Publishedat 11th of September 2019 05:45:56 AMChapter 1
Military Academy

The Algrand Imperial Academy .

It was a place where an entire planet was used as a military educational facility .

Urban areas, lush jungles, scorching deserts, fields of ice and snow– all of them were used as training grounds .

Even in s.p.a.ce, they focused on nurturing soldiers to support the Empire using ports, warships, and entire s.p.a.ce colonies .

I- [Liam Sera Banfield] had entered the military academy and was currently enrolled in the strategy department where the elites were gathered .

The students expected to rise up the ranks to become commanders were put on this course and were given preferential treatment .

In short, basically excellent cadets were gathered here in addition to the n.o.bility .

It’s the place where the elites were supposed to go, but as a future duke, I was able to major in the strategy department regardless of my grades .

General cadets could only enter after achieving great results, but others could enter simply because they were of n.o.ble birth .

That’s right, grades didn’t matter as long as they were an aristocrat .

“Birth isn’t everything in this universe, but don’t you think who you’re born as still has a big impact on things?”

The academy’s cafeteria .

While saying that in front of the gross food that emphasised on nutrition, Wallace– whose head was shaved, answered while biting down on some hard bread .

“What’s this so suddenly?”

In the academy, you were basically forced to shave your head .

While women were only allowed to have short hair .

–and so, my head was also shaved unfortunately .

But once I entered into my third year, I’d be allowed a little bit of freedom with my hairstyle .

“Just because I was born into a n.o.ble house, that alone gave me the qualifications to enter the elite course . ”

I was born as a winner in life and looked down on those who weren’t .

After sending a glance my way, Wallace started looking around at the surroundings .

“Liam, can’t you speak in a smaller voice? Everyone’s eyes are gathered on you . ”

Taking in my surroundings, I could see a group of losers glaring at me .

Some of cadets were looking at me quite favourably though .

I’m sure those people were from the n.o.bility . They agreed with my opinion .

“Isn’t it the truth though? If any of them have a complaint, they can say it to me directly . ”

But no one approached .

The cadets who were scowling at me turned their eyes away in silence .

That’s what I thought . –They were scared to go against me, a high-n.o.ble .

The school was too big to remember the names and faces of all the cadets .

But it was definitely the general cadets who were glaring at me .

This is it . This is what I’m talking about .

This is exactly what I imagined being an evil lord would be like .

As I thought that, some of the senior cadets must’ve been offended by what I said and approached me .

“That’s quite the bullish att.i.tude you’re taking there . ”

Wallace was surprised after seeing the uppercla.s.smen .

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“Dolph?!”

The military academy was too large to know each and every cadet .

But even I knew who this man was .

After all, he was the valedictorian .

Even though he was also of n.o.ble birth, he seemed to have a sense of justice strong enough to stand against me after I hara.s.sed the commoners .

–I don’t like him .

“While I heard that your grades were excellent, but to have a personality of that level . Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”

I hated sarcastic b.a.s.t.a.r.ds like him .

His hair that was hardened with gel was slicked back .

He was [Dolph Sera Lawrence]– a strange n.o.bleman who still took the sides of commoners .

His body was on the skinny side, but you could still tell he was a trained soldier .

I didn’t like that elitist expression he had on that seemed to say he was a better than everyone else .

“What does this year’s oh so great valedictorian want with me?”

“…that isn’t an att.i.tude you should be taking towards your uppercla.s.smen . ”

While he was my senior in the academy, he was also of a lower court-rank than me .

Both as a future duke and as someone who had already succeeded as a count, there was no reason for me to treat someone like him as my equal .

Military discipline? How much do you think I donated to the academy? There’s no doubt that they’ll acquit me .

Wallace was looking my way while shaking his head .

He probably wanted to tell me not to start something, but I hated people that had strong morals .

They reminded me of myself from my previous life .

With a sense of justice that had no reason or logic behind it, they were basically good people .

Surely this guy was angry at me for belittling the commoners .

He was such a good person that he made me want to vomit .

“Why should I care? What’re you gonna do about it?”

I wanted to say that it was him who shouldn’t be addressing me so over-familiarly .

