The deep-sea resource-collection platform had begun operations.

“O-oh... The resources—the rate of resource recovery is threefold...!”

Commander Eve, seeing the production graph spike sharply upward, was delirious with joy.

Ringo was all smiles as well.

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Distribution range, reserves, quality, surrounding environment—all are favorable. We should be able to secure the resources required for our action plans over the next several years.”

A colossal mining machine constructed in the abyss was shaving the seafloor.

It sucked in the surrounding seawater and sediments wholesale, separated out only the resources, and expelled everything else.

“And from the look of it, mining pollution is being kept to a minimum... correct?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. The area around the platform is inevitably stirred, but diffusion into the surroundings is below the thresholds we set.

If continued operation poses no issues, we will proceed to add more platforms of this type.”

By its nature—recovering various minerals deposited on the seabed—mere scraping would spread massive amounts of organic deposits and soil into the surroundings.

Ordinarily, little changes in the deep sea. While planet-scale deep currents do exist, their flow rates are on the order of a few meters per hour.

They are incomparably gentler than surface currents that run at kilometers per hour or the ebb and flow of the tides.

Stirring up the deep seafloor and polluting the surroundings could have unknown consequences—radically altering the ecosystem and perhaps even luring in unintentional megafauna, i.e., Threat Creatures (named by Akane).

Accordingly, the resource-recovery platform moved as slowly as possible, compacting non-resource organics and soil into pellets before discharge.

Thanks to that, turbidity and organic scattering in the water were kept to a minimum.

“We struggled with the design of the surface protrusions to suppress seawater turbulence.”

“Right. Thanks to that, its appearance ended up as a complete ‘monster’ though...”

Because they wanted to minimize turbulence caused by movement, the seafloor platform’s shape had been exhaustively computed and manufactured.

When a mass that large moved, it naturally displaced the surrounding water. Vortices formed behind it, and moving manipulators only made those more pronounced.

To counter that, they covered the entire platform surface, with no gaps, in cilia-like structures. The body’s overall shape was also designed to minimize wake vortices, yielding an intensely biological appearance.

What’s more, these cilia automatically altered their shapes in response to sensed water flow.

From a distance, it was a flat, gigantic organism creeping slowly along the seabed, its surface “hairs,” or tentacles, rustling and writhing.

To put it charitably, it was a gigantic sea monster.

“Well, it’s fine—no one’s going to be seeing this kind of deep sea anyway.”

It had no particular attack capability, and this seafloor platform would never see sunlight. Designed for underwater activity, it would not function properly on land in the first place.

“We are currently conducting a more detailed survey of seafloor resource distribution. The platforms recover resources as they move; increasing the number in operation will increase output accordingly.”

Moving slowly over the seabed, the platform sucked up mineral resources that contained deposited iron oxides, manganese, cobalt, and more.

“In addition, large amounts of rare metals are deposited around the discovered hydrothermal vents. We have also activated dedicated units to recover these. Extraction here is performed using platforms with enhanced corrosion resistance.”

These so-called hydrothermal deposits form when seawater that has seeped in through tectonic motion is heated and erupts from the seafloor with dissolved metals.

Including the subsurface, areas around hydrothermal vents may allow for mass recovery of minor-element rare metals—a very promising class of deposits.

“Good, good. The seabed’s a mountain of treasure. We’ve laid a surveillance net just in case; we should be secure for the time being, yes?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Defensive weapons have also been deployed. Furthermore, the resources consumed should be recoupable in roughly two weeks, so we can expect to be in the black.”

For several years up to now, they had continued surveys and partial development of the seafloor. As a result, no traces of Threat Creatures had been found within several hundred kilometers.

They had encountered only Rain Croyne.

If nothing happened for at least two weeks, the resources consumed by this series of surveys and development would be replenished.

“Mining methane hydrate is in the black at present, so there is no issue.”

Methane hydrate, recoverable in relatively shallow waters, continued to be produced at a sufficiently profitable level. Even in the worst case, an early decision to abandon the deep-sea platforms would be within tolerances.

“At last, we can finally say goodbye to the days of building while trembling at the dwindling stockpile for recovery...”

Eve savored the moment.

They recovered resources, funneled them into production facilities and weapons, diverted a portion to The Tree, and banked it as a stockpile.

It was a savings plan to prevent disaster even if Fortress No. 2 or Telek Port City were lost.

The stockpile had passed a set threshold, and with the platforms now running, output had surged dramatically. From Commander Eve’s perspective, the fever-time was about to begin.

“The aerial platform—its operational data are in hand, yes?”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Flight testing of the prototype completed without issue. We have also gathered flight data up to 15 km altitude.

Results of maneuver trials for various structures have been reflected in the virtual-space simulator.

Design and virtual test simulations for the main objective—the giant carrier hull, the attack-type aerial platform—are all complete.”

“Mhm,” she nodded.

“I’ve been eyeing it for a while now—this blatantly obvious ‘begin construction’ button...”

“It is the start of a grand project. Please give the word.”

Although Commander Eve had delegated considerable authority to Ringo, by its nature as the unifying AI, all actions fundamentally required Commander Eve’s authorization.

On the cusp of building a full-fledged aerial force, it would have been improper to begin without so much as a heads-up.

“...All right. Let’s begin. I authorize the expansion of The Tree’s aerial forces.”

Eve exhaled lightly, then pressed the Begin Construction ❀ Nоvеlігht ❀ (Don’t copy, read here) button that floated in midair.

“Commencing construction of the aerial mother ship Gigantia and the Titan-series escorts. Estimated time to completion, approximately 104 hours.”

“For operations, we’ll use Fortress No. 2 Black Iron for the time being. Once Fratara City is finished, we can use that as well.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. Gigantia requires a 10,000 m runway for takeoff and landing. It will allow us to use the Fratara Outskirts Base as a forward resupply base.”

Once this aerial platform was weaponized, they planned to subdue the northern region of the United Kingdom of Aphrasia.

In practice, they judged the current force sufficient to subdue the north.

However, the opponent would be the royal-capital sphere; unknowns abounded, so they chose to assemble forces before the invasion.

By launching a lightning invasion after building up air power, they would minimize losses.

They would not allow the enemy time to prepare.

“There are also unverified rumors of powerful individual combatants, so caution is warranted.”

“More than anything, there’s romance in it.”

Well, that motive accounted for most of it—Commander Eve was waxing romantic.

Asahi, for her part, was snorting, “So there’s the strongest man in the kingdom—a legendary one-man army!?”—but Ringo could only wish to be spared.

If such a thing were confirmed, they planned to smother it with long-range fire.

Asahi would likely complain, but Commander Eve was tolerant of one-sided games.

“Now that plans are set, let’s widen the spy-bot net.”

“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am.”