Chapter 33 Prologue
Theres no point to charity.
I, Liam Sera Banfield, the head of the Banfield Count house, was currently dealing with a man in the reception room of a mansion that was built far larger than it needed to be.
You want me to become one of your patrons?
The man in a suit was an executive of the Planet Restoration Activist Group.
The activity in question being the restoration of destroyed planets.
They were a group that did their best to help planets that were artificially destroyed and couldnt sustain themselves anymore.
Yes, we want your sponsorship for our projects.
He was a man that seemed to be enthusiastic about charity.
Continuing on, he went on to explain about how many planets have actually been ravaged to me.
There are many planets that have been devastated by wars and pirate attacks. Is it truly okay to leave them as they are? Many of their residents have been forced to become refugees. We want you to help prepare housing and asylum for them in your territory.
It was a wonderful concept.
That definitely is an admirable ideal to push for. Im thoroughly impressed. fre(e)webnovel.com
Then-!
The mans expression lit up, probably assuming Id accept.
The restoration of ruined planets it is quite the wonderful ideal, but I wont be your patron.
huh?
I leaned back into the sofa and grinned at the man.
But its charity? those are nothing but annoyances.
Go ahead and help as many people as you want, but dont get me involved. Im not interested in supporting any of your activities.
In my previous life, I always used to put my spare change in donation boxes.
If this is really going to help someone in need, is the mindset I had back then.
However, during my previous lifes darkest times there were so many times when I needed even the smallest amount of change to save my neck.
But no one helped me.
I donated a lot for others, but no one was there for me when I was the person suffering.
Thats why I understand.
theres no point in self-satisfaction born from doing charitable things.
I hate people like you. At most, youre only helping others to stroke your own ego.
To my words, the man started to shake with a red face.
A-are those really the words of the noble said to be a virtuous ruler?! I had high hopes for you!
You can go ahead and what what you want, but I dont have any obligation to help you. Also, when have I ever called myself something like that?
The people in our territory think of you as one! Youre a virtuous ruler to them, but in reality youre like this?! Youre not qualified to be their lord!
Was this person an idiot?
Thats the peoples misunderstanding, and in any case, thats quite the impudent attitude youve been taking for a while now.
When I narrowed my eyes, the man started to break out in cold sweat.
I-if you lay a hand on me, the high-nobles that Ive built connections with wont stay silent!
Apparently there were high-nobles that were enthusiastic about contributing to charity.
The pamphlet the man gave me included the names of multiple prestigious aristocrats Ive heard of before.
It wouldnt be unusual for a generous nobleman to contribute to a cause this just.
But I wasnt one.
Do you think Id care if you brought up another nobles name here? This is my territory, and this is a planet I rule over.
No matter what house hes built connections with, that doesnt give him the right to barge into my land and start preaching to me.
At most, he can file a complaint.
Many nobles didnt hold human life as something valuable.
For us, lives were nothing more than numbers on a report.
Help as many people as you like. I wont stop you, but Im not going to help you either. End of discussion. Understood?
After being intimidated, the man quickly left the room after grabbing the pamphlet.
As I laughed at his retreating figure, Amagi, who was standing behind me, started frowning at me.
Master, what was with that attitude?
Whenever Amagi admonished me, for some reason it always hurt more.
I started making excuses.
D-dont be mad. I just dont like charity, but if you want me to Ill become a patron right away! They can have as much money as they want!
I had an unlimited amount of funds because of the alchemy box.
Which was an amazing device that could turn any piece of garbage into solid gold.
Thanks to that, I now had an inexhaustible stock of treasure.
But even in such a situation, I didnt want to contribute to charities.
Do you really hate charity?
Amagi seemed a bit confused by this.
Of course I do.
Even though I answered immediately, Amagi didnt seem convinced.
What is it?
No, its just that weve been running charities under your name this entire time. I didnt think you hated it.
huh?
Amagi went on to talk about all the charitable work Ive supposedly sponsored.
