Volume 4 Chapter 18: Epilogue + New Project Announcement!

After being gunned down by Liam’s bullets of gratitude, the guide was walking down a dim alley.

“Eulisia… you’ve betrayed me!”

He never would’ve imagined that Eulisia’s revenge was just for her to throw Liam away in a rejection.

Why the hell did she need to enter the special forces for that?! –it couldn’t be helped that the guide felt betrayed.

Normally, those who had returned to the military for re-education don’t enlist into the special forces.

And so, the guide was now moving to see Yasushi– a person who hasn’t done anything this time.

“Yasushi. I swear, if you’re going to betray me too…”

Shedding blood from his mouth, what the guide saw while checking up on Yasushi’s situation was–

“That’s not enough! Liam was able to do this much easily– you’ll never be able to surpass your senior pupil at this rate!”

–living inside a hidden place, Yasushi had created a training ground and was currently instructing two children in the way of swordsmanship.

Looking at them, the guide could finally see the light of hope.

Two children were standing in unbalanced positions, gripping onto wooden swords as they sweated.

Although they were just little kids, they seemed to be stronger than Yasushi.

“I knew I could believe in you, Yasushi!”

Yasushi was currently teaching them the One-Flash.

Having already been proven as effective through Liam, he was apparently teaching the two in the same way using all the money he had left.

Educational capsules were used multiple times, he had invested everything he had to make them stronger.

There was a reason why Yasushi was going this far.

Visiting this place, some obviously corrupt knights had come.

“Hey, old man. Have you heard anything about the One-Flash swordmaster Yasushi being here?”

Some delinquent-like youths had arrived.

Yasushi immediately answered them,

“The One-Flash? I’ve never heard of such a thing.”

“Is that so? The information we collected said that the great knight Liam’s swordmaster was in this area…”

“What?! Such a celebrity was nearby?! I’m sorry, but I don’t know anyone of the sort.”

“Tch! Let’s go, you guys…”

–Just like that, more and more people were searching for Liam’s swordmaster.

Yasushi was frightened.

(Damn it! This bad situation is all because Liam keeps spreading the name of that fictional sword style! I’m constantly sticking out in a bad way!)

He didn’t have any time to waste.

To defeat Liam, the One-Flash was necessary.

For that goal, Yasushi was currently taking care of two children.

“That’s enough!”

The two children let out deep breaths while blindfolded.

“You two have done great. You’ve both grown splendidly.”

They removed their blindfolds.

“Master, why did you lie to those people?”

“Hmm?”

“Small fish like them are easily defeatable.”

“T-that’s because… you’re not supposed to brandish your swords recklessly! Those blades that you’ve honed were made to defeat the strong!”

The two of them were calling the knights from before small fish.

Even the guide could see that they were stronger than them.

“…they still aren’t a match for Liam, but they’re definitely growing. Yasushi, I’m cheering for you.”

The guide disappeared at that moment, but the dog was still there, watching over the situation.

The kids wiped their sweat,

“You’ve told us that multiple times already. If we defeat the senior pupil, will you finally recognise us?”

“I will. Once you defeat Liam, you’ll pass.”

“But, is our senior pupil really that famous Liam person? I can’t really believe that.”

“D-don’t doubt me! Trust me, you’ll definitely meet him in due time.”

Their stomachs empty, the two kids wanted to go back home already.

“Ahh… I want to eat more food.”

“I’m hungry~”

“H-hey, wait!”

Looking at the figure of Yasushi struggling to take care of the children, the dog then disappeared as well.

◇ ◇ ◇

–that’s weird.

I was currently in Avid’s cockpit.

When I tried pushing the machine heart onto the control panel, Avid absorbed it.

“Even though it didn’t work on Amagi…”

Although there were a few problems, it was still an artifact given to me by the guide.

I was sure it was the real thing, so I tried using it on Avid.

And with that, I think it’s output has increased.

Well, it was more the sake of using it.

I didn’t care about small changes in the specs.

“I’m happy because Avid got a power up, but how does this work?”

Well, since it didn’t work with Amagi, maybe this was a good thing… yeah, let’s go with that.

◇ ◇ ◇

A room in the mansion.

Beds for the maid androids were lined up there.

Amagi– who was lying on one of them, woke up.

“…life.”

To give life to a lifeless object.

When the machine heart didn’t react to her, Amagi felt a little happy, but also a little sad.

“Does this mean the emotions I’ve been feeling are real?”

While mulling over those thoughts, Amagi stood up to return to work.

Almost immediately after, Liam sent her a call,

“Amagi, I was able to power-up Avid!”

“Master, did you use the machine heart to do that?”

“I did!”

