"Are you an idiot?! I'll kill you!"
"I am truly sorry!"
Before my enraged self, a man was prostrating himself on the ground.
The man, a noble who had sold me his own territory, was trembling as he pressed his forehead to the floor.
There's a reason why a noble from the Algrand Empire, with his needlessly high pride, would be so subservient.
One reason is that I am a Duke, but another is the simple difference in our military strength.
Around the Viscount, the knights who were supposed to protect him lay scattered on the ground.
Surrounding them were my own knights.
The face of the prostrating Viscount was also a mess from being beaten.
Why am I committing such an atrocity?
The reason lies in the territory I purchased from the Viscount.
"What do you mean, 'treasure of the frontier'? How could you lie to my face when the situation is this miserable? How dare you deceive me."
When I stepped on the back of the prostrating Viscount's head, he began to tremble violently.
"N-Not at all! I myself believe this planet to be quite wonderful, you see."
I increased the pressure in my foot, grinding the Viscount's head into the floor.
"Is your head just for decoration? What part of this is a 'wonderful sight'?!"
The surrounding scenery was, to put it mildly, shabby.
I had come all the way to the Viscount's planet in my battleship, but when we broke through the atmosphere and neared the surface, I couldn't believe my eyes.
The lifestyle of the populace was, from the perspective of my previous life, at a modern level.
Steam locomotives were running.
This wasn't for some retro-themed tourist spot or anything like that.
The Viscount's planet was living at a modern technological level.
I could see the citizens taking pictures of my battleship floating in the sky with old cameras.
Cameras that, even by the standards of my past life, made me want to ask what era they were from.
I kicked the Viscount, and he went rolling across the floor.
"Are you making a mockery of territorial management?!"
Normally, interfering with a planet that hasn't advanced into space is against the rules.
It's a rule meant to prevent the loss of a planet's unique culture and technology, but there's a loophole.
Planets that have sealed away technology they once possessed that would have enabled space travel are exempt.
The Viscount's territory should have been much more developed.
And yet, he spent time stripping them of their technology, forcing the populace to live at a modern level.
A waste. The height of wastefulness.
I love wastefulness, but it's a different story when I'm the one suffering the disadvantages.
The Viscount lifted his face and made an excuse.
"W-Well, in my family, we find this level of civilization to be exceptionally beautiful, you see."
He dragged his people into his own personal preferences—normally I'd laugh and let it slide, but right now, I can't tolerate it.
"Stop screwing around!"
To do whatever he pleased in his own territory and be left with massive debts... he's a true idiot.
It's all well and good that I've acquired a planet with a population of about five hundred million, but developing it from here will require a considerable amount of effort.
Ignoring the groveling Viscount, I turned my gaze to the knight I rely on most.
"Klaus, is there a way to bring this planet up to the Empire's standard level in the shortest time possible?"
The head knight of the Banfield family, Klaus Sera Mont, gave me advice with his usual calm demeanor.
"Our only option is to recruit settlers from the Banfield territory and educate them. Even if we provide the necessary facilities, the Viscount's people won't be able to use them."
Even if we provide convenient tools and facilities, they would be over-technology for the populace, who wouldn't be able to maintain them.
In my attempt to expand my territory in the shortest time, I've just created more troublesome work for myself.
"I'll adopt that plan. But make no mistake. They are no longer the Viscount's people. From today, they are my people."
"Yes, sir!"
The former Viscount's people, who know nothing—if they knew what I was about to do, they would surely lament that the old days were better.
But that has nothing to do with me.
I'll just make good use of them.
"Recruit prospective immigrants immediately."
"Yes, sir. —However, the planet's level of civilization is far lower than anticipated. We will need to increase the number of personnel dispatched, but our house already has no room to spare."
We are developing our territory with all our might, and we're continuously deploying the knights, soldiers, and officials we've trained.
Even if we can secure the manpower, we are desperately short on administrators to govern.
"I'll govern it myself for a while. —Damn it, I got stuck with a dud."
I've already purchased the territory from the Viscount, so I can't just give it back now.
Having been saddled with a lemon, I ended up having to carry out reforms in the Viscount's former territory for a while.
Klaus and the surrounding knights began to murmur.
"Lord Liam, you yourself?"
"The capital planet can be governed even without me. Besides, I have my honor guard. We should be able to develop a single planet, right?"
As a Duke, I have an honor guard to protect me.
This elite honor guard is normally just a tool to show off my prestige. But I have no choice but to make this purely ceremonial guard work.
In fact, since I'm working, I want to tell them that they should work too.
"W-Well, that's true, but—no, with Lady Rosetta here now, we might be able to manage for a few years."
I'm so busy that I've even had to call on Rosetta.
It's vexing to rely on Rosetta, but I'm in no position to be talking about pride.
"I don't care if they're wandering nomads or what, call out to them and gather them. We're developing this planet immediately."
◇
The Banfield family's capital planet.
As evening fell, the taverns began to liven up.
The citizens were buzzing with talk about the government's call for prospective immigrants.
"He got another planet? How many does that make?"
When a customer asked with an exasperated look, the master polishing a glass let out a sigh.
"This makes the third one. Apparently, he bought it from a viscount's family this time."
"Our Lord finished his training, but he's as busy as ever."
