"...Commander Marie, the vessels are ready to depart!" I bow to Commander Marie and her wife, the Heroine. Marie, a lollipop in her mouth, bites down with a sharp crack.

"Good. The ’Queen’s’ schedule has us leaving in five minutes, so get on the boat. They’re about to cast off and start the engines... eh... who are you, anyway?"

"I’m just a regular soldier, Commander Marie."

"Right... whatever. Just go. And tell your ship’s captain to stick to the correct route. Some idiots pilot these ships like they’re absolute morons!"

"Do you have any idea how much a boat like this is worth? These things were built on another continent, had to cross the ocean, and cost a fortune to assemble this massive fleet. This boat is worth more than your miserable lives." Marie’s tone is harsh.

"Marie, you don’t need to be so hard on a soldier. He wouldn’t even be to blame if the boat broke! My sweet Tsundere! You don’t even care about the boats!" The Heroine hugs Commander Marie from behind.

"G-Grace, not here! You’re ruining my image! And you! Get out of here!" She shouts at me. I quickly dash toward the ship, not wanting to become a target for Commander Marie.

"Whew... why did they have to send me..." I mutter, frustrated yet relieved to have escaped alive. Commander Marie is intense and a bit dangerous.

"Hey, Chief!" I run up to the ship’s captain, who’s starting the boat’s engine, powered by some strange magical source I don’t fully understand.

"What is it?" He glances at me briefly before returning to fiddling with some things I don’t quite get.

"Commander Marie—"

"Yeah, I heard. She’s pretty loud... no need to explain. Just wait here until I give you another order." The captain pulls a lever, starting the engine with a low hum, and a barrier flickers around the ship for a second before vanishing.

’So this is what’s supposed to protect us from sea monster attacks...’ Honestly, I’m terrified of using these giant metal things. I don’t really trust that this will shield us from sea monsters, but the higher-ups are confident, and I don’t have much of a choice.

"Soldier, how are the ship’s supplies?" the captain asks as the boat begins to move slowly, the fuel minerals heating up. The initial movement is very slow, but from what I’ve heard, once it’s been running for a few minutes, this boat gets pretty fast.

"They’re excellent, Chief! We have enough food for several months distributed among all the ships. It’ll be enough to reach the Angel Continent and then some. And they said they’re using the [Bridge] for logistical food control," I report what I know.

"...The Queen is skilled, don’t you think? I heard rumors she was a failure in the past. It’s strange to imagine someone with that reputation planning how this war will unfold, and from what little I know, the plan is brilliant."

"..." I stay silent, not wanting to insult the Queen and risk being killed for whatever reason they might invent.

Suddenly, the vessel lurches and accelerates. I look around, seeing thousands of ships leaving the immense harbor, all maintaining a safe distance. There are so many boats, and the distance between each is so perfectly balanced that wherever I look, I see only ships.

"Chief, is it really safe to use these things?" I ask nervously. The ship, picking up speed, begins to turn and follow the designated route. All the vessels make the turn in near-perfect synchronization, all heading toward the same destination.

"Yeah, it’s safe. Safer than you think. These things’ defense systems are so high that Rank A monsters wouldn’t even come near these ships unless they attacked in an enormous swarm."

"It’s perfect for dealing with the massive number of monsters in the sea." As he says this, I feel skeptical.

"If these ships are so good, then why don’t humans produce more weapons like this?" I ask, suspicious of their quality.

"I’m not sure. That’s up to the higher-ups. But I think you already heard the answer from Commander Marie. Their cost is absurd, and the materials used are far too expensive."

"A large part of the value was financed with the kingdom’s treasury funds, and from what I heard, it was a massive amount. Just one of these boats here is worth more than supporting 10,000 soldiers for two years."

"Impossible!! Chief, are you serious?! Two years of food, support, administration, and lodging for 10,000 soldiers is an enormous amount of gold!"

