Volume 2 Chapter 16: Side Story Lord Liam-Certified

The lord who had complete control over a planet was actually a king whose territory spanned across an entire galaxy.

In my office.

I was looking over the galaxy I ruled over through a stereoscopic image.

Wasn’t it a beautiful galaxy?

By reaching out my hand, I could zoom in and out of it and use it as a map.

Using it like this, I really felt like a ruler of the stars.

It was like I had the universe in the palm of my hand.

“Everything in this galaxy is mine. Now, what am I supposed to do with it?”

The one that answered my murmurs was Brian, who had prepared green tea and jellies for me.

“Lord Liam, it’s time for your three o’clock snack.”

“Did you bring the expensive tea leaves and sweets? I’m not going to have anything cheap.”

Eating sweets bought using my people’s tax money was the best.

And the ones that cost an exorbitant amount of money were the most delicious!

“As far as this Brian here knows, the tea leaves used were the best in the local area, and the jellies were specially made from a store that has quite a history to it.”

They were tea leaves whose prices were extraordinarily high.

While the sweets were made by specially commissioning the owner of a famous shop that’s been around for hundreds of years to personally make them.

I couldn’t even imagine how much money it cost just for my three o’clock snack.

When I tried eating the jellies, I could taste a refined sweetness spreading throughout my mouth, while the tea I drank to wash it down didn’t taste bitter in the slightest.

The combination of the two was amazing!

“This is great! It really gives off the feeling of living in luxury!”

Brian looked pleased.

“I’m happy to hear that, Lord Liam.”

I thought it’d just be another set of tea and sweets, but they were better than I thought.

Let’s add them to my snack time rotation.

“Brian, add today’s sweets and tea to the rotation.”

“Oh, are you sure about that?”

“I have the money to do so! This is why I squeezed my people for so much!”

After the tax increase, tax revenue rose significantly.

I left everything else to Amagi, so unfortunately, I didn’t know the finer details. Still, even though my people were suffering, the sweets they made were pretty good.

This was true bliss.

Looking at my smile, Brian called out to me,

“Lord Liam, then are you fine with treating both as recognised by you?”

How would they feel about receiving their evil lord’s approval?

In truth, all those who had it would have complicated feelings rise up inside of them.

They wouldn’t be happy with the recognition, but it’d be impossible for them to go against me, the ruler of this galaxy.

In that case, I’d happily admit it.

Let’s give them my approval, which has become notorious with my tax increases.

If I was a peasant, I definitely wouldn’t use the store certified by my despot.

“Of course, I’ll give them an official certificate in my name! They’re now Lord Liam-certified!”

“Understood, I’ll make the arrangements immediately.”

“Make sure they display it in a place where everyone can see it.”

“Of course.”

What’ll happen once they put it on display? The customers who have a grudge against me will leave, and then the store will be forced to rely on me to make ends meet.

If that’s the case, then I can’t wait to see what kind of expressions they’ll make.

I’ll ruin their lives and make them feel like I’ve just handed down an execution order for them.

“I’m looking forward to this!”

The tea and sweets were great today as well!

◇ ◇ ◇

There was a long-established confectionery shop that had been around for over six-hundred years.

The shop was opened during the time of Liam’s great-grandfather Alistair, and it’s been running since.

The retired shopkeeper had been in a tense state since morning.

He had already passed on the store to his son, who was now visiting Liam’s mansion.

The tense-looking predecessor had been awkwardly greeting customers all day.

His daughter-in-law called out to him.

“Father, why don’t you wait for him inside?”

“N-no, I can’t relax inside the house.”

He was so nervous that his throat was dry.

That’s when his son suddenly appeared rushing towards the store.

In his hands was a framed certificate.

“Father, I did it! I received a certificate from Lord Liam!”

The son raised the certificate that he held up high.

“What?!”

“I was told to deliver to the estate regularly from now on! Whenever Lord Liam wants it, they want me to personally go to the mansion to make some for him!”

The predecessor stood up from his chair while shaking.

“Y-you, well done!”

Father and son started to hug each other.

The son’s wife immediately went into the store and brought out a banner.

After operating something on her terminal, the contents of the banner changed.

“Lord Liam-certified!”

