“Umm….”
Pedro examined the agents of Babil 07 one by one.
Well, first of all, I had become Lindera, and I had to do what Lindera was supposed to do.
It was quite sudden, but it wasn’t overwhelmingly difficult.
“Easy.”
I had successfully completed the tutorial that day, and after showing the Commander to his room, I could finally rest.
Of course, I had to look over the profiles of the agents during my break, but at least it was better than being glued to the Commander all day.
“I mean, missions will come down occasionally… For now, I just have to introduce the Commander and the agents, talk about the development of the zone and such.”
Like in a typical cute girl gacha game, the priority was to gather characters little by little at the start and upgrade the buildings.
Of course, in Catharsis, it wasn’t about buildings… but upgrading ships.
“Anyway, I’m not on the front lines, I’m more like office staff.”
I wasn’t too worried.
The only thing I had to do was advise the Commander when he made strange decisions and provide information.
Plus, I just had to bring him coffee.
That was really about it.
The only thing Lindera could do, not being an agent, was precisely that.
“By the way… I have to live as a woman from now on…”
Being possessed by Catharsis was one thing, but the biggest issue was having to live as a woman.
I understood that female characters made up 90% of the game, but still… I couldn’t wrap my head around it.
It would have been better to be reborn as a male homeless person…
“…But still, being Lindera is better.”
The world didn’t seem bright and hopeful at all.
In fact, it might be safer to be the Vice Commander character.
She’s an ordinary human female character, but it’s definitely better to live in a safe place.
At least living on a ship is better than living on the streets.
Plus, the bed is nice and fluffy.
“Who would have thought… I’d be wearing women’s underwear in my life…”
I glanced at the bra draped haphazardly over a chair.
At first, I didn’t even know how to unhook it, but somehow I managed to take it off.
The problem was that even though I took it off, I’d have to wear it again tomorrow.
Seriously… I already felt a hint of despair coming on.
Wearing women’s panties felt… even weirder.
It certainly felt strange not having the annoying object that should be between my legs and instead being smooth…
“Shit.”
I really felt the reality hitting me hard.
*
“Hey! Midori!”
“Yes?”
“You hacked my computer in my room, didn’t you?!”
“Nyaa.”
“Because of that, I couldn’t check the bulletin board yesterday!!!!”
“Nyaaah!!! Don’t hit my head?!”
The inside of the ship was a constant noise from early morning.
We hadn’t even started our mission or flown yet, but seeing how noisy it already was… it was clear it would get even louder ahead.
I got up early, washed up in my room, put on that damn underwear, changed into the suit set that Lindera usually wore, and stepped outside.
Oh, of course, I also tied my hair to the side, just like Lindera does.
“Ha….”
Day two in Catharsis.
Having completed the tutorial rather smoothly, today would mark the opening of the story’s first chapter… or so it felt.
The reason I left my room now was just to grab breakfast.
It seemed better to eat proper food rather than handle it in my room.
Of course, the food was still prepared by the agents.
“Ah, Ms. Lindera. Good morning!”
“Good morning.”
“Today’s breakfast menu is egg fried rice. Enjoy!”
“Thank you as always.”
Looking at the fried rice served on my tray… I was honestly surprised.
Of course, I tried to respond with a neutral expression while playing Lindera.
The reason was simple.
It just looked more delicious than I anticipated.
“……”
If I hadn’t been Lindera, I might have reacted a bit differently.
The aroma coming from the egg fried rice was incredibly pleasant.
In the game, things passed by as mere text, but now the story changed quite a bit.
What was just food meant to increase a character’s stamina became real food for me.
And it looked incredibly delicious.
“…Ah.”
Just as I was about to take my first bite with my spoon, something suddenly popped into my head.
“Did I come here without waking the Commander…?!”
*
“…Phew.”
Had I realized it quickly, or was it just because I went out for breakfast early?
Time hadn’t really passed that much.
Just… about 15 minutes past his usual wake-up time…?
“Hrm!”
I cleared my throat in front of the Commander’s room and prepared to enter.
He was undoubtedly still asleep, so I had to open the door myself.
I placed my ID card, kept in my pants pocket, against the door lock and waited for it to open.
As I expected, the room was completely dark.
On the bed lay something resembling a sleeping person.
-BEEP!
I pressed the switch next to the door to turn on all the lights, just like in a motel.
Of course, the sudden brightness didn’t wake him up, so I had to take off my shoes and step further inside.
