As Avid, the mobile knight with shields mounted on both shoulders, approached the Piettack family's cruiser, he began his attack with the bazooka in his left hand.
The cruiser's anti-aircraft lasers hit Avid, but all were blocked by the energy shields.
The cruiser was engulfed in flames from the bazooka's attack.
Liam searched for the next target, chasing the Piettack family's mobile knights who were fleeing in confusion.
"You're too slow!"
The Piettack family's mobile knights were all second-hand and not mainstream models.
The performance gap was so large that once caught by Avid, they were crushed.
"Feeling good, overwhelming them with superior performance!"
Following Liam, who was smiling, were the mobile knights ridden by the knights.
Supposedly guarding Liam, they couldn't keep up and were chasing him instead.
The Banfield family's mobile knights were either mass-produced models of the empire's main force or new models handled by elite pilots.
To gain a numerical advantage, the enemyâpirates or the Piettack familyâwould need to prepare 40,000 to 50,000 units.
However, even if they managed to gather them, winning was a different matter.
When Liam landed on the Piettack family's flagship, a magic circle appeared around Avid.
From it emerged missile pods.
Hundreds of missiles burned the Piettack family's flagship.
Tia, riding a white mobile knight, watchedâ
"Manipulating that difficult machine like an extension of his limbsâwhat a beautiful sight. I can't afford to lose."
As she was mesmerized, the enemy approached.
Stepping on the foot pedals, she accelerated to top speed and destroyed the enemy as they passed by.
Tia's machine, which didn't stop, continued to destroy the enemy one after another.
"Moreâmore!"
Tia's eyes were bloodshot.
"The hell I've experiencedâwas far worse than this!"
The Piettack family's soldiers, fleeing and begging for mercy, were not pitied by Tia.
Once pirates, they were enemies to Tia.
After Tia's machine passed, only the remains of the enemy were left.
There was no one among the pirates or the Piettack family who could stop the princess knight of the fallen nation.
â
While the Piettack family and pirates were being ravaged, Catarina, who accompanied Peter back to his territory, was unable to hide her confusion.
The welcoming ships were all old models.
That was fine.
Old models could be fine if they were well-maintained.
However, the battleship "Peter III" that Peter rode was also old.
A battleship from hundreds of years ago, it looked flashy on the outside but was terrible on the inside.
Moreover, Peter's room was unnecessarily luxurious.
"How about it? My ship is the best, right?"
When Peter spoke, Catarina was at a loss for words.
"T-this is quiteâvintage, or antique, isn't it?"
Though she thought her comment was inappropriate, Peter didn't seem to mind.
"Isn't it amazing? It's my favorite. Among the ones I have, it's quite excellent."
Hearing that made her feel dizzy.
A space battleship bought from the imperial militaryâregular militaryâwould have been better.
Moreover, Peter's unnecessarily large room was taking up space on the ship.
With low performance, it was further degraded, and Peter didn't understand this.
"Well, I think a smaller one would be fine. A cruiser, for example, is recommended."
A second-hand cruiser would be better than riding such a large ship.
She seriously considered asking her father to lend her one.
"A cruiser is no good. If I buy, I want a super-dreadnought. But the empire won't sell it to us."
"Really? I thought it was approved?"
Catarina was surprised that this was different from what she had heard.
"Even though I asked, they won't sell it."
Super-dreadnoughts and super-large ships called carrier fortresses were only sold to lords recognized by the empire.
This was also a measure of how much the empire trusted a family.
For a viscount family, not having the empire's permissionâthere was clearly something wrong.
(No, this is different from what I heard! If I marry, I won't have to worry about living!)
Listening to Peter, Catarina couldn't help but feel anxious.
Meanwhile, Peter was talking about unrelated things.
"I've grown a lot in these three years. My parts are twice as big as beforeâ"
Ignoring Peter's talk, Catarina thought about the future.
(First, I need to contact my father and confirm if the engagement can be broken.)
This situation seemed very bad.
Catarina's anxiety grew.
â
Riding Avid, the enemy formation was collapsing and fleeing.
The fools who called themselves the Piettack family.
These guys thought that by using the name of a famous noble family, I would back off.
"Of all the families, the Piettack family is the worst."
A family known for being kind, serious, and uninterested in personal martial valor.
They must be a family that prioritizes internal affairs and is the ideal noble family.
To call themselves the private army of such a family, they had old equipment and a fleet with extremely low training.
âThis is impossible.
They must have chosen the wrong name.
These guys are probably bad people pretending to be nobles and engaging in pirate activities.
"But, I'm worse than you guys."
The essence of nobles in this world is the same as space pirates.
They just have better manners and a solid base.
In other wordsâI, who is a worse villain than you, am stronger.
"Well, I want to find the enemy flagship now."
I've been looking for the enemy flagship, but I can't find it.
They all look the same.
While I'm looking for the enemy, my allies are fighting over the enemies I missed.
Especially Tia is amazing.
Her kill count doesn't stop.
"Oh, you're doing pretty well. You were a good find."
But if I stay here, the enemies will be gone.
To find new enemies, I started moving and found a slightly larger pirate ship.
â
In the bridge of Vahl, a communication from the pirates was received.
"Please! We surrender, let us go. We were set up. The one who set us up is Viscount Reiser."
The one responding was the supreme commander.
"Hmm, an interesting story."
He was drinking coffee while talking.
