I made it back to the pirate territory.
Melissa had gone back to her family home.
The pirate territory was in a state of absolute chaos.
There were a massive number of injured soldiers.
I hadn't seen the final list yet, but there had to be tens of thousands of them.
Just transferring them to the colonies took half a day.
And as a Captain, the military list landed squarely on my desk.
A record of who was injured, who was killed in action, and who was missing...
A glorious task: list-making.
First, I had to classify the data that the Officer Academy University and Graduate School groups had worked themselves to death to generate.
"Sigh... I'm exhausted."
Even the Fairy was fed up.
It would be one thing if I could pump myself up by saying, "I saved every single one of them!"
But the reality was bitter.
Thirty percent of the total force had been killed in the line of duty.
By all rights, they should have been able to return home.
And the casualties were even worse before we arrived.
They hadn't treated those soldiers as anything remotely resembling human beings.
They’d used them as meat shields to force a reckless charge.
It was a direct reflection of the values held by the Duke Association.
I looked through the communication logs stored by the Mother AI.
...Well, it was a version the Fairy had summarized for me, since I wouldn't have understood the raw data.
According to the logs, it seemed the Dukes only started to panic once casualties appeared among their own ranks.
They’d even been scheming to use Prince Thomas as a shield to facilitate their own escape.
The Mother AI's core setting included wiretapping all communications.
However, the Fairy told me, "It just keeps backups; it doesn't actually analyze the data in much detail."
"I guess that makes sense. There’s no way it would back up something like my occasional fetish-exposure incidents..."
"Oh, I'm taking backups of those. Because they're funny."
That was truly the work of a demon.
I converted the list into a database-compatible format.
I applied my Electronic Seal Stamp and uploaded the file to the military server.
"Isn't this administrative work...?"
I mean... I’d really appreciate documents that even a student could understand...
A Captain is an officer, for crying out loud!
It's a rank you usually reach years after graduating from the Officer Academy Regular Course!
I haven't even enrolled in the University Division yet!
"The administrative staff suffered heavy casualties too..."
That was the biggest problem.
I’d hoped there would be plenty of them among the Dukes' retainers, but it turned out many were on the side that couldn't escape in time.
In the end, was physical fitness more reliable than intelligence...?
The only good Duke is a dead Duke... or so I thought, but they had to drag the Duke Army's administrative staff to the grave with them?!
Meanwhile, Major Piggett was busy setting up meetings with nobles trying to suck up to my wifey.
Isn't that a secretary's job?
Wait, they're dead?
I see.
He looked like he was about to drop dead himself, so I couldn't exactly dump my work on him.
Then, another problem arose.
"Hey, Leo... my old man just decided on a fiancée for me... He told me to get permission from His Highness."
One of the boys muttered with a deathly pale expression.
"O-Oh, what's wrong? Isn't that a good thing?"
"Idiot! The other party is the second daughter of a Count! My family are just landless Baronets! Our social standings are worlds apart!!!"
Other boys were in the room as well.
It seemed their families had been busy finding brides for them, too.
"Why though?"
"Yo."
Just as the question left my lips, my wife arrived.
She had a cooling gel pad stuck to her forehead.
"So, the day has finally come."
"They're saying all their families found brides for them. Why?"
"That is because they are members of the Immortal Knight Order under the direct command of Leo Kamishiro."
"Immortal Knight Order? What's that? Never heard of it."
"Hell's Crusaders, Demon Wolf Knight Order, Hell's Legion—there are many monikers. It is just the media's own invention. They are talking about the students from the Officer Academy."
"Oh, so you mean my Personal Guard."
"Even that isn't official. Do you understand, Lord Groom? People have started betting on the winning horse."
"Because on paper, they're my subordinates?"
"Precisely. They are the subordinates of the hero who liberated the Imperial Capital and rescued Prince Thomas. It is a safer bet than trying to push a bride directly onto the Lord Groom. I would do the same thing if I were a lord."
"...O-Oh."
God, that was terrifying.
"To begin with, both the Lord Groom and I have strong support from the lower-ranking lords, like Viscounts and below. It is only natural that people would want a piece of that."
"But no one's saying anything like that to the girls."
"That is because they are likely planning to make themselves the wives of the Harem King."
"No, thank you! That's scary!"
The idea of the whole class being my wives was just wrong.
Absolutely not.
"The Lord Groom might be targeted from now on... Be warned, the Lord Groom's first and last woman shall be me."
What was this?
Lately, I'd been sensing waves of Yandere energy from multiple directions.
Must be my imagination.
"Leave the boys' marriages to me. I shall ensure they are not mistreated. Everyone! Is that acceptable?!"
"Yes!!!"
I decided to leave it to my wifey.
Curious about this 'Immortal Knight Order,' I went back to my room and searched for it.
The media coverage was insane!!!
I’d been so busy lately that I hadn't even looked at the news, so I had no idea!
[The Hope of the Empire: The Immortal Knight Order. A Decisive Victory Over the Zork!]
...O-Oh.
[Immortal Knight Order: The Mission to Rescue Prince Thomas Was a Success.]
...Ah, that's the angle they're taking.
[I Reincarnated and Got TS-ed in the Immortal Knight Order]
Wait, it's actually popular!!!
Now I was sure. If it was being parodied, it was legitimately famous.
But still, that girl on the cover.
Could they stop making her look exactly like Kevin?
Did the artist draw this knowing about Kevin?
...Maybe the author was someone inside the Officer Academy.
I decided it was better not to go hunting for the culprit.
"Hey, hey, Leo—"
"Gwah-ba-boppo!!!"
"Hmm? Did something happen?"
Kevin strolled in, her large chest swaying as she moved.
Scared the absolute life out of me.
Seriously, no one knocked anymore.
Boys and girls alike just treated my room like a public lounge.
"O-Oh, it's nothing. So, what's up?"
"Yeah. Lily-san said the intake is finished, so she wants you to come over."
"Did you tell my wifey?"
"I did."
"You could have just sent a message."
"Geez, Leo, you always ignore my messages. That's why I came in person."
Good grief... my behavior patterns had been completely mapped out.
There was nowhere to run.
"Were there any problems?"
"Just that there are a lot of injuries. The Duke Army is completely demoralized. It doesn't look like they have the will to resist."
"Well, we weren't their enemies to begin with."
"True. It looks like we won't have to worry about riots until they recover."
It was going well.
Come to think of it, as long as they didn't attack us, there was no need to wipe out the Zork.
We could just send Edge in later.
After that, all we had to do was figure out how to navigate the war between humans.
...Really?