818  Medals


    The Imperial fleets, mobilized and on high alert, remained completely still for hours even after the new allies had departed. This inaction spoke volumes about the empire’s deep-seated mistrust of newcomers. Every movement, energy fluctuation, and spatial distortion within their monitored zones was being meticulously scrutinized.


    Only after ten hours had passed, with no abnormalities detected by any of the empire’s sensors, did the fleets finally begin to take action.


    The first sign of movement came from the emperor himself, issuing a direct command to reduce the empire''s situational readiness by three grades. This adjustment brought a visible shift in operations, as the fleets began to reorganize themselves into three distinct groups.


    The first group consisted of ships carrying the real bodies of the soldiers, positioned at the rear of the defensive line. These vessels began their journey back to Earth and Mars bases for recovery, where the soldiers would rotate out for well-deserved vacations.


    The second group was made up of ships housing the artificial bodies used by soldiers in combat. These ships were redirected to various strategic points across the solar system, where they would remain dormant until reactivated. Their purpose was to provide rapid response capabilities—should an incident requiring the Imperial Army’s intervention occur, the nearest ship would be activated and deployed immediately. While this plan had been on the empire’s agenda for some time, the emergence of powerful enemies accelerated its implementation. The empire’s recent overproduction of combat resources allowed this project to proceed ahead of schedule.


    Just as people often forget the sacrifices they promised to make during times of danger, or the fear they felt when facing the threat of colonization by the Astral Conclave, a small group latched onto these rumors. They pieced together loosely connected dots, convincing themselves they had uncovered a grand conspiracy, and began spreading the claims with fervor.


    However, the reaction from the majority of the public wasn’t what this small group had anticipated. Seeing how the emperor had personally risked his own life for the empire—a stark contrast to previous leaders who waged wars driven by hatred, pride, or greed while sending others'' children to die as they stayed safe in their luxurious homes—elicited a different response. For the first time in human history, the majority of the population agreed on the rationality of raising taxes to help recover the imperial economy. This unprecedented unity stemmed from the respect and trust the emperor had earned through his actions.


    Gaia, who had been closely monitoring the situation, couldn''t help but smile with satisfaction. All of these outcomes unfolded without her or any of the AIs needing to intervene in shaping public opinion—something Aron had ordered they begin reducing several years ago. This marked the first time a situation of such magnitude had been handled without any external influence.


    She had been fully prepared to issue an announcement clarifying that there were no plans to raise taxes, as all the extra funding had come from the imperial family and a reserve fund built from years of consecutive budgetary surpluses. Gaia had planned to step in the moment public opinion began to skew negatively. However, to her relief, there was no longer any need for such an announcement.


    That was only if you looked at the situation from the perspective of the humans on Earth. For those in Proxima Centauri, however, this wasn’t even a topic of discussion. For them, even a fifty percent increase in taxes would not have sparked complaints. They viewed the emperor and the empire as a second parent—one who had yet to exploit them for selfish gain. As long as such a betrayal didn’t happen repeatedly, they would continue to trust the emperor wholeheartedly, without hesitation.