A Reunion with Gian
TLNOTE: Gian : https://doraemon.fandom.com/wiki/Takeshi_Gouda
Well, that’s why he was inevitably in the midst of his “wallflower” strategy.
“So, why are you here, Nao?”
“I told you earlier. I’m on assignment. Currently, I’m assigned to the royal palace, and my superior is the princess. I’m her escort. So, I’m working right now.”
………
“Oh, is that so, Captain? Your work isn’t over there. Everyone was eager to hear your stories.”
W-why is Her Highness coming here?
Her Highness should have known there were other people here, but she continued as if she had just noticed.
“I apologize. I’ve interrupted your conversation. Captain, would you introduce me?”
Gian seemed even more surprised by this than I was.
He’s completely frozen.
I feel like I’ve never seen him like this before.
I always thought he was a perfect superhuman, but it turns out he has this kind of playful side too.
I guess this is what appeals to women’s hearts.
He definitely needs to be taken down a notch.
“Your Highness, I apologize. This is my friend, Gian Strong-Arm. He’s connected to the Strong-Arm conglomerate, but he’s still a student. He’s here as an attendant through the consideration of his internship company’s president. So, formal introductions might not be…”
“I understand. But I’d like to greet someone who knows Captain Bruce, wouldn’t I?”
“I-I’m extremely honored to have the privilege of seeing Your Highness up close. I-I am Gian, as Nao… I mean, Captain Nao Bruce introduced me, the third son of the Strong-Arm family. I’m currently a fourth-year student at Keirin University. I was allowed to participate here through the consideration of President Casbell. This is my first time attending such an event, so…”
He’s completely flustered.
Well, anyone would be in this situation.
I have no obligation to help him out, but… well, maybe I should. I’ll save him from Her Highness.
This is going to be a big favor, you know.
Not that he owes me an introduction to a woman or anything.
“By the way, Your Highness. Did you need me for something?”
“Yes, Captain, you’re working, aren’t you? Your work is waiting for you over there.”
As Her Highness said this, I could see the nobles’ gazes directed towards us.
Do I really have to join them?
Her Highness has already foiled two of my secret strategies.
Her Highness is a formidable tactician indeed.
I resigned myself to heading over there.
“I’m sorry for interrupting your conversation.”
“No, I’m the one who should be extremely grateful for the opportunity to speak with Your Highness.”
Her Highness started walking towards the group of nobles before I did.
Of course, I couldn’t lag behind, so I said one last thing to Gian before following Her Highness.
“Sorry, I’ve got to go.”
Gian managed to utter just one word: “Yeah.”
The place I headed to was where the nobles were gathered.
To be honest, why is Her Highness sending me into a battlefield where I have no chance of winning?
Could it be that Her Highness is my enemy?
I was easily and swiftly defeated…
Her Highness is explaining to the gathered influential nobles about upcoming activities.
She was also explaining about the ship I’ll be commanding, which is probably why I was called over.
Since a duke was also present, Her Highness made a surprising proposal at the end.
“Hey, Captain. Let’s show the Duke your ship.”
It seems like a tour, or rather, a private viewing. I easily agreed.
“Yes, that’s fine. When everyone arrives, I’ll guide you through the newly reborn ‘Shunmin’.”
“What do you think, Duke? As a thank you for inviting us this time, I’d like to hold a small party on the ship. While we can’t accommodate everyone here, I’d like to invite those close to you. How about it? We’ll cruise around this star system.”
“Would that be alright, Your Highness? If so, I’d be delighted to accept your invitation.”
“My, a cruise on that beautiful ship? That sounds wonderful, Duke. Please allow me to join as well, Your Highness.”
“How about the day after tomorrow? I’ll leave Ferman here to discuss the details.”
A-a shipboard party?
Her Highness has raised the bar significantly higher than it was here.
At this point, I had no choice but to classify Her Highness as an enemy.
There’s no way that could be true, but still, this is tough.
Of course, Her Highness must have a plan for making this proposal, but what could it be?
