Training Period

I was a.s.signed to the logistics department in the imperial capital for my training.

After graduating from the military academy with honours, I was promoted to a lieutenant– but to be clear, this wasn't where the elite cadets normally went.

It wasn't the department where the best of the best were trained, but I was satisfied.

Why?

–because just by doing paperwork here, I was guaranteed a promotion to captain after my first year.

And by the end of my second one, my rank would be elevated again to a major.

n.o.bles could easily advance their careers by safely doing desk work in the back.

Truly wonderful.

And this wasn't even considering how when I'm given my official a.s.signment, I'll be able to spend my four years of conscription relaxing in the fleet Tia prepared for me.

This training was the turning point, after this all that was left was my student-life at the university and my work as an official that came with it.

Without even trying, aristocrats could be a.s.signed to the elite courses and pull ahead in life, happily watching those struggling below them from safe distances.

This was exactly what an evil lord should be like.

Life in the barracks was mandatory during the training period, but it felt more like I was staying in a hotel while vacationing in the capital.

After finis.h.i.+ng a regular working schedule everyday, I returned to the barracks and enjoyed my personal time after five.

This truly was wonderful compared to the elites who were working themselves to death in the busier departments.

While I still occupied with my work, Wallace called out to me.

“Hey Liam, there seems to be a visitor who stormed into the building screaming.”

“Screaming? Was there a mistake made somewhere?”

But who made the mistake?

We left a lot of things to the AIs, but they wouldn't make any blunders.

Some of the work did require humans to process, so the error probably came from one of us.

“No, they're here to lodge a complaint about the supplies you've arranged, Liam.”

“…what?”

The logistic departments tend to be looked down upon because they didn't operate on the front lines.

Their use of AIs to reduce the workload is another reason why they're held in contempt.

However, work efficiency greatly decreases if only humans were employed.

When you thought about how the work done back here was used to help support the front lines, social norms be d.a.m.ned, they had to rely on them.

“Now what's the meaning behind a half-a.s.sed person like you– who relies on AIs do to his job, rejecting my application form?!”

It was just past noon when the colonel burst into the building and started causing a commotion.

A brigadier general was his opponent, but the colonel was still taking a crude att.i.tude towards him because of his n.o.ble birth.

“M-my apologies. Colonel, we'll remedy this soon, so please calm down.”

Because of their use of AIs to process their work, even the higher-ups in the logistics department were made light of.

The Empire thought it was bad to overly rely on AIs, so this division wasn't really one you'd choose if you wanted a fast-track through the ranks.

“Bring me the idiot who designated the supplies for my s.h.i.+p! I'll set him straight myself!”

The brigadier general hurriedly tried to stop the colonel who was brandis.h.i.+ng his whip while grinning.

“Colonel, that's no good. If you do that then–”

“I'm saying I'll personally straighten out the coward who refuses to fight on the front lines, or are you telling me you'd rather take his place?”

The colonel was a person who enjoyed hara.s.sing the weak.

The brigadier general dropped his shoulders.

“You can't say I didn't warn you.”

Giving up, the brigadier general then called out, “Someone get the lieutenant,” after which, the colonel whipped his hands together in a clap, making a large noise.

“Oh? It was some greenhorn brat that's still in the middle of their training? I'll show him how reality actually works in the imperial army.”

Seeing the colonel denounce the youth, the brigadier general looked away.

“…if you really can subdue him, then I hope you'll teach me your methods as well.”

“Did you say something?”

“No, it's nothing.”

The sound of the door being knocked could be heard

“Get in already!”

Opening the door and entering the room– it was Liam who appeared.

“So you're the one responsible for designating supplies for my s.h.i.+p?! Do you know what you did?!”

Towards the big att.i.tude the colonel was taking against him, Liam snorted.

“Who the h.e.l.l are you?”

“W-what?! Can't you even recognise my rank from the badge?!”

“It just says you're a patrol fleet colonel, but that doesn't mean anything to me. Brigadier general, I'm actually really busy right now. I don't want you to call me for things on this level.”

To Liam's comment, the brigadier general replied, “I didn't want to either, but the colonel here apparently wants to teach you a lesson.”

The colour of Liam's eyes changed when he heard that.

“…who is he planning to teach?”

“You, brat! What the h.e.l.l have you been learning at the academy?! Don't think you'll be able to go home today!”

While the colonel was thinking about how he was going to have fun torturing Liam– he was suddenly blown away.

