Appointed as Knight Number "5", [Christiana Reta Roseblade] had removed "Sera" from her middle name and reverted it to "Reta".

This was because she had cast aside her title as an Imperial Knight and chosen the middle name from her homeland, from the time she was known as the Princess Knight.

Her cape was intricately embroidered with the number "5".

Such was Christiana—Tia, and she was currently on the bridge of a super-dreadnought.

It was the first-generation grand flagship, the Val, which had been refitted when it was assigned as Tia's vessel.

Not only was it cheaper, but securing a crew for a super-dreadnought that was already in service was also easier.

Furthermore, the operating crew boasted a high level of proficiency, and for Tia, it was a ship that held memories with Liam.

On the bridge of that very Val, Tia was seated in the admiral's chair.

Several projected screens surrounded Tia, displaying the deployment locations of the fleets under her command.

Tia's fleet was deployed a considerable distance away from the Banfield family's home planet, Hydra.

The reason—was to prepare a path to the Imperial Capital Planet.

"I'm so glad we were able to secure the long-range warp device safely."

The Banfield family's fleet had secured a warp device to facilitate the conquest of the capital planet.

Work was now underway to connect it directly to the warp device on Hydra.

Tia's adjutant, Vice Admiral [Claudia Bertrand], offered words of celebration for the success of the operation.

"Congratulations, Lady Tia."

"Thank you, Claudia. It was a somewhat forceful operation, but I'm glad we were able to achieve our objective safely."

"Forceful? You must be joking. We followed the route where the punitive expeditionary force had drained all the resources and completed the subjugation right on schedule. It was an ideal operation, one might say."

The punitive force, six million strong, had consumed a massive amount of resources from the planets along its route just by moving through.

Before those depleted resources could be replenished, Tia and her forces had launched their attack.

"Oh? But it was still forceful. If we'd had a little more time, we could have secured the route in a much more elegant manner."

From Tia's perspective, even what seemed like a brilliant maneuver was too aggressive.

The reason for resorting to such forceful means was to deny the Empire any time.

Tia began discussing future plans with Claudia.

While it depended on consultations with the home planet—Hydra—Tia's ideal plan was to defend the newly secured route as it was.

"Contact Hydra. Tell them we've secured the route and need them to send supplies. Also, I want to send some of our fleets back to the home planet and have them send replacements."

Claudia gave a wry smile at Tia's rapid-fire requests.

To charge deep into enemy territory on their own, secure a route, and then demand supplies and fleets—the bureaucrats on Hydra would surely be outraged if they heard this.

Even the military would likely complain that she was overstepping her bounds.

"These are requests that seem likely to make enemies of not just the bureaucrats, but the military as well."

Having obtained a Knight Number, Tia was now in a position where she possessed her own private army.

In other words, she was separate from the Banfield family's private military.

Being ordered around like this would surely be frustrating for the military as well.

However, Tia's gaze sharpened.

"If they're the kind of people who can't recognize the value of securing this route and get indignant out of pride, then we don't need them. This operation is necessary to defeat the Empire."

The Banfield family had already grown larger than an average interstellar nation; it was no longer on a scale that could be managed by Liam's judgment alone.

If his retainers didn't follow up to cover the gaps, the organization was already too large to function soundly.

In fact, Tia was impressed that he had managed to run it all by himself for so long.

Claudia seemed to understand the situation as well.

"The Knight Numbers—thinking about it now, the timing was perfect, wasn't it?"

It was almost as if Liam's declaration long ago, that he would give his knights numbers and special treatment, had been for this very moment.

Tia closed her eyes and smiled.

"It doesn't matter either way. If he prepared this with such foresight, then his ability is superior. If it was a coincidence, then it's proof that he is beloved by fortune."

It was just one or two more reasons to add to the list of how amazing her lord was.

Claudia agreed with Tia's opinion.

"For knights and soldiers, a lord chosen by fortune is most welcome."

In a world where bad luck could easily get you killed, being blessed with good fortune was more valuable than anything else.

