Trust and Leave It to Them

"Everyone, you all know the Commander isn't the type to do something like that, right?"

"...Well, that's true enough."

"Of course he isn't."

Realistically speaking, the kaiju faction's suspicions hadn't arisen because of anything we had done wrong—myself included. Our superhumans quickly accepted the situation and threw themselves into earnestly debating what ought to be done about it.

Of course, I figured that friends who were essentially NPCs weren't about to produce any particularly solid ideas. So while they chattered away among themselves, I was honestly still deep in my own separate deliberations—

And right at that moment.

...What the hell is this for real?

Faced with a quest window that seemed to boldly call me out with a Hey, just trust your damn subordinates already, you idiot!, I felt a moment of genuine bewilderment.

...Come to think of it, it's not entirely wrong.

Judging that there wasn't any major problem with it, rather than overthinking things any further, I decided I might as well listen to what our people had to say—and sweetly collect those event reward points while I was at it.

And in the midst of all this, Ignis stopped mid-conversation, turned her head toward me, and asked:

"Commander, but why isn't Marianne participating in this?"

I told ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her that if she did, Oxianor would end up turned into raw octopus sashimi by Marianne and the pirate uncles, and asked them to just hurry up and compile their opinions already.

While Icarus, compelled by the quest, kept silent and simply watched them—telling them to hold a meeting for about an hour or two—the four superhumans who had emerged from his gacha(...?), Ignis, Belial, Pashtura, and Griyanaar, decided to discuss how best to resolve this matter.

They entered the conference room that Icarus himself had always regarded as mere "decoration," and began exchanging opinions.

But while it outwardly took the form of a "meeting," once they actually stepped inside the conference room...

"In the end, our Commander has been working so hard on his own that he's become mentally exhausted enough to ask us for our opinions."

"Hmm... that's how we should see it."

"I agree. Sometimes even after waking up, he still looks so tired that I've seen him dozing off."

"It's just so pitiful...♡"

The four of them, not wanting to see their Commander suffer as the quest content described, quickly reached a conclusion on the meeting's fundamental premise.

"First, regarding the topic the Commander raised..."

"You mean dealing with the suspicions the kaiju forces are feeling?"

"Well, this is just my thought, but I think it'd be better to just come clean about it."

And that meant openly revealing the very thing Icarus had thought should never, under any circumstances, be disclosed.

Had Icarus himself been watching this, he would have wailed in pure despair—but unfortunately, due to the quest, he couldn't interfere with whatever the meeting decided. Beyond that, he couldn't even see how things were progressing at all.

So these superhuman-brained individuals poured every last scrap of their intellect—one hundred percent of it—into reaching the optimal conclusion, putting in maximum effooooort.

"Frankly speaking, is there even a need to hide this?"

"Pashtura's right. From those kaiju's perspective... it'd actually be far more plausible for them to believe the Commander has the entire Pirate Coalition under his command."

"I also believe Griyanaar is correct."

"Good that everyone agrees."

As the three expressed their agreement in turn, Belial nodded and tightened the black leather gloves she was wearing as she continued.

"As Griyanaar said, for reasons I don't fully understand... the mere fact that our Commander Icarus has the Pirate Coalition—more precisely, the Pirate Empress Marianne—under his command will clearly eliminate their suspicions entirely."

"But if we just say that outright, won't they refuse to believe us?"

Ignis raised a reasonably common-sense question in response to Belial's words.

"Well, if it really comes to that, we can just have that girl Marianne assume a thorough posture of submission before the Commander...♡"

"...Excuse me?"

Ignis looked utterly uncomprehending at Pashtura's somewhat ambiguous answer. At the same time, Belial also asked Pashtura if she had some method in mind.

"Just asking out of curiosity, but Pashtura—do you have some method regarding that?"

"Of course. But first, I'd like to hear your opinion, Belial♡"

Faced with Pashtura answering a question with a question, a vein popped out on Belial's forehead, hidden beneath the brim of her cap—but she managed to hold her temper, nodded, and answered.

"Is there any need to do anything special? Just show them the countless commissions the pirates have resolved for the Commander, along with the scenes we've been watching—that should be enough."

"But you must have felt that alone wasn't enough, which is why you asked us to fill in the gaps, right?"

"...You're not wrong. So what's your solution, then?"

At Belial's sullen expression, Pashtura chuckled and presented her "plan."

"Nothing special. Before she grew into what she is now... I made sure to give her some proper 'education' in advance."

"..."

"..."

"Ah. That."

The three women who heard Pashtura's words each reacted differently upon realizing what she meant. Regardless, Pashtura continued elaborating as she presented her "plan."

"Fortunately, that girl Marianne has held tremendous affection for our Commander from the very beginning...♡"

"Hmm."

"During the period when she was still growing, I gave her a little help in her efforts to serve the Commander♡"

"And after coming back here, I occasionally got some help and administered various drugs to her as well. Hmm."

"..."

"So if Oxianor and the kaiju refuse to believe our words..."

"...You're saying the 'Pirate Empress' will assume a posture of submission before the Commander, or something of that nature?"

At Belial's words that cut in at the end, Pashtura and Griyanaar reacted as if to say, you already ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠know, so why are you asking?

Faced with those two women—or rather, the combination of one mad scientist and one seductive nun—Belial could only shake her head.

And roughly in that manner, once the discussion of "verification" was wrapped up, their meeting proceeded with what could only be called smooth sailing.

"Looking at it this way... we could even use this opportunity to create a secret alliance between the pirates and the kaiju."

"That's true... it's a bit underhanded, but a method of cooperating behind the scenes while appropriately checking the other two factions seems rather decent♡"

"I think so too. Especially if we want to check the Earth Federation, the kaiju and pirates absolutely need to form an alliance."

"Correct. Just the number of Commanders belonging to the Earth Federation alone exceeds thirty-five thousand, doesn't it?"

Even simple numerical calculations were instantly spun out by the four of them as smoothly as flowing water, and solutions proposed accordingly.

Ignis, who was essentially a "warrior" specialized in close combat. And Pashtura, a pure long-range firepower character who devoted ninety percent of her intellect to loving the Commander and her firepower-obsessed tendencies. Even when parts they found difficult to articulate came up—the combination of Belial, a jack-of-all-trades, and Griyanaar, who was sharp as a tack, blasted through any bottlenecks and drove the meeting forward without hesitation.

As a result—setting aside various miscellaneous details—regarding the original purpose of this meeting, So how do we persuade the kaiju and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠resolve the trust debuff?, after bringing up additional opinions, combining them, and discussing everything again...

As expected of superhumans, it was faster than anyone could have imagined.

"Then let's finalize this as the opinion we'll present to the Commander."

"Yeah, looks good."

"I'm just in favor."

"Me too♡"

"Hmm, looking at the time... about twenty minutes ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠have passed."