“W-We were just at the arcade! I-I like simulation games, battleships, ships, and all that, so we were playing, and then some troublemakers started harassing me, and Weltall 一I mean, Sir Gundeman一helped me, and I didn’t get to thank him properly, and then I got carried away with the game, and一!”
Suddenly, the entire backstory of their relationship came spilling out.
Stella seemed frantic, desperate to clear up any misunderstanding. Behind her, Weltall pressed a hand to his temple as if exasperated.
Stella herself probably didn’t even realize what she was saying.
Lilian could only blink in mild bewilderment.
(This girl… she’s oddly slow in the weirdest ways.)
Despite her genius-level tactical and strategic insight, Stella in everyday life was, by contrast, a rather clumsy girl. She wasn’t much of a talker either, and the old Lilian had found that attitude irritating.
She could never understand why everyone accepted this awkward girl so easily or why the admiral candidates doted on her.
But sixty years had tempered Lilian’s spirit somewhat.
“I see. A lovely way to meet.”
She had learned to let things like this slide.
(And I’m the one who ruined such a lovely moment.)
But rest assured.
This time, I won’t take anything from you.
Because I’ve decided not to interfere anymore.
You’ll unleash your full potential and steer this war toward a better outcome.
At the very least, you won’t suffer the tragedy of a fleet’s total annihilation.
Not wanting to intrude any further on the young couple’s rendezvous (though technically, she was the same age now), Lilian quickly excused herself from the observation deck.
(Now then, I said I wouldn’t interfere, but as things stand, I’ll just end up assigned to some fleet regardless.)
Even if she swore off unnecessary meddling, Lilian一born into a military family, rotten as it may be一was already on the predetermined path her parents had laid out. Her assignment to a relatively safe patrol fleet had long been decided.
There, she performed her duties as a soldier… adequately.
Truly, just adequately. She produced middling results, her fleet management was passable at best, and yet, due to the Earth Empire’s desperate personnel shortages, she somehow ended up as the captain of a battleship-class vessel. The whole situation was a mess.
“…Hm. Wait a second.”
Had she just remembered something critically important?
Lilian stopped dead in the middle of the corridor, forcing herself to calmly reassess the situation.
The incompetent me will step back and leave everything to the future Marshal.
That much was fine. In Lilian’s mind, it was already decided.
But glorifying Stella and the inherent mediocrity of the Earth Empire’s military were two entirely separate issues.
“How many of those soldiers on that battlefield had actual combat experience? No一how many of them had even received proper training?”
In her past life, the destruction of the Earth Empire’s fleet had been her fault. That was an undeniable truth.
But the problem didn’t end there. Plenty of fools had blindly followed her idiotic decisions一or worse, enabled them.
The decisive battle was four years away. The idea that fresh recruits would become seasoned soldiers in that time was pure fantasy. In reality, the gap between those sent to the frontlines and those who stayed behind only widened. Many fools, having only swept up stragglers in safe rear areas, mistakenly believed their “war talents” had blossomed.
“Even so, there were experienced soldiers. And yet… was it a matter of ratio?”
True, some veterans had spent years in service, leading suppression campaigns against rebel forces and space pirates. Military training did exist.
And that doomed fleet had even included the so-called [Young Lions of the Empire], promising officers brimming with talent.
But the sheer number of incompetents outweighed them all.
The Empire’s current policy prioritized quantity over quality.
Yes, they had the numbers一enough bodies to move the fleet.
But not the skill to operate it effectively.
“Disgusting. I’ll say it outright: even if I hadn’t been there, someone else would’ve pulled the same idiocy!”
No matter how many talented individuals they had, the rest were far below standard.
They could handle sporadic, random skirmishes, but few were accustomed to large-scale fleet maneuvers.
A conclusion began forming in her seventy-nine-year-old mind.
“What if… unless fools like me are retrained, we’ll just drag the genius strategist down?!”
No matter what, mediocrity outnumbers genius.
And the Earth Empire’s current state teetered between stagnation and decline.
This [Tiberius Incident]? A trivial problem in comparison.
Even with her interference, everyone had survived and returned to Earth.
The real turning point came after一the choices made upon their return. Perish or rise again.
And she had spectacularly chosen the former.
“This is no joke. No matter how much we rely on her, if similar failures occur, we’ll just be dragged back to the battlefield. Or worse.”
In hindsight, the fact that Stella had been sent to the rear during the decisive battle was why she survived一and why she spent the next sixty years supporting Earth.
But what if they had deployed her? Could they have created a situation where her talents truly shined?
“Wait, wait, wait一Stella can’t display her so-called genius tactics unless she’s the [Supreme Commander], right? How stupid am I?! Soldier quality! Stella’s appointment! Hold on一does this mean the Imperial Army needs reform before anything else?!”
