Ancient Battleship (5)
The Precursor Empire that survived from the Dark Age has dispatched agents to destroy the vessel that has appeared this time.
They entered alongside special forces from their descendants, the Kerzin Federation, and even after every last special forces operative assigned as their escort was wiped out, they continued to pour themselves into the task.
But you succeeded in interfering with their plans.
With their scheme thrown into disarray by your hand, the Precursor Empire’s favorability toward you and your empire has decreased by a fixed amount.
Precursor Empire favorability toward the Holy Sevelian Empire: -5% for 5 years
The moment I saw that damned event message, I was seized by the desperate hope that maybe—just maybe—I could reverse this situation.
Something like the save-load technique I used to abuse all the time in my past life’s game, for instance.
Unfortunately, this cursed world hadn’t given me anything resembling a save-load function.
No, it hadn’t given me most of the UI features that came to mind at all. And the ones that did exist were so thoroughly stripped of any concern for user convenience that, in practice, the only thing I ever used was the pause button…
This is some real bullshit.
I silently hurled every curse I knew at both that reality and the rotten event message that slapped a debuff on me without even offering a choice, then drew in a long breath and let it out.
“Haaah…”
I called for Meteorn, who would be waiting on the other side of the screen.
“Meteorn. You can take that high-and-mighty prisoner away now.”
-“Yes, Minister.”
“…And is there anything else you need to report?”
-“Nothing, sir.”
“Good. Then report again only when the situation develops.”
-“Understood, Minister.”
-Communication terminated
The moment the line cut off—
“Haaaaaah… goddamn it.”
I spat the curse that came out with my sigh, rose weakly from my seat, and trudged toward the break room.
“Nyeow, good work, yeah.”
“Aren’t you looking forward to how things are going to unfold from here, Riel?”
“Minister, if you drop the ball in a situation like this, the empire’s going to be in a whole lot of trouble, yeah.”
Of course Riel wasn’t wrong, so even as I flopped onto the bed I made sure to carve her words deep into my heart.
And then the next morning arrived.
Wanting to deliver a proper regular report on that ancient vessel, I visited the imperial palace with Riel for the first time in a while.
More precisely, Artraia’s private chambers inside the palace.
Once again the burly imperial guards delivered us straight to her rooms…
-Whoosh whoosh whoosh.
Artraia was wearing yet another unfamiliar dress, seated at the head of her private chamber and busily processing approvals while staring intently at something.
“Mm, did we come at a bad time?”
“Ah, you’re here? It’s not like that, so just sit and wait a moment.”
As if to prove her words true, Artraia began tearing through the mountain of approval documents at a blistering pace.
-Beep-beep-beep!
“Ah!”
In the middle of it all I was treated to the spectacular sight of her enormous personality-and-maternity pouches smashing the terminal screen and randomly mashing approvals left and right.
“….”
Right after that, Artraia’s expression stiffened slightly. She made a call somewhere.
“Yeah, it’s me. The three documents that just got approved—cancel them and send them again.”
Watching her freely exercise the power of an empress, I felt a tiny spark of envy.
When I mess up an approval I have to clean it up myself without any mercy…
It was a perfect demonstration of what an empress’s cheat map looked like, and I felt the difference between sovereign and subject with painful clarity.
A short while later—
“Augh, finally done. You waited a long time, didn’t you?”
Having cleared the considerable pile of documents, Artraia casually tossed the terminal onto the opposite sofa while looking at us sitting properly on the couch.
Seeing her easygoing manner, I shrugged.
“Nah, it didn’t take that long.”
“That’s right, yeah. We basically sat down the second we got here.”
When Riel chimed in with perfect timing, Artraia let out a small laugh and the atmosphere lightened a little.
“So, what report made you contact me, Arto?”
“Ah, right.”
Not wanting to lose the mood, I carefully recalled and organized every single detail I had memorized and noted down, then reported it all to Artraia without omission.