His temper rising, Dolph raised his jaw a little as a blood vessel appeared on his forehead .

“Follow me to the simulation room . I’ll give you a lesson on how you’re supposed to treat your uppercla.s.smen . ”

“…if you actually can then by all means . ”

With my provocative smile, the cafeteria broke out into a commotion .

“Hey, Liam and Dolph are going to fight in the simulator!”

“Those two are?!”

“This is definitely a must-see!”

Inside of the excited cafeteria, Wallace was the only one hanging his head .

“Liam, why do you always have to–”

The simulation room .

Many cadets were gathered to see what was about to happen .

Liam, the top student in the first year, and Dolph, the valedictorian of the sixth, were about to lead their fleets against each other in a simulation battle .

There were many cadets interested in this .

Wallace sighed as he looked over how clearly divided the spectators were .

“As always, Liam is popular among the commoners . ”

Supporting Dolph were the aristocrats who hated Liam .

On the other hand, most of the people who supported Liam were just ordinary cadets .

There were a few n.o.bles mixed in there, but the overwhelming majority of them were commoners .

“Nevertheless, to pick fights with n.o.bles in the middle of the cafeteria… and for it to be Dolph of all people . ”

Dolph was the second son of the Lawrence house, as well as a true advocate of n.o.ble superiority .

To him it was only natural for the aristocrats to receive preferential treatment .

And yet Liam picked a fight by saying, “Just because I was born into a n.o.ble house, that alone gave me the qualifications to enter the elite course . ”

“This isn’t good . There might be a lot of bad rumours around Dolph, but his skills are the real deal . ”

Wallace was worried because of all the senior cadets Liam had to pick a fight with, it just had to be Dolph .

A mere five year difference might seem short, but it actually had a huge effect .

No matter how good Liam was, it’d be difficult to overcome the years of military experience Dolph had over him .

(Well, it’s kind of suspicious how he was able to become the valedictorian though . )

The bad rumours surrounding Dolph mostly stemmed from how he crushed other potential students that threatened his spot at the top .

They said that if there was a cadet who was likely to become his rival, they’d suddenly be forced to drop out because of false charges .

There were even stories about how he hired criminals to take someone’s family hostage unless they dropped out .

(I’m afraid of Liam’s sense of justice, that makes him easily pick fights no matter who the opponent it . )

While he did have a foul mouth, Liam’s morals were strong, and he even had the ability to back it up .

Such a Liam was the hope among the commoners who found the n.o.bility to be an annoyance .

–The simulation started .

As the two people moved their fleets through the control panels, Liam immediately went on the offensive .

But Dolph dismissed those movements as nothing,

“Those tactics might work against pirates, but they’re useless against me . ”

“What?”

Dolph’s provocation might have been cheap, but in truth Liam’s forces were slowly being whittled down .

“A person who only knows a.s.sault tactics is nothing to me . ”

Liam’s fleet was specialised in offensive maneuvers .

Conversely, Dolph’s fleet was specialised in defensive ones, and the situation was growing more and more unfavourable for Liam .

The organization of their fleets and how they were built was decided before the simulation even started .

This was so your opponent couldn’t prepare countermeasures and to keep things fair .

However, Dolph was acting as if he had known how Liam’s fleet had been organised from the very beginning .

He was using tactics that seemed to know what ships Liam chose and how he was going to move .

(This is bad, Dolph did something . )

As Liam became the one at the disadvantage, the n.o.bles who cheered for Dolph started speaking out .

“What, so this is all that pirate hunting amounts to?”

“Even if this would work against pirates, this is what reality is really like . ”

“That redneck from the frontier needs to learn his place . ”

The aristocrats started taking bullish att.i.tudes .

Conversely, the commoners were silent despite the fact that they knew the n.o.bles had done something .

If there wasn’t any evidence, their support would only embarra.s.s Liam .

They were certain that Dolph had cheated, but without proof nothing could be done .

(At this rate Liam is going to lose . )

Liam’s situation was so unfavourable that even Wallace could see his defeat .

There was a man standing upside down on the ceiling of the simulation room .

He was wearing a top hat that covered his eyes and a tailcoat suit .

Despite that, you could still see his smile .

