Ch.40Raising an Empress (3)

Now that the quest-based curriculum has proven meaningless,

I spent quite a while pondering how I should respond.

After much contemplation,

‘Wait, shouldn’t I just treat her normally? Let her gain experience through training and actual combat.’

I threw away any thoughts of using cheap tricks,

And decided to properly care for Marian in the “Icarus way.”

Since the Pirate Empress’s “escape” would happen in about a month at most, as far as I knew,

I decided to provide her with appropriate combat experience during that month.

And unlike her popular image among users, seeing how thin she was except for her hips and thighs,

I decided to take all possible friendly actions to help with her serious malnutrition(?).

“Whoa?! Can I really eat all of this?”

“Of course.”

Eat well and grow up strong, so you can keep countless Commanders awake at night in the future.

Of course, having made this decision…

—————————————-

<Quest>

<Deploy to Real Combat!>

<Now that sufficient training has been completed, deploy “Mary Ann” to actual combat and observe her performance!>

<Objective: Deploy “Mary Ann” to “actual combat” regardless of type>

—————————————-

‘Come on, you idiots, Marian hasn’t even reached level 5 yet.’

Seeing the quest curriculum that was beyond hardcore, just as the community gallery had warned,

I once again realized that everything those veterans said was true.

So I ignored this quest that just appeared,

As well as most of the “Pirate Empress Development” quests that popped up over the next month.

According to the gallery, it was somewhat beneficial to complete “quests” to a certain extent, but…

-Nom nom nom nom

“Oppa, this is really delicious!”

“…Mm, good.”

‘Well, I suppose a 5% discount isn’t bad.’

Watching her heartily eat whatever I gave her and diligently train, I felt like I couldn’t care less about actual combat requirements.

And thinking about it, I didn’t need to personally handle everything for Marian.

“Today, you’ll gain administrative experience from Jessica.”

“Eh? Me?”

“Yes.”

“I’ll be in your care today, Ms. Marian.”

“No, my name is Mary Ann.”

As a form of practical experience, I had her learn administrative work through Jessica.

“Today, you’ll join Ignis for close combat training combined with actual combat.”

“Yes, Oppa!”

“Just follow my lead.”

“Yes… Eeeek!!”

Training with Ignis, who had the highest physical abilities in our fleet, learning how to fight in close quarters against various species and organic-inorganic beings.

“Today, you’ll gain experience in command and crowd control with Berial.”

“What? Me, commanding…?”

“I’ll be your superior for the day, and I’ll thoroughly drill knowledge and practical experience into you.”

“Aaaah! O-Oppa! Wait, this is a bit…!”

Learning command abilities from Berial, whose style most closely resembled what the “Pirate Empress” would need in the future.

And finally…

“Today… Pashtra will teach you various things directly again.”

“You mean Ms. Pashtra…? I understand.”

Secret training sessions with Pashtra that happened in thoroughly hidden places, doing who knows what since she insisted she couldn’t show me.

I was filling in what I couldn’t provide myself while simultaneously preventing any jealousy from developing among the superhumans.

It was a perfectly balanced approach to foster her growth.

While I had no intention of interfering since each person was an expert in their field,

I couldn’t help but feel curious about Pashtra’s training, which she kept completely hidden from me.

So to satisfy my curiosity, I decided to ask Marian, who always had a subtle reaction whenever I mentioned training with Pashtra.

“Is there something about the training with Pashtra that bothers you?”

“N-No! You don’t need to worry about it, Oppa!”

Startled by my question, Marian desperately denied any issues.

“Actually, I like that training!”

“…Oh?”

“I’d like to do it every day if possible! Really!”

“I see.”

What kind of training could possibly elicit such an intense reaction?

I wondered if she might be worried that I’d kick her out if she refused or complained about it.

‘No, that seems too extreme.’

Thinking about it, someone who was planning to escape soon wouldn’t care about such things.

So instead of asking Marian more about the training,

I decided to ask Pashtra directly the next day after their training session.

“The training with that child? You must be quite curious about her growth rate, Commander♡”

“Well, she seems reluctant to talk about the training she does directly with you.”

“Then I’m afraid I also… can’t discuss that with you♡”

“…Is that so?”

“Or perhaps you’d like to join me in bed and… ohoho♡”

“Let’s end this conversation here.”

As she spoke while slightly pulling at the covering of her nun’s habit that barely concealed her chest,

I shook my head and decided not to ask any more questions.

Anyway, the important thing was that our superhumans were thoroughly managing her “training” and schedule.

“Is it tasty?”

“Yesh.”

“Good. You worked hard during today’s training.”

-Pat pat

“Eep?! Ah… mmm…”

At the same time, I made sure to reward Marian’s hard training with head pats and delicious food, giving her plenty of recognition.

Using the classic good cop-bad cop strategy, I was confident this approach would at least avoid the bad ending.

If things continued this way, I figured she would have built up a decent level of goodwill by the time she escaped a month later.

==========

But after thinking that, a month passed.

And then another month.

-Nom nom nom

“Oppa, what training should I do today?”

“…”

For some reason, our Empress-to-be was still at our base long after she should have escaped,

Still diligently cleaning her food bowl.

‘What’s going on?’

Why hadn’t she stolen a shuttle and escaped as I expected,

Gone to pirate territory, defeated everyone, and risen as the Pirate Empress?

She’d been here for over two months now.

And despite eating a lot, she burned so many calories through movement that most of her body wasn’t gaining weight,

Yet her chest was growing steadily—truly a mysterious wonder of the human body.

Of course, she’d only grown to about an AA or AAA cup so far.

Every time Ignis, who called herself slender, saw Marian, she would look back and forth between Marian’s chest and her own,

Finding comfort in the fact that hers was still larger—it was almost pitiful to watch at this point.

Anyway, the important thing wasn’t Ignis’s complex but the fact that the Pirate Empress-to-be hadn’t yet departed on her journey to become the actual Pirate Empress.

Completely baffled, I expressed my confusion to Jessica.

In response, Jessica spoke to me as if I was missing something obvious…

“Commander, it’s simple really.”

“…Hm?”

“You’ve taken a girl who was kidnapped by pirates and lived a miserable life every day, and given her warm meals, a place to sleep, and even leisure activities.”

“…”

“Then you provide this girl, who never wants to experience the same hardship again, with the best training and practical experience while ensuring she never gets killed.”

“…”

“You vary the training so she doesn’t get bored, and you consistently praise and reward her.”

“…”

“If I were her, I’d abandon any thoughts of going back to pirates and just stay here too.”

“Are you saying… I’ve been too good to her?”

At my question, Jessica nodded vigorously, her large rabbit ears bobbing in affirmation.