Volume 11 Chapter 7 - The Empire's Strongest Knight

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The second division under Klaus’ command consisted of roughly 60,000 ships.

The fact that he had been entrusted with a fleet of equal magnitude as that of his master spoke volumes to the trust that Liam had in him.

Klaus, burdened by Liam’s expectations, was leading his troops while bearing with the ulcer pain, and they had just managed to conquer one of the planets under the Kingdom of Dominion.

He let out a deep sigh in his heart.

(It’s finally over. I can take some rest now.)

The Banfield Family’s fleets were wreaking havoc inside the Kingdom of Dominion despite the risk of being surrounded by enemy troops on all sides.

One wrong step, and they would face complete annihilation.

Klaus had had very little time to relax as of late and was constantly battling the pain coming from his stomach.

That was when he received a certain piece of news from one of his subordinates.

‘Your Excellency, Chengshi and her fleet of 3,000 has launched an attack on one of the kingdom’s fortresses!’

“H-huh!?”

Excluding the disciples of One-Flash, Chengshi was one of the strongest knights in the Banfield Family, and she was currently under Klaus’s command.

The knights that she led were all battle maniacs, and she herself was a psychopath that slashed at her master.

Both Christina and Marie hated her guts, and if she was placed under their command, she’d no doubt be shot in the back on the battlefield.

Having said that, she was a superb knight.

Her piloting ability made her an ace among aces, and taking only strength into consideration, the unit that she led always competed for first or second in the Banfield Family.

However, their personality was another matter altogether.

Klaus had been entrusted with the problem children, and sure enough, they were giving him a headache even inside the Kingdom of Dominion.

“I don’t recall receiving any report regarding a fortress.”

After taking a moment to calm himself, Klaus asked how Chengshi and her troops were able to attack an enemy fortress that hadn’t even been spotted.

The staff soon returned with the details.

‘While we were capturing this planet, they left the fleet, stating that they won’t be needed in this battle. They left under the pretext of scouting ahead, and they’re said to have attacked the moment they discovered the fortress.’

Severe punishment awaited those that took independent action in the military, and the Banfield Family was no different.

However, Chengshi’s position in the army made matters a bit trickier to handle.

The staff reporting made a bitter expression.

‘Your Excellency, I believe it was a mistake to give her the authority to command an independent unit.’

Because Chengshi and her men caused all sorts of trouble, they had been assigned to an independent unit. Being the problematic bunch that they were, there was a chance of them attacking their allies otherwise.

If Liam had been around, they would’ve obeyed the strong and remained quiet, but with him gone, they did whatever they wanted.

In the end, Klaus, worried that he wouldn’t be able to control them, had given them the authority to act as an independent unit.

As a result, conflict within the army had diminished, but in return, they were being swayed around by Chengshi and her fleet.

“How much force does the fortress have?”

‘We believe it has around 5,000 ships protecting it.’

“5,000 huh… send reinforcements immediately.”

Beating a fortress housing 5,000 ships with only 3,000 ships was a tough ordeal.

Even if Chengshi came out on top, the damage would be astronomical.

If these were disposable troops, he would’ve left them to their devices, but being the serious man that he was, Klaus gave orders to dispatch reinforcement to steadily begin capturing the fortress.

(These problem children keep finding enemies and attacking them. Because of that, the second division is outpacing the others by quite a lot.)

With the problem children charging ahead and Klaus following up on them, the second division was making great advances.

◇

At the Kingdom of Dominion’s fortress.

Having entered the fortress, Chengshi and her subordinates were rampaging in their mobile knights.

The Banfield Family had provided them with state-of-the-art aircraft, and though they were deemed problem children, their strength was unquestionable, allowing them to trample the enemies.

“These knights under the Kingdom of Dominion are not bad. I like how they’re not afraid to charge ahead.”

Inside her cockpit, Chengshi smiled, her eyes the shape of a crescent moon.

Controlling her mobile knight, she bisected an enemy aircraft that jumped straight at her, and just as she was finished with an enemy, another appeared in its place.

Chengshi kicked her new opponent, making the enemy knight crash into a wall.