Meanwhile, his allies were attacking the pirates.
Unlike the calm supreme commander, the pirate leader was anxious.
"If you accept our surrender, we'll tell you everything. We'll even serve you. We'll manage the underground society properly. We'll pay the tribute!"
The supreme commander smiled at the leader who was trying to sell himself.
The leader also smiled, butâ
"You should talk after you wake up. Pirates are all the same. When they realize they're losing, they beg for their lives. Then they try to sell themselves."
"What?"
"Do you know what we do with such pirates?"
"Do you not want to know about Viscount Reiser? Don't you want to know why they attacked you?"
"âNot necessary. There's no need to deal with pirates."
As the leader tried to say something, the monitor image turned to noise and then disappeared.
The operator reported.
"Avid has destroyed the enemy flagship. A message from Lord Liam: 'I'm bored, so I'm returning.'"
The supreme commander sighed.
"Understood. Well, I wanted to talk a bit more, but if Lord Liam is bored, there's nothing I can do."
I wanted to hear what the leader was going to say.
The operator reported again.
"The enemy is starting to retreat."
The supreme commander gave the order.
"Start the pursuit."
But if Liam judged it unnecessary, there's nothing I can do.
The supreme commander saw Kurt, who had been tense, sit down in his chair.
"I'm very sorry for involving you in the pirate suppression, Lord Kurt."
Kurt shook his head.
"No, it was a great learning experience. I was very tired just watching."
"I'm glad to hear that. Someone, bring Lord Kurt a drink."
â
When I returned, soldiers were lined up to welcome me.
It felt great.
As I got off Avid, applause started.
"Excellent, Lord Liam."
"Yeah."
I raised my hand lightly in response.
These guys go to great lengths to please me.
Just by riding the incredibly strong Avid and wreaking havoc, they have to praise me.
Having power feels great.
Even though winning is expected, being praised like this is nice.
A soldier reported to me.
"After the battle, we will leave 3,000 ships here and head to the Exner baron's territory with the rest. I've reported to the headquarters and arranged for a supply unit to be sent to the baron's territory."
"Collect all the debris. Bring it back to our territory. And, did you find any treasure?"
The soldier shook his head.
"No treasure worthy of Lord Liam was found. However, the enemies are wanted, so the empire will pay a bounty."
This bounty is quite substantial.
I remember it helped a lot when rebuilding my family's finances.
"This time it's a miss. I'll look forward to Kurt's family."
Being praised so much in this environment, where I'm treated as a matter of courseâthis is all because I have power.
If I were just a pilot, I wouldn't be praised like this.
I'd probably be told to work harder.
Being able to wreak havoc when I want and return when I'm boredâpower is the best.
â
Tia looked at her kill score.
There was a large gap with the third place, but her score couldn't match the first place, Liam.
She was amazed.
"To achieve such results with this machine."
From Tia's perspective, Avid was a very difficult machine to handle.
Not only was it hard to control, but an average pilot would be overwhelmed by its high performance and couldn't operate it properly.
The maintenance crew was talking while repairing Avid.
"To tame such a wild horse, Lord Liam must have been born in the wrong family."
"If he was born into a knight's family, he would definitely be the empire's top ace."
"The joints are at their limit. Maybe we should send it back to the manufacturer."
Seeing Liam's skill in pushing Avid to its limitsâTia became even more excited.
â
The large transport ship of the Henfrey Trading Company was in the post-battle space.
The Banfield family's fleet had requested supplies.
To collect debris, they placed gravity generators.
The debris was drawn into a vortex, and work pods were searching for usable items.
Debris collectors from Liam's territory had arrived.
Leading several large transport ships, Thomas was invited to the military ship for detailed discussions.
"âPossibly connected to the viscount family?"
The serious-looking military officer, checking the list Thomas prepared, latched onto the topic.
"Yes, it was well-known among merchants. In fact, there were many suspicious movements."
However, the serious military officer didn't take the information at face value.
More importantly,
"I'll report it. But, I'm more interested in whether the Henfrey Trading Company will continue to do business with the Reiser family."
Despite being at the edge of the viscount's territory, such a large fleet attacked.
He was concerned that no one even showed up to check after the report.
Moreover, the military didn't think well of the connection between the viscount family and the imperial merchants.
"We decided to distance ourselves from this incident. The response was too rude."
The treatment of Liam was too harsh.
The military officer seemed to agree.
Tapping the table with a pen.
"We feel the same, but Lord Liam said he won't protest."
"Lord Liam?"
He should protest, but Thomas couldn't understand what Liam was thinking.
The military officer also looked troubled.
"He says he's not interested. Instead, he's trying to form a strong bond with the Exner baron's family."
"That's quite a commitment."
It wasn't a particularly advantageous territory.
Thomas couldn't understand why Liam, who even sent the military to suppress pirates, was doing this.
However, the military officer in front of him seemed pleased.
"Not really. While the territory isn't advantageous, the Exner baron is a former military man. He's a good connection. After all, the baron has many fans in the military."
The military officer in front of him was probably one of the baron's fans.
He was more talkative when it came to the baron.
Thomas nodded.
(I see, he's trying to strengthen his connection with the military for the future.)
Bryan (*´Ďď˝*) "Lord Liam has a new friend, and this Bryan is very moved."
Tiancheng (*´âď˝) "It's his first friend, isn't it?"