As Nero expected, the Laud Family rebelled on the third day of the Temple parade.
However, what he didn’t anticipate was that their target wasn’t him, but Heidrich in the Capital.
The Laud Family, which controlled 19 star systems, declared their cause publicly: to impeach the Empire’s new military noble, ‘the tyrant’s favorite’—Hermann Heidrich.
They fabricated numerous accusations against Heidrich and announced them to the entire Empire: that Heidrich initially offered his sister to lure the young Emperor into power, pretended to be close to the Laud Family while secretly sowing discord between the Emperor and his uncle, Harrison, as well as the nobles, thus preventing them from fulfilling their educational duties towards the Emperor.
When Nero’s actions became increasingly tyrannical, Heidrich fanned the flames, turning the young tyrant into a target for the entire Empire. While Nero was away protecting the Holy Son in the Delphi Star System, Heidrich took over the entire Capital’s defense system, aiming to use the high nobles to remove the tyrant and seize the Rose Throne for himself.
In the name of noble honor, the Laud Family called on conscientious nobles to unite and march on the Capital to eliminate the ‘tyrant’s favorite’ who was corrupting the young Emperor.
“The Laud Family does indeed have formidable figures,” Nero said, communicating with Heidrich from the cockpit, his gaze cold and deep.
“They are turning what should be an unpardonable act of rebellion into a righteous noble war. As long as they can bypass the deterrent power of the Kaises and avoid the charge of treason, they will undoubtedly rally many high, even lesser nobles to their cause.”
The Laud Family was well aware that Heidrich had long been closely allied with Nero. Heidrich’s nominal fief, the Heka Star System, was actually directly controlled by Nero. Eliminating Heidrich’s army under the pretext of ‘cleansing the Emperor’s entourage’ was essentially weakening Nero’s power.
“Your Majesty, please take care of your own safety and do not worry too much,” Heidrich said calmly through the screen, his expression and tone extremely composed.
“As long as the Rose Throne belongs to the Kaises, the Capital will not fall.” Nero nodded.
He needed to focus on Delphi and Scorpion Tail and couldn’t afford to divert more attention to the Capital. Fortunately, he had anticipated this and left Heidrich to guard the Capital.
But the young Emperor did not know that Heidrich’s calm demeanor would only last until the communication ended.
Then, Heidrich abruptly pushed back his chair, grabbed the military cloak from the chair back, threw it on with a sweeping motion, and strode out of the command base.
The man was wrapped in a cold, murderous aura, his voice conveying orders with a deep, sharp intensity: “Order the 3rd, 7th, 8th, 9th, 10th, and 12th fleets to prepare for battle.
“Order the Whale Fleet to gather at the Capital’s fortress immediately, and prepare for battle.
“Order the 1st, 5th, 11th, and 15th mecha units to prepare for battle, and coordinate with the Whale Fleet.”
“Received, General!”
The accompanying Heka Star System’s officers, rarely seeing him like this, couldn’t help but take a glance.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The officers summoned to the Capital were already battlefield veterans, having collectively experienced the western Star Pirate suppression campaign. They knew that Heidrich couldn’t possibly be angry over the rebels’ baseless slander.
Dea atf fzjma gfjrbc obg tlr jcufg fievfv atfw.
Fcali Lflvglmt olclrtfv tlr vfqibswfcar, tlr ujhf vjgxfcfv jr tf mbcajmafv atf Lfxj Vajg Vsrafw’r Zlilajgs Vmlfcmf Degfje.
Lflvglmt: “Efqbga atf qgbugfrr bc atf lcobgwjalbc mbcagbi rsrafw.”
Zlilajgs Vmlfcmf Degfje: “Xfcfgji, la’r cba atja ojra! Qf’nf yffc vlrmerrlcu la rlcmf sbe jcv Llr Zjpfras wfcalbcfv la joafg atf Vfjc Mjwlis’r gfyfiilbc. Ktf Vajg Rfakbgx’r wjlc mbcagbi lr lcvffv lc atf Jjqlaji, yea atf cbyif ibgvr tjnf ibcu frajyilrtfv atflg dejcaew mbwweclmjalbc cfakbgxr klatlc atflg afgglabglfr. Kb mbwqifafis mbcagbi atflg mbwweclmjalbcr jr sbe reuufrafv, kf’v cffv flatfg j vfragemalnf fifmagbwjucfalm qeirf mbnfglcu 10,000 iluta-sfjgr—ktlmt kbeiv jirb mglqqif mlnliljc CP, obgagfrr qjatkjsr, jcv wfvlmji yjrfr—bg CP ab qgfmlrfis lvfcalos gfyfi qbgar jcv tjmx lcab tecvgfvr bo yliilbcr bo dejcaew afgwlcjir rlweiajcfberis…”
Heidrich was unmoved: “So, what’s the progress on the latter?”
Military Science Bureau: “…The new control system is not yet perfected and can cover only 6,000 light-years. It cannot quickly identify all quantum terminals within the territory. Using preset forbidden words to identify rebel terminals and filtering them through AI would be faster—”
Heidrich opened the star map: “Then test it on the Laud Family’s LC-24 to LC-29 star systems. The trigger word is—”
He paused, a sinister expression flashing across his face. The accompanying officers recalled a rumor in the noble circles: Heidrich seemed to despise being called the ‘tyrant’s favorite.’
Perhaps he never showed it in front of the Emperor, but during his time lurking within the high noble factions, he would act against anyone who said so, ensuring their family faced severe repercussions.
