The Flying Dutchman Needs a Captain
Today had been an extraordinarily long day.
But I had made it through everything and returned safely to Black Cell, back to the underground parking garage where our journey had begun.
"Thank you all for your hard work."
"Not at all. You're the one who went through the most, Mr. Maxwell."
"If there's anything we can assist with, please don't hesitate to say so."
Even the bodyguards — and the driver, for that matter — were standing at rigid attention. It was probably because I had personally executed Air Bomb. I decided to simply accept their goodwill and turned my attention to Victory.
"Hwaaahhh… Maxwell-niiim…"
It was her first time out in the world, and she had stuck to my side the entire time. No wonder she was completely exhausted. She had passed out cold inside the vehicle. Still, the moment I scooped her up, she nestled into me half-asleep, going completely limp in my arms.
"We'll see you next time, then."
"Don't worry about the cleanup. Please, go on ahead."
"Hahaha. It was an honor once again, Mr. Maxwell."
I had no gifts for the children this time, and we had returned far too late. The Director had already messaged me that I could submit my report tomorrow evening. Thanks to that, I was able to head straight for Victory's cell.
"Alright, Victory. See you tomorrow."
"Ma… Maxwell… sleep well…"
Fresh and fluffy from the automatic washer in her cell, Victory looked content. I had half-expected her to insist on staying with me again, but she must have been thoroughly satisfied with today's outing, because she let me go without a fuss.
After leaving Victory's cell, I was so tired I nearly went straight to the night-duty room. Then I remembered how the children had waited up for me late into the night last time. Just to check, I grabbed a light snack and went to see Gloria.
My prediction was dead-on.
Gloria was lying on her bed, but her eyes were wide open, staring blankly at nothing. The problem was that I hadn't washed yet, so I still smelled like Victory. Since I had already told her we would be going outside together, I decided to gauge her reaction.
The moment I stepped inside, I was met with Gloria's icy glare — a look that said, What is that smell? and Why are you so late? and a dozen other unspoken reprimands. Before I could even offer an excuse, her eyes suddenly went round and she spoke first.
"Something happen?"
I touched my face for a moment. Was my expression that stiff? Even after seeing so many corpses, doing it myself must have been different after all. A bitter feeling settled in my chest, but I gave Gloria a rough summary of the situation.
"I simply disposed of one of this world's pieces of trash myself."
"…That so?"
In the brief silence that followed, the sensation of pulling a pistol's trigger threatened to resurface — but the senior standing before me pulled me back to reality.
"Then don't waste your energy on a piece of trash like that. You're the only one who loses."
"Hahaha. I never expected to receive comfort from you, Gloria."
"Think whatever you want."
To think Gloria would offer something resembling comfort… Still, thanks to her, the weight on my chest eased just a little. After that, I fed her a sandwich as usual and waited until she fell asleep.
That left Liberty.
The moment I got near her cell, she must have already sensed my approach.
Screeeech!!
Screeeech!
Woof!! Woof!!
The reinforced steel door was being clawed with savage intensity, accompanied by howls that clearly meant hurry up. Thinking she was truly incorrigible, I stepped inside — and Liberty greeted me with her tail wagging furiously, just like always.
But as she scrambled up my body, she suddenly froze. Gloria had noticed something, and now Liberty had too. I must have been more shaken by today's events than I realized.
"It's nothing. Don't worry too much."
"Whine…"
Lick!!
As if telling me to hang in there, Liberty licked my cheek. I held her close and sat down on the bed at the back of the cell. It was still remarkable how carefully she treated the bedding I had bought her as a gift — not a single scratch on the blankets even now. But I was reaching my limit. My eyelids were impossibly heavy. Afraid I might black out the way I had in Victory's cell, I tried to get up —
Shove!!!
"Li… Liberty?"
"…………."
Without a word, Liberty shoved me down with sheer force. My back hit the bed, and she plastered herself against me, refusing to let go. It was obvious she wanted me to stay longer.
Well, I've already slept in Victory's cell twice. What's one more?
I closed my eyes, gently patting Liberty's back, and let the rising tide of sleep carry me under.
I was sleeping comfortably when a distinctly damp sensation woke me. My eyes snapped open, and I remembered that this time I had slept in Liberty's room. Checking the time, I was relieved to find it was still early morning. Habits really do matter. Looking at Liberty, I found her sprawled on top of me, drooling freely, lost deep in dreamland. She must have stayed up late waiting for me and was sleeping in as a result.
Of course, the moment I shifted even slightly, her wolf ears and tail twitched.
