Upon returning to the Banfield family's home planet from the Capital Planet, I found the spaceport enveloped in a bustling atmosphere.

Rumors that we've been entrusted with the border with the Hegemony Kingdom are spreading, and the Banfield family is, in fact, transitioning to a wartime footing.

When I arrived at the port, I was greeted by Klaus, whom I had left in charge of the home planet.

"Lord Liam, we are proceeding with preparations for deployment as you instructed."

As I walked without stopping, Klaus followed slightly behind and to my side.

"His Highness the Crown Prince is quite a handful."

I called him 'His Highness the Crown Prince' with a hint of sarcasm, but Klaus let it slide.

"It is an imperial decree, so we cannot refuse, but do you truly intend to fight the Hegemony Kingdom with all your might?"

The Hegemony Kingdom, which loves conflict, will sometimes charge ahead, ignoring their own casualties.

Fighting them always results in heavy losses, making them an opponent the Empire's nobles are reluctant to engage.

And against such an opponent, I had issued orders to fight with our full strength.

I gave no thought to preserving our forces.

I will clash with the Kingdom with everything I've got.

"Are you dissatisfied?"

When I turned to Klaus, he had an indescribable expression on his face.

"I believe the best course of action is to fortify our key positions and avoid conflict with the Hegemony Kingdom as much as possible."

If we were only thinking about defense, Klaus's idea would be correct.

But why should I fight for the Empire?

An evil lord is a being who pursues his own interests.

"This is my war. I've decided to go all out because I've judged it to be in my own best interest. Klaus, you will give it your all as well."

"I will do my utmost."

"This is just my personal opinion, but you should be a little more greedy."

He's highly capable, but his self-assertion is weak—no, Klaus lacks the greed to pursue his own interests.

As my right-hand man, he's reliable and perfect, but as a subordinate to an evil lord, he's far too serious.

You could call him a loyal retainer, but I'd prefer it if he had a bit more ambition.

I understand it's a luxurious problem to have, but I wish he had a bit more of a playful spirit.

"Now then, I wonder what the Hegemony Kingdom is really made of?"

◇

"This time, it is simply too cruel!"

As soon as I returned to the mansion, Brian was furious.

He was incensed by the betrayal of Cleo, whom we had supported until now, and he probably couldn't forgive the fact that I was being thrown against the Hegemony Kingdom.

"Calm down. You're not young anymore; getting angry is bad for your health."

"How can I possibly remain calm! Lord Liam, this is a situation where you should be angry as well!"

Cleo's orders are certainly infuriating, but this turn of events is actually convenient for me.

—Because now I can make contact with the Hegemony Kingdom openly.

I have other objectives as well, but Brian probably wouldn't understand even if I explained them.

"There's no need."

When I stated it flatly, Serena, standing next to Brian, gave me a serious look. It was a sharp, probing gaze.

"Lord Liam, you truly intend to fight the Hegemony Kingdom with all your might, don't you?"

"Of course. What would be the point of holding back?"

"Is that out of loyalty to the Empire?"

"Loyalty?"

I almost burst out laughing at Serena's question.

To expect loyalty from me... Serena doesn't understand anything.

"Don't make me laugh. In this world, results are everything. Something like loyalty is nothing more than the result shown by one's actions until death. —Well, if I die in the battle against the Hegemony Kingdom, I suppose future generations will say I demonstrated my loyalty."

Though I myself see no value in loyalty.

The only ones I believe in are those who died without betraying me.

"In that case—"

Serena's gaze hardened at my answer, but her next words were cut off by Brian's shout.

"Please don't say such inauspicious things! Lord Liam, you are the head of the Banfield family and the guiding star for all your people! This house exists only because of you! To speak so lightly of dying... —Please have more awareness of your position!"

"O-oh."

Overwhelmed by Brian's passion, I gave a vague reply.

His eyes are bloodshot, it's scary. If you get that worked up, you'll burst a blood vessel and collapse.

◇

After Brian's lecture ended, I headed to my bedroom to find Rosetta waiting.

"You must be tired."

"It was the worst. That bastard Brian, lecturing me for a whole hour... he should know his place. If it were anyone else, I would have cut them down on the spot."

As I sat on the bed, Rosetta came and sat down next to me.

"Will the war with the Hegemony Kingdom be alright? I've heard they have the superior military strength."

Rosetta looked anxious and took my hand, so I squeezed it back gently.

She must be worried too.

"We're sending a fleet of six hundred thousand in the first wave."

Not all of them are elite, but we have the numbers.

