A short while before Parcion-kun’s conspiracy came to light, we were having a meal.
With Tatiana around, the threat of Ghoul infection wasn't an issue. However, I couldn't trust any of the other local safety standards, either. As a result, we stuck to ingredients and mineral water supplied by the Kamishiro Group—the expensive stuff.
And so—since we were on a business trip—I decided to make ramen.
"I want to eat miso, for duty!" One-oh-one announced.
"Coming right up~"
At One-oh-one's request, we settled on miso ramen. I stir-fried some vegetables and topped it off with butter, using corn from a can. Tatiana was all smiles.
Tatiana... she would eat even the worst food without a word of complaint, but her expression transformed whenever she had something delicious. She was absolutely beaming.
While eating our ramen, we all watched the news on the large terminal in the dining room. Melissa, Rikochi, and I were treated as combatants, so we were munching on calorie blocks. We were just idly snacking while we watched.
We were tuned into Latarnia National Broadcasting, which we accessed via subscription. Everyone here understood the Latarnia Language, so we didn't need subtitles.
"Follow-up report on the Latarnian abductions. Latarnia declared war on the Lepsitol Government this morning."
"Total war, huh?" I muttered, sounding like an idle bystander.
Well, it wasn't exactly someone else's problem, but you really wouldn't expect them to be kidnapping Latarnians and performing human experimentation on them. Did that mean Lou-chan was originally a Latarnian too? She was currently in the body of a Female-type Zork, so it was hard to say for sure.
Regarding the soul transfer between biological parts, it seemed one couldn't endure the process unless they were as resilient as a Zork. That meant Fairy’s new body would likely be a Zork as well.
That aside, our general impression was: "They’ve got some nerve picking a fight with Latarnia."
In this galaxy, however, Latarnians were a marginalized race. There were plausible folk tales about how they were hated for being moneylenders, or how they would come to kill you if you didn't pay them back, but the biggest factor was simply that they had been slaves for a very long time. In Parcion and Lepsitol, there were still many people who looked down on them—mostly among the elderly.
To people of Karen’s generation, they were still seen as the hardcore militants who had ruthlessly slaughtered the Proones. More recently, the perception was that they were riding high after forming an alliance with a damnably troublesome country in the Galactic Empire called Chronos, which was obsessed with laws.
Indeed... in the eyes of the galaxy, we in the Galactic Empire were thought of as damnably troublesome Barbarians with a pathological obsession with laws and contracts.
As for the war, Latarnia requested passage through Chronos, Magellan, and Former Ozen. Since there was no particular reason to refuse, we were letting them pass through. In fact, we were even resupplying them. After all, we had no friendship treaties with Lepsitol or Parcion to honor.
"Our military’s elite fleet is currently resupplying in Chronos," the broadcast continued.
"The war is really starting, isn't it?" Melissa remarked.
"Looks like it," I replied.
Melissa was just as detached as I was. Ren poured some tea for us.
"My Lord. What shall we do?"
"It’s not something I can intervene in anymore. We have no choice but to stay out of it."
The last thing I wanted was to clumsily intervene and draw Latarnia’s ire. In that case, it would be better to foster the anti-government organizations in Lepsitol. If I were going to do that, I could just keep harassing the Four Great Conglomerates.
That was what I was thinking when a breaking news report flashed across the screen.
"Latarnians rescued from a Parcion Government facility."
"Wait, what?"
"They probably knew," Claire whispered.
"Uh..."
When I looked to her for clarification, Claire explained.
"They likely didn't know the specific crimes yet, but they probably knew that Latarnians were going missing in Parcion and Lepsitol. While they were conducting a preliminary investigation to avoid provoking the local governments, I think Leo went and found the smoking gun."
"In other words, I'm forgiven!"
Alright, I wasn't the bad guy. The situation in Lepsitol was inevitable.
"Leo... you're trying to act like a side character... but you're likely right at the heart of this mess..."
"How can this be..."
"What will Chronos do? The military is planning a joint operation with Latarnia."
"If possible, I'd rather not get involved, I say..."
Melissa laughed at my response.
"Hey, remember Old Man Kyo who lived near Leo's house back when we were in the Nagaya?"
Old Man Kyo was a neighbor from my days in the tenement. He was one of the people who had survived the terror attack only because he happened to be at the Latarnia Bank.
"He fell into a coma recently~"
"Wait, this is the first I've heard of that."
"Ah, it's okay. I went to visit him as Leo's wife."
"O-Oh... well, thank you for that... and?"
"Yeah, and then, while the old man was unconscious, he kept mumbling, 'Must kill Parcion, must kill Parcion...' over and over."
That certainly represented the current public opinion in Chronos in a nutshell. Everyone believed Parcion was the mastermind behind the terror attacks. But that was a bit too much of a dark joke!
"His family apologized to me, saying, 'Martial Consort-sama... we are truly sorry.'"
Melissa was known as the "Martial Consort" in Chronos. Claire was the Grand Duchess of Chronos—effectively the Empress—as well as the Queen of Magellan and Ozen. She was technically the Governor, but people had taken to calling her the "Wise Consort." Ren was called the "Virtuous Consort," the one who managed the palace. None of us had claimed these titles ourselves; they were just labels that had stuck.
I didn't really want to establish too much authority, since it would just become a headache for the next generation. By the way, Wifey was the "Galactic Empire Emperor," which meant she was higher-ranking than me anyway.
Setting that aside...
"In other words, Chronos is going to be dragged into this war no matter what!"
"Rather than being dragged in, I'd say we're participating quite actively."
"You're not wrong!"
Just as I was worrying about the fallout, the results of the data salvage by Fairy finally came in.
"Leo-kun... listen calmly, okay..."
She started with the scary tone.
"It looks like experiments to infect Latarnians with Ghouls are being carried out."
"By Lepsitol?"
"That's the thing... the Lepsitol Four Great Conglomerates and Parcion were working together behind the scenes."
My expression went stone-cold.
"Given that, Latarnia has no choice but to fly into a blind rage."
"Yeah... do your best... and topple the Lepsitol Government."
On 그 day... the Latarnia fleet and the Parcion-Lepsitol Joint Fleet clashed.