The Beast Princess's Demand

To my considerable regret, even with the large ship facilities I'd finally built, the Fleet Point restrictions were so severe that constructing anything worthwhile was out of the question.

Like it or not, the moment the expedition fleet returned I intended to dismantle a portion of the ships—partly to free up some points, partly to reclaim whatever resources I could and ease the base's supply situation even a little.

The trouble was that even by the most optimistic estimate, more than a week remained until the expedition fleet came home.

I decided to start by building docking facilities first, so we'd be ready for whatever came next.

And roughly a week ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠later…

I stood welcoming a fleet that had formed up around a massive, magnificent kaiju bio-ship—every other vessel looking thoroughly battered and broken.

"We've just returned, Commander."

"Good work, Belial. You too, Pashtura, Partia."

"It was nothing… if only I could touch that magnificent body of yours, Commander… Aah♡"

"Being able to spread the Savior's grace across the cosmos was a joy in itself."

The superhumans must have endured quite the ordeal getting here. Their words were calm enough, but the exhaustion carved into their faces was plain to see as I greeted them.

"I apologize. I did everything I could to keep the ships intact, but…"

"It's not your fault. I know full well how the world works."

Even then Belial insisted on apologizing for failing to bring the fleet back whole. The moment I saw that self-reproach, I shook my head and cut her off cold—drawing a hard line that none of it was on her.

And no wonder. Even with Belial's command buffs active, even with the kaiju fleets intercepting the truly "dangerous" enemy formations early, the damage still far exceeded anything I'd expected. One look at the numbers made it obvious: the relentless enemy assaults during a VIP escort mission were perilous beyond measure.

Worse, just as the pre-update quest description had warned, the kaiju fleet escort hadn't lasted the entire way. Until they reached the resource-zone airspace crawling with pirate fleets, the hardships Belial's expedition had endured must have been unimaginably horrific.

That was why the quest had demanded over a hundred ships even though player fleets at this stage of the game rarely fielded more than a hundred and fifty to two hundred vessels total.

What the hell—half the fleet just vanished.

More than a hundred and twenty ships committed, and nearly fifty percent of that force had been literally annihilated. The only reason the shock wasn't worse was that I hadn't been watching the fleet situation continuously—I'd been busy handling other things in between. If I'd been staring at the feed in real time, watching half our combat power get ground into scrap… I had a feeling my mental state would have been ground down right along with it.

But that wasn't what mattered right now.

"Everyone did great. Go rest up for today."

"Understood."

"Haaaah♡ Finally getting some bath time after so long, Senior?"

"I am truly grateful for the Savior's grace."

I sent the three superhumans—who looked ready to collapse from exhaustion—straight to the rest area.

"Ohhh! So this is a Commander's base!"

"Princess, running about so wildly is dangerous."

With our superhumans' help, the kaiju side's VIP had finally made it all the way here. The kaiju princess who had introduced herself as Luka entered the command center under the escort of Oxianor, who had been serving as envoy.

Princess. Our princess. (3)

Once inside, Princess Luka darted around like an actual child, marveling at a Commander's command center and inspecting everything in sight. That didn't last long. From behind her, Oxianor extended a long tentacle from her bio-suit, snared the princess, and lifted ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠her clean off the ground until they were eye to eye—then scolded her in the calmest tone imaginable.

"Princess, we are here solely to reestablish our alliance with the Empress."

"Ugh… I-I know that! This lady is well aware!"

By pure "rank" in the setting, the gulf between them was heaven and earth—yet Princess Luka couldn't find a single rebuttal. She could only bob her head and concede the point.

Properly chastened by the TS'd Oxianor, Princess Luka finally approached me with a serious expression. Then she registered the height difference between us, and a look of pure dilemma flickered across her face as she tried to figure out how to handle a proper greeting.

Is she stuck because the height difference makes a formal greeting awkward?

In that brief moment no other explanation presented itself, so I figured the polite move would be to drop to one knee and match her eye ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠level. Before I could put the thought into action, though—

—Crrrk… Fwoosh!

"Mm!"

"…Hmm."

To my astonishment, our Princess Luka used the tail protruding from her rear together with the tentacles of her bio-carapace dress to hoist her entire body into the air—a genuinely remarkable sight. And thanks to that, I finally got a proper look at the princess whose features the long-range comms screen had been too grainy to show clearly.

Wow. She really is something else.

What I had taken for a "crown" wasn't a crown at all—it was a pair of horns rising from her head and reshaped into that form. Her eyes weren't ordinary human eyes like mine or the others'; either; they were golden vertical slits that immediately called reptiles to mind. The carapace dress itself was far more ornate and intricate than I'd imagined. Patterns too fine for the old low-res feed to capture, and what I'd dismissed as simple jewels turned out to be exquisitely grown scales that caught the light and shimmered in rainbow colors—fascinating enough on their own. But what truly stopped me cold were the large, beautiful eyeballs embedded throughout the dress, blinking every so often.

If I hadn't already seen Professor Griyanaar's nightmarish bio-research facility (seventy-five percent pirate and wild-kaiju content by volume), I probably would have gone past mere surprise and let out a full girlish scream right in front of the princess. As it was, I managed to keep the ugly reaction off my face even while looking startled—and that seemed to please her. Princess Luka nodded at me with clear satisfaction and spoke again.

"Hmph! Just as Oxianor reported, you appear to hold no prejudice against us whatsoever!"

"Ah—yes, well… yeah, that's right."

It wasn't that I had no prejudice so much as that I'd received an excessive amount of "early education," but pointing out every little detail like that would have been the ugliest ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠move possible. I quietly agreed.

Apparently that attitude pleased her even more. Princess Luka made another satisfied little gesture, then held out her hand and cut straight to her demands.

"I'll skip the preamble and speak plainly, Icarus!"

"Yes?"

"This lady wishes for you to arrange a proper meeting with the Pirate Empress, leader of the Pirate Coalition—and to establish a proper framework for future negotiations between us kaiju and her!"

The instant Princess Luka finished speaking, that familiar quest window updated once more right in front of my eyes.