While Liam was training, there was movement in the Banfield house .

“Brian, you’ve grown old since I last saw you . ”

“You’re one to talk . ”

Brian had invited over a woman who was familiar with manners and conduct .

Previously employed in the imperial palace, she was a woman he met while during the Banfield house’s golden years .

She had the elite position of head maid, the leader of all the girls .

Now that she has retired, her grandchildren and great-grandchildren were holding that position .

She was a person who had grown up watching over the empire until she had finally become an old woman .

Brian had invited her over because he wanted her to bring the etiquette of the Empire’s higher-cla.s.s into Liam’s residence .

They were manners that could be applied anywhere, which was necessary for the future .

After all, they were going to accept n.o.ble children as a place of study in order to build connections with other houses .

Behavior needed to be taught strictly .

“Except for Lord Alistair, your masters were fools . ”

“I admit this . ”

Alistair was Liam’s great-grandfather .

It was thanks to him that the Banfield house had once risen to power .

“But when I saw the mansion I understood . The little boy you call Liam doesn’t seem to be one . ”

“You’re as harsh as ever, but Lord Liam is no fool . ”

“That’s for me to decide . No matter how much you boast about your ability to fight pirates, that alone won’t be enough . ”

Brian asked the woman,

“So what’s your decision? Will you accept?”

The woman laughed,

“I didn’t have high expectations, and only came here to see your face- but I’ve changed my mind . Bring all the ladies to me, I’ll train them myself . ”

The woman’s countenance had changed, and looking at their new head maid, Brian started to smile .

“I’ll leave them to you . When the girls arrive, it’s rea.s.suring to know you’ll be here . ”

“Within the next decade I’ll turn your house into one suitable for accepting the children of other families . You can leave the house’s internal affairs to me, but I’m not helping with anything else . ”

It was Liam’s job to prepare the facilities and other preparations necessary to accommodate the n.o.ble children .

-or it was supposed to be, but Amagi was taking care of everything .

“I’m fine with that . ”

In response to Brian’s reply, the head maid made an interested expression,

“For you to make such a face, that Liam must be quite talented . It’s a pity I can’t meet him while he’s studying abroad . ”

“It’s already been a year, just two more and he’ll return . ”

“Where did you send him?”

“We sent him to Viscount Razel’s house . ”

Upon hearing that, the head maid showed noticeable discomfort,

“W-what’s wrong?”

“You chose the Razel house, a place whose acceptance of children is more akin to that of a business, rather than guests . I heard they were quite popular, but they aren’t a house I’d recommend . Weren’t there any other options?”

“Unfortunately, there was no such thing . The house’s current state doesn’t have any decent connections we can rely on . ”

The head maid replied,

“Well, the Razel house changes their reception depending on the individual . If they consider a child profitable, then they’ll be put into a relaxed course that barely does any training . In those cases, another house would’ve been better to enroll into before elementary school . ”

By focusing on entertaining the child instead of disciplining them, there were rare cases of children actually leaving the training worse than how they were beforehand .

Because she had worked in the imperial capital, she had access to various information .

“Are they really that bad? They didn’t seem to have that bad of a reputation…”

“The side that actually got trained probably spread that image, but the imperial capital doesn’t see them in a very good light . If I had known earlier, I would’ve introduced you to-”

The head maid’s expression was full of regret .

Brian’s face was already blue as he hurriedly went to call Liam .

“Lord Liam, how is living over there like?”

“How’s it like? Uh, normal? Since there isn’t any paperwork, I guess it’s easy enough?”

“E-easy?! —N-no, other than that, did they do anything else to you?”

“Did they do anything to me? Sorry, I actually need to go, it’s almost time for work . ”

“Oh, please wait for one moment! What is ‘work’, exactly?!”

“We moved a bunch of heavy equipment to their natural satellites, and now we’re actually doing some mining jobs with them . ”

Brian’s face was blue .

Was it so strange?

Kurt, who was currently wearing a s.p.a.cesuit called out to me,

“Liam, it’s about time we got going!”

“I’m coming! Brian, don’t worry- I’m practically a master in manipulating heavy equipment now . ”

Although Brian was trying to say something, I ended the call because it was time for us to clock in .

“Lord Liam! Wait! No! This is wrong! Mining jobs on moons and other satellites aren’t tasks to be done by the head of a house!”

