Planet Nomeka, in a luxurious property in the city of Flaren.

  In an extremely luxurious private mansion, matching a similarly sumptuous hall, elaborately designed chandeliers emitted a soft yellow light that illuminated every corner.

  The high walls cast deep shadows over the soft rugs, and as one crossed the luxurious handcrafted carpet, it was impossible not to notice the valuable paintings on the walls, all priceless masterpieces.

  This place belonged to the Nomeka family on the planet of the same name, a property inherited by generations of the Nomeka Grand Dukes, serving as the residence of the family’s head.

  This hall was a symbol of glory and splendor, and its decoration would be considered extravagant even by most nobles.

  After all, the Nomeka family was one of the sixteen oldest Grand Duke houses of Astralis.

  The very planet bore its name, and within it, the Nomeka family was unquestionably the "royalty," with its leader being an emperor in practice.

  In this place, even the Royal Court of Astralis, the “supreme government” in theory, did not have as much influence as the Nomekas.

  However... that night, which would surely keep many people awake, the current head of the family, Klein Nomeka, the “youngest Grand Duke,” was not, as usual, sitting on the throne at the center of the hall admiring his title.

  Instead, he was receiving from his personal secretary a brand-new, fine pocket computer.

  And the contents of this computer were clearly not the popular “tower defense” game...

  “Confidential report? Are you telling me that the 'decorative army' Astralis maintains on my planet went into action during the night? Why would they have to... disturb the peace in the middle of the night? Did some stupid commander decide to go out with an imperial army troop to have some fun? This is too much. I’ve been generous enough by allowing those court dogs to stay at my house. Couldn’t they at least be a little quieter?”

  Frowning as he typed a twenty-digit password on the holographic screen, Klein muttered to his beautiful, reserved secretary beside him.

  Looking only seventeen or eighteen, the young duke clearly did not enjoy being woken up in the middle of the night to deal with administrative matters.

  Even with all the power in his hands, and even being woken up by his most trusted secretary, it didn’t make him any less irritated.

  Moreover, what had happened that night was clearly not just some drunken commander causing trouble...

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  “I recommend that Your Grace pays close attention to this case. According to our intelligence department, the movement of the Astralis Military Group stationed on Nomeka was an operation to capture an ‘enemy.’ They devised the plan without notifying the family council, but we were able to obtain the data anyway.”

  Pointing to the computer in his hands, the secretary, with almost mechanical appearance, did not respond to the criticisms or offer unnecessary opinions.

  She was simply doing her duty, highlighting the importance of the information.

  Meanwhile, Klein’s device already displayed the “top-secret” content that had cost so much for intelligence to obtain.

  “Wow, what a beautiful girl. I can guarantee that no noblewoman I’ve ever seen has more presence than her. If possible, I’d like to have her as my partner at the next ball, that way I won’t have to pretend to be a gentleman to deal with those spoiled, chatty ones...”

  He murmured as he skimmed through the report.

  “So the imperial forces even deployed battleships on the street just to... capture her? Is she the daughter of some rebel leader?”

  Talking to himself as usual, Klein continued flipping through the data. This habit of talking alone helped him think more clearly, or at least, that’s what he believed.

  But there are things that even a “clear” mind can’t resolve. Some revelations are shocking even to a Grand Duke.

  Upon seeing the detailed data about the so-called “beautiful girl,” the always calm Klein suddenly stood up from his chair, visibly surprised.

  “Alice Seraphio? Illegitimate daughter of the Seraphio clan? And she’s still a Ghost Summoner? A... Legendary Reverse Entropy Bearer??? What the hell! Why did something like this have to happen on my territory... I’ve barely taken over as the head of the family, and already I’m facing such a disaster... This is way too problematic! Every time a Ghost Summoner shows up, it’s a bloodbath! And every time the empire faces an Entropist, even with all its resources, they only win by luck with catastrophic losses! And now one of these... ‘creatures,’ a walking disaster, is on my planet? This... this... this…”

  With wide eyes, he voiced his thoughts aloud, after all, he was still just a young leader, lacking the experience to handle such a crisis.

  Ghost Summoner, Reverse Entropy Bearer... Those unfamiliar with the behind-the-scenes realities would believe that the Sixteen Nobles and the Court of Astralis were “united” to capture and study these creatures. At first glance, discovering an Entropist would be cause for celebration.

  But in practice, these seventeen seemingly united powers were independent, and all of them hoped that this “valuable test subject” would appear in someone else’s territory, never in their own domains.

  Although years of research on “Entropists” by the empire had not brought practical results, the destructive potential of a Ghost Summoner was already widely known.

  They faced armies head-on, disappeared into crowds, were masters of assassination—living on a floating battleship was no guarantee of safety. Having something like that loose on your territory was intolerable.

  For the unlucky Grand Duke Nomeka, however, the existence of a Ghost Summoner was just the beginning. For the next piece of information given by his secretary was even more disturbing.

  “Sir Klein Nomeka, I regret to inform you that there’s another bad piece of news: this operation is being carried out by the ‘Astralis Special Operations Group,’ and the person ordering the mission is the imperial family itself. In other words, the Court of Astralis is already aware of the Ghost Summoner, and Her Majesty, the Queen of Astralis, sent an official communication just ten minutes ago, stating her intention to dispatch the Third Imperial Legion to Nomeka to ‘assist’ Your Grace in capturing or eliminating the dangerous Entropist... How should we respond, Sir Klein?”