"I hear the Hegemony Kingdom is a very fearsome country."

"Fearsome? Is there any country in this world that isn't? What do you think the Empire has done up to this point? From my perspective, the people of the Hegemony Kingdom seem like straightforward folks who just value military might."

The Empire is more fearsome than the Hegemony Kingdom.

Because the true enemy the Guide spoke of—is none other than the Emperor of the Empire, Bagrada.

The Guide even warned me that he would become my enemy.

The one to be wary of is not the Hegemony Kingdom, but the Empire itself.

Rosetta looked down sadly.

"Prince Cleo has changed, hasn't he? He seemed so kind before."

"He was only acting like a good person because he was weak."

"That might be true... —But it's very sad. Don't you feel anything, Darling?"

"Not at all. I never trusted him from the beginning."

If he were a truly kind person, he wouldn't have treated his own sister, who had protected him all this time, so cruelly.

"—I'm leaving tomorrow. I'm leaving the domain's affairs to you. Just focus on maintaining the status quo."

"When will you be back this time?"

"Who knows. More importantly, we won't be able to contact each other for a while. I'm leaving Amagi at the mansion, so rely on her if you run into any trouble."

"Yes."

◇

Defending a border is a complex matter.

In the first place, space is vast. Too vast.

Defense is fundamentally about protecting key planets and regions of space suitable for warping.

There are two types of warp.

Long-range warp, which uses dedicated gates in suitable locations, and short-range warp, which a spaceship performs on its own.

The advantage of long-range warp is the ability to travel to a specific location instantly. However, it cannot be used without a gate, and the locations suitable for warping are limited.

The advantage of short-range warp is that it can be done without a gate. However, the travel distance is short, and it consumes a large amount of a ship's energy. On top of that, a failure can lead to a major accident.

For the time being, short-range warps have become the mainstream in warfare, as the goal is to disable or destroy the gates.

Encounters with the enemy are rarely by chance; large-scale wars become battles for territory.

Since it's unknown where the enemy will attack, the defending side must position its forces at key locations.

The basic principle is not to disperse one's forces, but it's impossible to defend without doing so.

Therefore, fleets numbering in the hundreds of thousands must be dispersed.

The planet Augur.

Having arrived on the planet the Banfield family once protected, I visited the spaceport for the first time in a while.

"I wonder if Marion is doing well?"

As I recalled my junior from my days as an official, Eulisia, who was with me, made an exasperated face.

"Do you have time to be fooling around? The commanders of the dispatched forces will be gathering soon. There's no time before the meeting."

"I'm curious to see what's become of the planet I looked after. I want to see it with my own eyes."

In the past, I had dispatched Tia and Klaus to carry out its development.

Augur has developed quite a bit.

Among the surrounding habitable planets, which are all rural, Augur looks like a city.

In terms of my previous life, it would be like a small regional city, perhaps?

I didn't come to the spaceport incognito just to see how Augur was doing with my own eyes—not really.

As Eulisia and I, dressed in plain clothes, were looking at a souvenir shop in the spaceport, some rough-looking soldiers approached us.

The trio ignored me and approached Eulisia.

"Hey there, beautiful. How about having some tea with us?"
"We're soldiers of the Banfield family, you know."

The trio, wearing the military uniforms used by our house, seemed to be on leave and had come to the spaceport.

I don't know which ship they belong to, but they seem quite frivolous.

Eulisia turned her face away and said with a resolute attitude.

"I refuse."

At that, the trio's expressions turned openly displeased.

"—Hey, don't get cocky. We're soldiers of the Banfield family. We won't tolerate any disrespect."
"Our lord is the invincible Lord Liam. You don't seem to understand what happens when you oppose us, do you?"
"Ditch your silent boyfriend and come hang out with us."

They're throwing around the Banfield family name, and even using my name to act all high and mighty.

—Judging by their atmosphere, they're probably from one of the planets we recently acquired.

The soldiers from other houses were incorporated into the Banfield family when we took over their planets.

They should have undergone re-education, but their level of training is clearly low.

I'm glad I could confirm it with my own eyes.

For a moment, I thought about cutting them down, but there are surely many more like them. Killing these guys wouldn't solve anything.

I decided to leave the place with Eulisia, but—

"B-Boyfriend!? I-I guess we do look like a couple, don't we~. Oh my, how troublesome~"

—She was mistaken for my girlfriend, and for some reason, she was blushing and flustered.

The three soldiers who had approached us shot me sharp, jealous glares.

"You really are a hopeless case. Let's go."

