Chapter 66 - Deal Under The Table
When Adam regained his consciousness, he was already in the medical ward of the Orbital Fortress, resting on a bed. Next to the bed is Siegfried again, peeling him an apple.
"Oh, you finally woke up Master." Siegfried said as he put down the apple and knife to help Adam sit on the bed before he continued peeling and cut them into bite size for Adam.
"Uhm. Thanks. But what happened? My head is dizzy…" Adam tried to recall why he was on a hospital bed again but his head felt fuzzy and heavy. He couldn't remember anything at all.
Siegfried then gives a recap of what happened from start to end all while he finished peeling two apples and even tried out his artistic skill to carve them into bunnies. Adam just nods along while stuffing his mouth with the sliced apples.
After a while, everyone learned that Adam was awake and immediately gathered in the medical room.
"Thanks… Jalter, Jeanne." Adam accepted the food brought by the two and immediately tried them. He noticed the expectant gaze that Jalter made while Jeanne grinned mischievously, giving unknown signals to Adam.
"It's delicious." Adam replied simply for the tuna mayo sandwich as he struggled to eat all while the five Alices huddled up on his bed with him.
Hearing the praise, Jalter remained unphased or at least she was pretending to. But it's hard for her to hide the smile creeping up her face and the pink blush on her pale cheek.
"Hmn. You are still injured. L-Let me help feed you." Jalter suggested but before she could grab the sandwich to feed Adam, Tina snatched it faster and held the sandwich in front of his mouth. "Let me help you, Nii-san. Say, Ah…"
Looking enraged, Jalter is at the verge of summoning her spear on Tina before she shouts, "You! How dare you snatch it from me? I made it for him, it's my right to feed him!"
"Hmph, you look reluctant. I figure as his sister, I could help him better than his reluctant(tsundere) wife." Tina stood her ground fearlessly and sneaked closer to Adam, joining the Alices on his bed and sat on his lap.
Siegfried already left from the start to call for Agent instead of being involved with battle between women. As for Jeanne…
"Master, how about this ham sandwich I made?" She tries to feed Adam in complete disregard of Jalter while the latter already has an aura of black fire burning around her like she is about to go super saiyan mode, dousing the flame with fuel instead of water.
Well, let's just say. Everything didn't end well but thankfully Adam could stop it before everything escalated.
"Seriously, you two have to stop teasing her like that." Adam sighed while warning Tina and Jeanne.
He is surprised that Jeanne would act this mischievous and like to tease Jalter that much. Maybe because she sees her as a sibling? Adam has siblings and teasing one another is very common for him so he assumed that's the case.
Anyway, after enough rest and a fulfilling meal later. Adam opened his Task tab and read it. Apparently, his next course of action is to infiltrate the US Navy. More specifically, the department incharge of the Kansen development project as Subject matter expert. In his Inventory is a recommendation letter which his System fabricated and somehow stated he is a person from another world brought by Siren. A Commander from another world that had ample experience on leading and handling KANSEN.
"So, I just need to knock at their door and show this letter for them to put me in charge of the shipgirls?"
[Yes. However the US only has one active shipgirl, that is Enterprise.]
"Only one?" Adam questions in shock. "How could they defend against the Siren with only one? How about the other nations?"
[Fortunately, the Siren activities are still minimal and conventional warships still could handle the threat.]
[As for shipgirls of other factions, only the Iron Blood and Sakura Empire had started their development with the Sakura Empire having the most active shipgirls with a total of 5 being activated.]
Hearing this, Adam fell into a brief silence. He was contemplating the reason why most nations aren't actively developing shipgirls and a fanfictions he read before suddenly came to his mind. Knowing humans with their stupid pride, they must oppose the usage of KANSEN because they aren't just mindless weapons that follow orders, they have a hierarchy of their own like the Royal Navy have the Queen and Sakura Empire have their Flagship, Nagato.
