I'm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!

“Imbecile, you must have a death wish!”

“I am terribly sorry!”

In front of me who’s in a foul mood, a man is kneeling on the ground, his forehead pressed against the floor.

He’s an aristocrat that sold his territory to me, and there’s a good reason why a proud aristocrat of the Algrand Empire is in such a sorry state.

Not only am I a duke, but my military might is on a whole different level as compared to his.

As a case in point, the knights that are supposed to be protecting the viscount are sprawled all over the floor, with my knights towering over them.

The viscount’s face is bruised and swollen as well due to the beating that he received.

Why am I subjecting him to such inhumane treatment, you ask?

The reason lies in the territory that I purchased from the viscount.

“You call this a blessed land? It’s as miserable as it gets, and yet you had the gall to lie to me? To deceive me?”

I stomp on the back of the viscount’s head as he remains kneeling, shivering in fear.

“I-I dare not! However, I personally find the planet very wonderful.”

The viscount’s head sinks further into the ground when I put more weight on my foot.

“Is that head of yours an ornament? Which part of this planet do you find wonderful!?”

The scenery on the planet is shabby, to say the least.

We’d come to visit the viscount’s territory on a battleship, and we couldn’t believe our eyes when we entered the atmosphere and came close to the ground.

The life of the people on this planet can be described as modern, though it’s in the historical sense of the word.

There are steam locomotives running on the tracks, and it’s clear that these retro modes of transportation aren’t just there as part of a tourist attraction.

Essentially, the standard of living on the viscount’s planet is equivalent to that of Earth’s modern period.

Seeing our battleship floating in the sky, some citizens are taking pictures with their cameras.

The cameras appear ancient, which makes me wonder what time period they would be from if I was still on Earth.

I kick the viscount, and he rolls on the ground.

“You think territory management is a joke!?”

It’s against the rules to interfere with planets that haven’t advanced into space. This is for fear of losing the planets’ unique culture and technology.

However, there’s a caveat. Planets that originally possessed the technology to enter space would not be protected by this rule even if their technology is sealed at a later date.

The viscount’s territory should’ve been much more advanced in the past.

And yet the viscount spent time robbing the people of their technology, forcing them to live in what’s basically the modern period.

What a waste. What a complete waste.

Normally, I’d celebrate the wasting of resources, but not if it’s to our detriment.

The viscount raises his head and offers an excuse.

“Our household finds this level of civilization the most charming.”

Messing with the citizens’ lives to fit their liking. Usually, I’d laugh it off, but I’m not in the mood to be so forgiving right now.

“Don’t play around with me!”

As a result of doing whatever he wanted in his territory, he ended up in massive debt. Being stupid has its limits.

It’s good that I’ve acquired a planet with a population of 500 million people, but it’s going to require a lot of effort to develop it.

Ignoring the viscount who’s still begging for forgiveness, I turn around to speak to the knight I trust most.

“Klaus, what’s the fastest way to develop this planet so that it matches the Empire’s standard level of civilization?”

[Klaus Sera Mont], the head knight of the Banfield Family, advises me in his usual calm voice.

“Our only option is to recruit and educate settlers from the Banfield Family’s territory. After all, even if we prepare the necessary facilities, the viscount’s citizens won’t be able to use them properly.”

Even if we provide tools and facilities to the people, they won’t be able to utilize them as the technology involved is too advanced.

I bought this planet in the hopes of expanding my territory in the shortest time possible. However, it has somehow led to more troublesome work.

“We’ll do just that. But bear in mind that they’re my people now, not the viscount’s.”

“Understood!”

The citizens are oblivious to the changes I’m about to bring to their lives. If they knew, they would surely beg for the viscount to return.

But that’s not my business. I’ll use them to my fullest advantage.

“Recruit volunteers that wish to immigrate immediately.”

“Understood. –However, the level of civilization here is much lower than we expected. We need to increase the number of people that we dispatch, but the Banfield Family lacks personnel at the moment.”

We’re currently focusing everything we have on developing the territory.

