Ah~ Power!! Choking on That Hot Love... I Don't Want to Win

On the return journey to the longed-for mother world—no, the capital planet Kazan.

"Minister, so why'd you go and nail the Third Fleet Her Majesty handed over right there for good, huh?"

The transport ship that had been packed to the gills on the way out—crew, legionaries, legion command staff, even the Third Fleet liaison team—was now quiet enough that only the crew and Executive Ministry personnel remained. I was wandering the empty corridors out of sheer boredom when Riel, walking beside me, struck up conversation.

Hey, you can't just say stuff like that out loud.

The topic was sensitive enough that I almost snapped at her on the spot... but action before words. I cast a quick glance around first and realized the ship really was deserted enough for her to talk freely.

"Eh, the reason's nothing special... it just felt like too much of a burden."

"Wuh?"

Riel's face twisted into something so complicated it looked like a broken real-doll robot mid-glitch.

"What, is that really such a shocking revelation?"

"Ahb-bab-bab-bab..."

Even her language module seemed to have taken damage; she couldn't form proper words. In the end, our cutting-edge humanoid Riel only finished her self-repair after we reached my quarters together.

"Repair complete. All programming operating normally..."

I clicked my tongue at the pitiful reward from a quest that hadn't popped up in ages, and the freshly repaired Riel opened her mouth...

"Have you lost your mind, Minister?"

"The first thing you say the moment you wake up is that? How heartbreaking."

I felt like a parent watching a child just entering their rebellious phase.

"To save this poor minister, Riel's kindness is required."

"Cut the nonsense, Minister. Why did you really do it?"

She kept coming at me dead serious, so I dropped the teasing and matched her tone.

"You used to be a tutorial bot yourself. You don't honestly think that was just the Emperor's goodwill, do you?"

"Nngh... well, no, but..."

With that, I opened the status window and checked the current faction situation in the Empire.

"Handing me the Third Fleet of all fleets was a high-level political maneuver from the start."

"The Emperor... to you, Minister?"

I nodded at Riel's words and continued.

"Right now the Empire is basically split between two factions."

"Neo-Imperialism and Will of Steel, yeah."

Even in the original game, so-called factions and power blocs spawned in every empire, including the one I played. Same deal in this world.

"You know as well as I do those two are strong enough to threaten even Artraia."

"But Her Majesty has her own direct faction, doesn't she?"

Riel rattled off a few names. I shook my head firmly.

"Even if you add them all up, they can barely handle one of those two factions."

"Ah... you actually dug that deep, huh. So what does that have to do with anything?"

I took a sip of tea to wet my mouth before answering.

"In short, Artraia needs the strength of a new faction to keep those two in check."

"Hmm..."

"But if you take out those two and Artraia's own faction... the only remaining major bloc just happens to be the pacifist line?"

"Pacifists?"

Riel's expression twisted violently in an instant.

Is it thanks to the quest? Her emotional range is ridiculously rich.

While I was quietly admiring how much more expressive she was than most humans, a torrent of curses against pacifism poured out of her.

"Those self-proclaimed peace-lovers who trip everyone up at every opportunity, throw tantrums over the slightest thing, and pick fights with every single imperial agenda?"

"Concept."

"What?"

"Yeah. Concept."

Riel was so pissed she couldn't even maintain her usual persona... rare sight.

"Those damn bastards deny the Empire's sacred mental link, deny the Minister's lewd hands that mold the world from behind the scenes, and every time something comes up they go 'Oh we don't wanna do that' and start whining!!"

"Whoa whoa..."

"They even reject the touch of the Emperor who received a direct divine descent from the lofty heavenly gods! Huh!"

But the mania of our Holy Sevelian imperialist-slash-militarist-slash-spiritualist-slash-world-conquest-dreaming electric sheep was not what we needed right now.

"Quiet down!"

-Thwack!

"Eek!"

Only after I brought my special riot baton down on Riel's small, cute head could we continue the conversation a little more calmly.

A short while later.

"The conversation got pretty derailed. Where was I?"

"You were talking about the factions, Minister."

Riel rubbed the huge lump on her head, eyes glistening with tears of pain. I nodded and picked up where I'd left off.

"Right. The strength of every faction except 'those' ones is... honestly pathetic, isn't it?"

