Ch.321[Chapter 321] The Value of 4 Stars

The situation was becoming increasingly awkward.

Captain Elang had fallen into panic and regressed to an infantile state, the three android girls wouldn’t stop attacking Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, and to make matters worse, more people had appeared.

“Haha! Burn the world to— Sorry. I seem to have come to the wrong place.”

Of course, these newcomers weren’t normal people either.

No, at least they were more normal than the red, yellow, and blue girls standing before them.

The newly arrived individuals at least knew some manners.

“Uh, why are Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica here?”

“I-I don’t know. The contract clearly stated one commander and three androids?”

A girl wearing fluffy fur clothing with black wolf ears and tail asked a white-haired girl in a white gown.

The girl in the white gown wore a white mask that concealed her face, but the antennae on her head were trembling wildly, suggesting she was equally flustered.

The black and white girls quickly hid behind some collapsed building debris and began a strategy meeting.

“What should we do? Should we fight according to the original pattern?”

“No. This isn’t our fault. This looks like a bug or something, so we should be fine not doing it, right?”

They were executive officers of the enemy forces according to the scenario.

Of course, they were also classic mid-boss characters who would later become recruitable characters, leaving room for that possibility.

“But what if they blame us for not doing our part?”

“…I have a good idea.”

The black wolf girl was terrified that they might be blamed as the cause of this bug-like situation.

Looking at the frightened black girl, the white girl soon whispered something into the black wolf girl’s ear.

Into her wolf ear on top of her head, of course.

“…That’ll work!”

The black wolf girl’s face brightened after hearing what the white-gowned girl said.

If they followed the white-gowned girl’s suggestion, they could properly do their job and still receive their rewards.

“So we’re going with that plan?”

The white-gowned girl’s antennae swayed gently.

“Yes!”

The black wolf girl’s ears perked up.

After exchanging meaningful glances, they jumped over the debris and entered the battlefield where Sir Dominic and the three girls were fighting.

…

“Haha! How. lucky. to. find. a. commander. here?”

“…Indeed. And he’s not even in his right mind. We could just take him away, couldn’t we?”

“Ah! Who are you two?”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica, while blocking the attacks from the three girls, looked up at the two girls who had appeared on top of the building debris between Sir Dominic and the three girls.

The two were a black wolf and a white scientist, and Sir Dominic realized they were the ones who had appeared briefly earlier before disappearing in confusion.

However, seeing no need to mention this fact, Sir Dominic simply observed the two girls on the debris in silence.

Fortunately, thanks to the appearance of the two girls, the attacks had paused, so Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica didn’t need to worry about the three girls anymore.

“You two are behind all this, aren’t you? I saw it! The dimension became twisted like this after you arrived!”

“Oh? Is. that. really. so?”

“Are we truly the cause of this situation?”

“Eh? We’re not?”

Suzuki naively believed their words like a fool.

“You idiot! Of course they’re lying! It’s obvious those two are behind this incident!”

“…Yes. Suzuki. Idiot.”

“Ugh… Suzuki is not an idiot!”

Lily drove her fist into the crown of Suzuki’s head for acting like a fool.

Suzuki burst out in anger at Lily, feeling wronged.

Of course, no one agreed with her.

As the battlefield atmosphere lightened slightly, the white-gowned girl saw her opportunity.

She then spoke the phrase she had been practicing to say without biting her tongue.

“Are those tanks on your team?”

“It. seems. that. way? But. why. were. they. fighting?”

…The white-gowned girl sighed at the black wolf girl’s words.

Even her nephew who knew nothing about acting could act better than this.

At least when it came to pretending not to have eaten cookies.

But she couldn’t exactly announce that this was all an act.

The white-gowned girl poked the black wolf girl in the side to signal her, then continued speaking.

“Who knows? Looks like internal strife. That’s good for us. We can take advantage of the situation!”

“Eh? Take advantage? What does fishing have to do with geography?”

