Chapter 31 - Victory with Lingering Unease, and Each's Anxiety over the Great Military Exploit
~During navigation toward the Gialpha Star System Fourth Planet (ten hours remaining until landing on the capital star's sea)~
Sangou had departed from all battlefields and was now at full speed, setting course toward the capital star.
The horde of space beasts that had been attacking from the Umyu Galaxy.
That strongest duo and one divine dragon, having finished crushing nearly all of them, had already ended their combat operations for this matter, leaving the aftermath including mop-up of remaining enemies entirely to the Imperial Military.
The reason for this transition was mainly a two-pronged issue of time efficiency and consideration for the Imperial Military—a secret known only to Jin and Sangou.
Now then, in the previous chapter stage, the battle situation was not yet concluded, and Jin was supposed to be receiving Laura's angry emotions. How did they reach this situation?
Let's rewind the timeline and follow the flow of events in order.
After telling Sangou that he was going to rest, Jin had simply vanished by using long-distance teleportation magic from within Sangou's ship.
The place the Hero chose to rest was not the captain's private room inside Sangou, but his own home on the capital star of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
"Rouj. I know it's still in the middle, but I've come back for a bit. I'll go out again later. Silk, can you contact Laura-sama immediately?"
After exchanging a warm embrace, it was the time of departure toward the battlefield.
In truth, not even a single day had passed since then.
Yet, his wives were stunned into silence that Jin had already returned.
Incidentally, the area where Jin's home on the capital star currently was located was late at night, and the children were already asleep.
Of course, the same applied to the residences of the Emperor and Imperial Consort.
Hence, Jin's confirmation to Silk was because the time was somewhat unreasonable for making communications.
At that time, Jin begrudged the hassle and time of the procedures to speak directly to the Emperor, chose the shortest method to convey the situation, and called out to Silk.
In any case, depended upon by her husband in that flow, Silk busily contacted Laura using a direct line.
Thus, it was probably a natural development that Laura, upon confirming Jin's figure—who should not have been on the capital star—through the monitor, would be angry, as he had gone to a battle of utmost importance concerning the nation's survival.
Well, the Hero Jin would simply ignore such things as if it were 'water off a duck's back'.
"Since the battle situation has become somewhat manageable, I've returned to give a report."
"Eh?"
"So, for an interim report on the situation."
"No no, wait. You're supposed to be on Sangou and at the battlefield, in the middle of battle, right? Don't tell me you sent Sangou unmanned toward the battlefield?"
Laura interrupted Jin's statement, built in her mind a plausible inference from her common sense for the current situation, and asked Jin.
"I went to the battlefield myself. I am here now because I used a certain method, but I will decline to explain that."
"I see. I heard from His Majesty. Teleportation. You can do that, can you?"
"I won't explain that. Is that what's important now?"
"No. It's not."
Laura was additionally irritated by Jin not answering her question.
Even so, she was worthy of being an Imperial Consort, and she did not mistake the priorities in such a situation.
Hence, she denied the importance of her own question.
"I'm glad our understanding isn't off. So, I want to inform you of the latest battle situation, but I begrudged the time for the procedures to petition for an audience with His Imperial Majesty or a direct communication line. Therefore, I chose the method of conveying it to you, Laura-sama, via Silk. Please forgive me for that."
"Ah, never mind that. In the first place, less than a full day has passed since you all went to the battlefield. Given the elapsed time, I wasn't anticipating any information at this stage. Yet if I receive the latest frontline information, the benefit far outweighs it."
While granting Jin forgiveness, Laura's mind was working at full capacity.
Jin had already said, 'the battle situation has become somewhat manageable'.
This was information that could not be ignored.
"Jin just said 'the battle situation has become manageable', didn't he? What on earth is happening? However you look at it, isn't this too fast?"
Laura's mind was filled with questions.
But still, she conveyed the benefit of receiving information and, belatedly, shifted to an attitude prompting Jin's report.
"The enemy space beasts were invading divided into seven groups. For convenience, please listen assuming they are 'numbered one through seven' in order of approach routes nearest the imperial capital."
"Understood. Please continue."
