Volume 2 Prologue
‘This world is wrong’- this is a phrase that’s often used.
With that said, I-[Liam Sera Banfield] believe that what’s wrong isn’t the world, but the individual themselves.
In my previous life, I’d like to consider myself as a good and serious person in general.
Despite this, my wife had cheated on me, debt collectors constantly hara.s.sed me, and my body was worn down until I was practically crippled.
I had realized that I was about to die.
What was wrong wasn’t the world, but myself.
Finally understanding that, I decided that in my second life I was going to live for myself and fulfill all my desires.
There’s also ‘The Guide’– My benefactor who gave me the chance of a second life by incarnating me into a universe of swords and magic, one that had an odd twist to it.
Magic existed here, but science had developed as well.
Humanity had already advanced into outer s.p.a.ce, this was a universe where s.p.a.ce battleships and humanoid weapons existed.
Luckily, I was born into the Banfield house.
It was a n.o.ble house that served a nation called the Algrand Empire, a house that had an entire planet under its rule– in other words, they were winners in life.
Born with a silver spoon in my mouth, I could live out my life properly this time.
The world wasn’t wrong.
What was wrong was myself.
But now I’m the ruler of a planet.
An evil lord who advocates that there’s no meaning in being ‘good.’
I live for myself.
My second goal in this life is to enjoy myself while living properly as an evil person.
◇ ◇ ◇
The coming of age ceremony was over.
It was finally over.
For an entire month- it was nothing but ceremonies and parties related to my newfound adulthood.
I thought it was just a waste of time, but the lifespans of people in this universe were long.
I may have had the appearance of a thirteen year old, but I was actually fifty.
You may be considered a grownup once you reach fifty, but there are many adults in this universe that are hundreds of years old.
That said, it’s nice to know that I have plenty of time to enjoy everything I want to in this life.
“What do we have planned for after this?”
Inside of my office, my faithful va.s.sals answered me.
First was the maid android [Amagi].
She had beautiful black hair that flowed down to her back, and was dressed in a cla.s.sic victorian maid outfit. She was the best maid.
Her body was truly life-like, and she had the ability to process information at speeds far beyond the realms of humanity.
She was a super maid who took care of both me and my territory.
And above all else!
—she wasn’t a woman of flesh and blood.
After being betrayed by my ex-wife in my past life, I couldn’t trust real women anymore.
“You’ll be going to study abroad at another n.o.ble house before you enter into the imperial elementary school.”
“Elementary school… how bothersome.”
Imperial n.o.bles have duties.
One of them was training.
First, n.o.ble children were entrusted to other houses to be trained.
The amount of time we spent there didn’t really matter as long as we grew up properly.
Currently, it was mainstream to receive an education at another house before entering elementary school.
My butler, [Brian Beaumont] added,
“The admission to elementary school will be after Lord Liam turns sixty. It’s customary to train at another house until then.”
He was a bearded old man whose hair had already turned grey.
The suit he wore was finely tailored, and his back stood tall and straight.
“Are there any n.o.ble houses that would accept me?”
The Banfield house was a cruel house until I became it’s head.
Thanks to that, I didn’t have any connections with other n.o.bles.
‘Are there any houses that would accept me?’ Apparently, that was a naive question.
With a soft tone as if to relieve my fears, Brian answered me,
“Please rest a.s.sured, for Amagi has already selected some suitable houses to study at. This might be a bit expensive, but it’s quite ubiquitous to do so nowadays.”
Apparently, they accept any adult n.o.ble children like myself in exchange for money and resources.
—wait, isn’t this profitable?
“This looks like it makes a lot of money. I want to do it too.”
Amagi answered me in a flattering tone fitting of a maid android,
“Unfortunately, that would be difficult to do considering our current credibility, achievements, and reputation.”
Brian was crying,
“H-however, there have been offers from the less powerful n.o.bles from the surrounding territories to send their children here.”
But Amagi wasn’t interested in such a follow-up.
She only cared about the facts,
“There’s no point in even considering a knight or baronet house against those that are of baron level and higher. In regards to Master’s words just now, wasn’t he only referring to the higher n.o.bles that would actually turn us a profit?”
-I wouldn’t have forgiven this treachery if it wasn’t Amagi saying it.
I love flattery.
