Come Quick, the Commander Is Handing Out Mecha-Girls!

If Ikaros didn't usually act so airheaded, everyone might've thought she was launching a full-on confession at Setsuna.

But Setsuna had no way to explain it to her right now.

The question she asked reminded him, vaguely, of a certain Auto Memory Doll.

In the original story, Ikaros only came to understand those words when she burned herself out and soared into the sky.

That kind of tragic ending definitely wasn't going to happen here. Setsuna simply gave Ikaros a hug.

He gently placed a hand on her head and held her against his chest.

"You'll understand one day. Until then, just live peacefully with us."

"..."

"Master's body... is so warm..."

Ikaros instinctively wrapped her wings around Setsuna.

From his embrace, she could feel a powerful, comforting presence.

"I will always protect Master."

"Master, Nymph wants a hug too!"

The twin-tailed little loli beside them spread her arms, begging cutely.

At first, when she had met Setsuna, she had felt fear and hesitation.

But after spending a few days with him, Nymph realized Setsuna was completely different from the Synapse people.

He treated everyone equally and kindly, never ordering her around just because she was a humanoid angel.

She felt incredibly grateful for that.

"Astraea wants one too! Master!"

The other blonde airhead angel tossed aside her snacks and rushed over to hug him as well.

She didn't have any deep feelings—she just didn't want to feel left out while the other two were cuddling.

"..."

"Setsuna and you still say you're not seducing girls...?"

Kurumi Tokisaki narrowed her eyes, dragging out her words.

"Being surrounded by angels—are you enjoying yourself?"

"They're robots."

Setsuna coughed.

"Oh? So what you're saying is, you're not interested in robots?"

"You just plan to use them as weapons of war or tools?"

Kurumi tilted her head, glancing meaningfully at Setsuna and Ikaros.

"..."

Setsuna took a moment to process the sensation of Ikaros pressing against him. No matter how you looked at it, she was indistinguishable from a human.

Very soft. Very springy.

"No... I'm actually quite interested. XP systems can be updated."

He was just being honest.

...

In the world of Heaven's Lost Property, aside from the floating island, the rest of the world wasn't much different from a typical human world.

If there was anything unusual, it was that from time to time, projections of Synapse people would appear in the streets.

After a brief stroll around the area, the expedition team placed a teleportation anchor in Sorami Town and began their journey back.

Boom—

The Eternal Snowfall broke through the clouds, descending from high altitude toward the satellite city.

The magnificent capital of Constantinople reappeared below.

Compared to when they first left, it had expanded outward again—the main city now rivaled a small nation in scale.

"This is your city?"

"Hmm... Compared to Synapse, it certainly feels lively."

Daedalus squinted as she looked out.

From a super-civilization's perspective, some of the layout still looked primitive.

A ground-based capital city certainly couldn't compare to the sci-fi grandeur of a floating island.

But Constantinople had one trait that the people of Synapse deeply envied—vitality.

The streets bustled with life.

Little girls chased each other playfully, Manjuus carried supplies, and Bulins repaired equipment...

In the northern Golden Horn Bay, transport fleets lined up at the port to unload supplies. Both sea and air shipping were busy—an energetic, bustling scene.

Patrolling Siren girls roamed the surface of the sea, alongside the azure shipgirls who had just finished reconstructing their hulls.

When they saw Setsuna's return, they all started up their engines, soaring off the sea with a burst of spray, flying over to greet him.

Everyone seemed genuinely happy and full of life—a stark contrast to the lifeless atmosphere of Synapse.

Boom—

Clank—

The starship landed, and once the hatch opened,

the welcoming crowd nearly overwhelmed the landing base.

Richelieu, Yat Sen, and several other shipgirls took turns giving Setsuna a hug.

"Welcome back, Commander."

"You didn't take Taihou this time—she missed you a lot—"

Taihou pouted and clung to him, refusing to let go.

"Onii-chan!!"

A group of little girls also swarmed over, surrounding Setsuna before spotting Daedalus, Ikaros, and the others coming down the ramp.

"Whoa!! Angels!!!"

Enju Aihara and Kayo Senju widened their eyes, circling around the new arrivals in awe.

Ikaros, Nymph, and Astraea were undeniably adorable.

