Kanda returned to the military base with Anne after spending some time on their date.
His girlfriends were already waiting for him at the entrance.
As soon as they saw the two of them approaching, Anne smiled and turned toward the girls.
"Thank you, girls, for letting me borrow your man for a while."
She then looked toward Kanda.
"As for your request, Ichijou, I'll do my best to complete it as quickly as possible."
"Thank you, Anastashia. I really appreciate it."
Anne smiled before suddenly giving Kanda a brief hug.
"I'll see you later."
After excusing herself, she immediately headed back into the base to check on the progress of her subordinates.
The moment Anne disappeared from their sight, Manami turned toward Kanda.
"So, Kanda?"
She narrowed her eyes.
"How was your date with a beautiful Russian General?"
There was a suspicious look on her face.
Kanda thought about it for a moment before answering honestly.
"Hmm… It was good, Manami. Although, it probably would've been more fun if our date hadn't been accompanied by so many soldiers."
Manami's expression twitched.
"You had soldiers accompanying your date?"
"Quite a lot of them."
"...I see."
The conversation continued for a while before they eventually returned home.
The journey took approximately the same amount of time as their flight to Russia.
After arriving at the house, Antonia and her maids returned to their own residence. Antonia wanted to prepare some equipment for their upcoming mission.
Kanda then met with Melwin and Durel for a short while.
After asking about Kuune's current condition and learning that she remained stable, he finally returned to his room.
---
### The Next Morning
The following morning, Kanda carefully separated himself from the embrace of the girls sleeping beside him before getting out of bed.
After taking a shower, he headed downstairs for breakfast.
As he approached the dining table, however, he noticed someone sitting there.
It was a girl with dark-blue eyes and brown hair tied into two pigtails. Two strands of hair framed the sides of her face.
She wore a white shirt with green trimming around the sleeves, brown suspender pants, and a white hat.
Kanda immediately recognized her.
He walked toward the table and took a seat.
"Yo, Ichika. Good morning. When did you arrive here?"
Claris approached him and placed a plate of food and a cup of coffee in front of him.
"Good morning, Ichijou-san. I arrived about ten minutes ago."
Ichika took another bite of her breakfast before continuing.
"One of your maids welcomed me at the door. She invited me inside for breakfast and told me to wait here because you hadn't woken up yet."
She glanced around the room.
"By the way, when did you get so many maids, Ichijou-san? I saw several of them working around the house when I came here."
"Well…"
Kanda took a sip of his coffee.
"The maids here were entrusted to me by their master after I saved their lives."
"Hoho…"
Ichika stared at him intensely.
"So your habit of playing the hero is still going strong, huh?"
Kanda's eyebrow twitched.
He decided to ignore that comment.
"Anyway, I wanted to ask you something. Why did you call me here?"
Ichika put down her spoon.
"And what exactly are all those things you requested from me? Are you planning to go to war with them?"
"I'll just ignore your first statement."
Kanda sighed.
"As for your questions, first, I want your help implementing the things I requested into various objects."
He continued eating before explaining further.
"Second, those things will help me during my upcoming mission."
Kanda looked directly at her.
"And as for your last question…"
He paused.
"Yes. You could say I'm preparing for war. More precisely, I want to prevent my subordinates from being forced into a one-sided battle during the mission."
Ichika nodded thoughtfully.
"Alright. When do you want me to start?"
"I'll show you later."
Kanda cut a piece of meat and put it into his mouth.
"For now, we should finish breakfast. After that, I'll introduce you to the people who will be accompanying me on the mission."
He paused to savor the food.
"Hmm… This is delicious."
"Thank you very much, Kanda-sama."
Claris smiled happily at his compliment.
Not long afterward, the other residents of the house began arriving for breakfast, including the Catia girls.
The only one missing was Kuune.
She remained unconscious.
---
After breakfast, everyone gathered in the living room.
Kanda introduced Ichika to everyone and explained the current situation.
He told them about Jens, his encounters with her, and the several battles he had already fought against her forces.
Ichika listened quietly until Kanda finished his explanation.
Afterward, she looked around the room.
"I don't think I've ever heard of an adventure as interesting as yours, Ichijou-san."
She then looked toward the Catia girls.
"And I'm surprised to learn that these catgirls are actually aliens."
Ichika tilted her head.
"I honestly thought they were cosplayers."
Several pairs of eyes immediately turned toward Kanda.
Ichika continued.
"I knew you liked all kinds of cosplay, especially maids and catgirls. And now I can actually see both of those things in your house."
Kanda immediately felt the atmosphere around him change.
*Oh, no…*
His girlfriends were staring at him.
Kanda could only sigh.
"Why are you all looking at me like that?"
He raised both hands defensively.
