The grand fleet first assembled at Chronos.
The restaurants at the spaceport were operating at full capacity. Everyone wanted freshly prepared meals, so we hired a massive number of part-time workers and even began making deliveries via transport ships.
An army marches on its stomach, after all. Throughout history, many nations have crumbled after being stingy with food, payments, and honors for returning soldiers. The treatment of the military has remained the same since time immemorial: a matter of grace and service. The state guaranteed the livelihood of its soldiers, and in return, the soldiers risked their lives to protect the state. While some inevitably fell through the safety net, it was only natural to provide the best possible treatment for those putting their lives on the line. That included the rigorous training required to ensure they didn’t die in battle in the first place.
All I could do was improve the treatment of the soldiers, bring them victory, and prevent the military from becoming bloated. If it became too large, the military's overall power would increase, but the individual salaries would decrease. Trying to juggle such contradictory tasks felt like an impossible game. It was enough to make me want to cry.
As a result, the dining halls were a whirlwind of activity; business was booming. I even set up my own grilled corn stall, sporting a twisted headband and an apron. I even had Ramune ready.
Beer? Not while on duty! Hahaha!
"What do you think you are doing?"
Wifey was wearing a radiant smile. I’d been apprehended.
Who was the one who reported me to the authorities? Everyone involved? Ah... I see.
"Kyuun..."
"Whining will not help you! Honestly! Someone, take over for him!"
A part-time worker hired by the dining hall took over the stall. How tragic. Left with no choice, I moved inside the dining hall to continue grilling corn. Polina and One-O-One arrived soon after.
"Here," I said, handing out the grilled corn.
"Why corn?" Eddy asked.
I puffed out my chest and answered with conviction. "Because I wanted to eat it!"
"I see..."
I brought some for Wifey, Claire, and Ren as well. Now that I’d finished my cooking, it was time to head out.
"Wifey, I'm heading off!"
"Umu, do not die! Here, greet your father."
She let me hold the child.
"Hahaha! I'll be fine, I'll be fine," I said, though I knew that when death came, it came. Even against a pathetic pirate, one could die in the line of duty. It couldn't be helped. Since I was being fed as a soldier, I had prepared myself for that reality.
"Ark is waiting for you, you know~"
I held Claire's child as well.
"I have to survive at least until these children reach adulthood," I remarked.
"Husband-sama, please stop with those kinds of jokes!"
Ren showed me her children, who were all nestled in a large stroller. They looked completely human now. I hugged them each one by one.
"Haha, truly. I have to survive. Well then, I’m off!"
I bid my wives farewell and boarded the battleship as King. In truth, a king shouldn't have been on the front lines, but my actual profession was that of a soldier.
The warship departed from the spaceport. I hadn't realized how anxious I would feel without the three of them by my side. It forced me to realize just how much they had been supporting me until now.
And then...
"Captain!"
Melissa arrived.
"It’s just the two of us... and it is night, after all."
"I guess so," I replied noncommittally.
Melissa leaned against me. Even I couldn't fail to understand what she was trying to say.
"No, I'm on duty. I mean..."
"No can do."
I realized then that this was a situation where I had no right of refusal. And so, one day was written off. I shall remain silent about what transpired during that time; we were only in transit, anyway.
The next day, I held a ceremony. It was a speech, broadcast live from the conference room to the entire Chronos fleet.
"Everyone, we are currently engaged in a holy war against the Corpse Eaters for the survival of all humanity—"
I was unusually reading from a prepared script when an alarm suddenly blared through the room.
"The Corpse Eaters have warped in! The scheduled start of battle is being revised! Everyone, return to your posts immediately!"
"—the holy war—ah, forget it! Let’s just do this, you bastards! Protect your families!"
"OHHH!"
The speech was a total mess, but morale soared. I hurried to the bridge to begin the operation.
"The enemy status?!"
Polina, whom I had appointed as my adjutant for this mission, responded immediately. "Contact in approximately twelve hours."
"Damage to the enemy from the warp?"
"Battleships have vanished, just as they did with Repsitore. It is as calculated."
Seriously! Repsitore’s tech really did come from the Zen Divine Race. Using such a flawed tactic was just like them.
"Is there a possibility of them warping repeatedly regardless of losses?"
"Unknown. They are the type to treat their own kind and resources as expendables. We cannot ignore the possibility."
"True enough."
The Corpse Eaters' reproductive rate wasn't actually that high—about the level of insects. It was higher than ours, but inferior to nematodes. It wasn't as if they would increase three hundredfold in twenty hours. Besides, they were weak to Tatiana’s attacks.
"Tatiana, are you ready? You’re the star of the show this time!"
"You bet! I’ll act as the tank while attacking with the Barrier Cannon!"
Exactly. We had a weapon that could kill them in one shot. Furthermore, we had prepared gas weapons specifically for the Corpse Eaters. We would fire them in missiles and disperse the gas inside their vessels. Thinking they could match humanity in the art of killing was naive.
"Tatiana, launching!"
Tatiana’s machine, the Saint of Endurance, launched. It was one of the completed forms of the prototype machine we had struggled with for so long. The outer frame was the same, but the interior had been completely overhauled. It was likely one of the strongest machines in existence.
"This is Leonidas, launching."
Leonidas-kun, acting as an escort, launched as well. He was piloting the new machine, the Guardian of Light (Working Title). The name hadn't been finalized due to the riots. This, too, was a top-tier machine. It was a two-seater type, with Big Sister-in-Law Uta on board as the gunner. The shoulders were equipped with swappable turrets that could be freely changed from pulse rifles to rocket launchers.
With Big Sister-in-Law Uta as the gunner, it was an unconventional setup, but it was a next-generation machine capable of handling any situation. The Jester’s rampages were also suppressed by the new control system. The standard machines for the other pilots were mass-produced versions of this unit.
To put it bluntly, it was powerful. Despite being based on a Jester machine, there was no fluff. It had turned out to be an excellent all-rounder in both attack and defense.
Kekekeke... I’ll show you the power of our army! I just want to get back to grilling corn! Seriously, every time I try, someone interrupts me, and then they have the nerve to say I’m a terrible speaker!
I was getting hungry. And it was because of them! All of them! Everything was their fault!
And so, the Hungry Space Kaiju took his frustration out on the enemy.
"Your Majesty. This."
Polina handed me a paper plate wrapped in plastic. On it was the very corn I had been grilling myself. I couldn't help but smile.