Those who praise me shall receive my favour.
Advice? I’m aiming to be an evil lord. Even if it might be detrimental in the long run, I’d rather ignore it.
“So you’re saying that the Banfield house doesn’t have the credibility necessary for them to leave their children with us?”
“Yes.”
“…this displeases me. I’ll send you the funds, so put some effort into developing that area.”
For various reasons, I wasn’t troubled with money.
Because of that, I could spend as much money as I wanted to.
It sure is great to be able to use the people’s taxes for my own personal wants!
“If that’s what you want, then I have an excellent recommendation. I have a friend in the Empire, a woman who has risen up the ranks to a certain position. How about we hire her to be one of our instructors?”
“That sounds fine.”
Brian wanted to introduce us to one of his acquaintances.
I didn’t see any problem if it was just that.
As for Amagi,
“If you want their recognition, you need the necessary facilities needed for supplementing a proper education. That’s not all, you also need to collect the human resources and cultural investments required.”
When I saw the necessary budget calculated by Amagi, I opened my eyes in shock.
It was a ridiculous amount, so I immediately checked my personal funds to compare.
Why my personal funds? Well it’s because it’s pretty much my territory’s tax revenue.
“There’s too many zeroes for me to count, but do I have enough?”
“It’s enough, you can afford it.”
I felt relief at the immediate reply and decided to proceed with preparing a budget.
In the future, children of n.o.bles will come to my house for training.
I’ll have complete power over them.
“Let’s get this ready as soon as possible.”
Brian was wiping his tears,
“We finally have the leeway to work on such things… Lord Liam, this Brian is overjoyed at the moment.”
—though this guy always seems to misunderstand my intentions.
Well, I don’t really correct him either ‘cause his reactions are so interesting.
“Moving on from that, I’d like to hear more about the place where I’m going to be training at. If possible, I’d like to go to a house that I’d still be able to enjoy myself at.”
Amagi followed up,
“Of course. I will thoroughly research this matter to find the best place for you to study.”
I guess this solves the matter of where I was going.
◇ ◇ ◇
There was a personage that Liam referred to as the [Guide].
His appearance was that of a man wearing a tophat that covered his eyes, a tailored suit, and a suitcase he always carried on his person. He was an existence of astronomical powers.
But at the moment he was afflicted by Liam’s grat.i.tude and was weakened to the point that he was nothing but a shadow of his former self.
He was currently pressed against the wall in the room next to the office, listening in on Liam’s conversation.
“-I heard that. This is a chance!”
Liam thought that this man was his benefactor, but in reality he was an existence that lived for the misery of others.
In antic.i.p.ation of the negative emotions to come, he incarnated Liam into this universe.
But against expectations- Liam went on to have consecutive successes, thinking that it was all thanks to the guide.
The guide was currently ill because of such thoughts.
His power was so drained that he could barely walk around in this universe.
In order to regain his lost power- he decided that all his movements from now on would be directed towards his revenge against Liam.
Unfortunately for Liam, the guide’s revenge wouldn’t end until he fell into despair.
However…
“Even though I know my chance has come, I can’t do anything about it. d.a.m.n it Liam, what am I supposed to do to draw out negative feelings from you?”
-With his power weakened, he couldn’t do much.
Still, the guide didn’t give up.
“There must be some way. I’ll definitely get my revenge, Liam!”
The vengeful guide continued to press himself against the wall to eavesdrop on Liam.
Meanwhile a small, white light had manifested itself behind the guide.
The light just silently floated in the air as it continued to watch over the guide.
◇ ◇ ◇
—some troublesome guests have arrived.
Well, they were actually representatives of the imperial weapon factories that I frequently bought from.
There were several weapon factories in the empire.
All of them were large organizations in and of themselves, the person in front of me belonging to the seventh of them.
Each of the Empire’s weapon factories had their own distinct quirks.
The Seventh Weapons Factory in particular had quite the odd personality.
It was a factory that solely pursued performance and efficiency while neglecting appearances, making it quite unpopular amongst the aristocratic society.
However, the specs they were able to push out were nothing to scoff at.
“Lord Liam, this [Nias Karin] here will now introduce you to our recommended products!”
The black-haired, gla.s.ses-wearing woman who gave off the feeling of an intellectual beauty swiftly brought up a stereoscopic image before me and started to explain the merchandise.