"First, the Imperial Military will make contact with number one approximately forty-eight hours from the current time. Due to my preemptive attack, the group the Imperial Military is scheduled to contact has already lost eighty percent of its strength. However, in that battlefield, I could not confirm the presence of a bio-spaceship. I will go to the space zone where that group is again later and search for the bio-spaceship over time. If found, I will engage with the aim of sinking it; if not found, I will leave the remaining space beasts to the Imperial Military."
"I see. So that's it. Then, because you had time before number two arrived, you came back to the imperial capital?"
"No. The annihilation of number two is already complete. The elimination of one bio-spaceship and approximately ten million space beasts in the space zone of number two has all finished."
Jin's words were beyond expectation.
For a moment, Laura's thinking stopped and she went blank.
Even so, as an excellent Imperial Consort, she pulled herself together in a few seconds.
"What did he say just now? This man..."
At least to the extent of being able to ask herself that, Laura had recovered her thinking ability.
"Um. You've already finished annihilation? Of ten million space beasts? Even though the Imperial Military hasn't even fought yet?"
"Ah, no, that's not it."
"Right, I see. No matter how much it's Sangou, that can't be."
Laura was relieved at reconfirming Jin's abnormal story and having the confirmation denied by him.
However, that state was soon shattered.
"No, what's different is only that 'the amount of battle results is not just that'."
"Eh? Explain so I can understand."
"Numbers three through seven are all also reduced by eighty percent. The remaining number of enemies has already been reduced to roughly two million each. Since there should be at least one more bio-spaceship, which Sangou and I are prioritizing as our top target, now we're focusing on that rather than annihilation."
"Wait! Hold on a moment."
Overwhelmed by the content of the report, Laura involuntarily stopped Jin's words.
"Jin. Let me confirm. Is my understanding correct: 'Number two is completely annihilated. The others—there should have been a total of around sixty million space beasts—now number twelve million, and as a breakdown, each individual group is about two million'?"
While voicing the content to confirm, Laura was doing something very dexterous: 'muttering different words in her mind'.
"Wait? What was it we were, just a day ago, who had steeled ourselves with the tragic resolve that 'this is a crisis for the empire's survival'?!"
That was how Laura felt inside, but that was her secret alone.
"Yes, that's correct. However, it's still unknown how many bio-spaceships, which stand out as enemy combat power, remain. I'll send separately the latest time-series predicted position data of the enemy that Sangou has created."
"Shouldn't we just give the Imperial Military a withdrawal order and leave it all to Jin and Sangou?"
It might not be outright 'wrong' that Laura thought this way.
But there was more.
It was also true that the Imperial Consort's thinking did not stop there.
"It might be too early to worry about post-war matters, and the demons would laugh. Even so, isn't the battle result solely from Jin fighting with Sangou too enormous? How do we reward this?"
Such a thought crossed Laura's mind.
For Laura in the position of Imperial Consort, rather than joy from the situation where a major crisis seemed avoidable, the difficulty of adjusting rewards and punishments after the war was foreseeable even at this point, so anxiety won out.
Being excellent was the cause of Laura's suffering.
The improvement in the battle situation should have improved the state of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire, but perhaps this was ironic.
"I understand the report. I will convey it to His Imperial Majesty as soon as possible. But you, even if it's a 'titular' position, are a Marquis. You can come directly to the court and request an emergency audience with His Majesty. I want you not to forget that."
"Yes, I understand that. But I tend to rely on easy methods. I apologize."
"He's saying harsh things. He's implying 'you guys also rely far too easily on us, don't you?' From Jin and Sangou, I suppose that's unavoidable, but it's true."
For Jin, it was a statement with no ulterior motive at all.
But Laura perceived it as having hidden meaning.
Sometimes, communication through people's words causes such misunderstandings.
"Well then, I'll return to the battlefield later. Excuse me."
Jin, intending to relax a bit after the communication, mentally added, '"Later" does not mean "returning immediately"'.
It wasn't a lie, but it wasn't telling the whole truth either.
Well, it was a trivial matter that didn't affect the larger situation, so it probably wouldn't be a problem.
Incidentally, during this time of night when the children were already asleep and it was fully into the late hours, if asked 'what did Jin, whose various feelings were stirred from fighting, do after the conversation with Laura?'
Jin spent his time getting a good rest.
"What are you doing, during a super-large-scale war that might destroy the country!"
