Let Us Enjoy a Brief Peace
*** Honestly, though it had happened in a way no one had ever intended, several days had passed since the day I smacked my forehead in sheer disbelief upon hearing that we had very nearly plunged the Milano System into civil war.
“The return of the marines and chimera soldiers currently scattered across the region is proceeding smoothly.”
“Mm-hmm.”
“Also, as a result of the circumstances, Chairman Heisenberg was promoted to President of Milano-V in a vote that was moved ahead of schedule.”
“Oh, really? So should we start calling him President now?”
“No, the title 'President' can only be used for the head of a planetary system government — for a planetary government, the proper term is simply 'President' of that single planet.”
“Ohh.”
“It would be similar to how the Empire generally uses the word 'Governor' for the ruler of a planet. For reference, the other factions likewise use separate titles for a planetary head and a planetary-system head.”
“Hmm-hmm, I see. Learned something new today.”
“......By the way, how long do you intend to keep doing that?”
“Stay still. This is my creative pouch, the one that gets my inspiration flowing.”
“I see.”
While delivering an assortment of reports and, incidentally, feeding me basic common sense about everyday life, Ilena had her cooling-creative pouch fiddled with — not only by both of my hands, but by the auxiliary arms on my backside as well — as I busied myself topping up my tactile sense, which had undergone a forced detox alongside my dopamine deprivation back in that prison cell.
At that moment, I was quietly shooting her looks that said, Isn't everything moving a lot faster than I expected? Is this right?
And with good reason. Even though I'd finished serving my sentence and boarded a fast courier straight away, the trip from the capital star to Milano-V had still taken a full day.
Barely a week had passed since then, and yet here she was, already talking about how everyone had or hadn't made it back.
Granted, FTL travel exists in this world, so relativity theory — the one saying nothing can outrun light — was being trampled into the dirt like it deserved it, but......
Even taking that into account, surely common sense dictates that considering the sheer scale involved, the cleanup should still be in progress.
In fact, just like my own reaction, when I posted about the current situation to the gallery to get everyone's take on it...... sure enough.
“I seeee.”
Everyone was reacting along the lines of 'she simply took advantage of this opportunity to execute an operation that was already on the books,' one after another declaring that anything else was simply impossible.
But be that as it may, what mattered at this point was that we had, more or less by accident, become one of the most overwhelmingly powerful major factions in the entire planetary system.
And additionally — though I only realized this after hearing Ilena's further explanation......
“Yeah, hold on. Could you explain that again? Why would the other factions suddenly want to help us?”
“To put the interpretation simply: as I mentioned when we first arrived, the Milano System is unusual in that it's a place where quite a large number of factions have gathered — with our Demonia at the forefront, followed by ACIC, the Earth Alliance, the Babel Cult, and a whole assortment of lesser powers.”
“Uh, hm? Oh right, that's how it was.”
“However, in practical terms ACIC held the initiative, while the rest of us were at the level of merely posting a branch office sign like we had when we first arrived, or at most a single mercenary company or two.”
“Oh, was it?”
“To be precise, the Earth Alliance and the Babel Cult were in the process of establishing some footing by running their own corporate enterprises — and then, out of nowhere, we appeared and became a major power in the system within three months.”
“I see. But what does that have to do with the other factions helping us?”
“It's a simple matter. Objectively speaking, we are still the 'underdog' compared to ACIC, who currently has the planetary system government completely under their control.”
“Mm-hmm......”
“That said, we're nowhere near the level of throwing eggs at a boulder. We've reached the point where, with just 'a very small amount of assistance,' we could shatter ACIC's current runaway dominance, so......”
“Oh? Oh-ho, aha.”
“And so, thanks to their help, we were able to swiftly deploy elite sabotage troops into the Milano capital star — territory that was never originally ours.”
“Oh, I get it now!”
It hadn't exactly been short enough to deserve the word 'simple,' and I felt a bead of cold sweat trickle down my spine inwardly, but the fact that it wasn't a completely impossible story left me with a strange feeling.
Naturally, after hearing Ilena's explanation, I did what came next and cross-referenced the whole thing with the veteran users of the gallery......
<Guys, how credible is this story?>
<Author: ScienceNoob>
<(rough summary of Ilena's explanation)>
yeah?
<Comments>
Here too, the responses were all along the lines of 'interesting' and 'not impossible,' so I nodded along to the sight of Ilena — expressionless, yet somehow radiating an oddly confident smirk — and declared myself firmly capable of gobbling up the entire Milano System as things stood.
“Excellent work, my assistant.”
“Of course.”
“Hmm, I don't actually have anything prepared to give you as a reward right now. I'll get you something proper later.”
And so I resolved that when the time came, if Ilena so desired, I would grant her reward via a separate modification surgery — making her stronger while leaving her outward appearance completely unchanged.
But perhaps because I'd gotten so absorbed in pondering what exactly to give her that my mind had wandered off for a moment —
“......In fact, I have already received my reward.”
“Hm? What was that?”
“Nothing at all.”
Having failed to catch whatever it was Ilena had muttered, a future would arrive in which I was mercilessly flamed in the gallery — the cause being epithets like 'that femme fatale presence who captivates everyone regardless of age or gender,' or 'the sovereign of a harem of crazed grandmas and grandpas' — which I failed to nip in the bud......
Alas, there was simply no way the me of this moment could have known of such a future, so I naturally brushed it off with a 'must have misheard her' and moved on.
Besides, it feels awkward to admit, but the topic that came up immediately after the matter of Ilena's reward happened to be exactly the sort of thing that set my dopamine geyser off, personally speaking.
“By the way, Doctor — what do you intend to do with the five former guards you brought back from that prison?”
“They tried to force-feed me those secretions with the night-blossom scent. So I'm going to line all five of them up and fuse them into a wheel shape, and let them roll around wherever they please.”
“......”
“Every last preparation is already complete. All that's left is having them penetrate one another in sequence to form the perfect original ring of the Ouroboros, and it's done!”
“I see. Since they dared commit such treachery against you, Doctor, you intend to grant them a fate far worse than death. It seems I need not step in myself.”
“Hamo.”
I had to carry out a modification surgery that would transform those five bastards not into a human centipede but a human wheel — their limbs bound in a circle, animating the ring so it could scuttle about — transfiguring them into something like a yokai, after all.
Naturally, any lingering curiosity about whatever Ilena had said that I'd failed to properly hear was banished from my mind on the spot.