While chatting, Claudia compiled Tia's requests and transmitted them to Hydra.

Having acquired the long-range warp gate, communication with Hydra had become much easier.

"I've contacted the home planet. I'm looking forward to seeing what kind of decision will be made."

Tia smiled at Claudia's report.

"We'll reorganize the fleet and begin subjugating the surrounding planets. The Empire doesn't have the luxury to deal with us right now. Let's wreak as much havoc as we can."

The person on Tia's mind was Cleo, who had betrayed Liam.

(There's no information that he was disinherited and disposed of. Whether he's alive or dead—it doesn't matter, but I'll make the Empire pay the price for betraying Lord Liam.)

A sinister light dwelled in the depths of Tia's eyes.

◇

I was holding a meeting in my office at the mansion.

The participants were holograms of military officials.

Since it was a meeting with several dozen people, I would normally go to the conference room, but—I'm busy, so I was participating remotely.

It reminds me of my job in my past life.

And the topic of this meeting was Tia's selfish behavior.

"Among the Knight Numbers, Lady Christiana's behavior is egregious."
"To repeatedly ignore headquarters' orders, act on her own, and then demand we dispatch supplies and fleets is far too presumptuous."
"We should issue an order for her immediate return."

The core members of the military seemed to be furious with Tia's actions.

I can understand why.

After all, while they were swamped with reorganizing the fleet, someone had to pop up and make selfish demands.

However, more than half of the opinions were also favorable.

"—I don't want to admit it, but securing the warp gate was the best possible move for the future."
"It will require changing our plans, but we should dispatch supplies and a fleet."
"If possible, we should also prioritize securing a military base."

Though they wore bitter expressions, the majority opinion was that they should accept it for the sake of the future.

The ones who had objected seemed satisfied after voicing their dissent and said nothing more.

I should probably forgive the complaints of my overworked subordinates.

I sent a round of applause to the participants.

"Securing a beachhead, how wonderful. And your judgment was good, too. If you had suggested abandoning the warp gate, I would have demoted all of you."

In response to my good mood, the generals looked as if they were having trouble judging the situation.

They were struggling to determine whether I was joking or in a bad mood.

Watching my subordinates wear down their nerves is fun, but if I tease them too much, it will hinder the fleet's reorganization, so I'll stop here.

"Complaints and dissatisfaction are more than welcome. On top of that, I highly praise you all for choosing the best option. That said, Tia's actions truly surprised me."

Just when I thought she wouldn't come back, she goes and dives deep into enemy territory to secure a warp gate. I'm impressed.

"—It's exactly to my liking. Let's send her a massive amount of supplies and fleets, shall we?"

Hearing my decision, the generals were perplexed.

"But that will interfere with the reorganization plan, won't it?"

"I have personally stockpiled supplies. I'll have my honor guard transport them, so you all just prepare the fleet to be dispatched."

"B-but the newly reorganized fleets already have their assignments. The fleets to be reorganized in the future are also being fought over by the admirals. If we send a large number, we'll get complaints from the others, sir."

One of the generals, looking apologetic, explained why they couldn't prepare a large number of fleets for dispatch.

I knew that much.

After all, the admirals were fighting over the newly reorganized fleets, to the point where it was causing problems.

It can't be helped, since bolstering their own fleets is their top priority.

It's an admiral's duty to secure forces, even if it means using somewhat forceful methods.

"Who said to send the fleets that have finished reorganizing? Since it's a good opportunity, let's have that Tia woman help with the reorganization. Send her a few fortress-class ships and have her reorganize and train them on-site."

The generals exchanged glances, then understood what I was getting at and smiled.

In other words, I had just given them my official approval to dump their busy work on Tia.

"The fleet we're sending to Lady Christiana... at this rate, it looks like it will be on the scale of several hundred thousand ships."

"To think you'd send that many, I must thank you for your judgment. But with this, it seems we can grant Tia's request. I feel sorry for all the trouble I'm causing you."