Seeing those words, everyone walking through the shopping district immediately stopped in their tracks.

“So that shop has Lord Liam himself as a purveyor?”

“The stuff they make is probably that good. The current owners are nice too.”

“I’ve never tried anything of theirs before, should I grab some now?”

Customers started gathering at the store one after another, and the products that were lined up were quickly sold out.

In the territory, Liam’s name couldn’t have been trusted more.

The moment something became certified using said name, that very product would start selling like crazy.

The housewives who left the store were chatting as they looked things up on their terminals.

“Oh, the tea shop over there is also certified.”

“Can I order some of their products online?”

“It’s no good, we’re too late. We need to make reservations first.”

Information quickly spread, and all the items that could be bought by mail order were sold out.

In the store, the predecessor smiled as he packed the products into bags while talking with the customers.

“I guess the predecessor can finally relax.”

“I’m not worried because my son is a better craftsman than I.”

Looking at him, you wouldn’t think that he was the same man that had been tense all day.

A call suddenly came to the store.

The wife was the one who answered it,

“Yes?”

“Hello, this is the Henfrey company–”

A bulk order was made from the Henfrey company.

◇ ◇ ◇

Spaceport of the Banfield house.

The headquarters of the Henfrey company was located there.

The Henfrey company, which was publicly known as one of Liam’s purveyors.

Thomas, the head of the company– was currently tasting the Lord Liam-certified tea and jellies with the other executives.

The opinions of the executives were–

“Can we sell these in territories outside of the Banfield house’s domain?”

“They’ll sell, but we should bring them to the more developed ones.”

“If we’re talking about places where Lord Liam’s name is known, then how about the Exner territory?”

Where could they sell it?

That was what they were all discussing.

Liam, The Pirate Hunter.

The moment such a person became the purveyor of something, said product tuned into a safe and trustworthy thing to invest in.

It immediately became a commodity that could be sold.

Thomas finished eating his portion and spoke,

“It’s not bad. The combination between the two is good as well. Let’s put them together as a set and try selling them like that.”

There were many planets that people lived in within this universe.

Some of them would like this product, but the opposite is true as well.

“There are a lot of products we can export from the Banfield territory after all.”

Thomas was happy.

The more specialty products he had access to, meant that he had more unique goods to sell.

One of the executives spoke,

“In recent years, it looks like some other vendors have been pressuring us.”

Thomas was troubled by this.

Lord Liam had absolutely no tolerance for pirates, which meant he was a very good lord for merchants who traveled across the cosmos.

There were many merchant houses that aimed for their spot as his exclusive merchant.

“–if they have any problems with our business, tell them to bring it up with Lord Liam. I don’t want to deal with annoyances like them.”

◇ ◇ ◇

My office.

I was upset.Amagi had brought over a cup of tea and a plate of sweets.

“Master, are you alright?”

Several months later, the alleged tea and sweets were still as delicious as ever.

But the problem wasn’t that.

“Yeah, I’m sure I gave my certification to the tea and sweets, but how come it’s sold out everywhere on the mail order site?”

Amagi quickly answered me,

“There’s already a waiting list that goes back for several years. I expect it’ll take at least three years for the situation to improve.”

The store can be renovated, their fields can be expanded, they could hire more people and so on.

But why was it selling so well?

Even Thomas came and told me, “That tea and sweets set is being quite well received.”

But isn’t this weird?

“Please rest assured. Master’s portion is firmly secured. A set amount is always being delivered to the mansion.”

“No, that’s not what I’m talking about, Amagi!”

“Pardon?”

“Why is it selling even with my seal of approval? I mean, since I increased taxes and tried to regulate that weird hairstyle, shouldn’t they hate anything with my certification?!”

Amagi pondered this for a moment before answering,

“—will people really consider a product bad if you gave it good marks during your evaluation of it?”

“Ah…”

To be honest, I was actually surprised by how normal the answer was.

It definitely was a good product.

It wouldn’t be strange if it sold well.

If the first place, when I first tried it, wasn’t it already a popular product in my territory? Even if I gave my seal of approval then, wouldn’t it just give off the feeling of, “Hmm, why now?”

—I made a mistake. I completely misread how this would end up.