Chapter 1
Military Academy
The Algrand Imperial Academy .
It was a place where an entire planet was used as a military educational facility .
Urban areas, lush jungles, scorching deserts, fields of ice and snow– all of them were used as training grounds .
Even in space, they focused on nurturing soldiers to support the Empire using ports, warships, and entire space colonies .
I- [Liam Sera Banfield] had entered the military academy and was currently enrolled in the strategy department where the elites were gathered .
The students expected to rise up the ranks to become commanders were put on this course and were given preferential treatment .
In short, basically excellent cadets were gathered here in addition to the nobility .
It’s the place where the elites were supposed to go, but as a future duke, I was able to major in the strategy department regardless of my grades .
General cadets could only enter after achieving great results, but others could enter simply because they were of noble birth .
That’s right, grades didn’t matter as long as they were an aristocrat .
“Birth isn’t everything in this universe, but don’t you think who you’re born as still has a big impact on things?”
The academy’s cafeteria .
While saying that in front of the gross food that emphasised on nutrition, Wallace– whose head was shaved, answered while biting down on some hard bread .
“What’s this so suddenly?”
In the academy, you were basically forced to shave your head .
While women were only allowed to have short hair .
–and so, my head was also shaved unfortunately .
But once I entered into my third year, I’d be allowed a little bit of freedom with my hairstyle .
“Just because I was born into a noble house, that alone gave me the qualifications to enter the elite course . ”
I was born as a winner in life and looked down on those who weren’t .
After sending a glance my way, Wallace started looking around at the surroundings .
“Liam, can’t you speak in a smaller voice? Everyone’s eyes are gathered on you . ”
Taking in my surroundings, I could see a group of losers glaring at me .
Some of cadets were looking at me quite favourably though .
I’m sure those people were from the nobility . They agreed with my opinion .
“Isn’t it the truth though? If any of them have a complaint, they can say it to me directly . ”
But no one approached .
The cadets who were scowling at me turned their eyes away in silence .
That’s what I thought . –They were scared to go against me, a high-noble .
The school was too big to remember the names and faces of all the cadets .
But it was definitely the general cadets who were glaring at me .
This is it . This is what I’m talking about .
This is exactly what I imagined being an evil lord would be like .
As I thought that, some of the senior cadets must’ve been offended by what I said and approached me .
“That’s quite the bullish attitude you’re taking there . ”
Wallace was surprised after seeing the upperclassmen .
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“Dolph?!”
The military academy was too large to know each and every cadet .
But even I knew who this man was .
After all, he was the valedictorian .
Even though he was also of noble birth, he seemed to have a sense of justice strong enough to stand against me after I harassed the commoners .
–I don’t like him .
“While I heard that your grades were excellent, but to have a personality of that level . Aren’t you ashamed of yourself?”
I hated sarcastic bastards like him .
His hair that was hardened with gel was slicked back .
He was [Dolph Sera Lawrence]– a strange nobleman who still took the sides of commoners .
His body was on the skinny side, but you could still tell he was a trained soldier .
I didn’t like that elitist expression he had on that seemed to say he was a better than everyone else .
“What does this year’s oh so great valedictorian want with me?”
“…that isn’t an attitude you should be taking towards your upperclassmen . ”
While he was my senior in the academy, he was also of a lower court-rank than me .
Both as a future duke and as someone who had already succeeded as a count, there was no reason for me to treat someone like him as my equal .
Military discipline? How much do you think I donated to the academy? There’s no doubt that they’ll acquit me .
Wallace was looking my way while shaking his head .
He probably wanted to tell me not to start something, but I hated people that had strong morals .
They reminded me of myself from my previous life .
With a sense of justice that had no reason or logic behind it, they were basically good people .
Surely this guy was angry at me for belittling the commoners .
He was such a good person that he made me want to vomit .
“Why should I care? What’re you gonna do about it?”
I wanted to say that it was him who shouldn’t be addressing me so over-familiarly .
His temper rising, Dolph raised his jaw a little as a blood vessel appeared on his forehead .
