Chapter 2:
Sword Master
TWO YEARS HAD PASSED since Liam had taken over his domain.
Brian, House Banfield's butler, privately lamented again today as he
walked through the mansion. The house, which had been rebuilt two
generations prior by Count Banfield—Liam's grandfather—was eccentric, to
put it mildly. To be honest, it was in poor taste. When visitors arrived, they
would grimace and endeavor not to bring up the house in conversation. Many
of them would wear strained smiles on their faces. The halls twisted and
turned in an almost labyrinthine fashion. It was common for newly hired
servants to get lost in them.
As Brian turned a corner, he found some servants chatting in an
inconspicuous spot. It was a young man and woman. The man was a
gardener, but he'd left the yard in the hands of a machine and was slacking
off, hitting on one of the maids in her short-skirted uniform.
"Come on, it's fine, isn't it?"
"We'll get in trouble if they find us."
"They won't. There are plenty of unused rooms."
"Yeah, true... Just keep it a secret, okay?"
The man put his arm around the maid's shoulder and the two of them
left, blowing off their work. They didn't change their behavior when they
saw Brian, nor did they greet him. The previous count, Cliff, had prioritized
appearances when hiring servants, ignoring capability and personality. For
that reason, the mansion was filled with workers of low character, leaving
Brian frustrated.
"What would Master Alistair say if he saw this?"
Things had once been different. When Brian had first started with the
Banfields, they'd had a proper mansion and servants who took their job
seriously. Liam's great-grandfather, Alistair Sera Banfield, had been a wise
ruler, and Brian had been proud to serve him. Things had started to get rough
when Liam's grandfather took over. From then on, the situation had
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deteriorated quickly. House Banfield's debts rose as quickly as its reputation
fell, plunging the family into a dark age.
The count had lived a life of utmost luxury, burning through the
family's assets while levying harsh taxes on the people to squeeze as much as
he could from them. He was unable to give up the life he was accustomed to,
and even he went into debt. Then, when his debts became too much to
handle, he forced everything onto the next Count Banfield, Cliff, and fled to
the Capital Planet like a fool. Having been raised by such a father, Cliff
turned out no better.
As he lamented the state of House Banfield, which no longer resembled
the family he'd originally served, Brian arrived at the count's office and
adjusted his uniform, straightening his back.
The device next to the door lit up and transmitted his voice into the
room. "Master Liam, it's Brian."
Liam's voice came from the device. "Come in."
The steady voice, which didn't seem like it had come from a young
boy, made the butler a little nervous. Brian opened the door and entered the
room to find Liam sitting at his desk assessing the state of his domain, Amagi
at his side. Amagi supported Liam in a secretary-like role. Liam was upset,
irritation plain on his face. It was an expression Brian could hardly believe a
child's face capable of.
"What can I do for you, Master Liam?"
The office's desk had been made for an adult, but a child's chair had
been provided for Liam. Climbing down from that chair, Liam joined his
hands behind his back and paced about the room, looking like a child playing
at being important. In actuality, Liam was quite important. Though a child, he
was a count and lord of a domain, and no one on this planet could speak out
against him.
"Brian, I've never been outside the mansion before."
"Indeed. The mansion is equipped with all facilities for the education
and physical therapy you receive, after all."
Up until recently, Liam had been sleeping inside the education capsule.
Instead of the usual six months, he'd spent a full year inside, acquiring a
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thorough education and physical enhancement. Then, when he'd left the
capsule, there had been physical rehabilitation and a review of the knowledge
he'd gained waiting for him.
If he wanted to go outside, there were inner courtyards for him to use,
so there had never been a need for him to actually leave the mansion. He still
didn't need to, which was why Liam hadn't previously noticed how bad the
house he lived in looked.
"I was curious, so I finally went outside. This mansion... It looks
awful, doesn't it?"
Brian agreed, but as his butler, he couldn't speak ill of his earlier
master's taste. "I would say it has a creative design."
