Chapter 35: Underling
Its been three months since elementary school has started.
Thats when I noticed.
what was with this environment?
I was pondering about how weird this place was as I rested in my dormitory room.
elementary school is too easy. I didnt need to send donations. No, wasnt it necessary so I wouldnt be targeted Professor John?
In any case, hes a strict teacher, but he never got mad at me.
Other than that though, he just treated me the same as all the other students.
Get up in the morning, finish a light exercise, study through the lessons, practice martial arts, and then come back to the dormitory to sleep at night.
Everyone else was still complaining about it, but personally, it was so easy that I was starting to feel a bit anxious.
In the first place, classes were a breeze. I had already studied most of these topics in the education capsule.
While the physical training could only be considered a preparatory exercise to my strengthened body, it always left me feeling dissatisfied.
I wasnt expecting this.
This cant be. Its too easy to the point that Im worried if this is actually okay.
Its important for me as an evil lord to have a trained body.
Theres no point to violence in reality.
You only need a good education to be successful in society.
All such stories were lies.
Certainly, violence could be considered useless to a normal society.
But I learned how important brutality actually was in my previous life.
The bad guys use violence, while good people could only cower in fear of them.
Violence was another form of power.
Even though I trained myself in order to obtain that power, my abilities would no doubt rust in this lukewarm environment.
No good. This is no good. I was sure that theyd start the actual training after three months but theres been so sign of change at all.
At first, I thought they were waiting for us to grow used to the training, but even after three months the contents of said training hasnt changed much at all.
The amount of change could be compared to the size of a single strand of hair.
What was I supposed to do about this?
That when I suddenly got a call from home.
The caller was Brain.
why couldnt it have been Amagi?
As I lay on the bed and answered the call, what appeared was the image of Brian crying like usual.
Lord Liam, you promised that youd make sure to call us regularly!
Isnt he a bit too overprotective?
Dont cry just because I forgot to contact you on schedule, or did something happen?
No, things are going well here. Lord Liam, Im more concerned about you.
Does he not trust me?
Theres no problems on my end either.
Thats good to hear. Oh, and the head maid is worried. Can you tell me what your relationship with prince Wallace is?
Wallace? Ahh, that guy. Well I guess we get along?
huh?
Brian was stunned.
Prince Wallace had quite the troublesome background.
Thats one of the reasons why the surroundings always tried to keep their distance from him, but considering the individual himself, people avoided him because of his personality problems.
The next day in the cafeteria.
The first years were finally started to get used to life at the elementary school.
Everyone had already formed their groups in the cafeteria.
Personally, I was talking with Kurt, a fellow evil lord.
Brian is constantly calling me and wont stop asking about how my school life is going.
Isnt he your butler? I dont think theres anything wrong with him regularly checking up on you.
I dont have anything to say, life here is just plain boring. The most interesting thing I could talk about is how I still havent found a way to sneak out of the dormitory.
Ive been inspected the high walls built around the school grounds in hope of finding a way out that I could use to play around in the city.
If I wanted to play outside during the holidays, an escape route was necessary.
This was a problem that could be solved by simply bribing the gatekeeper, but Ive been looking for an escape route because I had too much free time on my hands.
Liam, I really cant tell if youre a serious person or not.
If you look at things on the outside, Im pretty much as serious as you are.
I-is that so?
Just from that little bit of praise, the serious-based evil lord Kurt seems to have grown embarrassed.
I turned back to my meal.
Most of the menu items served in the cafeteria were nutritious meals.
They werent bad, I enjoyed them.
But they were painful compared to the luxurious meals I used to have daily.
Thats when I heard a loud voice echo out from another table.
it was Wallace.
Hey, why dont we eat our meals together?
Smiling, he put his food tray on a table a group of girls were sitting at and forcibly secured a seat.
By the way, are any of your houses looking to take in a son-in-law to take over as head? Or have any of you broken off from your parents house to become independent, looking for a groom?