“…did I not tell you to refrain from using it until I had it examined?”

“Don’t worry, it came from a source that guarantees its safety.”

Despite him saying that, Amagi was worried as she had absolutely no idea about its origins.

“Come on, let’s give it a spin!”

“…understood.”

Amagi had resolved herself to board Avid in order to confirm its current state.

(Why do so many things naturally find their way to Master?)

Artifacts of lost technology seemed to unnaturally gather to Liam.

Amagi couldn’t help but wonder if there was some reason for that.

◇ ◇ ◇

A hotel rented out by Liam at the imperial capital.

Rosetta was currently working as its administrator.

In the lounge, the hotel manager was currently explaining the schedule to her while operating a tablet.

“Currently, about eighty percent of our rooms have been occupied.”

Knights, soldiers, and officials of the Banfield house were the ones that used them.

Other than that, they had also taken some of the children training at Liam’s estate for a session of studying abroad.

In addition, the majority of the women who served Rosetta personally were actually noble daughters who had already graduated from said training.

Taking advantage of their tutelage under Liam, they were doing this in order to experience what life in the imperial capital would be like.

After all, there were many aristocrats who never got to leave their territories, and there were many women who didn’t really feel like they were daughters of nobles during their training.

With the personal experience she had gained while training here, Rosetta wanted to show them what the upper-class were like.

“So we still have room to accept more then.”

Then manager replied,

“Yes, but if we become fully occupied, it’ll be hard for us to respond to any sudden changes that may occur.”

“That’s annoying. There are many people out there who want to know more about the universe.”

There were a large number of countryside nobles from the frontier gathering here.

Even if you had heard about how amazing the imperial capital was, it was impossible to truly understand that without actually visiting the place yourself.

With that in mind, it was necessary to educate your people properly about this.

Every now and then, some people would gain superficial knowledge and rise up against their lords in rebellion, thinking that they could do whatever they wanted.

When situations like that occured, the Empire themselves intervened and burned those planets to the ground.

They were merciless against those who undermined their power.

So it was necessary to teach those people how big the universe was beforehand.

The simplest solution would be just to deprive them of all power from the beginning.

However, that was against the way Liam did things, so Rosetta decided to follow his policies.

Also, there were other things she needed to work on as well.

“I still need to find a mansion for us here in the capital…”

“As his wife, I guess it’s only natural for you to be busy.”

“R-right now, I’m still only his fiancée.”

“Oh, please excuse me.”

Seeing Rosetta’s face flush red, the manager decided to change the topic,

“Now that I think about it, both of you will be attending the university soon. Lady Rosetta, will you be working as an official as well?”

Once Liam returned, he’d be enrolling into the university.

Rosetta was looking forward to it.

“I am.”

In the future, if Liam was absent, it would be necessary for her to act as the lord in his place, so she needed the training to at least be able to do the minimum of work.

Whenever he was gone, it would be her duty to cover for him.

(Darling, please come back soon.)

Rosetta was looking forward to her university life together with Liam.

◇ ◇ ◇

–I had finally returned to the imperial capital after a long time.

In my own territory I was a king, but here I was just another noble.

I still had a lot of power, but the fact that there were people above me here bothered me.

With that in mind, I was going to try and keep myself from picking fights with troublesome opponents.

It’s not like I’d lose against them, but it was annoying when these feuds dragged on for years on end.

That said, the returns I received from defeating the Berkley family were amazing.

Multiple planetary development devices.

The machine heart.

As well as the Berkley family’s assets.

Since I even obtained some resource satellites from them, I now had an excuse ready for when I brought out large quantities of rare metals in the future.

I boarded a limousine-like vehicle and sat beside Amagi as I watched the scenery of the capital pass by.

“Everything’s grey.”

It was a concrete jungle– not, the materials used weren’t concrete, but there definitely was a lack of greenery.

The feeling of being in the middle of a major city was strong.

Wallace– who was also on board, was currently suffering from a hangover.

“Liam… give me some medicine already.”

“That’s your fault for making such a ruckus earlier. You should wallow in your pain for a while as punishment.”

It’d be easy to cure him with medicine, but I left him alone because that wouldn’t be interesting.

And honestly, this was probably a better medicine for him anyways.

Amagi’s line of sight was focusing on the hotel as we approached.

“…Master, did we not agree that you only set up a modest greeting?”

There were knights and soldiers lined up to welcome me.

It was a grand welcome ceremony.

I know that she asked for a modest one, but Amagi deserved something big and flashy deserving of her.

An orchestra began to perform, while the knights and soldiers were lined up in formal wear.

This felt great.

“Surprise!”