"Spare me your flattery!" Liam shouted, stamping his little feet. He
shot a look at Amagi and a projection of the mansion his grandfather and
father had built appeared before them. The main house, a vacation home, and
various other buildings hovered in holographic form around Liam. They were
all terribly shaped, each building completely lacking in design sense, even
seeming to give off some sort of ill will.
"Are you stupid? You've gotta be stupid, right? Why the obsession
with strange shapes? It's humiliating to live in this thing! Aren't you
embarrassed? I'm embarrassed!"
I'm relieved that Master Liam has normal tastes. Brian felt a twinge of
happiness at that.
It didn't change the fact that their estate was full of terribly shaped
buildings. Some of these buildings had been set aside for relatives of the
Banfields, but knowing of the family's current financial situation, the
relatives in question had all fled for the Capital Planet already. No one lived
in them.
Another of the reasons Liam had so easily taken over the family was
that none of these relatives had been around to object to it. Then again, no
one wanted a territory like this. The family hadn't had vassals or knights for
generations.
Knights were much more powerful warriors than ordinary rank-and-file
soldiers, forged through training to have practically inhuman strength. The
majority of these individuals served nations or lords within the Empire.
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Possessed of many talents, these mighty warriors were not just skilled
fighters, but served as commanders as well. However, not a single one of
them served House Banfield. As for the reason why, they'd either learned of
the family's financial troubles and gone off to serve other lords, or they'd
obeyed Liam's grandfather's orders and followed him to the Capital Planet.
As such, Liam had no knights in his employ.
When it came to government officials, general military personnel, and
servants... There wasn't an abundance, but Liam had enough. It was just
these exemplary individuals whom he lacked.
It breaks my heart, thought Brian. Leaving everything to such a young
child and fleeing to the capital would have been unthinkable in Master
Alistair's time.
"We'll demolish the whole estate," Liam declared. "I don't want this
mansion. I'll build a new one that suits me better."
"Wh-what about those employed to maintain the other mansions and
villas?" Brian responded, somewhat flustered.
Liam's irritated response was: "I don't care. Fire them."
Just fire them outright? Brian thought, but Amagi offered a comforting
suggestion.
"Master, we should provide new employment for the servants. Also, I
suggest waiting a little before constructing a new mansion."
"Why's that?"
"I agree with demolishing the estate, to reduce the cost of maintaining
However, building a mansion that suits you will take time. Therefore, I
suggest first building a residence that functions at the most basic level while
your proper mansion is being readied."
Brian was relieved to hear the suggestion.
I guess it's better than accruing more debts. But won't it cost a lot to
demolish everything? Still, in the long run, that's better than paying to
maintain these ridiculously huge buildings.
Liam pondered for a short time, then agreed with Amagi's proposal
with a nod.
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"You're right. We should take our time building the perfect mansion.
Where will we get the money, though?"
Amagi was quick to provide another suggestion. "I believe
restructuring the army would suffice."
"The army?"
The Empire allowed the lords personal armies for the defense of their
domains. Liam had only just begun to get a sense of the state of his territory,
so he didn't know much about his army yet. Amagi showed him some data,
and he reacted with fascination.
"We've got thirty thousand battleships? That's a lot!"
Amagi nodded. "Yes. However, less than 20 percent of these ships are
operational."
They had thirty thousand ships but couldn't even use six thousand of
them. They were all fairly old models too, so their army was actually a lot
more bark than bite.
"The current number of ships is unnecessary, so we should cut them
down to a number we can realistically maintain. I suggest a minimum of
three thousand ships, which would drastically reduce the cost of maintaining
the army."
Brian was shocked at Amagi's suggestion. "A-a mere three thousand?"
Liam was having a hard time wrapping his head around these numbers.
"Is that a lot, or no? I'm not sure how to decide."
"Please wait!" Brian cut in, reluctant to see Amagi's suggestion
approved. "A count is generally expected to maintain an army of ten
thousand ships. I advise against reducing our forces to a mere 10 percent!"