“Follow me to the simulation room . I’ll give you a lesson on how you’re supposed to treat your upperclassmen . ”
“…if you actually can then by all means . ”
With my provocative smile, the cafeteria broke out into a commotion .
“Hey, Liam and Dolph are going to fight in the simulator!”
“Those two are?!”
“This is definitely a must-see!”
Inside of the excited cafeteria, Wallace was the only one hanging his head .
“Liam, why do you always have to–”
The simulation room .
Many cadets were gathered to see what was about to happen .
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Liam, the top student in the first year, and Dolph, the valedictorian of the sixth, were about to lead their fleets against each other in a simulation battle .
There were many cadets interested in this .
Wallace sighed as he looked over how clearly divided the spectators were .
“As always, Liam is popular among the commoners . ”
Supporting Dolph were the aristocrats who hated Liam .
On the other hand, most of the people who supported Liam were just ordinary cadets .
There were a few nobles mixed in there, but the overwhelming majority of them were commoners .
“Nevertheless, to pick fights with nobles in the middle of the cafeteria… and for it to be Dolph of all people . ”
Dolph was the second son of the Lawrence house, as well as a true advocate of noble superiority .
To him it was only natural for the aristocrats to receive preferential treatment .
And yet Liam picked a fight by saying, “Just because I was born into a noble house, that alone gave me the qualifications to enter the elite course . ”
“This isn’t good . There might be a lot of bad rumours around Dolph, but his skills are the real deal . ”
Wallace was worried because of all the senior cadets Liam had to pick a fight with, it just had to be Dolph .
A mere five year difference might seem short, but it actually had a huge effect .
No matter how good Liam was, it’d be difficult to overcome the years of military experience Dolph had over him .
(Well, it’s kind of suspicious how he was able to become the valedictorian though . )
The bad rumours surrounding Dolph mostly stemmed from how he crushed other potential students that threatened his spot at the top .
They said that if there was a cadet who was likely to become his rival, they’d suddenly be forced to drop out because of false charges .
There were even stories about how he hired criminals to take someone’s family hostage unless they dropped out .
(I’m afraid of Liam’s sense of justice, that makes him easily pick fights no matter who the opponent it . )
While he did have a foul mouth, Liam’s morals were strong, and he even had the ability to back it up .
Such a Liam was the hope among the commoners who found the nobility to be an annoyance .
–The simulation started .
As the two people moved their fleets through the control panels, Liam immediately went on the offensive .
But Dolph dismissed those movements as nothing,
“Those tactics might work against pirates, but they’re useless against me . ”
“What?”
Dolph’s provocation might have been cheap, but in truth Liam’s forces were slowly being whittled down .
“A person who only knows assault tactics is nothing to me . ”
Liam’s fleet was specialised in offensive maneuvers .
Conversely, Dolph’s fleet was specialised in defensive ones, and the situation was growing more and more unfavourable for Liam .
The organization of their fleets and how they were built was decided before the simulation even started .
This was so your opponent couldn’t prepare countermeasures and to keep things fair .
However, Dolph was acting as if he had known how Liam’s fleet had been organised from the very beginning .
He was using tactics that seemed to know what ships Liam chose and how he was going to move .
(This is bad, Dolph did something . )
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As Liam became the one at the disadvantage, the nobles who cheered for Dolph started speaking out .
“What, so this is all that pirate hunting amounts to?”
“Even if this would work against pirates, this is what reality is really like . ”
“That redneck from the frontier needs to learn his place . ”
The aristocrats started taking bullish attitudes .
Conversely, the commoners were silent despite the fact that they knew the nobles had done something .
If there wasn’t any evidence, their support would only embarrass Liam .
They were certain that Dolph had cheated, but without proof nothing could be done .
(At this rate Liam is going to lose . )
Liam’s situation was so unfavourable that even Wallace could see his defeat .
There was a man standing upside down on the ceiling of the simulation room .
He was wearing a top hat that covered his eyes and a tailcoat suit .
Despite that, you could still see his smile .