"I can't help it if I like looking at cosplayers. Besides, I always wanted to be surrounded by maids and catgirls."
He glanced toward Eris and Antonia's maids.
"And apparently, that wish came true when Eris and Antonia's maids came into my life."
Manami folded her arms.
"Well, I suppose it can't be helped. I know there are guys who like that kind of thing."
Kanda nodded.
"Exactly!"
However, before he could say anything else, he felt someone gently tugging on his sleeve.
Aoi was sitting beside him.
"Um…"
Her cheeks were already turning red.
"Ka-Kanda…"
She leaned closer and whispered.
"If you want, I-I could dress up like those cosplayers too…"
Her face became even redder.
"But you need to tell me beforehand so I can prepare myself properly."
Kanda smiled.
"I'd love to see you wearing cosplay, Aoi."
He whispered the words close to her ear.
Aoi's face immediately became even redder.
"...!"
Kanda then casually returned his attention to the others as if nothing had happened.
"Anyway…"
He gestured toward Ichika.
"This is the person I mentioned to all of you before."
The atmosphere immediately became more serious.
"She is capable of manufacturing the talismans that Jens has been using."
The moment they heard that, everyone in the room focused their attention on Ichika.
Melwin was the first to speak.
"Ichika-san, may I ask how you're able to manufacture those talismans?"
Ichika hesitated.
Her expression changed slightly, as though she was reluctant to reveal the answer.
Kanda immediately noticed her hesitation.
"It's fine, Ichika."
He gave her a reassuring look.
"The people in this house are on my side. You can talk about *that* openly with them."
Ichika remained silent for a moment.
The room also became completely quiet.
Whatever secret she was about to reveal seemed to be something far more complicated than simply knowing how to manufacture a few talismans.
Ichika looked at Kanda.
He simply nodded at her.
Seeing his signal, Ichika reached up and removed her hat.
The moment she did, a pair of cat ears became visible on top of her head.
A long tail also emerged from behind her.
Everyone in the room immediately stared at her.
Eris was the first to react.
"Why do you have cat ears and a tail, Ichika-san?"
She looked at Ichika curiously.
"Who are you? Are you a Catian too?"
"Yes."
Ichika nodded.
"You could say that I'm a Catian. However, I was raised by my adoptive parents, who were from the Dogisia Federation."
Melwin immediately became interested.
"How did you come to this planet?"
"It's because of my adoptive parents."
Ichika's expression became slightly nostalgic.
"When the Dogisia Federation fell, my adoptive parents used their ship to send me away from the Federation."
She paused.
"They placed me inside a cryogenic chamber before sending me away. I was only five years old at the time."
Everyone listened quietly.
"After I finally woke up from my deep sleep, I learned that thousands of years had already passed."
Ichika continued.
"I spent approximately a year traveling through space. During that time, I learned how to operate every function of the ship. Eventually, I found the nearest habitable planet and brought the ship here."
She pointed toward the ground.
"Earth."
Maya suddenly joined the conversation.
"I remember hearing reports about an unidentified object entering our planet's atmosphere around that time. We initially assumed it was an asteroid."
She frowned.
"However, we couldn't find any trace of the supposed asteroid afterward, so the incident was eventually forgotten."
Maya looked directly at Ichika.
"Therefore, I have a theory. That object was actually your ship, wasn't it, Ichika-san?"
"That's right."
Ichika nodded.
"After entering Earth's atmosphere, I immediately began searching for somewhere to hide. Eventually, I landed on this island."
She smiled faintly.
"It was difficult for me to live on this planet at first. Everything was unfamiliar to me."
She glanced around the room.
"But after spending four years here, I became familiar with this island and its inhabitants."
Manami then raised another question.
"What about your ability to manufacture those talismans?"
"That's because of my parents."
Ichika explained.
"My adoptive parents were scientists in the Dogisia Federation. They had a library containing an enormous amount of information about Dogisia's technology."
"I read every book in that library."
She then continued.
"My ship also contains a large digital archive containing countless books and research documents from Dogisia. My parents digitized them so their knowledge wouldn't disappear even if something happened to the Federation."
Ichika's expression became slightly proud.
"Talisman manufacturing was one of the subjects I studied. Because of that, I can manufacture various types of talismans."
Eris's eyes immediately lit up.
"So, you can create a talisman capable of countering the talismans used by Jens?"
"Of course."
Ichika nodded confidently.
"Ichijou-san already sent me a sample from his last battle with Jens. I've already analyzed it."
She reached into her clothes.
"I also brought some newly created talismans with me."
Aoi looked around.
"But, Ichika-san… I don't see you carrying anything with you."
Kanda couldn't help but chuckle.
Aoi immediately looked at him.