The head maid moved to support Brian, whose call was suddenly cut off and was about to fall over in regret .

“Get a hold of yourself!”

“B-but, for all the resources and funds we supplied, this treatment is far too harsh . P-protest . If I protest this quickly enough, then we can improve the viscount house’s treatment of him . ”

But the head maid refuted him,

“I wouldn’t recommend doing that . ”

“Why?! There’s no way I can allow this sort of treatment!”

“No, this might actually be a blessing in disguise . We’ll hear more details from him later, but it’s good for him to learn about that kind of life . Besides, I was quite impressed with how he was able to put up with such treatment without complaining . From that alone, I’ll raise my evaluation of him to someone who’s better than the average man . ”

Brian was wiping his tears .

“To treat my precious Lord Liam like that, I’ll never forgive them . ”

“I agree, but learning something while they’re studying abroad also depends on the individual themselves . This might actually be a good environment for that child . ”

Seeing how much fun Liam was having was Brian’s only silver lining in this situation .

But that was a different matter .

This didn’t mean that he would forget this grudge against the viscount house .

The head maid started laughing,

“What an interesting boy . I like him- so I’ll help you out with taking care of this issue . ”

s.p.a.ce work .

While piloting heavy equipment to mine, I couldn’t help but be frustrated with the large, immobile s.p.a.cesuits they made us use .

“It’s hot in here, and the suit is totally outdated . ”

As I complained, Kurt, who was there working with me, replied,

“Yeah, this sure is a poor working environment . ”

I didn’t really think so .

The work environments in my previous life were worse .

So I wasn’t that sympathetic .

“It also smells . ”

“Agreed . ”

We cut the rock with heavy equipment that was far from humanoid .

Then, we transported and dumped the cuts into a machine created for recovering the resources .

Such a life has been going on for three months now .

“d.a.m.nit, are the people on the surface partying right now?”

There were only a few ‘parties’ we were allowed to partic.i.p.ate in .

They were carried out once a month to teach us etiquette, but all foods and drinks were removed .  

Conversely, the people that had been given preferential treatment could stay on the surface and enjoy real parties whenever they wanted .

“I think this is better, I’m not very good with parties . ”

Unlike myself, Kurt seemed to be an introverted-type evil lord .

I also liked my time alone, but parties were fun .

The luxurious meals and drinks that I could consume with my people’s tax money were delicious .

“Isn’t it fine since your a n.o.ble now? Just enjoy them . If you keep acting like this, then you’ll be troubled once you finally get to partic.i.p.ate in a bucket party . ”

“In the first place, I don’t think a house of my status can partic.i.p.ate in something like a bucket party . ”

Bucket parties had a certain formula to them .

They were really complex .

Both the sponsor who organised it, and the partic.i.p.ants invited needed a certain skill set to partic.i.p.ate .

I also want to try hosting a bucket party someday .

While we were talking, the day’s work was about to finish .

As I got up, the head knight who was supervising us called out to me,

“Liam, you’re exceptionally skilled at handling heavy equipment . If you ever run into money problems, I’ll happily give you a job . ”

After telling me such a joke, I decided to play along with him,

“If that time comes, I’ll be counting on you . I was originally supposed to be a count, so please promise me good working conditions . Three meals a day and ample time for naps is required . ”

“All right, I’ll think about it, but be prepared for low-wages . ”

“That’s a off-putting . ”

After saying such a joke, I returned to the s.h.i.+p .

–something’s wrong .

On the roof of the viscount’s mansion .

The guide who was confirming Liam’s current situation was perplexed .

“Why is he having fun?! He should be dissatisfied with this treatment!”

The money and supplies Liam had piled up had become the seeds of success for others .

And yet Liam looked like he was enjoying himself even though he was being treated worse than how he was originally supposed to be .

This was not the ideal situation for the guide .

Liam’s happiness wasn’t his happiness .

In fact, his heart was actually in pain because of it .

His limbs had grown numb as well .

“At my current strength, I can’t do anything, but I still need to somehow push Liam into despair . ”

The situation wasn’t improving at all .

The guide pondered about his next move- he had lost the majority of his power, so his options were limited .

“Are there any cards I can play? Anything will-”

That’s when Peter entered into his field of view .

Even though this was the viscount’s residence, he was behaving as if he owned the place .

“Okay, let’s use him against Liam… nevermind . There’s no way he could win . ”

The guide immediately gave up after seeing Peter .

