The Girl Who Fell from the Polar Star

guess you can call them ‘Beck’s Regiment’ or something.” Beck grinned, scratching his head.

“B-Beck’s Regiment, you say?”

“Yeah.
You know, like Gard’s Regiment, but Beck’s.
Look at them, so well-equipped and well-armed.
Don’t they inspire confidence? I’m making them work on the crops while we train.
They’re turning out all right, if I do say so myself!”

Beck’s subordinates.
Twenty Beck clones.
Beck was Stella’s property.
By extension, so were they.
Twenty-one Becks.
Stella’s head swam.
Beck, Beck Two, and Beck Three ran up to help her with worried expressions.

“A-Are you all right?!”

“Someone call a doctor!”

“She needs medicine, you idiot! Someone go get medicine!”

“Medicine, gotcha! But what medicine?”

“Heck if I know, dumbass! Just get all of them! One of them’s gotta work!”

If I listen to these idiots for one more second, I’ll die.
Massaging her temples, Stella regained her feet.
“I’m fine,” she forced herself to say.
“I just glimpsed into my own future, and what I saw was shocking.
But I’m fine.
Totally fine.”

Stella tried her best to keep Beck and his regiment outside her field of view.
He doesn’t mean to recruit more, does he? Dread consumed her.
A thousand Becks, hunkering down every day in front of the store.
Merely imagining it was physically painful.
She needed to have a serious conversation with Mace about this.

“Are you sure? I can give you a piggyback ride home!”

“I would very much appreciate it if you would not do that,” Stella said.
“Anyway, Beck, if these men are under your command, make sure you educate them properly.
As their leader, you’re responsible for their mistakes.
Never forget that.”

“Y-Yes, ma’am! Of course!”

“Good.
Let’s get going, then.
But don’t walk too close to me.
I can’t stand the sight of— I mean, the heat.
I can’t stand the heat.”

Beck nodded eagerly, then turned to his men and yelled, “You heard her, boys! Our mistress is heading home! Spread out and form a safety circle!”

“Yessir!”

“Is that the best you got? I can’t hear you!”

“Yessir!”

Maybe this squad of his wasn’t so bad.
Each man was an extra meat shield or errand boy she could use, and they’d get their wages from the Company.
But Beck was acting quite cocky for someone who had never been in command.
Depending on how things went, Stella might have to put him in his place again.
Otherwise he might get carried away and do something stupid at the most inopportune time, as he tended to do.

Beck approached Stella.
“Uhm, ma’am.
May I ask you something?”

“What is it?”

“What’re you gonna do next?”

“Your question is too vague.
And I hate talking about myself.
Didn’t I mention it?”

“P-Pardon, ma’am! I was just wondering about, uh .
.
.
what you’re gonna do now.”

“You just said the exact same thing with different words.
You never change, do you, Beck?”

“T-Thanks, ma’am,” Beck said, grinning like an idiot.

“It wasn’t a compliment.” Stella sighed, but this had been an amusing exchange, so she decided to entertain his question.
“For now, I’ll keep working on training my body and magic abilities.
I’ll keep collecting any humans I find interesting.
I’ll renovate the store, including the living quarters, and improve its defenses.
I also want to visit nearby villages and watch the people there as they go about their daily lives.
Other than that, if Marie’s restaurant turns out to be a success, I’ll consider opening branch stores in nearby towns.
Oh, and I want my own crop field.
A real one, not something small like the one we have in the backyard.” Stella wanted to be self-sufficient.
With a reliable food source at hand, she’d be able to overcome most problems life could throw at her.

“Ma’am, is that really necessary? You have money, so can’t you just buy food?”

“Well, but what if there’s no food to buy? You should really use your head sometimes.”

“Ohhh! That makes a lot of sense, actually!”

Did he really get it or is he just agreeing loudly for effect?

“As for my longer-term goals, I want to maintain stability in the West District and put an end to the chaos of the South District before it becomes a problem.
If Mace rises to power, it’ll facilitate my plans.
I wonder if he can actually do it.”

“Mr.
Mace, rising to power? But how?”

“Figure it out yourself.”

Taking Stella’s dismissive reply to heart, Beck crossed his arms, creased his brow, and started to think.
His men followed suit.
Stella kept her distance.
Their stupid might be contagious.

The problem is, will Mace dare to depose Greggs and take his place? I have a feeling he won’t.