“…now this is interesting . ”

The [Guide] who watched the confrontation between Liam and Dolph was more powerful than he was before .

Thanks to the power he had acc.u.mulated in the imperial capital, he was finally freed from his suffering .

However, even now his strength was being eroded from Liam’s grat.i.tude .

If left unattended, then he’d eventually be left writhing in agony again .

Today’s Liam was loved by the people of his territory .

His grat.i.tude had tremendous power behind it when combined with the feelings of his citizens .

While the guide had gathered an amount of power that couldn’t be ignored, it’d still be difficult to make Liam unhappy as he was now .

For this reason, he was watching over the situation for any chance to hurt him– but then he noticed Dolph .

The guide approached Dolph– who currently had an expression full of composure, but no one noticed him .  

“This looks like a man whose driven many into despair . One of my favourite kinds of people . ”

The man named Dolph had crushed innumerable rivals so that he could be the best .

Many grudges were clinging to his body .

Unlike Liam, he was corrupt aristocrat, making him a wonderful person full of potential .

In addition to that, he seemed to have altered the simulator to guarantee his win .

His thoroughness was very pleasing .

“…I just thought of something fun . ”

Saying that, the guide placed his hand on the simulator .

The moment that happened, Dolph’s fleet suddenly began to be pushed back .

Even though Liam’s fleet was one-sidedly losing until now, the difference between them was gradually shrinking .

Dolph was confused .

“W-what?!”

On the other hand, Liam was smiling .

“I thought you were the valedictorian! Is this all you uppercla.s.smen amount to?! ”

Taking a glance at Liam, the guide burst into laughter while smiling .

“That’s perfect . Goad him on more, Liam . These will become the seeds of your downfall . ”

Despite his hate for Liam, the guide made it so that he’d win .

The reason being–

“d.a.m.n it! d.a.m.n IT!”

Even though Dolph rushed to move his fleet in response, he ended up creating a gap for Liam to take advantage of, pushing himself into a corner .

“W-why is this happening?!”

Despite being so a.s.sured of his victory a minute ago, Dolph fell into a panic and his face went pale .

The guide called out to him .

He even put his hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t seem to notice .

“Dolph, I have high expectations for you . Your defeat here will become a source of motivation to help you grow . While Liam, the person who brought you such humiliation will become someone you will hate with all of your being . ”

In truth, Dolph already had a blood vessel bulging on his forehead as he glared at Liam .

To be the best, he had fixed things so that he’d never lose to anyone .

And yet he had humiliatingly lost to Liam, a person several years his junior .

“Over something like this!”

When the simulator announced Liam’s victory, the general cadets broke out in cheers .

On the other hand, the aristocrats looked at Dolph with cold eyes .  

“This is our year’s valedictorian?”

“Because he’s an obscene man, I guess he’s only really worth this much . ”

“Even though he cheated, for him to lose to Liam that badly…”

They ridiculed him .

Dolph had never been more humiliated in his life .

And that was before Liam called out to him,

“This is because you only know the simulators . It can’t compare to real battle experience gained from actual war . As your senior in life I’d be happy to give you lessons sometime– Dolph . ”

The guide happily greeted Liam’s smug att.i.tude with satisfaction .

After all, the way Dolph was glaring at Liam now was absolutely delicious .

“You b.a.s.t.a.r.d…”

The guild smiled at Dolph’s mutterings .

“That’s it . Grow to abhor Liam even more . For you shall be the one to strike him down . I’ll prepare the perfect battlefield for you . ”

Now that the guide had enough power to spare, he wanted to slowly tighten the noose around Liam’s neck instead of rushing things .

Reflecting on the pain that he’s suffered so far, he wanted to make sure Liam didn’t do anything outside his expectations .

So that when the time finally came, he’d be able to thoroughly crush him in an instant .

“You better enjoy yourself for now, Liam . Because once you finally lose everything, the expression you’ll make then will be all the sweeter . ”

Leaving those parting words, the guide disappeared as he sank into the floor .

The only thing left behind being Dolph, who gritted his teeth as he scowled at Liam .

“–I will never forgive you . Never!”

A future elite who hated Liam was born at that moment .

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