Operation: Retake the Commander
We may not have done any volunteer work, but we've taken another step toward becoming perfect maids.
Captain, you can't use that wish voucher for anything weird. Got it?
Got it.
You really, really can't, okay?
Okay.
If you absolutely insist on using it, you have to talk to me first. Understood?
I will.
That means you are planning to use it, doesn't it?!
You're going to make some perverted wish, aren't you?! You creep!
I never said that...
While I protested my innocence, a group of armed soldiers poured out from an alley and surrounded us.
Cease your indecent behavior!
We're the Commander Liberation Squad! Hand over the Commander and Deputy Commander peacefully!
The Commander Liberation Squad? What was that supposed to be?
Ceres and Lydia looked at each other in confusion, just as I did.
You've abandoned your posts. What are you thinking?
And what is this "Commander Liberation Squad" supposed to be?
Ah! Deputy Commander! We haven't abandoned our posts! We're responding to an incident!
We received a report!
What kind of report warranted this many of you leaving your posts?
We received word that terrorists dressed as maids were destroying the city.
...
...
Apparently struck by guilt, the two girls avoided the soldiers' eyes.
They've supposedly terrorized most of the West in just a few days.
Such boldness. Such speed.
We determined the culprit had to be a terrorist beyond the ability of ordinary soldiers to handle...
So we mobilized everyone available.
And when we arrived at the scene, there you were, Commander and Deputy Commander!
Hmm. There seems to have been a misunderstanding. There are no terrorists here.
Only harmless maids.
That's an even bigger problem!
Commander! Deputy Commander! You're being subjected to humiliation!
We'll rescue you both, no matter what! In the name of liberation!
Humiliation?
You wicked Captain! Give us our Commander back!
How dare you make our Commander wear a maid outfit!
Adjutant Besta saw the Commander and Deputy Commander being humiliated by some strange man in broad daylight...
The shock made her collapse after coughing up blood!
But her righteous fury has been passed on to us!
We will rescue our Commander!
Pretty sure it was a nosebleed.
Almost certainly. I told her to stay at the base.
But instead, she snuck out to spy on us? She's going to regret that.
If she witnessed this travesty, the Adjutant would shed tears of blood!
Knowing her, she's more likely to spray another fountain of blood from her nose.
I don't know what misunderstanding you've gotten yourselves into, but Lydia and I chose to do this volunteer work ourselves.
Then why didn't you tell us, Commander?!
If it's volunteer work, we can help too!
(Hmm. But dressing the entire unit in maid outfits would be...)
We simply didn't have the budget... There was no other choice.
You became maids because you needed money, Commander?!
Ceres! You're just making the misunderstanding worse!
Don't tell me you're in debt to that Captain, Commander!
A debt to the Captain?
Even if I spent my entire life serving him as his personal maid, like a slave, I could never repay it.
Ceres!!
A slaaaave?!
Even if I served him with this body day and night without sleep, it still wouldn't be enough—
Ceres!!!
Gh! What a terrifying man!
So the rumors were true! He uses money to enslave young women!
I've never done that!
Don't play innocent! We know everything!
They say that in NOA, you dragged a young woman into a secluded alley in broad daylight...
Then you trampled her into the ground while demanding your money back...
Before finally forcing her to kneel and beg for mercy! The ultimate humiliation!
...Luna brought that on herself.
Besides, Luna drops to her knees more easily than food falls onto the street.
A low-ranking Saintess of the Monolith Order once prophesied...
That the Captain of the Voyager Savior Party is a bad man!
Even after a girl gives him her body and soul, once he's gotten what he wants...
He immediately turns around and goes looking for another girl!
My, that one does sound somewhat believable.
It's not true!
Tell us! Did you use some kind of hypnosis on the Commander and the Deputy Commander?
If they're wearing collars of obedience or anything like that, take them off at once!!
Who told you these ridiculous rumors?!
Adjutant Besta!
Besta... Her again?
Very well. I'll explain everything.
First of all, nothing like what you're imagining happened.
The Commander and I chose to do this of our own—
That's impossible! Deputy Commander, you won't even bathe with other women!
And you're telling us someone as shy as you willingly put on something that indecent?!
...Th-that's completely different. This has circumstances behind it—
There's more! Deputy Commander Lydia actually loves spicy Western stew!
But she's too embarrassed about being seen sweating and panting while she eats it...
So she pretends to like mint chocolate instead! That's how girlish she is!
I'm not pretending! I actually like mint chocolate!
Even on the front lines, she refuses to wash her underwear with anyone else's!
I always thought that was a little excessive!
Lydia trembled, her face turning bright red as her private habits were suddenly exposed.
Sh-shut up! That's perfectly normal!
...You're surprisingly delicate.
Don't listen to them!
And you're saying our bashful Deputy Commander wasn't forced into that outfit?!
Then was everything we've seen from you until now just an act?!
Th-there are reasons for this...
When Lydia hesitated, the Liberators stared at her in shock.
Wait, so neither of you was threatened or brainwashed...
You both willingly chose to wear those outfits?
That's what we've been telling you this whole time.
No, I didn't become a maid because I wanted to!
Then we owe you an apology, Captain.
We misjudged a comrade who fought beside us on the front lines.
Somehow, it looked like the misunderstanding was finally being cleared up.
I had no idea the Deputy Commander's girlish side was all an act.
So this is what they call... pent-up frustration.
That's not it...
Oh, come on. You don't have to hide it from us. It must've been hard, right?
We're comrades! Comrades! We'll accept you no matter what.
Y-you're misunderstanding...
Misunderstanding? No, we understand.
Then the Liberators' gazes drifted toward Lydia's chest.
Still, flaunting such a... modest figure is a little...
It hardly seems fitting for the Deputy Commander we respect.
It's all right. Really. You can hold your head high.
Lydia's eyes widened.
...What?
Well, even if they're small, what matters is that you're not ashamed of them! Hahaha!
Exactly! They may look pitiful to others, but if she loves to show them off, who are we to judge?
With murder in her voice, Lydia opened Kuku.
Destroy them, Kuku.
Gyaaaah!! Deputy Commander, why?!
The squad leader is down!!
Formation! Form up! Stop the Deputy Commander!
You all seem to have plenty of time on your hands. How about a little sparring for old times' sake?
If you're in enough pain, you won't have time to be bored and pry in other people's business, will you?
Amid the chaos, Ceres drew her sword and began loosening up.
We should lend her a hand.
Doesn't look like Lydia needs any help.
If they're behaving this disgracefully, their discipline must have grown lax.
As their Commander, I have no choice but to correct them personally!
R-right.
I joined Ceres in what was already looking like Lydia's one-sided beating of the Liberators.