Melissa's family is complicated.
Or rather, most people from noble families are complicated.
First, the older brothers.
And the disciples of the Tachibana Style are an intimidating bunch of Macho types.
Big Sister Uta was born into that.
Big Sister Uta and the brothers share the same mother.
I heard she passed away not long after giving birth to Big Sister Uta.
That's when Melissa's mother came in as the second wife.
From what I can gather, Melissa's mother was a commoner from the same hometown as Rikochi.
She admired the noble lifestyle and became the wife of Melissa's father.
But what awaited her was a life managing the clan as the proprietress of a Theme Park on a tourist farm, in place of her husband who was busy with Public Security work.
Especially the infinite hay-drying hell of the tourist farm—or rather, the work in the silos—must have been pure torture.
I've been down that road myself.
As a result, the mother abandoned Melissa and fled in the night.
Same pattern as my real mother.
Even though they're called nobles, most families are just farmers or fishermen whose head of household works as a civil servant in the Imperial Capital.
There's no way someone dreaming of a glittering lifestyle could endure it.
If you want to live a glamorous life, shouldn't you aim for a doctor or businessman in the Imperial Capital?
Not that a commoner from a Local Planet would get any attention from them.
Doctors and businessmen in the Imperial Capital, on the other hand, actually want daughters of nobles from planets that have nothing but agriculture.
Strange, isn't it?
There's an especially strong sense of trust toward military personnel.
That's why quite a few women enter the military academy for Marriage Hunting purposes.
The top priority is Marriage Diplomacy between noble houses, and after that, bagging an elite Groom?
So when women from Local Planets marry nobles, they usually end up unhappy.
My real mother was the same.
Abandoned me and fled in the night.
Hmm... I feel something fateful with Melissa.
Or rather, the problem of too many families with similar circumstances.
And so, the reproduction of marriage mismatches by children left behind by their parents ran rampant, and the Galactic Empire faced an unprecedented decline in birth rates...
And there's no way the parent working in the Imperial Capital would take care of the children.
My Leo's Mother had me raised by an old-fashioned child-rearing robot, and Melissa was looked after by Big Sister-in-Law Uta.
In other words, what Melissa's father lamented—"I don't know how to raise girls"—referred to both of them.
Big Sister-in-Law Uta grew up to be a splendid but rough judo athlete.
And Melissa became a boyish, rough girl harboring infinite darkness within.
Come to think of it, Isono also said his parents were elderly and he was raised by his older sister.
But then again, once you reach the upper echelon like Duke-type families, you end up with succession disputes that turn into killing each other, like at Ren's place.
Being a noble really has nothing good going for it...
I'll force my family to get along. Seriously.
In that sense, to me, Big Sister-in-Law Uta is like Melissa's mother.
She's also family to me.
Furthermore, I casually asked Melissa during a conversation, "If we have a kid, what kind of lessons would you want them to take?"
And then...
"For a girl, piano and ballet."
She said that with sheer intensity...
I... was genuinely scared at that moment...
If I had a tail, it would've been tucked between my legs...
The things you wanted as a child, you try to reclaim as an adult...
If it's a boy, Melissa would probably forgive even a silly kid.
I want to hope for a boy to be born.
Do your best, me!
So, we boarded a Chronos battleship and headed to the area in question.
The Planet-class Mobile Fortress Kamishiro looks like it's almost complete.
That's strange... it was supposed to be a project spanning years...
The workers are so motivated that it looks like it'll be finished early...
"No Debris."
I came back to my senses when the Chronos officer in charge of reconnaissance reported it.
Time to work, time to work.
"Figured as much."
There should be at least some drifting around.
There's no planet here either.
"Reaction from a massive object detected!"
"Figured as much."
If you think about where the Debris went... the answer becomes obvious.
There must be battleships or fortresses built using the Debris.
There's no way there wouldn't be.
Hmm, dispatch a message to all ships.
"Alright, everyoooone. We've discovered an unidentified object. Please assume combat positioooons."
And so, I board my Humanoid Fighter as well.
This time it's not my Exclusive Machine, but the fully manual operation version of Prototype Unit 28.
I stripped out all the unnecessary functions and made it a single-seater.
The version that went out of control before had way too many useless functions!
So I got involved in development and cut out every unnecessary feature I could find.
No more going out of control with this one.
There's a Zashiki-warashi's shrine shelf, but no Himorogi-chan.
Instead, I stored a bonsai on the shrine shelf.
It's not any kind of device or anything.
I just repurposed one of the small storage units for daily items and placed it there.
Can we stop trying to build everything into the hardware or software?
We don't understand a single thing about how it works.
That's exactly why it goes out of control.
I mean sure, not understanding how modulation and demodulation work doesn't mean you can't use wireless communication.
But forcibly packaging something that nobody understands is a completely different matter.
The technical team probably didn't expect to get lectured by someone whose only qualification was having some advanced Combat Engineers on staff.
No, seriously, you guys. Really.
Kyoko, you need to reflect too!
"Major Leonidas's unit will scout alongside my unit. Escort the drone unit."
Kevin is on standby in Chronos for Wifey's and Claire's deliveries.
Her main profession is a doctor, after all.
There's no one better than her as a Drone Operator.
All we can do is support bringing back the evidence.
"Tatiana's unit, set up a temporary barrier. Everyone else, protect Tatiana with everything you've got! There might be a replacement for me, but there's no replacement for Tatiana!"
"Yes, sir!"
Set up a defensive line.
...By the way, everyone... why are you all giving me dead-eyed looks?
"With all due respect, Your Majesty."
Raven-kun, in his staff officer role, began lecturing me in an exasperated tone.
"Please understand that there is no replacement for Your Majesty either."
"Ah, yes. It was just a joke."
"Your Majesty. You're going to be a father, aren't you? Enough with the dark jokes already!"
"Ah, yes. I sincerely apologize..."
"Let's stop that, shall we."
"...Right."
And so, having been scolded and letting out a whine through his nose, Kawagon sortied.
The cause of everything is probably the Corpse Eaters.
The Corpse Eaters are to blame for everything.
I will absolutely never forgive the Corpse Eaters!