Chapter 24 - Mother Operation

"Good morning to all of you, as you can see. Today's lesson is cleaning the war equipment from dust and strange particles that stick to it."

 As you heard, this morning was filled with a lesson on cleaning the Remi-class unit from the remains of a one-night battle.

 To be honest, it wasn't a battle. It was just breaking through a human barricade with a few painful touches.

 "Guh~ disgusting," I unconsciously said that sentence after seeing the terrible state of the Remi-class unit.

 "What is this?" My hand moved to grab the remains of the armor that covered the gaps in the lower part of the Remi-class unit. A human finger wearing a ring was stuck in it. Judging from the ring carving, it was a ring used by the war commander of the neighboring Flora Kingdom.

 Wait a minute!

 We unknowingly bumped into their commander?

 Well, that's not a normal thing in a war situation.

 The red and clotted blood stains also dashed my enthusiasm to clean the Remi-class unit. The fishy smell is a bit pungent, but this vehicle is still needed to survive the upcoming invasion.

 One of our kingdom's neighbors is indeed annoying, the situation of the Flora Kingdom is indeed in chaos. However, that is not the main reason to attack the Flora Kingdom Capital using the mage army.

 A war situation has occurred but the response of the Flora Kingdom King is still silent. We are still observing them, but it seems they are taking our neighbor too lightly.

 Luckily, the remains of our people are enough to be accommodated in the emergency bunker. This is the reason why we are too relaxed because preparations like this have been planned.

 Well, this third party is beyond prediction. However, that does not change our thorough preparations.

 The wolf girls under my command this time are silent. They are too focused on cleaning the remains of body organs that are stuck to their Remi-class units.

 "First, you clean the stains that stick in between the vehicles. Even though it is small, it has a big effect on battle. You don't want your Remi-class unit to stop functioning while fighting, right?" while saying that, I cleaned the small gaps at the bottom. Rubbing it slowly and pulling the disturbing armor pieces.

 "Well, see. Even armor pieces like this can be found in the smallest gaps. This is very dangerous for the functionality of your vehicle."

 When I said that, the wolf girls rushed to check the bottom of their vehicles. Looking for the remains of dirt stains that stuck and collected them in a special place.

 A special place that contained human body parts. I don't know how many we accommodated, but I can be sure that we moved straight through one division at that time.

 It wasn't our fault, it was a public road and they used all the lanes. No one would mind if we put up a little resistance, right? Especially since our former kingdom was at war.

 Well, casualties in a war situation are very natural, right?

 A war without casualties is very difficult. There has never been a single kingdom that fought without casualties on both sides.

 Unless...

 If we were to conduct long-distance warfare using technology.

 If we were serious, the war we were fighting would open up a new warpath. We were prepared for that, but... as much as possible we didn't do it.

 For now, relaxing and observing the situation is enough.

 If they invade our territory, we will retaliate.

 If not, well... how hard is it to relax?

 When I looked back at the special trash bin, the piles of body trash made me confused.

 "Ugh, where am I going to throw this body trash?"

 Yes.. that's the question.

 Where am I going to throw this body trash?

 I don't know about this kind of thing, so.. it would be better if Chiyuki took care of it.

 Um.. the wise choice for now is to leave the body trash to Chiyuki.

 [...]

 A letter arrived at Duke Flora's residence.

 Ah! Sorry.

 Not Duke Flora but former Duke Flora.

 The letter engraved with gold ink and the symbol of the Abzien Kingdom caught the interest of our little family.

 "What is this? Surrender before we destroy you? Why do we get a letter like this in the morning?" asked our father.

 This happened after we cleaned up the tarnished Remi-class unit. It seemed that losing a few troops from the invasion unit did not make the Abzien Kingdom retreat. They didn't seem to know that this family had thrown away the Duke Flora noble title. As a former noble, an insult like this felt like it destroyed a noble's pride but... after we left the nobility system.

 Threats like this were just morning bird chirps.

 "It seems that not only our kingdom is filled with stupid people, but the neighboring kingdoms are the same," Our father's words were indeed true.

 "Karl, what are we going to do?"

 I, who was enjoying my breakfast, choked a little. This sudden question slightly ruined the atmosphere.

 "Onii-sama..." Chiyuki gave me a glass of water.

 "They've only been at war for one day and they're challenging us? Didn't they hear about our little massacre?" These words came out of our mother's mouth. She was a little worried about the wolf girls who were forced to fight in our name.

 "Mama, calm down... Onii-sama must have a solution to this problem. Right, Onii-sama."

 Honestly, I wasn't sure if this was a solution or not. But.. it was worth a try.

 This information came after Mercedes finished extracting information from the corpses stuck in the Remi-class unit. Regarding the ring belonging to one of the highest commands, it was true and coincidentally.. he was the crown prince of the Abzien Kingdom.

 We accidentally netted a big fish this time. But.. with the increasingly uncertain situation. We could make it even more interesting.

 "How about using that?" I replied.

 "That?"

 "That??"

 "That???"

 Various replies were heard, I was very happy when they cared like this. However...

 Somehow they were much more excited than usual.

 "Wait a minute, Karl! Can I join you? I'm a little lonely when you guys are busy!" We were suddenly surprised by our mother's statement.

 "Vi-Victoria, you know what's going on. This isn't a small matter."

 "I know that, but.. seeing you guys struggling a little makes me want to do it too!"

 "Mama..." Chiyuki who realized our mother's sincere intention was a little touched.

 "Mama also wants to feel how it feels to kill enemies with these two hands."

 Huh?

 Did I hear wrong?

 "Mama also wants to try Karl's beautiful weapon."

 I-I heard wrong, right? Someone! Please tell me if my ears are wrong!

 "Even when seeing Chiyuki struggling hard, I also want to contribute to this family. Is that not okay?" Now our mother looked into our father's eyes. That gaze was filled with tears that would dissolve anyone.

 Even though our father cared a lot about this little family, for a matter like this he needed to strengthen his heart so that he wouldn't waver with temptations like this.

 "Victoria, this is war. Have you ever killed before?" asked our father.

 "Not yet, but hunting monsters with bare hands. I've done it."

 "What monster is that?"

 "Um.. if I'm not mistaken. That monster is called Minotaur?"

 "Huh?"

 "Heeeeeh??"

 "Heeeeeeeeehhhhh??"

 "Heh?"

 "Heeeeh?"

 We were all confused by our mother's statement.

 "Erm, Victoria. You know... Minotaur is a monster with a big muscular body and hard skin. How could you kill it with bare hands?"

 "D-Don't be so loud! I'm a little embarrassed about that. It doesn't sound elegant, right?"

 "Come on... Victoria. Don't joke around in a critical situation like this."

 "With all due respect, Sir Charles. What Mrs. Victoria said is true. She once killed a Minotaur monster with her bare hands or rather killed a herd of Minotaurs that attacked her hometown."

 Right beside me, Mercedes uttered this astonishing fact. Even some of the maids who were preparing dessert were shocked and dropped their cutlery.

 Our father was speechless when he heard this fact.

 "S-So this is the reason why my ribs always break when your mother throws a tantrum?" said our father.

 "M-Moooo!! Don't say it like that!" Our mother slapped our father's cheek. Although it was covered by her small laughter, the sound of breaking bones was heard and our father collapsed on the floor.

 "MEDIIIIICCCC!!!" I said in panic.

 For the first time, I learned that our mother had extraordinary brute strength.

 [...]