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Chapter 2: The Butler and the Swordsman

Unreservedly speaking, it was in bad taste.

Whenever visitors arrived, their faces would wince and theyd avoid topics that had to do with the mansion.

There were many of them who had a hard time holding in their laughter.

The hallways winded around inefficiently, almost akin to a maze.

It wasnt uncommon for newcomers to lose their way.

As Brian walked down the corridor, he could overhear some servants chatting in hushed voices.

They came from a young man and women, respectively.

The young man was actually the gardener, but it seems he left his work to a machine today.

He was talking to an unconventional maid whose uniform included a mini-skirt rather than a normal one.

Isnt it fine?

But if were found out, well get into a lot of trouble.

Its okay, there are some rooms that arent in use anymore we can go to.

The man grabbed the maids shoulders and pulled her away somewhere.

Even if Brian did run into them, he wouldnt even greet them.

While hiring these employees, their appearance had taken precedent over the necessary skills and character needed for their jobs.

Brian lamented.

For things to fall this far

Things were different in the past.

When Brian first started serving the Banfield family, the house was orderly and the servants were serious.

All of this is because Liams grandfather had destroyed the territory.

He had oppressed the people, and the houses finances were poorly allocated.

When the debt swelled, he pushed it all off onto his son Cliff and ran away to the Star Capital.

These thoughts depressed Brian as he thought about the Earl houses former glory. Shaking it off, he straightened his spine and approached the office door.

He tentatively touched the electronic device mounted on the wall.

Lord Liam? Its Brian.

A voice came out of the device in response.

You may enter.

It was an irritated voice that didnt match its young inflection.

As the door opened and Brian entered the office, he could see Liam, who had Amagi by his side as he worked.

The desk was made for a fully grown man, but the chair was built for a child.

Liams countenance showcased one of a child who was doing their best to hold in their complaints.

Next to Liam, Amagi was acting as his secretary as she supported him.

Lord Liam, can I get you anything?

When Liam stood up from his chair, he joined his hands behind his back.

Despite being a child still, it looks like he was doing a splendid job.

Brian, I have never left the house before, did you know that?

Ah, yes. Even the rehabilitation exercises we had you do a few days were done inside the mansion.

There was no need to go outside.

He was hoping that Liam wouldnt notice.

-What would he think once he realizes that house he lives in was built in such bad taste?

Dont you think that this house is too terrible?

Brian wanted to agree, but as a butler who served the family he couldnt bad mouth the predecessors tastes.

I think its a very creative build.

Dont patronize me!

Liam exclaimed furiously as he stomped the ground with his small body.

He sent a look towards Amagi, where she nodded before bringing up a projection on the various renovations and buildings created by both Cliffs generation and his grandfather.

Houses, villas and many buildings were projected around Brian.

Irrefutably, it was a horrendous sight.

Are they stupid? Are they STUPID?! Why would they build all these in such strange shapes?! Theyre only making the buildings harder to live in!

All of them were bad houses.

Some of the houses were given to relatives.

However, there werent any relatives who knew about the Banfield houses financial situation because all of them have already fled to the Star Capital.

The fact that Liam was only five-years-old, yet was already the lord of the territory was no problem either, as none of his relatives opposed it.

because there were no such relatives living in the territory in the first place.

As for the knights, many of their successors left to serve other houses, or have completely abandoned the territory all together with the last generation.

Its the people whore left that manage the territory now.

The military is a more of a militia run by the populace too.

If Liam doesnt have any vassals around him, then he cant rely or delegate duties to them.

(We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. Fleeing to the city, and forcing all their problems onto a child If this was still Lord Alistairs era, theres no way things like this would happen.)

Liam made a declaration before Brian.

Take them all down, this mansion as well. Ill prepare a residence suitable for myself.

Brian started to panic.

W-wait, where do you plan to live in the meantime then?

Liam looked a little sad.

It doesnt matter, anywhere will do.

Amagi followed up perfectly just when I was feeling troubled.

Master, please be patient and wait for us to set up a new residence first.

Why should I?

If we really are going to demolish them all, we should do it bit by bit to reduce maintenance costs, and in the meantime well prepare a suitable house for you, Master. Until then, why dont we first build a small house with the bare minimum of required utilities. How about that?

Prepare a house for a minimalist before building a luxurious residence.

Brian couldnt help but relax at the proposal.

(Is this better than shouldering another new debt? No, wouldnt there still be deficits from the dismantling costs?)

Liam stopped to think for a little, before accepting Amagis plan.

True, I should take the time to build my house carefully. Taking that into consideration, do we have enough money to spare?

Amagi then started to talk about their upcoming plans.

