Volume 2, Chapter 2: Conference Room of the Top Executive Meeting
On a tremendously luxurious circular desk, sat the king, the prime minister, Duke Ijuuin, Duke Saitou, Duke Miyata, Duke Sugimoto, and Duke Mitalai, all of them prominent figures. Marquis Fujiwara sat next to Duke Ijuuin, looking uneasy.
Major Kunihito and Lieutenant Yoshiaki stood at the back, waiting.
This was the conference room for the highest-ranking council used for the most critical moments of the country, such as political and military affairs.
Originally, it was not a place for someone like me, who became a NEET, to sit, but this time I was sitting in front of the king as a party concerned.
"I'm sorry. I haven't told Marquis Fujiwara about the important matter yet. Please forgive me this time," the king apologized.
"After that, Reina went to ask the Holy Tree-sama, and we found out that Yuuki, you were not summoned here for the sake of our Yamato's survival."
"Huh?"
"The situation is much more significant. It seems that something terrible is going to happen. Therefore, the Holy Tree-sama, who had been in conflict until now, started forming an alliance, and the group centered around Yamato's Holy Tree-sama chose you as their savior and summoned you."
The king, the prime minister, and the dukes all had a serious expression.
Marquis Fujiwara, Major Kunihito, and Lieutenant Yoshiaki looked surprised to hear this.
"A savior? But I am not even in the military, let alone a shut-in NEET," I said, puzzled.
"No, that's why we are sorry. For now, we will promote you to colonel as a special exception. Then, we will organize a special operations force and make you its commander."
"Huh? Colonel? Five ranks promotion?"
"Yes, as a savior, there will be cooperation with other countries' Holy Tree-sama and other countries, and a low rank will not do."
"Colonel means commanding a battalion of around 3,000 soldiers, right?"
I suddenly realized that I would have 3,000 subordinates.
I never received military education, so it will be quite challenging.
"No, we will also make Major Kunihito, Lieutenant Yoshiaki, and Murasaki into second lieutenants as special exceptions and assign them to you. In total, there will be four of you in the military," the king explained.
"Eh, are we going to be assigned to the special operations force?" Kunihito and Yoshiaki showed an extremely unpleasant expression.
"Um, it is the special operations force, right? It's a unit, right?"
I asked the king with a distorted expression.
"Is that so?"
The king nodded deeply.
"Normally, a colonel leads a force of around three thousand soldiers, right?"
"That's right."
"Then what's with just four people? That's too few! What is that? You just randomly named a unit, didn't you?"
With just four people, it's fewer than the number of adventurers in a party that dives into a dungeon.
"Well, a significant number of soldiers on the west side of Yamato died in the battle of Alexia, and the military has been struggling with management."
Even if they say it's tough, it's even tougher on our side. What are we supposed to do with just four people, including me?
"Um, excuse me. I think I'll have to decline after all. I'll stay in my room and be a NEET like this."
"Well, that's a problem."
The king was flustered.
"Well, Yuki, wait a minute. Actually, I have good news for you."
The prime minister smiled as if he were intervening.
"Hey, you were complaining that many of the books in the Royal Palace Library were copies of Japanese anime, right? You watched anime in Japan, didn't you?"
The king had a meaningful look on his face.
That's right. I don't know why, but there are a lot of novels that are similar to Gundam or Eva, but slightly different from the original story. I think people who returned from Japan to here took advantage of the fact that people from Yamato don't know about anime and made money by writing copied books.
"So, yes, we have chosen a fiancée for you from among the daughters of myself and the Prime Minister."
The king seemed pleased.
"Wait, didn't you already try that by kneeling down to your wives before, but it didn't work?"
"However, this is a story about the crisis in our world, and we cannot afford to let it continue. We need your help in various ways. Therefore, we convinced our wives to understand and allow you to join the special forces, with our daughters as your fiancée and assistant."
"To be frank, they're my cousins..."
"Well, don't say that. I've thought it through so that you can be happy. First, it will be my daughter who has been chosen as your fiancée."
The king rang the bell.
The door to the conference room of the highest executive committee opened, and there entered Princess Miyabi, who had twin-tail hair dyed blonde, wearing a red plug suit from Eva.
Wha-what is this?
Cosplay?
"It's Soryu Asuka Langley, isn't it?"
The Duke Saito suddenly struck a Gundam pose.
"Father, what's the point of this outfit? It's embarrassing that it shows off my body lines," Princess Miyabi's face turned bright red.
"I'm sorry to say, but there's something lacking for Asuka," the Duke Ijuin struck another Gundam pose.
