Congratulations on Becoming the Ruler of a Star System

It had certainly been a complicated, chaotic mess — one strange, baffling situation after another swirling around me at a maddening pace, a string of circumstances I could barely make heads or tails of.

But anyway, skipping the detailed explanations of who did what and how, and cutting straight to the fast-forwarded conclusion‧‧‧‧‧‧

Exactly three days and fourteen hours after our heart-pounding march on the capital had begun.

"Doctor, as of now, all the minister-level officials and government heads within the former Milano central government whose locations we've identified have been dealt with."

"What on earth did you do to process all of that so quickly, my adjutant?"

"The atmosphere on the other planets had grown dire, so the head of the former Milano government and its key personnel were, for all practical purposes, already trapped here on the capital."

"Oh‧‧‧‧‧‧."

In the blink of an eye, they had combed through an entire capital city home to — what, a billion? Two billion? — and arrested ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the hiding head of government, the committees, and everyone else. Or so I was told.

I couldn't help feeling a very peculiar emotion, wondering whether I had somehow managed to seize control of an entire star system far more easily and quickly than I'd ever imagined.

But that feeling lasted only a moment. Having actually gone through it, I found myself realizing, once again, something rather important.

"So does this mean we've fully taken over the star system? That we've eaten it for free?"

"We have not. We still owe sufficient compensation, separately, to the factions that helped us this time."

"Hmmmmm‧‧‧‧‧‧."

"Just in case, I should mention — if we fail to pay, the next thing you'll witness is one civil war after another breaking out among those very factions."

"Whaaat?! Then can't we at least finish the stabilization work before paying them?"

"If you try that, there's a very high probability the demands will come flooding in first — 'Pay us what you owe us before you do anything else.'"

"Ughhh."

"Which is precisely why, unless you intend to be steamrolled here, we must run the stabilization work and the compensation process simultaneously."

As Ilena said, our current situation was, in truth, nothing more than a successful ultra-speed freeloading strategy — one made possible only through the help of the various factions and auxiliary personnel already present in the Milano System.

Which meant that on top of stabilizing the Milano System we had just devoured, we now had to arrange separate rewards for each of the factions that had aided us.

The whole shape of it felt monumentally difficult, and I kept finding myself thinking, over and over, just how much Ilena and my administrative-soldier friends were suffering for my sake.

That said, there was one silver lining: when we reported the current situation to the Demonia home office, it seemed even they judged that with an entire star system landing in their lap — something unprecedented — they had better provide genuinely proper support for once.

"Ooh."

The moment one of those event-notification windows popped up, huge freight containers appeared in orbit around Milano-III — the planet where our branch would now be based — alongside the fast squadron the Demonia Empire had dispatched.

At the same time came the administrative support teams, responsible for the 'administrative capacity' that any crisis of this scale demands above all else.

There were also the construction support teams, meant ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠to repair the collateral damage from our thrilling game of tag with the special forces the old government had deployed, and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠from the 'minor clashes' that occurred during our march on the capital.

And finally, they had sent combat forces — not so excessive as to be provocation, yet far too substantial to ignore — meant to pressure and subdue the star system's garrison troops, who in the current chaos might fail to receive orders properly or drift off in some strange direction, and failing that, at least to serve as a rallying point.

Watching Ilena respond with such nimble efficiency, and the Demonia Empire match her move with such fitting support, I felt a considerable sense of satisfaction.

And then there was something even more unexpected — but at the same time, something welcome‧‧‧‧‧‧

Namely this: contrary to what we'd expected, the remaining factions currently in Milano — that is, the representatives of ACIC, the Earth Alliance, and the Babel Cult branch — were demanding a price far more reasonable and modest than anticipated.

Granted, this only meant they weren't being absurd enough to demand far more than their actual contribution warranted.

In gamer terms, there was still plenty of implicit pressure along the lines of, 'Did you grasp the philosophy behind our godlike super-play that saved your run?'

And since we had to handle their demands while simultaneously running the stabilization of the entire star system, it did feel ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pretty damn taxing‧‧‧‧‧‧

"So what exactly are they asking for?"

"Both the ACIC and Earth Alliance branches want, in common, a guarantee that the megacorps they operate can do business within the Milano System while receiving 'appropriate' support."

"I doubt that's all, though."

"Indeed. Alongside that, they've asked to retain the parliamentary political authority they already held within the system."

"Hmm‧‧‧‧‧‧ what do you think, my adjutant?"

"It's not an outrageous request by any means. The Earth Alliance in particular has its main base so far away that projecting force here is difficult, so they seem content to accept as long as they secure the fundamentals."

"I see."

"ACIC is asking for considerably more than the Earth Alliance, admittedly, but they're also the reason we swallowed the star system at all, thanks to their last-minute change of heart — so it's hardly unreasonable either."

"Got it. What do you think, Heisenberg?"

"Naturally, I agree. After all, these matters are not mine to judge alone — I handle them together with President Heisenberg, our ally."

"I see, I see."

The Earth Alliance branch turned out to be satisfied with simply maintaining tax benefits and various forms of support for their megacorps under the existing arrangement.

ACIC, having provided the decisive support, demanded a certain share of political power on top of that‧‧‧‧‧‧

But even so, it was clear through cross-verification by Ilena and Heisenberg that none of it crossed the 'line' — nothing we simply could not accept.

So on that front, as I had all along, I chose to close the matter with a gesture of complete delegation to Ilena and the others.

Now, since those two factions and the rest of the reinforcement forces had all demanded compensation within the bounds of common sense, all we had to do was pay a fitting price in return.

But the last faction remaining — the Babel Cult branch — turned out to have demands that strayed remarkably far from anything resembling common sense, unlike the others.

And what were those demands, you ask? According to the parties themselves‧‧‧‧‧‧

"‧‧‧‧‧‧Hold on. They want us to do what?"

"They'll transfer over the ownership of the megacorps they currently hold. In exchange, they want us to permit them to conduct 'legal' evangelism."

"‧‧‧‧‧‧."

"For reference, there are a few minor conditions as well, but the main one is permission to build their cathedral."

"Hmm‧‧‧‧‧‧ on the surface I don't see anything especially odd about it. But considering you brought this to me specifically, my adjutant, I take it there's something unusual about it?"

"Most certainly."

"Reasons. Explain."

"What the Babel Cult calls legal evangelism is, put another way, the covert persecution and expulsion of all other heathens besides themselves. And a 'cathedral,' by definition, is something along the lines of a 'sanctuary to the Outer Gods.'"

"Um, that sounds like a colossal headache just from the description alone."

Indeed.

As soon as I heard it, the whole thing sounded like nothing more and nothing less than a sinister religious cult running an atrocious human-sacrifice meta planning to quietly pull their cult nonsense all over the Milano System.

And with the sincere thought of is this really happening? settling over me, I began sinking deep into contemplation over what on earth I should do about it.