Then, she quickly moved forward and dealt the finishing blow, thrusting her sword into the enemy’s cockpit.

When the enemy knight stopped moving, she looked around in search of new preys.

“Are we done already?”

Everywhere around her, her subordinates were repeatedly stabbing the enemies that had already fallen.

It was a rough and violent act, something which Chengshi and her men were accustomed to.

Inside her cockpit, Chengshi was wearing her everyday casual clothes, not even bothering to put on her pilot suit.

She looked quite young in appearance as she was given a new body after being defeated by Liam soon after her transition into a cyborg.

Letting go of the joystick, she crossed her legs and relaxed.

The fact that this was a battlefield didn’t matter to her. In fact, it felt more calming.

“It’s about time that Klaus arrives.”

One of the allied mobile knights approached her.

‘Big Sis, Klaus has sent reinforcements.’

“Perfect timing as always.”

Despite her young appearance, she was respectfully called “Big Sis” by the people around her.

The reason was simple: she was strong.

Strength was the only thing that mattered in this unit.

Hearing that reinforcements have arrived, Chengshi decided to leave the troublesome post-battle cleanup to them.

“We’ll leave the fortress in their hands and move on to our next target.”

Upon receiving her orders, her subordinates stopped stabbing and began withdrawing from the fortress.

They were here because they loved to fight. Whether or not they captured a fortress didn’t matter.

As Chengshi was about to leave the fortress on her mobile knight, the subordinate that had spoken to her earlier came next to her to make a report.

‘That b*****d Klaus is scolding us again, telling us to contact him before we attack.’

This subordinate was a stern-looking man with a massive scar on his face.

Hearing Klaus’s message, Chengshi gave a curt reply.

“Tell him that we’ll be more careful next time.”

However, her subordinate didn’t seem convinced.

To them, strength was justice, and they couldn’t bear having someone like Klaus, who was weaker than them, acting as their commander.

‘What a nosy b*****d. Big Sis, why don’t you replace him? Just roughen ‘im up a bit, and I bet he’ll become obedient.’

Chengshi smiled through the monitor, seeing the vulgar smile on her subordinate.

Then, she used her mobile knight to thrust her sword into the man’s cockpit.

“I don’t need you anymore.”

Chengshi’s eyes were cold as she turned one of her men into minced meat.

“Who do you think you are to give orders to me? Besides, I like Klaus. He’s given us the authority to do as we like while handling all the troublesome work himself. –That’s why we must keep him at the top.”

She had just killed an ally, but her subordinates didn’t utter a word of complaint.

After all, it was that man’s fault for being stupid enough to anger their boss.

Chengshi reminded her subordinates of their goal.

“We can’t have an idiot like Christina at the top. She only sees war as a part of politics. Marie is no good either. Battles are meant to be pure, but she’ll taint it with matters of loyalty.”

Chengshi knew well that if Christina or Marie were to become head knight, they’d try to crush her unit the first chance they get.

“It might be a fun idea to fight them, but our goal is to fight and keep on fighting. To make this a reality, we must rack up Klaus’s achievements and solidify his position.”

None of her subordinates objected.

◇

News of the second division’s achievements have reached the first division via a report.

Since it’s difficult to communicate with each other in enemy territory, we’re using the old-fashion way of having messengers arrive from the various fleets.

A colonel that belongs to the second division proudly lists Klaus’s achievements thus far.

“We, the second division, are making rapid advances under the command of His Excellency Klaus!”

A 3D map of the Kingdom of Dominion’s territory is projected in the air, and it shows that the second division under Klaus’s command is ahead of all the other fleets.

As the colonel has claimed, they’re taking down enemies left and right, making rapid advances.

While remaining seated in my chair, I applaud the messenger.

“Wonderful. I thought I was doing well, but it seems Klaus is doing even better.”

The first division, which I’m personally commanding, has also taken down enemy bases one after another, but it still falls short of the second division’s achievement.

An unstoppable momentum, there’s no other way to describe it.

As expected, Klaus is amazing.

Seeing me praise the second division, the messenger from the third division also gives his report, not wanting to fall behind.

