"Hey."
『What is it?』
"Can't you do something about this custom of the commander rushing headfirst into the frontlines?"
I earnestly gave my honest opinion as we stood within the pirate base's command room which had turned into a sea of blood.
The remains of what was formerly pirates were lying all around us. I think it would have been possible to capture them alive, but Capt. Serena made a swift decision to not take prisoners. And so, this was the result.
『No can do. This way is the fastest and most efficient after all.』
After saying so, Capt. Serena flicked the blood off her sword and placed it back into its scabbard. Unlike Japanese swords that were made of steel, the swords wielded by the nobles of the Graccan Empire don't rust, and their scabbards were equipped with purification and maintenance functions through the use of nanotechnology. So, they didn't have to mind them too much. Well, they still needed to periodically remove and dispose of the blood residue that's been broken down by the nanomachines though.
Well, what can I say? The battle to capture the pirate base was rather swift and simple. After all, they faced the tremendous suppressive firepower of Imperial Marines wearing cutting-edge military-grade power armor. Capt. Serena and I also joined the fray and cut pirates down before they could even blink. We simply needed to do those repeatedly. There wasn't even a sliver of difficulty.
Pirates who hadn't undergone enhancement procedures, hadn't been equipped with advanced prosthetics and didn't even wear power armor facing fully armed Imperial Marines and Imperial Nobles sporting custom-made power armor. There was no way for them to win. And then there's me and my cheat-like abilities.
『Master, we've achieved complete suppression of the base.』
"What about those spheres?"
『They are stored in a section that looks like a warehouse in the north block of the base. They were neatly lined up next to one another. The pirates seemed to be quite meticulous.』
"Meticulous pirates huh? Well, I suppose there should be some who are like that. In any case, great job. We'll proceed with securing data over here. Please prepare to retrieve the combat bots."
『Aye, aye, sir.』
Apparently, the Black Lotus itself would descend from orbit to the lower atmosphere and recover the combat bots through the use of a regular drop pod.
"How are you and your troops gonna withdraw from here?"
『The Fleet's destroyers and drop pods are already heading this way to transport the spheres, so we'll be boarding those.』
"I see. Alright then. I'll just return to my ship as soon as we finish up here."
『...The innocent young maiden in me finds it difficult to let you go, but my rational side as an officer of the Imperial Military cannot find any valid reason to stop you, so I'll reluctantly allow it.』
"Doesn't that mean you'd personally hold it against me?! You're really troublesome, lady!"
Just gimme a break, Captain. Well, this might just be her way of fawning over me or something like that. But I really found it hard to appreciate her fawning over me while we were standing in the middle of this bloody pool filled with corpses that no longer resembled humans.
After taking complete control of the pirate base, I rode the Krishna back to the Black Lotus. The mechanic sisters had to treat my power armor with disinfection procedures to prevent contamination risks first before I could finally take a breather.
"Yay."
As soon as I sat down on a sofa in the break space, Tina immediately jumped onto my lap. I took a shower together with the mechanic sisters, so all three of us were fresh from the bath.
"You want me to play with you huh? Here you go."
"Nyoaaa–"
Since she changed her position to face toward me, I placed both of my hands on Tina's cheeks and began kneading them. Then I squished them. Fufufu. Oh, these sinful springy cheeks. It feels like I can play around with them forever.
"Nn."
"What is with this cute creature?"
As I did whatever I wanted to Tina's cheeks, Wiska scooted over and pressed her cheek on the back of my hand. What is she, a dog? There, there.
"Nyunyunyu."
Mimi, Elma, and Kugi dropped me off to Black Lotus first and sortied again in order to continue providing close air support to the remaining troops on the surface. So, right now, only I, Tina, Wiska, and Mei were on board the Lotus. Mei couldn't join us in the break space because she was focusing on piloting the ship inside the cockpit.
"Have you guys finished maintenance on the combat bots?"
"They're made by Eagle Dynamics, so there ain't much we can do."
"Big Brother purchased the full package after all, so maintenance is almost fully automated. Of course, we still need to perform a manual check after the automatic maintenance procedures."
"I see. Come to think of it, you aren't hiding any more surprise machines, right? I was really surprised by that assault drop pod."
"You really have to check the items properly whenever you make a purchase, Boss."
"I just skimmed the list and decided to go with it, so..."
I don't get difficult technical stuff anyway. In the end, I only decide to get things based solely on their specs and versatility. I suppose I should get the sisters to teach me about that technical stuff a bit at least.
"Even though it wasn't cheap at all... Big Brother strangely has both a very cautious side and a very careless side to him, doesn't he?"
"He's the type to splurge until his wallet's near empty whenever he has money. I guess we need to tighten the purse strings fer him ourselves."
"Putting you aside Tina, Wiska definitely won't do, right? After all, she nearly bought that mystery object d'art back in the artifact shop."
"Uu... T-That was just a small lapse in judgment."
While we were chatting, a message from Elma saying that they'll be returning to the Lotus was sent to my portable data terminal. Apparently, the contact with Mr. Tetrahedron ended peacefully, so the alert was lifted.
"Elma and the others said they'd be returning."
"So, our monopoly of Big Brother is about to end."
"It was really short. Well, let's just enjoy it until neesan and the others come back."
I stroked Tina's head as she rubbed her cheek against my thigh. This one's playing a cat now, eh? There, there.
And so, our contract in the Edge World which I thought would be hugely troublesome, was completed more smoothly than I expected.
It's highly unlikely that any more surprises will turn out. Gahaha. I won.