“They fled?”

Seated in a luxurious chair on the bridge of the flagship Argos, I couldn't believe the scene before my eyes.

The fleet I led numbered thirty thousand ships.

In contrast, the enemy had over sixty thousand.

I was dumbfounded to see them turn tail and flee without even a single engagement.

If they were just a ragtag bunch, I could understand them fleeing in fear of my military reputation.

But these were elite troops, even among the Imperial Army.

As I puzzled over the enemy's actions, Eulisia, whom I'd brought along as my adjutant, wore a bitter expression. Her gaze was fixed on the holographic projection of a planet that had been plundered.

Averting her eyes from the ravaged, burning planet, Eulisia reported the details of the enemy fleet to me.

“Lord Liam, the enemy fleet we just encountered is the Special Mission Fleet.”

“What kind of name is that? Don't they have a more decent one?”

“It's a fleet no one wants to call by its official name. It's led by former space pirates. They're the most elite, yet they're a bunch who plunder from friend and foe alike.”

“So they're the ones who handle the Empire's dirty work.”

They must be like Kukuri's group, but swollen to the size of an entire fleet.

An interstellar nation is really on a different scale.

I stood up and looked toward the window.

From there, I could see my plundered and ravaged planet, and it was infuriating beyond measure.

On top of that, even the mobile fleet I had dispatched had been defeated.

Wreckage of allied ships drifted by, and the planet was burning.

Without looking away, I asked why the enemy had fled.

“How skilled are they?”

A military officer near Eulisia shook his head.

“They're an elite force equipped with new models. Seeing as they defeated our mobile fleet, their strength should not be underestimated.”

“So why would a force like that run away the moment they saw us?”

The officer thought for a moment, but could only come up with a conventional answer.

“Perhaps they won't engage unless they have a four-to-one numerical advantage against us?”

“So they're committed to running away.”

Crossing my arms in thought, I couldn't believe the enemy was operating under such a principle.

“—Begin rescue operations for our allies. After that, we're targeting a fleet of over one hundred thousand ships.”

Eulisia tried to stop my decision.

“You can't! Lord Klaus warned you time and time again, didn't he? That you absolutely must not be reckless!!”

“It's not reckless for me, so it's fine. Besides, something has caught my interest.”

“Caught your interest?”

Eulisia gave me a dubious look, but I ignored her and gazed out the window.

“—I'll make them regret ever laying a hand on what's mine.”

◇

Cozmo's fleet, having fled, reported to their allies that Liam, the commander-in-chief, had appeared on the battlefield.

He was communicating with Hampson.

“The flagship Argos has come to the front lines? There's no guarantee Liam himself is aboard, but there's no guarantee he isn't, either.”

Liam, who would charge headfirst against the Hegemony Kingdom, was a rare type of noble in the Empire.

It was possible that he, irritated by Cozmo's fleet rampaging through his territory, had sortied himself.

Cozmo reported without a hint of remorse.

“Thanks to that, our plundering ended halfway through. But they were so desperate to evacuate their people that they left a whole lot of treasure on the planet.”

Hampson frowned at Cozmo, who was ostentatiously holding a piece of the treasure he had acquired.

“What about the requisitioning of necessary supplies?”

“—We didn't get as much of that as I'd hoped.”

When he checked later, the supplies needed to operate the fleet were surprisingly scarce.

Hearing this, the corners of Hampson's mouth turned up.

“So they evacuated only the war materials, along with their people.”

Though it was an inconvenient move for them, Hampson seemed to have anticipated it.

Cozmo raised an eyebrow.

“You look like you're having fun. Is it because the Banfields are a tough opponent?”

He was annoyed by Hampson's warrior-like disposition.

However, the man himself had a different idea.

“They're a formidable opponent, solid and true to the fundamentals. That's also proof of how much they've stockpiled on their capital planet. Once we destroy the Banfields, we're certain to obtain immense wealth.”

From Liam's thorough approach, Hampson predicted that the Banfield family's capital planet held enormous riches.

Hearing that, Cozmo's face broke into a wide grin.

“Marquis, you're a bad man yourself.”

Hampson showed no sign of displeasure at being called a bad man.

In fact, he seemed to take it as a matter of course.

“As if a noble could ever be a good person.”

◇

The elite fleet of thirty thousand ships led by the flagship Argos discovered a fleet from the punitive force.

The fleet numbered over one hundred thousand ships and was in the middle of constructing a base.

They were probably planning to spread out from the base and rampage through my territory.

But—

“The enemy fleet has begun to withdraw via short-range warp!?”

—The enemy fleet, several times our size, immediately retreated upon spotting the Argos.

Eulisia, reporting to me, was also bewildered.

Facing the enemy fleet that was fleeing in unison, I sat in my seat and crossed my arms.

“This makes it the third time.”

First, the pirate fleet fled, and after that, we encountered another fleet once.

But their reaction was the same.

As soon as they knew I was here, they immediately withdrew.

They retreated so flawlessly that it seemed they were avoiding a battle with me from the start.

“That settles it. It seems they have no intention of fighting me.”

When I concluded that they were thoroughly avoiding combat with me, Eulisia looked unconvinced.

“The commander-in-chief is on the front lines, yet they're not targeting him. That's just wrong. —Well, the commander-in-chief coming to the front lines is also wrong, though.”

The latter half was a complaint directed at me, so I ignored it.

I looked up at the ceiling and pondered.

