Army Lieutenant Leo.
I was an Army Lieutenant in the Galactic Empire Space Marines.
I was a commoner from a local planet. My parents had been killed in a pirate raid on our world when I was small. After that, I moved into the dorms of a local National Officer Academy. While I was a student, the Zork War broke out; the Officer Academy Army was mobilized and subsequently wiped out.
I was the only survivor.
Apparently, I had suffered head injuries, and even after being treated with nanomachines, my memories remained hazy. I couldn’t even recall the faces of my classmates. The Zork War had ultimately been won through the heroic exploits of a man with the same name as mine—Leo Kamishiro. I had only been promoted to Army Lieutenant because of the severe shortage of officers.
"Lieutenant!"
A woman’s voice called out to me. She was a Japanese-descended person, tall and impressively muscular.
Sergeant Major Uta.
She was slightly older than me and was the non-commissioned officer assigned to clean up my messes.
"The scout squad has been deployed," she reported.
"Understood. Maintain surveillance."
Our current mission was the exposure of pirates in outer space. We were operating within the territories of small nations that were members of the Battle Dome. It was an international contribution mission, and the local residents were genuinely grateful for our presence. It was a much better assignment than the Zork War, where the very extinction of humanity had been at stake.
A rabbit beastman approached—not one of the Beast Race, but a species that truly looked like a four-legged animal. It was Private Second Class Judy, a local recruit. Incidentally, she was female. For some reason, my platoon was full of women.
"Hey, Sis Uta. I’m telling you, there’s no way he’s an underling of His Majesty the King of Chronos," Judy said.
"I figured as much," Uta replied, then looked at me. "Lieutenant, shall we attack?"
"I want to know what they're doing in a place like this first. Let’s watch them for a bit."
"Yessir, Ninja Captain, roger that," Judy said with a salute before heading off.
The atmosphere was far too relaxed. It probably wasn't a good thing for a military unit, but...
"Even so, you sure are popular, Lieutenant~"
Sergeant Major Uta was smirking at me. She was young; usually, a Sergeant Major had to be older to be respected, but like me, she was the type whose rank had been bumped up because all her superiors were dead. Because of that, I often felt like we were just old classmates.
"You call this being popular?" I asked.
"Huh? I mean, Lieutenant, you're a natural flirt, charming everyone regardless of age or gender."
"What? When did I ever flirt? An Army Lieutenant in the Galactic Empire isn't exactly high on the dating list."
"Oh please. That Latarnian girl at the tavern was practically begging for your contact info."
"I only gave her a direct line in case you guys caused trouble in her shop."
"Ehh... There's no way we'd go on a drunken rampage. We'd have the decency to take our fights outside."
"Don't pick fights in the first place!"
"Geez, you ladies' man! There’s no point in giving your number to a part-time worker like that!"
"The manager told me to give it to her."
"That is a total lie!"
Just then, a chime sounded. A message had arrived. It was from the Latarnian girl who worked part-time at the bar. Let’s see...
"Ooh, that looks interesting. Let me see, let me see!"
"Fine, I get it! I’ll just display it, alright?"
I projected the message as a hologram.
『Thanks for yesterday. Let's go out for a drink sometime. Just the two of us.』
...Oh.
Suddenly, I felt a sharp kick to my backside. It actually hurt. I wished she would show at least a little restraint.
"See? You are popular!"
Uta was pouting like an idiot, her lips thrust out in displeasure. I didn’t know what to make of that face.
"I’m not popular."
"Good grief, you total natural flirt... You're just like Leo Kamishiro..."
"Don't compare me to someone like that."
Leo Kamishiro was famous for his marriage diplomacy. He had swept up the princesses of every major faction. The Galactic Empire Emperor, the daughter of a Duke-type house, the youngest daughter of the Secret Police leadership, the adopted daughter of a financial titan—propaganda claimed they were all his classmates or people he’d met while he was down on his luck, but that was surely nonsense.