Were a bit under, so I recommend that we reorganise the military forces at the main base-

Reorganise the military?

Lords and nobles are allowed to have their own personal armies.

Liam had only just started working recently and wasnt familiar with the territory.

Amagi then presented the data to Liams admiration.

We have 30,000 space battleships?

Amagi looked up from the data,

We do, but the occupancy rate for them is less than 20%.

Out of the 30,000 ships, there were no more than 6000 in active duty.

In addition, they were all old outdated models. They were no more than 30,000 paper-mache tigers, they looked scary but that was it.

You can leave it as it is, but we only need a minimum of 3000 ships, so lets cut military funding. Our upkeep expenses will be reduced by several magnitudes if we do.

Is that enough for the territory? I am the ruler of an entire galaxy, you know?

When you think about things on a galactic scale, would even the full force of 30,000 be enough?

Brian knew the answer to that question and in truth-

its difficult to say,

Lord Liam, we certainly have the administrative rights to an entire galaxy, but we can barely manage this one planet and its resources alone. We simply dont have enough personnel.

Understood, then well take a disarmament policy for the time being.

Although the territory under his dominion was wide, there were only a few locations that were actually managed by him.

Now, lets being the restructuring right away, it looks like we have some hope in securing a budget.

Stop making that face.

After being told that, Brian couldnt help but panic a little.

It was quite concerning that Liam seemed to easily take to the opinions of an artificial intelligence.

Please wait one moment! Lord Liam, its customary in the Empire to at least have a force equivalent to 10,000 ships! If we break down the military that much we might get invaded by our neighboring lords! This is a very dangerous venture!

Liam looked troubled, so Amagi gave her opinion as well,

Their militaries are quite old fashioned as well, so the neighboring lords only have their fleets for the sake of showmanship. Well, I imagine they

go on the attack if we started reinforcing ourselves with new arms from the Empire.

One-tenth of our current forces was enough.

But its still true that the neighboring lords are dangerous, this is a gamble.

This opinion needed to be heard.

Even without the lords, there were still many dangerous individuals in the universe.

Such as space pirates.

Lord Liam, its important to have a fleet! Please reconsider!

But Liam rejected the plea.

I dont need paper-mache tigers, what I need is an army that can actually fight. Amagi, were proceeding with the reorganization.

Amagi then describes the future plans in detail.

Well do our best to re-educate and re-train our current forces. After that, I recommend that we slowly build up and expand the military in accordance to our financial situation.

Liam seemed satisfied with that plan.

Finish up quickly.

Brian couldnt help but think,

(This childs determination it reminds me of the Earl I once admired.)

Liams great grandfather Alistair, was a fine nobleman.

Brian couldnt help but superimpose that image onto Liam.

His only downside was how he seemed to have a sweet spot for his android.

this, sucks.

After I stepped out of the capsule I had to go through some physical therapy and tutoring for a while, but when I got to work I was stunned by the territorys current situation.

Theres nothing for me to squeeze out of them! Theyve already been squeezed dry!

This is a universe where science and magic shouldve developed equally.

Yet the lives of the people living in my territory looked worse than those living in modern Japan from my previous life.

This was an intergalactic state.

Even though we were living in an era where space battleships went to war by firing epic lasers at each other and such, it looks like my territory has been left behind by the times.

If things are like this, itd be impossible for me to oppress the populace any more than they already have been.

In the first place, this was the Banfield Houses territory, so why is it so desolate?

How come nobody tried to develop the territory?

Amagi swiftly provides an answer to my complaints.

Even if you didnt do anything, itll develop. As the noble who rules over them, the easiest path would be to just let them grow the way they want to. Trying to develop the area yourself is a very difficult thing to do and manage.

Employ artificial intelligences to manage the projects!

Youre the only one who would accept such conditions. At the very least, Ill be here to assist you whenever possible.

They wrung them out to dry and took everything they could without leaving the populace enough resources to sustain and grow the territory themselves.

It seems like they thought itd be fine as long as they just threw some of them into learning capsules if they wanted knowledge, while throwing manpower to those who were silent.

The oppressed people were just forcibly taught a multitude of things, the majority of which being knowledge that they couldnt even put into practical use.

There was nowhere for me to mess around with.

As an Evil Lord, Im already in a crisis!

This did my parents just force onto me the ruined territory that they couldnt save themselves?

Did the guide lie to me?

That cant be. I shook my head in denial as Amagi spoke to me softly,

Master, the Banfield familys territory is definitely in a bad situation, but theres nowhere we can go but up from here. If you manage the tax and territory correctly, we can probably rebound in ten to twenty years.

People have long life expectancy in this era.

In this universe you become an adult once you turn fifty years old.

