“Your Majesty!”
Heidrich handed the documents to his adjutant and turned around, only to see the youthful tyrant clad in lightweight battle attire leading the Wolf Knights from the other end of the bridge.
Although not wearing royal robes, Nero’s iconic silver hair was striking, especially with the heavily armed Wolf Knights behind him. The soldiers immediately recognized him and stood at attention, saluting with their rifles.
Heidrich glanced at Nero’s impassive face and quickly made a judgment.
Hmm, that expression indicated unexpected satisfaction with today’s exercise.
The adjutant beside him didn’t understand Nero as well as he did, and he saw the young Emperor’s cold and stern demeanor, his crimson eyes casting a dark shadow. Despite his fierce and imposing presence not being concealed by his casual attire, his inherently dazzling beauty still stood out against the cold gray backdrop of the cabin walls, exuding an overwhelming aura.
Before Nero even reached them, the adjutant himself felt a twinge of guilt: “Your Majesty… The affairs of the Heka Star System have been diligently managed by the Supreme Commander and the Star Provincial Committee. If, if they have not met Your Majesty’s expectations…”
Nero glanced at him and nodded, acknowledging the gesture.
Then, the young Emperor arrogantly placed one hand on his hip and extended the other towards Heidrich’s face: “General, where are your manners?”
Heidrich knelt down, taking the hand and bowing his head, his thin lips brushing against Nero’s fingertips.
“Supreme Commander and Military Governor of the Heka Star System’s Construction and Military Affairs, Herman Heidrich, pays homage to Your Majesty.”
Nero’s expression remained cold, his tone indifferent, but the slight dissatisfaction couldn’t hide the praise shining in his upturned crimson eyes: “Let’s talk somewhere else.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
Heidrich knew exactly why Nero was pretending to be indifferent, but he couldn’t resist teasing him: “I beg Your Majesty’s pardon, the military affairs in Heka Star System are pressing, and the results of the exercise are indeed unsatisfactory. Please punish me, Your Majesty.”
The junior officers around them, seeing the Emperor’s unfavorable expression, thought they were about to be punished for real, and they trembled like chaff in the wind.
Nero poked his tongue against his small tiger tooth, silently glaring at him with those beautiful red eyes, then turned back to the adjutant. “Where’s the command room? Lead the way.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty…”
The adjutant, trembling, led the way while Nero marched expressionlessly, followed by the Wolf Knights and the composed Heidrich. When they reached the command room, the adjutant opened the door and stepped aside to let them enter.
Heidrich still wanted to interject: “With all due respect, Your Majesty, I voluntarily accept three hundred lashes and publicly repent for my negligence—Your Majesty, Your Majesty. Please, calm down.”
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 adjutant watched wide-eyed as the young Emperor seemed to finally reach his breaking point, grabbing the man’s uniform collar and dragging him into the command room.
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Heidrich was already a mature Alpha, broad-shouldered and long-legged, his military uniform highlighting his well-trained muscles. The silver-haired youth barely reached his chin, but when Nero tossed him onto the command chair, he leaned back, allowing himself to be thrown into it.
“Your Majesty, I would never entertain such thoughts. It’s just that since Your Majesty entered the command base, you’ve always seemed displeased. I can only guess that perhaps there were flaws in the exercise that made you unhappy.”
Nero’s snowy white eyelashes twitched, then he averted his gaze.
He would never admit to Heidrich that, upon seeing such a perfect performance from him, besides the surprise and admiration as a monarch, there was also a tiny bit of youthful rivalry in his heart.
On the way to the command base, he had already begun to review the military affairs of the Heka Star System.
If he were the one taking over the Heka Star System, could he also have organized military exercises of this scale in such a tight time frame?
…Maybe he would need two more days.
No, one more day would suffice.
Nero: “Hmph.”
As he waited for docking aboard the shuttle, he had nothing else to do, so he had the System pull up his radar chart, forcibly expanding both the strategic and tactical dimensions.
…Of course, it wouldn’t budge.
The System was taken aback by his childish behavior: [What are you doing, Your Majesty??]
Then it pulled up Heidrich’s Hatred Points panel: [Sigh, it’s only been two weeks without seeing him, and his resentment value has dropped back to over 40… I told you, I’m losing confidence more and more…]
However, whether it was about comparison or discontent, these minor emotions might belong to an 18-year-old Nero, but they would not belong to the monarch of the Galactic Empire.
After calming down a bit, Nero’s eyes became calm, and he quickly switched to work mode:
“Well done, Heidrich. I didn’t expect you to establish complete order in the Heka Star System in such a short time. As I said before—You’re always the general who brings me good news.”
Heidrich straightened up in his command chair.
Whether it was his illusion or not, the young man in front of him, although not wearing the Rose Crown, seemed to have spontaneously put it on in that moment.
This exposed the rarest and most genuine side of the young Emperor, hidden entirely beneath the golden glow of the crown, where no one could peek.
…No. Not no one.
His blue eyes turned cold, sweeping over the silver knight standing behind the Emperor.
“Your Majesty, I would like to further confirm the military regulations and troop deployments.”
The military power of the Galactic Empire had always been dispersed among the nobility, and the Emperor could only be responsible for training and recruiting his own Wolf Knights.
Thus, there had never been a unified Imperial Legion Law, and military control and promotion were entirely at the discretion of the lords.