To secure pioneer planets, weve bought out and restored previously destroyed ones. In addition to that, weve been accepting refugees to help populate them.
I was surprised to learn that I was already doing the exact same projects as the Planet Restoration Activist Group.
No, you see thats for expanding my territory, not for charity.
That might be true, but were also providing infrastructure for the smaller lords that live nearby. Were not just doing things that only benefit our territory.
Weve been assisting them.
No, that was because they all started crying for me to help them.
These were the people who were going to become my future henchmen at least thats what I thought.
Im just lending a hand to the people who wag their tails subserviently to me.
There are also various other activities
Apparently, I was spending a lot of money on things I didnt even know about.
I couldnt exactly get a refund now.
Thats not all either.
Really?
Theres the treatment weve been providing for those who suffered at the hands of pirates. The cost of human resources, the facilities, and everything else is at a ridiculous amount.
I-is that so?
I was only thinking about securing talented people to help fulfill my ambitions of feasting on lifes delicacies.
For that end goal, Ive been rescuing the beautiful women that were held prisoner by pirates.
If one appeared that caught my eye, I was planning to have her as a mistress, otherwise I just sent them to live out their lives in my territory.This one done thinking that the girls eventually born from such beautiful women would no doubt be beautiful as well.
I dont care if theyve gone through cosmetic surgery, but I prefer natural products over artificial ones.
It was only natural for evil lords to waste enormous amounts of money to make their dreams come true.
But unfortunately, even with all the funding Ive sent, no particularly eye-catching beauties have appeared.
One of my knight candidates Tia, was pretty talented a beautiful, but she was kind of disappointing.
With that said, there was still no beauties that Ive taken an interest in.
Amagi was an exception though.
But I heard that those that we sent to help out at Kurts territory a while ago came back better trained than before. It wasnt a waste. Its not charity because it was for the benefit of my own territory in the end.
Amagi seems to have accepted my answer,
Well, lets leave things at that.
Thats right Im a man who never contributes to charities.
Everything has been done for my personal goals and needs.
So this definitely wasnt charity.
Master, the next visitor is a greeting from the new representative from the Third Weapons Factory.
Huh? What happened to Eulisia?
Apparently the Third Weapons Factory representative has changed.
So now the disappointing girl Eulisia, was no longer in charge of selling to me.
She seems to have re-enrolled into the military academy to finish redo her training.
but, why?
There were schools that provided re-education for soldiers that havent been enlisted for a long time.
But Eulisia was still an active soldier.
I didnt think there was any reason for her to go back into training.
I dont know why, but shes already is, so the new staff in charge of you is here to give their greetings.
The disappointing woman had disappeared.
I felt a little regret at that well, if the next girl was also disappointing, I guess there wont be any real change.
Still, there sure are a lot of visits recently.
They want to get these meetings in before you leave for elementary school. After you enroll, you wont have any real time for them anymore.
The elementary school where the children of nobility attended.
It was a preparatory school that got us ready for either the university or the military academy that came afterwards.
From my perspective, it was something close to Earths highschools.
However, the elementary school was located on a different planet in the Empire the imperial capital.
Although the elementary school worked on a dormitory system, there was still too many students that enrolled there, so it was more like they built an entire city around it for lodging.
Only the children of aristocrats were allowed to attend.
It was a school built for the nobility.
Amagi, have you prepared the bribe?
I wasnt really looking forward to enrolling in such a school, so I went on to confirm that Amagi finished the preparations I wanted.
If youre talking about the donations, weve already sent them quite the fortune.
Yes, Im looking forward to this.
There wasnt an admission fee to the elementary school, but to keep face, large noble families were expected to donate a certain amount.
However, those who sent over larger donations were bound to be given preferential treatment throughout their enrollment.
Like me!
Lets see how they entertain me for the next six years.
The power of gold was amazing.
For the next six years, theyd be forced to give me a fun elementary school life to respect the bribes Ive sent them.
This was all for the preferential treatment.
Amagi was smiling,
Master sure looks like hes having fun.