What if the humans themselves didn't see the need to make them because of that mindset and also the threat of Siren is still minimal? But somehow, the two Crimson Axis factions were the complete opposite, Germany and Japan are actively working on the project KANSEN unlike the US and UK.
"What are the chance, Germany and Japan are trying to topple US and UK military hegemony with KANSEN?" Adam asked with a face of suspicion knowing there are definitely people not satisfied with their defeat and sought to change the history now that they discovered KANSEN.
[Host is partially correct. It's not the whole nation agreeing on this. Only a small group of people, mostly the military, are involved.]
"Figured. They are already trying to start another world war not long after the last one ended." Adam said, not surprised since humans always try to find a reason to go to war on each other constantly.
"So, what is my role here? Stop the war? Speed up the development of KANSEN?" Adam asked.
[The choice is for Host to make. The ultimate goal is only one and that is to defeat what the Siren couldn't. As for the steps leading to reach that conclusion is up to the Host to pave.]
[The System will refrain from interfering with the Host's decision and take a passive role as a helper during the real mission instead of like during the tutorial.]
Adam is a little surprised as wouldn't that mean there will be lesser missions and tasks that give rewards?
'[Task and Mission will be generated based on Host's actions and decisions.]' It said.
So, once he asked enough questions. Adam got dressed and went to the bridge where Agent and Winter were busy doing something. When he did get there, he asked and found out they were surveying and investigating the Siren.
"I managed to locate their activities in the Pacific ocean. They seem to have Teleportation ability just like us to send out their units into this base they made on this island." Agent show Adam a recording captured by the Orbital Fortress' camera that is very detailed and saw dozens of 'drone' ships appearing out of nowhere like it was teleported in.
"They also have the ability to deploy fog to obscure the location of their base and variety other methods which prevents anyone from finding them." Agent zoomed out the image and showed a thick ring of fog surrounding the island where the Siren base were. However, that was not the end as other than fog, they also manipulated extreme weather and anomalies like gravity traps that pull ships into the ocean depth to deter the conventional warships from approaching.
"We also found this KANSEN you mentioned about." Winter showed on the main screen, a recording of a KANSEN which Adam recognised very much, Prinz Eugen and also another one he recognised, Roon. Both are Heavy Cruiser Class ships.
On the screen, the two shipgirls are on a test of sorts, sent to fight against Siren to collect combat data while the ships far away have several scientists and men in military uniform, watching the battle unfold.
Against those drone ships, Prinz Eugen and Roon tore them apart like wet tissue. No challenge at all for them as Adam saw Prinz Eugen sport a bored look as she stood still before the sea littered with parts of the destroyed drone ships. But suddenly, she angled her head up and looked around as if she noticed someone was spying on her but she wasn't sure from where.
"Great job both of you. But for now, continue to monitor the Siren activities and also the KANSEN."
"Naturally, Master." Agent nods, accepting the job to monitor the Siren and KANSEN.
Before Winter could get jealous of Agent for stealing all the jobs, Adam turned to her with a question. "Winter, I will be infiltrating the military and I would be needing your assistance. Will you help me?" He asked.
Like music to her ears, Winter quickly nodded and said, "Of course, I will do anything to help."
With a satisfied nod, Adam turns to the others which aren't assigned with any task. "Unfortunately, the rest of you will be staying here for a while. You are allowed to go to the surface. But I don't think I need to say this but refrain from causing trouble. I will try my best to secure a base as soon as possible so everyone can come."
Jeanne and Siegfried said not to force himself since they didn't mind and understood what they needed to stay on the Orbital Fortress for a while. They can find activities to keep themselves occupied. Jalter were the same but she obviously want to tag along since Winter could but she didn't mention it and just nod along with Jeanne and Siegfried. As for Tina and Alices, they were understanding as well but Adam felt guilty to leave them up here. Thankfully, they both are also very understanding and simply asked him to return often if he could.
With everything ready, Adam returned to the surface with Winter with him. He retrieved the letter in his Inventory which conveniently had the address written down as he made his way to the said location.
