A room in the Officer Academy.

A noble from the Barkley family, along with his entourage, was examining the contents of an attaché case.

"Is this the Cursed Star Poison?"

Inside the attaché case was a purple liquid contained in a securely sealed capsule.

The liquid, held within a small capsule, was poison.

"Don't touch it carelessly. It's more like a curse than poison."

"Can this really curse someone with just one dose?"

An attendant explained about the Cursed Star Poison.

"If you use this, we can kill that Liam without it being detected as poisoning. Moreover, its curse is real. It's materialized from the resentment of those who died with their planets burned."

It was the anger of the planet, materialized into liquid, along with the resentment of humans and creatures who were annihilated along with their planet.

Upon ingestion, one would be cursed and die in agony.

There was no known cure other than an Elixir, and if one didn't have it readily available, treatment would be too late.

As time passed, even an Elixir would be ineffective, and the victim would die after suffering greatly.

"--My grandfather and father are cowards. I'll kill Liam with this and become a family executive."

The attendants bowed their heads subserviently.

"Don't forget my contribution when that happens."

"I know. More importantly, where did you get something like this?"

The attendant grinned and replied with an unexpected name.

"Do you know about the 'Planetary Regeneration Activity Group'?"

"I've heard of it."

"They deal in these kinds of items behind the scenes. While they outwardly engage in charity, they actually steal various things from destroyed planets. They don't genuinely intend to regenerate planets."

They would if they could, but they didn't seriously intend to regenerate planets.

Instead, they were a group that profited immensely by dealing in dangerous items like this.

"Well, it doesn't matter. I just need to put this in Liam's food, right?"

"The capsule will dissolve, but the contents won't leak out. If you mix it into soup or something, it'll be mistaken for an ingredient."

"--Heh heh heh, he's going to be gone from this world by today."

A room for interrogation.

The person sitting opposite me was a brigadier general of the Military Police.

I, acting brazenly in front of such a person, was being framed as the culprit behind the suspicious death at the Officer Academy.

"Count, you have a history with the Barkley family, don't you?"

The Brigadier General was being considerate towards me, a mere cadet.

Because I am important.

However, I wish they would stop treating me as a criminal when I am innocent.

"Stop with the baseless accusations. Where is the evidence that I killed him?"

"The deceased cadet was affiliated with the Barkley family."

"So what? There are many people with the surname Barkley. I don't know which Barkley it is. Is he affiliated with the idiots who picked a fight with me?"

Frankly, I had no interest in the deceased cadet.

And beyond the door of the interrogation room--.

"You bastard, how dare you confine Lord Liam here! I'll kill you! You think you can get away with confining him without evidence? Huh?"

--Marie was speaking with rough language.

Several military police officers had gathered and were restraining Marie.

"P-Please calm down!"
"We have permission from the Officer Academy."
"That's why we're just confirming his alibi!"

As I heard those voices, I looked at the brigadier general in front of me.

"Is it your judgment to declare me the culprit?"

"N-No. However, considering the situation...

Because I had a conflict with the Barkley family, I must have killed him, or something like that.

I detest such false accusations.

It reminds me of when I was unfairly blamed during my divorce in my past life.

A new person appeared outside the room.

It seemed to be Tia, who had become a fourth-year student at the Officer Academy.

"You fossil. How dare you confine Lord Liam here while you're by his side -- old fogeys are useless, aren't they?"

"Minced meat woman!!"

I thought she came to help me, but it seems she just came to pick a fight with Marie.

Since the area in front of the door was becoming noisy, they were probably getting into a physical fight.

"S-Someone stop these two!"
"Call someone!"
"Bring the instructors from the Officer Academy!"

The military police were in a frenzy, and the brigadier general was holding his face with his right hand and sighing.

It doesn't matter to me, but are they not going to help me?

My evaluation of them has dropped significantly.

"I'll crush you into powder, fossil!"
"I'll turn you into minced meat!"

The door was being pounded with tremendous force, distorting and cracking the wall.

What are they really trying to do?

Don't they realize they are my chief knight and second knight?

I'm getting angry.

"If you don't have evidence, I'm leaving. I can't waste any more time."

As I said that and stood up, the brigadier general stopped me.

"Please wait!"

"Be quiet. Come back with evidence."

As the situation inside and outside the interrogation room became more chaotic, a military policeman entered the room, out of breath.

"Sir! We've found evidence!"

"What!? Is that so, well done! Count, you can't deny it now!"

The brigadier general, who was intent on arresting me, was met with his subordinate shaking his head.

"N-No, that's not it. The evidence was found in the room of the deceased cadet. Furthermore, he had brought in the Cursed Star Poison."

"--W-What? Immediately contact headquarters! And evacuate the cadets from the Officer Academy!"

Ignoring his attempt to arrest me, he started to panic about something else.

Still, Cursed Star Poison... I've heard of it, but I recall it being a mass of curses.

Something that brings misfortune if consumed.

Are the Barkley family members fools for drinking something like that?

A morgue.

There lay the man who had tried to assassinate Liam, having died in agony.

The guide who arrived at the room made a thoroughly disgusted face upon seeing the man.

