Lord of the Truth

Chapter 2113 Forcing respect

Mid Sector 100 - Planet Originos

Caesar sat quietly before the massive window of his office, the enormous pane stretching from floor to ceiling and overlooking an endless skyline of towering structures and distant planetary traffic lanes.

In his hands was a thick tome.

The material of the cover was worn and faded, its edges slightly frayed, making it obvious that the document was extremely old. The faint smell of aged paper lingered around it, a reminder that the information inside had survived many years and many wars.

He slowly turned a page.

Rrr

The door behind him opened gently.

A woman entered the office with a respectful posture, her movements controlled and precise as she approached. ”Your Highness,” she said politely, ”the battle on Planet Day Raven has ended in victory,” ”Good...”

Caesar nodded slightly, his expression calm and almost indifferent.

It was clear that he had already expected this outcome.

The battles against the Seven Thrones Empire had been raging on that planet for an entire year. What had started as a localized conflict had gradually escalated into a prolonged campaign that drained resources from both sides.

When the losses began to accumulate and the balance of the battlefield started shifting, Caesar had made a decisive move.

Two weeks earlier he had dispatched Peon, along with half of the empireʼs total special forces.

The moment those troops arrived on the battlefield, the situation changed instantly.

Their presence alone had paralyzed the remaining battlefronts.

Enemy commanders had been forced to withdraw resources from other fronts to reinforce Day Raven, effectively freezing their entire war structure.

Given that situation, it was only natural that the war would conclude soon. And now it had.

At this point, there remained only a single important battlefield against the Seven Thrones Empire.

All the other fronts had become flexible zones where the Cradle Empireʼs forces could advance, withdraw, or reposition freely without significant resistance. ”There is something else,” the woman continued in her soft, composed voice. ”Another envoy from the Seven Thrones Empire has arrived. He wishes to meet Lord Robin.”

Caesarʼs brows furrowed slightly.

He remained silent for a moment as he stared out through the window.

Far beyond the city skyline, the planetʼs orbital defense rings glowed faintly against the sky.

Then-

Poof

He closed the old tome.

Leaning back into the large chair behind his desk, he rested his head against the high backrest and spoke calmly. ”Offer him hospitality worthy of our name.” After a short pause, he added, ”Then send him away.” ”Yes, Your Highness.” The woman bowed slightly.

Without another word, she turned and left the office, gently closing the door behind her.

Silence returned.

Caesar continued gazing out through the window.

The situation in Mid Sector 100 was very different from the chaos Theo was creating in Mid Sector 101.

Nor was it as brutally direct as the strategy Aro was employing in Mid Sector 99.

Theoʼs method was one of exhaustion.

He was deliberately dragging the sector and the surrounding regions into prolonged conflicts, stretching their resources thin and slowly wearing them down. It was likely a strategy encouraged by their father.

Because of that, Caesar could not blame him.

Aro, on the other hand, relied on overwhelming brutality.

He attacked with reckless force, crushing every power he was capable of crushing, leaving enormous devastation behind him.

Entire empires collapsed under the weight of his assaults.

His objective was simple.

To dominate the sector quickly and completely through fear.

Fear.

Threats.

Oppression.

But Caesarʼs approach was entirely different.

He was still fighting.

But not in the same way as Aro.

His wars did not expand recklessly.

He avoided striking below the belt.

His battles were measured and disciplined, conducted with a sense of structure and honor.

Even in the middle of war, he never allowed bloodshed to become personal.

And once a battle ended, whether by forcing the enemy soldiers to retreat or by placing them in captivity, Caesar would begin implementing measures to stabilize the planet.

The inhabitants would not be abandoned.

Perhaps he did not employ something as ambitious as the Empire of Tomorrow

Plan, but he still ensured the essentials.

Local police forces were formed from among the planetʼs own population.

Food supplies were distributed.

Temporary administrative systems were established to restore order.

The goal was simple.

Help them stand on their own again.

Even captured enemy soldiers were treated in a structured and pragmatic way.

They were not slaughtered unnecessarily.

Instead, they were exchanged with the enemy empire for captured soldiers of their own.

Or released in exchange for monetary compensation.

Sometimes they were even freed in return for conditional ceasefires.

Ceasefires that Caesar would later exploit strategically to redirect his military efforts toward another rival empire.

This methodical approach had produced a very unusual result.

The Cradle Empire had earned the respect of nearly everyone in the sector.

But that same respect had also produced a drawback.

Fear.

Fear was almost completely absent.

And that had consequences.

While Aro now had almost no enemies left, since nearly every empire feared standing against him...

Caesar was still fighting dozens of empires.

Across dozens of battlefronts.