The girls gazes started swimming at his lack of subtlety.
Im the second daughter of my house.
My older brother is my houses heir.
Im about to get a little brother soon.
The third girl was she saying that her house didnt have a male heir at the moment?
But Wallace seemed to have accepted their explanations,
Oh, thats quite a shame. Please excuse me.
After suddenly standing up, Wallace left to go and speak to the next girl he spotted.
You over there! Whats your familys take on getting a new son-in-law?
Looking at Wallace, I couldnt help but think
he definitely isnt what I thought a prince would be like.
Wallace, who had completely destroyed my image of princes, continued to try and pick-up girls.
He was speaking to a girl from the first school building.
His Highness Wallace also has his own circumstances.
Whats his story?
Kurt went on to explain to me about what paths were left to the excess princes.
To be honest, all the princes after the hundreth dont seem to be treated that well. If its up to the thirtieth, then they still seem to have proper backing, but otherwise I hear that theyre treated worse than lower nobility.
The princes also have it hard, huh?
They dont have any choice than to marry into another house, if they dont do anything, then theyd eventually be forced to become civil officials or military officers. Some of them have gotten jobs in other fields, but his Highness Wallace doesnt seem to be that type.
There were many royals who became active in different fields, such as art.
But Wallace chose independence.
It looks like he wants to become his own master.
Is becoming self-reliant really that difficult? Cant he just have the Empire support him until then?
Independence isnt that easy to obtain. Even more so for someone who doesnt have backing like him. He cant do this alone, and his Highness understands that.
was this really okay for an imperial prince?
To gain independence through picking up girls I could only laugh at such a thing.
Looking at Wallace, he was picking up his tray to leave. Apparently he was unsuccessful today as well.
Apparently a few of the girls have been approached by him twice, or even thrice, and they were growing more troubled on how to deal with him.
I called out to Wallace, who was drooping his shoulders.
Hey Wallace, come over here for a bit.
Wallace turned to look in my direction before speaking,
What do you want? I dont have a hobby of flirting with men.
At that comment, Kurt face seemed to flush a little.
He looked irritated,
Liam, whyd you call out to him?!
I laughed as I answered Kurt, who was losing his patience,
Because he seems interesting. Hey Wallace, just hear me out. Im not interested in your body.
Reluctantly, Wallace drudged his way over to our table.
Youre pretty rude. I thought you were honour students, but you have quite foul mouths there.
This guy was an idiot after all.
He seriously seemed to think that we were honour students.
Well, Kurt was a serious person at first glance, so maybe he is one?
At least were better than a failed skirt-chaser.
Ugh damn it!
Wallace furrowed his brows, he looked like he wanted to say something, but couldnt think of anything at the moment.
Sh-shut up. Im doing this for my future, thats why Im pushing so hard despite the shame it brings me.
You sure can endure a lot of it. Is this fun for you?
back in the inner palace, there werent that many chances to interact with girls. At most thered be my mother and her maids, or my fathers concubines, the rest being my blood-related sisters.
He seems to have gone through a lot.
But Kurt recalled,
Wait, but then shouldnt have the maids been okay?
When he said that, Wallace turned away,
they served the mothers, not me. Also my mother didnt allow me to lay my hands on them.
Do you want to be independant that badly?
When I asked, Wallace shouted, Of course I do!
Although the surrounding gazes started to gather on us, I didnt really care.
Rosetta passed by us then.
However, Wallace didnt even glance towards her.
Huh? Youre not going to try for Rosetta?
To my question, Wallace answered,
that woman cant provide for me.
how is this guy able to say such embarrassing lines so confidently?
In the first place, my goal is to be independent.
Why independance?
Wallace seems to want to be a person thats completely self-reliant,
It can be as a court noble or a provincial one, but I want to be living under my own strength. You might not know this, but having the status of a prince actually really inconvenient for such a thing.
You cant really call yourself independent if youre relying on others to gain that status.
