Oxianor's Combat Body

And just when the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠"loss" graph looked ready to overtake the gain graph—

Belial, who had sketched a "loss" graph that suddenly spiked in a violent surge, used her other puppets to keep the "gain" graph twisting in a crooked curve that rose and fell over and over.

Watching that striking pair of graphs, I found myself nodding without even meaning to.

In any case, my lingering doubts about employing the pirates had been cleared up.

After a proper rest and some time to reorganize, the next morning dawned. For reasons I couldn't begin to guess, Oxianor's chest had grown even larger than before, and we were already rushing out to handle the day's quests on her request.

Granted, the process wasn't entirely free of minor snags—like the self-proclaimed B-grade Ignis shedding tears of blood at the sight of Oxianor's chest and screaming with pure resentment in her voice:

"Why does the chest of something that used to be a man... get that big...?!"

Of course, when I tried to send not only Ignis, Belial, and Pashtura but Griyanaar and Partia as well, the two most normal people present—Belial and Jessica—voiced their concerns.

"Commander, even so, wouldn't it be better to leave at least one person behind at the base just in case?"

"I agree. The Pirate Coalition may have mostly withdrawn from this sector and the other factions' fleets are pulling back as well... but there's no telling what might happen next."

They had a point, so I decided to settle it with a lottery and leave one Super behind. Oxianor, who had been watching us the whole time, raised a hand and requested permission to speak.

Curious what the kaiju envoy could possibly have to say, I nodded and gave her the floor.

"I forgot to mention this earlier, but the body I currently inhabit... is a combat chassis Her Majesty sent specifically to protect you."

"...Huh?"

Oxianor was holding something long and bony—teeth or bone, I couldn't tell—as a makeshift cane. She lifted one chitin-covered hand over the biomaterial suit that was barely containing her newly ample chest and continued in that same calm tone.

"And naturally, Her Majesty also granted me combat knowledge through the synapse link, so..."

"Mm."

"Unless it is a large-scale assault by so-called SSS-grade Superhumans, I alone can protect you. You need not worry."

The moment those words left her mouth, her—no, her—status window bloomed right in front of my eyes.

The "All-Purpose" label sat there as if range meant nothing to her, and the traits packed into the window made it obvious she could freely reshape her body for combat—exactly what you'd expect from a kaiju. Looking at all that, I decided Oxianor was thoroughly reliable and casually sent the Superhuman friends who had been angling to stay behind out to farm some reward points instead.

Your order has arrived!

Of course, none of my Superhumans could see status windows, so a simple "Ah, I see" wasn't going to cut it. We only set out after running a proper "test."

I watched a swarm of unmanned drones that had appeared from nowhere clean up the training ground that the "test" had reduced to absolute chaos, then headed back to the command ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠center to check the quest window plastered with ultra-high-grade quests.

The moment I stepped inside, though—

"Ah, Commander!"

Jessica, who had decided there was no need for her to watch the "test" at the training ground and had come ahead to the command center, greeted me with her trademark rabbit ears bouncing.

She always welcomed me when I entered the command center, but today her greeting was noticeably brighter than usual. I asked her, in a tone that suggested something unusual must have happened:

"What's got you like this? Did ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠something happen?"

"Yes! Marianne says she caught the pirates who raided our resource warehouse, and she's on her way back right now!"

"Oh...?"

"She even managed to capture most of the raiders alive!"

"Ooooh?"

"She says she'll be back in about two hours and asked me to let you know."

The report that followed filled me with genuine, massive satisfaction.

Two hours and ten minutes after Jessica's report—

"So these are the bastards who dared raid our resource warehouse?"

"Oppa is right!"

Marianne was beaming, practically radiating a desire for praise. I ruffled her hair while turning my gaze toward the figures that looked like they were kneeling—

Wait a second. Where the hell are these bastards' arms and legs?

They weren't kneeling at all. Their legs had been severed below the knees, so they were simply sitting there. And what I'd taken for arms bound behind their backs were, for most of them, stumps cut off at the shoulders. Dozens of men and women of every species—humans, elves, and some unidentifiable aliens—had been lined up on the command center floor with all four limbs amputated.

I pointed at the sudden mass production of human (or elf, or whatever) maggots and, while still diligently petting Marianne's head, voiced my suspicion about why she had brought them like this.

More precisely, why she had packaged them in a "limb-severed" state.

"Marianne, by the way—why are they in that condition?"

"Oh, those pieces of trash?"

She glanced briefly at the maggot pile, then snapped her eyes right back to me with a proud little smile.

"Pretty good haul, right?!"

"...Mm."

"Their resistance was ridiculously stubborn, and some of them tried to escape while I was dragging them here!"

"So you just cut off all their arms and legs?"

"Yes!"

Faced with the full-body aura of I did good, right? Praise me! Pet me! pouring off Marianne, the only thing I could do was keep stroking her hair and gently squishing her cheeks.

After a thorough round of affectionate pinching as praise, Marianne finally started explaining why she had brought them.

"At first, when I heard they'd dared raid Oppa's resource warehouse, I was just going to kill them all."

At those words the former pirates—current maggots—flinched hard enough that their shoulders trembled. Neither Jessica nor any of the nearby pirate officers paid them the slightest attention, so I decided to ignore it too and kept listening.

"I see. But you brought them back alive for a reason, I'm guessing."

"Of course! I did rip their captain's spine out first, but... after thinking about it, I figured disposing of them should be Oppa's job."

"My job?"

"Yes. The resources that got stolen were Oppa's, and the guards who died in the process were Oppa's people too, right?"

I nodded that she had a point. Marianne clapped twice as if confirming her own brilliance and continued.

"These days losing a few limbs doesn't mean you can't just attach new ones, so I figured if I brought them like this, Oppa would put them to use however he wanted."

"Mm."

"Or you could just execute every last one of them as payment for the raid."

"...Mmm."

The title "Pirate Empress" clearly wasn't for show. The little-sister Superhuman vibe she usually had around us was gone without a trace, replaced by something cold and ruthless. A chill ran down my spine as I told her I understood.

And the moment those words left my mouth, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a long-absent sudden-choice event popped up right in front of me with a cheerful little chime.