While every war against Aro became a personal, decisive struggle where his enemies threw everything they had into the battlefield just to kill one more soldier from his ranks, Caesarʼs wars were far more pragmatic in nature. When facing Aro, his enemies fought like men pushed to the edge of extinction.

They knew that if they failed, their empires might vanish entirely.

Because of that, every battle turned into a desperate struggle where commanders were willing to sacrifice fleets, armies, and entire planets if it meant damaging Aroʼs forces even slightly.

Caesarʼs wars were different.

He fought across dozens of fronts simultaneously, yet each empire he confronted usually focused only on the specific planet Caesar intended to seize.

Their goal was simple.

Drive him away.

Delay him.

Prevent him from taking the planet.

But they rarely escalated the conflict into a full-scale war by sending all of their armies or attempting to attack planets belonging to the Double Centennial

Cradle Empire.

The reason was simple.

Everyone in the sector understood the power of the Double Centennial Cradle

Empire.

And no one wanted to see what would happen if that empire truly decided to show its worst side.

As long as Caesar maintained a respectful and impersonal manner of warfare, his enemies preferred to respond in the same way.

They resisted him.

They fought him.

But they avoided provoking something far worse.

No one wanted to wake up one morning and see Note-4 fleets surrounding their capital worlds. ...While Aro had not gained the loyalty of a single power so far, since every rival either died beneath his hand or submitted through fear and overwhelming force, and while he had not earned the loyalty of any newly conquered populations either, Caesar could subdue the inhabitants of any planet he captured with surprising ease.

The difference was clear.

The people living on contested planets often ended up fighting in the ranks of the Double Centennial Cradle Empire themselves.

Some joined willingly.

Some simply accepted the new order.

But almost none resisted him with hatred.

Yes...

Acting with respect and honor had created a strange result.

It forced Caesar to fight more wars.

It encouraged many powers to dare stand before him and openly say no.

It forced him to maintain larger armies, greater equipment reserves, and stronger fleets in order to sustain battles across dozens of fronts at once.

But at the same time, it granted him something equally powerful.

Reputation.

An aura of justice.

An aura of honor that had slowly spread across the entire sector.

Now even his enemies occasionally sent him gifts.

Rare artifacts.

Local delicacies.

Symbolic offerings sent quietly through diplomatic channels.

Other rival powers within the sector sometimes even came to his territory as if it were neutral ground, using it to negotiate the resolution of their own disputes.

It was a strange position.

A conqueror who was also treated like a judge.

Even the Seven Thrones Empire, which Caesar had crushed repeatedly and stripped of more than half of its planets, continued to send envoys from time to time.

Each time they attempted to negotiate a peaceful end to the war.

And yet their Guardian had not stepped onto the battlefield even once until today.

Of course...

Their proposals had always been ridiculous.

The first time they approached him, their Guardian demanded that Caesar completely halt his expansion and return every planet he had seized from anyone during the last two hundred years. The request was so absurd it almost felt like a performance.

A political gesture meant to make the Guardian appear heroic before the entire sector.

Naturally, Caesar rejected it immediately.

The second time they approached him, they proposed a non-aggression pact lasting one hundred thousand years. And once again Caesar refused.

Accepting such a pact would mean that for one hundred thousand years an enemy empire would remain inside the sector beyond his reach.

A threat that could grow, reorganize, and eventually strike again.

That was unacceptable. Then something changed.

After the Cosmic Elderʼs announcement, every message from the Seven

Thrones Empire suddenly began revolving around a different figure.

Lord Human.

Robin Burton.

Sometimes they requested that Lord Robin personally attend a meeting to establish a pact. Sometimes they demanded a personal oath from him.

Other times they merely asked for the opportunity to see him once.

To speak with him.

To confirm something.

But in the end...

Lord Robin had absolutely no need to entertain these fools.

And Caesar had no intention of using his fatherʼs name as a weapon to pressure them either.

Let them exhaust themselves thinking however they pleased.

Let them speculate.

Let them hope.

In the end, the conclusion would still be the same.

He would subdue them the old way.

Through war. ”Hmm~”

Caesar gazed silently for a long moment at the magnificent view spreading before him beyond the window. Orbiting defense platforms glowed faintly in the sky.

Cargo fleets moved slowly across the distant horizon.

Far beyond the city, the planetʼs rings shimmered under the distant starlight. ”Renara... oh Renara...”

A faint smile appeared on his lips. ”When exactly do you intend to break through and relieve me of this burden?”

Then- ”Heh~”

Caesar let out a soft sigh and lowered his gaze toward the old tome resting on his desk.

Its worn cover carried a single title written in faded letters:

He opened the tome again.

And resumed reading.