Dictator From Outer Space

The meteor that flew towards the capital of the Tasos Duchy did not encounter any resistance and fell straight down.

A thin barrier magic was deployed, but it was useless against the fast-falling meteor.

The magicians in the towers tore their hair out and the citizens scattered like rats in all directions.

And the cause of all this, Duke Pangral, was fleeing with a handful of his subordinates who realized the seriousness of the situation on a Goliath.

He abandoned his castle and his people.

Soon after, the huge meteor collided with the ground, spewing flames and black smoke.

In an instant, the duke’s castle evaporated and the ground sank as if it had been hit by a giant’s fist.

And then a fierce shockwave storm tore everything apart.

Rumble―

A massive cloud of dust rose and the buildings swept by the shockwave mostly flew away.

All that remained was a large crater and a dull ash-gray sky obscured by dust.

Duke Pangral survived the shockwave thanks to the sturdiness of his Goliath, but barely.

“Ugh… Ugh…”

He opened the hatch and jumped out, then knelt down and wailed.

He had devoted his life to building his castle, but it had turned to ashes.

The damage was surprisingly not that great, because he was far away from the center of the capital.

But for the duke, it was no different from losing everything.

A groan and a voice of despair leaked from his clenched teeth.

“How, how could this happen…”

It was clear that the cause was Meteor Strike, but he didn’t understand why it flew here instead of Rozelon.

Did the shoddy magicians make a mistake?

Or did some incomprehensible force interfere in the middle?

He wanted to blame everything on Leobold.

It was easier for him to think that he was behind this disaster, regardless of the truth.

“Vandas, you bastard…”

His fists and face trembled with anger.

His subordinate knights ran to support him, but they stopped short.

A huge airship was approaching from afar.

It was several times bigger than those of Zaium or Elvrande.

Duke Pangral looked at it and laughed weakly.

“Of course, he wasn’t in Rozelon…”

Was the information that he was spotted in Rozelon a deception in itself?

He wondered if he knew everything and manipulated it from behind.

He couldn’t even imagine how he did Meteor Strike.

Soon after, the giant airship descended and two Black Knights jumped out.

The knights were on guard as Leobold stepped out of his Goliath and stood in front of him.

“Is this what you did? Are you satisfied?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

Leobold answered casually.

Camilla, who stood next to him, pointed her greatsword at him, as if her anger hadn’t subsided yet.

“You trampled on my territory and you’re acting so wronged? Act like a duke if you are one!”

“Hu, huhu…”

Duke Pangral bit his lips until they bled and slowly got up.

His head was white with rage and hatred, but he managed to spit out some words.

“I shouldn’t have let you two go… I should have mobilized everything in Zaium to crush you… I should have pulled out your roots…”

Leobold looked at him and then received a signal from Arma.

「The fleet with Emperor Barak on board is approaching. There are 35 ships.」

Surprisingly, he brought his guard along and came in person.

If the emperor arrived, he would probably try to mediate, so killing the duke would be impossible.

So he had to kill him now.

“Camilla, I’m sorry but…”

“There’s no time? Fine. I’ll leave it to you.”

As he stepped forward, Duke Pangral laughed weakly inside his Goliath.

“Huhu, I just need to stall for some time.”

“One second is enough for you.”

“What nonsense…”

The duke was about to shout when it happened.

A huge ether blade stretched out from Leobold’s greatsword and cut through everything in front of him.

A huge explosion occurred and swallowed up several Goliaths at once.

Duke Pangral witnessed the light piercing through the armor plate and entering inside, then closed his eyes.

‘He’s too strong….’

And that was the end.

The ether blade evaporated everything and disappeared quickly.

There was no trace left of the Goliath that the duke was riding.

The few surviving knights trembled at the power of the ether blade.

This was not a power that humans could possess.

“I’m sorry, but you have to die too.”

After killing the knights, Zaium’s fleet finally approached and attempted to land.

Next to the Hyperion, they looked like toy boats.

A while later, Emperor Barak appeared with his guard.

Leobold gave Camilla a hint and knelt on one knee.

“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“I greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”

“…….”

The emperor looked at the ruined capital of the duchy with a face that was hard to tell whether he was laughing or crying.

He didn’t know how he did it, but judging by the atmosphere, the duke seemed to have died too.

When he set out his fleet, the Tasos Duchy was fine, but it had changed horribly.

The culprit was probably…

“Sir Vandas, I have something to ask you.”

“Please speak.”

“How much do you have to eat to be satisfied? How many do you have to kill to be satisfied?”

“I don’t know what you mean. This is entirely the fault of Galisto and Duke Pangral, isn’t it?”

Emperor Barak wanted to say that it all started when Leobold killed the princess of Elvrande and cut off the arm of Galisto’s envoy, but it didn’t matter much at this point.

The situation had already happened and there was only one person who could handle it smoothly.

He didn’t want to entrust him with it, but there was no other way.

“You have a lot to say to me. But no matter how I question you, you’ll get away with it, so there’s no point.”

“So… I’ll say one thing. Let’s stop here. I’m serious. Stop at this line.”