“Something of this level would usually be for someone of Lady Rosetta’s status.”

“…well, I guess.”

Though I think she’d be happy no matter what I did, doing something like this would probably get me another hug.

However, if she was honest with herself– she’d probably be troubled.

Considering the life that she’s lived until now, she actually preferred things to be more modest.

Flashy stuff seemed more like Eulisia’s thing.

When the limousine landed on the ground, the lined up subordinates all saluted at once.

Opening the door, I got off first,

“Amagi.”

When I extended my hand to her, Amagi hesitated for a moment before grabbing it.

And when she finally stepped outside– a commotion seemed to break out in the surroundings.

“What’s this? This guy is seriously holding his hand out to an android.”

A gaudy man whose face was already flushed despite it being the morning, approached us while being escorted by knights.

Apparently, he had come here just to ridicule me.

He seemed to be a noble.

My subordinates immediately rushed over to the man to drive him away.

“This is the private property of the Banfield house. Please leave the premises at once!”

When my knight said so, the other man burst into laughter,

“A mere knight dares to complain to me, the heir of a Marquis house? Just because your lord became a little famous, you think you’re better than me?! Even so… to think he’s so poor that the best he could do was a deserted hotel like this.”

So he knew about this hotel’s circumstances?

…well, it doesn’t matter.

It looks like I’m already involved with something, but I don’t really want to waste too much time on this.

“Amagi, you should enter the hotel first.”

She gripped my hand firmly.

“Master, don’t do this.”

Watching this all happen, the heir to a Marquis pointed his finger at me and laughed,

“He’s actually talking to the thing! ‘The oh-so-great Liam still plays with lifeless dolls!’”

I turned to look at the man’s face,

“What did you just say to me?”

–I didn’t even know who this idiot was, but he seemed to know me.

He knew that and still chose to pick a fight,

“This here is the imperial capital~ Don’t bring filthy androids here~!”

I took one last look at the person screaming at me like a baby, before turning my back to him and escorting Amagi to the hotel.

After rushing over to me, I gave my order to Tia,

“Hey, clean this up.”

“Are you sure?”

“I don’t see any problems, do you? After your done, carry Wallace in.”

After assigning someone to get Wallace from the car, I moved to enter the hotel.

Things were still fine up until there.

“Gahahaha~! So you’re not even going to say anything in your defense?! Android lover LI~A~M~!”

The man who was laughing up until that moment suddenly fell to the ground, having been vertically bisected in half, his two parts spraying blood everywhere.

I only did that because I wanted him to shut up– but that truly was refreshing.

The surroundings that were so noisy until then instantly went silent.

When I ignored the situation and proceeded to the hotel, Amagi narrowed her eyes.

“Didn’t you say you were going to be cautious when picking fights with other nobles?”

“Oh, I made sure to consider things beforehand, and as a result– I’ve decided to crush them. I’m going to investigate his house thoroughly, find out everyone who’s related to him, and I will erase them like the Berkley family.”

It was their fault for picking a fight with me in the first place.

Their status seemed to be high, but they didn’t look that powerful.

The Berkley family had already given me enough practice with these things.

◇ ◇ ◇

The underlings and the knights of the heir that was killed immediately closed in on Tia.

“Do you know what you just did?!”

“Are you seriously going to turn the Marquis into your enemy?!”

“Something like this can never be forgiven!”

Pulling out her rapier with a smile, Tia swung her blade to the side and beheaded a knight.

Blood sprayed out, and as the knight’s body fell she opened her mouth,

“Let’s clean this place up.”

Her subordinate knights were somewhat hesitant,

“B-but!”

“It’s the ultimate shame for a knight to fail in protecting their charge. It’s far more merciful of us to give them the opportunity to avenge their master. As for the underlings who had just lost their position… kill them.”

“No, but–”

“Lord Liam ordered us to clean up.”

One of the opposing knights rushed forward and pulled out their sword, but fell after their head was pierced by Tia’s rapier.

When she pulled out the blade, blood spouted out of the hole.

“Lord Liam will never forgive anyone who ridicules Amagi. Kill all of them without exception, and send the bodies to their houses.”

The nobles and the knights were trembling.

Liam’s knights pulled out their swords, imagining Liam’s rage at the fools who dared to insult Amagi.

The soldiers lifted up their guns as well.

“…they dared to make a fool of Lord Liam. For that alone they deserve death.”

The underlings and the knights were then slaughtered by Liam’s subordinates– their then thrown to the Marquis’ mansion in the imperial capital.

◇ ◇ ◇

While I was relaxing in the top floor’s suite, Rosetta burst through the door.

“Darling, did you do something?!”

“What?”

