I was building a shopping mall.
Or perhaps "public shopping district" was a more accurate term.
To prevent people from dying due to price gouging, essential goods were sold through government-authorized stores.
I let the food stalls handle everything else freely.
I kept the economy moving by funneling work through the Kamishiro Group to trading companies, and from there to various manufacturers... basically, I threw jobs at every surviving business I could find.
I cleared the rubble from ruined warehouses and lined up shipping containers to create logistics hubs.
I hurriedly constructed a fleet of refrigerated warehouses to secure the food supply.
Even though I was the Grand Duke, I was working like an exploited employee at a black company.
Why was this my life?
Meetings, every single day.
Claire and her team were also rushing around, trying to rebuild the regional planets.
Naturally, the concept of overtime didn't exist for us.
I'd get contacted in the middle of the night under the assumption that since all the executives lived at my house, they could just reach me whenever.
Some kind of trouble cropped up every single day.
And that was actually the case.
My house was filled with Space Marine barracks-spec bunk beds for Isono, Nakajima, and Eddie.
Their own homes were little more than warehouses.
Between the mess tins, barbecue grills, and charcoal braziers, my house was packed with outdoor cooking equipment.
I mean, come on—on the weekends, we had the brats from Isono & Nakajima's Baseball School and the brats from Eddie's Swordsmanship School showing up. Then the Ogre God Nation police would catch runaway kids living on the streets and bring them over too.
For some reason, a dinner party—well, more of a barbecue—was held every time, including the neighbors.
Ha-san and her group would come over and cook up a storm.
It was unclear if this actually improved public order, but most of the delinquents who attended these dinners seemed to end up joining the Chronos Army.
Whether they wanted to be cops or soldiers, I wasn't sure.
"If things get too hard, come back here. I'll give you work, and I'll at least keep you fed,"
I had told them.
And yet...
"No way. If I become the Grand Duke's lackey, I'll die from overwork."
Well, they weren't wrong, but still!
Is that really what they thought of me?!
An immediate reform of the labor system was necessary!
By the way, what was the actual labor classification for a Grand Duke?
A contractor? Self-employed? Freelance? A part-time government worker?
I had no idea.
Anyway, the major problem right now was a rash of attacks on automated logistics trucks.
Initially, there was a theory that human truck drivers were the culprits, but when I asked the association, they denied it.
They were so short-handed that they said, "There isn't anyone left who has the time to complain about something like automated driving!"
When I investigated properly, it turned out a group of youths from outside my territory had armed themselves and were hijacking the trucks.
Right. Time for some "educational guidance."
I grabbed my usual compression wooden sword and headed for their hideout.
It was the site of a half-collapsed warehouse.
I pulled out a training rocket launcher.
The kind with a small explosion.
"Good morning!"
Kaboom!
I led with a single shot.
"Wha-wha-wha-wha! What! What happened?!"
The delinquents came scrambling out.
I readied my wooden sword.
"Teacher, is the Grand Duke strong?"
For some reason, Eddie was there with the children, watching the show.
"Hmm. He's so strong it's almost pitiful for his enemies."
Crack!
I hit one of the idiots for a home run.
"As expected of Big Brother Leo!"
"Truly a legend!"
"Hyah-ha! I want to fight Big Brother again!"
The Ogre God Nation police officers watched with admiration.
Do your damn jobs, you bastards!
"You! Don't mess with us! You're a King, aren't you?! We're just kids!"
"Shut up already! I'm only nineteen years old, you morons!"
To begin with, there was only a two or three-year age gap between these guys and me.
"I've been at war since I was seventeen, you idiots! You spoiled brats!"
"Gyaaah! The King is here!"
"I'm not letting you get away! If you lose to me, you're joining the army! It's a promise!"
"There's nothing in it for us—gyaaah!"
Thwack!
Well, I was beating them to a pulp, but I did understand why they stole supplies.
They were struggling to eat.
But still, robbery and reselling were unacceptable.
I was going to beat some sense back into them.
"E-Escape on the bikes..."