The Banfield Estate.
The head maids room.
[Serena], the head maid that worked there, was currently in a video call with an old man whose image was projected into the air.
The other party was the imperial prime minister.
The head maid, who Brian recommended to serve the Banfield house, doubled as a spy for the prime minister to keep a watch over Liam.
Tell me about the exorbitant donation hes made to the elementary school.
The donation?
Yes, all the staff at the elementary school are having headaches over it. Whats the meaning of this?
Its not unusual for nobles to give donations before enrollment.
If it was just any noble house, then it would be on the preface of giving preferential treatment for their children. Thats what the staff there is used to, but this is Liam, The Pirate Hunter were talking about here. They dont know what to make of this.
The head maid understood what the prime minister was trying to say.
dont the staff at the elementary school know how much of a pure and just person Lord Liam is?
Oh they know, and thats the problem. Apparently the donation is too large and they dont know what to make of it. Can you give any insight into it?
Thats easy. Lord Liam doesnt want special treatment at the elementary school, he just wants a solid educational environment.
The prime minister who heard that seemed convinced, saying, Is that so?
The head maid recalled what Liam had asked her about elementary school.
He was really interested in the fact that the elementary school compensated for its lack of budget through donations. Im sure that he was lamenting the fact that many nobles took advantage of this and sent in donations under the pretense of receiving preferential treatment. He probably sent the donation in to cancel those out.
Only the high-nobles got treated well.
The head maid was sure she knew Liams opinion on this,
Such an environment isnt what Lord Liam wants.
To be so young, yet have such strong morals, Im once again astounded by him. Is the situation in the mansion proceeding as usual?
Yes. He does physical training in the morning, followed by his studies and his work on his political affairs later on in the day. He still needs to work on his manners regarding his speech, but theres nothing else of real interest.
Hes a little too worldly for his age. So theres really nothing interesting to report at all? To be honest, itd still be fine if he played around a bit more.
The head maid started to laugh at that comment,
Do you want him to follow in a certain someones example and have him seduce palace maids?
I was still young at that time. Still, I wonder if the Count will make such stories?
The prime minister who deflected the conversation back to Liam seemed a little embarrassed.
The head made looked troubled,
Both Brian and I are concerned about this, he doesnt seem to have any interest in laying his hands on the girls at all. Hes serious to the point that were troubled.
Liam didnt seem tempted by any of the house maids or noble daughters who came for bridal training.
This could be said to be the only real problem he had.
As usual, hes a little too serious.
If by any chance he gets a girlfriend while hes studying abroad, were thinking of accepting her as his wife even if her status doesnt quite match up.
I dont want him to have a relationship with a house thatll bring trouble. Have you considered an arranged marriage?
The Banfield house has been doing quite badly until this generation, putting Lord Liams personal reputation aside, the house is still renowned as quite untrustworthy. Other houses are still hesitant in making a connection with such a risk.
Liams father and grandfathers reputations were so bad that other houses refused to even set up the marriage interviews.
If you put Liams individual credit aside and only considered the house as a whole, it was only natural not to trust them.
Who knew when Liam would change his mind and follow in his predecessors footsteps?
With that, there were many houses that wanted to watch over the situation until his training was completed.
In this universe, those who had only lived for five decades were only valued to that extent.
If he had a track record spanning at least century long, thered be a matchmaking requests flooding in constantly.
That was how bad Liams father and grandfathers reputations were.
I understand. I wouldve hesitated too, but thats why I sent you over there.
Whether they should leave him alone or crush him thats what Serena was sent there to find out.
The prime minister was a little anxious,
Marriage may be one problem, but the fact that his highness in enrolling in the same year this time is another. I want you to warn the Count about him, tell him to be cautious.
Serena, who also recalled that had a subtle change to her expression,
The prince you mean his highness Wallace? Dont tell me that person and Lord Liam will be classmates.
One of the imperial princes, [Wallace Noah Albalate], was scheduled to enter elementary school as Liams classmate.
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