"I thought he'd settle down on the capital planet for a while, but he's off wandering around again."
It was thought that once Liam finished his training, he would have two choices: either settle down on the capital planet or work busily on the Imperial Capital planet.
But before they knew it, he was diligently expanding his territory in the frontier.
To put it bluntly, it didn't matter to the citizens whether Liam worked in the city or in the countryside.
They were dissatisfied with both.
"Just settle down already."
When the male customer said that, the master gave a troubled smile.
Normally, speaking to a noble like that would have been a capital offense before Liam's rule.
But now, no one would blame him for it.
This was because Liam himself didn't enforce such things strictly.
"Don't say that. I heard from a customer who came for a cultural exchange that to him, our Lord is a godsend."
"A godsend? What are you talking about?"
The customer took a small sip of the alcohol in his glass, looking puzzled.
The master directed his gaze behind the customer.
There, four men were gathered around a round table.
Dressed in work clothes that showed they had just finished their shifts, they were showing a strong interest in the drinks and food.
Their wonder at the common drinks and dishes was a strange sight, even to the other customer.
"Those cultural exchange folks? You sure they're not just migrant workers?"
"Officially, their purpose is to learn about infrastructure development. Did you know? The people from the former viscount's territory apparently used steam locomotives."
"I think I learned about that in history class. That was in ancient times, right?"
"The viscount had restricted their level of civilization. It's a disgusting story. Whenever they tried to develop, they were forcibly stopped."
Whenever the populace created groundbreaking technology and tried to advance their civilization, it was forcibly sealed away.
The master and the customer both nodded in agreement that it was a terrible story.
The customer understood the general gist of the story.
"So our Lord is, quite literally, a savior from the heavens."
"They seem to be grateful."
"That's great! —Our merciful Lord brings a tear to my eye."
The customer looked dissatisfied, but to the master, his attitude seemed more like he was sulking.
The master, exasperated, chided the customer who was sipping his drink.
"Are you jealous? Try to understand how I feel, having to watch a grown man act jealous."
"It's not jealousy! A lord is supposed to be, you know—someone who plants himself firmly on the capital planet, right? We even have Sir Klaus, the greatest knight in the Empire, now. Why not just leave it to him?"
It was the customer's wish for Liam, who had left the capital planet to bestow his charity on some unrelated world, to come back.
The master laughed.
"That man is amazing, isn't he? Not long ago, Lady Christiana was the head knight, but now his name comes up as if it's a matter of course."
"Lady Christiana, huh. She was stunningly beautiful. What's she doing now?"
"I believe—"
◇
"Kill all the pirates!"
On the bridge of the super-dreadnought battleship Wahr, Christiana—Tia, the very person the citizens were talking about—stood with her arms spread wide and a terrifying smile on her face.
Her mouth was stretched into a crescent moon, and her bloodshot eyes were wide open.
The fleet of tens of thousands of ships was chasing a pirate gang that had been lurking in the space around the new planet Liam had acquired.
The pirate gang of several hundred ships was being hunted down by the state-of-the-art fleet and destroyed one after another.
Communications offering surrender were coming in, but Tia ignored them all.
A female knight serving as Tia's second-in-command extended her right hand forward and gave an order.
"Annihilate them. This is already Lord Liam's domain. He would never permit pirates to run rampant here!"
At those words, the fleet's attack intensified to the extreme.
The fleet led by Tia was proactively exterminating bandits in the vicinity of the territory Liam had acquired.
Many of those assigned to her fleet held grudges against pirates, and they had become a professional group when it came to pirate extermination.
An operator connected a communication from the pirates to Tia.
"Lady Christiana, a man identifying himself as the pirate gang's captain is requesting to communicate."
Tia gave a dark smile, sat down in the commander's chair, and crossed her legs.
"Very well."
Until just a moment ago, she had refused to listen to any pleas for mercy, but she answered the captain's call.
When a noisy image was projected in front of Tia, a handsome, bearded man appeared, looking quite panicked.
The image conveyed that his ship was shaking violently.
"We won't touch your territory! We'll leave immediately, so stop the attack!"
Facing the pirate who was trembling at the name of the Banfield family, Tia was smiling.
However, her eyes were not smiling.
Her eyes were cold and terribly stagnant.
The captain's plea continued.
"Besides, we haven't done anything to you, have we? If you let us go, I promise we'll never show our faces here again."
Liam had acquired the viscount family's territory.
Hearing this, the pirates had tried to flee, which was when Tia and her fleet found and attacked them. There was no bad blood between them, but—Tia despised the very existence of pirates.
"Whether you do evil or not has nothing to do with me. The mere fact that you are pirates means you have no right to exist."
"You—and you call yourselves vassals of Liam, the so-called benevolent lord?!"
"Don't you dare speak Lord Liam's name, you piece of trash. —I just wanted to hear you beg for your life. Goodbye, space pirate."
As Tia said that, the communication with the captain was cut off.
It seemed an allied optical weapon had pierced the enemy ship.
Her second-in-command reported to Tia in a monotone voice.
"Annihilation confirmed."
"Excellent. Well then, let's move on to the next. This is already Lord Liam's garden—we have to clean up all the trash at once."
A mixture of loyalty to Liam and a personal grudge drove Tia to thoroughly crush the pirates.