“…now this is interesting . ”
The [Guide] who watched the confrontation between Liam and Dolph was more powerful than he was before .
Thanks to the power he had accumulated in the imperial capital, he was finally freed from his suffering .
However, even now his strength was being eroded from Liam’s gratitude .
If left unattended, then he’d eventually be left writhing in agony again .
Today’s Liam was loved by the people of his territory .
His gratitude had tremendous power behind it when combined with the feelings of his citizens .
While the guide had gathered an amount of power that couldn’t be ignored, it’d still be difficult to make Liam unhappy as he was now .
For this reason, he was watching over the situation for any chance to hurt him– but then he noticed Dolph .
The guide approached Dolph– who currently had an expression full of composure, but no one noticed him .
“This looks like a man whose driven many into despair . One of my favourite kinds of people . ”
The man named Dolph had crushed innumerable rivals so that he could be the best .
Many grudges were clinging to his body .
Unlike Liam, he was corrupt aristocrat, making him a wonderful person full of potential .
In addition to that, he seemed to have altered the simulator to guarantee his win .
His thoroughness was very pleasing .
“…I just thought of something fun . ”
Saying that, the guide placed his hand on the simulator .
The moment that happened, Dolph’s fleet suddenly began to be pushed back .
Even though Liam’s fleet was one-sidedly losing until now, the difference between them was gradually shrinking .
Dolph was confused .
“W-what?!”
On the other hand, Liam was smiling .
“I thought you were the valedictorian! Is this all you upperclassmen amount to?! ”
Taking a glance at Liam, the guide burst into laughter while smiling .
“That’s perfect . Goad him on more, Liam . These will become the seeds of your downfall . ”
Despite his hate for Liam, the guide made it so that he’d win .
The reason being–
“Damn it! DAMN IT!”
Even though Dolph rushed to move his fleet in response, he ended up creating a gap for Liam to take advantage of, pushing himself into a corner .
“W-why is this happening?!”
Despite being so assured of his victory a minute ago, Dolph fell into a panic and his face went pale .
The guide called out to him .
He even put his hand on his shoulder, but he didn’t seem to notice .
“Dolph, I have high expectations for you . Your defeat here will become a source of motivation to help you grow . While Liam, the person who brought you such humiliation will become someone you will hate with all of your being . ”
In truth, Dolph already had a blood vessel bulging on his forehead as he glared at Liam .
To be the best, he had fixed things so that he’d never lose to anyone .
And yet he had humiliatingly lost to Liam, a person several years his junior .
“Over something like this!”
When the simulator announced Liam’s victory, the general cadets broke out in cheers .
On the other hand, the aristocrats looked at Dolph with cold eyes .
“This is our year’s valedictorian?”
“Because he’s an obscene man, I guess he’s only really worth this much . ”
“Even though he cheated, for him to lose to Liam that badly…”
They ridiculed him .
Dolph had never been more humiliated in his life .
And that was before Liam called out to him,
“This is because you only know the simulators . It can’t compare to real battle experience gained from actual war . As your senior in life I’d be happy to give you lessons sometime– Dolph . ”
The guide happily greeted Liam’s smug attitude with satisfaction .
After all, the way Dolph was glaring at Liam now was absolutely delicious .
“You bastard…”
The guild smiled at Dolph’s mutterings .
“That’s it . Grow to abhor Liam even more . For you shall be the one to strike him down . I’ll prepare the perfect battlefield for you . ”
Now that the guide had enough power to spare, he wanted to slowly tighten the noose around Liam’s neck instead of rushing things .
Reflecting on the pain that he’s suffered so far, he wanted to make sure Liam didn’t do anything outside his expectations .
So that when the time finally came, he’d be able to thoroughly crush him in an instant .
“You better enjoy yourself for now, Liam . Because once you finally lose everything, the expression you’ll make then will be all the sweeter . ”
Leaving those parting words, the guide disappeared as he sank into the floor .
The only thing left behind being Dolph, who gritted his teeth as he scowled at Liam .
“–I will never forgive you . Never!”
A future elite who hated Liam was born at that moment .