[FMMIKA] Chapter 225: Crucial Mission

"Basically, that's how it is."

Artorius muttered as he was busy in his office all day.

Apart from military affairs, he had more to deal with regarding the Artoria Species.

In the process, he chatted with various Artoria Species, played games, and did various other things.

Compared to managing his own army, which he was quite adept at, arranging the Artoria Species was indeed more challenging.

Especially when he had to make tough decisions, like when some Artorias had to return to their world. Watching them cry and give him pitiful looks almost made Artorius change his mind.

But that wasn't an option. The Artoria Species had a crucial mission.

Their mission was to acquire resources, technology, and physical assets as much as possible from the Sapphire Galaxy for the empire.

Artorius needed knowledge and technology from the Sapphire Galaxy, even though its tech tree didn't quite match the current state of his world. Something was better than nothing.

Importing a couple of spaceships, a couple of supercomputers, and industrial machinery from the Sapphire Galaxy could have at least accelerated the empire's productivity.

As for future development, everything had to start somewhere. In the initial stages, it was only natural that they had to buy technology, equipment, and machinery from outside sources.

So, the only real question was where to get the foreign exchange.

Although this might have brought a series of issues—the sudden emergence of this advanced technology with almost no prior foundation would undoubtedly have caused social problems.

But, did Artorius give a fuck? No.

However, he had two main issues in front of him. One was to persuade the Artorias to temporarily leave and return to the Sapphire Galaxy to work hard.

This was very challenging, much more so than the second point, which was obtaining the money and foreign exchange needed to acquire the technology and equipment.

"Hiks, Artorius, do you hate us now?"

"We don't want to leave you, Artorius, uwaaa!"

"Artorius~"

It was something like that.

In Artorius's plan, at least half of the nearly five hundred Artoria Species should return.

These Artoria Species needed to unite, organize, and preferably establish themselves in the Sapphire Galaxy, and then, like time-traveling traders with a golden finger, they could buy and sell between the Sapphire Galaxy and this world, earning profits for the empire.

"It's not like that at all. You all are the most crucial part of building this world. Everyone taking on this job is like my dearest mother."

Though he said this, the Artorias, one by one, still felt uneasy, continuing to gaze at Artorius with puppy eyes.

No matter how Artorius explained, even if he said the most heartfelt words, not being able to stay by his side was a cruel punishment for them.

In this situation, if Artorius were to assign specific tasks to only some Artorias, it would be unfair and could make them dissatisfied, thinking that he didn't like them. Therefore, there had to be a draw, and a promise of rotation after a certain period had to be made.

There had to be a strict rotation system, and there also had to be promises of doing 'various things' with the Artorias.

In short, after promising many things that Artorius might or might not be able to fulfill, the bunch of Artoria Species finally smiled again.

Of course, their smiles were quite forced, and more than anything, they were melancholic.

—How did the beautiful time I spent with Artorius turn into this?

Every Artoria Species that would return to their homeworld thought like that.

So, the Artorias who drew the lots requested a farewell party lasting three days and insisted on 'exclusive' time with Artorius during those three days.

Considering their feelings, the Artorias who didn't draw lots accepted this request with a sad smile, making Artorius feel somewhat helpless.

===

"Finally leave..."

Afterward, he used the excuse of having more serious matters to attend to and ushered the  Artorias out of the room, then took a white-haired and red-pupiled female secretary with him. The entire meeting room was now occupied only by Artorius and the five god-level Artorias—X, XX, Ex, Z, and Lion King.

The reason for keeping these Artorias behind was straightforward—what lay ahead required the presence of these divine beings.

In other words, Artorius Pendragon, the Dragon Emperor, had dodged the Counter Force for over a day. As mentioned repeatedly before, it was time to have a proper discussion with the Counter Force about this matter.

The subject of discussion and its target were, of course, this world and the future of this world.

===

"So, did you manage to persuade her?" Z, dressed entirely in white, grumbled.

Apart from her everyday attire, she wore aviator sunglasses and occasionally swayed her body in a hip-hop style. She also placed a radio on the ground, although no recording tape was inside.

"Not exactly. I just suggested that we have a conversation." Artorius said casually, basking in the admiring gazes of his mothers.

"Even though it's just a planet, it has its own will. Truly worthy of being my child." XX remarked.

XX's mood had not been great in the past few days, probably because she had seen too many bizarre variations of Heroine and was deeply immersed in the fear of her own dark history.

At present, she couldn't change her past self's actions, and she couldn't bear to watch so many fools acting cute. Only by resting in the arms of her son could she forget about the outside world.

Those silly Heroine who wanted to show off and the ones feeling sentimental and teary-eyed because they were about to leave Artorius—XX couldn't quite grasp their sorrow; she just thought they were being noisy.

"Anyway, if she agrees to cooperate, we won't do anything. But, if she doesn't..." X, on the other hand, was trying to understand and quite curious about other Heroine.

"If she doesn't cooperate, we'll help her cooperate." Ex said with a calm but unwavering tone, making a rather dangerous statement.

"The location isn't quite right, it would be better to have enough preparations in advance... but if you think about it, it really doesn't matter." Lion King concluded.

One might say that they were true Artoria Species. Although their personalities differed, the inherent violent factor in their character couldn't be changed.

Before anyone could say anything more, the Artorias had already started exchanging ideas, brainstorming a plan to handle the Counter Force.

'Truly dependable.' Artorius thought, looking at his mothers, feeling content.

With helpers like these, what could possibly go wrong?