Knights, soldiers, and officials are being dispatched left and right the moment they’ve matured.

Hence, although we have enough manpower, we’re experiencing an overwhelming shortage of people in administrative positions.

“Then I’ll stay here and govern for a while. –Damn it, to think I’d get the short end of the stick.”

Since I’ve already bought the territory from the viscount, there’s no turning back now.

It was such a terrible purchase that I decided to carry out internal reforms while staying on the planet.

Klaus and the surrounding knights clamor upon hearing my decision.

“Lord Liam intends to personally oversee the planet’s development?”

“Our territory should be fine even without my presence, and I have my personal guards with me. Developing a planet or two should be a breeze.”

As a duke, I have a group of personal guards that are there to escort me.

Their true purpose is to show off my authority, but there’s no helping it. They would have to work their a*s off as well.

If I have to work, so do they.

“B-but that’s…hmm, since we have Lady Rosetta now, I guess we can make do without Lord Liam for a couple of years.”

We’re so busy nowadays that we’ve even enlisted the help of Rosetta.

I’m ashamed to admit it, but this isn’t the time to be worried about my pride.

“We must begin developing this planet as soon as possible. Gather anyone available. I don’t care who they are. Heck, even wanderers are fine.”

◇

-On the Banfield Family’s main planet-

It was evening, and the taverns were busy.

The citizens were talking excitedly about the recruitment notice for emigrants that the government office had issued earlier.

“Did he get another planet? How many times does this make?” a customer asked in an astonished voice.

“This is the third one. Apparently, it’s a planet that belonged to a viscount,” the barkeeper replied, sighing as he cleaned the glass in his hands.

“The Lord has finished his training, yet he’s still as busy as before.”

“I thought he would settle down on the main for a while, but he’s begun to wander around again.”

Now that Liam’s training was over, everyone thought he would either settle down in his territory or go about his work in the Capital.

However, he was instead working hard to expand his territory, visiting several planets near the border.

Quite frankly, it didn’t matter to the people whether Liam worked in the city or in the countryside.

Either way, they’d be dissatisfied.

“Like seriously, he should chillax a bit,” the male customer said.

The barkeeper showed a bitter smile when he heard this.

If it was the previous lord, making such a remark against a nobleman would’ve resulted in an execution.

However, no one cared anymore as Liam didn’t bother to enforce such rules.

“Now, don’t be too harsh on him. This is something I heard from a customer that came to this planet as part of a cultural exchange program. He described our lord as a godsend.”

“Godsend? What do you mean?”

The customer who had been sipping on his drink seemed puzzled.

The barkeeper gestured to some customers in the back.

There were four men sitting around a round table wearing work clothes. It appeared they had gotten off work, and they showed a strong interest in the drinks and delicacies that had been served to them.

The drinks and food in front of them weren’t anything special, so it was strange that they seemed so fascinated by them.

“Cultural exchange program? Aren’t they just migrant workers?” the male customer asked curiously.

“They’re apparently here to learn about infrastructure development. Did you know? When they were under the viscount, their main means of transport used to be steam locomotives.”

“I think I’ve learned about those in history class before. Aren’t they ancient though?”

“Allegedly, the viscount restricted their development. Can you believe it? Every time they were about to have a breakthrough, they’d be forcefully suppressed.”

Whenever groundbreaking technology was about to be introduced, it’d be sealed, preventing the territory from developing into a more advanced civilization.

Both the barkeeper and the customer agreed that it was a terrible story.

The customer was beginning to see the flow of the story.

“So our lord was a literal godsend.”

“Yeah, and they’re immensely grateful.”

“That’s nice! –Stories of our merciful lord really bring people to tears, don’t they?”

The customer continued to sip on his drink, still seeming somewhat disgruntled, but the barkeeper assumed he was sulking.

Fed up, the barkeeper jokingly complained.

“Are you feeling jealous of them? Man, it’s tough having to listen to grown men express their jealousy.”

