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Iโm the Evil Lord of an Intergalactic Empire!-Volume 4 Chapter 4 Cursed Star Poison
Volume 4 Chapter 4 Cursed Star Poison
A room inside the military academy.
There, a nobleman from the Berkley family confirmed the contents of a suitcase that his followers had brought. ๐๐ณโฏ๐w๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฃ๐ฐัต๐ฆ๐.c๐ผ๐ถ
โThis is the cursed star poison?โ
Inside of the suitcase was a capsule that contained a purple liquid.
The liquid inside of it was poison.
โTry your best to avoid contact with it. Rather than poison, itโs more of a curse.โ
โSo this thing will really curse whoever I use it on?โ
The underling began to explain how the cursed star poison worked,
โIf you use this, you can kill Liam without ever being found out. The power of the curse is no joke. Itโs the literal materialization of those who were burned alive when their planet was destroyed.โ
When a planet was destroyed, all living beings residing on it were killed as well, this liquid was the manifestation of their negative feelings.
If you were to ingest it, youโd suffer from itโs powerful curse until you died.
The only way to treat it would be to use an elixir, and if you didnโt have one available, you were finished.
If enough time had passed, even elixirs wouldnโt be able to save you, leaving death as your only escape.
โโfather and the rest of those old men are acting too conservatively. Iโll be the one to kill Liam, which in turn will allow me to rise as one of the familyโs executives!โ
The follower lowered his head.
โAt that time, please donโt forget to give me credit.โ
โI know. Anyways, where did you even get this from?โ
With a sly grin, the henchman gave an unexpected name.
โDo you know the โPlanet Restoration Activist Groupโ?โ
โIโve heard of them.โ
โTheyโre actually dealing with these items under the table. While theyโre a charity organisation on the surface, in truth they illegally steal various things from the destroyed planets. They donโt take that โplanet restorationโ crap seriously.โ
While they did have the capability to do so, they tried to avoid revitalising the planets if possible.
Instead, they dealt with and moved illegal goods for enormous profits.
โWell, that doesnโt really matter to me. So I just need to put this in Liamโs meal?โ
โThe capsule itself will melt, but itโs contents will be undetectable. If you mix it into soup, itโll just be mistaken for another ingredient.โ
โ...hehehe, this day will be that guyโs last.โ
โ โ โ
Interrogation room.
The person sitting opposite to me was the brigadier general of the military police.
Such a guy was taking an imputant attitude, treating me like the criminal responsible for the recent death in the academy.
โCount, Iโve heard that you were currently quarrelling with the Berkley family.โ
The brigadier general was choosing his words carefully, despite the fact that I was still only a cadet.
I was that powerful afterall.
However, I was innocent, so I wish theyโd stop treating me like the culprit already.
โWhatโs the basis for these accusations? Whereโs the evidence that shows that Iโm the killer?โ
โThe dead cadet was a member of the Berkley family.โ
โWhat about it? Thereโs a lot of people with the Berkley surname. How am I supposed to know which Berkley youโre talking about? Or are you just trying to pick a fight with me?โ
In the first place, the fact that some cadet died didnโt interest me at all.
And beyond the interrogation room doorโ
โYou bastard! To actually lock up Lord Liam like this! Iโll kill you! Donโt think you can just imprison someone with no evidence and get away unscathed!โ
โMarie was yelling out while using vulgar language.
It seems that the military police were forced to gather just to hold her down.
โPlease calm down!โ
โWe have permission from the academy for this!โ
โWeโre only checking his alibi!โ
Listening to such words, I turned to the brigadier general in front of me.
โSo itโs your personal judgement thatโs determined me to be the criminal?โ
โWell, no matter how you look at this situation...โ
Just because Iโve declared myself hostile to the Berkley family, Iโm the murderer?
I hate false charges.
It reminds me of being falsely accused of things during my previous lifeโs divorce.
A new person appeared outside the room.