The Imperial Chancellor had given me permission to buy flagship-cla.s.s battleships, with which the factories immediately jumped at the chance to sell to me.
A thought came up as I watched the holographic video,
“Their performance looks good, but the design is disappointing.”
“But we put a lot of effort into the design this time!”
“Unfortunately, you’ll have to try again next time.”
Nias, desperate for the sale, started to take off her suit jacket.
It was faint, but I could make out the flashy colours of the underwear she was wearing under her shirt.
“You really want me to buy this battleship, don’t you?”
I’ll give her high points in her attempts to appeal to an evil lord like myself.
But a disappointing girl is still disappointing.
I didn’t really like flashy underwear.
In my memories of my ex-wife, the number of gaudy underwear she owned sharply increased before our divorce.
I feel upset just thinking about it.
“You’re acting quite pathetically again.”
“Even though I’ve gone this far!”
Nias started to cry,
“Please buy it! I already guaranteed my superiors I’d make this sale! My boss will be angry with me, and a.s.sessments are coming soon!”
‘a.s.sessments’-in my past life, the very mention of that word brought unspeakable fear to me.
“…okay, I’ll buy a battleship, so go back already.”
“Isn’t your treatment of me too horrible?! You’re acting like you’re already bored of me!”
“Stop accusing me of such things!”
There’s no way I’d just let someone denounce me for things that I haven’t even done.
“Then why is it so hard to sell you any of our super-cla.s.s ships?!”
“No, that’s-”
As I started to explain my side, another soldier entered into the room.
She still had the low rank of a technology lieutenant, but she was a young and capable soldier.
Her blonde hair was slightly wavy.
It flowed all the way down to her back, and her slightly drooping eyes had a distinct green-shade to them.
Her name was [Eulisia Morisyl].
She belonged to the Third Weapons Factory and had come here to sell me a flagship as well.
“What are you doing here, Captain?”
Nias, who had been promoted to a technology captain, was hated by Eulisia.
Not to mention their respective affiliations on top of that.
“The Third Weapons Factory?! My Lord, what’s the meaning of this?!”
“Well, isn’t it obvious? It’s because I already bought a super-cla.s.s battleship from them.”
The way they balanced performance, design, and other such things was quite good, making them quite popular.
I bought a ton of other things from them too.
Nias dropped to the floor lifelessly.
“You’re too horrible!”
“…you really are a disappointing woman.”
Eulisia was weaving her hair through her fingers as she followed up,
“Thank you for your purchase, I hope we can continue this good relationship in future transactions as well.”
I could feel my nose flare at the sight of Eulisia, a woman who exuded s.e.x-appeal.
Yes, this is it.
A beauty that didn’t give off a pitiful feeling.
“I’ll make sure to buy from you again, just make sure you’re the one in charge of the sale.”
“You want me exclusively? You flatter me.”
At our light-hearted conversation, NIas stared at me with a look that said she had given up.
“…seriously, the things I do for you. Don’t cry, I understand. I’ll buy another ship from you.”
“I-if it’s okay, I’d like it if you bought at least three.”
This girl didn’t have any sense of shame.
Eulisa started to scowl.
Conversely, as I signed the contract, Nias was beaming.
I didn’t have any words to describe Eulisia’s sudden change.
—but is the Seventh Weapons Factory all right with this?
◇ ◇ ◇
—c.r.a.p.
Now that I think about it, I’m going into a training period soon.
No matter what I do, I won’t be returning to the territory for a while.
Even if I do return, it’ll only be for short breaks.
Even though I finally bought a flagship-cla.s.s battleship, I won’t be able to use it for decades.
It can only be described as a waste.
I just got mesmerised by the colour schemes and bought them on a whim.
“There was no need to buy three ships in the first place.”
Just one would’ve been enough.
Amagi rubbed salt into the wound as I contemplated this,
“By the time Master returns, the next generation of ships would have already come out, with more sophisticated features and such.”
“I should’ve waited until then to make the purchase.”
“Yes. Please be careful from now on. However, since you’ve already bought them, we might as well put them to use. We can still add them to our private armed forces.”
“It’d be a shame if they weren’t used, so that’s fine.”
Ahh… I made a pointless investment.