CH 109

It wasn’t until April that Hart began the invasion of the Hercules System.

After jumping to the MacLir Star System, which was closest, via the Transition Gate, they headed to the Hercules Star System on Fortress Kerviel.

It took three months to turn the former Frodi Republic volunteers into a combat force.

The volunteers learned to use mass-produced C-class spirit crystals to operate the low-cost fighter craft Surtr’s magic engine, fly with the support of androids and automatic control systems, and shoot with the support of the information integration system and battle linkage system.

It would be an act similar to the invasion of the people with weapons in the wars of the old era, combined with the sending of missiles to enemy countries. In other words, they are the power source for the self-tracking missiles that are fired at the enemy.

Hart was aware of the terrible things he was letting happen. His self-justification for maintaining his sanity was as follows:

This war is a war of aggression initiated by Tenka.

All the former Coalition Star Systems, Fukashiro, and 3 Monarchy Star Systems were invaded.

Including Fukashiro, more than 4 billion people have been killed.

The Herculeans also destroyed the 3 Frodi Star Systems.

If the Monarchy does not resist, they will be killed and ruled.

In other words, the Monarchy acted as any living being should before ethics, and there was no reason to be denied the actions necessary for the survival of itself and its descendants.

Hart, who has repeatedly explained his reasons for the war to the Royal people through the media, continued to reinforce the Royal Army without relenting.

Thus the Royal Army was greatly strengthened, but it has also given the Alliance time, and it is currently unclear whether Hart’s decision was the right one.

As a result of the delayed invasion, Claudia graduated from Military Academy.

Hart, who had hoped for an early invasion, was honestly happy that Claudia was able to attend her graduation ceremony. After all, Hart was not able to attend his graduation ceremony. The ceremony is an important event to bring closure to one’s feelings.

At the graduation ceremony, Hart was impressed by the sight of Lysine, the Young Lady of the Duke of Takrham, handing an orange gerbera to her mentor, Claudia.

Unlike her older sister, Lysine is polite and prim… Hart imagined that Digitalis would be offended by the description.

Digitalis was not ignorant of etiquette. She simply did not recognize the need for her, as a Young Lady of a Duke Household and expected future Queen, to have a polite attitude toward overwhelmingly inferior children of general aristocrats or quasi-aristocrats.

As a result, she had an unfavorable relationship with Queen Yuna and Duke Hart, and was sold by her grandfather, Duke Takrham, to Liú Hào of Kyūyama, which had fallen to the Monarchy.

It is a marriage that inevitably led to speculation on the circumstances behind the scenes, so the parties involved cannot boast about it, and others cannot genuinely congratulate them on it.

Generally speaking, the Duke of Takrham sounded out a marriage that doubled as punishment, so when the Queen approved, it was considered by society that the problems that Digitalis caused during their Middle School days have been put to bed.

Perhaps using her sister’s appearance as a cautionary lesson, Lysine does not look down on the cadets of the Military Academy, most of whom are not even quasi-aristocrats, but treats them with moderation as the fiancée of the Second Prince. Therefore, the evaluation from her peers is quite favorable.

Lysine can hold the reins of Josslan and mature as the Queen or Duchess to perfection. In social circles, she was generally evaluated as such, and Hart agreed, looking only at Lysine as an individual.

Thus, the graduation ceremony was over, and Claudia’s student life came to an end.

“Now that I’ve graduated, I am officially able to get married, but what do you think? I am still a teenager.”

Hart put his hand on the head of the little fox, who had a mischievous smile on her face, and said as he stroked it…

“If we don’t follow the order of things, a certain kitten will turn into a tiger.”

Claudia pouted deliberately at the expected answer from Hart.

The kitten, who once didn’t even know how to fight, has become a tiger, one half of the power that divides mankind, just as the dragon and tiger that face each other.

Moreover, the tiger has trampled on the dragon’s head with its paws after dragging it down to the ground, and is in the process of biting it on the neck.

Generally speaking, living creatures grow and become greater.

Wondering how long the kitten, who is planning to live in the Amakawa family, would take to grow up and come to his home, Hart regretted that the kitten would never return to its former appearance.

“A certain fox cub has also become a grown fox, you know.”

“Let’s ask the Alliance to leave as soon as possible.”

Hart wants to end the war before the tiger grows wings and breathes fire due to it participating in too many battles.

And although it is not to inhibit the growth into a fierce tiger, Yuna, Colette, and Philine will not be participating in the current battle.

Yuna and Philine are reserve officers and are also subject to a system of exclusion from conscription.

Colette is the Deputy Commander-in-Chief and is in charge of all the forces gathered in the Apollo System in the rear.

Claudia, on the other hand, was by Hart’s side because she was also the Commander of a Fortress Stationed fleet consisting of 9,500 small warships.

“Graduation went by so fast, didn’t it?”

Claudia nodded in response to Hart’s forceful change of subject.

Claudia enrolled in the Military Academy after the surrender of the former Coalition.

After the war, it was an unusual choice for a Young Lady of a Duke Household to go to a Military Academy instead of the high school of the Academy of Magic.

It was approved by the Duke of Coesfeld probably because she was engaged to Hart, who attended the Military Academy.

A common topic of conversation that gives the husband the upper hand satisfies his self-esteem, and at the same time has the effect of facilitating marital relations by making it easier for wives to incite and control their husbands. In view of the Duke of Coesfeld’s purpose, a smooth marriage would be a wish come true.

And looking back after four years, Claudia’s choice was gospel for the Duke’s family.

One of the reasons for the smooth restoration of city functions and rescue operations for the people of the star system, including the people of the Duke of Coesfeld, during the Battle of Apollo was that Claudia, who was both the Lady of the Duke and a General of the military, supported both sides and serve to link the two.