The emperor’s voice contained his will to fight to the death if he didn’t accept it.

That wouldn’t be bad either, but Leobold chose to bow his head.

If Zaium Empire collapsed now, it would be troublesome for him and Arma.

No matter how big the ship was, it had to retreat to the harbor when the storm hit.

“I will follow your majesty’s orders.”

There was no need for a pardon.

Both he and the emperor knew of the existence of the pardon.

They bowed their heads and Emperor Barak bit his tongue.

He knew well that this order was a stopgap measure.

But there was no other way.

What if Leobold’s eyes turned and he decided to destroy the empire?

It would also be troublesome if it was revealed that he had tried to bury Leobold in collaboration with the Grand Duke of Pangral.

He even had ties with Elvrande and the Holy Church, and he couldn’t just let it go if that came to light.

So his voice lost its strength.

“Let’s end this disaster here. I will entrust Galisto and Tassos to you. Please, please… don’t disappoint me anymore.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

This ended the whole situation.

But for Leobold, it was only the beginning of his quest for continental unification.

A population of 15 million was enough to try something.

It was a small population compared to Earth in the 21st century, but it was enough to spark an ether revolution.

If he swallowed up Zaium and Elvrande as well, the rest of the countries would naturally fall under his rule.

One of Leobold’s duties was finally over.

He was already imagining a journey to find the prophet after completing the continental unification.

He didn’t have much left.

***

The Galisto attack fleet reported that they had captured the capital.

Falkus II had died after falling from the terrace while arguing with Duke Gram, and most of the bureaucrats and nobles had surrendered.

With this, Leobold gained two lands: Galisto and Tassos Duchy.

The people who had been watching this situation were very surprised by the outcome.

―Galisto is one thing, but how did he manage to take over Tassos Duchy? I don’t understand.

―The Grand Duke clearly activated Meteor Strike, but why did Tassos’ capital explode instead of Rozelon?

―The emperor just watched it happen. Something is strange. Did they have a pact or something?

―The only sure thing is that King Banda is too strong. Galisto and Grand Duke Pangral were among the most powerful forces in the eastern continent, excluding the empire. It’s amazing that he subdued them without much damage.

―But not all worries are gone. He eliminated most of the leadership and got recognition from the emperor, but managing the two places is entirely up to King Banda.

―Most of the logistics have stopped because of the war. How will he handle it? Especially Tassos Duchy, I heard there was a mess because many bureaucrats died.

―Did he start a war without thinking about that?

Regardless of public interest, Arma had already prepared a plan for normalizing logistics.

“YJH Enterprise will supply logistics. Most of the food will come from smart farms on floating continents, and we will use company-owned wagons to transport them to various places.”

YJH Enterprise was a company named after Yu Ji-ha’s initials.

He couldn’t use his name directly, so he used his initials to grow it carefully until now.

This company had monopolized logistics in all of Bagran.

Most of the merchants had fled because of the war, so he took advantage of that and expanded his business.

Merchants were creatures that found profitable things even in war, which showed how crazy Leobold’s actions were.

Some merchants came back late after Bagran won and asked for a chance, but Arma had no intention of accepting them.

“We calculated the daily food requirement per person as 3,000 calories and planned accordingly. If we confiscate and modify Galisto and Tassos’ airships, it will be possible.”

The movement of the convoy and the logistics network were shown on the hologram.

There were tens of thousands of people who needed to be fed right away, but it was not difficult for Arma, who had been managing hundreds of millions of people.

The food secretly produced at smart farms on floating continents was enough.

“After that, reconstruction plans will begin. It will proceed in conjunction with Bagran’s existing national development plan, so there won’t be much delay in schedule.”

The first step was to build proper roads and railways, increase airship operations significantly, and complete urbanization.

The second step was the beginning of a full-fledged ether revolution.

It was a plan to supply ether not only to magicians and knights, but also to ordinary citizens.

He had already installed all kinds of pipes in each city, so there was no problem with supply.

The output of ether origin, which would soon be completed, would also affect the intensity of ether revolution.

Arma boasted that a miraculous thing would happen.

“Even one fusion reactor can provide enough energy for the humanity of Earth that we have used so far. If we synchronize with the origin, the output will increase greatly, so we won’t have any energy shortage until the space age.”

Leobold asked as he listened.

“I thought about how the plague on Mare would evolve. Do you think there is a possibility of evolution depending on the amount of ether we use?”

“It’s possible that it’s a relic of the prophet, but there’s some merit to your master’s speculation.”

Arma could handle ether as well as the Plague Queen, but that didn’t mean he knew everything.

He was still analyzing some of the powers of Astera Pantheon, including time and space, and there was a lot he didn’t know about the plague.

One of them was the evolution condition of the demons, or the plague, on planet Mare.

The process of how the worthless mob that was easily destroyed by Lucia’s legion evolved to the point of causing the extinction of the 22nd century humanity remained a mystery.

“What if they evolve according to the amount of ether we use? What if we refer to Mari’s notes?”

Mari was the nickname of Princess Margareta.

Her name was too long to call casually, and she was no longer a princess, so she asked to be called that way.