“It feels good to have the enemy fleet run away at the sight of me, but when they keep running like this, there's no satisfaction in crushing them. Should I just find their main force and charge?”

I don't know how many battleships are in Cleo's main force, but it must be at least several hundred thousand.

If a fleet that size were to flee at the sight of me, I'd have a good laugh.

Eulisia spoke with the military officers around her, then turned to me for a decision.

“Rescuing our allies fighting in various locations seems to be the best course of action for us right now. If the enemy is willing to withdraw, we should take advantage of it.”

Why do I, the commander-in-chief, have to go around providing backup?

As I was feeling annoyed, an operator gave a report.

“Lord Liam, Lady Marie's fleet has entered combat. The enemy fleet numbers approximately one million ships, three times their strength.”

It seems that after Tia, a fleet was also dispatched to the planet Marie is defending.

Judging by those numbers, Cleo must have about two million ships left to command.

“Should I just go rescue Marie and drive back a million enemies? I'll record it and make a laughingstock of the Imperial Army.”

I'd love to upload it to a free video-sharing site with the title “Imperial Army Chased Around by a Smaller Force.”

But the operator's report wasn't finished.

“Actually, the enemy fleet is not attacking. They are currently in a standoff.”

◇

The planet Marie was defending.

Marie, commanding from the bridge of her battleship, was irritated by the enemy fleet that refused to attack.

“Do they think they can just trap me here?”

The knight serving as her adjutant stood beside her, scratching his head with a look of defeat.

“At this rate, we can't send reinforcements, and it's impossible for us to move either.”

Originally, they had planned to mount an active defense.

Marie herself had intended to lead tens of thousands of ships and destroy the isolated enemy fleets on the battlefield one by one.

She had thought that with the enemy's main force heading for the planet Tia was defending, she would be free to move.

But that had been sealed off.

Moreover, they weren't attacking; they were just watching.

If Marie sortied to challenge the enemy, she would be crushed by sheer numbers.

“It's not so bad if you think of it as tying down a million ships. Still, where are they getting the supplies to maintain a fleet of this size?”

When evacuating the populace, the Banfield family had made sure to leave as few military supplies behind as possible.

Despite that, the enemy fleet showed no signs of being short on supplies.

Her adjutant shrugged.

“That would be thanks to the Empire's generous backup.”

Simply put, the Empire's national power was overwhelmingly superior.

They must have brought enough supplies to maintain a grand fleet of six million.

“—To be able to move a fleet this large domestically without neglecting their border defenses... They're so formidable it's disgusting.”

Marie hated the Empire, but she held its power in high regard.

◇

The one attacking the planet Marie defended was Troid.

The main force was composed of fleets led by noble houses, centered around the fleet of a viscount house.

On the bridge of the super-dreadnought battleship Troid was aboard, the gathered nobles were also present.

“Viscount Troid, shouldn't we attack, at least a little?”

“This style of fighting is far too passive.”

“I doubt His Highness Cleo would approve, would he?”

Those around him were anxious about Troid's passive approach to battle.

They worried that his utter lack of aggression might incur the wrath of the imperial family.

But Troid answered with a calm smile, his composure unshaken.

“This is fine. The main fleet is attacking other planets. Once that is done, they will come here. All we need to do is contain the enemy here until then.”

This punitive force was required to achieve an overwhelming victory.

For Cleo, failing by being reckless would be the greater problem.

Besides, there was another reason Troid wasn't attacking Marie.

(The quality and training of their fleets are impeccable. But coordinating between private fleets is difficult. Commanding a hodgepodge of a million ships is no easy task.)

They had the numbers, but cohesion was an issue.

For that reason, Troid had opted for a strategy to contain Marie.

“—Marie Sera Marian. She is a knight who has achieved extraordinary success for the Banfield family. Even if we win, we cannot dismiss the possibility of taking heavy losses. For now, containing her like this is the wisest course of action.”

He said, calming the other nobles.

Troid then advised the nobles.

“From here on, it's a test of patience. However, while we have the advantage, we have issues with supply. I ask that you all practice restraint from now on.”

If there was any cause for concern, it was only supplies, but even that had the Empire's backing.

Troid believed that as long as they weren't reckless, they could continue this standoff for years.

“I hear this knight Marie is a reckless warrior. I wonder how long she can endure?”

It would be fine if she couldn't stand it and came out.

If she continued to endure, they could just wait for Hampson's fleet to defeat Tia and join them.

Troid was certain of victory.

◇

The Imperial Army's supply fleet, heading for the Banfield territory.

On the prow of a battleship serving as its escort stood the figure of the Guide.

Having finished gathering negative emotions on the Imperial Capital Planet, he was now on his way to support Cleo.

He could have warped, but to increase Cleo's chances of victory even slightly, he was conserving his negative emotions—his power.

“Just you wait, Cleo—I will bring you victory now! Fuhahaha!! Liam, the days of cowering in fear of you are over! This time! This time for sure!! I will defeat youuuu!!”

The Guide, shouting with his arms spread wide, was convinced of Cleo's victory.

Because—

“Liam—you've made too many enemies.”

—When the Guide turned around, there was not only the Imperial Army, but also a grand fleet of space pirates.

The figures of patrol fleets led by nobles were also there.

There were others as well—nobles, military personnel—all those who held a grudge against Liam were gathered.

“Don't think it ends with six million. You have more enemies yet.”

The Guide, leading Liam's enemies, headed for Cleo.