“And then there… umm…”
“Kerzin special forces, yeah.”
“The Kerzin special forces popped out, you see.”
Whenever my memory got a little fuzzy, Riel smoothly supplied the hint from beside me.
Thanks to her flawless support, I succeeded in delivering every scrap of information I possessed to Artraia in a perfectly tailored, eye-level briefing.
“…Hoooo.”
As a result, the bright atmosphere from moments ago vanished without a trace.
Faced with the fact that we now had a delightful, thrilling, heart-pounding tense relationship with the Precursor Empire, Artraia wore a face full of worry and sank into deep thought.
“Arto… is this really going to be okay?”
“…I don’t know.”
Honestly, I didn’t think the situation looked good either.
How much worse must it feel for Artraia?
But feeding her false reassurance would only turn into a bigger snowball that would crush both me and the empire later.
After my own internal debate, I chose the empire’s future over Artraia’s mood and spoke accordingly.
Artraia knew that too, so even though I had instantly ruined the pleasant atmosphere, she said nothing.
Still, the possibility that we might end up fighting the Precursor Empire before we even faced the Prosnark seemed to weigh on her; the worry refused to leave her lovely face.
But then—
-Ding♪
“…Hm.”
“What is it, Arto?”
“The investigation team I sent to that ancient vessel earlier. They’re calling in with something to report.”
I said that and was about to cut the terminal connection—after all, I couldn’t take a report from my subordinates while speaking with the empress—when—
“Isn’t it good news that made them call? You told them yourself to report when the situation developed.”
“Mm.”
“I’m curious too… Ah, I know. Just take it right here!”
Whether Artraia was simply curious about the situation or wanted to try that “communication with the frontline troops” thing politicians from egalitarian nations loved to do, I couldn’t tell.
Whatever the reason, she demanded the call, so I nodded and looked at Riel.
“You heard her, Riel? Go connect the screen to the terminal.”
“…If you’re going to do this, bring some maintenance techs next time, yeah.”
Riel grumbled, but she faithfully carried out the request.
A moment later—
-Crackle… beep!
“Done, yeah.”
“That’s our Riel.”
“You really did well, Riel. You put up with so much because of Arto.”
Toward Riel, who had connected the communication gear to the enormous wall-mounted display installed in the empress’s private chambers, I poured out praise while Artraia simply scooped her up like a little teddy bear and hugged her tight.
Watching Riel enjoy what was basically the ultimate heavenly reward, I felt something resembling jealousy toward her for the first time in my life.
“Don’t do this, yeah. I can’t breathe.”
“Ahn.”
Our Riel, with her elementary-schooler personality and her orientation that could have been either heterosexual or asexual, showed zero appreciation for the texture of Artraia’s big maternity pouches.
Instead she brazenly grabbed those enormous maternal cushions with both hands, squeezed them upward, and focused entirely on extracting her buried head.
The sight filled my head with completely unnecessary thoughts, so I shook them off with a vigorous head-shake.
“Artraia, then I’ll start now.”
“…Augh, okay.”
I pressed the terminal that kept blinking for the report. The giant screen occupying one wall of the private chamber lit up, then went dark, then brightened again—
And there stood a Purge Squad member covered in blood and some unidentifiable filth.
Without even wiping the blood from his face, the Purge Squad member beamed a radiant smile at the screen and declared:
-“Minister! We have finally succeeded in seizing control of this vessel!”
Behind the cheerfully laughing, even-waving Purge Squad member, Prosnark marines and other Purge Squad members appeared and seemed to be holding a welcome celebration. It was, in many ways, a complete mood-killer.
Normally I would have just laughed it off, but—
“Hold it. Her Majesty the Empress is watching this transmission right now.”
-“Ah.”
The problem was that Artraia was sitting right beside me watching the exact same feed.
The moment they heard me, the Purge Squad members hastily cut the connection.
But Artraia had already seen everything. She simply fixed me with a very complicated stare.