Liam cocked his head. "But only 20 percent of them are even
operational."
It was true that their fleet's current operability was too low, but visibly
reducing the size of the army had its own problems. Brian said, "The
operability is not the only issue. If we reduce the size of our army, those
around us will take us that much less seriously as a result, and it won't just be
the nobility. Pirates will come running!"
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Reducing the army to a tenth of its size would give other nobles more
cause to look down on the family for its financial situation. It wasn't unheard
of for neighboring lords to go to war even within the Empire. Being held in
low estimation would make House Banfield vulnerable.
There was another troublesome group in this world: pirates. Space
pirates, to be more specific. They were so troublesome, in fact, that some
large pirate armadas were more than a match for ruling lords. A large army
was a good deterrent for such foes. No pirate would bother attacking a
territory protected by thirty thousand ships.
However, Amagi had a counterargument ready. "Currently, we would
need a thousand of our ships to go up against a fleet of a hundred pirate ships,
due to the age of our equipment and the skill of our soldiers. Rather than
continue with such an inefficient army, I believe we should reduce the scale
of our forces while increasing the utility of our personnel."
Liam made his decision quickly. "We'll reduce our army, then." He
accepted Amagi's proposal despite Brian's stark opposition.
"Master Liaaam!" Tears welled up in Brian's eyes, but Liam wouldn't
hear his objections.
"I don't need people I can't use."
Amagi swiftly drew up the plans to reduce the size of the army. "We
will begin the reorganization immediately. This should provide us with a
fairly robust budget."
"What a pointless display. Twenty-four thousand ships we can't even
use except as decorations."
Brian was starting to get anxious. Liam accepted suggestions from AI
all too easily. "Master Liam, you're relying on artificial intelligence too
much! You must use this machine, not be used by them! Other noble houses
will believe House Banfield is in decline."
Liam snorted. "You talk like the family isn't in decline. If you don't
have a better suggestion, then keep quiet."
Brian's shoulders slumped. Of course he didn't have any suggestions.
He was only a butler, after all. He had no place in discussions of political or
military affairs.
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Looking at Amagi, Liam said, "Having too few forces won't be good,
though. I can't make light of our military situation. Will we be able to bring
our numbers back up eventually?"
This caused Brian to revise his opinion of Liam once more. What?
He's giving it more thought than I imagined.
Amagi nodded. It seemed reducing the size of the military wasn't her
entire plan. "Eventually, we will amass a force befitting a count's army. We
will begin with reeducation and retraining to create an elite force, then
increase the number of our troops as the financial situation of the territory
improves."
She suggested removing excess personnel from the military and putting
them in civilian jobs to stimulate the planet's economy.
Liam agreed with her reasoning. "I don't need an army that's just for
display. What I do need is an army that can fight. Go ahead with the
reorganization, Amagi. One day, we'll turn it into an armada befitting a count
—no, befitting me."
He asked Brian, "Any complaints? We'll have thirty thousand ships
again eventually, but we'll make do with three thousand for now."
Brian wiped the sweat from his brow with a handkerchief. "N-no
complaints, Master Liam."
Satisfied with Brian's response, Liam turned back to Amagi. "Carry it
out at once, Amagi."
"Yes, Master."
This decisiveness even as a child... He almost reminds me of Master
Alistair, Brian thought. He was starting to see some similarities between
Liam and the brilliant lord he'd once served. However...
"Well, that's one problem solved. Amagi, up."
"Yes, Master."
His tendency to enjoy being held in the arms of his doll, Amagi, even
in front of others, was not something Brian could commend. In his mind, he
complained, Master Liam, please do not sit in Amagi's arms and fondle her
breasts in my presence. I have no clue what sort of expression to make!
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***
Things were more dire than I had expected. When I got out of the
education capsule, finished my rehabilitation, and got a look at the state of
my domain, I was rendered speechless. Thanks to the knowledge installed in
my brain, when I saw the data, I was able to comprehend what it all meant,
whether I wanted to or not. And because I understood, that made it all the
worse.