Since no one existed who would hurl such angry words at Jin and Rouj and the others, well, it was probably fine.
Winning is what matters.
Perhaps this is an unchanging truth that remains constant throughout the ages.
Having finished such goings-on on the capital star, Jin returned to the battlefield with teleportation magic.
Thus, the Hero, having rested and replenished his energy, rejoined Sangou and Kichou.
"Captain, welcome back. There are no bio-spaceship reactions in this space zone. I'll just fire some lucky shots and head to the next target."
"I see. Then, leave it to you. But, just a feeling, I initially assumed that 'there's a bio-spaceship in every invasion route', but it seems that wasn't the case after all."
"There's a possibility we sunk it without noticing due to your preemptive attack, Captain. In any case, wouldn't it be good if we confirm there isn't one?"
"Well, yeah. Then, let's hurry to the next! Kichou probably still wants to rampage too."
"Master, I love you~"
In truth, a copy of Futagou had been accompanying the group Jin called number one.
However, that copy had been executing the method of hiding in a star—considered the best tactic—from before Jin made contact.
Thus, at the time of the first battle, it was definitely in the nearby space zone.
But at that time, Jin simply hadn't been able to discover it.
On the other hand, even though the copy side understood that its comrades were receiving attacks from 'some unidentified entity', it didn't lead to confirming that entity as 'Jin'. While waiting and seeing, the battle situation ended.
From there, it shifted to advancing with the remaining comrades, but after a while, an event occurred: the 'final paralysis-inflicted bio-spaceship' was shared through the racial characteristic ability of the mineral lifeforms.
Since Jin easily crushed the number two imitation that had been hiding in a star, same as the copy that was in number one, it reached the conclusion that 'in a one-on-one fight, there's no chance of winning using any tactic', and only the bio-spaceships began moving to converge at number seven.
Incidentally, the bio-spaceships from numbers three to seven survived Jin's attack for the same reason as number one.
As a result, they had succeeded in hiding their hulls from the 'Hero', who happened to be the worst possible natural enemy for the bio-spaceships.
That aside, though.
For the mineral lifeforms of the Umyu Galaxy, the current battle situation was clearly different from their pre-war expectations.
Because the damage was too great, even a withdrawal was under consideration.
"Fuhaha! We've won!"
"Captain, isn't your character acting strange?"
"It's fine. 'We've won' is high on the list of lines I wanted to say with a pose. So no problem."
What does 'so no problem' mean?
Sangou could not understand that point.
But Sangou gave up trying to understand this matter.
Because it was a situation where she wanted to devote as much thinking ability as possible to detecting enemies and predicting future positions.
Even in the space zone of number three following number one, the bio-spaceship was not found, and moreover, the group of space beasts was considerably behind the predicted position.
Because of that, though she had finally finished an annihilation battle while sensing a sign of enemy withdrawal, from Sangou's perspective, a revision of plans in a strategic sense was necessary.
"Heading to number four. If number four is also farther back than the initially predicted position, it would be reasonable to judge that the enemy is withdrawing. However, Captain, what do we do if the enemy retreats? 'Let them go and let them depart'? Or 'chase and annihilate them'?"
"Hmm. It's a difficult call, but since they're nothing but pests, I'd say annihilate them as much as possible. If they seem likely to escape, we'll decide 'how far to chase' flexibly."
The meaning of Jin's statement was flexible response, of course.
Well, in reality, it's no different from 'playing it by ear'.
"Yes, then we'll do that. By the time Sangou arrives at number four, the Imperial Military should originally have started fighting too, but what will happen if the enemy has begun retreating? At this point, I can't predict."
Convinced of the enemy's retreat posture in the number four space zone, Sangou completely recreated the position prediction data.
Then, she succeeded in chasing and annihilating number four, number five, and even up to number six.
However, by the time the annihilation of number six was finished, the number seven invasion force had completely left the Gialpha Galaxy.
Since the enemy's march route was unknown, searching would make the candidates of space zones too wide.
Therefore, Jin and Sangou reached the stage of giving up pursuit.
Incidentally, around that same time, the Imperial Military was chasing the retreating enemy in the number one space zone.
In other words, the Imperial Military's annihilation and mopping-up battle was reaching its final stage.
