I stepped out of the conference room after a rare serious conversation with Big Brother Leo.
I, Warrant Officer Tatiana, struck up a conversation with Big Sister Kevin.
"What's wrong, Big Sister? Are you feeling unwell?"
"Eh?"
Her ample chest swayed as she turned.
Seriously, what do you even have to do to get them that big?
I looked down at my own body and felt a pang of loneliness; I could see past my toes all the way to my ankles.
I pretended I wasn't thinking about her chest at all as I continued.
"No, it's just that you were only giving vague nods back there."
"Ah, yeah. I just... I've been thinking Leo is a little scary lately. This is the first time I've seen him completely shut down an opponent before they could even make a move."
Ah, so that was it.
She was probably bewildered because a muscle-brained power character was suddenly acting like a master strategist.
Big Brother is way too popular for his own good...
"Ah... well, regarding Big Brother Leo. He’s probably just incredibly good at it. Fighting, I mean."
"Eh?"
"He’s the type who finishes preparing for victory before the fight even begins. You saw guys like that in the slums from time to time."
"Wait, you mean Leo is..."
"He probably thinks of this as a fight. When you view it that way, the most important thing is the 'compromise point.' I think he’s already planned out everything that happens after he wins."
"Is he going to annex them...?"
"No, I don't think so. I didn't get it until I studied military affairs either, but both brawls and wars are basically just means of communication. That's why making it so the other side can't resist at all is actually a pretty crude tactic. No one would just swallow that. I think the Proone will end up receiving treatment support while keeping their religious order intact."
"So the current regime is the villain, and the new leadership was just being deceived!?"
"Exactly. Either way, he’ll probably mold them into a government that’s convenient for the Empire."
"See, that is scary!"
"But they’ll go back to being the herbivores they originally were, their disease will be gone, and the neighboring countries won't have to worry about being eaten anymore. It's nothing but benefits. Whether the Proone themselves are actually happy is a different matter, though."
There was a lot of that in the world.
Take the people in the slums, for example.
If they got an honest job, they wouldn’t get arrested or die.
But they aren't smart enough to land an honest job, and they don't have much physical strength either.
Despite that, they’re packed with pride and can't get along with anyone.
So, they have no choice but to become pirates.
Most of them are treated as disposable and die by the time they’re thirty.
But what happiness looks like to an outsider is often different from the person's own perspective.
Even the old me would have lived if I hadn't become a soldier.
No, wait—I was originally supposed to be fighting pirates, not Zorks.
The mortality rate was supposed to be less than one percent.
There were risks, but the salary was generous enough to compensate.
But I only knew about that because a veteran lived in my neighborhood.
Most people die before they ever find an escape route out of the slums.
Is it better to ignore their will and force them into honest work to keep them from dying?
Or do you give freedom to those who don't even have the capacity to make choices and just let them get killed?
I didn't know which one was right either.
It was only natural for people who did bad things to be eliminated by us, though.
Even in the slums, if you killed a kid, the parents would come for revenge with the whole neighborhood in tow.
Even if the kid was an orphan, the Mafia who looked after them would come for revenge. If they didn’t, people would start looking down on them.
Even if you killed a prostitute, the Mafia backing her would retaliate.
The Proone were the same.
If they didn’t accept our terms, they’d be wiped out by the disease.
We were the ones holding the extinction card.
In that sense, Big Brother Leo’s approach was actually incredibly soft.
But it was skillful.
He was carefully constructing an escape route for the Proone.
It was just that Big Sister Kevin was afraid that the Proone’s right to self-determination was being ignored until the very end.
In her case, since she was a former Zork, she was probably empathizing with the slugs.
Well, there was no point in trying to argue her out of it.
Big Sister Kevin was from a safe colony near the Capital Planet.
It was a world away from where I grew up.
That was something we could never truly understand about each other.
But I didn't need to have the same thoughts as her.
I’d learned that was what the 'boundary between self and others' meant.
I understood that now.
I parted ways with Big Sister Kevin and returned to my shift.
"Is Tatiana finished for the day?"
One-oh-one came to meet me.
"Hey, One. What do you think about the Proone? Do you think it’s cowardly to trigger an internal collapse by using the cure as bait?"
"The Zork lost to the Empire because they didn't have a broad perspective. The Captain is doing the right thing!"
So that was her take.
She was certainly right about that.
"The Captain is like a wizard! He’s cornering the enemy without even fighting! He’s become even stronger! Tatiana will become like that too!"
"That's probably impossible."
I couldn't imagine imitating that.
"The other day, we held a war Reflection Meeting with all the Zorks!"
"Heh, I guess so. You are the Princess of a Fallen Nation, after all, One."
Anyway, it seemed One-oh-one was currently the highest-ranking person in the Republic.
Of course she’d hold a Reflection Meeting.
"The Zork lost because they failed to kill Captain Leo during the first raid!"
"Just how 'strongest' is Big Brother Leo?"
"To be precise, they were Academy students! Every one of them had abnormally high potential! The Zork's defeat was decided when Captain Leo made the decision to let them escape. Luna-chan has reached the same conclusion!"
If Luna, the Original Mother AI, said so, then it had to be true.
Still, it wouldn't have been strange if the Reflection Meeting itself was flagged as treason.
"Veronica-chan even approved of the Reflection Meeting!"
"It’s officially sanctioned by the Galactic Empire Emperor!?"
She’s way too free-spirited! Our leader, I mean!
Just as I was reeling in exasperation, an alarm blared throughout the ship.
"Ghoul Ship approaching the Battle Dome! All hands, to battle stations!"
"One! Let's go!"
"Yes, understood!!!"
After running a short distance, we ran into the Steward.
"Princess! Are you safe!?"
"I am fine!"
"And Lady Tatiana!?"
"Nothing’s happened yet. We’re medics, so we’re heading to the infirmary."
"I shall accompany you!"
And so, I headed to work.
At the time, I still didn't realize that I’d been identified as one of the Empire's Strongest Espers, right alongside Big Brother Leo and Alyssa-san.