The Mermaid Queen needed to sign up to be a concubine.

And the scary woman didn’t deny it.

Aroma and Roderic had no response to this. They might be ambitious assholes, but not even they claimed to have this kind of standard. Who was this guy? How could he not be struck down by the heavens for such arrogance? For once in their lives, the two felt shame for something.

The entire court was puzzled by what they assumed to be an exaggeration.

“Still have ambition?” Apolline said, sensing the deep buried desire inside Sharley. “You wouldn’t have mentioned that, if you aren’t interested in that angle.”

Sharley didn’t bother denying it.

“Lady Apolline, jealousy is not a good look,” Sharley smiled. “You think such an excellent man will settle with only that much.”

“Only that much is bad enough,” Apolline growled. “You shouldn’t try to overreach beyond your capability.”

“I am aware I have no chance in that contest,” Sharley replied. “I assure you I will be striving to change it.”

Espera couldn’t tolerate the bullshit any longer.

“Okay, I know that guy is absurd, but is he really worth that much?” the Pirate Lord said.

“““Yes,””” Apolline, Marjorie and Sharley immediately agreed.

"The goods he made will make him a multimillionaire the moment it hits the auction house,” Holmes explained. “He is a literal golden goose with a political clout of an immortal dragon.”

Su remained tight-lipped, but she internally added the fact that the guy had blackmail material on her father. The Dragon Maiden, understanding how hostile the Yulong Empire’s court could be, guaranteed many of her siblings would go all out to seduce the Unity Lord to their side. Nothing affirmed safety like tying knots with the one man who held cards over the Emperor.

“Wow,” Espera whistled. “He got all that on top of a face not half-bad. Isn’t that practically a steal?” Espera then got an idea. “Wait, can I—”

“No,” Apolline shut that down.

“You are a prisoner,” Sharley dragged the Pirate Lord back to the Earth.

“I don’t think you will last a day,” Su gave her a solid assessment. “With your meager ability, your ‘sisters’ will make you a chew toy.”

Aroma coughed, bringing the crowd’s attention away from the comedic skid. The more she heard, the more she decided that their new ‘Supreme Commander’ was the worst.

“Sharley, I need you to reconsider this decision. It is not good for the Monarch to put her desire—”

“I know, Chancellor,” Sharley said coldly. “But it is either this or someone much stronger than our Field Commander coming here to deal with this affront to efficiency. My decision is the only reason Miss Apolline didn’t decorate the room with your blood.”

The entire room recalled what Apolline had done to the garrison and gulped. They knew, very well, Sharley spoke the truth. No one here could halt the Angel of Red.

Back on track, Sharley laid down her ultimatum. “The decision has been made.” She turned to Roderic. “You are now removed from the chain of command, Roderic.”

“Princess,” Elric said. “Everyone knows you are unhappy with me, but this is not the time.”

“No,” Sharley disagreed. “This is the time because we need to eliminate all internal threats before dealing with the full brunt of the curse.”

Aroma tried to mediate.

“We still need the Alliance to block the pirates!” The Chancellor exclaimed in desperation.

These times it was Holmes who cut that hope short.

“No need to worry about them. The Supreme Commander and his main force have approximated their location from Espera. I estimate they would receive so much damage that it won’t be possible for the pirates to continue as a threat.”

“Professor Holmes,” Elric couldn’t help but growled. “Isn’t it a disgrace for the Luminary Academy’s Professor to meddle in student affairs.”

“Yes,” Holmes shrugged. “Thankfully, I am not meddling in the student’s affairs. I am here to minimize the damage by our new ‘Supreme Commander.’” Holmes looked at Elric with sincere eyes. “As your teacher, I need to advise you, Elric; everything has consequences and picking your opponent is half the battle.”

Elric refused to let up. His options were rapidly drying, but he stuck to his guns to the very end.

“No matter how mighty your Supreme Commander is, you still need the Alliance to curb the curse,” Roderic declared. “These are the connections built by gener—”

“I don’t want them,” Sharley said.

Roderic’s sentence dried in his mouth. Chancellor Aroma was stunned. The collective of mermaids attending this meeting knew their brain just went up in smoke.

“Again?” Aroma said with an expression resembling befuddled goldfish.

“Incompetent allies are worse than competent enemies,” Sharley repeated the sentence Ciel taught her. “Do you think I can trust any of them after they support all of your bad decision in court?”

The court knew Sharley was spot on, but they couldn’t just come out and admit it.

One Mermaid hasn’t given up yet, “But all those connections…”

“Yulong Empire agreed to cover the sales catalog.” Sharley said. “Now, Roderic, will you leave with our former allies? Or do you need to be removed from our territory?”

“I have no ability to remove them,” Elric said. “And I doubt you—”

“I am happy you informed me of that incapability!” Sharley smiled widely. “Uncle Holmes, get me the monitor.”