Incidentally, to talk a little ahead about future events, although the Imperial Military suffered about a single army's worth of casualties, they succeeded in annihilating the enemy.
As mentioned above, for the groups up to number six, everything except the bio-spaceship that managed to escape was annihilated.
Given such a situation, it would not be an exaggeration to say that 'once the Imperial Military finishes mopping up remaining enemies and post-battle cleanup, the first intergalactic war will be concluded'.
The Umyu Galaxy side committed eighty million mineral lifeforms and nine bio-spaceships to this war; only slightly less than two million mineral lifeforms and seven bio-spaceships managed to return as a defeated force.
The bio-spaceship loss was just over twenty percent, but the mineral lifeforms suffered over ninety-seven percent losses—a miserable result.
Of course, the Gialpha Galaxy Empire did not have the recognition that 'we were attacked from another galaxy'.
In any case, the battlefield situation progressed in such a flow, leading to the opening scene of Sangou's navigation.
Now then, leaving the aftermath to the Imperial Military, what was Jin doing inside Sangou, who was setting course toward the capital star?
Jin understood that the Emperor and Laura were waiting for a victory report.
Furthermore, Jin did not choose to use long-distance teleport and return alone ahead to his home in the imperial capital.
Why was that?
When he began to think about ending their own combat operations and receiving compensation from the Gialpha Galaxy Empire for their work on the battlefield, Jin realized that his own situation was not good. That was the reason.
Hence, Jin felt it necessary to use the time on the return journey to consult with Sangou.
The reward for Jin in this matter.
That had, in a sense, been promised in advance by the Emperor before Jin and Sangou went to the battlefield.
However, in truth, it could be said that 'there are several major problems with what was presented in advance'.
In the first place, Jin had no desire to 'found a nation and become a ruler of a country'.
Moreover, no matter how much assistance was provided, founding a nation from scratch—no, from a negative state ravaged by mineral lifeforms—would be 'a harsh story no matter how you look at it'.
A person with normal sensibilities might perceive it as 'a penalty game' or 'no different from exile', and Jin could only wonder, 'Can that really be called a "reward"?'.
Nevertheless, Jin accepted the job when the Emperor presented the conditions not because he was satisfied with the reward, but because he felt something in the Emperor's resolve.
Also, that aside, to begin with, to be honest, he doubted 'whether that promise would be smoothly fulfilled'.
If they actually dealt with the matter of the external enemy for the Gialpha Galaxy Empire, the next thing to come would be internal strife within the empire.
If so, it would be a headache-inducing story.
"Hey, Sangou. From my knowledge, 'the fates of heroes' don't end well."
"That's an abrupt topic. Captain, what's wrong?"
Suddenly thrown such a topic by the captain, Sangou tried to confirm the reason.
It felt like it wouldn't just be idle chat.
The bio-spaceship's organic AI could properly sense that.
This was a moment when it was objectively clear that Sangou was the best partner for the clumsy hero, who was lacking in many areas besides combat ability.
"Yeah, well. It's more like 'a worry' or 'a consultation', but first, just listen."
"Understood."
"It's about stories, you know. When you focus on 'what happened to the fates of heroes who saved the country', you see that the answer is something like 'at best, they marry a princess or imperial princess and inherit the country'. And after that, the story isn't written. It ends with 'happily ever after'."
"Well, that's how it goes in stories, I suppose."
From Sangou's perspective, depicting the subsequent reality would be superfluous, and she could imagine it wouldn't be enjoyable for the story's readers.
Also, Sangou knew from actual experience the case of the captain, who had achieved the defeat of the Demon Lord yet did not end with 'happily ever after'.
Therefore, her response had to be as above.
"However, such stories often have 'some historical fact' as their basis. At the very least, there are real-life examples that influenced them."
"I suppose so."
"When it's real life, not a story, saving a country and becoming a king, noble, or lord doesn't end it."
"Since the hero's life doesn't end there, that's only natural."
Sangou repeated affirmative nods to prompt the captain to continue his story.
Of course, there was also no particular reason to deny it.
"Yeah. So, it becomes a question: 'Would a hero of the battlefield possess the competence to run a country?'"
"The ability to fight and win and the ability to govern are different. However, one cannot deny that there exist heroes who possess both talent and actual skill—'so-called military prowess plus the knowledge and judgment necessary for governance'. But the existence of such a person would be an extremely rare miracle-level occurrence."
