Chapter 34: A Ragtag Group of Rejects

Arthur stood before the massive crowd of Iron Angels gathered inside the main hall of the fleet vessel.

The hall was enormous, large enough to accommodate thousands of personnel at once.

At the center of the chamber, an elevated podium had been raised several meters above the main floor.

Arthur stood upon it, with Seraphina at his left side.

He wore a black and gold military uniform, its high collar framing his neck. A deep red shoulder coat rested over his shoulders, bearing the crest of House Ashbourne prominently across its back.

A pure-white fur scarf was wrapped loosely around his neck.

His arms were folded behind his back.

His black eyes remained fixed on the holographic information floating before him.

Two windows occupied his field of vision.

One was General Caelith’s report.

The other was the fleet’s personnel database.

But the most interesting one...

Was the information the system had provided him.

〘Fleet Personnel Overview〙

〘Total Iron Angels: 500〙

〘Average Cultivation Realm: Lord Realm — Early Stage〙

〘Highest Cultivation Realm: King Realm — Peak Stage〙

〘Lowest Cultivation Realm: Foundation Realm — Peak Stage〙

〘Average Loyalty to Fleet Commander: 83.7%〙

Arthur’s eyebrows rose slightly.

"Five hundred Iron Angels..."

It was a large number of people to look after.

But then another window appeared.

〘Iron Angel Personnel Assessment〙

〘Reduced Cultivation Progress: 98%〙

〘Transformation Instability: 82%〙

〘Chi Instability: 12%〙

〘Severe Psychological Instability: 2%〙

Arthur’s expression became slightly more serious.

"So that’s what General Caelith meant..."

The fleet had a considerable number of Iron Angels whose cultivation had stagnated.

Others couldn’t maintain their transformed states for extended periods.

And a small percentage were already suffering from varying degrees of Chi instability.

Arthur took a look at the loyalty section again.

〘Average Loyalty to Fleet Commander: 83.7%〙

Arthur’s eyes narrowed slightly.

"So they aren’t completely loyal to me yet."

Genesis immediately responded.

〘Correct, Master. However, the majority of personnel have either accepted your authority or remain neutral toward you.〙

Arthur nodded.

That wasn’t surprising.

He had only just inherited the fleet.

Most of these people had served under House Valerius long before he had even been born.

Expecting them to suddenly become devoted to him simply because he had inherited their fleet would have been foolish.

His gaze shifted toward another window.

〘Individual Personnel Assessment Available〙

Arthur’s eyes briefly scanned the enormous list.

Then he thought of one particular person.

Octoria.

He hadn’t forgotten General Caelith’s warning.

Arthur mentally focused on her name.

"Open Octoria’s status."

The holographic interface immediately changed.

〘STATUS WINDOW〙

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Race]: Human Iron Angel

[Cultivation]: King Realm — Peak Stage

[Military Rank]: Vice Commander

[Fleet]: Ashbourne Fleet

[Combat Capability]: Extremely High

[Chi Capacity]: Extremely High

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Defects]

• Severe Chi Instability

• Accelerated Mental Degradation

• Excessive Chi Accumulation

• Neural Overload Risk

• High Probability of Chi Psychosis

• Long-Term Riki Dependency

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

[Warning]

[Target’s current condition is considered unstable.]

[Without regular Riki regulation, the target’s condition will continue to deteriorate.]

[Probability of entering irreversible Chi Psychosis: 78%]

[Estimated time until critical instability: Unknown]

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

Arthur’s expression slowly stiffened.

...Well, damn.

So General Caelith wasn’t exaggerating.

Octoria wasn’t merely at risk of going insane someday.

She was already standing dangerously close to the edge.

Seraphina suddenly leaned slightly toward Arthur.

"You shouldn’t keep them waiting, Young Master."

Arthur glanced at her.

"As their new commander, you should address them quickly."

A faint smile appeared on her face.

"And you should do so with confidence."

She tilted her head slightly.

"Or are you feeling nervous?"

Arthur smiled.

"Nervous?"

"Hardly."

His eyes swept across the massive crowd of Iron Angels gathered below.

"It would be more accurate to say that I’m excited."

"Actually..."

His gaze shifted toward a particular woman standing among the assembled soldiers.

"Before we begin..."

"Vice Commander Octoria."

Octoria immediately raised her head.

"Yes, Fleet Commander?"

Arthur raised an eyebrow.

"Come now."

"Aren’t you supposed to be standing on this podium with me?"

He gestured toward the space beside him.

"What are you doing down there?"

Octoria’s eyes widened slightly.

Then she respectfully bowed her head.

"I dare not be so forward, Young Master."

Her tone remained calm and respectful.

"Until I have earned your trust, I am perfectly content being treated as a mere soldier."

She paused briefly.

"But if it is an order..."

Octoria placed a hand against her chest.

"I am more than willing to obey."

Arthur stared at her for a moment.

Then—

A smile slowly appeared on his face.

"Such humility."

"I’m impressed."

He gestured toward the podium.

"Alright."

"As your commander, I order you to get up here."

Octoria nodded.

"Understood."

She immediately made her way toward the elevated podium.

A few moments later, she stepped onto it.

She took her position to Arthur’s left and stood at ease.

At that moment, Genesis suddenly hovered around Arthur’s head.

〘She’s so formal!〙

〘So upright!〙

〘And graceful, too!〙

Arthur ignored her.

Genesis floated directly in front of his face.

〘You know what?〙

〘I like her, Master.〙

Arthur sighed internally.

...Of course you do.

〘She looks like she can really kick ass!〙

A small holographic projection suddenly appeared beside Genesis.

It depicted a chibi version of Octoria smiling proudly while sitting atop a mountain of defeated mob characters.

Arthur resisted the urge to sigh aloud.

...Wonderful and all, but can you get out of my face? Unless you are blind, Genesis dear, your master is busy.

〘Hehe, sorry, Master.〙

She hovered away.

Finally, Arthur stepped forward.

He faced the hundreds of Iron Angels gathered before him.

His expression became serious.

"At ease, soldiers."

The formation immediately relaxed.

"From what I’ve been told in the reports..."

He paused.

"...you are all basically a ragtag group of rejects who were gathered together, rebranded, and tossed aside."

His words caused a visible reaction among the Iron Angels.

Some managed to maintain a poker face.

Others...

Looked visibly pained.

Their warrior’s pride had just been trampled upon by a noble young master who had only recently reached adulthood.

What did he even know about what they had gone through?

What they had experienced to leave them in such a state?

Arthur continued.

"I’m sure some of you must already have rather harsh assumptions about me due to your previous experiences with nobility."

He paused.

"Which, I would say, hurts my feelings..."

A faint smile appeared on his face.

"But I can’t blame you."

His gaze slowly swept across the crowd.

"You must all be thinking that this fleet will probably be where you breathe your final breaths."

His tone remained casual.

"Maybe I’ll send you all on some stupid suicide mission."

"Push you beyond your limits."

"And watch you all crumble under the pressure."

He tilted his head.

"Who knows?"

"I might even find some fun in that."