“The third division has recently taken down a key enemy base. If our fleet was as big as the second division—”

There’s apparently an intense rivalry between the third division led by Tia and the second division.

Having said that, the third division consists only of 30,000 ships, so keeping up with Klaus would be difficult.

Even so, successfully taking down an important enemy base speaks to Tia’s ability.

“I was the one that decided how many ships would be in each fleet. You have a problem with that?”

“N-no, sir.”

The messenger from the third division gets intimidated by my glare.

Still, I praise them for their hard work.

“Good job taking down the enemy base. The report says you’ve suffered some damage. Replenish your troops using ships from my fleet. Take some supplies as well.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The messenger from the third division performs a salute.

Next to him, the messenger from the fourth division, led by Marie, makes a bitter face.

Their division specializes in guerilla warfare, and though they’re made up of elites, they only number 10,000 in total.

Hence, there’s a limit to what they can do, and they can’t produce tangible results such as taking down an enemy base, meaning it would be harder for them to earn my praise.

“What about the fourth division?”

I encourage the fourth messenger to report Marie’s activities.

“—We’ve been going around helping the other divisions.”

“Continue doing so, and tell Marie that she’s done well. –Unfortunately, from the fifth division onward, I haven’t received any report that’s worthy of attention.”

The fleets led by Klaus, Tia, and Marie have all produced remarkable results.

However, the same can’t be said about the other divisions.

There are more than a dozen divisions, each with 10,000 to 20,000 ships, but only a few have managed to take down enemy bases.

“Those that previously served as knights in the Empire’s army are performing well. As for those that were raised in my territory…”

I turn toward the messengers from the fifth army onward.

They seem quite nervous.

Some of them were defeated and had to join up with other divisions.

Ability-wise, there isn’t any problem with the people leading them, but they’re sorely lacking in terms of experience.

It was the right choice to bring them to the Kingdom of Dominion.

“Tia, commander of the third division, will reorganize the other divisions. Tell your commanders that they and their staff members will be replaced if their report doesn’t satisfy me next time.”

If they can’t produce any results after the reorganization, then that’s it for them.

I have the messengers return after telling them that it’s their last chance.

◇

With the messengers gone, I return to the bridge, only to be met with some of my staff officers.

From their nervousness, I can tell that something’s up.

“Did something happen?”

“Lord Liam, the Kingdom of Dominion is gathering its forces. Their fleet is already 300,000 ships strong, and it’s rapidly increasing. Things might become dangerous at this rate.”

To repel us, they’re probably thinking of gathering up their forces and crushing each division one at a time.

“Then we’ll gather our forces as well and swiftly defeat them.”

Unfortunately, the bad news doesn’t end there.

“We’ve also received a report stating that their expeditionary army has turned back. Furthermore, a message has arrived. Apparently, our second batch of soldiers has arrived in Augur.”

“—That’s earlier than expected.”

The second group was supposed to come a little later. Did something happen back in the territory?

After looking one another in the eye, the staffs continue their report.

“This is a message from Brian-dono who’s in the mansion: If it’s possible, please return to the territory.”

The message ticks me off.

“What is he saying at such a crucial time? There’s no way I can leave right now.”

If it had been anyone else, I would’ve had them fired for being incompetent.

The staffs look troubled.

“Similar messages have arrived from everyone that has been put in charge of the mansion, Lady Amagi included.”

Everyone?

Since Amagi’s been brought up, I can’t ignore this anymore.

But it’s out of the question for me to return to my territory when the enemies are gathering.

That said, if Amagi’s telling me to return….AGHHH, what am I supposed to do!?

“—We’ll strike at the enemy fleet. Send a messenger to Klaus.”

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Brian (´；ω；｀): “It’s painful. Klaus-dono, my ulcer pain companion, is being loved by a scary female knight. Klaus-dono, run away!”

Wakagi-chan ゜(*゜´∀｀゜)゜ノ: “Things are looking really tough for Klaus. www”

Wakagi-chan ゜(゜^Д^゜)゜。: “Volume 4 of ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire’ is currently on sale! You might also get to see Tsulaus in action, so please purchase a copy!”