"Right. In other words, common sense says 'no way in hell!' So then, what happens is 'the hero ends up being manipulated or usurped in the governance part by someone like a prime minister who supports the ex-hero'."
Jin's expression had unconsciously turned to one of disgust as he spoke to Sangou.
Well, it wasn't a pleasant topic, and there were parts that hit close to home, so perhaps this reaction was unavoidable.
"That's not absolute. But extremely rare success stories can't be used as references, and probably shouldn't be."
"That's how it goes, huh. And another case: when the hero doesn't become a ruler but is settled with monetary rewards or titles. In that case, only things that don't match the achievement are given. And then, 'consider the disappointment of those who come after' becomes the issue."
"A 'reward commensurate' with an achievement that saved a country. It depends on how you think about it, but at maximum, wouldn't it be 'the country itself that would have been lost without the hero's work, and everything gained from the battle'?"
When the cause of a national crisis is a disaster-type, it's a different story, but when there is an opponent, it depends on the situation, but there are cases where obtainable things exist.
The maximum reward Sangou considered commensurate with the work was everything gained from that work, which included things that should have been lost otherwise.
Of course, normally, even a person with achievements at the level called 'hero' is limited in what an individual can do.
For example, in war, they lead an army and fight, so it is only through the work of other people besides the hero that a country can be saved.
An evaluation attributing everything to an individual is normally impossible.
"Right. And can that be given? Well, no way. If given to an incompetent fool, the country would likely be destroyed. In short, you'd end up saying 'What did you save it for then?' and it's not funny."
"Indeed. That would be putting the cart before the horse."
"In reality, when the achievement is too great, there's no commensurate reward. At least in the country of Japan where I was, past cases—history—prove that. So I want to know. In terms of Sangou's 'wisdom' or 'knowledge', how does it look around there?"
A sincere question from the captain.
Receiving it, Sangou gathered related information from the Deltania Army's records and the history data of the Deltania Star System, and thought.
Of course, the time needed for that was extremely short.
Sangou, who could reply in a thinking time not even reaching a millisecond, let alone a second, was undeniably excellent.
"Captain, what I am about to tell you will be an answer based on Sangou's data."
"Yeah."
"First, the case of a general who continuously achieved heroic feats in the Deltania Army. His rank never went above Eternal Honorary Field Marshal, and from there he maintained the status quo. Ultimately, the country and military lavishly issued monetary rewards and medals. Believing 'if we deploy him, we can overturn any difficult battle situation', he was repeatedly given reckless and impossible missions. He died in battle in the end. In other words, 'they just used him to the bone until he died'."
"(Whoa, that's the worst story.)"
Jin's unspoken inner comment was an extremely fair impression.
"Historically speaking, there have been several cases of 'transitioning to a politician in a democratic political system' after achieving heroic feats. However, according to records, they only ended with dying in prison due to political schemes or similar outcomes."
"(Yeah, it's a common trope, but this is also the worst.)"
Even in the history of the Deltania Star System that Sangou knew, the fact that political forms changed frequently inadvertently came to light, but Jin didn't pay any attention to that.
"Other cases: dissatisfied with insufficient rewards, they rebel. There are cases of winning and losing, but according to records, neither leads to a good retirement."
"(If you lose, you just get killed; if you win, you fail at governing in the end, huh.)"
In the case of Jin and Sangou, if they got angry and rampaged, it wouldn't be impossible to destroy everything and make it never have happened.
Therefore, there was also the option of not governing, but the fact that his thinking didn't go there probably meant he had a certain degree of goodness.
Of course, if Jin were truly cornered, the possibility that it would come up as an option besides fleeing could not be denied, but that was only trivial.
"Finally, the case where the person themselves forcibly declined the reward. There is a record of the person living in seclusion happily, but for the country, it was seen as a trigger or 'bad precedent', causing civil war in later generations. As a result, the country declined and perished. In other words, the person themselves was fine, but in the descendants' generation, it was no laughing matter. Separately, there is a record of a proposal called 'abdication', though no actual precedent. The reason it wasn't realized is probably because the problems were too big. That is the end of my answer."
"(It's the same in every world. The handling of our battle results this time is definitely a dangerous matter.)"