On the afternoon of their arrival at Heka Star System, Nero, referring to the Wolf Knights’ regulations and Imperial Law, established a strict and precise set of military rules for his direct troops.
In situations such as rebellion, mutiny, desertion in battle, or large-scale defeat, how should ship members and senior officers share responsibility?
Furthermore, how should soldiers be punished according to the severity of their offenses, including violations of Imperial Law, disturbance of local residents, or physical altercations with peers, whether armed or unarmed?
Before this, Nero had only come into contact with the elite among elites, the Wolf Knights. Although the soldiers of Heka Star System were also recruited from the best across the Empire, their military prowess was slightly inferior to that of the Wolf Knights. Therefore, the military regulations he drafted might appear somewhat stringent.
However, the young Emperor did not shy away from his own lack of experience. He sought Heidrich’s opinions carefully and even separately consulted both the Wolf Knights and the veteran Imperial commanders stationed at Heka Star System for advice.
While significantly refining the military regulations, Nero also established a new system for military rank promotions and criteria for awarding merit titles. He formally abolished the rule that military nobles could only come from the aristocratic class.
At that time, no one knew that what came from Nero’s pen was the draft of the Galactic Empire’s First Military Law, which would be followed for thousands of years.
When the Wolf Knights were called in, they only knew to gather around and cheer. Whatever the Emperor wrote, they all swarmed to praise, irritating Nero enough to throw away his photon pen and say in annoyance, “You’re always like this!”
“After the garrison system is canceled, all military security within the territory will rely entirely on the high-speed patrolling mobile corps. Therefore, as the most important part of the Imperial defense system, the Anchor Points will be the deployment site and transportation station of the mobile corps in the Imperial domain.”
The spherical star map was slowly rotating in the center of the command room, Nero couldn’t sit still, and he started pacing around the star map, rapidly expressing his views, seeming to have completely forgotten about the slight pain in his ankle.
“Unlike the star fortresses, the Anchor Points are only used for military purposes, with access to them firmly in my hands. This way, the noble factions’ authority over military deployments will be completely neutralized. We don’t have much time, General. The first elite corps will mark the moment of my direct confrontation with the noble factions during the rise of Heka Star System.”
Heidrich sat in the command chair, originally watching Nero frown as he spoke, while earnestly listening to his plans. But at the last sentence, he slowly furrowed his brows.
“‘Your Majesty, why are you in such a hurry? What do you mean by ‘not much time’? Although the Empire’s top talents are converging towards you, time is still too short, and our foundation is far from being able to contend with the noble factions. Recklessly engaging with them would greatly reduce your chances of success and even endanger your personal safety!”
Nero paused for a moment. He didn’t answer the question about ‘why the rush,’ but instead steered the conversation towards the next point. “Therefore, the birth of the first legion from the Heka Star System is crucial—I mean, it should be an elite-level special forces unit.”
Heidrich replied, “Some Imperial military academies have regimes for selecting and training special mecha talents, primarily tasked with reconnaissance, assaults, assassinations, and ambushes behind enemy lines. But currently, there aren’t many academies offering this sort of education. I suggest that we recruit sufficient mecha instructors from the nobility and leverage Heka Star System’s military-industrial advantages to establish special forces military academies within the Heka Star System.”
Nero bit his lip and murmured softly, “Instructors, combat talents, mecha designers, military research and development departments, time… time, time. I need time. Not only do I need to train this group of elite soldiers, but I also need to train leaders who can command this legion, leaders like I am to the Wolf Knights. Leaders must have absolute strength, absolute loyalty, absolute…”
The young Emperor brainstormed as he paced, accidentally stumbling at the edge of the stairs, instantly feeling a sharp pain in his ankle, causing him to stagger.
Heidrich quickly stood up and hurried over, but the White Wolf Knight’s movements were faster, and he immediately caught Nero in his arms.
“‘Your Majesty,” the White Wolf Knight held him tightly around the waist, lowering his voice, “is it the old injury from last time…”
“‘It’s fine, just need to apply some medicine when we get back.”
Nero leaned against the White Wolf Knight’s shoulder, speaking softly to avoid appearing weak, almost pressing his head against the White Wolf Knight.
Ever since the neural power device was damaged last time, sometimes when he stepped too hard, he would feel a tearing pain in his foot nerves.
Fortunately, his health hadn’t deteriorated despite the pain, indicating that his foot injury hadn’t worsened.
When he mentioned the legion leader, he suddenly remembered something and turned to ask Heidrich, “Oh, right. Which camp did Asaga get assigned to? I was just about to ask you, is he adapting to life in the Imperial camp?”
Heidrich, who had been standing beside the command chair watching the two, had a dark and obscure expression.
It seemed like he took two seconds to react and only then understood what Nero was asking.
His face turned even darker: “…”
System: [Wow! Isn’t this a surprise? Heidrich’s Hatred Points: 92/90, reward points: 100!]
Nero: [?]
Thanks for the translation!
No surprise the ‘jealousy’ meter jumped to over 90
Haha get doused by a jar of vinegar, Hexagon
What a vinegar jar😂😂😂😂
Thanks for the updates🍑❤❤❤
Thank you for the chapters!
Thank you for the update.
That´s not a Hatred meter, It´s a jealousy meter 😂
LMAO heidrich pleaseeee 😭😭
The hatred point should be called vinegar point now