“No, it means when two parties fight and a third party benefits—”

“Oh! I get it! The jeweler loses a million won!”

“…Sigh. What am I going to do with this idiot.”

Lily sighed, barely restraining her desire to make a dent in Suzuki’s head with her hammer, unsure if the girl was pure or just stupid.

Suzuki, not completely oblivious, noticed Lily’s expression and started directing her anger at the black and white girls.

“Hmph! So you were trying to take advantage while we were fighting? That won’t happen! We’ll strike first!”

“No, you already knew— …Never mind.”

Lily sighed once more, then raised her shield and hammer.

Since Suzuki had declared she would fight, it was Lily’s duty to protect her.

…

“It seems they’re underestimating us.”

“Well, at least the story is progressing. We came here to help with Captain Elang’s prologue anyway.”

“That’s true.”

Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica watched the two groups of girls who seemed about to clash in a battle of nerves.

Though both groups appeared fierce, they didn’t seem particularly threatening, probably due to their low tier.

“By the way, when are they going to start fighting?”

Sir Dominic observed the five girls who kept glancing in their direction while making tentative movements.

They seemed to be waiting for someone’s cue, but it wasn’t Sir Dominic or Sir Dominica they were looking at—it appeared they were waiting for the commander’s signal.

“…We need to wake the commander.”

Sir Dominic realized from the girls’ behavior that nothing in this hidden world would progress without the commander.

Otherwise, they would have been fighting already.

You might wonder why Sir Dominic and Sir Dominica were attacked earlier.

Obviously, that was… a cutscene. Probably.

Or perhaps they were attacked because they were thought to be bugs.

Anyway, Sir Dominic realized that nothing would progress without the commander and tried to wake him up.

“Mommy… I want to see mommy…”

“Wake up this instant, Captain Elang!”

Sir Dominic grabbed Captain Elang’s shoulders and shook him vigorously in all directions.

It was concerning enough that Captain Elang might lose consciousness, but fortunately, he seemed to be quite sturdy.

“Ugh… my goodness… Huh? Sir Dominic? Where am I…?”

“You’ve come to your senses!”

Whether Sir Dominic’s shaking helped or not, Captain Elang successfully regained consciousness.

Sir Dominic, delighted that Captain Elang had recovered, immediately explained the current situation.

“Do you see them over there?”

“What? Ah. Yes. I see them.”

Captain Elang noticed that he had a gap in his memory, but understood the current situation from Sir Dominic’s explanation.

“Ah. This. The prologue battle.”

Captain Elang nodded as if familiar with the situation, then sighed.

“For some reason, problems always occur here. A bug or something…”

Captain Elang suddenly started complaining.

It seemed like his speech would go on for quite a while.

The five girls, noticing this, looked at the commander almost tearfully.

“Um, sorry commander? Could you please start the battle? You can even turn on auto-battle if you want!”

Finally, Suzuki pleaded with the commander, tears streaming down her face.

Captain Elang realized he had been neglecting them and showed an apologetic expression.

“Ah, sorry. Accept. Accept.”

As soon as Captain Elang said “accept,” a grid appeared beneath them.

A 3×3 grid.

It looked like a chessboard, and there was another one in enemy territory.

This was a scene Captain Elang had witnessed 1,113 times before.

“Let me explain about combat—”

“Skip.”

“Then about attack turns—”

“Skip.”

“…UI controls—”

“Skip.”

Captain Elang, having regained his senses, was merciless.

Unlike when he had lost consciousness, he now appeared cold and efficient.

While his timid and fearful personality when he lost his memory might be his true nature, at least now Captain Elang was filled with cold intellect.

Of course, all this was due to his 1,113 previous experiences.

Captain Elang skipped all explanations and sighed.

“I hope no bugs occur this time…”

Sir Dominic heard Captain Elang’s quiet mutter.

It was a lament containing the wishes of 1,113 attempts.