Ch.240This child is the daughter of the imperial family.

# Chapter 240: This Child is a Daughter of the Imperial Family

Of course, Admiral Lyuchou hadn’t taken such an attitude from the beginning.

“Hahaha! Saint, you’re… joking too much.”

“…”

“How could the leader of inferior species—weak mongrels from some corner of the galaxy—possibly be our imperial family?”

“…”

Despite Maria’s warning, he maintained his smile, completely oblivious to the situation.

But then…

*Swoosh… whirrrr*

When Artraia naturally revealed her horns and tail beside him, Admiral Lyuchou froze in place for three minutes, as if someone had hit the pause button.

————————————

And afterward.

“PLEEEEEEASE FORGIIIIIVE MEEEEEE!!!”

“…”

“I have no words to express my regret, YOUR HIGHNEEEEEESS!”

He performed an even more perfect grand bow than I could, along with bizarre acts of apology resembling flying prostrations.

*Thud! Thud! Thud!*

“This lowly one has no excuse, please take my life!”

He performed the three-kneel nine-kowtow ritual three times in succession, leaving forehead-sized marks on the imperial conference room floor.

He was demonstrating what extreme apology truly looked like.

And our reaction to this spectacle…

We were filled with thoughts of how rare and bizarre a sight this was.

In the game, unless you used cheats or special consoles, members of the Precursor Empire would never, under any circumstances, show respect to “inferior species.”

More precisely, they would never use honorifics toward nations from the gameplay era.

Even if they were being actively defeated by these “inferior species.”

Even if their capital was being shattered piece by piece by a super-sized planet-destroying weapon.

Even if their entire fleet was annihilated.

Even if their species was enslaved in alien zoos with limited brain function.

Even if they suffered all manner of hardships until nothing remained.

Even if, in the end, they were reduced to a state worse than a primitive civilization that had just ventured into space.

They were the type who would never bend their pride.

“Wow, this is truly a rare sight.”

“You can say that again.”

As the reactions from Riel and me clearly showed, the attitude Admiral Lyuchou was displaying…

Not even the leaders of their own nation or other Precursor Empires of equal standing—by current standards, perhaps not even the leader of the Ten-Ron Guardians—would receive such extreme deference.

*Ding!♪*

[Pause]

[Event: Unbelievable Sight]

[You have witnessed the commander of the Annihilation Fleet from the notoriously arrogant Precursor Empire, the Holy Empire of Eternia, sincerely apologizing to Emperor Artraia.]

[No matter how much this is concealed, it will spread to every corner of the galaxy before long.]

[Diplomatic Weight +10 for the Holy Sebelli Empire]

[Holy Sebelli Empire granted the trait “Those Who Brought Precursors to Their Knees” (Favorability +10 from nations that are unfriendly or hostile to Precursor Empires)]

How remarkable must this scene be to trigger such an event message?

‘Mmm, delicious.’

Amid all this, our empire received rewards that would greatly help with diplomatic victory—favorability and diplomatic weight.

Savoring this sweetness, I unpaused and refocused on the current situation.

[Pause Released]

————————————–

As Admiral Lyuchou’s grand prostration was about to escalate into what seemed like Japanese-style ritual suicide for some reason, Artraia had to calm him down, creating a strange situation.

“I truly have no words to express myself, Imperial Descendant.”

“Ah… yes.”

Having finally managed to calm down, Admiral Lyuchou straightened his body, disheveled from tension and confusion, and began to speak.

“However, this is actually quite fortunate for us Eternians.”

“…Huh?”

“With Your Highness and the Saint here, the bloodline of Eternia’s imperial family can continue unbroken.”

Was his mental recovery still incomplete, causing him to fluctuate?

Or had he lost his mind from the shock of declaring heresy to an imperial descendant and showing extreme disrespect as a subject to royalty?

Hearing the admiral’s naturally delivered but insane statement, I began to doubt my hearing.

Or perhaps he was using some late-game communication encryption technology—psionic abilities that made his words sound nonsensical to non-ability users while allowing the parties involved to have secret conversations through decryption telepathy?

“…What do you mean, Admiral Lyuchou?”

Artraia’s face took on an indescribably strange expression after hearing such words directly.

“I think he might be suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after losing their capital.”

Seeing Riel muttering with a deeply furrowed expression as if she’d heard something too difficult to process, I realized my hearing wasn’t faulty, nor was this decryption telepathy.

This made me consider more seriously whether Admiral Lyuchou had actually lost his mind.

But the admiral himself, contrary to our reactions, displayed bewilderment in return.

“Ah, wait a moment please. I understand the inferior species not knowing, but Your Highness, you weren’t aware?”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about, Admiral.”

In response, Artraia, who had naturally retracted her horns and tail, merely tilted her head in confusion.

“Admiral Lyuchou, Artraia hasn’t even reached 30 years old by galactic standard time.”

“Ah, then it’s understandable that her experience would be lacking.”

When Maria addressed the admiral, he nodded in understanding.

Unable to contain my curiosity any longer, I stood up and decided to question the admiral.

“Could you please explain what exactly you’re talking about?”

“Hmm? Ah… you must be the plaything slave of the Imperial Descendant.”

“…!”

Having somehow discerned my “identity,” the admiral looked at me, fell silent for a moment…

“Well, everyone here seems trustworthy enough to know, so there shouldn’t be a problem.”

After nodding to himself, he turned to Artraia and began speaking.

“Your Highness, having lived alone, you may not be aware… but there is a certain characteristic shared by Eternia’s imperial family, including yourself and the Saint here.”

“A characteristic… you say?”

When Artraia pointed to where her horns had emerged, the admiral smiled gently while shaking his head.

“Haha, not that… The Ether Dragons, the species of the imperial family, can reproduce regardless of gender as long as there are two individuals, by autonomously combining their genetic material.”

“What does that…?”

What on earth was he saying?

Faced with the admiral’s shockingly bold statement, Artraia’s puzzled expression froze in place.

In her stead, I, having barely regained my composure through the pause function, decided to question the admiral’s claim.

“How is that possible? If Ether Dragons were capable of such reproduction, wouldn’t they be thriving throughout the universe rather than facing extinction?”

Of course, in response to my question, the admiral looked at me with contempt, unlike how he addressed Artraia.

“Do you have any idea how many resources the great dragons consume, inferior plaything?”

“…”

“They have already solved problems your pathetic brains can’t even comprehend, heretic of an inferior species.”

“…”

“Above all, they are not enslaved by reproductive desires like you are. For beings who approach perfection in their singularity, the prosperity of offspring is merely a part of amusement.”

In other words, they weren’t particularly interested in reproduction as a species.

Learning these details that weren’t available in the setting guide gave me quite complicated feelings.

Of course, in response to our reactions, Maria, who had been seated, tried to calm the situation with an awkward expression.

“Now, now, don’t take this too seriously. This is really just theoretically possible…”

“That is not true, Saint!”

At Maria’s words, Admiral Lyuchou, who had been ready to die for her at the slightest provocation, suddenly demonstrated what it means to go from zero to a hundred.

“All that’s needed is effort! If the Saint and the Imperial Descendant were to repeat the process until stars become supernovas! Until ocean planets wither into desert planets! Until even the dull inferior species understand…!!!!”

“…”

“If we invest the time it would take for the Ice Empire of Emperor Polybia Bearus, once the glorious ruler of ice planets, to completely melt!!!!!!!!!!”

In response to the admiral’s sudden outburst, Maria immediately rose from her seat, approached the admiral who was at least two heads taller than her, and then—

*WHACK!*

Without a word, she performed a perfect vertical kick, sending her bare foot straight into the admiral’s chin.