Seriously… I didn’t even know what I was doing trying to eat breakfast.
“Commander.”
“……”
He lay there, sleeping like a corpse.
I could hear soft breathing, and his chest appeared to rise and fall, so he wasn’t dead.
The Commander remained blissfully unresponsive to my calls, continuing his deep slumber.
“Ha…. Commander.”
Once again, I had to call out to him, this time a bit louder.
“……”
“Ha….”
Maybe because I kept making noises beside him, he started turning his body towards the wall.
This was turning into quite a hassle from day one.
If this was going to be the case, I might as well have just sat quietly and had my breakfast.
Since calling him out didn’t seem effective, I had no choice but to grab his shoulder and give him a gentle shake.
“Commander, it’s time to wake up.”
“….”
Finally, as I lightly shook his shoulder, he opened his eyes.
He looked at me with an annoyingly handsome face, which made me feel somewhat dirty inside.
“It’s breakfast time.”
“Ah….”
“I’ll wait outside until you’re ready.”
“Got it. I’ll be quick.”
He replied with an “Okay,” and I closed the door, waiting outside.
Well… his hair was a bit messy, and his clothes weren’t put on properly.
He probably needed to tidy up a bit before coming out.
Since I’m in a position to get closer to the agents, it would make sense to present myself properly.
Though most agents in Zone 07 are nice, they certainly don’t appreciate unkempt appearances.
“By the way… what am I supposed to do today…?”
I figured my immediate priority would be to inform the guy I just woke up of his tasks.
Commonly referred to as daily quests, although now they were just plain jobs.
It wouldn’t be me completing them anyway.
“And… maybe I should start introducing the agents or something?”
In fact, I wasn’t particularly close to the agents myself, but I was definitely looking forward to it.
After all, I was going to meet characters I had only interacted with in the game.
And they’d be cute and pretty female characters, unlike that dude I had just been talking to.
“……”
At that moment, realizing I had a big grin on my face, I tried to lower it back down and continued my thoughts.
*
“Hah… I have more things to handle today than I expected.”
“Compared to other Babils, I’d say it’s still on the lighter side.”
The Commander responded upon hearing what I said about the work I’d have to do for the day.
If the other agents had been around, they might have been a bit disappointed by this.
Though this was the office, so there weren’t any agents around yet.
“Commander, if the workload is heavy, you could delegate some tasks to several agents. Of course, it varies depending on each agent’s strengths.”
“I can’t do that just yet since I don’t know the agents well enough.”
“Did you not read the file I sent yesterday?”
I’d indeed sent him the file containing the agents’ profiles yesterday.
It was meant to be convenient for him as a Commander to review before meeting them.
He hadn’t read it.
“More importantly, Lindera.”
“Yes.”
“It seems there are still very few agents in this zone.”
“That’s correct.”
“I take it the previous agents all resigned as a group?”
“…Yes.”
In truth, the Babil 07 area starts with a low number of agents.
This means there were facilities that couldn’t be used because agents weren’t assigned to them.
The reason was simple: the previous Commander was utterly useless.
“The previous purification Commander of Zone 07 made quite the mess of the area.”
“……”
“Most of the agents left the zone, and currently, when the purification mission was issued, there were perhaps only the 1st Squad available.”
“I feel like I’ve heard a pointless story…”
Yeah, that’s what I thought too.
I couldn’t help but think that the initial state of Zone 07 was indeed a disaster.
Furthermore, given all the added workload on top of this state… it seemed to darken the Commander’s expression.
His face already looked slightly tired and wasn’t exactly great to begin with, so now it genuinely looked worse.
His appearance aside.
“Commander, no need to worry.”
“?”
“The agents who left the area can simply be filled in with new ones, and unlike the previous Commander, you’re recognized as a capable leader by the Boss.”
There was no actual need to say this, but depending on how sloppily he did his job, it meant I’d have to pick up the slack.
Given that I’d be stuck assisting him and he’d be sighing away, it was far better to motivate him with some positive words.
“Besides, Commander, I’ll always be there to support you, so there’s no reason to worry.”
“…Thank you. I get it.”
“Yes, well then… Let’s begin today’s workload. First, these documents…”
Honestly, I wanted to wrap up the work and head back to my room to relax faster.
Especially as I wanted to quickly take off the weird feeling of the bra.
Really… my waist was hurting, and my shoulders were sore, making it incredibly uncomfortable.
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