———
Upon her return this time, Enterprise wasn't put back into sleep which she is thankful of. However, she was put into a white room instead. A glorified prison cell basically as she had several books to pass her time instead of being bored.
Apparently, everyone is in a massive panic after the Siren attack resulted with the whole city erased from the map. Obviously, several people were dragged to be questioned and find a person they can pin the responsibility on and the unfortunate person was her Handler.
Despite the argument that the Siren is obviously too strong and it isn't anyone's fault, the woman was discharged. But her argument raised a good question. If there is such a strong Siren on the loose, is one KANSEN really sufficient to handle the task of fighting that Siren?
As a result, few more KANSEN were ordered to be put on production. Enterprise overheard that the list of selected Wisdom Cubes includes Yorktown and Hornet, her siblings.
The news excites her to no end as she craves some company from her fellow shipgirls after being basically alone for a very long time as she is being developed.
Suddenly, she heard footsteps walking towards her room. This hallway was unused and rarely anyone would walk down here unless it's time for her meal.
Then she heard the sound of keys being slotted in to unlock the door. When the door is opened, she is met with a soldier who looks at her with disgust and disdain as any soldier of this world does for some reason. Maybe that's why HQ sent Manjuu instead of humans to man the base.
"Your new Handler has arrived. You are ordered to report yourself immediately." The soldier said and Enterprise nod as she complied to not needlessly trigger more hostility from this soldier who clearly disliked her.
Following the soldier, Enterprise was brought on a jeep and arrived at the Naval base after several minutes and immediately led to the Admiral office.
Enterprise sighed that she have to put up with another strange and wished that she could quickly be reunited with her Commander.
When the door to the office was opened, she saw the very man she was wishing for was drinking tea and conversing with the Admiral with quite a friendly tone.
"Ah, she arrived. She will be the first but not the only one as more will come at a later date. However, our level of understanding of KANSEN is still low, so unfortunately it would take months to fully develop them." The Admiral said with a regretful expression as he sighed deeply. "The government also lower our funding. So, the research progress also slowed a lot."
"Ah, is that so?" Adam made an exaggerated shocked face before he looked thoughtfully. "Perhaps, you accept private donations? I might not be in my world anymore, but I still have some funds that may assist."
Although the Admiral remained expressionless, his eyes and deep breath betrayed him which showed he was very eager to accept the 'donation'. In fact, it was not donations but in fact bribery and Enterprise just witnessed her long lost Commander that she finally found, buying her sisters from the greedy hand of this corrupt Admiral. Judging from the numerous zero stated on the cheque, he spent quite a big fortune too.
After accepting the cheque, they both shook hands with big smiles on their faces. "For our profitable cooperation." They said together as each accomplished their goal.
With this, Adam is officially assigned to a base somewhere in the Pacific as the original story was and Enterprise will follow him there alongside with numerous other shipgirls that will follow later as he continues the Project KANSEN and sends the Prototypes into battle against the quickly growing Siren threat.
—————
(Not about the story. Just my rambling because I need somewhere to get this out instead of keeping it in my mind.
But I think I'm losing hope. I've been trying to find a job. My options had been limited because I didn't have my own transportation and had to walk or commute. So, I have been looking for it in places that are nearby. But none replied after I submitted my resume. Then a few days ago, I met my dad at prison. He said some things that I no doubt he didn't mean negatively. But he sort of said he is disappointed that he sent me to study until university only for me to return as a disappointment. I mean, I didn't really want to even go to university. They forced me to. Now I have 50k student debt with a useless diploma that I can't even use because I can't get it because I still have outstanding payments around 2k with the University. Had I immediately worked after I finished my secondary school instead of furthering my study, I probably would have been in a better state than now. No need to sleep every night thinking about how to pay this debt, that debt. I wish I could run away from all my problems instead of having to live with the results of their bad decisions which I resented deeply in my heart.)
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