"--The idea of cursing someone to death isn't bad, but...

If the assassination had succeeded, the guide would have been somewhat disappointed but pleased.

However, the result was a failure.

He attempted poisoning, but sensing the danger, Kukuri turned the tables and poisoned him instead.

"However, you are someone connected to Liam. All of your suffering and despair will efficiently become my sustenance."

As the guide placed his hand on the man's face, the man's expression became quite peaceful.

The guide, who had become too connected to Liam, found it inefficient to absorb negative emotions unrelated to Liam. However, conversely, if there was a connection, the absorption efficiency increased more than usual.

As if savoring a fine wine, the guide enjoyed the man's emotions.

"Combined with the negative emotions from the destruction of a planet, it's quite delicious. Oh, nameless child, though you were foolish, you became my sustenance."

The guide's strength further returned, and his mouth widened into a crescent moon.

"My strength has returned considerably. To send Liam to hell, I should prepare another plan -- no, two or three."

Liam was the first to cause him such suffering.

Therefore, the guide was determined not to hold back.

Because he had been careless until now, he had been tripped up many times.

He had suffered because he had dismissed Liam as an insignificant existence.

"Gather Liam's enemies. Carefully -- and, eventually, Liam himself!"

The guide disappeared from the scene with a loud laugh.

The Imperial Palace.

The Prime Minister was reading a report from the Officer Academy and was furious.

The subordinates around him were also tense.

"--What is the penalty for the unauthorized handling of Cursed Star Poison?"

He asked his subordinates, but the Prime Minister naturally knew what kind of punishment would be appropriate.

The problem was that the other party was the Barkley family.

If they were punished normally, it would cause trouble.

They needed to find a way to resolve the situation.

"Abolishing the family would be appropriate, but the Barkley family will simply cut off one branch and consider it done. It won't be a significant blow."

While they presented themselves as a collection of small baronies, in reality, they were on the scale of a ducal house.

Since they were outwardly a group of barons, any punishment would only result in a scapegoat.

The Barkley family -- they couldn't get the head of Kashimiro.

How did the Barkley family manage to prosper so much? It was because, in addition to stably supplying Elixirs, they were favored by the previous Emperor.

They approached him with the merit of supplying Elixirs, and with various support, their wrongdoings were covered up.

Before they knew it, they had grown too large, and it had become a troublesome issue for the Prime Minister.

However, it would also be problematic if the Empire faced significant issues by cutting off the Barkley family for the sake of justice.

The Barkley family possessed that much influence.

"I suppose I can't reach Kashimiro's head."

"Yes. In that case, it would be better for the Empire to have them supply Elixirs."

"It's frustrating."

The Prime Minister's expectation of Liam was also because he held the possibility of breaking through this situation.

If the Empire moved, this problem could be resolved, but the Empire, being too vast, was slow to act.

And once it started moving, it would be difficult to stop.

There was also the possibility of it leading to the collapse of the Empire, so they couldn't act rashly.

One of his subordinates reported another matter.

"Prime Minister, the military is requesting replenishment of the lost regular fleets, citing the resolution of the rare metal shortage."

"--The military is also making unreasonable demands."

The Interstellar Nation was not just the Empire.

The neighboring country, though quite distant, had both trade and conflict with the Empire.

Naturally, at the designated border areas, military forces were stationed to maintain defenses.

Sometimes they would invade and seize the enemy's territory.

And having vast territories meant a great many borders for the Empire to manage. Furthermore, wars were constantly occurring somewhere.

It was as if they were being consumed as fast as they were replenished.

Rare metals were often used in important components of warships and other vessels.

Although substitute metals were used, there was a clear difference in performance, leading to strong demands from the front lines for ships made with rare metals.

The military, having heard that Liam had supplied a large quantity of rare metals, naturally requested replenishment.

The Prime Minister reviewed the results of recent wars.

"We're being pushed back in various places."

His subordinate stated the reason.

"There are various reasons, but perhaps it's because we're not efficiently utilizing our resources? It's also the consequence of increasing patrol fleets too much."

Patrol fleets.

These were important fleets that protected the Empire's territory, but they also included fleets designed to house the sons of nobles.

In some cases, nobles who didn't want to be subordinate to others became commanders of patrol fleets immediately after graduating from the Officer Academy.

There were also instances where some military personnel prepared outdated patrol fleets as a place for rivals to be demoted.

In any case, they had expanded unnecessarily.

Some of them even deserted and became pirates, requiring an early resolution, but there was no budget, personnel, or other resources available.

"There are just too many troublesome issues. Reorganizing them costs money. No, it costs too much money."

Disbanding them wouldn't end everything; there were issues with handling the fleet's equipment and reassigning personnel.

Moreover, many patrol fleets were poorly maintained, and the soldiers had not received proper training.

Fleets that did not conduct regular training quickly lost their combat readiness, requiring retraining of soldiers.

While the Empire's national strength was immense, they did not have enough hands to do everything.

"Now, what should we do?"

The Prime Minister pondered the problems that kept arising.

Brian: "It's tough. My knights... it's tough."