After this, Her Highness and I were allowed to leave the party early.
We’re heading to the dock by car from the Duke’s mansion.
Her Highness and I were put in the same car.
Of course, several members of the royal guard and security personnel are also in the car, but I’m the only one next to Her Highness.
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“Captain, there’s no need to worry. That ship is nothing to be ashamed of anywhere, and with my ‘Garden of Lilies’ members, there’s nothing to worry about regarding service. They’re used to working on cruisers. If there’s any problem to point out, it might be you, Captain. You can’t escape on your own ship, after all.”
Damn, Her Highness had been checking my behavior today.
But what does she want me to do?
“We’ll be repeating this in each star system we visit. At least here, where there are no apparent enemies, it’s the perfect environment to gain experience. When I saw that ship, I immediately thought about holding a shipboard party here.”
“I-is that so? That’s an honor.”
“Now, for an immediate question, how many people can that ship accommodate?”
“As I reported before, it was about 123 people, wasn’t it?”
“About? Well, that’s fine. That’s the crew capacity, right? What I want to know is how many guests it can accommodate.”
“Guests? I hadn’t considered that. I’ll inquire right away.”
I told Her Highness this and called the dock’s president on my portable terminal.
Talking to the president through the terminal wasn’t getting anywhere.
Perhaps growing impatient, Her Highness took the terminal from me and, believe it or not, started talking directly.
She talked for about five minutes.
When the conversation ended, she happily reported to me.
“Captain. You really introduced us to a good company. It’s truly fortunate that we were able to contract with them. While there’s currently no such function at all, they said they’d prepare it right away. They’ll prepare emergency seats in several multipurpose halls, so I’ve requested 30 seats for nobles and 90 seats for attendants.”
By the time our car arrived at the dock, construction had already begun.
I’ll pretend I didn’t see Maria working gleefully.
Her Highness entered the ship directly through the rear hatch, stopped by the galley to catch the head chef, and then headed to her room.
She’s probably going to discuss the party menu plans.
I went straight to the bridge, heard a report from Excecutive Officer Meyrica, and then entered my room.
Today was really tiring.
It was all unfamiliar experiences, and I was exhausted to my core, so I just lay down.
I must have fallen asleep at some point because when I became aware again, about two hours had passed.
I woke up to the sound of someone knocking on my room’s door.
“Yes, enter.”
I said this to the person knocking, allowing them to enter the room.
It was Margaret, Her Highness’s lady-in-waiting.
“Captain, I apologize for disturbing your rest, but Her Highness is calling for you. Would you mind coming along?”
When I was called by Her Highness and entered her room, things were a bit chaotic inside.
The head chef, who had been summoned earlier, was already there with his assistants, arranging for ingredients and such.
The head chef was confirming the party menu with Her Highness, and several terminals scattered around the room displayed various dishes.
Security personnel had been coming in and out of the room for a while now, and it seemed like a war had started here.
“I’m sorry for calling you. The party has already begun for us. Captain, I’d like to ask you to set the route for the shipboard party, if that’s alright?”
In the military, a commander’s authority is higher than that of a flagship captain, but this ship isn’t military, and Her Highness isn’t a commander.
Her Highness is the head of the preparation room, so she’s my superior, but on the ship, the captain has the strongest authority.
In this case, as the captain, I have stronger authority than Her Highness, and Her Highness can only make requests to me.
Of course, I can’t refuse Her Highness’s requests, but Her Highness is also well aware of this, so she made a request to me.
“How much time are you thinking of?”
“About four hours from departure to return. In addition to the meal, I’d like to do a demonstration of this ship, if that’s alright? The demonstration should only take about 30 minutes.”
“I understand. I’ll plan for live fire of the main gun and pulsar cannon at a suitable location along the way. With the time you mentioned, we’ll go beyond the outermost planet of this star system, but is a round trip there okay?”
“Yes, that’s fine. When you have the plan ready, please send me the data. I’ll inform the Duke.”
“Understood.”
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