Mace lacked a leader’s charisma, but he was a good negotiator and knew how to turn a profit.
If he wouldn’t take Greggs’s place, maybe Stella could put him there.
He might fail, in which case the Company would be in shambles, but then Stella could put someone else in his place and let the Orson Family deal with restoring it.
She could even fake Mace’s death and hide him for a while.

Stella wanted to keep to the shadows as much as possible.
Becoming vice president of the Company would allow her to act more freely, but it would also be dangerous.
She would not die with a knife to her back if she could help it.
That was why she wanted capable bodyguards like Varrell and Typica.

Apollo would eventually replace his father as head of the Orson Family.
He was an idiot, and judging from his constant advances, he probably had a thing for Stella.
She would never pick him as the father of her future child, but it might be worth keeping him as a friend.
His face was funny.

Apollo had been acting much more confident since recent events.
He really was an idiot, but unlike Mace, his personality was oddly magnetic.
That was probably why his father hadn’t disowned him yet.

Apollo peed himself in public and only got a few bruises for it.
Does his father believe in his potential, or is he just overly fond of his son?

“Anyway, we’ll be busier than ever now, so value your time accordingly,” Stella said.

“Y-Yes, ma’am.
I’ll do the best I can.”

“Know that the world doesn’t stop and wait while you’re wasting time.
Pay close attention to what’s happening in this continent.
If we don’t have any knowledge of which places will become dangerous when, we’re not going to survive this war.
That’s why it’s important to trade information with other merchants.
Should worst come to worst, we need to be ready to leave town at a moment’s notice.
That means we need supplies hidden in secure locations, an escape route, and a place to lay low and hide—and we need to make these arrangements as soon as possible.
If you learn anything important, report to me immediately.”

There were many, many things to do.
Besides, Stella had herself and her minions to worry about.
She wouldn’t settle for collecting them and letting them gather dust.
Life never stopped still.
They would grow for as long as they lived, and Stella would accompany that process until the day she was dead.
As for what would happen after, she didn’t care.
That was a problem for the next generation.
Action, action, nonstop action.
Then death.

“Yes, ma’am! You’re so smart, though.
Me, I’m too dumb to think that far ahead.”

Stella glared at him.
“You give up too easily.
That’s why you’re such a Beck.
If you can’t think that far ahead, figure out how to do so.
If you need knowledge, find someone who can give it to you.
If you realize that you’re dumb, work every day to change that.
I have better things to do than listen to the idle complaints of lazy scum.”

Beck groaned sheepishly.
“I get what you’re saying, but .
.
.”

“If you get it, then do something.
You’re now in charge of a sorry group of twenty men.
Twenty lives, riding on your every decision.
One misjudgment is all it takes.
You can’t afford to be an idiot anymore, Beck.
Being in charge means being responsible for those under your charge.
If you don’t know what you’re doing, you better ask someone for pointers as soon as possible.
Now, did you get what I just said or do I need to nail it into your head?”

Stella grabbed the flustered Beck by the front of his shirt.
With her low physical strength, it was mostly a symbolic gesture, but paired with a death stare, it had the desired effect.
Beck nodded desperately with tears in his eyes.
“I-I understand! Ma’am!”

“Do you know why I care about the affairs of this town and this continent?” Stella continued without releasing him.
“Because while disaster may strike at any moment, I can try to predict it and take precautions.
I won’t always be right—but doing something is better than doing nothing at all.”

“But, ma’am, are things really that bad .
.
.
?”

“This town is currently under an illusion of stability.
It’s a house of cards just waiting to collapse.
Look outside and you’ll see.”

“A-An illusion?”

“I want to die old, and to always have someplace safe to call home.
And since I want these things, I’ll make them happen.
When I die, I don’t want to regret a thing.
Do you?”

“N-No, ma’am!”

“Then grow up.
You’re a human, just like me, so I’m sure it’s possible.
I work hard every day.
Can you blame me for expecting at least some of the same from you?”

Stella released Beck’s shirt, her throat parched from talking more than she was used to.
She didn’t wait for an answer, but immediately turned around and resumed walking.
If my words make a difference, it’ll have been worth it, Stella thought, but she doubted they would.
People rarely changed.
Rarely, but not never.
Maybe she could count on the unlikely for a change.
Humans were supposed to have hopes and dreams—or so she’d heard.

Beck pumped his fists into the air.
“All right, men! Starting tomorrow, we’re gonna work our asses raw! Let’s show our mistress what we’re made of!”

“Yessir!”

It was just like Beck to start tomorrow instead of today.
Well, if humans could change that easily, life would be a lot simpler.