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512 – 「Is That Thing Trying to Pick a Fight With All the Existences In the Universe?」

 

Suddenly, in the vastness of space, a purple light appeared, and from it, numerous glowing spheres shot out. While I said they were  ‘spheres’, their shapes were inconsistent—some were closer to perfect spheres, others were more elliptical, and a few could hardly be called spheres at all. Overall, it would be probably more accurate to just call them spherical objects.

「What the hell are those things?」

「They’re a type of subspace creature called photon lifeforms. They attach themselves to any lifeform, organic or inorganic, within their detection range and suck out their life force, killing them. They’re usually categorized as space monsters.」

「What’s that? That’s some scary lifeform. Is that thing trying to pick a fight with all the existences in the universe?」

「Fortunately, they lack faster-than-light travel abilities, so a normal ship can easily escape. However, if they were to appear near a colony or a habitable planet where lifeforms live, they become incredibly dangerous.」

「Yeah, that does sound dangerous…」

「Crystal lifeforms are scary, but these photon lifeforms things aren’t much better…」

Listening to my conversation with Inaba, Elma and Mimi’s faces tightened. What exactly happens when your life force gets sucked out? Do you shrivel up instantly, like a dried-out mummy? That’s terrifying.

By the way, if you make contact with crystal lifeforms without any countermeasures, you’ll be assimilated. In other words, your body will crystallize and be absorbed—or, in the worst-case scenario, you’ll transform into a small crystal lifeform. Terrifying.

「Yes, that’s why our nation’s regulations dictate that we must deal with them as soon as they are discovered. If left unchecked, they could slowly make their way to a colony or a planetary settlement, potentially causing great harm.」

「I see… I’d heard that the Holy Vuelzarus Empire places a lot of emphasis on dealing with space monsters, but it seems you really take it seriously.」

「Yes, my Lord. It is our duty to deal with dangerous subspace creatures like these… It seems it’s about to begin.」

As Kugi spoke, the Holy Empire fleet, which had been keeping a safe distance while surrounding the photon lifeforms, began projecting some kind of luminous emblem on the front of their ships. I have no idea what the emblems mean, but I can feel an immense concentration of psionic power gathering at the front of the ships—even through the hull of the Black Lotus. What the hell is about to happen?

The moment I instinctively tensed up, a pure white beam of light shot out from the center of the projected emblems.
Oh no. That’s bad. That light is bad news. Whatever it hits, if it’s alive, it’s dead. That light is death itself. What the hell is the Holy Empire thinking? How could they have created a weapon like this!?

While I was still reeling in shock at the terrifying nature of the beam, the white light pierced through the photon lifeforms, wiping them out one by one. Mimi and the mechanic sisters were watching the scene with sparkling eyes, but I couldn’t share their enthusiasm. That light was far too terrifying.

「Are you alright?」

Noticing something was off with me, Elma gently placed her hand on my back and spoke with concern. She’s always quick to notice things like this.

「I feel like someone put an ice bar inside my spine. But I’m alright… Hey, Kugi, is that weapon based on the Second Spiritual Form?」

「I believe so… though I’m not too familiar with weaponry, so I can’t say for certain.」

After replying like this, Kugi glanced at Inaba, who nodded and started to explain.

「As you suspected, it’s a weapon based on the Second Spiritual Form, called ‘Soul Crusher.’ It’s a weapon designed to kill any living being, no matter what it is. It has no physical destructive power, but if it’s alive, it will die.」

「That’s pretty brutal… So, you’re regularly fighting enemies that require a weapon like that, huh?」

Thinking about it, I’m not entirely sure if our usual weapons, like those on the Krishna, the Antlion, or the Black Lotus, can take down those photon lifeforms… Surely at least the anti-ship reactive torpedoes should work, right? I hope they do…

While I pondered this and kept watching the battle, the Holy Empire fleet won with little effort. That light of death seems to have the same ‘projectile’ speed as a laser cannon. If we ever have to face that thing, I wouldn’t even know what to do… Should I destroy the cannon that shoots it before it’s shot? Get in close? Or just run for it? Running might be the most realistic option, but can we even escape from a ship equipped with a psionic jump drive?

