Why Don't the Two of You Bond? (2)
Of course, not everyone believed it right away.
"A story like that could be spun up like a novel any time, couldn't it?"
"We're talking about a ship and its administrator that have been operational for hundreds of thousands of years. Fabricating something similar would be child's play."
There were those who dismissed it as nothing more than an entertaining fabrication.
"It's just a ploy by an abominable intelligence to hide its true nature."
"A living being that can endure for hundreds of thousands of years? How common is that supposed to be?"
Even setting aside the hardcore AI-hating faction that stubbornly insisted the administrator was nothing more than an abominable intelligence wearing the name "biological core"…
"Arto, do you really think what she said is true?"
"Hmm."
The very person who had ordered the administrator brought to the Empire was already questioning her words. That said everything.
The journey of the Leviathan-class Super Dreadnought after its excavation was a continuous string of situations straight out of a movie.
What other capital ship and its operator in the entire galaxy would ever go through something that spectacular?
I could trust it because the event message itself had certified the administrator's words as true…
But I couldn't exactly force Artraia and everyone else who couldn't see the status window to believe it just because I said so.
"If the Minister tells them to believe, there are probably hundreds of millions of people in the Empire who'd drop to their knees and believe with holy reverence, you know."
"That's not what we're talking about right now, Riel."
So I shut Riel's nonsense-spouting mouth and started thinking about how to make the administrator's testimony credible to Artraia and the rest of the chronic skeptics.
After mulling it over, I summoned the brains of the Foreign Executive Ministry for a brainstorming session.
And the solution to the problem came from a truly unexpected place.
"Small fleshling, haven't you already prepared the answer to this problem yourself?"
"What do you mean, Alina?"
"During the Warlord's uprising, didn't you take one of that force's fleet admirals, his flagship, and his soldiers as prisoners?"
"Ah."
"Had you forgotten, small fleshling?"
Just as Alina said, I currently had in my possession the admiral of the Warlord's Keshik fleet—the very one that had been ravaging the allied fleets with mobile warfare on the southern front.
"Oh! Then we can just ask that admiral to check whether the administrator's story is true!"
"Exactly as the small quantum core says, small fleshling."
I nodded at that and demanded information on where the Keshik admiral was and what he was doing.
Our super AI, Miss Alina, dug through every communication in the Empire in a matter of seconds and reported the status of the admiral I had completely forgotten even existed…
"Currently, that admiral is making money from publishing royalties on autobiographies based on his experiences, titles such as I Was a Warlord's Admiral and Everything About Fleet Maneuver Warfare."
"…Huh?"
"Furthermore, thanks to the Minister leaving him his flagship and vessels instead of confiscating them, he has even started a PMC business using those ships."
"…"
"As a result, he recently ranked number one among the highest taxpayers in that star system."
A man who, as a former Keshik of the Warlord's personal guard, had been little better than a pure space barbarian…
Now he was running a PMC as CEO and even publishing his own autobiography, thriving as a businessman.
"Contact him first and confirm whether anything matches the administrator's testimony."
"Understood, small fleshling."
I had Alina reach out under the pretense of an interview to gather evidence verifying the administrator's claims.
"In a way, he's more civilized than we are."
"…"
"Unlike the office slaves who do nothing but paperwork in the Foreign Executive Ministry every day, he's living a perfectly normal social life."
"…"
"Minister Arto, that barbarian admiral is a better member of society than you are."
"…"
"He's a better member of society than all of us!"
And so I spent the time putting down the rebellion of an enraged Riel and the office slaves, who were furious that a barbarian prisoner was enjoying a more civilized life than the high officials of the Empire.
Two days later.
I entered the Imperial Palace with the materials Alina had brought, intending to report to Artraia that the administrator's testimony was true.
Naturally, the administrator—who had been idly wiggling her toes with Riel inside the Foreign Executive Ministry—also accompanied us to the palace, curious to see whether her testimony actually carried any weight.
She had been quiet on the way in, but the moment we entered and no one else was nearby… she suddenly became extremely talkative.
"Arto."
"What is it?"
"There's something I'm curious about. Would you mind listening?"
At first I simply nodded, thinking it was only natural for someone who had just begun living a proper civilized life in a proper empire to have a lot of questions…
"Why is it that you and that… Artraia person do not bond with each other?"
"…"
"Pfft!"
I had never expected her to drop a statement that could easily spark a massive scandal and get me purged right to my face.
Leaving Riel making weird noises behind me, I stepped up to the administrator, placed a hand on her shoulder, and said,
"I have no idea what gave you that delusion, but Artraia… Her Majesty the Empress and I are absolutely not in that kind of relationship."
I put strength into the hand on her shoulder, silently pleading with her not to casually attempt to assassinate me via scandal.
"What? That can't be."
"…?"
"Didn't you notice how lovingly Artraia—no, the Empress—looks at you every single time she sees you?"
Completely ignoring my feelings, she continued her assassination attempt, so I hurriedly clamped a hand over her mouth and scanned the surroundings.
Fortunately no one was around. I released her mouth, let out a long sigh, and said,
"Just in case, I would prefer you avoid saying things like that in front of Her Majesty."
"Why? The first time we met I already spoke under the assumption that the two of you were in that sort of relationship…"
The administrator clearly did not understand my reaction at all…
"There is no way our Artraia would harbor those kinds of feelings for me."
"…"
"The idea of love blossoming between a sovereign and her subject… doesn't that sound like something that only happens in novels?"
When I stubbornly stuck to the "our dog doesn't bite… no, our Artraia would never do that" stance, I could feel the gazes Riel and the administrator were leveling at me grow extremely complicated.
"Hey, lend me your ear for a second."
"What is it?"
Our Riel then whispered the full situation into the administrator's ear…
"Ahh, so that's how it is?"
"Yep."
The administrator's expression became remarkably colorful as she focused on the explanation.
A moment later—
"I see. I have grasped the truth."
With an exaggerated gesture, the moment Riel finished speaking, the administrator's eyes began to sparkle even more brightly than a baby deer's.
At least she seemed to have come to her senses now.
I naturally led the two of them onward, opened the door to the private chambers where Artraia would be waiting, and stepped inside.
"Welcome, Arto. You brought quite a few people today?"
The first thing that greeted us upon entering was Artraia, dressed for some reason in a highly revealing fusion of a passionate dress and a military uniform.
"Well, we needed both the witness who could prove the interview was genuine and the person in question herself, didn't we?"
"Hmm… well, I suppose that's fine."
She had been the one to voice her doubts, yet now that I had brought the results she seemed completely uninterested. How typical.
Still, that didn't mean I could stop my report.
I diligently presented the testimony and the cross-verification that proved the administrator's words were true…
"…"
What's going on? Why is there no reaction at all?
I suddenly realized Artraia hadn't said a single word.
Pretending to look over the testimony materials, I casually shifted my gaze toward her.
What met my eyes was Artraia sitting with her legs crossed, stockings on, her leg line emphasized to an almost deliberate degree.
"Artraia?"
"What is it, Arto?"
At this point I had absolutely no idea what she had been thinking when she asked me to verify the truth of the administrator's testimony.