The ground was heavy with mud and the sky was reeking of acids. Today was my guarding shift. Guarding against who, one might ask. I'm guarding against the morally reprehensible not-even-human barbarically evil enemies of our great nation. And today was my first guarding shift. Imagine doing all these just so that those rich bastards can stay at home, happily dreaming in their gravity bed. I said that to myself as I navigated toward my guarding post inside the trench complex. Trenches huh? I guess nothing has changed since the first world war. Why would they send an amateur on guard duty? Because I asked for it. But why on earth would I ask for it? Because today is the first of July. Why does that matter? Well, not many people know why, but I know the answer and it is very simple. The Malakang Comet. I looked up at the starry night and moved my head up to a 50 degrees angle then turned it slightly right to a bearing of 230 degrees. Nothing there yet. The night was still calm and loudly silent. Then I noticed a tiny disturbance in the air, a bird. It is moving closer to me and then just stayed there, its wings were barely flapping. It takes me a while to realize a critical detail, birds don't do that. If artillery is the king of the battlefield and infantry is the queen of the battlefield, then this thing must be the ace of the battlefield. Drones are modern incarnates of Death. I froze and raised my hands, signalling surrender. The drone just stayed there and stare at me, probably judging if I'm worthy of its mercy. My fate looked grim, either more drones are coming, or worse, an artillery barrage, which all are common opening tactics in an assault. While hanging dearly to my fragile thread of life, I noticed a bright trail blazing through the dark sky. The Malakang Comet, observable from Earth once every six million years, right here, right in front of me. Life is short, from here to my death is only an artillery barrage long, yet it doesn't matter to me. I have something every human being has, hope. And in hope and hopelessness, I gazed upon the beautiful tail of light, closed my eyes, and casted my wish upon the shooting star. "My lord, the situation requires your immediate attention." A black haired young man said matter-of-factly, his right hand placed on the middle of his chest. His sharp blue eyes looked straight at me, conveying a sense of urgency. He wasn't speaking English but I naturally understood what he said. I took a look at my surroundings, the room I was in is quite spacious and richly decorated in an architectural style a bit too alien for me to recognize. I was sitting in a luxuriously comfortable chair. The room I was in seemed to be an office of some kind. My head was dizzy, but I pushed through it and tried to summarize what just happened to me. I was on a battlefield, there was a drone, then came a comet. A sudden realization hit me, my wish came true. At that near death moment, I casted a wish. My wish was simple. I wished to be an evil space lord. I can already feel excitement welling up inside me. Now I need to confirm how well the Malakang comet has granted me my wish. "Who are you?" I asked the young man in front of me. He leaned back with a confused look. "My lord, I think your timing for jest is a bit off." He quipped. "And in the case that you are really wondering, I am Adolian Adalbert, your secretary." He paused, then added. "It was you who appointed me to this position, my lord." Memories started awakening inside my head. I gradually remember the memories of my current body. The body I'm currently residing in is Jakk Osammer, a young nobleman of Hof. Hof county contains Hof star system and only one habitable world, Jasro. Currently Jakk is the only member of the ruling family of Hof residing in Jasro, as other members of the Osammer family are on other parts of the human empire of Castella known as Prestige Worlds, where all desires are catered to so the noble caste can mingle and intrigue to their heart's content. Most noble families often left some members behind to take care of their realms. It is not uncommon for noble families to live entirely separate from their own realms, however. I noticed something unusual about Adalbert, he is missing his lower body. I caught a slight headache as memories of this body returned. Apparently Adalbert is an AI, a half human, half AI. Before he was an obedient thinking helper, he had been a very successful bureaucrat, that is, until the Osammer family binded him to them for generations as an ITEM or Intelligent Thinking Emotional Machine, a creation possessing both the computational capability of a machine and the personality of the converted individual. To put it simply, ITEMs are mentally enslaved. "So what is the emergency you were nagging me about?" I asked him. "My lord, there is a massive protest currently happening in the Central Square of our Capital. Our security detected violent behaviors by some dissenters and predicted a high probability of a riot happening." Adalbert informed me. I searched my memories, well, Jakk's, this planet has been ruled with an iron fist for millennia. Unruly protests like this have been rare in the planet's history. "What caused this protest?" I asked my half AI secretary. "According to my analysis, the urban working class has been very angry about the worsening living conditions as well as increasing work hours. However, the current protest we are facing is directly sparked by the food tax we recently implemented." The very unpopular food tax Adalbert talked about is one of the many measures Jakk has taken to pay off the enormous debt his family has accrued. For some reason, his family had gambled away their fortune at some Prestige World. I find Jakk's circumstances very much understandable. His dilemma is not easy to solve. He has always been a very low ranking member of his noble family, as the title of Count of Hof actually belongs to the head of his family, Utva. If for some reason he had stopped bankrolling his family, they would have angrily come back to Hof, and Jakk would have lost all the temporary power he had. Such a scenario would be bad for the people of Jasro, as Jakk is the only person in his family who cared about running the planet, as evidenced by the fact that he is the only member who didn't run off to a Prestige World. "Adalbert, can I have a better look at the protest?" I requested him. "Yes, my lord, let me connect to a local POV drone." A virtual screen popped up in front of me, displaying a bird's-eye view of the ongoing protest. A massive crowd has gathered, holding various signs voicing their opposition to many issues, ranging from the food tax to the tyranny of the ruling family. A collective anger can be seen across the crowd. "My lord, my observation has shown that there might be organized agitation pushing the people to go down the streets and protest." The screen switched to a group of people with speakers. They were riling up the crowd with the chant "Death to taxes, death to nobles." "The situation is very tense. There might be a revolution if we don't do something about it." I told Adalbert. "Maybe we can try to repeal the food tax. Show me our finances, Dal." The half bot was visibly surprised by the nickname I gave him. The virtual screen in front of me changed to show the annual budget of the Jasro government. { Revenue: Income Tax 26% Corporate Tax 19% Consumption Tax 33% Tariffs 8% State owned enterprises 10% Fees and non-tax 4% Total: 4.1 trillion Castelions Expenditure Social Security 21% Health 16% Education 8% Defense 2% Infrastructure 5% Government Projects and Subsidies 11% Others 1% Debt Payment 36% Total: 4.1 trillion Castelions } "What the hell? We are spending a third of our budget on paying debts? Dal, how much do we owe?" I panicked. "About thirty-two trillion Castelions, my lord." Adalbert said casually. My eyes widened. All I could utter was "How?". "The original debt the Osammer family owed due to gambling was only a small portion of this. However, we took out loans to pay for our old one. Over time, it grew larger and larger. It is only recently that we have stopped our policy of deficit spending." Adalbert explained. "Largely because the Imperium bank refused to loan us more money." "What would happen if we declared bankruptcy?" I asked. "Our assets would be seized, my lord." "You mean, like, the entire planet?" "Yes." He replied coldly. So I was facing an enormous debt, an imminent riot, and some noble bastards on a Prestige World who can just demand more money at any moment or kick me out of my position. I leaned back into my chair, thinking about my failed ambition to be an evil space lord. At that moment, the image of a shooting star reappeared in my head. If I, a cannon fodder nobody, can be reincarnated as a space nobleman in another world, if such a miracle can happen, then getting Jasro out of this crisis can't be that hard. I was filled with a new stream of determination. I wished to be an evil space lord. And I'm going to solve my problems as an evil space lord. "Adal." I called my secretary. "Yes, my lord." "I'm going to address the protesters publicly. I need you to prepare some security measures so some thug can't just shoot me in the head." I'm tired of being a nobody. I'm willing to do whatever it takes in this new life as an evil space lord.