"Breasts are just decorations. Important people don't understand that," laughed Duke Mithra.
Gundam, isn't it?
That's a line from the first Gundam.
These people are otaku!
Come to think of it, everyone above Duke is said to have been reincarnated in Japan and come back. What did they study?
"Oh well, I think it's predictable, but next it's my daughter's turn, who I chose as your fiancee. Come in, Aoi," the Prime Minister coughed and said, then the door of the highest executive meeting room opened and a woman entered.
As I thought, she was wearing a white plug suit and looked just like Ayanami Rei.
I felt dizzy.
"See, her eyes are red too because she has albino blood," the Prime Minister boasted.
Suddenly, the Dukes and the Duke Saito stood up and started applauding.
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
"Congratulations."
They all stood up one by one and applauded.
"You don't have to go that far!! Is this the last episode of the TV series?"
What's with this atmosphere?
Lieutenant Kunito and Lieutenant Yoshiaki looked at everyone with eyes as if they were looking at aliens.
"What the hell is this all about? Why Evangelion?"
I couldn't take it anymore and stood up shouting.
"Well, when we went to Japan, there were things like 'Ai○o' and 'Ma○○ro' that were popular and had a following. I thought it might be old-fashioned for you to cosplay as Evangelion, considering it's more than 20 years ago for you. But my younger brother, who just came back to this world, heard that the prime minister decided to make a new four-part series of the theatrical version in 2700. I thought it wouldn't be old-fashioned if that's the case."
The king seemed genuinely pleased.
"Hold on a second!"
Marquess Fujiwara stood up with a fierce expression.
"I watched the ending of the TV series, and I thought, 'What the hell is this?' But after watching 'Ma○○ro wa Kimi ni' and being satisfied that it ended that way, I came back to this world. What do you mean by a new work?"
"Are you an otaku too?!"
I can't believe that even Marquess Fujiwara is an otaku among the reincarnated group!
Is this country okay?
"Well, what can we do? It's directed by Anno..."
As always, Duke Ikari responded with his infamous pose.
"Well, I guess that can't be helped."
Fujiwara, who had been angry, sat down in agreement.
Hey! Are you seriously convinced by that?
"Well, even if it's a four-part series, I think it's still popular since it's not yet finished from the present time you came here. So I tried pushing it with Evangelion."
The king was proud.
"Well, it's not over yet."
I calmly replied.
"What?!"
Everyone, including the king, prime minister, duke, and marquess, was dumbfounded.
"That's why the four-part series isn't over yet."
"What the hell are we doing?!"
"Could it be that a cute girl, who was supposed to marry a smart and handsome boy that everyone thought had a promising future, was snatched away in a cowardly manner by a stupid boy with glasses who came from the future with the help of a robot, like in an anime that just keeps going on and on?"
The king was flustered.
"Is it Dora〇mon?"
The prime minister answered calmly.
"It never ends. It's like, how long is he going to be in elementary school?"
The Duke Miyata responded meaningfully.
"Well, Ak〇a is already 28 years old."
I answered calmly.
"What! She's become an old lady? What's going on?"
The Marquis Fujiwara shouted.
The king, prime minister, and dukes looked very serious.
"Hey, you know, since the story isn't going anywhere, can we stop talking about it?"
Princess Miyabi looked around at everyone and got angry as if she had had enough.
"Also, just so you know, we're officially engaged, but it's not like I'm really thinking that much about you."
Miyabi looked at me with a cold expression.
"I mean, it's not like I like you or anything, you know... haato (heart)..."
Duke Izujūin made a Gēdo pose again.
"Enough about that already!"
Miyabi snapped.
"Okay, okay. For now, the most important thing is to go to Konchue, the great power on the continent to the east, where the two sacred trees have formed an alliance. Apparently, there is something over there that the sacred tree on the other side wants to give to Yuuki."
Since Miyabi was upset, the king quickly changed the subject.
"What? With this number of people? Even if we include Miyabi and Aoi-san, that's only six people."
"Don't worry about it. Just meet the sacred tree over there and receive what you're supposed to get."
"But still, there are six people, right?"
"Okay, then. I'll send two capable guys from my side too."
Duke Izujūin glanced at us for a moment.
"Even so, that's eight people in total, isn't it?"
"It's auspicious to have many people."
The king looked happy.
"This is not going to work if something happens."
I held my head.
"You won't die. I'll protect you."
Aoi, who was dressed up as Aya〇i Rei, looked into my eyes.
"Enough with the Eva talk!"
I shouted.
--I really can't keep up.