An electronic beeping sound woke me up and I was a little surprised to find myself in the dimly lit cockpit of the Satanachia.
That’s right... I decided to take a nap at the fifth supply point.
I looked down and found Kon curled up into a ball and sleeping on my lap. “I’m hungry... Let’s see what food we have. Wake up, Kon. It’s time to eat.”
Kon awoke with a yawn and produced some text that floated in front of me. “Just give me a can of peas.”
Wow, what a weird choice.
I rummaged through the bag of food that had been dropped by a transport aircraft at the second supply point. I found the can that Kon wanted and a can of seasoned rice for myself. I removed the tops from both and gave Kon’s to her.
I watched Kon greedily stick her head into the can while I ate mine with a fork. Naturally, the food was cold.
“I wish we could eat something hot,” I said to myself.
“I’d love to eat some of your mother’s stew right now,” Kon responded with some floating text.
Stew would be nice, but Mom’s curry is good, too.
Next, I picked up a chocolate bar to eat for desert, but as soon as Kon was done eating her own food, she leapt up and grabbed the chocolate out of my hand.
“Hey! That’s mine! What kind of lady snatches food away from other people?”
The self-described little lady on my lap ignored me and began chomping at the chocolate bar while clutching it in her little paws.
Okay, fine. That’s our only chocolate bar, but I guess she can have it.
I didn’t feel like snatching it back from Kon after seeing her happily munching on it with narrowed eyes. I gave up and drank from a pack of water using a straw.
“Are you going to drink some?” I asked. “Do you know how to use a straw?”
Kon nodded. She had no trouble putting the straw into her mouth to suck up the water. Her paws and the area around her mouth were still covered in chocolate.
She really is a lot of trouble... I took a wet tissue from the same bag and wiped Kon’s mouth and paws.
“Don’t move while I’m trying to clean you. Didn’t you say you were a girl? You shouldn’t let yourself look so messy.”
“Gruu...”
It wasn’t a threatening “Gruu”; it was more like a sound a cat might make when it’s enjoying the attention. Kon appeared to be happy. It was the noise she always made when Alice was spoiling her.
After reminiscing about how Alice would always smile as she wiped Kon’s mouth, I decided it was time to face the image on the main monitor of the Satanachia.
“Okay, time to face reality. Let’s activate the main monitor.”
I turned on the monitor while trying not to imagine what was happening outside. The scene that was displayed made me want to go punch whoever it was from Noa’s engineering department that raised the image quality of these cameras to the absolute limit.
I was surrounded by countless ghouls. It was nighttime before I went to sleep, so the image hadn’t been as clear. Now that the sun had risen, I could clearly see the ghouls that were standing all around me.
“...How many of those things are there?”
Kon answered my question: “I used the linked satellite to count them. There are about 30,000.”
That many?! Well at least they won’t keep multiplying, since we’re about to move them to an uninhabited area and set off an imaginary number weapon.
The missile had already been lowered down to me with my supplies before I took my nap, and it was now loaded into the missile launching system of the Satanachia. I was heading north as instructed.
“Kon, we’re headed for the final point on our route,” I told her before sounding the “advance” roar.
We traveled north for two hours before Kon turned away from the terminal she was using and happily swished her tail to produce some text. “Father’s unit has succeeded in capturing the leaders. It looks as though the whole operation is a success, Master!”
“Dad actually pulled it off? That’s great. That means the war is over. A lot of people were injured and a lot of bad things happened, but now...”
I trailed off as an unidentified armed unit came into view on the monitor. They were positioned in front of me and carrying flags with the image of a pair of scales and a wolf on a white background, as well as some plain red flags.
What is this? I didn’t know what to make of it so I sent a transmission to the CIC of the Alice.
“Alice, do you read me? I’m sure you can see it already, but there’s an armed force ahead of me. Who are they?”
“We are currently investigating. Please wait a few moments.”
Clare was the one who replied from the ship. When I apologized for yelling at her before leaving the Alice, and said I wanted her to continue acting as my personal adjutant, she’d forgiven me with a smile. Even now, she was taking good care of me.
“We have confirmed that this force is the regular army of the Conet Federation. The red flag is a warning flag meaning, ‘approach and we will attack.’ Please change course without approaching them. The point where you’re currently standing is the border between the Recule Holy State and the Conet Federation.”
“Clare, has the federation issued any statements about the harm caused by the ghouls? And which side of the border is the army positioned on?”
“No, the Conet Federation hasn’t issued any statement, and isn’t on the list of nations that have offered to provide aid. Strictly speaking, the place where the army is standing is the territory of the Recule Holy State.”
Hm... So they’re just watching over the continent’s crisis without speaking out or doing anything to help? I suppose that much is forgivable. They might not have the strength to offer any aid, and they could have their own internal problems to deal with. But to top it off by transgressing the border of their neighbor and declaring that they’ll attack if approached? They must be feeling quite confident. Those guys are just asking for trouble.
“I’m not changing course,” I replied while trying to contain my anger. “I’m going to continue heading forward, and I’ll change direction at the point we already agreed on.”
“Major General?! That would be... No, I understand. In the worst-case scenario, make sure they fire the first shot. Ensure we’re not the aggressors.”
“Understood.”
After Clare gave her warning, I ended the call. Of course, I had no intention of attacking them, but the federation needed to be taught that their behavior could have consequences.
I moved the Satanachia until it was just in front of the federation. I stopped 500 meters away from them.
The 30,000 ghouls that I brought just stood quietly behind me.
The members of the federation stood there looking at each other as time passed, and eventually, they lowered the red flags.
“That’s right. You’ve made the right choice. Go back to your own nation,” I muttered angrily to myself.
Kon grabbed onto my arm as if she was concerned.
Don’t worry. This won’t escalate further...
I smiled and made the “advance” roaring sound before hurrying toward the area where we’d activate the missile.