I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!

Cosmo, the leader of the pirate fleet, had a bitter expression on his face as he received orders from Hampson.

‘Banfield has taken over our supply base, and his forces are in the midst of stealing our resources. I want you to lead your fleet and strike Liam while he’s preoccupied.’

The order, however, wasn’t to Cosmo’s liking.

“I thought our policy was to avoid Liam.”

Were they no longer following that?

Hampson immediately replied.

‘As things stand, we’ll run out of supplies in no time. We were supposed to have a bit more leeway, but His Highness has brought along some extra baggage.’

He was naturally referring to the volunteer army. If it weren’t for them, the subjugation force would have had enough resources to fight a little longer, and they wouldn’t need to go out of their way to confront Liam.

‘Banfield has less than thirty thousand ships in his fleet. You, on the other hand, have sixty thousand, not to mention all the space pirates that have joined you.’

However, Cosmo wasn’t feeling too confident about his odds.

“It ain’t that simple! He’s a skilled commander capable of beating enemies that outnumber him four-to-one! He may not be as powerful as Klaus, but if you want me to fight him, I demand that you send over reinforcements!”

He requested that Hampson hand over some of his troops. Having expected this, Hampson readily agreed.

‘—Very well, but I can only lend you thirty thousand ships. Any more, and my fleet would be in trouble.’

Cosmo narrowed his eyes when he heard this.

“Are things not looking good on your end?”

He was aware that Tia was an excellent commander, but she didn’t seem as impressive as Liam and Klaus.

Hampson’s response was ambiguous.

‘She’s holding on well against our onslaught. I didn’t think she’d be this tenacious.’

There was a frown on Hampson’s face, which unsettled Cosmo.

(So she’s better than we expected. Turns out it isn’t just Klaus and Liam that we should be wary of.)

With arms crossed, he conducted some calculations. After a few seconds, he came to the conclusion that he’d need more manpower for the mission.

“That won’t do. In addition to the thirty thousand ships, I’ll need you to send Dustin as well. He’s with you, right?”

Hampson revealed a disappointed expression at the mention of the Sword Saint.

‘He’s exercising his right to independence and ignoring my orders. Only fight battles you are confident of winning, and you shall remain ever victorious. It’s honestly impressive how he’s following that to a tee.’

Though his words suggested he was praising Dustin, his attitude clearly showed his disappointment.

Cosmo clicked his tongue.

“So the Empire’s last Sword Saint can’t be relied upon.”

◇

Hampson’s fleet was currently laying siege to a planet protected by Tia.

It was one of the more developed planets under the rule of the Banfield Family, and Hampson suspected that it had large quantities of supplies and resources necessary for war.

Perhaps it had enough to supply a massive fleet of three million.

His plan had been to conquer it swiftly so that he could assist Toraido next. According to his plan, they were supposed to take down the planets one at a time, but Cleo’s arbitrary decision had thrown everything out the window.

“The front lines are suffering heavy casualties due to the enemy’s elite mobile knight unit!”

Upon hearing the operator’s report, Hampson immediately issued an order.

“Have Dustin deal with them.”

Just then, another report arrived.

“A separate mobile knight unit is attacking retreating allies!”

Battles were being fought all over the battlefield, and it was a series of back and forth.

Hampson believed it was more important to intercept the enemy’s elite unit. Thus, he ordered Dustin to move out.

However, he was met with an unsatisfactory response from the Sword Saint.

‘Deputy Commander, we’ve taken note of the situation.’

“Good. In that case, lead your men to intercept their elite—”

‘No, rescuing our allies comes first. Our unit will prioritize the rescue of retreating allies.’

Hampson swung his fist down on the armrest as Dustin brazenly disobeyed orders.

“Your job here is to repel the enemy’s elite units! The other knights can deal with the small fries!”

However, Sword Saints were granted autonomy by the Algrand Empire, and they were allowed to act on their own judgment in times of emergency.

In other words, they were outside the chain of command, and Dustin was taking advantage of this fact to engage weaker enemies.

‘This one reserves the right to move independently and will do what he believes is right.’

After saying his piece, Dustin ended the call, leaving the furious Hampson to his own device.

“Bastard! He’s nothing more than a fraud drunk on his title of Sword Saint!”

◇

Dustin, who had several dozen ships under his command, was in the hangar, surrounded by his disciples.

Members of the Roman school of swordsmanship had been given the most advanced mobile knights built by the Imperial Arsenal.

They were the culmination of all the data and technology produced and gathered by the weapons factories, and in terms of performance alone, they were even better than the mass-produced models of the Banfield Family.

Dustin made an announcement to all his disciples, who were also his subordinates.

“Three of the Empire’s Sword Saints have fallen, leaving this one as the only remaining Sword Saint. —Needless to say, this is an extremely fortunate thing for us.”

All the other Sword Saints had been defeated, and he was the Empire’s last Sword Saint.

Dustin spoke openly about how this was an opportunity for them.

“Among the members of the School of One Flash, there’s no need to fear anyone besides Liam. Apparently, some of them could replicate their skills on mobile knights, but what’s there to fear? Just consider them ordinary weapons fired by battleships.”

They only needed to be cautious of Liam. As for the others, they could easily be dealt with simply by bombarding them from a distance.

“On this battle, defeat as many enemies as you can. There’s justice in number. It matters not how many powerful enemies you face. Ordinary people only care about the numbers. Rather than defeating one powerful enemy, it’s more beneficial to defeat ten ordinary enemies.”

The disciples that received his teachings did not object to his words. He had long since excommunicated those that went against his philosophy.

Having finished his speech, Dustin entered the cockpit of his mobile knight in preparation for takeoff.