“Bweh-?!”

After slamming into the wall, he made an expression that said he didn't even understand what happened, and that's when he heard Liam's voice.

“Brigadier general, can you call this guy's superior for me?”

“I-it's not like I can't, but–”

“This guy's application form said to prepare expensive liquors and snacks. I'm sure his boss would love to hear all about that. He's just a no-name soldier from the patrol fleets, who the h.e.l.l is he to question my decisions?”

To the smiling Liam, the brigadier general replied, “Understood” before making the call to the colonel's superior.

The person he called was a major general who was in charge of a patrol fleet charged with protecting the s.p.a.ce around the imperial capital.

When the call went through, the man was clearly in a bad mood.

“What is it?”

“Hey, major general. Your subordinate picked a fight with me. Will you take responsibility for this as his boss?”

“Wh?! My lord?!”

The major general was also a n.o.bleman, but his status was inferior to Liam, who had succeeded as the head of his house.

But even putting that aside, Liam was infamous for being in open-conflict with the dangerous Berkley family.

The major general was clearly distressed.

“M-my subordinate has been rude towards you. Tell him to immediately withdraw.”

“I should tell him? No, you're going to come here and bring him back yourself. Are you seriously trying to give me orders? Aren't you getting a bit too full of yourself? Do you really think you can look down on me just because of your military rank?”

“P-please excuse me. I'll pick him up soon. No, I'll leave to pick him up right now.”

“Be quick about it, and while I'm at it, the application form you've sent goes too far, even for a joke. Don't put in requests that waste my time ever again. Do you understand?”

“Y-yes, I understand.”

“…it sounds like you have a grievance. What is it then? Spit it out.”

“I-it's really nothing, my lord.”

Distracting him from his work, and forcing him to deal with these situations was a waste of Liam's time.

He hated things like this.

“Good, I like smart people like you. Now then, get over here and pick up your incompetent subordinate as soon as possible.”

“…understood.”

When the major general ended the call, the colonel was trembling at the revelation that Liam was an active Count with considerable power.

“Now then, I believe you said you were going to teach me a lesson? My body has actually been feeling dull recently from all this desk work, so won't you help me get some exercise?”

The colonel immediately sprung up and saluted.

“Please forgive me for all of my previous transgressions, my lord!”

He immediately acknowledged the other party as his superior– but it was too late.

Liam put his hand on the colonel's shoulder, and gripped it. Hard.

“I don't hate att.i.tudes like yours, but I'm not that much of a saint that I'd forgive you that easily. Do you understand what I'm saying?”

Liam then seized the trembling colonel by his collar and dragged him out of the room.

The brigadier general silently watched this all happen from the side.

“Haa… it looks like bringing him in was the right answer.”

–he was pleased with how smoothly the department's work had gotten ever since Liam's arrival.

There were many soldiers who looked down on the logistics department and made unreasonable requests to them.

For that reason, he wanted to bring in some powerful n.o.bles to his division.

But if he brought in a corrupt one like someone from the Berkley family, then he'd only be creating more troubles for himself in the end.

However, a serious aristocrat like Liam would never tolerate anything like fraud.

“I hope this will reduce the number of unreasonable demands a little.”

The brigadier general was happy to have roped Liam in, but he still couldn't understand why he'd choose his department of all things.

The front lines.

Marie was currently training there as an infantry.

“You minced meat b.i.t.c.h, I'll never forgive you…”

Dressed in a powered-suit, she jumped off a transport aircraft while muttering curses against Tia.

She didn't use a parachute, but a barrier suddenly appeared around her before she landed, absorbing the impact before shattering.

In the middle of a jungle, Marie took in her surroundings.

“Marie, is it safe?”

“No problems here.”

“Acknowledged. In that case, proceed to infiltrate the enemy facilities and rescue the hostages. It's a difficult task, but I know that you can do it.”

Being forced to advance on a hostile base all on her on while rescuing a hostage, Marie started to complain in her head.

(I'll definitely return and take that minced meat b.i.t.c.h's head.)

Because of Tia moving things behind the scenes, she was a.s.signed to the special forces.

Tia said, “There's no place for you by Lord Liam's side,” and ridiculed her.

Quickly making her way through the jungle, Marie promptly executed a lookout with her knife.

Her boss, who was watching over the situation praised her finesse through the comms.

“Your skills are amazing. They remind me of one of my former subordinates.”

“You've had others on my level? Where and when was this?”