Holmes sighed and produced an orb-shape artifact. The device blinked, revealing the bird-eye-view of the ocean, specifically above the armada of ships. They were luxurious ships armed to the teeth with a defense system. Roderic himself could recognize this image from anywhere.

It was the main fleet of the Alliance to Restore the Clam Palace.

“Why are you showing me this?” Elric said. He knew the answer, but convinced himself it couldn’t be true.

“I am dispelling your doubt about my newest mentor's ability to get work done,” Sharley grinned ear-to-ear. “Hey, Roderic, some of your precious Guild-members are on that fleet, right?”

Elric Roderic’s face twisted in a ghastly realization. Sweat immediately flooded his spine. 

“I am going to tell those idiots to get out,” Sharley dreamily took a blocky talker Holmes handed to her. “They will, of course, ignore my demand, and I can punish them for insubordination.” She giggled. “Oh, don’t worry, one of our Commander’s best is already there to bring down the hammer.”

…

‘Hello, gentlemen of Alliance,’ Sharley’s voice echoed from the heavens. ‘Your leader, Elric Roderic, is relieved of his duty. As his accomplice, you are to leave the Clam Palace territory in this instant or face the consequence.’

The voice from the heavens stunned the fleet, but they quickly gathered their marble and entered the battle-station.

‘This is your second and final warning,’ Sharley said cheerfully. ‘Any who refuses to turn back will be treated as an enemy of the Clam Palace and removed accordingly.’

…

The female assassin absorbed the voice being magnified from the cloud.

She had only one thing to say.

“That must be Sharley. What is she trying to pull this time?”

“Don’t like it,” Answering her question was a friend in toga wearing a long sword sheath in an intricate scabbard. He was a man in his early twenties with a scar on his face and a relaxed atmosphere. Holding the philosophical air of a samurai philosopher, the man turned to the Captain of their ship. “Will you comply with her demand?”

The Captain snorted.

“Of course not. There is no way we are going to comply with a little girl.”

And with that, Sharley’s message completed its duty.

‘No one is moving?’ Sharley’s voice, still blaring from the drone in the air, couldn’t hide her glee. ‘Very well. You are now formally an invader. Take them out, Miss Hikari.’

Right at that very instant, swords rained from the sky at hypersonic speed. Water exploded in a colossal shower each time the blades landed.

A defensive artifact installed on the fleet flickered and broke apart like glass from the unforgiving velocity of flying blades. Several ships were cut in two, defying the very law of physics and swordsmanship itself.

Noticing a sword missile narrowing down at his ship, the samurai flashed forward. His sword drew, deflecting the hypersonic attack out of the air. An explosion of water erupted as the projectile went off its course.

The samurai felt the stinging numbness in his arm. That was the strongest blow he ever intercepted.

Behind him, the assassin felt the vibration of her communicator. She took, and it out and saw one text message from their Guildmaster that depicted how far south the situation had gone.

‘RUN!’

Out of the sky, a woman in black cladded in a wing of steel drifted into view. The sun ray reflected from her metal armor for long enough to blind the samurai’s eyes before she vanished. The angel of death transformed into a streak of shadow falling toward the intact ship and blasted right in a single direction.

In a blur that cut the length of the vessel in front of her in half, the Reaper honed in on the samurai. The black, feather-shaped, blade swung forth with Aura-reinforcement. To meet her, the samurai ignored the numbness in his arm and slashed forth.

Among the sinking and burning fleet, one warrior was tossed from his feet and into the cabin behind him.

“Yamamoto of the Sky-hunting Snake,” Hikari said. “Yeah, they are over-exaggerating, as I expect.”

Hikari’s ears perked up, and she maneuvered the wing of steel to block the assassin, launching the attack from behind her.

“You must be Shura,” Hikari smiled at the girl who put her body weight into failing to pierce her defense. Through a black-visor, the seasoned assassin scanned her newest challenger up and down. She was visibly happy with what she saw. “One assassin to another, you are built quite decently, but the fact you are picking a fight instead of escaping proves they didn’t teach how to cut a loss.”

Using her wings laced with Aura, Hikari sent the assassin tumbling back.

Shura rolled back into a ready position.

“Who are you?” The young girl asked the Reaper.

“No one is important,” Hikari’s answer was out of pity. “Now, as you senior, I would like to leave you with only a few love taps, but,” Hikari shook her head sadly, “the client is extra pissed at you.”

Hikari shrugged and pointed her blade at the girl.

“Sorry, kiddo, but you shouldn’t murder Sharley’s uncle,” Hikari declared. “I cannot kill you because a war with your school would take too much time and effort. However, I am explicitly asked to leave a scar. My condolences.”

And with that, Shura faced the battle for her life.