I know that! But thats my only option here. If I tried to become an officer or a soldier, all that would be waiting for me is a life of slaughter.
Kurt had a face on that said he didnt know what to say,
I guess his Highness also has his fair share of troubles.
Thats right. If you understand that, why dont you consider becoming my patron?
Oh, thats a bit sorry, Ill have to refuse.
Why?!
Kurt wasnt nice enough of a person to become the patron of a useless prince.
The thing is, he was a really interesting prince.
His struggles to become self-reliant were amusing to watch.
I called out to Wallace,
Why havent you entered the house of a minor lord or officer then?
He looked troubled,
Personally, Id be okay with that, but Im still a prince. The palace wont allow me to. Theyre requiring me to enter into a certain social caste, something at least of the baron rank or higher. Maybe itd be possible if they were the ruler of a pioneer planet, but otherwise, the palace wouldnt permit me to.
With so many options to choose from, I could feel myself growing more excited.
Wasnt this really interesting?
If thats how it is, then Ill become your patron.
Liam?!
Kurt tried to stop me, but I ignored him and spoke to Wallace,
The Banfield Count house will support you. If youre going to rule over part of the frontier, then Ill lend you a hand with your independence.
A stunned Wallace stood up and fixed his uniform,
Thank you so much!
Wallace, who raised his arms and voice looked really stupid.
A comical person like him was really fun to watch.
Liam, you need to think this through. Its not that easy to become the princes backer.
Kurt tried to persuade me, but I cant take back the words Ive already spoke.
It was already done.
It wasnt because I felt sympathetic for him, nor was I impressed with his efforts.
I just wanted to help him out because he was interesting.
Above all else, now an imperial prince was going to be my underling.
Doesnt that make for a really good story?
Ive already succeeded as Count. My word is the decision of the Banfield house. So theres no problems there.
No, but-!
I turned to Wallace, who looked worried,
I keep my promises. Ill support your independence. Are you okay with being a minor lord?
O-of course I am! Anything is better than the cramped life Ive lived in the inner palace! As a feudal lord, even a minor peerage is fine! I just want to live with my own strength.
Simple enough.
Leave it to me. Ill prepare a territory for you after our training ends.
Kurt looked amazed as he held his face in his right hand,
Liam, I seriously cant understand you.
All I was doing was helping a single prince become self-reliant.
Kurt was worrying too much about it.
The imperial capital.
Rumours about Wallace had reached the prime minister who was working at the palace.
His subordinate presented him with a report,
Count Banfield has named himself at the his Highness Wallaces guardian.
what?
The minister stopped his stands, unable to comprehend what his subordinate was saying.
Apparently the Count has declared that hed become the patron of his Highness Wallace.
He was abandoning his status as a royal.
Currently, he was in the process of advocating his right to inherit the throne.
Liam has sworn to support Wallaces independence in the future.
But there wasnt any merit to Liam becoming Wallaces backer.
Itd be almost impossible for Wallace to pay back this favour.
Almost no aristocrats would even consider becoming his patron.
This must be another of the Counts whims.
But at the very least, this will allow one prince to safely become self-reliant.
Its not easy to being a pioneer, but he should be able to do it with the Counts backing. If we leave this alone, no problems should appear in the future just, what was he aiming for?
The prime minister was reading too deeply into this.
This was the result of his overestimation of Liam, who was extremely exceptional for his age.
(Disregarding the Count himself, the Banfield house is still renowned as untrustworthy. Is he doing this to show how hes contributing to the Empire?)
Could that be the reason why he chose to support Wallace, an individual who was neither poison nor medicine?
If that was the case, then the prime minister could see how Liam would benefit from this.
(Its not easy overwriting the stigma that lasted for two whole generations, but this can be the first step in gaining some trust in noble society.)
If Wallace was able to safely succeed, then Liam would be able to have the Banfield house seen as more trustworthy among the aristocrats.
The prime minister was convinced that was the reason why, and was excitedly waiting for the results in anticipation.