"Exploit my subjects... These people don't even have anything for me
to exploit!"
The world I had reincarnated into was one with a highly advanced
scientific and magical civilization—or at least, it was supposed to be. In truth,
the people on this planet had a less-developed civilization than Japan, where
I'd lived my previous life. At worst, they were about at the level of pre-war
Japan.
This was an intergalactic civilization, a world where space battleships
shot beams at one another in war, yet it seemed like my territory alone had
been completely left behind by the times. There was no energy to the people
living here either. They just barely managed to pay their taxes. Even if I
wanted to oppress them, they couldn't be any more oppressed than they
already were. It was like a land that had already been bled dry by an evil lord,
and I hadn't even done anything yet.
"Why is the civilization here so far behind?" I griped.
Amagi explained the reason matter-of-factly. "Cultural development
occurs with no effort. It would be easy for the nobility to leave the people to
their own devices. However, if civilization develops too much, it becomes
more difficult to manage."
Is that why? "Then manage with artificial intelligence!"
"We do, and it does as much as it can under the prescribed 'minimum
use' rules."
The nobles in this world bled taxes from their citizens and allowed
them to achieve as little cultural development as possible. If they left their
people alone, the population increased, and if they needed workers with
intelligence from that pool, they could simply toss them into a capsule for
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education. They kept the people just oppressed enough that they didn't
acquire too much knowledge. There was no room for me to do anything. My
time as an evil lord was over before it had even begun!
"Did my parents just force a completely worthless domain on me?"
Could the Guide have tricked me? The thought went through my head,
but Amagi was there to set me straight.
"Master, it is true that House Banfield's domain is in a rather sorry
state, but I believe things can only get better from here. If you make good use
of the taxes, you will see results in another ten or twenty years."
People lived long lives in this world. They didn't reach adulthood until
fifty, and at fifty, they looked like someone around thirteen in my old world.
There was still war, which affected the average life expectancy to some
degree, but I had learned it was still around three hundred to four hundred
years. Plenty of people lived to be six hundred. From that standpoint, twenty
years seemed rather brief.
"Twenty years, huh?"
"Yes. In twenty years, you can advance civilization in your territory."
If Amagi says so, then I suppose that's that. I'll see how things go,
then...for twenty years. It won't be any fun exploiting my people as they are
now. My body is still young. I've got plenty of time, so I'll just invest in my
domain for now and reap the rewards later.
"Put everything but the bare minimum funds into maintaining the
planet. I'll take it back later. And Amagi—I want power."
While I was biding my time, there were all sorts of things I wanted to
obtain.
"Power? The military—"
"No. Personal power. My own power."
"Your own? You wish to train your body?"
"That's right. I want to become strong, through martial arts or
something like that."
Violence had frightened me in my past life. I was afraid of the burly
men who came to collect on my debts. Before that, I'd always thought
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violence was meaningless, but after landing in that situation, I began to feel
you really did need physical power.
In order to rule with an iron fist, I wanted power, enough that I
wouldn't have to fear anyone. The power to enact violence on whomever I
wished, hence my desire for a strong body.
"I do not believe such a thing is necessary for you, Master. The bare
minimum training would suffice, in my opinion."
"No. Find me a top-class instructor, and don't skimp on the budget.
This is a necessary expense."
In order for me to hold on to what was mine...
In order for me to be the victimizer instead of the victim... I needed
power.
***
In what could be called the threshold between worlds...
Everything was dark, nothing visible nearby. The only thing in this
space was the grinning Guide. He sat on his travel bag as if it were placed on
solid ground and happily watched an image hovering before him. In the
image was the haggard figure of Liam's ex-wife, several years later—his ex-
wife in his previous life, that is. She was walking down the street, exhaustion
written on her face.
"Looking very worn-out, there. Your hair's a mess, and your clothes
look cheap and shabby."