The influence of Claudia, the second wife of the Marquis of Amakawa, is powerful and unmatched, both over the aristocratic community and over the Royal Army.

Claudia was able to demonstrate her position and make the greatest contributions, Hart saw that she had long since grown from a fox cub to a full grown fox.

“However, the techniques and common sense I learned at the Military Academy changed so suddenly, and I was a little perplexed.”

As for Claudia’s point, Hart was too familiar with it.

In terms of fighter crafts alone, the conventional type adopted at Claudia’s enrollment has switched to three types: the Salamander, with countermeasures against electromagnetic pulse cannons, the Israfel, with countermeasures against fusion ammunition, and the Surtr, low-cost version of the large fighter craft.

Not only the hull, but also the onboard AI of the large fighter craft Surtr incorporates a copy of Linnell.

Linnell’s main server is managed by the Royal Army.

At present, Linnell’s main servers exist in 10 locations: the 8 Star Systems of the Monarchy, which are realms including the new star system Hermes, the Machaon Star System, and Fortress Kerviel.

Linnell, who has become 10 independent personalities from A to J, aims to coexist with the Monarchy while supporting and managing the former Coalition and assisting the large fighter craft Surtr in each star system.

The reason why it was also placed in the Machaon System, where the realm does not exist, is as a behavioral test for when Linnell is given a certain degree of freedom. Even if there was any suspicious activity from Linnell, they judged that it could be destroyed if only the Machaon Star System and the former Martians were present.

And the reason why it was placed in Fortress Kerviel was that, in addition to Linnell’s original offer of cooperation, it was necessary to have a Linnell with administrative authority over the other Linnells to support the Surtr on the battlefield.

Linnell 04 split itself after the Battle of the Apollo Star System, and the ninth independent personality, Linnell 09, immediately began to act differently from the other duplicates.

It began by taking a different name from 04 when it was activated at Fortress Kerviel.

The ninth Linnell took the name Ivy Linnell, with the letter “I” in the alphabetical order as an acronym, and pushed forward with its own path.

Ivy, which Hart deployed in the commander’s seat, was dressed in a high school girl’s blazer and skirt, which was orthodox in Japan of the past, and black tights, with a lax cat-shaped application floating beside her.

When Ivy appeared, she bowed to Hart, and greeted him in a clear, high-pitched tone, which was a bit softly paced.

“Good evening, Mr. Hart. Thank you for calling on me. It’s your Ivy.”

While looking at Ivy, whose tone was somewhat disarmingly calm, Hart commented to Claudia in a telling body language.

“I fully agree with the opinion that recent technological progress has accelerated too much in certain fields. I graduated four years earlier than Claudia and I am no longer keeping up with cutting-edge technology.”

It can be inferred that Ivy imitating a childish appearance and voice was intended to appeal to her harmlessness and at the same time inspire a desire to protect.

Initially, her companion cat also initially acted in various ways to attract Hart’s attention, such as purring and begging for food. And when Hart looked a little annoyed, it became a mascot character who spoiled Ivy and complimented her.

The mascot cat is named Gatto, which means male cat in Italian, and Gatto would move freely, rubbing his head against Ivy’s feet, or fluttering and floating on top of her head.

Ivy then strokes the pampered Gatto to show herself off as a gentle child.

The waste of such high-level technology is also extreme… and when Hart is stunned even slightly, the purpose of reducing his sense of caution is achieved. Even though Hart was aware of this, he couldn’t avoid being poisoned by Ivy and relaxing his guard.

The reason why Hart was loosening up was that he was sure that the spirits in the lineage of the Spirit Emperor contracting with Hart that had spread throughout human society would not side with Linnell.

“I just graduated, but we didn’t learn about artificial intelligence at the Military Academy. I don’t think today’s cadets are learning that either.”

The reason why Military Academies cannot provide education on artificial intelligence is that there are no teachers who can teach it to them. Linnell’s developers are MacLireans, but their surveillance by Linnell makes them completely useless as instructors to help them learn how to manage it.

It would be a bad idea to have more of another artificial intelligence that previously existed and force it to compete with Linnell.

When there are multiple artificial intelligences that think for themselves, they are bound to conclude that it is better to manage the risks to human beings by themselves.

Moreover, they will likely proclaim that they will monitor other artificial intelligences, only to collude with each other. There is no way to increase the number of artificial intelligences, because it is obvious that they will conspire with each other against the threat of humanity.

On the other hand, increasing the number of programs that cannot think independently will not provide any countermeasure.

The reason why Linnell was divided into 10 entities is that Linnell is also seeking coexistence.

“Good evening, Ms. Claudia, it’s been 87 hours. I hope you are well. It’s the turn of the season, so please be careful about changes in your physical condition.”

Ivy greeted Claudia with a calm atmosphere, undeterred by the fact that Hart had given her the cold shoulder.

“Greetings, Ivy. Thank you for your concern. Ivy, you’ve changed your hair a little bit.”

“Ah, did you notice? I tried to make it a little more loose and wavy. The concept is ‘a warm and fuzzy little sister who is 5 years younger’.”

Who can blame Claudia for being stunned?

If Hart endures weakness and analyzes it seriously, the youngest person around him is Claudia, who is four years younger than Hart.

Setting yourself younger than Claudia will have the effect of reducing her sense of wariness even just a little. And if Claudia’s vigilance was lifted, it would also help alleviate the guard of Hart, who is beside her.

It is hard to say …… that it is having the opposite effect because it is making Hart wary. With the spirits by his side, Hart is confident that Linnell will not take a reckless gamble, and his sense of wariness against Linnell, who shows her concessions, is being chipped away day by day.

With Hart, who is inwardly troubled, the crystallization of the latest technology created by mankind continues to talk at its own pace about being a “fluffy little sister”.