When Setsuna returned to the capital once again, he had a dazed, swirly-eyed dragon girl slung over his shoulder like a trophy.
Elma's strength was on par with Tohru's, but facing a 3-on-1, she barely lasted a single round.
"Oh?"
"Commander, you went back to Tohru's hometown and brought another dragon girl with you?"
"Uh, no—you tied her up and brought her?"
Gudako stared curiously at the purple-haired dragon girl.
"Just need to go grab Ilulu next and we'll have the whole set."
Setsuna dropped Elma onto the couch.
"Hey, wake up, wake up?!"
"You're not dead, right?!"
Tohru unceremoniously grabbed Elma by the shoulders and shook her violently.
"Ughhhh—"
Elma groaned, slowly coming to her senses.
She sat up and looked up at Setsuna.
"Ugh, just kill me."
"You chaotic faction devils..."
She thought Setsuna and Mio were terrifying.
They looked like ordinary people, but wielded unimaginable power.
Together with Tohru, they had taken her down in no time.
Clearly allies of the chaotic evil dragons—thus, another faction of chaos.
Captured, dragged to another world—Elma was convinced her life was over.
Bonk!
Setsuna gave her a light karate chop.
"Save the dramatics for later. Want something to eat? Or take a stroll through the city? It's not what you think."
"Eh?"
Elma looked around.
No terrifying monsters, just a circle of beautiful girls curiously examining her.
"Where am I?"
"Constantinople, capital of the Starsea Empire."
Setsuna replied succinctly.
"Lucoa, Tohru, and Kanna are all here. Besides dragons, we also have shipgirls, Spirits, Heroic Spirits, catgirls, angels..."
"Everyone lives here peacefully. You don't need to maintain any order."
"Dragons with Spirits and angels? Lucoa's here too?!"
Elma looked at Ikaros, then out the window at countless flying universal angels in the sky.
Her worldview shattered.
One mission of the Order faction was to ensure dragons didn't interfere with or disrupt other worlds.
Too much power caused destruction.
But this place had more order than anywhere she'd ever seen.
No fighting. No war.
"No, I must take Tohru back. She is a destabilizing force..."
Elma gripped her trident and stood up.
"?"
Belfast and the Royal Maids stepped forward, click-clack manifesting their rigging.
"Ah? Dragon lady, are you about to attack the Commander's maids?"
"???"
Elma stared at the dark muzzles of countless guns, starting to feel uneasy.
"Give it up. I just want to be the Commander's maid and fiancée. I'm not going back with you."
"Even the Emperor of Demise approved. And if you try anything, we won't be polite."
Tohru said this while adjusting Setsuna's collar.
"You...!"
Elma started to gather magic.
Grrrowl—
Her stomach betrayed her at the worst time.
"?"
"Have you not eaten?"
Setsuna chuckled. Just like in the original story.
This dragon girl was upright and strict—but dim-witted. And a total foodie.
"None of your business!"
Elma was both embarrassed and furious, banging her trident on the floor.
Snap!
Setsuna snapped his fingers.
Two universal angels walked over with trays of food.
Just from the smell alone, Elma nearly drooled.
"Here, eat."
Setsuna placed the tray in front of her.
"Thank you for the food!!!"
Elma devoured two lunch servings like a whirlwind.
Her eyes sparkled with hearts.
"So good!"
The universal angels' cooking was on par with Earth's finest chefs.
In neither her magical world nor the human world had Elma ever tasted food this delicious.
"If you stop trying to take Tohru away, I can guarantee you three meals a day."
"We have French cuisine, Italian, Spanish... You name it. You could eat something new every day for 365 days."
Setsuna whispered like a devil into her ear.
"...Okay! N-No, wait! My mission is to maintain peace..."
Elma nodded at first, then shook her head, caught in deep internal struggle.
"I can assign you a domestic model universal angels. She knows every recipe from every cuisine. Whatever you want, she can cook it."
Setsuna continued to tempt her.
"And when we go conquer other worlds, you'll get meal stipends and chances to sample interdimensional dishes..."
He handed her a contract.
"Sign this, and steamed lamb, bear paws, roast duck, roasted chick, spiced goose, braised duck, meat buns... they're all yours!"
"Eh?!"
"OOOOHHHH!!!"
Elma's eyes glazed over at the food list.
Without thinking, she grabbed the pen and signed her name.
[I, Elma, willingly pledge myself to the Starsea Empire and vow to follow the Commander's every command.]
[Term:]
"?!"
"Commander, are you tricking people into signing slave contracts?!"
Gudako and a few shipgirls looked horrified.
"This is mutual consent. How could it be a trick?"
"She should be thanking me."
Setsuna tapped Gudako's head.
Then patted Elma's shoulder.
"Come on, let's go try some Eastern cuisine—taste the handiwork of Yat Sen, Ning Hai, and Ping Hai."
"Live peacefully here from now on. No more causing trouble, got it?"
"Thank you!!"
...
After handing Elma over to the Eastern shipgirls, Setsuna leaned back in his chair and opened the long-unseen star map.
With the Dragon Maid world wrapped up, he now had unrestricted access to both the human and magical sides of that world.
He had no plans to get involved in the Emperor of Demise' war with the Order faction for now.
First, divine-level battles were too high-stakes—jumping in blindly could cause problems.
Second, he aimed to eventually unify both the Order and Chaos sides, not let one win outright.
Let them keep fighting—they'd been at it for tens of thousands of years already, with no end in sight.
Whshhh—
The star map projected the surrounding worlds.
Counting the recently conquered Akame ga Kill world, Setsuna had now completed nearly ten world campaigns.
There were still several he hadn't visited yet.
He scanned the list:
"Goblin Slayer, Overlord, Honkai, Transformers, Girls und Panzer..."
"Hmm... interesting. Let's go through them one by one."
These worlds had been sitting on the docket for a while.
Among them was a slice-of-life world with a completely different tone.
Setsuna decided to handle that one first.
Girls und Panzer.
This was an alternate world where the martial art of operating tanks, "Tankery," was listed alongside traditional Japanese arts like flower arranging and tea ceremony as essential skills for young women.
As the name implies, it was filled with adorable girls.
Girls who drove all kinds of tanks for competitions and exhibitions.
It was surprisingly hardcore.
"Commander, is there anything special in that world worth noting?"
Richelieu tilted her head.
"Hmm... a bit. Not much."
"Do cute girls count as noteworthy?"
Setsuna leaned back in thought.
Technologically speaking, the Girls und Panzer world wasn't much more advanced than pre-spaceflight humanity.
But they had come up with something unique—gigantic aircraft carriers known as School Ship.
All the schools were based aboard these ships, which cruised across the oceans.
They had residential areas, tank arenas, even artificial forests and mountains.
The protagonist's school, Ōarai Girls' Academy, was built on a 7-kilometer-long carrier modeled after Zuikaku.
Creating such a giant in a pre-space era suggested they had too much production capacity and nowhere to spend it.
"Why did they put Tankery on the same level as flower arranging and tea ceremony?! Is watching a bunch of girls blast each other with tanks supposed to be fun?!"
Gudako couldn't wrap her head around the world's logic.
"It's fun to watch. I like watching cute girls fight."
Setsuna shrugged.
He didn't necessarily need the girls to drive tanks into battle.
Having them liven up the capital would be enough.
"Let's conquer the Girls und Panzer world, then build a Starship Academy."
"Girls und Panzer will become Girls und Starships."
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