Ch.581Alcazar’s Austria. (2)

To be honest, right after the message appeared, I couldn’t help feeling quite disappointed inside.

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<Daedalus Research Fortress mercenary unit employment confirmed!>

<Employed mercenary unit: Alcazar Defense Fleet>

<Mercenary unit commander: Austria>

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‘Something, something seems off.’

Well, when I saw the term “Defense Fleet,” it gave me this subtle feeling.

The moment I saw that name, which somehow implied mediocre performance, I couldn’t help but wonder if this was going to be another oddball unit. I was already tired of my mercenary units’ “missing-a-screw performance—by Jessica.”

But right after that message appeared.

-Beep beep beep beep! Beep beep beep!

-“Unidentified fleet warp reaction detected ahead!”

-“They’re about to appear in front of the base!”

“That’s quick, a fleet worth 1,800 points.”

Just as I was about to react indifferently to the appearance of the base mercenary fleet warping in front of our base, as always happens…

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<Alcazar Squadron>

<Fleet Composition>

<1 Super Dreadnought, 7 Dreadnoughts, 5 Heavy Battleships, 10 Battleships, 13 Heavy Cruisers, 4 Aircraft Carriers>

<Commander: Austria>

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‘Holy crap, what the hell is this?’

Maybe it wasn’t nonsense to use points (1,800 points) equivalent to my main fleet plus another base mercenary unit combined.

The moment I saw them bringing over 20 ships of battleship class or higher, including a “Super Dreadnought” that even my main fleet doesn’t have, I immediately abandoned my previous indifference.

“Jessica, prepare a welcome ceremony right away.”

“Yes, sir.”

I decided to give a genuinely warm welcome to the Alcazar Squadron led by the character named “Austria.”

=========

A little while later.

“Hello? It’s a pleasure to meet you, Commander Icarus.”

“Oh yes, you are…?”

“I’m Austria, currently commanding the Alcazar Defense Fleet.”

What did this “Austria,” who greeted me quite politely, look like?

Unlike Nero who appeared previously, she had long, model-like limbs.

She wore a rather flashy coat, with distinctive perky animal ears and a white tail that peeked out from beneath her coat.

‘Hey, how long has it been since we got a new animal-eared character at our base?’

Additionally, her hair had a peculiar two-tone coloring—white on the outside and red on the inside.

Combined with her distinctively sharp eyes, she gave off a strong “she’s quite something” impression to anyone who saw her.

However, this was just my first impression without knowing much.

“Ah yes, nice to meet—”

‘Wait, why is her default outfit like this too?’

As I approached to greet her and we both reached out to shake hands, the front of her coat, which came down to her calves, opened up to reveal something that, in a certain sense, gave off a strong exhibitionist vibe, though different from Tiamat.

What did her outfit under the coat look like?

At least her upper body was relatively normal… well, “normal” by “my Superhumans” standards.

But looking just a bit lower, there was suddenly nothing but pale skin except for an “apron-like” garment fixed to her belt.

‘…I didn’t expect to see Princess Luca’s style here again.’

Moreover, while Tiamat, who openly joked about not wearing underwear, at least had a normal uniform top, Austria’s uniform had completely open sides, with only the belt connected to her coat preventing her clothes from flying up…

‘Why do so many of our Superhumans favor the missing-bottom-half fashion?’

It was such a peculiar appearance that it made observers feel dizzy.

“Commander? Is there something on me?”

Yet Austria herself didn’t seem to find anything strange about her outfit.

She just looked puzzled by the fact that I was staring blankly at her in the middle of greeting her.

“Huh? Oh, no, nothing… I mean, nice to meet you, Austria.”

“Likewise, Commander.”

I responded to her reaction and decided to push my distracting thoughts to the back of my mind, wondering if I was being unnecessarily sharp.

At the same time, as soon as we shook hands, I naturally checked Austria’s status window…

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<Austria>

<Level 55>

<Type: Large-scale Close Combat>

<Traits: Commander, Charisma, Principled, Iron-willed, Exhibitionist>

<Stats>

Health: A-

Attack Power: A+

Physical Defense: A+

Magic Power: SS+

Magic Defense: SS+

Mobility: B-

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‘Oh for crying out loud.’

Seeing the “Exhibitionist” trait prominently displayed in her status window, along with those sharp eyes suddenly curving into crescents while her cheeks slightly flushed as she looked at me,

I could only feel an indescribable surprise at this twist upon twist that kept me on my toes.

==========

Of course, the unexpected presence of an exhibitionist commander did shake my mental state in many ways.

But this was merely confusion caused by experiencing a double reversal different from “appearances.”

“Nice to meet you♡ Are you the commander of the newly arrived mercenary unit? I’m Pashtra♡”

“Yes, I’m Austria.”

“Hmm…♡ I think we’ll get along well♡”

“I think so too, Ms. Pashtra.”

Right beside her was the “lewd♡nun” Pashtra, who walks around with mere scraps of cloth she calls clothes.

“My, were you perhaps from the Earth Federation?”

“Are you also…?”

“Well, I was with the Air Corps, but it seems you were with the Fleet.”

“That’s right, and your name is…?”

“Oh right, I’m Tiamat.”

“I’m Austria. By the way, are you perhaps… ‘that way’?”

“You seem to be ‘that way’ too.”

“…We should have a sincere conversation about ‘openness’ sometime soon.”

“I welcome that. One can never have too many companions who share an appreciation for appropriate hobbies and liberation.”

‘What on earth are you two talking about?’

As I mentioned earlier, with Tiamat openly proclaiming “no underwear… no undergarments,” the level of “exposure” had already reached extreme heights.

Perhaps because of this, Austria was integrating into our base much faster and much more comfortably than expected.

Of course, there were some Superhumans who gave these “exposure faction” members dubious looks.

“…Are we the strange ones?”

“No, aren’t they the strange ones?”

Unfortunately, the “proper faction” Superhumans who insisted “wear your uniform properly!” were relatively few compared to the exposure faction.

The already small number of proper faction Superhumans seemed to have very complicated feelings about the fact that the newly arrived Superhuman was “another” exposure enthusiast.

But actually, there was one Superhuman who welcomed Austria more than anyone else, regardless of exposure or propriety factions.

“Nyaaa, finally another Beastkin Superhuman has arrived?”

“Oh… the first Beastkin I’ve seen since coming here.”

“Nice to meet you, nya! I’m Smeraghi, under Commander Icarus!”

“Nice to meet you too, Smeraghi. I’m Austria.”

That Superhuman was Smeraghi, who, except for Jessica, had been the only one with “animal ears.”

Perhaps because Austria also had perky animal ears like herself, Smeraghi was bouncing around with an even brighter face and more energy than usual.

Seeing this, I could nod with satisfaction, thinking how fortunate this was.