"Exactly. That shows you the monstrous value of a single one of these boats. It’s like standing on a solid block of gold that moves and attacks. The big shots up top really didn’t skimp when it came to material quality."

"Humans might be skilled at creating technology, and when they joined with the demons, this marvel of engineering was born, but humans wouldn’t have been able to finance or have the materials to do this alone. That’s probably why they don’t even try."

"It’s far too expensive. Plus, the return is low."

"Chief, how the hell would the return on these machines be low if they’re as powerful as they explained and as you say?"

"The return is low because of the fuel, and because these are warships meant to protect us until we reach the Angel Continent, not for naval battles. In other words, once we reach the Angel Continent, these boats become nothing but useless scrap."

"You can’t use ships on land. All this boat’s defenses were designed solely for crossing the sea, not for aiding in direct battle. So all these ships will likely be abandoned."

"A few might be recovered as collector’s items. Of course, we’ll probably try to recover most of them later, even if just to dismantle them. But while the war is happening, they’ll be docked and stored near the [Bridge] on the Angel Continent’s side, essentially becoming a sort of shelter and food warehouse."

"Hahaha, you’re kidding, right?! All this, all this money, to create a food warehouse? That’s insane!" I say, incredulous, but the ship captain just shrugs as the vessel accelerates.

"That’s how it is. In the end, this beautiful machine will be used only as a shelter and warehouse. But there’s not much we can do. Just the fact that they get us to the Angel Continent alive is considered an investment well paid."

"Well, I still think—" Suddenly, I’m interrupted by a thunderous roar. I look at the water to see if the monsters have started attacking, but then I notice everyone is looking up.

I look up too, just in time to see a massive dragon landing on the deck. Its weight rocks the ship, forcing it down slightly as the dragon braces itself, gripping the metal edges on the sides.

"Q-Queen..." The captain’s voice trembles as her dragon stares at him. All the crew members tense up, staring at the creature that looks incredibly dangerous.

The ship isn’t small, but this is one of the smaller ones, so the dragon still appears quite large beside it, taking up the entire deck completely.

"How long ago did you depart?" the Queen asks coldly, her dragon looking down at the water below, gazing into the depths as if searching for something.

"About six to eight minutes, Queen..." The captain takes a deep breath and answers the Queen’s question with conviction.

"...Good. I believe Marie and Grace are on the reinforced ships leading the way, aren’t they? The ones that are largest and have the strongest defenses?"

"Y-Yes, Queen. Commander Marie is currently using those ships," the captain says tensely as her dragon beats its wings. The motion churns the water and pushes the boat slightly.

Even this boat, which has magical stabilizers against waves, is still rocked by the force of the dragon as it takes flight.

"Sea monsters don’t appear this easily near the coast, and the boat’s magic will ward off the weaker ones. So attacks probably won’t start for another eight hours or so, around when the ships have moved completely away from the continent."

"Until then, you can stay calm and conserve your strength," the Queen says from above, and her dragon begins to move forward with a speed that’s almost terrifying for something so large.

"..." I look at the captain, who can’t stop staring at the sky.

"Chief, are you sure about that? Was she really a failure in the past?" I ask, incredulous, finding it hard to believe something that now seems like nothing but baseless gossip.

"I don’t know? She has an aura far less dense than the Demon King Lysaon, but there’s something more unsettling about her aura that I can’t explain... besides, I heard she uses the corpses of fallen soldiers, turning them into puppets under her command."

"How bizarre..." I mutter to the captain, who now looks genuinely tense. How are we supposed to stay calm after that strange encounter?

"Chief, since the Queen said it, I think I’ll go rest and—"

"Don’t even try, man. You’re staying here with me. She didn’t mean you were free to go sleep or do something random. I need you to relay orders to the others if I see something wrong with the ship’s engine or if attacks start."

"..." I roll my eyes, sitting on the floor to wait, a bit irritated by the far-from-safe situation I’m in.