She was working through her savings, barely managing to support
herself and her daughter. The Guide was satisfied at how much the woman
had changed. All around him were similar images of other people in distress,
people he'd personally brought misfortune. The negative emotions of those
people filled him up. He felt power welling within him.
"Oops, can't be getting all my kicks from a bonus like you. I should
check in on Liam. Oh, I'm so busy."
Busy as he claimed to be, he was enjoying himself to his heart's
content. He reached out his hand and a new image appeared. It revealed a
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seven-year-old Liam conversing with his doll.
The Guide chuckled. "Unable to trust in flesh-and-blood women, he's
put an elaborately made doll at his side. It's hilarious. Plus, he doesn't seem
to have realized this is putting his status as a noble at risk. What an amusing
situation." Best of all was that Liam didn't seem to realize the misery of his
situation.
"I might as well take my time savoring—oh?"
In the projected image, Liam was saying that he wanted power. A
person who'd been afraid of violence in their past life wanting power in their
new one—the Guide couldn't get enough.
"He wants power to hold on to what's his, eh? Typical! But that's
what's so good about it!"
The Guide touched the projection with his hand. Black smoke wafted
from his body and seeped into the image.
"I know the perfect person for your needs. Don't worry, I'll keep
watching over you. This is an ongoing service, after all."
The Guide pulled some strings of fate—tugged them, really—to find
the man who would instruct Liam. Once he'd done this, the man was
guaranteed to fill the position. Liam had requested a skilled teacher, yet this
man was anything but.
"Enjoy, Liam. When you meet your doom, I'll be sure to come and
collect you."
The Guide wore his crescent-moon smile, only his mouth visible in his
face.
***
A solo traveler arrived at House Banfield's spaceport. He was an aged
man in a kimono and purple hakama, with messy hair and a scruffy face. A
katana rested at his hip.
"Out in the middle of nowhere, this place."
The man's name was Yasushi, and despite his sloppy appearance, he
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had come to teach Liam martial arts. However, it wasn't truly Yasushi who
was supposed to be there. They had requested a real martial arts master, but
the man in question had "coincidentally" learned of House Banfield's
misdeeds and thus hadn't wanted to accept the request. For that matter, he
didn't even know if House Banfield could pay the fee they were offering.
Therefore, the original master had volunteered Yasushi for the job instead.
"Dammit... If only I hadn't borrowed money from that guuuuy!"
The sight of Yasushi lamenting with slumped shoulders was rather
pathetic. He didn't appear in the slightest like a man in possession of martial
prowess. Yasushi had accepted the job on the condition that his debts would
be canceled, but when he saw the deserted, run-down spaceport, he started to
regret the decision.
"I wouldn't want to come here even for my real job."
Frankly speaking, this man was not strong. He'd studied all sorts of
martial arts but hadn't managed to stick with any one of them for very long.
Instead, he merely boasted of having mastered the martial arts and made his
living by showing off techniques that boiled down to magic tricks.
"Well, the client's a kid, so it should be easy enough to fool him, but I
almost feel bad that he has to learn how to fight from me."
Yasushi had learned the basics, so he'd be capable of teaching the boy,
but the basics were all he could teach him. He wouldn't be able to impart any
advanced techniques or killer moves, as he didn't know any. In all honesty,
even his grasp on the basics was starting to slip at this point. The only reason
he'd accepted the job in spite of all this was because he needed the money.
"Well, it'll work out."
A bratty kid would get tired of it quickly, he figured. If he praised the
kid enough and kept him in a good mood, that would probably satisfy him.
"The katana, though... I tried dressing to look the part, but what a
strange kid to make these requests."
Katanas existed in this world, but they were not what one would
consider mainstream. They would never fall out of popularity within a certain
niche, but the vast majority of swordsmen preferred Western blades. It had
been a long time since Yasushi had held one.
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"Welp, time to trick a kid out of his money."
This man's true profession was the performing arts. He'd only been
chosen as Liam's instructor through the Guide's machinations.
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