Later that evening—
The Eternal Snowfall hovered over the sea outside the capital.
Taihou, Richelieu, Yat Sen, Mio, and others had been summoned by Setsuna, accompanied by Tohru, who came along to spectate.
A few oath-bound shipgirls and Mio, Kurumi gathered on the bridge, curious about what Setsuna was up to.
"My dear husband, are you planning to challenge your physical limits today?"
"If it were just two or three of us, fine—but calling all of us? Are you planning to skip work tomorrow?"
Kurumi sat on a table, legs crossed, her gaze teasing and flirtatious.
Everyone here was family, so she was much more relaxed in private.
Aside from the Spirit of Origin, she got along reasonably well with the other shipgirls.
"..."
"Actually, I'd prefer if the Commander could spend time with me alone, just the two of us..."
Yat Sen removed her silk vest, glanced at the others, a faint blush crossing her face.
Of course she knew what Setsuna had in mind.
But as a reserved Dragon Empery shipgirl, she preferred quiet one-on-one moments.
"Taihou's fine with it! I don't care who else is here!"
"Serving the Commander is the duty of a Royal Maid, in any situation."
The others chimed in, each expressing their thoughts enthusiastically.
"Ahem!"
Richelieu cleared her throat awkwardly.
"There are a lot of people here—let's not get too carried away. We still have work tomorrow..."
"..."
"So, husband—are we all here to keep you company tonight?"
"There are a lot of girls here... and what's Tohru doing here too?"
Mio hopped over, hugging Setsuna's arm.
The soft warmth of the girl pressed against him.
"Mm... actually, I want to run an experiment."
Setsuna decided to get to the point and explained his new ability to the girls.
"I can distort my own time—and I can freely accelerate or decelerate it, up to 2500x."
"Since the Eternal Snowfall is part of my body, I want to test whether this time distortion affects the ship... and the people inside it."
Before throwing a party, Setsuna wanted to take care of business.
"Oh? So husband can control time now too? Then I must be useless to you now..."
Kurumi snuggled against his chest, sounding less ashamed and more coquettish.
The tone clearly said: you're so strong now, I'll just rely on you~
"You can still use your Fourth Bullet to restore others."
Setsuna pinched Kurumi's cheek.
Then he closed his eyes.
He focused on his connection with the Eternal Snowfall.
He enveloped the entire hull with mana, just as he did with his own body before, attempting to twist the rules of time across the entire ten-kilometer-long starship.
He could feel that due to the massive size—and the extra people aboard—the energy consumption was much higher than before.
Rumble—
The starship shook violently.
The group jumped in surprise.
They stood up and checked around, but nothing seemed out of place.
"Commander, is this the time distortion you mentioned? I don't feel anything?"
Nagato twitched her fox ears and tilted her head.
"Look outside."
Setsuna gestured toward the porthole.
The girls crowded around and peered down at the city below.
Hiss—
They all held their breath.
The brilliantly lit city below looked like it had been frozen in time. The night sky above was perfectly still.
"Hmm?"
Soon, Yat Sen noticed the distant Bulin fleet. They had originally been cruising at supersonic speeds, but now looked like they were inching through the air.
"This is the maximum multiplier of my self-time distortion. It consumes a lot of power on the Eternal Snowfall, so I can't maintain it for long."
"Besides combat, there's not much use for such extreme time manipulation."
Setsuna explained.
He gradually reduced the acceleration multiplier.
The city below began to move faster.
Until Setsuna locked it at 15x speed.
To the naked eye, the angels and Siren girls patrolling below took several seconds for each step.
Even their voices were stretched, strange and distorted—like a video in slow motion.
"Now, fifteen hours aboard the Eternal Snowfall is equivalent to one hour outside."
"We could spend five or six days here, and only one night would've passed out there."
"Whoa?!—"
The shipgirls and the two Spirits were stunned.
They glanced between Setsuna and Tohru.
"Amazing. Doesn't this mean the Commander can control the time flow of this entire area at will?"
"Technically, Setsuna's taking a shortcut. He only learned to manipulate his own time—true area-wide temporal control is much harder."
Tohru shrugged.
"But since the Eternal Snowfall is part of his body, he can alter time inside the ship."
The fusion of magic and tech from different worlds created wondrous reactions.
Everyone was amazed.
"Can we learn this too?"
Yat Sen asked.