Marie's interest was piqued after hearing that there were other people as strong as her.

“They went by a different name during their service, because unlike yourself, they worked as a spy and needed to keep their ident.i.ty secret. They were unbelievably strong in battle, and could accomplish any mission we sent their way.”

“You've caught my interest, do go on.”

“I can't tell you because of military regulations unfortunately, but she truly was an excellent subordinate.”

When the enemy base came into view, Marie ended the call and began her infiltration.

“Now then, I want to return to Lord Liam's side as soon as possible, so shouldn't I finish this quickly?”

On that day– one criminal organisation was wiped from existence.

Moderate exercise sure does feel good.

“And I even managed to finish my work on time as well.”

While thinking about everything that happened today, Wallace made a tired expression before speaking,

“You shouldn't fuss over the time so much. Do you understand? Look, there's others still working even now.”

There were senior officers who couldn't complete their work on time and had to stay.

But that had nothing to do with me.

Because I did finish.

“There's no value in working overtime.”

“Is that why you never help others?”

Sometimes there were idiots who couldn't even do their jobs, and came crying to me for help, but I always pushed them away, saying that these were things they needed to figure out themselves.

“What's the point in doing so?”

In my previous life, I worked my hardest for my company, my subordinates, and my juniors– I really did my best, but it was all for nought in the end.

When you finish your work, you should be allowed to go home.

There should be no problems as long as you worked hard enough to justify your salary.

Society and the companies may ask you for more, but abstract ideas like 'building good faith' meant nothing to me.

Compared to the effort you had to put in for such things, the few words of “thanks” they gave you wasn't sufficient enough of a reward to justify it.

That's why I only work for what they pay me for.

When we left the office building, a big limousine was parked at the entrance.

“How beautiful. Did someone important drop by?”

You could easily tell the limousine was a luxury vehicle.

The logistics department wasn't a popular division, so there weren't many aristocrats stationed here.

When I thought so, Wallace noticed something,

“Wait, wouldn't they be here to pick you up, Liam?”

“…what?”

Slightly confused, I slowly approached the vehicle when it's door suddenly burst open to reveal Rosetta– who was currently dressed in plain clothes, jumping out of it.

“Darling!”

“Rosetta?!”

I actually wanted to dodge her, but if I did it poorly, she might've hurt herself, so I ended up catching her in my arms instead.

“W-what are you doing here?”

“Why don't you try resting at the hotel for today? That's where I'm staying now that my training is finished. I actually wanted to spend some time with you, so I came to pick you up.”

Hearing that, Wallace immediately boarded the limousine.

“Then don't mind if I do. I'll take a free ride anytime. –woah, Liam! The insides of this thing are amazing! There's even alcohol and snacks here!”

Seeing Wallace was already inside and drinking, I tried to make one last vain effort to stop him.

“Hey, wait! I thought we were already had plans to go drinking later!”

“It should be fine to go to the hotel instead. I mean, we can't really play around much before payday, and this is all free!”

This b.a.s.t.a.r.d!

Pulling away from me slightly, Rosetta looked up at me with moist eyes.

“Darling, did you already have plans? I-I guess that makes sense. I know how important it is to keep up your workplace relations.h.i.+ps.”

Seeing how sad Rosetta looked, I felt an inexplicable sense of guilt wash over me for some reason.

In the first place, I was only planning to go with Wallace to a bar for some drinks, and nothing more.

“N-no, we just had plans to go drinking together, that's all.”

“Really?! Then, let's go to the hotel! There's so many restaurants in the vicinity that you'll never grow bored of them! I'll have them prepare all the drinks you could ever want, Darling!”

“I-I see.”

I used to think that she was a woman of steel– an ice queen with an unbreakable heart, but this was before she became my fiancée.

Now she fawns over me while calling me 'Darling'.

I actually wished that she hated me more, since I didn't really know how to treat her when she acted like this.

“…so Rosetta, what have you been doing during your stay at the hotel?”

“Right now I'm just learning a bunch of things. Currently I'm studying about the imperial capital's culture along with the daughters of various other n.o.ble houses. It's a lot of fun.”

Was it something like a young wife attending a cooking cla.s.s?

I'm glad that it looks like she's enjoying herself… not that I was worried about her or anything.

Rosetta's expression suddenly became serious.

“Oh yes, and Darling… there's actually some guests over there that want to see you.”

“Some guests?”

Even more people want to meet with me? Hopefully they're not like the colonel who visited around noon