There were various thoughts along the way, but still, Jin listened in silence until the end of Sangou's answer.
Next, he moved on to talk about the future.
"I understand very well. Thanks. So, Sangou, what do you think will happen after we return to the imperial capital?"
"From the examples in history just now, the Emperor's prior promise of reward has a high possibility of falling under the 'bad precedent' pattern. Either the vassals forcibly stop it and cause trouble, or the Emperor pushes it through and loses the trust of his vassals. One of the two."
Sangou's speculation seemed likely to lead to a bad end for Jin, who should be the meritorious party.
"Even if both the Emperor and I are satisfied, 'those around us won't allow it', huh."
"Yes, that's likely."
"'When the cunning hare is dead, the running dog is boiled.' Is there no other end but that sad one? However, in this case, it's like 'the cunning hare isn't completely annihilated, but the immediate threat is gone, and there's no proof of the next threat.' They're space beasts, after all. And anyway, the Imperial Military has probably succeeded in mop-up of the primary target. They might also misunderstand that 'the Imperial Military can win on its own'."
"That misunderstanding is possible."
The mineral lifeforms of the Umyu Galaxy thought in terms of 'survival competition'.
Therefore, there was ultimately no ending that avoided conflict.
Because coexistence was impossible.
And the fact that no one living in the Gialpha Galaxy, including Jin and Sangou, knew about that might lead to a great misfortune depending on the future situation.
But even if future conflict was unavoidable, would the next battle or war occur immediately?
The combat power of the mineral lifeforms was not infinite.
Hence, it could be said 'no'.
The mineral lifeforms also needed time for 'recovery of combat power and construction of new strategies'.
The time required for that would surely not be short.
"Sangou, what do you think we should do?"
"Captain, we lack information. What does the captain desire? Please determine the victory you envision, the so-called 'victory conditions'."
"Ah, sorry. Right. First, as a premise, we didn't fight this time for the reward. It was to protect the capital star where our home is, to protect Rouj and the others' safety."
Jin paused for a moment and began to organize his thoughts.
Sensing that more words would follow, Sangou remained silent and waited.
"However, that said, not working for free is good. But I don't want a huge reward either. The victory condition is 'that I myself and my family can live safely and happily in the future'. That's all I need."
"I see. I understand the victory conditions the captain desires. Then, Sangou will present a plan to achieve that."
With such a flow of conversation, Jin and Sangou finished aligning their thoughts during the voyage.
Incidentally, Kichou was completely uninterested in such talk.
"(Master's world is so troublesome. It'd be fine to destroy everything~)"
The divine dragon in the form of a small dragon, despite having no interest, heard the talk that came into her ears on Sangou's bridge and was thinking quite dangerous things.
However, since her intelligence was high, she had the discretion not to say it outright.
"(As long as my pet slot under Master is protected, that's fine.)"
For Kichou, who had no means of restoring magic power from anyone other than Jin, the existence of Master was irreplaceable.
Also, she was grateful for being given the environment to evolve into a 'divine dragon', which under normal circumstances could hardly be achieved.
Kichou fell asleep, thinking 'I won't have a turn until Master calls for me'.
The situation of Sangou at the beginning was established through the above background, and it was certain that upon arrival at the imperial capital, Jin's situation would be far from peaceful.
Thus, the Hero Jin and Sangou snatched victory against the army of rock-like space beasts, and succeeded in returning safely to the capital star.
They also managed to provide a stage for the Imperial Military to shine.
However, precisely because of that, they failed to achieve complete annihilation, and the two million mineral lifeforms that escaped remained as a lingering unease.
Also, the fact that seven bio-spaceships had neatly escaped went unnoticed even by Jin and the others.
How will these aspects influence Jin and the others' future?
What will happen to the problem of the reward likely to be given to Jin?
Also, what kind of content is the 'plan to satisfy the victory conditions' that Sangou presented to the captain?
No one knows the future, but...
On the return journey toward the imperial capital, the Hero was presented by Sangou with an unconventional plan that made him want to say, 'Seriously? Is that allowed?'
With no decent alternative, he had no choice but to adopt Sangou's plan as is, but imagining the reactions of Rouj and the others when they found out made Jin feel somewhat heavy-hearted.