"Why are you laughing at me, Kanda? Was there something wrong with what I said?"
"Not at all, Aoi."
Kanda shook his head before looking toward Ichika.
"Why don't you show them your magic, Ichika?"
Ichika gave everyone a mysterious smile.
Without saying another word, she took out a single talisman and held it between her index and middle fingers.
The talisman began to emit a faint glow.
Then—
*Whoosh.*
It disappeared.
Everyone stared at the empty space between Ichika's fingers.
A moment later, five stacks of talismans suddenly appeared on the table.
Two stacks were red.
One was blue.
One was yellow.
And the final stack was green.
Ichika gestured toward them.
"Each stack contains one hundred talismans."
She smiled.
"So, there are five hundred talismans in total, divided into four different types."
Manami looked at the stacks.
"What are the functions of these four types?"
"The red talisman is a healing talisman."
Ichika picked up one of the red talismans.
"It can heal various types of minor injuries, including wounds caused by gunfire."
She raised a finger.
"However, it cannot regenerate lost limbs or organs. So, please be careful when using it."
She then picked up a yellow talisman.
"The yellow talisman restores stamina."
"For example, if you're exhausted during a battle against Jens's forces, this talisman can restore enough stamina for you to continue fighting for approximately another thirty minutes, regardless of how exhausted you were before using it."
Next, Ichika picked up the blue talisman.
"The blue talisman is a support-type talisman. It provides one of two random buffs."
"Those buffs are a speed enhancement and an attack enhancement."
She held up two fingers.
"The speed buff doubles your movement speed for thirty minutes."
"The attack buff doubles the damage of your attacks for thirty minutes."
Aoi raised her hand slightly.
"Why does the blue talisman give a random buff instead of allowing us to choose which one we want, Ichika?"
Ichika sighed.
"That is because of a manufacturing complication."
She looked somewhat frustrated.
"I haven't been able to solve the problem yet. The talisman randomly determines which of the two buffs you receive."
Aoi nodded.
"And what about the green talisman? Is it for protection?"
"Exactly."
Ichika picked up the green talisman.
"It's a defensive talisman. It can block various types of attacks, provided the attack remains within its threshold."
She became serious.
"The maximum threshold is equivalent to the explosive force of approximately ten kilograms of TNT."
The room became quiet.
Ichika continued.
"Anything beyond that limit is something the green talisman cannot protect you from."
She looked at everyone.
"So please don't become overconfident just because you have these talismans. They aren't invincible."
**(A/N: An overpressure of approximately 230 kPa, or 33.4 psi, corresponding to the detonation of 1 kg of TNT can generate blast winds exceeding 240 km/h near the point of origin.)**
"Understood," Melwin said seriously.
Kanda then looked toward Ichika.
"What about *that* type of talisman I requested from you?"
"Ah…"
Ichika immediately remembered.
"Those talismans."
She reached into one of her pockets and pulled out a thin stack.
"Wait a moment, Ichijou-san."
She handed the stack to Kanda.
"Here."
Kanda accepted it.
"I could only make ten of them. They're extremely difficult to manufacture."
Ichika tilted her head.
"Although, I still don't understand why you specifically requested these."
The talismans were made from white paper, with strange writing inscribed on them using what appeared to be golden ink.
Melwin stared at them curiously.
"What are those talismans, Kanda?"
Kanda carefully placed them inside his pocket.
"It's a secret, Melwin."
He smiled mysteriously.
"You'll find out later if I need to use them against Jens."
His expression became serious.
"These talismans are also one of the things that could save our lives during the upcoming battle."
Melwin wanted to ask more, but Kanda's expression made it clear that he wouldn't get an answer.
Before anyone could continue the conversation, Maya's phone suddenly rang.
*Ring! Ring!*
Maya quickly answered it.
"Yes?"
She listened for a moment before looking toward Kanda.
"Kanda-sama, it's Anne."
Maya handed the phone to him.
"She wants to know where you would like the materials you requested to be delivered."
"Oh, right."
Kanda took the phone.
"I forgot to tell her about that. Thanks, Maya."
He then spoke with Anne for several minutes, explaining the location and arrangements for transporting the materials.
After ending the call, Kanda looked around the room.
"Everyone, we need to prepare for our departure."
The others immediately became attentive.
"Anastashia has already found all the materials from my list. She only needs some time to transport everything to the location I gave her."
Melwin nodded.
"That is good news."
She then remembered something important.
"But what about Captain Kuune, Kanda?"
Kanda didn't hesitate.
"Bring her with us too, Melwin."
Melwin's eyes widened slightly.
"Yes, Captain."
With their preparations complete, everyone began getting ready to leave.
Their next destination was already decided.
And this time, they would be taking Kuune with them.
END OF THE CHAPTER