Apparently it was Tia, who had just become a fourth-year student at the academy.
โYou fossil! Allowing Lord Liam to be confined in a place like this, while youโre wasting your time outsideโ as I thought, we donโt need someone as useless as you!โ
โYou minced-meat bitch!โ
I thought she had come to help me, but it looks like she just came here to pick a fight with Marie.
From the noises I could hear coming from beyond the door, I was sure that they were brawling it out.
โY-you two need to stop!โ
โCall for reinforcements!โ
โSomeone get a cadet instructor!โ
The military police were in a frenzy, while the brigadier general was holding his face with his right hand as he sighed.
I donโt really care what they do, but are they not going to help me?
My evaluation of those two were rapidly dropping.
โIโll smash a fossil like you into pieces!โ
โIโm going to cut you down back to the chunk of meat you were!โ
The door was struck with tremendous momentum, distorting it and cracking the walls.
What the hell were they doing?
Were they not aware of their positions as my head and deputy knights?
I was getting angry.
โIf thereโs really no evidence, then Iโm leaving.โ f๐งee๐๐๐๐งเซฆัตeฦ.c๐ฐ๐ถ
As I stood up while saying that, the brigadier general tried to stop me.
โPlease wait!โ
โI wonโt. Try again once you have proof.โ
As both the insides and outsides of the interrogation room were growing noisy, a military police officer burst into the room while out of breath.
โYour Excellency! Weโve found evidence!โ
โWhat?! I see, well done! Count, you canโt escape now!โ
As the brigadier general tried to arrest me, the military police officer shook his head.
โN-no, youโve misunderstood. The evidence came from the dead cadetโs room. It seems heโs smuggled in some cursed star poison.โ
โ...w-what?! Contact headquarters, and evacuate all cadets from the school building immediately!โ
Completely forgetting about my arrest, he started to fall into a panic.
Even so, to use cursed star poison... Iโve heard of that before. If I remember correctly, it was something like the concentrated mass of peopleโs curses and resentment.
It was something thatโd definitely kill you if you ingested it.
To be drinking something like that, were the people from the Berkley family idiots?
โ โ โ
The morgue.
Dying while sufferingโ there laid the man who tried to assassinate Liam.
The guide who had come to the room, looked down at the manโs body with a sad expression.
โ...the idea of trying to kill him using a curse wasnโt bad.โ
If the assassination was successful, the guide wouldโve been pleased, if not somewhat unsatisfied.
But the result was a failure.
Detecting the danger beforehand, Kukuri had reversed the situation and had him poisoned instead.
โWell, at least you had a connection to Liam. Everything, all of your suffering and despair will become my power.โ
After the guide placed his hand from the manโs face, his expression changed to a peaceful one.
The guideโs connection to Liam was so strong that any negative emotions unrelated to him couldnโt be absorbed efficiently. However, this also meant even the slightest connection dramatically increased the rate in return.
The guide relished the manโs emotions as if he were drinking high-quality wine.
โItโs delicious, your feelings alongside the grudge of an entire planetโs destruction are quite pleasant. You were a fool, and I donโt even know your name, but I promise to use this power youโve given me to its fullest.โ
After regaining his strength, the guideโs mouth twisted into the shape of a crescent moon.
โIโve regained quite a bit of power. With this, it should only take oneโ no, two or three more moves to drag Liam down to hell.โ
Liam was the first person ever to ever torture him so.
Therefore, the guide resolved himself to never give up on his revenge.
Because of his careless actions so far, he had screwed up multiple times already.
He had regarded Liam as an insignificant existence, and had suffered the consequences of doing so.
โI need to gather Liamโs enemies. Iโll plan this out thoroughly, and then heโll definitelyโ!โ
The guide disappeared from the room in laughter.
โ โ โ
The imperial palace.
The prime minister could feel his temper rise as he read the report from the military academy.
His subordinates around him were nervous.