In her past life, the Supreme Commander during the decisive battle had been the Earth Sphere Fleet’s admiral and Grand Marshall.
What was his name again…?
“General Alfred Keilinach.”
To add, her father, Pinjar Luzor, had been his subordinate一Chief of Staff.
Yet neither could be called competent. Most of the current Imperial Army’s upper echelons had climbed the ranks through political maneuvering rather than merit.
Yes, military operations against rebel forces existed一but those were in colonial territories. The Earth Sphere itself was secure. That much, at least, deserved praise.
But that very security bred complacency. Men like her father, lacking real achievements, had cozy relationships with power-hungry pseudo-politicians. That was how an incompetent like her could command a fleet’s right wing一and how powerless Stella could be relegated to the rear.
The Imperial government was a den of cunning old men clinging to authority.
In other words, fundamental reform was necessary.
“This is giving me a headache… The problems just keep piling up.”
She had known the Empire’s internal state was crumbling.
But it was worse than she imagined.
Right now, she lacked power, influence, achievements一everything. And it wasn’t just her. Stella was the same. Even Weltall .
There was no solution in the current state. Whatever they tried, they were still powerless children in every regard.
“Grrrr…!”
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She might not have gritted her teeth like this in years.
Lilian, forgetting she stood in a public hallway, agonized deeply.
Power. Power. Power.
The authority her father had wielded一which she had once exploited for her own whims一now loomed before her like an insurmountable wall.
“Um… are you okay?”
Since this was a public corridor, it was only natural for passersby to be around.
“Huh? Oh一sorry. I’m fine.”
The voice startled her.
When she turned, she saw a young girl in the white uniform of a medical orderly, carrying a floating tray of medical supplies. Her long hair was pure white一though in this era, hair color wasn’t a big deal. White, black, red一nobody really cared.
But this girl, dressed all in white, gave off a strangely fragile impression.
“You look a little pale, though…?”
The girl took a small case of pills from the floating tray and opened it.
The tray hovered smoothly, using the same principles as a hovercraft, and was stable enough to remain unaffected even if the ship shook violently during combat.
“Here, a nutrient supplement. Vitamin B tablets. There’s chocolate or mint flavor.”
“Uh… chocolate, then… Wait, is it really okay for me to take these?”
Lilian accepted the pill but tilted her head in question.
“A lot of people get spacesick, so the medical team is making rounds like this. Don’t worry, we have permission. Though some meds can’t be handed out freely, so if you need those, you’ll have to come to the infirmary.”
The girl smiled warmly.
(Wow, she’s cute.)
Even as a fellow girl, Lilian felt a little dazzled by her beauty.
(Hmm… Have I seen her somewhere before?)
And recently, at that. While Lilian was lost in thought, the girl gave a polite nod and turned to leave.
Watching her go, Lilian popped the chocolate-flavored supplement into her mouth.
“Ah… If I’d asked her name, maybe I’d have remembered…”
It was just a supplement, so it wouldn’t work instantly, but the chocolate taste did help her mood a little.
Right now, the problem she needed to deal with was the Tiberius’s warp accident.
Everything beyond that was on a completely different scale. In her current state of confusion, she doubted she could come to any sensible conclusions.
“…I need a change of pace.”
She let out a light sigh, exhaling her gloom.
“I’m not really in the mood for tea right now.”
Quickening her steps, Lilian followed after the white-clad girl.
“Hey, let me help.”
“Huh?”
Clearly not expecting to be called out, the pale girl flinched before cautiously turning around.
“U-um, you’re from the officer training course, right?”
“Yep. Officer candidate一future admiral, in fact. Part of the job is checking in on my subordinates, you know?”
“Ah… but according to the tablet’s data一”
“Some things you just can’t tell without seeing them in person. And actually… oh, there.”
Checking the crew manifest on her tablet, Lilian found the girl’s photo listed among the exam support staff.
“Let’s see… Name’s… Frim Yuuki… Huh, so you’re of Japanese descent?”
“Uh, well…”
There was a slight hesitation in her reply, but in this era, mixed heritage一half, quarter, or even more一wasn’t just common. Ethnicity and race had long since blurred into irrelevance.
“Hmph. Well, nice to meet you.”
So Lilian brushed it off without a second thought and returned the greeting.
“I’m Lilian Luzor. Daughter of the infamous Chief of Staff Luzor.”
“Infamous…? And you’re nobility, too. I can’t possibly let you help一”
“I’m bored. And I do want my subordinates to think well of me.”
“Oh, …… Yes, sir”
(The faces of my subordinates… No, more than that一the faces of those who died because of me in my past life.)
That thought crossed her mind, too.
And so, for no particular reason at all, Lilian decided to help Frim with her work.
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