While Theresa may have gotten first dibs on dating the Captain, allowing her to enjoy more of Jingzhou's cuisine, being second had its advantages - mainly more time to plan.
For instance, while Theresa only thought about how to exhaust the Captain's energy, Himeko had figured out how to do it legally.
Looking at the civil affairs bureau before him, the Captain's feelings were rather complicated.
He couldn't help but glance at the clearly delighted Himeko. "You're not even trying to hide it, are you? What happened to our normal date?"
Who goes to register for marriage during a date?
"What's wrong, Captain? You're not afraid of the Final Herrscher, but you're scared of commitment?" Himeko taunted. "Don't tell me you are?"
"No need for that reverse psychology."
The Captain got out of the car, ready to register with Himeko. After all, he didn't particularly mind - if there was a chance to marry them all, that would be fine. At this point, with their military might capable of challenging nations and their influence spanning the world, changing a country's laws would only take a few months.
With the Captain's current connections and power, his greatest act of kindness was not being picky about food. Otherwise, he might have at least said, "I don't eat beef."
But now the biggest problem wasn't the nation or its policies, but rather Theresa above them.
The Captain seriously asked, "Sneaking here to register with me - aren't you afraid Theresa will beat you to death?"
Though Himeko had gotten stronger, she still had zero chance against Theresa, currently the world's strongest fusion warrior. The Captain could tell their odds were 90-10.
"Afraid? Of that shorty? As if!"
Seeing the Captain exit the car, Himeko's mood visibly improved, her smile impossible to hide. At worst, she could just let Theresa have him a hundred or so times.
Unaware of Himeko's devious thoughts, the Captain obediently went with her to register.
Though the staff kept double-checking the Captain's boyish appearance, they finally confirmed he was indeed of age and had university-level education before stamping the certificate.
Himeko, like a young girl, preciously examined their marriage certificate over and over.
"Is a simple certificate really worth being that happy about?"
The Captain said helplessly, "You realize this means I get half of your assets, which are way more than mine."
Currently, Himeko might not be able to rival a nation's wealth, but she could at least carve out her own territory with her resources.
As for the Captain, a "dead person," his meager assets had been divided up to just seven or eight years of salary that Theresa owed him, and even part of that was burned. Though Theresa said she'd repay it, there had been no actual action.
Probably because she'd spent too much on gacha and gone stupid.
"Captain, you should be the happier one here! Why so cold?"
Himeko protested, carefully placing the marriage certificate in her wallet. "By the way, what did that woman want with you earlier? Doesn't she know you're a married man now?"
"You get jealous quick," the Captain quipped, explaining, "She was just concerned about me, warning me not to get 'kept' at such a young age."
Given Himeko's luxury car and CEO-like appearance, with the Captain's boyish looks, people either thought he was Himeko's son or her sugar baby.
The Captain didn't mind, but Himeko was so elated about the marriage certificate that she started losing herself in fantasy.
"Captain, what do you want to eat? My treat!"
"Captain, where do you want to play? Let's go together!"
"Oh right, Captain, do you have a favorite restaurant?"
Eventually, she dropped all pretense, driving toward their date spot while daydreaming:
"Captain, would you prefer a traditional Chinese wedding or Western style? You decide!"
"Captain, where should we honeymoon? I'll buy a house there first."
"Captain, want to try something in the car? Do you like it rough or gentle?"
The Captain looked at the drooling Himeko and couldn't take it anymore, sighing, "I know you're excited, but please drive properly. Weren't we supposed to have a normal date today? We're on the highway!"
Though neither of them would get hurt even in a crash, nobody wanted the hassle and waste of time.
"Come on, the wise man time should be over by now?"
Himeko was unsatisfied with the Captain's lukewarm response. "Besides, we can let Ai-chan drive. As for traffic cameras... Ai-chan can just hack into the transportation department and delete the footage."
After all, Ai-chan was currently the AI with the strongest computing power. Though her core data was on the Hyperion, she could access any computer within her authorized scope in the Far East Branch. With her processing speed, driving was no problem.
"..."
The Captain looked at Himeko's car windows, noting that ordinary people probably couldn't see inside.
"Let's find somewhere more private first."
Two hours later...
Himeko adjusted her black lingerie, which exposed a generous amount of pale skin. She wiped herself with her hand, then licked it.
A bit salty, a bit astringent.
After cleaning up with wet wipes, she looked at the Captain teasingly, "Your body's much more honest than your attitude."
People like this were usually called tsundere.
"Case by case basis. Who knew you'd let Ai-chan drive?"
The Captain fixed his belt. "Though Ai-chan was surprisingly cooperative. I thought she'd object."
"Of course Ai-chan wanted to object!!"
Ai-chan's image appeared on Himeko's car screen, now showing what looked like a boiling kettle. "Captain, Himeko! How could you treat Ai-chan like this?!"
To call out a unique artificial intelligence like herself, just to facilitate their car activities?
Himeko shrugged, "Biologically speaking, you're not human anyway."
Ai-chan exploded, "Even artificial idiots have rights! Why doesn't the world's smartest AI Ai-chan get any?!"
The Captain shrugged, "Want some digital cake as compensation?"
"Hmph, Ai-chan can have as many of those as she wants!"
She, Ai-chan (AI-Hyperion), was the highest-grade artificial intelligence. She wouldn't be like before, when the Captain could trick her into showing even her model data's underwear for just one digital cake!
Now, as long as she could program it, she could have as many as she wanted. It was just a matter of copy and paste.
"Then what do you want?"
Himeko wiped the moisture from her inner thighs, "Want the Captain to give you some action too?"
"What do you mean by that? What exactly do you mean?!"
Ai-chan instantly overheated, "Are you bullying me because I don't have a body?"
Even the Captain gave Himeko an exasperated look, "Himeko, you're getting carried away. Be careful, or Ai-chan might not help you process files anymore."
"The Captain's right, this is typical of the privileged getting cocky,"
Ai-chan nodded: "Just because Ai-chan's hair is green doesn't mean she likes this kind of play!"
"Alright, alright, I was wrong."
Himeko sighed helplessly, but for the sake of keeping Ai-chan as a useful assistant who could work with minimal Honkai energy consumption, she had to compromise.
Himeko said: "How about I figure out a way to install a cyber-package for the Captain to let you have some fun? Though, would anyone actually research something like that?"
The Captain looked at Himeko with complete exasperation, "Remember we just got married two hours ago?"
Himeko was selling out his body way too quickly.
"Captain can just treat it like playing an H-game,"
Himeko's carefree personality didn't care at all about this, it wouldn't affect her exploiting the Captain in reality, "Captain, didn't you used to secretly play with Seele and Bella?"
Playing some H-games wouldn't affect Himeko playing with her little Captain, and maybe she could even learn some techniques.
Come to think of it, maybe using Ai-chan as a training tool for the Captain wasn't a bad idea?
This cyber-package thing might be doable.
"I don't need that kind of thing."
Ai-chan fumed: "For the Captain's sake, magnanimous Ai-chan will forgive you. But if there's a next time, I'll expose everything!"
"Don't worry, we won't call you next time."
Himeko smiled helplessly: "Your driving skills really are terrible."
Ai-chan exploded: "That's it, I'm exposing everything!"
Chapter End