Isono and Nakajima showed up.
They’d clearly been training with Katori-sensei; they were beaten to a pulp.
Their martial arts uniforms were in tatters.
Incidentally, Isono had a rope tied around his waist, the reins held by Lady Hanazawa.
Nakajima just wore a collar, with her fiancé holding her leash firm.
I’d initially recoiled at the sight, but I eventually accepted that it was just their specific brand of foreplay and left them to it.
They looked happy enough, so whatever!!!
"Yo, what's up?"
They looked like a mess of scars, but injuries like that were healed in no time by gag correction and nanomachines.
Katori-sensei was truly a master at leaving someone half-dead without any lasting damage the next day...
Though in my case, she’d always claim, "As if I could go easy on you, you moron!" and come at me with legitimate murderous intent.
The treatment of this Brigadier General was getting a bit ridiculous.
"Nah, it’s just that I can’t solve this problem."
I sent over the link to the simulation.
"Huh? Oh, this? Nakajima, have a look."
"Isono—there's no way I can solve something Claire-chan can't... Oh, wait. Is it this?"
Something shifted.
The atmosphere in the room changed.
"This, uh... the model answer is wrong, isn't it?"
"O-Oh? How did you figure that out?"
"Nakajima, explain it. Actually... it’ll be faster if we just solve it."
With that, Nakajima breezed through the simulation.
For some reason, she handled the ship with absolute confidence but performed the most amateurish maneuvers imaginable.
Yet, strangely, the enemy AI began to act illogically, actively swerving to avoid her ship.
"What the hell is this!?"
"This, you see, is the record of the time the Nakajima and Isono families won during the last civil war."
"Why is it moving like that!?"
The ship handling was clearly that of a novice... or rather, it looked like they were deliberately trying to get hit.
"Exactly! It makes no sense at all!!!"
The Fairy seemed equally indignant.
"I'll solve the puzzle for you. Back then, neither our families nor the guys attacking us actually wanted to fight. So, we all conspired to make it look like a battle was happening. Our ancestors were part of the Pro-Emperor Faction, so they settled things by 'attacking' a destroyer and rendering it incapacitated. If we’d fought for real with that kind of power disparity, there’s no way we could’ve won! In the end, the Isono and Nakajima families claimed a 'great victory' and were praised by the Emperor of the time. The opposing nobles were let off the hook in exchange for higher taxes. Everyone lived happily ever after."
It was the most pathetic reason I’d ever heard.
"Why didn't they want to fight?"
The Fairy asked the most logical question.
"Simple. They’d started a coup d'etat but failed to take the Imperial Capital. Their loss was already set in stone. The opposition had no choice but to cut their losses. Both our house and Nakajima’s would’ve been wiped out if we hadn't played along with the farce."
Wait a second...
"Fairy, digitize General Rao's movements."
"Did you realize something?"
I looked at the data.
"Just as I thought... He’s going all out against Latarnia, but he’s incredibly passive when facing the Empire or the Ogre God Nation. Uh, Shiyun!"
"Oh, you're onto something. I'll go get her!"
Isono went to fetch Shiyun.
She arrived wearing her kappogi—actually, it was her work uniform for her shift.
Shiyun's Older Brother was with her, helping out in his own work clothes.
Hey, don't glare at me.
This is good experience for you, isn't it?
At our place, even Wifey takes her turn with the cleaning duties.
"About General Rao. It looks like he’s dead set on crushing Latarnia, but he seems reluctant to fight us or the Ogre God Nation. Does that ring a bell?"
"Ah, of course!"
Something seemed to click for Shiyun.
"Um... Brother, didn't Rao serve in the previous campaign against Latarnia?"
"Yes. It was decades ago, but General Rao was once taken prisoner during the war with Latarnia."
A personal grudge?
No, that didn't seem right...
Latarnia just happened to be compatible with us, but they had an incredibly difficult temperament.
They operated strictly on promises, never forgot a favor or a slight, were relentlessly tenacious, and always settled their scores.
On top of that, they were masters of underhanded tactics, casually sending in mistresses or performing night raids.
They didn't hesitate to use themselves as pawns, with individuals sacrificing everything for the good of the collective.
In return, the state would pay a ransom even for a corpse, and they would mourn the death of a total stranger.
To put it bluntly, it was a happy totalitarianism.
The worst part was that they didn't even realize how strange they were.
Asking someone to understand that mindset was a tall order.
I felt it was much simpler to get along with the Ogre God Nation, where they had that straightforward "Vengeance is the pride of a warrior!" mentality.
They were a bunch of "sunny" types in their own right, even if they were a Yankee society where strength was the only metric of value...
Maybe the Taikyoku Nation was actually a fairly normal country, just one with an exceptionally archaic national structure...
Cultural differences are tricky.
To an outsider, we were probably the ones who looked insane.
The most grounded entity was the Battle Dome, and that wasn't even a country; it was a Wide-area Commercial Union.
But the picture was becoming clear.
General Rao—and likely most people in the Taikyoku Nation—saw Latarnia as a latent enemy.
They were neighbors, so it was only natural.
In other words, they simply couldn't accept Latarnia.
As for us, they were likely waiting to see... no, I think they believed we were people they could negotiate with.
After all, we weren't treating the Emperor like a hostage; we were giving him a proper education.
There was almost certainly someone among Shiyun's Older Brother's subordinates leaking intel to General Rao.
There was no way there wasn't!!!
A spy who was more of an ally, then. I’d leave them be. It’s better not to meddle with things like that.
In short, General Rao was Shiyun's subject; he wasn't actually serving the Ghouls.
It wasn't a certainty, but the probability was high.
There was a good chance his family... or someone equally precious, was being held hostage.
"Who do you think General Rao wouldn't be able to defy if they were taken hostage?"
"...The Empress! He would have served as her guardian after he was taken prisoner!"
Wait... the Empress...
"Shiyun's..."
"She is my brother's mother."
I see.
That’s complicated.
"Er... how's your relationship with her?"
Was it one of those Inner Palace drama situations where she tried to murder anyone who stood in the way of her son becoming Emperor...?
"She apparently tried to poison me in the past, but..."
"I'm sorry."
"Oh, no! It happens all the time!!!"
It happens all the time!?
Things just got a lot more complicated!
What now!?