"Yeah. Next biggest is the isolationist line."

"Everything else is just middling neutrals or minor groups."

Thinking that, I recalled Artraia's plan—different from the original game—and shuddered.

"You get it, right? In the end Artraia was trying to use me to create a new faction favorable to herself."

"What's wrong with that?"

But when Riel, my only real confidante, reacted so innocently, a fleeting thought crossed my mind that maybe I was the one in the wrong.

"Isn't it better? Once a faction forms, it'll be way easier for you to operate, Minister."

"I refuse."

What the hell was good about that?

"Do you really think a faction created that way would be normal?"

"What do you mean?"

Is she doing this on purpose?

Watching Riel deliberately dodge or play dumb, I sighed... and decided to just ram it home.

"If that kind of faction forms, I'll get force-recruited as its leader, obviously!"

-Bang!

I slammed the table and stood. Riel just sipped her tea.

"Isn't that a good thing? If it goes well you might even get worshipped as a saint."

"Fuck no!"

-Bang!

"I! Just! Want! To! Live! Quietly! For! Once! Fuck!"

Why the hell couldn't this damn Empire just leave me alone?

"But Minister, if you take full command of a faction... basically every remaining neutral faction will flock to you, right?"

"That's what I hate!"

Artraia's reason for making me faction leader was purely to check the two giant blocs, wasn't it?

"Let's be blunt. If I form a faction as leader, we also have to factor in the defectors from each existing one."

"Yes."

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"So roughly what percentage do you think it'd ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hit?"

"Hmm? At least twenty percent, maybe?"

Hearing that, I casually opened the status window and checked the projected numbers if I created a faction.

"...It'll clear half at minimum."

"Hweh? Minister, you've got way more self-awareness than you look."

Riel giggled in a half-teasing tone, but when she saw my dead-serious ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠face she started to panic.

"Eh, for real?"

"Yeah."

"The status window says so?"

"Yeah."

"Ah hell, we're screwed."

"Yeah."

Of course we were. That result basically meant controlling a majority of the Empire.

"At that level, toppling the current Emperor and making you the new one could even be an option, Minister."

"No. That would be the end."

I pulled up a quest window I'd left buried for a long time and recited it as-is.

"You seem to have forgotten. If I create a faction, seize the Empire, and rise to the top... the nation called the 'Holy Sevelian Empire' itself disappears?"

"Ah."

Honestly, it wasn't like I had zero lust for power. But if that meant I was finished, I had to avoid it by any means necessary.

"But Artraia has no way of knowing this, and I can't exactly tell her, so what can you do?"

"Aha."

Only then did Riel understand my actions; she just bobbed her little head.

"So what we do now is head straight to the imperial palace on the capital planet, and then—"

"And then?"

"Immediately hand over command of the Third Fleet and five legions I received as a secret order from Artraia, and apply for long-term leave on the spot."

"Oh."

But when we returned to the imperial palace...

Inside Artraia's chambers...

"Yes, you've worked hard, Arto."

"...Well, uh, yeah."

"But you know, the five Guard legions and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Third Fleet I went to all that trouble to attach to you... you just abandoned them and came back empty-handed?"

"..."

"Listen. Do you have any idea how much political capital I burned to assign those to you? Hmm?"

"..."

-Squish squish.

"Say something. Come on, say something."

I had no choice but to get thoroughly trampled by Artraia, whose bright smile was framed by thick, bulging veins.

At least she had the bare minimum of patience—she'd taken off her high-heeled boots first. Small mercies.

If she'd stepped on me with those, I'd just have wind holes punched through me.

-Squiiish...

"You're thinking about something else again, aren't you?"

"No, I was agonizing over which bastards I'll have to negotiate with next for the sake of the Empire and the imperial family."

"We've decided to call that 'thinking about something else,' you workaholic."

Even so, the unreasonable bullying and violence aimed at me showed no sign of stopping.

In desperation I shouted a help call toward Riel, who was nearby.

"Ri-Riel! Support! Support!"

"Riel, stay put."

"Yes."

But before Artraia's razor-sharp response, Riel could only shrug her shoulders helplessly.

"Gyaaah, Riel, even you!!"

And so it was a full three hours later before I finally escaped the Emperor's direct personal torture.