Fleet Sailing

“I want to hear your hopes, your ambitions.”

Glorious said repeatedly.

Settsu thought for a moment, wondering where to begin. Glorious’ eyes were serious.

“I was born in the Empire, the eldest son of Count Viel.”

We should probably start from scratch, even if it’s brief.

“Until recently, I thought idly that I would inherit the title of Count and ride a dragoon in the future. But it was never to be.”

As he said this, he patted the crystal that was still embedded in the back of his left hand.

“I can’t connect to the ship. Mitsuki has done some research, but she doesn’t know why. I’ve been officially declared dead and released from the Count’s household.”

It hadn’t been a year since then, but it felt like a long time ago when we talked.

“Kitty was the one who picked me up when I was drifting in space in a spacecraft that I couldn’t control. She told me to throw away the idea that I had to use the connection crystals, and I felt like I had been saved. Then I found this abandoned fortress, and somehow I was able to connect to it, and it woke up from its slumber.”
“It’s been a long time.”

Kitty interjected.

“Yes, I did. Kitty wanted me to return to the empire with the fortress as a souvenir, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. To return to the empire, I had to leave Kitty to die. I can’t do that. If I did that, I’d be the worst person who ever killed a benefactor for my own reasons.”

Glorious was listening in silence. I couldn’t tell from his expression what he was thinking when he heard Settsu’s story.

“I decided to help Kitty and leave the Empire. At first, I thought it would be good to hide the fortress as much as possible and go pirating on the Black Silver Glory. The Glory of the Black and Silver was a good ship. The crew was great.”
“Of course. The ship my friend Raja left me, how could it not be the best?”

Glorious nodded with a smile. Settsu nodded as well.

“But apparently, the world is not that simple. The ex-count duke, this thing is always following me around. I’m sure it’s still haunting you.”

I feel as if I’m a ghost.

“I want to get rid of this. I want to be able to live as just another Set. I want to fight for it.”
“Hou”

Glorious nodded his head slightly in interest.

“Not an empire, not a federation, not a kingdom, not an independent nation, but a single fortress with its own place in the universe. That’s what I want now.”
“You say you fight because you want to be independent of any country.”
“Yes. In order for that to happen, we can’t let the Empire fall first. If the Empire is destroyed in this war, the world will belong to the Federation and the Kingdom, and one of them will win in the end. But then, those who can’t stay in the country that wins will have nowhere to go. They would not be able to live. Just like me, who couldn’t live as an imperial aristocrat.”

Setsuko cut off his words. I wonder if I conveyed it well.

Glorious was silent, thinking about something. The silence continued for a while.

Glorious recrossed his legs.

“I mean, where do you want to end up in this fight?”
“It’s a painful split.”
“Do you still wish to continue the division of the human world?”
“I’ll let you continue. For the sake of freedom. You never needed to be unified in the first place.”

Settsu assured him.

“Good.”

Glorious opened his mouth.

“My fleet will take you up on your offer.”
“Thank you, head honcho. But why?”
“Those closest to me call me Vee. Please, call me that.”
“All right, Vee. Then you can call me Set. And why is that?”
“There are three reasons. Do you want to hear them?”
“I’d like to hear it.”
“One, I have a duty to help the man Kitty has chosen.”
“I see.”
“Secondly, we fight to get a free place, that’s what pirates are all about. We are a race that cannot live in peace. That’s all.”
“……3 What’s the third?”
“Hmm. I’ll tell you about that when you and Kitty get married.”

Glorious chuckled.