"You're not going anywhere!"
Crash!
I smashed their motorcycles to bits.
"S-Shoot!"
Ah, they pulled out guns.
I see. That's the attitude we're taking, is it? Fine!
"Aim for my head properly!"
I pointed at my own forehead.
"Uwaaaaah!"
The moment they fired, I dodged and caught the bullet.
It was a party trick made possible by my military-grade gloves.
"You're te-rri-ble! You can't even hit me!"
"Gyaaah! He dodged a handgun!"
Then, a child's voice came through Eddie's communication channel.
A girl, maybe?
"Hey, hey, teacher, can the Grand Duke really catch bullets? Can you do it too, Eddie-sensei?"
"Yeah. Everyone in our squad can do it, even the girls."
"Wow!"
This time, a boy's voice spoke, sounding completely hyped up.
"Soldiers are so cool! I'm gonna join the army!"
Eddie, man...
Don't go giving the kids bad influences!
Anyway, even without resorting to an Iron Fist Sanction, they surrendered after I spent some time playing with them using my wooden sword.
No backbone at all.
If this were Katori-sensei, she would have kept going, saying, "You've still got energy left, don't you? Come on, let's keep going!"
I dropped into a delinquent squat in front of the boy who was the leader—though there was only about a year between us.
I hit him with my Menchi Beam.
I silenced him with my eyes and sheer murderous intent.
"Now then, who's the mastermind? The Pirate Guild?"
If it were the Pirate Guild, I'd head over there and beat them into the ground directly.
"N-No! It's, uh..."
I gave him an Iron Claw.
"Gyaaah! I'll talk! I'll talk! ...It's Master Ton."
"Ton?"
Ah! That guy! The wholesaler!
The man who had been buying up goods on a massive scale.
...I see.
Thinking about it calmly, these brats wouldn't have the connections to fence the supplies even if they stole them.
But if it were a wholesaler... checking the ledgers... ah, right. In the midst of all this chaos, it would be easy to hide.
...That bastard... I'll kill him.
"Master Ton said he's going to gather delinquents and form an organization."
"Understood. You guys are done with this life."
"But! We have nowhere else to go..."
"What are you talking about? From today on, the army is your hometown. Welcome, brother."
I gave him a bright smile.
The moment I did, they tried to bolt like rabbits... but I caught them.
The others were promptly rounded up by the police.
"Now then, time to pay a visit to that bastard Ton."
I parted ways with Eddie and the kids to launch my raid.
Hahaha!
Master Ton's company was based in a warehouse.
I fired a rocket launcher into it.
"Wha-What the hell, you moron!"
A bunch of punks appeared, the kind who clearly had no excuses for their behavior.
"Good morning."
I silenced them with a punch.
"Hey now, Mr. Ton. You've gone and dragged my name through the mud!"
I grabbed the collar of Ton, a fat man with gaudy, nouveau riche tastes.
"Gya! G-Grand Duke! No way! Why are you here?!"
"It's not a lie, you piece of trash! You're the one who had them steal the supplies! That was everyone's food!"
"H-Hieee! What happened to the Combat Heavy Machinery outside?!"
He was trying to communicate with his guards. Hahaha. What an idiot.
"Rikochi, how's it looking on your end?"
"Yes, I've destroyed everything."
The screen showed Rikochi lifting a pilot by the collar.
At her feet lay a Combat Humanoid Heavy Machinery—likely an illegal piece of surplus from the police—which had been sliced clean in half.
Rikochi's Urumi was terrifying!
Rikochi gave me a manly thumbs-up.
Behind her, another machine exploded.
"So, that's the situation. Any defense? I'll punch you if you lie."
"This was for the sake of the world and the peo—gyah!"
Grand Duke Punch!
"No point talking to him! Beat him to a pulp and haul him to the station! Please handle the interrogation!"
I tossed him toward the waiting police officers.
And thus, evil was vanquished.
At the time, I had no idea that I would later be the subject of a drama titled "The Unruly Grand Duke."