I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire! Vol 12 Chapter 5

Published at 1st of November 2023 07:45:02 AM

“YOU HAFTA BE SHITTING MEEEEEEEE!!!”

The Seventh Weapons Factory has moved over to the Banfield Family’s territory.

We were discussing how the factory would be operated from now on when Nias yelled at me with bloodshot eyes.

How dare she behave in such a disrespectful manner. I’m a glorious Duke, I’ll have you know.

—If it was anyone else, I would’ve had them quartered.

The executives that represent the Seventh Weapons Factory have been looking at me with a bitter expression, but after Nias’s outburst, they’ve grown pale and are shivering in fear.

They know how merciless I am towards my enemies, which is why they’re afraid to cross me.

Nias, however, being Avid’s exclusive mechanic, doesn’t seem to be able to read the room.

“I’d rather die than have the Sevenths Weapons Factory merged!”

The reason why she’s protesting is because I’ve proposed to have the Third and Seventh Weapons Factories merged now that they’ve joined us.

After all, it’d be a hassle to have two weapons factories operate in the Banfield Family.

“Did I ask for your opinion? This matter has already been decided.”

Nias hits the table in front of her repeatedly in protest, behaving like a spoiled child.

“Tyranny, I say!”

“And what can you do about it? I’m your sponsor.”

“Grrr, it pisses me off that I can’t say anything in return!”

Those with money are in the right.

Now that I’ve brought capitalistic rules into this, there’s nothing she can do about the merger.

The executives turn their faces away as well without being able utter a word of complaint.

“Happy to see that you’re all in agreement. The Sevenths Weapons Factory will henceforth work together with the Third Weapons Factory for the benefit of the Banfield Family. Now that that’s out of the way, I have a job for you guys—”

However, before I could move on, Eulisia, who’s been operating her terminal while waiting by my side, lets out a small sigh and opens her mouth.

“Lord Liam.”

“Yeah?”

Thinking it’s an emergency, I ask her what’s wrong.

“The Third Weapons Factory just had an executive meeting and have unanimously refused to merge with the Seventh Weapons Factory.”

“—It seems the people at your previous workplace don’t know who their boss is.”

How dare they defy me!

Just as I’m contemplating whether or not to toss them out of the territory, Eulisia turns her gaze to the executives of the Seventh Weapons Factories that are lined up before me.

Her eyes ultimately land on Nias.

“They’re saying ‘anything but the Seventh Weapons Factory’. They’re willing to do anything else, as long as the order isn’t unreasonable.”

Nias stands up from her seat and points her finger at Eulisia, furious that the Seventh Weapons Factory was looked down upon.

“Excuse me!? We don’t want to merge with the Third Weapons Factory either! What benefit would it even bring us?”

The Seventh Weapons Factory is under the impression that there’s nothing to be gained by merging with the Third Weapons Factory.

Eulisia’s cheeks begin to twitch.

“You’ve taken the words right out of my mouth. The Seventh Weapons Factory places too much emphasis on practicality. The Third Weapons Factory would be losing out by accepting the merger!”

The executives of the Seventh Weapons Factory raise their voice in unison upon being treated like garbage.

“Ha! Come back when you’ve actually got some skills!”

“The Third Weapons Factory doesn’t even have any unique technology!”

“Yeah, they only care about appearances and sell their products to customers that don’t know a thing!”

Eulisia, faced with all the criticism, operates her terminal while maintaining a smile.

Soon enough, countless screens appear around her, displaying the faces of the Third Weapons Factory’s executives.

‘Who do they think they are to criticize us!?’

‘They’re idiots that don’t know a thing about customer needs!’

‘What’s the point of having good technology when they can’t sell any of their products? Weapons are only useful when they’re used on the battlefield!’

They must’ve heard everything through Eulisia.

Faced with the Third Weapons Factory’s belittlement, the Seventh Weapons Factory begins to return tit for tat, venting their dissatisfaction.

Neither side is willing to back down, and the argument continues to escalate.

I guess it would be better to have them work separately.

I heave a deep sigh.

“Enough!”

Everyone becomes quiet when I raise my voice.

Fortunately, not of them are stupid enough to ignore me.

“Since you guys are so confident, I’ll let you continue working by yourselves. But mark my words, you would have to prove to me that you’re worthy.”

I won’t listen to the complaints of the incompetent.

They all nod and reply in the affirmative, seemingly understanding what I’m implying.

Letting out a sigh of relief, Eulisia brings up the matter of what we’ll be doing in the future.

There’s no need to do so, but she’s probably trying to change the air in the room.

“Now that we’ve discussed what to do about the merger, we should move on to the next topic. Lord Liam, this document summarizes how many weapons we can manufacture if both weapons factories enter full operation.”

A screen gets projected in front of me, and in it are rows of numbers detailing what I can expect from the two factories operating at maximum capacity.

“It’s less than I expected.”

Nias hears my mutter and utters a complaint while sitting back down.

Her complaint, however, isn’t directed at me.

“We had to relinquish a lot of things to the Empire when we moved.”

Should I take this as a subtle harassment?

Whatever it is, it doesn’t change the fact that they’ve sent us gifts. By pushing the two weapons factories onto us, they’re telling us to fight in earnest.

Even if they can’t perform as well as I expected, their presence is no doubt an overall positive.