โ...who approved the handling of cursed star poisonโs treatment without authorisation?โ
Questioning his subordinates, the prime minister wondered what punishment would be appropriate.
The problem was that the offending party was connected to the Berkley family.
Any normal punishment would bring various troubles.
It was necessary to crush their status first.
โNormally, the execution of their house would be appropriate, but one house is but a small fraction of the whole Berkley family.โ
Even though they were a collection of small barons, together they held the power of a ducal household.
Since they were a gathering of baron houses, even if they punished one of them, itโd just be like cutting the tail off a lizard.
The Berkley familyโsโ no, Cashmiroโs neck couldnโt be touched.
How did they prosper so far you ask? Besides the fact that theyโre the only stable supplier for elixirs, they had also received much favour from the former Emperor.
They approached his majesty with gifts of elixirs, and in return he covered-up all their illegal deeds.
Before he had even noticed it, they had grown too large, bringing many headaches to the prime minister.
He had to crush the Berkley family for the sake of justice, they were growing too powerful in the Empire.
They had that much influence.
โI wonโt be able to reach Cashmiroโs neck at this rate.โ
โYes. In that case, wouldnโt it be better just to accept his existence and receive the elixirs he offers instead?โ
โIโd rather die.โ
The prime minister placed many expectations for Liam in his heart because he knew that he had the power to overcome this situation.
If the Empire could move, theyโd be able to easily solve this problem, but they were too big and couldnโt react quickly enough.
And once they started moving, itโd be difficult to make them stop.
Because they couldnโt easily move, this situation would eventually lead to the Empireโs collapse.
A subordinate gave a report on another matter.
โMinister, because weโve recently replenished our stock of rare-metals, the military is asking to replace their lost fleets.โ
โ...what theyโre asking for is impossible.โ
The Empire wasnโt the only intergalactic country out there.
There were neighboring countries adjacent to them, and even if you said there was quite a distance between them, they still had trades and disputes with them.
Naturally, they had armies stationed on the borders to solidify their defenses.
Sometimes they even invaded and conquered their enemies territories.
But the Empireโs large size only meant that they had more borders they needed to protect. Furthermore, there was always a war happening somewhere.
Resources were being used faster than they could replenish them.
Rare metals were needed in the all-important engines for ships.
Substitute metals could also be used, but due to the obvious difference in performance, there were many requests for ships built using rare metals on the front-line.
The army heard that Liam had recently sold a lot of rare metals to the Empire, so naturally, they took this chance to petition for resupplies.
The prime minister looked at the results from the most recent war.
โWeโre being pushed on various fronts.โ
One of his subordinates explained why,
โThere are various reasons, but I believe the main one being that resources arenโt being used efficiently. There are cases of patrol fleets being increased to sizes far larger than necessary.โ
Patrol fleets.
They were important forces that protects imperial territory, among them were fleets directly prepared by nobles.
Those cases happened when an aristocrat didnโt want to subordinate themselves to another, immediately becoming the commander of the fleet they arranged after they graduated from the academy.
While others had histories of preparing fleets full of obsolete equipment so theyโd be relocated to areas free of strife they could laze about in.
In anycase, there was a rise in wastefulness.
Some of them had even deserted to become pirates, turning into a problem that needed to be dealt with quicklyโ but they didnโt have the budget, the staff, nor the resources needed to do so.
โWhat a headache. Itโll cost money to reorganise them, but we canโt afford it.โ
Their dissolve wonโt fix everything, there was also the handling of their fleetโs equipment and the reassignment of their personnel to consider afterwards.
In the first place, there were multiple patrol fleets that were poorly controlled, where the soldiers werenโt even properly trained.
A fleet that didnโt conduct training regularly quickly lost itโs skill, so conditioning was absolutely necessary.
The strength of the Empire was enormous, but they werenโt omnipotent.
โNow, what else is there?โ
The prime minister was stressed by the problems that endlessly popped up, one after another.