurt for him to spend just one day with me. When I think about just getting older like this, it makes me want to cry at night! I'm anxious. I'm anxious every single day!"

The demonstrators looked at each other.

Eulisia, holding the microphone, started to sob.

Faced with the crying Eulisia, voices of comfort came from the demonstrators.

"H-hang in there~"

"Big sis Eulisia, I'm sure something good will happen."

"I-it's okay. You're beautiful. You're very beautiful."

Eulisia continued to vent her daily frustrations, microphone in hand.

"I want him to make a move on me too! But he won't! There's nothing I can do! If he'd just make a move, I'd do anything for him! But if he doesn't, I can't do anything! It's not my fault!"

◇

"—As a result of the above, the demonstrators' demands have been amended from 'Take care of Lady Rosetta' to include 'Please don't forget about Lady Eulisia either.' However, the faction supporting Lady Rosetta is overwhelmingly dominant. Lady Rosetta's popularity is wonderful. This Brian is truly impressed."

Facing Brian, who was gleefully reporting the proportions of the demonstration, my fists were trembling.

—Eulisia, what has she done?

Isn't my image as an evil lord in tatters?

The impression of evil I've built up has turned into something like just a "bad man."

A cheap man who doesn't feed the fish he's caught—hasn't that become my image now?

"By the way, there are also calls for a new concubine—"

"Why do I have to be ordered around by my own people!? My harem is my harem alone! I won't take orders from anyone!"

Brian was giving me a cold look.

Y-you—if it were anyone else, I would have cut off your head!

"Lord Liam—the number is zero."

"Huh? What is?"

"You said you would build a harem, but to this day—the number of women Lord Liam has taken in is zero."

"Whaat!? Th-there is someone! There's Amagi! You have to count her!"

"Even so, that is only one person. You haven't made a move on Lady Rosetta, and on top of that, you've neglected Lady Eulisia, whom you brought from the military—this Brian seriously considered joining the demonstration."

"Damn it! I won't take orders from anyone! I have my own aesthetics!"

Build a harem reluctantly just because people told me to?

Make a move on a woman out of obligation?

I refuse.

I will obtain the women that I myself desire.

That is the one thing I will never compromise on.

"Aesthetics are important, but the matter of an heir is even more so."

"—Just you wait until I return to my territory. I'll make the people suffer with heavy taxes. I'll make sure a demonstration never happens again."

"Hah, that is something to look forward to. In any case—the pro-democracy movement didn't spread as much as expected. It has been almost completely extinguished."

"Democratization, huh. Make sure you thoroughly investigate the fools who caused a ruckus. They are my enemies. What rights? What they want is the position of the one in power."

"Lord Liam?"

"—Even if the nobles disappear, the powerful will continue to exist. The powerful will never go away."

No matter what kind of political system it is, there will always be a ruling side and a ruled side.

A world without a class system?

Such a thing doesn't exist.

If there are no nobles, then politicians and the rich will just seize power instead.

Then, a gap will be born between the rich and the poor.

Someone always holds power, and the vast majority are ruled.

Well, it would probably be better than a hereditary nobility, I suppose.

But, I won't hand over this power to anyone, and I couldn't care less what happens to the vast majority.

The people clamoring for democratization are the same.

Only a fraction of them are seriously thinking about true democracy; the majority are thinking about seizing power in my place.

No, even if they start with ideals in their hearts, they'll become corrupt once they grasp power.

I understand it well precisely because I hold it.

Power is just that alluring.

It has the power to lead people astray.

I don't think that's a bad thing.

However—I want to be led astray by power, and I want to drown in that power.

Because I am an evil lord, after all.

"If you want to push me aside and become the ruler, you need to show greater power than I have. If you can do that, then go ahead. If you can't—then accept the treatment of a loser."

This is a rebellion from below.

Do as you please.

But if you lose, you'd better be prepared for what comes after.

But, I won't be kind to my enemies.

I will crush them completely.

Brian (｀；ω；´): "The harem count is a threatening zero!"

Brian (´；ω；｀): "—It's painful."