I was currently sitting on the sofa while reading a book on my tablet terminal.

Various information was floating around.

“…an acquaintance from my training period had begged me intercede on her behalf.”

“Your acquaintance?”

“She’s a child who apprenticed together with me in the palace.”

What would such a person want with me?

“Who?”

“She’s the child of a Marquis house. Darling, they recently angered you, and now they want to apologise.”

“Is this person your friend?”

“Uh, that’s a bit…”

With how Rosetta had trouble answering, I could tell.

I’m sure they weren’t close.

Just as I was wondering what to do, Marie entered the room,

“Lord Liam, here’s the information we’ve collected on the Marquis’ house.”

“…oh, those people.”

After receiving and confirming their information, they seemed to actually be a fairly large house.

But the only thing fitting of their status was their size– their territory was comparable to that of the Berkley family.

Their territory wasn’t developed, and their fleet was basically a paper tiger.

They might’ve had a hundred thousand ships, but the Berkley family was stronger than them.

I knew they were small fries.

Marie was looking at me with her back straight.

I sat down on the couch with a relaxed posture and returned the documents to Marie.

“They annoy me, so let’s crush them. From here on, let’s start moving aggressively!”

Since it would be troublesome if this dragged out, I wanted to end this quickly.

“That might be difficult. The Marquis has already asked the Empire to intervene. They want to apologise.”

“What, they don’t want to fight?”

“After hearing that their heir picked a fight with you, Lord Liam, they immediately went through the procedures to disinherit him. They’re even willing to offer up their daughter to appease you. I’ve heard that she actually learned how to behave under Lady Rosetta’s tutelage during their apprenticeship.”

I felt like Rosetta’s expression turned cloudy there for a second.

Something definitely happened during their time training together.

It might be interesting to watch Rosetta’s reaction when keeping such a woman nearby.

Okay.

Let’s start moving things in that direction.

Thinking so, I started to get a little interested.

“Do you have a picture of her? Is she beautiful?”

“I do.”

When Marie prepared the holographic image, a girl who could definitely be considered a beauty was projected there.

She looked to be on the cusp of entering adulthood, as she still had many childish features.

–but she was no good.

I could never add someone like her as a mistress.

“I hate flashy girls like her. Tell that to the Marquis.”

“Are you sure? If you accept her as a mistress, the child born between the two of you could be the next Marquis.”

She was subtly telling me I could take over their house, but I didn’t want such a thing.

Also, I just didn’t like her.

She was beautiful, but she had the kind of face that screamed that she would betray me.

It gave off a similar feeling to that of my ex-wife.

She might have the looks, but I could never welcome such a girl as a mistress.

I prefer more modest girls.

“I’m not interested. If I wanted something like that, I could’ve just crushed them and taken their assets by force.”

When I said that, Rosetta’s expression instantly brightened.

“Darling!”

…no, it’s not like I refused them for you or anything.

Why are you so happy?

Marie seemed pleased as well,

“I thought this would happen.”

–so why did you even bring that last part up? Well, I guess from her position it was only natural to report that.

“Darling, I love you!”

Probably misunderstanding things, Rosetta went on to hug me.

W-wait, don’t! Even if you’re really happy right now give me some space!

“L-let go of me! Rosetta, stop!”

While I was still flustered and struggling, Amagi had brought some tea when she saw my figure.

“Oh, you two seem to be getting along… should come back with the tea two hours from now?”

“Y-you’re wrong! This is–!”

It was almost like I was caught in the middle of an affair.

At that moment, Marie seemed to misread the situation and went, “Make sure nobody interrupts Lord Liam and gets in the way!”

This person really was useless.

While I tried to pull away from Rosetta’s embrace, Eulisia burst into the room with a bunch of shopping bags.

It looks like she’s been visiting various stores today as well.

“Lord Liam~ I want to show off to my former colleagues, so let’s take a picture together!”

This person really was the worst.

She wanted a picture together with me just so she could brag to the mistresses of other nobles or her colleagues that were also aiming for a mistress position.

As I thought, a disappointing girl will always be disappointing.

Amagi and Marie grabbed Eulisia and dragged her out of the room.

“Eulisia, you should be more aware of your position as Lord Liam’s aide.”

“Don’t get in Lady Rosetta’s way, you piece of junk.”

“W-wait! Aren’t you treating me a bit too terribly?! I want another chance~”

The three of them left.

All that remained was Rosetta and I.

…this is bad.

Rosetta’s cheeks were flushed.

While I was thinking about how to escape from this place– the door burst open to Wallace yelling.

“Liam, we’ve got a problem!”

With Wallace suddenly charging into the room, Rosetta reluctantly let go of me and took her distance.