Roman Empress Prepares For War, Before Leaving Local Man Alone To Babysit

...

[Attention! Imminent war looms on the horizon. A distant Lord from a neighboring faction across the cosmos has set their eyes on your territory.

Will you surrender your world, your resources, and your troops?

Or shall you stand firm, confront their advances, counterattack, and seize what belongs to them in retaliation?

The choice is yours to make, chosen Lord.]

...

"You see this shit?"

With an incredulous expression etched across his face, Jin had read this message several times already.

First of all, you can attack other Lords?!

'Bro?'

{Ding! I'm as confused as the Host! (っ- ‸ - ς)}

After a month in this new world, he had forgotten that the system, or some random overpowered being for that matter, had mentioned the existence of several other Lords alongside him.

As such, it shouldn't have come as a surprise to him, right?

Well... color him fucking surprised, 'cause he didn't know they were playing Lord's Mobile!

'Goddamnit.'

Hand cradling his chin, a pondering expression appeared on his face.

Meanwhile, Nero stood beside him, looking over at the panel with an expression similar to his.

"Praetor!"

"What."

"This is bullshit!"

"I agree."

Observing the continuously swaying ahoge atop her head, it became evident that she was likely... well, there she was, already pouting and huffing.

"Umu! War it is!"

"Wait-"

Nero's finger was a mere touch away from confirming the start of a planetary-scale war.

Fortunately, Jin had already grasped her wrist beforehand, hard enough to prevent her from moving, but gentle enough not to hurt her.

"We need to consider their opinions as well."

Having felt three distinct presences approaching their location at a fast pace, he looked down at her just to see her unblinkingly stare at him.

"Praetor..."

"?"

Upon noticing the dreamy expression on her face, accompanied by the swirling, vibrant red hues in her lime green irises, he bonked her head.

"Oi, snap out of it."

"Geez, be more gentle, Praetor!"

Maintaining a deadpan expression, he released her wrist, ignoring her accusatory and 'hurtful' gaze as he remained in position while waiting for the arrival of the three Legion Commanders.

Still pouting from the bonk she had received, Nero plopped down onto the ground before looking up at him.

She patted the patch of grass beside her.

"Come sit with me!"

...

...

...

"Greetings to the Empress and the Respected Advisor!"

"Umu! You may rise!"

Having gone from sitting to standing, Jin watched as the three war machines stood up from their kneeling position.

Lothric, who stood in the middle, came forth and slightly bowed.

"My Empress, the phenomena occurring in space... I'm certain that it has caught your attention."

"Umu! I am aware of that!"

"..."

Hands crossed under her chest, Nero patiently waited for Lothric's input on the situation.

Despite the obvious turmoil happening within him, he slowly spoke out.

"Then... might I humbly request the opportunity to present a proposal?"

"?"

Upon recognizing her questioning look, Lothric glanced back at his fellow commanders, finding them nodding in confirmation.

He looked at Nero and finally began to speak.

"My Empress... I implore you to consider halting construction and redirecting our efforts towards defensive measures. These 'Invaders' are unpredictable and powerful.

I ask you to allocate all available manpower to bolster our aerial defenses-"

"And how do you plan to do that?"

Hands still crossed under her chest, Nero squinted her eyes.

"...while we lack the precise data to replicate our homeland's defensive air defense systems... I'm certain... no, we are confident in our ability to analyze past designs and develop a simplified rendition-"

"Oh?"

Looking surprised, she decided to ponder something before looking at Jin.

|'Praetor, what do you think?'|

Feeling her thoughts transmitted through the spiritual connection he had, uh... "encouraged" her into on day one, back when he had to explain their whole deal, he replied.

| Air defense systems will always be proven effective, it's an undeniable fact.|

|But...?|

Nero glanced at him, fully aware that there was always a catch behind every seemingly "good thing".

|But... here comes the neat and obvious part: we got magic and unknown variables.|

|OH! I understand now!|

|Wait, I didn't even expla-|

Feeling their connection cut off, he blankly glanced at Nero proudly smiling at him before looking back at the confused Lothric.

"Well, apologies for the extended silence, Commander Lothric."

"Does... the Empress consider my proposal impractical?"

"..."

Reinhard and Valkyra glanced at each other, still silent and patiently awaiting an answer.

"Hmmm, not really?"

Tilting her head, Nero put a finger on her lips as if thinking of something before continuing to speak.

"Rather, your idea would work under a specific circumstance, provided we knew exactly what we were facing... however, our current situation demands otherwise."

"My Empress, we've faced them before-"

As Lothric was about to rebuke, Nero suddenly began to bombard him with one question after another.

"HOWEVER! However... who's to assume that our enemies mirror those who have destroyed your world?

Who's to presume that our foes aren't of an entirely different caliber?

Your simplified rendition of your homeland's air defense system, say... might work, but what do we do in the event of absolute neutralization of the system?"

"I..."

Lothric was at a loss for words.

He knew she was right.

Sure, they've dealt with these 'Invaders' before... but as Nero mentioned beforehand, were they really that certain that they would be dealing with the same enemy that had screwed them over prior?

Besides, having heard her mention that there were variables in play... promptly suggested that she KNEW they had little knowledge of their enemy.

'...'

Just as he was about to speak, he heard her sigh.

"Lothric, I know. Your grudge runs deep, and not just with you...

However, in times of war, I'd like to think that we both know the importance of gathering intel as well as keeping a lid on our emotions.

But... does that mean I am suggesting we discard your existing knowledge? No, never.

Yet, considering our rather limited options, we need to make do with what is within our scopes of reason."

Nero's eyes suddenly shone with an emerald and red hue, her voice taking on a more imposing tone.

"I will put forth all the manpower into the construction of the blueprint my Praetor has brought forth."

"My Empress-"

"Why, you may ask?"

A smirk suddenly crept on her face as she gestured towards Jin.

"Uh..."

Suddenly feeling several pairs of eyes on him, he scratched his head.

"Y'all want upgrades?"

...

...

...

DING! DING! DING!

"So... you guys use 'plasma'?'

"That is correct, Respected Advisor."

"Only plasma?"

"Yes."

"Oh."

"..."

As they watched the entire Legion putting forth all their efforts into creating the massive Advanced Technological Workplace, Jin was... well, he was in an awkward situation.

Nero had the brilliant idea to suddenly leave him alone with this block of ice known as Valkyra... while she went to continue discussing plans with Lothric and Reinhard.

As for why Valkyra wasn't with her?

'The hell was she thinking?'

He facepalmed.

To get more acquainted with her, she says.

It'll be easy, she says.

She's outgoing, she says.

'Well, that was a fucking lie.' 

Subtly glancing at the new gen war machine, he noticed that Valkyra was on the shorter side of the commanders, standing only 8 feet tall.

Even then, the poor man was still considered a midget in front of her.

'Whatever, I'm bored anyways.'

"Yo, wanna see something cool?"

"Yes?"

She gave him a confused tilt of her head.

'Heh.'

{Host! Wait, host! HOST!

(·•᷄∩•᷅)

...

...

...

(҂ ꒦ິヮ꒦ິ)

Cooldown: 0D 2H 54M}

-----------------

hi

feedback pls

thats it, bye

...