There was only Leopold who could talk to her there.

She was a princess, so the only person who matched her eye level was Leopold, and thanks to that, they spent some leisure time together.

It was nothing special, just having meals together, playing simple board games, and discussing the current situation of the continent, but it was enough time to build intimacy.

She was able to relieve her stress by pouring out her accumulated knowledge to Leopold, and at the same time, she could verify whether her thoughts were correct and whether they were possible.

For example, is it possible for all beings in Astera to have equal rights? A topic like that.

Leopold answered that simply.

“Would Your Highness be able to enjoy rights with a goblin working in Roseron’s ether plant?”

“Uh… that’s…”

When he gave an example of a high elf, who was considered noble among elves, and a goblin, who was treated no different from a monster, she suddenly became speechless.

She was proud of having a lot of knowledge on the subject of equality, but her mind went blank and she couldn’t think of anything.

Leopold drank tea and said.

“In my hometown, there were no intelligent beings other than humans with different skin colors. That’s why the sense of equality sprouted and eventually became universal. But Astera is different. Can you grant the same rights to a dragon and a goblin?”

“If they commit murder, should they receive the same sentence? Is that fair? A dragon’s lifespan is close to a thousand years and a goblin’s is barely 30 years.”

It was a very vague problem.

Leopold did not push her and gave her time to think calmly.

Regardless of the outcome, this time was a very enjoyable experience for Margareta.

As a result, she couldn’t get rid of the smile on her lips.

“I never thought talking to someone would be such a fun thing.”

She said that and walked around, so it was natural that Arma and Camilla became alert.

“If he drags me to bed, I’ll pretend I don’t know and go in quickly?”

“It’s dangerous. We need to be careful.”

From then on, Arma and Camilla started calling the princess by her full name.

“If you compare Princess Margareta’s notes and the process of how the Great War broke out, you can see that the plague also evolved rapidly depending on the amount of ether.”

Anyone could see that graphs with the same slope were drawn.

But they didn’t know the exact cause and effect, so they couldn’t conclude with this graph.

“Let’s say we confirmed the possibility. It could be just a coincidence.”

“And Master, we received a letter from Elvrande. It’s from President Dresden.”

“The president? I thought there was nothing left but war. That’s strange.”

Elvrande had been walking the path of complete militarism since Dresden took power.

The more than 30 decrees he announced were very similar to those of the dictators who caused the Great War on Earth in the past.

The main content was, of course, that elves were the only rightful ruling race in Astera and that all rights in Elvrande belonged to the president’s office.

The military power also increased tremendously. They were mass-producing Belial-class units like baking bread in an oven.

Not the existing Belial-class units, but improved versions that ignored core overload. They didn’t intend to ride elves on them, but planned to mobilize people from autonomous regions.

“They are also equipped with ether bombs without fail.”

In other words, they intended to use humans and beastmen as shields.

They could also use bombs in an emergency, so it was quite an amazing idea.

As they heightened the tension like this, Zaium also began to invest heavily in military power, and Astera as a whole was shrouded in war clouds.

“It’s probably either propaganda or surrender offer.”

Leopold’s guess was wrong.

The content of the letter was that he wanted to have a private meeting with him.

He even included the right to choose the place.

“That’s quite a decision. We don’t have much to talk about alone.”

“Considering Dresden’s personality, there is a high possibility that he will mock you under the guise of preaching.”

“Well, talking is good.”

It was a bit awkward for Leopold to say it, but peace was much better than war. That was the truth.

The probability of dialogue leading to peace was not very high, though.

“He said I could choose the place, right? Let’s do it here.”

The letter was sent and Dresden read it with a smirk.

“He wants to have a meeting here? Is he crazy to come into the enemy country voluntarily?”

“He is someone who doesn’t know what he’s doing. We should refuse.”

The one who advised that was Elarion Talyssand, who became the commander of the Elven Knights after Tiren.

He was Tiren’s disciple and a great admirer of Princess Margareta.

But when they sided with the humans, he felt a great betrayal and now hated them more than anyone else.

His skill as a knight was slightly inferior to Tiren, but he was scheduled to receive a stable divine power injection, so it was estimated that he would surpass him by now.

Dresden scanned the letter again and said.

“No, if we back down here, we’ll be laughed at. He already announced that he received the letter.”

“We can’t bring a bomb into Medea.”

“In his position, Medea is a huge bomb. If we block him from coming in voluntarily, my position will be ridiculous.”

It would be obvious that he would be doubted by the people as if he couldn’t handle one human.

The strange thing was Banda’s king’s confidence.

Did he have the confidence to preserve his life even if he came to Medea?

“He didn’t look like a stupid guy who would rely on our flimsy goodwill…”

Based on the power he had shown so far, he couldn’t guarantee perfect safety, so there must be something more.

‘Maybe it has something to do with Delpina running away without a word.’

Dresden wanted to find out about that and teach him one more thing on this occasion.

That if he continued to do such nonsense, he would bring about the end of the world.

“Accept it. I have to teach him what kind of race we elves are and what he is doing. Proceed.”