"...You don't have Commander's compatibility with otherworldly power, so it's tough. But maybe, with enough years of training, you could manage 1x or 2x time manipulation?"
Tohru thought for a moment.
"..."
The shipgirls looked slightly disappointed.
As beings on the technology side, their strength increased rapidly with equipment upgrades and scientific advancement.
But unlike the Spirits, Heroic Spirits, or dragon girls, they couldn't do flashy magic tricks.
"So in that case, the Eternal Snowfall is basically a little independent world now, isn't it?"
Yat Sen sat back on the couch, sipped her tea, and smiled softly.
"Commander, if you're ever tired from work, you can come here to rest for a few days."
Setsuna nodded in agreement.
"Then doesn't that mean this place would be super efficient for work too? Perfect for overtime?"
Secretary ship Richelieu habitually pulled out a thick stack of documents and placed them on the table.
"One hour equals fifteen. We'll never have to worry about backlog again."
"We can accomplish days' worth of work in just one."
"Commander, come—let's take care of these reports."
"???"
Setsuna and Tohru were horrified.
"Richelieu, are you seriously the kind of person who uses time-stop powers just to work overtime?!"
"Even capitalists would award you an honorary medal!"
Taihou hugged Setsuna tightly, pouting:
"Go spend your life with your reports then. The Commander is mine."
"..."
Richelieu realized she'd made a dumb mistake out of habit.
Setsuna walked over and patted her shoulder.
"Leave paperwork and data analysis to the universal angels. They're AI-based, very smart. All we need to do is steer the big picture."
"We need to learn to liberate productivity."
"..."
Richelieu blushed furiously and quickly gathered up the mood-killing stack of reports.
"This way, I'll have plenty of time to spend with all of you from now on."
After confirming the success of his new ability, Setsuna was in a great mood.
He flopped back onto the sofa, left arm around Yat Sen, right arm hugging Mio, with Nagato nestled against his chest, and the shrine maiden girl laying like a fox across his lap—her large tail swaying lazily.
This was the skill every Commander truly needed!
After all, with hundreds of shipgirls in the port, plus heroines from other worlds, there weren't enough days in a year to rotate through them all!
Even working full-time year-round might not be enough—just like emperors in ancient times, some concubines never got to see the ruler more than a handful of times in their life.
Now that problem had been solved perfectly.
With time magic, he could spend quality time with each of his girls without affecting the outside world.
"Feels like the Eternal Snowfall is going to be our little personal base from now on, huh?"
"This way, everyone gets a turn to monopolize our husband..."
Mio leaned sweetly against Setsuna's shoulder, pouting as she spoke.
The shipgirls and Spirits around him were starting to develop a strange sense of camaraderie.
"What about me?!"
Tohru watched Setsuna cuddle with everyone, as the shipgirls and heroes dreamed of the future together.
She realized—she was just an outsider.
"It's so late already, kicking you out now would be a bit much..."
Setsuna glanced out the porthole at the night sky, stood up, and faced Tohru.
She was the one who had taught him time control magic—it would be cold to leave her behind.
And truthfully, he liked her quite a bit.
"Do you want to join them?"
"E-E-Eh?!"
Steam practically burst from Tohru's head, her face flushed bright red.
"C-C-Commander, what are you saying?!"
"I-I-I know what you're all about to do—why are you asking me to join too?!"
Tohru spiraled into a bashful panic.
She covered her face as her tail whipped around like crazy.
"I like you, Tohru."
Setsuna stepped forward and gently kissed her forehead.
He had real affection for this slightly clumsy but passionate dragon girl.
She'd always been training with the maid squad—adorable, energetic, and a little tsundere.
"E-Eh? But I'm a dragon..."
Tohru peeked through her fingers, looking up at him.
"So what? Shipgirls are warships. Mio and Kurumi are Spirits. And me? I'm not even fully human."
Setsuna chuckled and ruffled her hair.
"So we won't have any lifespan issues between us, right?"
"Mm... then..."
Her voice was so soft, it was almost a whisper.
"Tohru, weren't you always the first to sign up for Commander shifts? What's with the shyness now?"
Head Maid Belfast delivered a perfectly timed assist.
"..."
"Then... okay."
Tohru hesitated for a moment, then took a few small steps forward and leaned into Setsuna's arms. Her tail finally settled down.
Rising onto her toes, she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a kiss.
"Commander, from now on... please take care of me."
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