“How do I do it?! How do I make you unhappy, Liam?!”

The guide wallowed in his regret and started shedding tears .

—while I was doing more mining work the next day .

It was at such a time .

“What’s that? A flickering white light?”

I saw a white light on the monitor .

The instruments weren’t giving off any response, so were they just malfunctioning?

That’s what I thought-but then I hit something .

I was a bit worried, but when I went to check it out, there was a pendant there .

“What’s this?”

At first I thought it was just garbage .

But after having picked it up, I took quite a liking to it .

“I guess mining jobs aren’t so bad . ”

Being the profession that excavated gold gave it high points in my eyes .

After putting the pendant into my pocket, I resumed my work .

The university of the imperial capital .

Gathered inside of Tia’s room was a group of her friends who were also partic.i.p.ating in the university life .

University students studying abroad from the Banfield house’s territory had gathered together for a party .  

Tia pickup up her terminal, and after reading the message, she exhaled a sigh .

“What’s wrong, Tia?”

One of her friends called out to her .

She was a comrade who had survived that living h.e.l.l as well .

“The Banfield house’s fleets seem to be growing more active in their pirate hunting . ”

To Liam’s private army, pirates were nothing more than living wallets for them to hunt down .

Sometimes, they’d even be requested to be dispatched to the neighboring lord’s territories .

The message was another story of their successes .

“Which fleet was it?”

“The first fleet . They recently received a super-cla.s.s battles.h.i.+p from Lord Liam, so they’re full of energy and motivation at the moment . ”

The admiral who acquired a new high-spec battles.h.i.+p was overjoyed .

Because Tia understood those feelings herself, she wasn’t complaining .

The reason why she sighed was-

“I hope I can become a knight soon, I want to go out and decimate pirates too . ”

All those who were partic.i.p.ating in the party were those who experienced that h.e.l.lish lifestyle .

There were a few that had been imprisoned by other pirates, but everyone felt the same .

Her friend spoke with a smile,

“I understand, I totally understand Tia! But for now, let’s do our best to earn our knight qualifications . We still have a lot of things we need to prepare before Lord Liam comes here . ”

“Yes, I know… I just want to experience the feeling of killing pirates with my own hands . ”

He had given them their new bodies- their new lives .

Everything they were was because of Liam .

That was everyone’s common understanding .

The insides of the room were decorated wall-to-wall with floating images of Liam .

The house party surrounded by an innumerable number of holographic images was being held under such circ.u.mstances .

The Razel house’s mansion .

“Fanatics?”

Yeah, my father built his career through military exploits while piloting a mobile knight . So among the mobile knight pilots, he’s a bit of a celebrity .  

While talking with Kurt inside our room, the conversation eventually turned towards fanatics .

Since he built up popularity as a knight, it seems like many officials had come and offered to work under him .

Conversely, I was troubled by the fact that I always seemed to be understaffed .

I didn’t have enough people yet considering the scale of my house .

“What’s the problem with that?”

“It’s a big problem!”

Kurt yelled at me with an intense fervor, 

“While my father isn’t exactly ugly, he’s not that handsome . ”

Bringing up an image, what was shown was that of a bitter-looking man in his thirties .

Certainly not celebrity material .

“Even though it’s like that, there’s a photobook that’s been released for some time now . ”

“Huh?”

“Because my dad had already put in his signature on the doc.u.ment, I made a mistake . At the time I was annoyed with all the paperwork I had to do, and just gave my signature without reading the contents of it . ”

It looks like he signed doc.u.ments without looking at the contents if he deemed them to be unimportant .

It wasn’t like I’d be spending any money, so I gave my subordinates the okay, and signed the doc.u.ments for my photobook to be released .

My everyday life was recorded, and there were even edited videos in there too- it was my subordinates who bought them .

It sold quite well in my territory .

A profit that I couldn’t laugh at was made, and it looks like the baron was selling the same goods at an equally fast rate .

Kurt was talking about the sales while crying,

“–and that’s why your confiding in me right now?”

Kurt’s shoulders suddenly dropped .

“Y-yeah . ”

In his case, wasn’t it selling because he was quite a beautiful for a guy? That’s what I thought, but I didn’t say it out loud because I knew he’d get angry .

With that said, I can’t really understand the thought process of a person who’d buy the catalogue of an old man .

—fanatics are scary .