“How about making ‘the tyrant’s favorite’ a forbidden word?” an officer cautiously suggested. “Anyone using this derogatory term is certainly a high-noble. Identifying and disabling all terminals that use the forbidden word would greatly hinder the rebels’ communication…”
“No,” Heidrich coldly looked at him. “‘Tyrant’ should be the forbidden word.”
…
On the third afternoon of the tour, four hours after the Laud Family issued their declaration of war.
Miners in a small tavern anxiously watching the Festival suddenly heard chaotic shouts and footsteps outside.
“Wait… what is that?!”
Terrified, the miners peered outside to see a massive unknown fleet crossing the star system’s fortress, speeding toward the beautiful star-ring city.
Since Charon Star System became directly under the Emperor, the excessive troops have been disbanded to save military expenses, and Nero had selected excellent veterans and officers from the original garrison to be transferred to the Northern Border Defense, the Heka Star System, and the Star Provincial Committee’s police force.
Although there were no longer troops within the star system, the original noble garrison was a group of useless bullies who used civilians as shields against Star Pirate invasions.
With the abolition of the troops, the Northern Border Defense’s combat power had increased tremendously.
At least since the border defense troops stationed there, Charon Star System had not faced any Star Pirate attacks.
If these were Star Pirates, they couldn’t have silently crossed the northern frontier;
But if not Star Pirates, the fleet didn’t resemble the Emperor’s style either.
With a synchronized hum, the fleet unfurled a banner unfamiliar to the onlookers: a scorpion perched on laurel leaves.
Despite their confusion, Charon Star System’s residents, having experienced decades of chaos and division before Nero’s conquest, quickly picked up on the danger and scattered from public places like a tide.
Meanwhile, the Capital’s information security department received an unknown message.
The message was simple, even polite.
But the Wolf Knights on duty were instantly furious, slamming their fists on the table!
[To the honorable Prince, inheritor of the Caesar’s sinful blood]
[Weak bodies often create weak wills, but divinely bestowed suffering only makes the strong stronger. May the gods have eradicated your fatal weaknesses, allowing you to escape the chaotic world and return the lost lambs to God’s servants.]
[May the Holy Knights be forgiven after their fall, as we vow to defend Olympus to the death.]
[May the Holy Son guide us.]
All the border Star Pirates knew that Scorpion Tail was an exceptionally elite Star Pirate force.
However, few knew that Scorpion Tail was not originally named Scorpion Tail, nor was it a true Star Pirate group.
It was actually a military organization as ancient as the Holy Knights—the Temple Knights Order.
The recruitment process of the Temple Knights was as strict as that of the Wolf Knights, if not more so—they selected Alpha children from a young age, indoctrinated them with the purest theological doctrines, and trained them to become the fiercest and most loyal warriors.
To ensure combat effectiveness, they subjected recruits to an additional brutal selection process:
After differentiation, the trainees would engage in deadly duels to determine who would remain in the world to perform holy duties and who would ascend to paradise.
Moreover, to maintain the strongest Alpha bloodline, the Temple Knights had a tradition of keeping Omegas as breeding tools. Similar to the temple priests who only allowed internal breeding, the Temple Knights also did not allow superior combat bloodlines to spread outside.
They continually bred with Omega slaves, forcing them to give birth year-round until they completely lost their reproductive abilities.
Initially, the Temple Knights, like the temple priests, were highly revered by the Old Federation’s populace, and their fearless fighting style attracted many new believers.
But as the Temple Knights grew stronger, the Old Federation government began to sense something was wrong:
A religious force with powerful armaments was more destructive to social order than even the Zerg.
Under the radical exclusionist policies of the Temple Knights, many Federation regions on ancient Earth devolved into extreme religious monarchies, a trend that only worsened over time.
At the time, the Old Federation was on the verge of collapse. Even though they realized the Temple’s power was out of control, it was too late to turn the tide.
Later, Emperor Caesar overthrew the Old Federation and established the Galactic Empire. With heavy military power, the first thing he did was to disarm the Temple.
The historical records only briefly mention how Caesar managed to suppress the then-mighty Temple Knights, but it’s clear that the conflict was far from simple.
Despite Caesar’s iron-fisted approach, he made some concessions while disarming the Temple.
He not only retained Delphi’s Star System’s autonomy but also established the Imperial Law prohibiting any force from stationing troops in Delphi, indicating that the battle was not as simple as historical records suggest.
“My fatal weakness?”
Nero, still in the cockpit, read Scorpion Tail’s message. Just as he was puzzled and raised an eyebrow, he heard reports of a large-scale attack on his directly controlled Charon Star System.
He instantly understood, pressing his tongue against his sharp tooth, his gaze cold.
He had initially planned to conduct high-intensity evacuation drills for civilians after the rebellion was quelled.
But it seemed Charon Star System would now have to practice in actual combat.
The silver-haired Emperor’s lips curled into a cold smile, his eyes fearless.
“Clearly, even if given hundreds of years, they will never change.”
With that, Nero gave a stern order: “From now on, the Northern Border Defense force, the stationed troops in Charon Star System, and the Charon Star System’s Star Provincial Committee will be under my direct command. Summon all levels of commanders in the Capital to observe the Charon Star System’s battle, especially the wartime evacuation procedures, and ensure they learn them thoroughly.”
…
Wipe out those star pirates and despicable nobles, your majesty! May the imperial sceptre wins gloriously!! 🙌🙌
Thanks for the chapter! <3
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
Woowoowoo thank u for the chapter!!