Crossover Shipgirls: Building a Dimensional Empire from Scratch

”Ehh—”

When Haruhi Suzumiya arrived in the Starsea Empire, she had originally thought that since she had come to a new world, she absolutely had to have some fun.

Instead, without another word, she was dragged into the Research Department and subjected to one-on-one lessons from all kinds of genius scientists.

”This is a Dyson Sphere, this is a Ring World, and this is an orbital habitat...”

”What don’t you understand? Should we start with antigravity technology? Or would you rather learn some dimensional technology first?”

”Aaaahhh—!”

Little Haruhi frantically scratched her head. The moment she saw Setsuna, she pounced on him as though she had found her savior.

”Big Brother Commander!!”

”Didn’t you say the Starsea Empire was really fun?! How come after I got here, I have to go to school and take extra lessons too?!”

She had only recently entered her first year of middle school, yet those little research geniuses had already arranged her schedule down to the last detail.

Her supplementary lessons had leapt straight to cutting-edge interstellar technology, putting her far ahead of anyone her age.

”What are you doing with Haruhi?”

Setsuna soothed little Haruhi.

”We learned from Herta’s earlier failure. She tried to have Haruhi Suzumiya create celestial-scale megastructures, but it didn’t work.”

Grey answered.

”Theoretically, since Haruhi can interfere with the structure of the universe, her power is absolutely sufficient to create Galactic Wonders out of thin air.”

”The only problem is that Haruhi doesn’t understand those megastructures well enough. The things she creates with her thoughts only resemble them in appearance and name. In reality, they’re drastically inferior knockoffs.”

”So we need Haruhi to properly understand this knowledge.”

”...”

Something similar had happened before when Haruhi tried to create the Starsea Empire inside a pocket universe, as well as when she attempted to conjure Trisolarans out of thin air.

The things she constructed through reality warping were the ”Starsea Empire” and ”Trisolarans” as understood by her subjective consciousness. She could not reproduce creations from other worlds with one hundred percent accuracy.

The discrepancies came from her personal imagination, so there would always be some degree of difference from the originals. She also could not directly create things whose scale was too great.

If she were simply creating a planet or a star system, a little inaccuracy would not matter much. Planetary structures were not especially precise to begin with.

But a Galactic Wonder was an extraordinarily complex and precise structure. If anything went wrong at any stage, the best-case scenario was that it would fail to operate. In the worst case, the entire structure could collapse.

”So that’s why you’re making Haruhi take extra lessons here?”

Setsuna did not know whether to laugh or cry.

He crouched down and patted little Haruhi.

”Your supernatural powers need long-term development and training before they can become more useful. Study hard here.”

”Mm... but the curriculum they gave you really is a little excessive. Go attend school normally first, then come over to study whenever you have free time.”

As he spoke, Setsuna pinched the little girl’s cheeks again to encourage her.

”If you behave well, I’ll take you with me the next time the Astral Express goes adventuring in another world.”

”Then... okay! You have to keep your word!!”

Haruhi childishly hooked pinkies with Setsuna.

”By the way, what happened to the device I asked you to research for stabilizing reality?”

Setsuna asked again.

”You mean the reality stabilization anchor? Researching that thing from scratch is a little difficult, while going to another world to salvage one is a bit too risky... so I came up with an easier solution.”

Grey spoke with a smug sway of her head.

”Don’t we already have the Synaptic Lathe and Horizon Needle? Those things can modify the laws of the universe. For example, they can change the speed of light in a vacuum from three hundred thousand kilometers per second to thirty thousand or three million, or round pi off to three or four...”

”If we reverse that way of thinking, why not just adjust the parameters and use them to lock the laws of our own universe in place?”

”That way, we can use them to resist changes on the scale of the universe’s structure, prevent outside factors from interfering with our universe, and stop Haruhi from accidentally causing trouble without realizing it.”

”That works. We’ll use that for now.”

Setsuna nodded.

A Scranton Reality Anchor certainly sounded incredibly powerful and impressive, but that world was also absurdly troublesome to deal with. It was better to rely on their own methods for the time being.

”But I have another idea. Didn’t little Haruhi expand the pocket universe inside Eternal Snowfall into a full-sized universe? The usable space has increased countless times over, so now we can actually install a shipborne Synaptic Lathe and Aetherophasic Engine inside it.”

Grey’s imagination immediately ran wild again.

”In the future, Eternal Snowfall can grab troublesome natives from other worlds anytime and anywhere, throw them inside as wetware to burn, and freely alter universal laws so we can attack other universes with law-based weapons.”

”...”

Setsuna thought for a moment before immediately making the decision.

”Genius. As a reward, you get to be first in line at the next party.”

”Really?! Really?! Really?!”

The nanomachine girl’s eyes lit up as she patted her chest and guaranteed,

”Don’t worry. Whatever your tastes are, I can transform into them. I can turn into a shipgirl or a Spirit. I can change my figure from completely flat to baby-faced with enormous breasts!”

Bonk—

Setsuna knocked her on the head.

”I’ll say it again. Real names only! Parties operate under a real-name system!! Impersonating other people is strictly forbidden!!”

...

After making a general inspection of the Starsea Empire,

Setsuna returned to the administrative center of the capital.

”What a flourishing scene, with everything bursting vibrantly to life.”

He leaned back in his seat and yawned.

”Master really does work hard. You have to run around to several places every day and worry about matters both large and small.”

Whoosh—

A ghostlike little girl suddenly appeared beside him.

Murasame floated in midair, drifting back and forth behind him.

”Ha.”

Setsuna had almost forgotten that because he always carried Murasamemaru with him, the young blade maiden naturally followed him everywhere. She was essentially a sword spirit he carried on his person.

”So? How is the Starsea Empire different from what you imagined?”

He asked casually.

”It’s huge! Really, really huge! Hozumi can’t even compare to the territory of one squad here!”

Murasame answered.

”I used to think a major city like Tokyo was already enormous... but it still can’t compare to this place.”

”And Master works really hard too. Not only do you have to look after children, you also have to pay attention to things like technological development and territorial expansion. You’re even busier than a king.”

She had followed Setsuna around as he inspected the Empire’s territory. She had learned quite a lot, while also witnessing Setsuna handle and decide all manner of affairs.

The affairs of an interstellar empire were far more complicated than those of a civilization on Earth. Murasame had never even heard of most of them before.

”Practice makes perfect. With Sophon helping me, it really isn’t that difficult.”

Setsuna smiled.

He looked over his schedule. Most of the matters that had piled up while the Astral Express convoy was away had already been dealt with.

”Besides, you still haven’t encountered the most interesting part.”

”What?”

Little Murasame curiously leaned closer, only for Setsuna to sweep her straight into his arms.

”Ah—!”

”Now that all the work is done, isn’t it time to enjoy myself?!”

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