(Oh, how the mighty has fallen. In the past, this one wasn’t afraid to hone his skills and challenge the strong. But in the end, it was the other two schools that gained fame and popularity. The average Joe can’t appreciate what is good and what isn’t.)

He used to be proud of his identity as a swordsman and conducted himself accordingly.

However, his pride soon turned into bitterness.

After he was appointed a Sword Saint, he challenged the representatives of the two mainstream schools and won, but the people of the Empire did not acknowledge the Roman school of swordsmanship.

As someone who believed that the Roman school of swordsmanship was the strongest, this was something he could not tolerate.

(And Hampson’s no better. Anyone that tries to take advantage of me is an enemy. It’s clear as day that he’ll only offer empty words if I were to heed his orders and suffer casualties after clashing with the Banfield Family’s elite troops. I’d be labeled a loser that suffered defeat despite being a Sword Saint.)

This was Dustin’s line of reasoning, and he wasn’t too far from the truth either.

If Dustin had followed Hampson’s orders, he would’ve been worked like a horse.

Hampson cared little about Dustin’s identity as a Sword Saint; he saw Dustin as just another pawn.

Taking a seat in the cockpit, Dustin wished for an encounter with a member of One Flash other than Liam.

(Numbers are important, but it’d be nice to have the achievement of slaying someone from the School of One Flash under my belt. Their head would be worth more than that of a hundred or even a thousand men.)

◇

—Meanwhile, at the subjugation army’s supply base—

I’ve had my men set up formations around the planet, and I’m currently in a call with Thomas.

The old man is wiping his sweat with a handkerchief.

‘Lord Liam, we’ve finished loading all the supplies as you’ve ordered.’

“Good work. I’ll have a group of soldiers escort you out, so leave the battlefield as soon as you can.”

‘O-of course. But will this be alright? If the subjugation force happens to return with their main army, you would have to fight against millions of troops. Wouldn’t that too much, even for Lord Liam?’

‘Blasphemous!’ is what I’d like to say, but it’s true that beating millions of troops with only thirty thousand at my disposal would be near impossible.

Certain conditions would have to be met for it to happen, and even if it’s possible, I wouldn’t think of trying it.

Only an idiot would allow such a situation to happen in the first place.

“I’m staying here precisely because I know they won’t be back.”

‘I-I beg your pardon?’

Thomas appears confused, so I explain what I mean in a voice loud enough for others around us to hear.

“Cleo, that pathetic excuse of an idiot, has made a lapse in judgment. All he had to do was follow the plan his advisors came up with, yet he ended up targeting our home planet after receiving reinforcements.”

When we attacked the supply base, we were able to capture a large number of enemy commanders and soldiers, and from what we pieced together, it seems Cleo’s attack on our home planet was something outside their original plan.

“—If I were in his shoes, I would’ve had the reinforcements leave immediately. With supplies being limited, I’d have to be a fool to keep useless baggage with me.”

2 million troops. Cleo fell to the temptation of the overwhelming number, which led to this mistake.

‘Does that mean they don’t have many troops they could mobilize to take back the planet?’

“They might have a chance of winning if they could quickly take control of our main planet, but do you think Cleo has the ability to overtake Klaus?”

‘No.’

It was the right call to have Klaus, my righthand man, stay near our home planet.

I’m sure he would’ve produced equally amazing results if I had him go around wreaking havoc, but I’m better suited for the task.

“Wait a second, I was wrong. How rude of me to call him an idiot. Turns out there’s no greater genius out there.”

‘?’

Thomas cocks his head, confused.

He must be wondering why I’m calling that traitor a genius.

“Am I wrong? He’s done so much to ensure that things work out in our favor. We should be grateful for his help.”

Having an incompetent enemy is the same as having a competent ally.

Though I won’t show him as much appreciation as I do towards the Guide, I’ll spare a few seconds for him during my next prayer to express my gratitude.

Checking the time, I order Thomas to leave with haste.

“—They should be here soon. Thomas, leave while you can.”

‘May fortune be with you, Lord Liam.’

“Fortune? There’s no need for that. —Let’s just hope the hunt goes well.”

◇

A few days have passed since Thomas departed.

While seated onboard Argos, I let out a deep sigh as I watch the enemies finally make their appearance.

“They didn’t come nearly as quickly as I expected. —Can I take this as proof that Tia is doing well?”

Eulisia, who’s standing beside me, gives me an exasperated look as I’m muttering to myself.

“The enemies seem to have arrived via short-distance warps. While it does consist partially of the Empire’s regular army, most of their troops are members of the pirate fleet or pirates that have joined them.”

“So they called upon their old friends.”

“They have approximately 120,000 troops in total.”

Faced with a fleet that is quadruple our size, the bridge becomes hectic.

I, on the other hand, leisurely stand up from my seat and stretch my body, looking at the enemy fleet that’s projected on my screen.

“—I shall commend you for your courage. Instead of fleeing, you’ve come to reclaim your planet.”

The pirates have been ravaging my territory ever since the beginning of the war, which is why they’re my primary target at the moment.

I’m determined to destroy them with my own hands.

“Well then, let the game begin.”

Let’s start things off by battling with our fleets.

—————————————————————————————————————-

Brian (´；ω；｀): “Lord Liam is refusing to back away, it’s painful. —Lord Liam’s an idiot.”

Wakagi-chan (；゜Д゜): “Volume 5 of ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!’ is currently on sale! —I’m more scared of the person that’s trying to eliminate me, the idol of the postscript section.”

Brian (*´ω｀*): “I was told that the books are selling like hotcakes. Thank you very much!”

Wakagi-chan (゜д゜): “One moment he’s crying, and the very next he’s acting embarrassed. What an emotionally unstable old man.”