"Wait for me!"

As I tried to leave, pulling Eulisia by the hand, the soldiers reached out for me.

"Hey, wait!"

"—Don't touch me."

"Eek!?"

When I gave them a light glare, the soldiers cowered and fell on their backsides.

Ignoring them, I started to lead Eulisia away, and I noticed that ill-mannered Banfield soldiers were conspicuous throughout the spaceport.

—I don't need these guys.

◇

Aboard the flagship Argos—a super-dreadnought-class battleship—officers of general rank were participating in a meeting via holographic projections.

Presiding over it was, of course, Klaus.

"The Banfield family's fleet numbers six hundred thousand. As for the fleet dispatched from the Empire—"

Our knights and generals wore dissatisfied expressions regarding the fleet sent from the Empire.

The generals and knights from the dispatched group looked uncomfortable at the meeting, even though they were just holograms.

And no wonder.

I felt a laugh bubbling up at the number of ships in the dispatched fleet.

"They really scraped the bottom of the barrel. It's nothing but old, outdated ships and mobile knights. Even the remaining regular fleets haven't been properly supplied or maintained, have they?"

Their number was one million two hundred thousand ships.

The number alone sounded reliable, but the contents were the problem.

One of the problems the Empire faces is the excessive number of patrol fleets.

Receiving only minimal supplies and maintenance, they are fleets that do nothing but patrol empty sectors of space.

Their numbers range from a few ships to a few hundred.

Even within the Imperial military, there are probably few who know the exact number.

Not much different from these patrol fleets are the frontier nobles.

Not the powerful nobles, but the ones just barely surviving on the frontier.

The forces they possess are also just a few hundred outdated ships.

And on top of that, they've sent us exhausted regular fleets.

"Doesn't it seem like the Empire wants to throw us at the Hegemony Kingdom and wipe us all out?"

When I made the joke, the knights and generals participating in the meeting made bitter faces.

However, no one dared to voice a complaint against the words of the supreme commander here—me.

There shouldn't have been.

"Does Your Grace the Duke believe this to be a losing battle?"

A middle-aged man, the very picture of a serious general, glared at me.

The spirited-looking man seemed more decent than my subordinates I saw at the spaceport.

That man was one of the commanders of the several regular fleets that had been dispatched.

"Do you intend to win?"

When I asked, he met my gaze with a serious one of his own.

The nobles, knights, and generals dispatched from the Empire also sharpened their gazes.

"Of course."

I asked the commander, who intended to win, what kind of strategy he had in mind.

"Then, tell me your plan for victory."

The commander projected a hologram in the conference room.

"We will disperse our allies to the major planets and withstand the Hegemony Kingdom's attack."

It seems the plan is to divide the one million eight hundred thousand ships into three groups to defend key locations.

It was the same strategy Klaus had considered.

I applauded.

"Indeed, this is the only way. —If we're only defending, that is."

In the murmuring conference room, I made a declaration.

"I have no intention of taking a defensive stance. —We're invading the Hegemony Kingdom."

◇

After the meeting.

After a break, a meeting for the Banfield family alone was held.

Klaus continued to preside.

"The First Army will consist of sixty thousand ships, including Lord Liam's personal guard. The Second Army—led by myself—will have sixty thousand ships. The Third Army will be thirty thousand ships under Lady Christiana. The Fourth Army, intended for skirmishing, will be ten thousand ships under Lady Marie. The Fifth Army—"

This time, the first wave of ships sent from the Banfield family numbered six hundred thousand.

The formations were announced one after another, but from the Fifth Army onward, they were guys whose names I didn't even remember.

Knight, General—personnel who can serve as both are precious.

Those whose names were called are undoubtedly excellent.

However, there are few who are as renowned as the Head Knight, Klaus.

This is the problem.

There are those who surpass Klaus in ability alone, but it's difficult to say if they can produce results.

As Klaus announced the formations, my junior disciples standing next to me looked dissatisfied.

Both of them were clad in the ceremonial knight uniforms prepared for them, but Fuuka seemed restless.

"They could have just told us the results and been done with it. Is there really a need to gather and announce it like this? And this uniform isn't even cute."

Rinho, on the other hand, didn't seem to have any complaints about the uniform, but she seemed unable to forgive being brought to a battlefield.

"Being separated from Master and Yasuyuki is a problem, you know. Oh, but I might like this uniform. Anything looks good on me, so it's like cosplay, I like it."

It's not cosplay; these two are being treated with the rank of Colonel in the Banfield army.