But even at the age of fifty, what was terrifying is that they could still have the appearance of someone from my previous life in their teenage years.

With that said, twenty years wasnt actually a long time in comparison to my lifespan.

itll only take twenty years?

Yes, in twenty years the territory will recover.

If Amagi says so then it has to be true.

Even if I want to oppress them, theres no point if the people have nothing for me to take in the first place.

Besides, my body is still young.

I have plenty of time to learn the ropes and make some investments.

Theres no problem as long as I can collect the profits later.

If we dont have the necessary budget at the moment, then lets just invest it all. Ill reap the profits from them eventually. In any case, Amagi, I want power.

You want to increase your forces? If its about weapo-

No, Im talking about individual power. My own personal power.

You want to train your body?

Yes, I want to be strong. Martial arts or anything is fine.

Ive already suffered quite a bit from simple violence.

Whenever the repo men came to collect on the debts, I couldnt help but quake in fear.

Even though I believed that violence is meaningless, I had to acknowledge that power is something necessary in certain situations.

To be able to step on others, I need strength.

I want to have the power to not be afraid of others.

I want to be ready in case things get violent.

I want to be strong for that reason.

Master, I dont believe thats necessary, but if thats your wish, then I can gather the minimum things needed.

Rejected, gather for me the best teachers you can find.

In order to not be robbed of anything ever again.

I wanted the power- to steal everything from them first.

The guide was standing there in a black space.

He set his travel bag down and was grinning while watching a video.

The video shown was that of the woman that Liam used to be married to in his previous life. It had only been a few years, and yet she had grown so haggard.

Youve been through quite a lot, havent you? Youre a complete mess, and your hair is filthy.

He froze the video on the image of her together with both her original daughter and two new children.

The guide looked upon the image of the former wife with joy.

All around him were images of people who were just as miserable.

Oops, Ive been distracted for too long, I cant forget about him now. Lets see, whats the situation?

He cocked his head.

There was the reincarnator- Liam, who was now seven years old1 and talking to a robot.

He was laughing.

Its amazing how something that looks so alive is actually just some manufactured doll. In addition, he hasnt even realized that by keeping it nearby hes been compromising his social status. Now this has potential.

Even though he put him in such a terrible environment, his spirits are still high.

In the video, Liam suddenly declared that he wanted power.

Human who had been threatened with violence in the past, yet wanted that same power in their next lives- the guide loved humans like that.

I want the power to make sure I never lose anything important to me ever again! It might be a long and difficult path to change, but thats fine!

The guide reached out and touched the picture.

Black smoke started to emanate from his body and penetrated into the image.

Ill give you this small gift. Its my motto to always have a good after-sales service ready!

The personnel needed were ready.

He searched for the man that was going to become Liams teacher and forcibly made a connection.

The man was going to be Liams master of martial arts anyway, so

I hope you have fun, Liam. Ill make sure Im there to grab you once everything falls apart.

The guide then continued to watch Liam with his crescent-like smile.

The Banfield House Port.

A man had arrived there.

Wearing a kimono.

He was also wearing a hakama, so his appearance was similar to that of a samurai- no, a ronin.

There was a sword hanging on his waist.

Its been awhile since Ive been to the frontier.

The mans name was Yasushi.

He looked a bit vulgar, but he was the man that had come to teach Liam martial arts.

Originally, the master of martial arts Amagi requested for was another man.

However, due to the bad reputation surrounding the Banfield family, the master declined the request.

And passed it off to Yasushi instead.

Take this request in my place, and bring me the reward.

Yasushi was in the masters debt, so he accepted- albeit reluctantly.

The master nominated Yasushi to go in his place, and in turn this decided who Liams teacher would be.

However- Yasushi had a secret.

While it is true that he had learned many martial arts, he couldnt use them any of them without being hit by dizzy spells.

He was the kind of liar that would say he mastered martial arts, and then show off a couple tricks for an applause while earning a quick buck.

Im told my clients just a brat, so this should be easy enough. Even so, its a shame that he ended up with me as his teacher.

He was going to teach him, he was going to teach him everything he could.

However, secret techniques and such were impossible.

If hes just some spoiled brat then hell get tired of things soon enough. Though it would be nice to have a more moderate kid to boss around.

Even so, for him to ask for a sword master hes probably a strange one.

Swords were used in this era, but they werent that prominent anymore.

They still had a certain popularity, sure, but even then most would choose a western sword to master instead.

Yasushi had also followed the way of the sword for a long time.

Now, I wonder how much money Ill be able to squeeze out of this kid

In a nutshell, this man was a faker.

The man who scams others with tricks was chosen by the guides malice to become Liams master.