“I see. In any case, you guys will have to work hard for me from now on. But before that—Nias.”

Nias straightens her back and adjusts her glasses, trying to appear as a competent woman.

Honestly, I find it irritating.

“Is there anything I can do for you, Lord Liam?”

“I’m entrusting the Seventh Weapons Factory with a certain task. It will be your highest priority. Tell me what materials you’ll need as soon as possible.”

“Is this about warships or mobile knights? Ah, are we to build custom knights for ace pilots?”

Nias get excited, but I shut her down.

A look of disgust appears on her face when she hears what I say.

“You’ll be building mass-produced models.”

Yasushi’s mansion was situated on the home planet of the Banfield Family.

It was a splendid mansion to live in, but the master of the house was currently busy preparing to evacuate.

“We can’t stay here! We’re running away!”

After stuffing his belongings into a magical furoshiki, he carried it on his back and prepared to make his escape.

His wife, Nina, wasn’t impressed by this.

“Most of the warp devices have been destroyed. It’s impossible to leave the territory unless you have a personal spaceship.”

Yasushi collapsed on his knees when he heard the news.

“I thought I could live a happy and peaceful life here. Why, Liam, why!! Why did you pick a fight with the Empire!?”

Yasushi began beating the floor with tears in his eyes.

Just then, the front door of the mansion flung open, and in came Yasuyuki, who had been staying at Klaus’s mansion.

Yasuyuki had grown a little taller, and the moment he appeared, Nina jumped at him.

“Yasuyuki!”

“—Um, Lord Klaus was getting busy, so he told me to return home.”

When Yasushi turned to face his son, he noticed his disciples were there as well.

“Master!!” Fuuka cried out.

Rinho frowned.

“You’re being loud, Fuuka. You agree, right, Yasuyuki~?”

These two usually behaved wildly, but they tended to pamper Yasuyuki.

They would act spoiled in front of Liam, but Yasuyuki was like a cute younger brother to them.

Watching the two girls pretend to be respectable older sisters, Yasushi thought to himself—

(Even with them on our side, we won’t be able to win the war.)

Liam might’ve been able to slaughter a monster, but against an army of six million, he stood no hope.

Half given up, Yasushi looked up at the ceiling, wondering if his luck had finally run out.

Sitting cross-legged, he stared at the patterns on the ceiling.

Rinho noticed this and said—

“Even in a situation like this, Master seems to be able to maintain his calm.”

Fuuka also looked over at him and nodded in admiration.

“Even I’m feeling a little uneasy. Master is different after all. If only I can be as tranquil as him.”

Another misunderstanding was budding, but none of that mattered to Yasushi right now.

(I hope it’s a painless death.)

At the Banfield Family’s mansion.

Brian was having a conservation with Rosetta.

“It’s to be expected, but war seems inevitable.”

Brian appeared distressed, but Rosetta put on a brave front.

“—We’ll let Darling take care of matters regarding the war. Let’s focus on what we can do.”

Rosetta was responsible for managing the mansion and affairs related to the Banfield Family’s home planet.

Now that they had entered wartime regime, she had also taken over some of Liam’s job.

She was essentially the acting head of the Banfield Family.

Brian straightened his back seeing how Rosetta behaved.

“Ha…”

(Lady Rosetta has come so far. When she first came to the mansion, she looked so frail, I was worried.)

Rosetta used to live a very difficult life, but now that she was a Duchess, she was doing a splendid job of managing the mansion.

However, deep down, she knew that this war would be a tough one.

Dropping her gaze, she asked Brian for help in a certain matter.

“Brian, worse comes to worst, I’d like Edward to escape. Please make preparations for that.”

At first, Brian wanted to reassure Rosetta, telling her that it wouldn’t come to that.

He was about to say that the Banfield Family would never lose, but ultimately decided to swallow his words after making an objective judgement.

“Please rest assured, I’ll have my great-grandson take care of it.”

“—Thank you. Even if I were to die, I would be satisfied as long as the child lives. He bears some responsibility as the family’s heir, but he’s simply too young.”

Grabbing her left arm with her right hand, Rosetta looked down with a troubled expression.

In a way, it was unfortunate of Edward to have been born into the Banfield Family.

Now that the Banfield Family had been branded traitors, he wouldn’t be able escape capital punishment even if he was young.

Considering his position, Edward would normally be dutybound to protect the household, but Rosetta wanted him to live, and Brian respected her wishes.

“Understood. Even in the worst-case scenario, we’ll make sure that Lord Edward continues the lineage. I’m sure he’ll let the future generations know that Lord Liam wasn’t in the wrong.”

The Banfield Family was betrayed and destroyed.

If this became a reality, Brian wished Edward would carry on his master’s blood and tell the truth to the world.

—————————————————————————————————————

Brian (´；ω；｀): “The Sword God has given up on the fight before it has even begun. It’s painful.”

Wakagi-chan (；゜Д゜): “He’s almost like a misunderstood protagonist.”

Brian (｀・ω・´): “Volume 5 of the novel and Volume 2 of the manga for ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!’ are scheduled to go on sale fully starting April 25th! Some stores already have them lined up, but the official release date is supposed to be the 25th!”

Wakagi-chan (゜∀゜): “By release data, he’s referring to the day when it becomes available nationwide. Oh, but remote islands are an exception!

Chapter end