And once Daedalus tidied up a bit, she looked like a flatter-chested version of Sohara Mitsuki—also quite beautiful.

Their elegant faces combined with the wings on their backs made them dreamy and eye-catching.

"Angel onee-san, can I touch your wings?"

Chisato looked up and asked Ikaros.

"..."

The pink-haired angel showed a moment of confusion, then looked to Setsuna.

"Master? What should I do?"

"They really like you. It's fine."

Setsuna replied with a smile.

"...Is this what 'like' means?"

Ikaros nodded.

"Request received. Wing-touching permitted."

Hiss—

The little girls nervously reached out and gently touched the soft pink wings.

They were warm and firm to the touch.

"So pretty... I wish we had wings too..."

"Whoa, this onee-san has four wings?!"

They then swarmed around Daedalus.

"Are you from the sky? Can I touch your wings too?"

"If you're an angel, does that mean Synapse has a god?"

"How fast can wings go? Can they break the third cosmic velocity? Are they usable in space?"

The little girls fired off a barrage of questions.

Daedalus felt like she was instantly rejuvenated, infected by their energetic cuteness the moment she landed.

"Setsuna, you sure have a lot of children in your city—and they're already learning astronautics?"

She was surprised by how well-informed the lolis' questions were.

"They've all been genetically enhanced—very bright. Many have already completed college-level coursework."

Setsuna replied with a smile.

"I was thinking of having you work as a professor here someday, guiding them in research."

With Synapse's greatest scientist leading and an entire generation of 220-IQ esper lolis behind her,

it felt like science output would skyrocket like in Stellaris.

"Oh..."

Daedalus looked even more intrigued.

"Sure, I've never done research with kids before."

After the lively excitement died down, Setsuna suddenly remembered something.

He clapped his hands together.

"Speaking of angels... I actually brought quite a few back this time."

Clank—

The side hangar of the Eternal Snowfall slowly opened.

Inside stood over three thousand artificial angels, neatly lined up.

All of them had their eyes closed, heads bowed—they had yet to be engraved or activated.

Hiss—

The surrounding shipgirls gasped in surprise.

"What are these?..."

"Gold loot from the Master of Synapse—brand new first-generation universal angels. Some are for combat, others for housework or other uses."

Setsuna snapped his fingers.

"Once engraved, they'll recognize you as their master and follow your every command unconditionally."

"Each of you take one or two domestic-type angels home, teach them some basic life knowledge, help them get used to the area. They can even help take care of children later."

"Combat-types will be centrally trained and refitted by the naval district. As for the medical-types... let Muroto Sumire train them first, then assign them to hospitals."

With over 3,000 universal angels, it would be time-consuming for him to personally engrave them all, and he couldn't possibly look after every one.

Better to distribute them—it could even be considered a little bonus for everyone.

"Wooow—"

The shipgirls gathered around, examining the angels with curiosity and excitement.

They immediately started contacting their loafing friends at the naval base.

"Hurry up!! The Commander's giving out mecha-angel girls!!"

"Master, may I have one too?"

Artoria approached hesitantly.

"Sure, pick one skilled in cooking—she can make your meals."

Setsuna pointed her toward a blue-haired angel.

"Thank you, Master!"

The ahoge queen happily rushed off to perform the engraving.

Soon, the other Heroic Spirits, Spirits, and even ordinary people joined in to pick their own.

The entire spaceport turned into a joyful uproar.

"Hmm..."

Richelieu rested her chin on her hand, deep in thought.

"Commander, I have a question:"

"Can these universal angels be stored inside our rigging systems?"

"Ah, yeah—they're mechanical lifeforms."

Setsuna nodded.

Normal biological entities couldn't be stored in shipgirl rigging—when a ship converted its hull into rigging form, any living creature would be ejected.

But mechanical constructs were unaffected.

"Then we could store lots of combat angels in our ships and deploy them when needed? Like auxiliary combat troops?"

Nagato and Richelieu had the same idea.

"..."

"Didn't we already have ship-launched shipgirl tactics? Now shipgirls can launch mecha-girls too?"

Setsuna laughed.

"The Eternal Snowfall airdrops shipgirls, who airdrop mecha-girls in turn... I alone am an army of thousands!"

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