"Hwaaagh…? Kwaaagh… C-cough!"
Liberty lifted her head in a daze, eyes spinning, her face a complete mess. I wiped the drool from her face with my hand and patted her back once more.
"Shhh… Liberty. Sleep a little longer."
"Papa… Pa… pa…"
In the end, she couldn't fight the pull of sleep and drifted off again. I gently pulled the blanket over her, and she settled into soft, rumbling snores.
After that, I cleaned up thoroughly at the company gym inside Black Cell and changed into fresh clothes — only to find I was running slightly late for Gloria's breakfast. Rushing toward the danger zone, I noticed that the interior of Black Cell was unusually restless. Had something happened again while I was gone? I decided to look into it later and hurried to Gloria's cell.
Fortunately, she was still asleep, having gone to bed late last night. Breathing a sigh of relief, I collected Gloria's breakfast from a junior manager and stepped inside. With her keen sense of smell — and perhaps because she had eaten so poorly yesterday — she was hungry. She staggered upright.
"You still look quite tired."
"…Shut up."
She clutched her head, clearly throbbing, and snapped at me. Feeding breakfast to a Gloria whose dark circles had only deepened, I found her speaking up first once again.
"You look better than yesterday."
"A good night's sleep really is the answer more often than not."
Gloria herself tended to just sleep things off when she was in a foul mood, so she seemed to accept my answer. After feeding her and running her through the automatic washer until she was clean, Gloria collapsed back onto the bed and was out cold.
But I noticed something unusual. She could have simply lain flat, yet both yesterday and today, Gloria was sleeping curled up in a shrimp posture.
Has she gotten… taller?
Gloria had been twelve when we first met. Now she was about thirteen — old enough to start growing. Honestly, her secondary sexual characteristics were already quite delayed. But with a personality like hers even now, what would she be like once she hit puberty? And on the days she was under the magic's influence…
An unpleasant future was clearly waiting, and yet I found myself genuinely curious just how far she would grow.
After that, I checked on Liberty and Victory as well.
"Ma… Maxwell-niiim… hwaaahhh…"
"Whiiine… nngh…"
Both of them were still too exhausted to function. There was no need to force them awake, so I postponed their meals and simply put them back to sleep.
And with that, my morning routine was finally done. Living together would mean handling all of this in one go, I told myself. Dragging my tired body up to the office, I found an unusual number of eyes turning my way.
Was Black Cell's restlessness because of me? There were so many possibilities that I couldn't pin anything down. In the end, I played the junior card. Amano looked thoroughly flustered the moment I asked, but under the weight of my stare, he finally answered.
"You're saying I'm being put forward for the Vice Director position?"
"Y-yes!! The Chief Researcher was actively pushing for it yesterday."
More precisely, Dr. Cain had been going around listing a hundred reasons why I needed to become Vice Director. It was absurd, but I roughly understood why he was doing it. The first reason was obviously that paper of his. The second…
"It seems the Chief Researcher really does not want to meet with the Director."
"Ahahahaha…"
As the Director herself had pointed out before, Dr. Cain would invent every excuse imaginable to avoid meeting her. He was clearly trying to use me as a shield against her. But companies are more conservative than people realize. And what would the senior researchers who had survived here for years think of this?
Even now, researchers were sidling up to me, clearly preparing to keep me in check—
"M-Maxwell? You're going to take the Vice Director position… right?"
"You will, won't you? You absolutely will, right?"
"Ahem… We are always rooting for you, my boy."
"Pardon?"
The atmosphere was strangely reminiscent of cardinals dumping the papal election onto the youngest among them. An awkward silence settled over the office — and then a flash of insight cut through my mind.
Why did I assume Dr. Cain was the only one afraid of the Director?
The senior researchers had spent just as much time with her as Dr. Cain had. And with the internal whistleblower situation, the Director's reign of terror had already begun. Meanwhile, I got along with her well enough to trade jokes. If someone like me — who managed to stay on decent terms with everyone — became Vice Director, what would happen?
Dr. Cain and the senior researchers, along with every other member of the organization, would gain a powerful buffer against the Director. And whenever something came up, they could simply report to me instead of her.
Their motives were so transparent that I shot them a look that said, Seriously? — but every last one of them averted their eyes.
"So what you're saying is that the Flying Dutchman needs a captain?"
"Ha… hahahaha! Just a figure of speech, my boy!"
"As I said, we have always believed in you, Maxwell!"
"Senior Maxwell!! You can do it!!!"
In a completely different sense of the word, I was becoming a sacrifice to office politics.