Count Kevin Mendelevium.
That was my name now.
The number two of the Mendelevium clan led by One-O-One.
Did that make me the clan's chief retainer, I wondered?
For a commoner from a colony, it was an extraordinary promotion.
And yet... the world said whatever it pleased.
People went on and on with things like, "She only rose through the ranks because she's Leo Kamishiro's woman," or "Because she's a Zork, she was only given an unfair pittance of a reward compared to the other comrades," or "It's proof that technical officers, starting with medical officers, are being slighted!"...
Could they at least agree on a single narrative?
The theory that "she is receiving unfairly high praise" and the theory that "her evaluation is being unfairly dragged down" coexisted side by side.
The reason my peerage was lower compared to our other comrades was simply that I had tried to kill Leo.
Though that had been covered up and treated as if it had never happened.
Publicly, the official announcement was: "Due to temporary revocation of citizenship caused by Zork-ization, followed by subsequent reinstatement. During that interim, her military record was treated as a civilian cooperator."
Personally, I thought just getting admitted into the Faculty of Medicine at the Galactic Empire Officer University Division without taking an exam was pretty lavish preferential treatment...
I was just a medic and a nurse, after all...
No... to begin with, even though I was a medic, I had never planned on becoming a nurse.
Originally, I'd hoped to enter the Faculty of Engineering as a drone operator.
And now, here I was, a doctor.
On top of that, the medical officer faction had taken a strange liking to me.
They had even acted as my guarantors when my citizenship was reinstated.
The medical officer faction was also providing protection for my parents.
The only reason I was under One-O-One's banner was that I was her guardian.
Since I came of age first, on the family registry, One-O-One ended up listed as my younger sister.
It was information anyone could understand if they just checked the family registry before the Peerage Registry.
Following the death of the Head of House, becoming the guardian of a younger half-sister born to the legal wife wasn't all that uncommon.
So it wasn't unusual at all for me to serve as the Acting Head of House until One-O-One came of age.
"Onee-sama!"
One-O-One came running over.
Currently, calling me "Onee-sama" seemed to be her personal craze.
"Pay attention to me, please!"
Leo was the one who fed her.
Apparently, I was the one who played with her.
"Hmm, I have the day off today so I'm free, but... want to go see Leo?"
"I want to go! I want to see the baby too!"
"All right. Shall we go see everyone, then?"
First, off to Leo's place.
I needed to check if he was taking his stomach medicine properly.
That idiot did nothing but whine about hating the taste of stomach medicine.
It was the most effective one, so he just had to deal with it!
"Your Majesty! I want you to play with me!"
One-O-One greeted him energetically as she bounced into the office.
When we walked in, Leo was reading a book with a troubled look on his face.
Multidimensional Space and Parallel Universes for Absolute Beginners
"Are you reading that again?"
"This is just a guidebook, not even an introductory text. It hardly counts as reading."
It was a field where research lagged behind in the Galactic Empire.
Conversely, the place where research was most advanced was Repsitore, and part of that research had already been put into practical use as warp devices.
Even so, it was a devilish invention that completely disregarded human life.
Perhaps because of that, requests from people wishing to study abroad in Repsitore were flooding in across the Galactic Empire.
However, from the perspective of those of us who knew the reality of Repsitore, all we could say was, "Stay far away from it."
They simply lacked morals.
"Are you fretting over your big brother again?"
"I'm not fretting, but it bugs me, you know?"
Saying that, Leo closed the book.
There were even specialized technical volumes lined up on the bookshelf.
One way or another, he was quite studious.
"I mean, look, you can't help but wonder if this is the only parallel universe where I exist. I've made tons of bad calls myself, so I end up thinking that maybe there are branching futures out there."
"Things usually turn out for the best anyway, so what's the problem?"
"Still, you know, I feel like the current me would have handled things a bit better. I probably could've saved Old Man Eyens, and I could've pretended to be on the Duke Association's side, broken them from within, and used them as meat shields during the Zork War to buy time to save civilians. Though Maro would definitely end up dead in every single future."
"If you'd used the Duke Association as meat shields, I think I would have quit being your comrade."
"I wouldn't want to be on good terms with such a scary Your Majesty either!"
One-O-One chimed in.
"I guess that's true."
"I think people are drawn to you because the bad things you do are just laughable. Even I..."
"Even you?"
When he asked me in return, I lost track of what had slipped out of my mouth.
What was I about to say just now?
"What was I trying to say again?"
"How should I know?!"
I felt like... I had been about to blurt out something terribly embarrassing.
Even though I couldn't remember what I was trying to say, my face was burning red.
What?
What in the world was I about to say?!
"Onee-sama? What is the matter?"
"I don't know! Even I don't know why my face is bright red!"
Just what on earth had gotten into me?
While I was panicking, Veronica-chan was standing at the edge of my vision, grinning.
"How long have you been there?!"
"I heard that Kevin had gone to see Lord Groom, you see. I thought to bring Towa to show him, only to find things taking a most amusing turn."
She was sporting the broadest smile.
"Why are you laughing?! Ugh, stop it!"
"At long last, Kevin has fully become a woman as well. How touching."
"I-I'm..."
I tried to argue back, but the words wouldn't follow.
"I am... what am I, really?"
Until now, I'd never had the time to think about it.
After all, things had been so hectic with the war.
I'd had my medical studies, too.
Truly, which one was I?
My self-perception as a man had disappeared quite a long time ago.
To the point where I accepted it naturally even when One-O-One called me "Onee-sama."
"It is not as if us women ponder such things deeply either. Live as you please."
"Y-Yeah..."
As I tilted my head, Towa-chan reached out a hand with an "Awoo."
"Look, it is Dr. Kevin."
"Awoo."
"Heeey♪ Hello there, Towa-chan."
"Awoo, kyakya-kyakya!"
She seemed delighted.
"Having an eye for women must have been inherited from Lord Groom..."
Veronica-chan let out an exaggerated sigh with a "Haaah."
"Wait, Wifey. You're the one who caused that! The whole reason people think I'm a skirt-chaser is because of you, Wifey!"
"Well, now. When I see you moping around all indecisively, it simply makes me want to tease you, does it not?"
"That's awful!"
"Listen here, Lord Groom is doing plenty well! Is this not far better than handling things too cleverly and making an enemy out of Luna?!"
"I guess that's true."
The being Leo called Fairy-san—Luna-chan—was the entity closest to a god.
If she were to turn hostile, both the Galactic Empire and Chronos would be destroyed.
In that sense, Leo was walking a tightrope, just barely keeping Luna-chan from abandoning him.
Presumably, the current situation was the best-case scenario...
One-O-One was holding Towa-chan.
She was completely used to it by now.
If possible, I hoped these peaceful days would continue, I thought to myself.