When I offered my empty words of apology, the generals laughed.

"This is all part of a retainer's duty. There is no need for you to be concerned, my lord."

This ended up giving Tia extra work, but if I leave her to her own devices, she'll probably just start expanding into the surrounding areas.

That's not a bad thing, but going too far is also a problem.

It's best to have her help with the reorganization while also setting up a frontline base to serve as a beachhead.

It would be a workload that would kill an ordinary knight from overwork, but she should be fine.

"In that case, it can't be helped if Tia is worked to death for my sake, can it?"

"Of course, my lord!"

The generals' replies overlapped in unison, and I was satisfied with the moderate sense of unity.

◇

After the meeting ended, I finished my office work, and it was past midnight.

I have no time to rest and think about sleeping around this time.

I flew out of the mansion and headed for the old Seventh Weapons Factory.

Although some of its facilities had been returned to the Empire, the Seventh Weapons Factory was now connecting asteroids that had been completely mined out.

While expanding its facilities, it was rushing to produce ships, mobile knights, and various other things for the Banfield family.

The ships and mobile knights scheduled for delivery were jointly developed with the old Third Weapons Factory.

They were products that sought not only performance but also productivity, maintainability, and expandability.

Standing before the finished products, I became so cheerful that I spread my arms wide.

Was it a kind of感動 (kandou - deep emotion)? After all the trouble the Seventh Weapons Factory had caused me, they had, with the help of the Third Weapons Factory, prepared weapons that satisfied me without a single request for a do-over.

"See, you can do it when you try!"

"What's that supposed to mean?"

Nias, with dark circles under her eyes, shot a resentful glare at me.

She must be too busy to sleep.

"For something prepared in such a hurry, these are highly complete ships and mobile knights. We delivered them to the reorganized fleets, and they were well-received."

The catalog specs were excellent, but the real issue was whether they would be accepted on the front lines.

Weapons with excessively high performance that are unusable are despised on the battlefield.

The fact that this wasn't the case could be called a success.

Nias let out a deep sigh.

"We're desperate over here, you know. If you lose, Lord Liam, it's the end for us too."

So we're all in the same boat, huh?

In reality, it seems the weapons factory also had many traitors, but they seem to have calmed down thanks to our repelling of the punitive force.

"So—in terms of weapon quality, can we beat the Empire's most elite forces?"

When I asked, Nias answered immediately.

"Impossible. The technology we possess, they already have. Plus, they have unlimited access to technology we don't."

Since we were behind in technology, the quality of our equipment was inferior to the Imperial army's.

"I suppose so."

As I accepted this with understanding, Nias continued to work while asking me a question.

"Can you really win? The Empire has never had its capital planet invaded before. According to records, the only disturbance was a civil war two thousand years ago."

"Two thousand years ago?"

"To be more precise, over twenty-one hundred years ago."

I seem to hear about that a lot.

Two thousand years ago was apparently a gruesome era where more blood was shed over succession rights to the throne than now.

Rosetta's family was involved, and Marie was a direct party to it.

It's an era I often hear about from Wallace, but... surely not.

"Then I'll be the first."

"That overconfidence of yours hasn't changed since you were a child. Though, the Lord Liam from back then was much cuter."

"You too."

"I'm still cute now."

Nias, who looked at me as if she genuinely thought, What is he talking about?, had indeed hardly changed from when we first met.

Whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.

"Thinking it is free. Do as you please."

"The way you say that really isn't cute. Ahh, the old Lord Liam was so much better~"

Saying that, Nias showed me images of my childhood.

And not just one, but many.

—Why does she have so many pictures of me as a child?

"If you're looking for cuteness, go ask that Ed fellow. He's at his cutest age."

"I'm a little worried about his future. If he gets burned by playing around with women, I think he'll reflect a little and become more decent."

"He seems like he'd be bad at playing with women."

"—Huh?"

When I nodded in agreement, Nias's eyes widened in surprise.