「Elma, let’s make sure we never go up against the Holy Empire, okay?」

「I’ve always intended to avoid that, but I completely agree with you now.」

「We also want to avoid making enemies of the ‘visitors’.」

「Um, my Lord, Elma-san… you don’t have to be so wary, there’s no way we would ever become your enemy.」

I was dead serious. Elma was dead serious. Inaba, too, had a serious expression. Only Kugi had a wry smile on her face. Luckily, it seems it’s true that the Holy Vuelzarus Empire is reluctant to harm ‘visitors’  like me. If that weren’t the case, I’d probably be scrambling to come up with some excuse to turn back to the Grakkan Empire by now.

☆★☆

After confirming that no further threats appeared, the Holy Empire fleet resumed its course toward our destination. The journey continued without incident until we finally reached the main star system of the Holy Vuelzarus Empire… or so we thought.

「What is this…?」

「Wow…」

「Unbelievable…」

We were all left speechless by the sight projected on the holo-display. I mean, this scene is absolutely incredible. There was a ring of planets, all at nearly the same distance from the system’s star. These planets, scattered throughout the habitable zone—the region where a star’s energy is just right to support life—ranged in size from massive to small.

「How do so many planets not end up crashin’ into each other…?」

「Aren’t there issues with gravitational interference between them?」

「As far as I know, nothing like that has ever happened.」

Kugi said with a smile, trying to reassure the worried mechanic sisters.

Well, judging by what we can see from here, none of the planets look like they are in danger of colliding nor there are any shattered planets around, so it seems fine. Still, there is no way this star system has formed naturally.

「Did they relocate the planets into the habitable zone and terraform them afterward? That’s some brute force approach if I’ve ever seen one… I can’t even begin to imagine the amount of effort that went into this.」

「I can’t help but think it’d be impossible to calculate the gravitational forces between the star and that many planets to create a balance this precise…」

「I lack data to make a proper judgment.」

The intellectuals in our group seemed more concerned than awed. Mei was probably already trying to calculate the mass and velocity of the star and planets. I have the feeling those calculations would only lead to some absurd conclusion, so she’d be better off not trying.

「Which one’s our destination…?」

「Umm…」

Inaba averted her gaze in response to my question. With so many planets, it seemed she couldn’t pinpoint which one exactly was our destination. All of the planets looked like habitable ones, with visible bodies of water. Even though we had a full view, we were still likely hundreds of thousands of kilometers away—if not more. Expecting her to spot it with the naked eye was asking a bit much.

「Master, initiating the FTL drive for synchronized travel.」

「Got it.」

On the large holo-display showing the outside of the ship, a countdown for the FTL drive activation began. Soon enough, the countdown reached zero, and the distant starlight turned from points into streaks as we transitioned to faster-than-light speed.

「Now that I think about it, I guess we can’t just tell them to leave us alone to do some sightseeing by ourselves once we arrive on the planet, huh? They have pulled all stops to welcome us, and they’ve even sent us an escort fleet, after all.」

Almost everyone in the room gave me a look that said, ‘Obviously, what is this guy thinking?’. Hey, I figured as much, which is why I said it aloud to confirm… You don’t have to give me that exasperated look…

「Uh, as far as I know, after landing at the spaceport of the capital planet, Izumo, there will be a small ceremony at the spaceport, and afterward, we’ll perform the Exorcism Ritual at the Great Shrine.」

「The Great Shrine? Exorcism Ritual?」

「The Great Shrine is the central facility where various rituals and ceremonies are performed in our nation, my Lord. The Exorcism Ritual is a purification ceremony to cleanse any impurities you may have accumulated.」

「Impurities, huh? Well, I’m probably full of those…」

According to Imperial law, Mimi and I are officially married, but I don’t have any legally recognized relationship with the rest of my crew. So, if you consider that, my relationship with the other girls could be seen as impure. And beyond that, I’ve killed a ton of space pirates and whatnot. I’ve done plenty of killing. I didn’t steal anything though… well, maybe looting pirates counts as stealing? But it’s legal, right?

「Do we have to do anything about our lodgings or docking procedures?」

「Not at all, my Lord. We will handle all of that for you, so you needn’t worry.」

「Good, that’s a relief. Since I’m being hosted, I’ll do whatever I can to help in return.」

After all, this visit to the Holy Vuelzarus Empire is something I had requested, and it is only happening thanks to their goodwill. Complaining about minor inconveniences, demanding freedom of movement, or insisting on special treatment would be too selfish.

「It’s so like you to worry about where to sleep and dock first, Boss.」

「Yeah, that does sound like him.」

Oh, shut up.