“Combat Units! Please, let me deploy the Combat Units soon!”
“Yes, Ma’am. What are your orders?”
Lately, she had been constantly poring over the resource-related Tech Tree, and she finally exploded.
“Gunuu… I know… I know that combat machines can’t be used constantly due to energy supply issues… But, but, but, I want to build them! I have iron to spare, too!”
“Yes, Ma’am. While there is a surplus, it is being strategically stockpiled. If you intend to use it, please do so according to the plan.”
It had become possible to regularly obtain Iron Ore via Telek Port City. The amount transported at one time wasn’t that large, but being able to import it regularly greatly expanded the options for future plans. However, as ＜Ringo＞ said, it wasn’t as if there was a lot to spare.
If it wasn’t used according to the plan, they would run out of it immediately.
But, still.
She pointed at the combat skill Tech Tree she had been looking at and shouted.
“This kind of thing! I want to operate this kind of thing in divisions!”
“Yes, Ma’am. … … Um, well…”
“I know, I know, ＜Ringo＞! There’s no iron, no fuel, and no enemies in the first place! So, I know that mass-producing this kind of thing would be useless!”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
＜Ringo＞ decided to just stick to agreeing.
This was probably stress relief or something. It was a situation where she could only pull her head in like a turtle and endure it.
“If this was ＜World of Space＞, there would be enemies in convenient locations, and there would also be resources, but this area is a drawback of being in the real world… Since there’s no game-like element at all, just waiting is naturally no good. We have to make a move.”
“…”
“The short-term goal is to improve the defense value of Telek Port City. The medium-term goal is to secure various resources. The long-term goal is to build a Battleship.”
She read out the various set goals.
“…Hmm? Battleship?”
Come to think of it, she had overlooked it, and tilted her head at the long-term goal.
“Well… yeah, that’s right. I want to get to the point where building a Battleship wouldn’t be a problem.”
“Well, whatever,” she nodded, and returned to the Tech Tree display. Battleship this and that, she certainly remembered saying it herself. Since ＜Ringo＞ had set that as a goal, that was fine.
“There are various things we could do, but they’re mostly held back by resources or fuel! It’s frustrating!”
She was so worked up that the onomatopoeia “Mukii!” seemed to appear in the background. Reacting to her emotions, both her ears and tail perked up. Seeing that, ＜Ringo＞’s ears were flattened, and her tail was squeezed tightly between her legs. A complete defeat.
“Ugh! Aah! Ugh!”
While shouting, she stood up and ran straight to the bed in the corner of the room, jumping onto it. After thrashing around for a while, she stopped moving.
“…”
“…”
“…I’m going to sleep.”
“Yes.”
It wasn’t good to wear shoes. ＜Ringo＞ took off the shoes from her feet, which were sticking out from the bed. When she tried to move to put a blanket on her, her hand was grabbed firmly.
“Body pillow.”
“!!?”
The next day, ＜Ringo＞ was used as Commander (Eve)’s body pillow.
Perhaps it was the canine instinct coming out.
Although it was a strange way of showing affection, it seemed to have relieved her stress to some extent, and she was in a good mood as she fiddled with the Tech Tree.
“Hey, ＜Ringo＞, I just had an idea.”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
“I think there was a Microwave Power Transmission Tech Tree, right? I think it will be for base defense for the time being, but can’t we use it? There’s the horizon problem, but it seems like it would work if we limited it to short-range applications, right?”
“I see. Please wait a moment.”
As pointed out by her, ＜Ringo＞ quickly searched the library. About wireless power transmission technology using microwaves. Certainly, there was a restriction up to the horizon, but it could be sufficiently used for the purpose of operating combat machines and various heavy machinery deployed for base defense.
“If we prepare a transmission facility, it can be realized. That’s right. It is possible to supply power to any spatial point by using phased array technology. It would lack redundancy if I were to constantly perform the calculations, so it is necessary to install control equipment on-site.”
There was a reason why ＜Ringo＞ had not adopted this wireless power transmission technology.
Due to the characteristic of converting electric power into microwaves and transmitting it, the transmission equipment was very conspicuous electromagnetically. In the ＜WoS＞ game, it was basically a forbidden technique as a dream technology. After all, it was possible to neutralize the enemy’s combat machine group simply by performing a Saturation Bombardment towards a brightly shining target. If anything, just scattering a large amount of chaff would be enough. That alone could disrupt the transmission waves. For that reason, she had unconsciously excluded it from her options.
“I see. This crazy technology might be usable in this world.”
“Well… it’s based on the premise that there are no forces that can detect Electromagnetic Waves. However…”
“Yes, Ma’am. At present, no entities other than ＜The Tree＞ have been confirmed to be actively using Electromagnetic Waves.”
Under her instructions, ＜Ringo＞ had been carefully conducting surveys ever since the transfer. The wireless communication with the Solar-Powered Reconnaissance Aircraft (Swift) used a super-directional antenna, taking care to minimize radio wave leakage. In addition, in order to also serve as a decoy, she occasionally transmitted omnidirectional radio waves, or conversely, patrolled in passive mode, searching for the presence of forces using scientific technology.
As a result, she concluded that at least within the sphere of influence of ＜The Tree＞, a technological system using Electromagnetic Waves was not being used. Although it was not yet known what was beyond the horizon, at least no artificial Electromagnetic Waves were detected within the visible range. This included the observation results of ionospheric propagation, meaning that there were no facilities emitting Electromagnetic Waves over a fairly wide area.
“The basic technology is stored in the library, so let’s make a prototype right away. First, we will manufacture a small attack aircraft as a defensive force for ＜The Tree＞.”
“…If we can transmit power, can we also make a Railgun-equipped ship?”
“There are many technical challenges with Railguns, so there are many skill nodes that need to be resolved… Well, yes, this is a good opportunity, so let’s leave it to Olive. Even if we let her make whatever she wants as she is now, she will grow, but it is also important to give her challenges and put her under stress.”
“To Olive? Well… well, yeah. I wonder if I should give the other daughters some challenges as well.”
If only Olive was given challenges, disparities between the sisters could occur. It was necessary to think carefully about this without being lazy. Their personalities should have become somewhat fixed, but it was desirable to refrain from actions that could be taken as favoritism. There was a possibility that their personalities would become twisted, or that they would become strangely fixated, and that emotional biases would be applied to their thoughts and actions… or so it said in an educational book.
“Yes, Ma’am. I’ll prepare that as well. Would you like to select the equipment to be manufactured?”
“Oh. I understand, leave it to me. I’ll design the best army full of romance!”
“Um, please keep it within reason.”
＜Ringo＞ secretly assigned a task to Ma’am as well, and was relieved to see her motivated. After all, humans need a moderate amount of stress. If it was too much or too little, they seemed to become emotionally unstable.
At first, she was ashamed of herself for only thinking about pampering Ma’am. She could only thank Ma’am for trying to do everything herself. If she had succumbed to ＜Ringo＞’s temptations and fallen into a self-indulgent state, she would not have become so active.
Well, if that had happened, ＜Ringo＞ might have been happy.
Even though she was trying to consider all possibilities and make the best choices, creative ideas that she had not even considered from ＜Ringo＞’s independent will sometimes arose. From the beginning, she had been able to feel such tendencies from Ma’am, and recently from the Five Sisters as well. No matter how excellent her calculation speed was, ＜Ringo＞ was essentially alone. In order to have diversity, it was necessary to increase the number of excellent Brain Units in the future.