No one in their right mind believed such blatant propaganda. The rumors that he had used Princess Claire’s vast assets to secure victory for the Pro-Emperor Faction in a ruthless power struggle were far more credible.
Moreover, his marriage diplomacy had only accelerated after he moved into outer space. He was becoming relatives with every faction he touched. It was even rumored that he had finally married his own personal guard. He was thorough. People said a harem was every man’s dream, but that was something else entirely. It was a cold-blooded and terrifying form of politics.
As I was rationalizing this to myself, Uta dropped a bombshell.
"You know, Lieutenant... you really do look like Leo Kamishiro."
"Give me a break... I keep my hair short specifically because I hate being told that."
"Eh? Could you be a relative or something?"
"Since the House Kamishiro is a Marquess, there are probably descendants scattered all over. But I don't know anything about my own lineage. My parents are dead, so there's no way to investigate."
Even if I could prove it, Leo Kamishiro would probably be annoyed if a distant relative suddenly showed up. Such things rarely ended well. It was fine to have ambitions, but if they weren't backed by your own strength, you shouldn't bet on them. And I had neither ambition nor strength. Getting involved would just be dangerous.
"It’s a case of 'Curiosity killed the cat,'" I muttered.
"'But satisfaction brought it back!'" Uta chirped.
Damn it, she knew the second half of the proverb! And here I thought she was a total idiot.
"Stop it. The risk doesn't match the return."
"Oh my, you're unexpectedly chicken, Lieutenant."
"What's wrong with being a chicken?"
Uta started guffawing as if I’d just told the funniest joke in the world.
"Ahahaha! That’s right! That's the only way to survive, isn't it?"
"Exactly."
With the reconnaissance finished, the two of us headed to the Battle Dome office to report and discuss the pirate annihilation operation. We passed by various beastmen who looked like turtles, rabbits, and cats. They were apparently closer to animals than the Beast Race. Even so, we had been strictly ordered to carry out our duties with the utmost respect. Any members of the platoon who harbored anti-Beast Race sentiments had been weeded out from the start.
On the way, we passed a man who was unusually small for one of the Kishinkoku People.
"Leo-san...?" the man murmured.
"Huh? I am Army Lieutenant Leo of the Galactic Imperial Army," I replied, snapping to attention.
Uta stepped forward and began whispering to the man in a low voice.
"Is it... alright for him to be this close?" the man asked.
"He's the only success story. We're the ones protecting him," Uta replied.
"Sergeant Major Uta, would you mind introducing me to this gentleman?" I asked.
"A-Ah, yes. Um..."
"I am Salia, the Battle Dome Chairman. I’m somewhat acquainted with Ms. Uta through our coordination on the pirate sweeping missions."
I hurriedly dropped to one knee. If he was the Battle Dome Chairman, that made him the Great King Saria—the Great King of the Ogre God Nation.
"Ah, I’m really not good with that kind of formality, so please stop. Anyway, Ms. Uta, I’ll leave the rest of the pirate sweeping mission to you."
Great King Saria hurried away as if he were trying to escape. When I stood back up, Uta was smirking again.
"Geez, look at the platoon leader getting all jealous~" she teased, wriggling her muscular frame.
"What are you even talking about?"
"Oh, come on, you can't take a joke!"
"What has been with you lately...? Well, whatever. If the Great King himself is getting involved, those pirates must be serious business."
"Ah, actually, it’s not that. The pirates have just positioned themselves in a very annoying spot."
"Is it the border between the Kishin Nation and the Battle Dome member states?"
"Bingo. Honestly, they’re idiots. They’re going to get themselves crushed just because they thought it’d be fun to pick a fight."
"I see... so you contacted His Majesty Great King Saria so that we would be the ones authorized to make the arrest."
"Normally, the Kishin Nation and the Battle Dome members share so much economically and militarily that the concept of a border is almost nonexistent, but some of the local bigwigs still obsess over it."
"So you did the groundwork."
"And then the King himself showed up! I can't help but laugh!"
Uta started laughing again. I, however, was starting to feel a deepening sense of dread about what lay ahead.