“I ain’t jealous! But you know, lords are supposed to be more — settled in their territories, right? Not to mention, he has Klaus-sama, the Empire’s number one knight. Lord Liam should leave things to him.”

Instead of going around to unknown planets and doing charity work, the customer wanted Liam to return.

The barkeeper laughed.

“Hafta admit, Klaus-sama is amazing. Until a while ago, everyone thought Christina-sama would remain as the head knight, but nowadays, his name is brought up in every conversation.”

“Christina-sama, huh? She’s a stunner. I wonder what she’s doing right about now.”

“Yeah…”

◇

“SLAUGHTER ALL THE PIRATES!!”

On the bridge of the super-dreadnought class battleship Var, Christina, whom people were talking about, was smiling fiercely while spreading out her arms.

Her smile formed a crescent moon, and her bloodshot eyes were wide open.

Tens of thousands of battleships were chasing after a pirate group that had been lurking around Liam’s newly acquired planet.

There were hundreds of pirate ships, but they were being sunk one after another, chased down by a fleet consisting only of the newest models of ships.

Messages requesting surrender were constantly being sent, but Tia completely ignored them.

With her right arm stretched forward, a female knight that served as Tia’s adjutant gave the order to continue.

“Exterminate them. This is Lord Liam’s territory now. It would be blasphemous to have pirates running rampant!”

The fleet’s attacks became even fiercer.

Tia and her fleet were actively hunting for pirates near this new territory.

Many of their crewmates held a grudge against the pirates and were pros when it came to exterminating them.

The ship’s operator contacted Tia and notified her of an incoming call from the pirates.

“Christina-sama, a man claiming to be the pirate’s captain is requesting to communicate.”

With a dark smile, Tia sat down on the commander’s seat and crossed her legs.

“Accept the call.”

She was determined to leave no one alive, but she was willing to hear what the captain had to say.

Although there was some noise on the monitor, she could make out a handsome man with a beard on the other end of the call.

He appeared quite flustered, and it was clear from the footage that the ship was shaking violently.

‘We won’t lay a finger on your territory! We’ll leave immediately, so please stop attacking!’

Tia simply smiled as she watched the pirate tremble at the name of the Banfield Family.

Her eyes, however, were cold, and one could find bitter resentment within.

The captain continued to plead his case.

‘And look, we aren’t even retaliating, right? If you let us go, we promise to never appear in front of you.’

Liam had acquired the viscount’s territory.

When news of this spread, the pirates had fled in terror. Unfortunately, they came under fire after being discovered by Tia and her crew.

There was no bad blood between the two parties, but Tia had an unconditional hatred for pirates.

“What you guys do is of no concern to us. The fact that you are pirates is enough reason for you to perish.”

‘–And you consider yourselves subordinates of Liam the Wise!?’

“Don’t you dare utter Lord Liam’s name, trash. I simply wished to see you begging for your life. Farewell, space pirates.”

The communication with the pirate’s captain was cut off as the enemy ship was destroyed after being pierced by a laser canon.

Tia’s adjutant reported indifferently,

“Annihilation confirmed.”

“Very well. Let’s head to our next target. This is now Lord Liam’s territory – we must clean up all the garbage lying around.”

Her loyalty to Liam was mixed in with her personal grudge, which spelled the doom of any pirates in the vicinity.

——————————————————————————————————–

Brian (´；ω；｀): “It’s painful. I’m worried Lord Liam would die from overworking himself.”

Wakagi-chan ( ゜∀゜): “I know! He’s what’s known as a workaholic, right? But that’s not what’s important right now. It’s promotion day! The World of Otome Games–”

Brian (｀・ω・´): “Volume 4 of ‘I’m the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!’ is scheduled to be released on October 25th, along with the first volume of the manga. Please look forward to them!”

Wakagi-chan (＃゜д゜): “–You disrupted me while I was advertising. I’ll beat you up to the point where you can’t photosynthesize again.”

TN: If you enjoyed the chapter and wish for more, please check out my patreon, at https://www.patreon.com/LightFeathers! Thank you, and have a nice day~