Ten minutes later.
The Thunder Eagle was moored by the shore. A squad of Marines broke off to clear away the warships damaged by lightning strikes, while gathering the bodies of their fallen "Marine comrades" for burial at sea.
The nun led the children as they stood sorrowfully on the shore, hands clasped over their chests, silently praying for the bodies being laid to rest at sea.
"Why not tell them the truth?"
Onigumo stood on the deck with a cigar clenched between his teeth, watching the scene with displeasure. He snorted.
"These animals... If the vice admiral hadn't noticed something was wrong and dealt with them on the way, all these little ones would have died at those bastards' hands. And now..."
They were actually being treated as heroes who had died accidentally while saving people, given a burial at sea, and seen off by the nun and the children?
That was a little too absurd, wasn't it?
"We still have to protect the Marines' image."
Momonga narrowed his eyes at the sun overhead.
"Besides, the oldest of these children are only around ten. Their fates have already been tragic enough. Why tear open the ugliest side of things and show it to them now?"
"Remember, sometimes the truth isn't important."
Momonga glanced at Onigumo and said quietly,
"If it lets these children continue believing, at least in their hearts, in light and justice, then I believe the vice admiral would approve of what I'm doing even if he were here."
That did seem to make sense...
Onigumo nodded unconsciously, but he still felt somewhat stifled. Gritting his teeth, he said bitterly,
"No, we can't just let this slide. We can lie to these children, but I'm definitely reporting what these bastards did to the higher-ups. We can't let