I actually wanted to treat them as Brigadier Generals, but Klaus stopped me, saying it was out of the question.

The reason I brought these two dissatisfied individuals to the battlefield is because Master asked me to.

"Master was worried about you two fooling around all the time, so he came and asked me to take you with me. You should reflect on your actions a little."

Both of them must have had various things come to mind, as they turned their faces away from me and replied.

"I get it."

"I'm refle~cting."

Neither of them looks like they're reflecting at all.

"This is also part of your training. I've brought your mobile knights, so I'm expecting great things from you. Just don't tarnish the name of the One-Flash School."

The fake Avids that Cleo and Calvin had prepared.

Those three units have been modified for my junior disciples and for Ellen, who isn't here.

Fuuka showed interest in the battlefield.

"There are strong guys here, right? I prefer fighting in person, but mobile knights are interesting too, so I'll give it a shot."

Rinho, for her part, was enthusiastic about spreading the name of the One-Flash School.

"Sounds good. I'll show them that the One-Flash School isn't just about our senior brother."

They are reliable junior disciples.

Just as I was thinking of preparing an opportunity for them to shine, the announcement of the formations ended.

Klaus turned to me, asking me to speak.

I stood up from my chair and was illuminated by a spotlight in the dimly lit room.

"Many of you here are probably dissatisfied with this war against the Hegemony Kingdom. 'Why do we have to go out of our way for this?' You must be thinking something like that."

Being dispatched to defend the border with the Hegemony Kingdom is one thing, but many frowned at the blatant harassment of sending only the Banfield family.

Me, taking such harassment seriously—as if.

"Many of you are mistaken, so let me make this clear. I have no intention whatsoever of fighting for the sake of the Empire."

As a murmur began to spread, Klaus raised his voice.

"Lord Liam is speaking. Refrain from private conversations."

I waited for it to quiet down before continuing.

"Me, fight to protect the Empire's territory? I have no interest in that. My target is the Hegemony Kingdom's capital planet."

From the very beginning, I had no intention of defending; I planned to challenge the Hegemony Kingdom to a fight.

It's amusing to see that even Klaus is surprised, having heard nothing about this.

◇

Some time after Liam's departure.

In the Banfield family mansion, Amagi was by the side of Rosetta, who was managing the domain's affairs.

Amagi, who was assisting with administrative duties, noticed a change in Rosetta's physical condition.

"Lady Rosetta, if you are feeling unwell, you should rest."

"I-I'm fine. Darling left this to me, so I have to do at least this much—ugh!"

Seeing Rosetta cover her mouth with her hand, Amagi immediately rushed over and began a scan.

Then, she immediately arranged for a doctor.

Placing her left hand to her ear, she explained the situation to the person on the other end of the communication.

"Please arrange for a doctor immediately. Yes, that's right. Yes, it's Lady Rosetta."

As soon as the patient's identity was known, the office door opened and the doctors and nurses who had been on standby entered.

Female knights surrounded Rosetta and immediately went on alert.

As the doctor began to examine Rosetta, Brian arrived a little later, out of breath.

"Is Lady Rosetta alright!"

"Men are forbidden from entering."

Blocked by the female knights, Brian still worried about Rosetta.

"Is Lady Rosetta safe!? With Lord Liam away, if something were to happen to Lady Rosetta—"

The doctor, however, ignored the frantic Brian and spoke with the nurses.

"How unusual in this day and age."

"Considering Lord Liam's circumstances, perhaps it can't be helped."

Hearing the conversation between the doctor and nurse, Brian tilted his head in confusion.

"Why is Lord Liam's name being mentioned?"

Unable to watch the anxious Brian any longer, Amagi stood up and led him out of the room.

When the two of them stepped into the hallway, the area around Rosetta became noisy.

Listening to the commotion from the hallway, Amagi held her left hand to her left ear.

"—It's no use. I can't reach Master due to communication interference."

On the battlefield, all sorts of communication interference is generated.

This was also proof that the battle with the Hegemony Kingdom was intensifying.

"It's only been a few months, and it's already this bad!? Is Lord Liam, who is defending the border, safe?"

If they couldn't contact Liam, the commander-in-chief defending the border, it meant the situation was extremely dangerous.

Amagi narrowed her eyes.

"Is the Hegemony Kingdom's invasion more intense than expected? We should hasten the departure of the second wave."

Brian collapsed to his knees.

"Not only Lady Rosetta, but Lord Liam is in danger as well..."

As Brian crouched down in sorrow, Amagi looked up at the ceiling.

"I must inform Master as soon as possible."