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249 – Crash! And then……

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Translator: SFBaka

Editor: Thor’s Stone

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“”……””

When I regained consciousness, I found the mechanic sisters peering at my face together. Um, what’s with this situation……? Ah.

“Are you guys okay?”

“As you can see Boss, we’re doin’ just fine. Instead of us, you might wanna worry about yourself first.”

“That’s good……”

When Tina heard my words, she gently patted her chest and sighed in relief. Whisker, on the other hand, had tears welling up in the corners of her eyes. Anyway, I tried to get up, but something didn’t feel right. I wondered what it was, but then, dark red fragments started falling down to the ground accompanied by some dizziness.

“Whoah, is this blood? Was I really in trouble this time around?”

“It’s bein’ hidden by your hair Boss, but it looks like you got injured in the head and it’s been bleedin’ a lot. We managed to remedy it with this thing though.”

After saying so, Tina showed me a gun-type painless syringe. This was the one included in the survival kit I brought with me huh.

“Um, so, what’s the situation now? What about Mimi and Elma?”

“Mimi-san and Elma-san have been going around to check the area. We stayed here to look after you, Big Brother.”

“I see. Sorry for worrying you, guys.”

I patted my head to get rid of the remaining hardened blood. Ugh. It felt gross. I got the urge to take a shower, but now’s not the time to get hung up on that.

“What about communications?”

“It’s bad. We really are out of range.”

“Yeah, I thought so. Alright then. Shall we activate the emergency signal beacon?”

“Um, about that……”

Whisker muttered hesitantly and eventually pointed toward where my backpack was, which was now badly battered. The contents of the survival kit were fine since they were stuffed inside a pretty durable case, but the same couldn’t be said for the food packs. A good number of them got popped open and their contents were scattered on the ground.

“Oh…… Well f*ck–”

“Whoah. Watch your words, Boss.”

“Sorry.”

As for the all-important emergency signal beacon, well, it’s been completely wrecked. Damage wasn’t just a few mere cracks. Its inner components were spilling out already. No matter how you slice it, the thing was hopelessly broken.

“Is it possible for us to activate it for only a short while?”

“The activation switch was wrecked beyond repair, so it’s impossible.”

“I see…”

Well, at least the survival kit was fine. We can just gather the food rations that were still alright to eat. Since they were aware that we got into an accident, a rescue team should be coming to get us soon.

Since most of the contents of our luggage were fine except for the emergency beacon, I guess it wasn’t the worst-case scenario.

“What about you guys? Did you get hurt? Are Mimi and Elma fine?”

“Yes, we’re both fine Big Brother. Mimi-san and Elma-san are alright too.”

“Our luggage is fine as well. Uh, most of them, anyway.”

“So I was the only one who got injured and had my luggage wrecked huh. How unlucky.”

I then picked up the survival kit box that was left beside me and took out the molecular composition device to check if it was in working order.

“So the contents of the survival kit are all fine huh. Man. Mr. Beacon sure was lacking in guts.”

“It’s not a problem of guts y’know. Well, it’s true that it turned out pretty useless though.”

“It’s pointless to bring something like it for emergencies if it would just end up breaking down during an emergency huh.”

“Let’s buy a tougher one next time.”

It was tiring to sit on bare ground, so I patted my legs and stood up. When I did so, I ended up staggering a bit. It looks like I really lost a fair bit of blood while I was passed out huh.

“Wait! You can’t just suddenly stand up like that, Boss……!”

“It’s okay. I felt a bit dizzy but I’m fine now. Where are my swords by the way?”

“Ah, they’re still inside the train car. It’s over there.”

Whisker pointed toward the passenger car which now turned into a tragic wreck. There were two cars that fell, and the one Whisker pointed to was the car we rode in. For some reason, our car was a lot more damaged than the other one.

“We seemed to have hit a tree when we crashed. After that, the branches of the tree we hit fell down and hit the train car.”

“Both cars were still attached together at first, but the couplings came off the moment we crashed on the ground. But because of that, the car Mimi-san and Elma-san were riding in ended up falling right on top of our car……”

“We’re both okay because we aren’t that tall anyway, but it looks like you hit your head on the car’s ceiling, Boss. You ended up faintin’ and bleedin’ lots so we were really panickin’ earlier.”

“I’m sorry.”

I don’t really think apologizing would make any difference, but it looks like I really made them worry a lot, so I did.

As I busied myself trying to pull my two swords from inside the wrecked train car, I heard the sound of parting grass from outside.

“Hiro-sama!”

“Hey there guys. I’m glad you’re both alright.”

“You have no room to be worrying about us, mister. Honestly.”

Mimi, who noticed I was up, quickly ran toward me, and Elma followed behind her with an exasperated expression on her face.

“As you can see, I’m fine thanks to the medical nanomachine unit. By the way, I just remembered something.”

“What?”

“My concerns ended up coming true. You guys better be ready once we get back.”

“Is this the time to be sayin’ that, Boss……?”

Tina’s lips curled into a bitter grin. Well, it’s not like I had any room to be complacent in this situation, but we have to stay positive at times like this after all. Even if the rescue beacon was now broken, our driver, Hiishi, and our guide, Lilium, should know the approximate location of the crash. If they calculate using our flight schedule, they should be able to find out our approximate position, and rescue would come soon afterward. And moreover, Mei won’t sit still once she learns that we got into an accident. We should be rescued after a day or two at most.

“Well, it’s no use being all distressed since we’ve already landed ourselves in this situation. The ground around here seems solid enough. Should we open the spot up a bit more?”

“Open it up?”

“The rescue team would probably search for us in the air. So we should cut down some of the surrounding trees so it would be easier for them to spot us. That’s why I pulled these swords out.”

While explaining, I strapped the scabbards of both swords onto my waist and drew out the longsword.

“Watch out for falling trees, okay. Also, can someone look up how to use this thing? A user manual should be stashed somewhere inside the survival kit box.”

“Alright.”

I handed the molecular composition device to Elma, who nodded to volunteer and immediately busied myself with cutting down the trees around the crash site. Their wooden trunks were no match for the blade of my sword that’s made out of a material that’s also used to produce combat starship armor. I made sure to watch out for falling trees and branches as I quickly cleared the site.

“Oh, right. Can someone chop off the branches of the fallen trees for me?”

“Chop off the branches?”

“Yep. Just like this.”

I stood beside one tree I cut down and chopped the branches off of the trunk with my longsword.

“What’s this for anyway?”

“We could turn the fallen trees into logs, but that’s not what I’m going for this time. What I need are the tree branches. Cut the branches into a reasonable length. About one meter should do. Collect and gather them in one spot for me please.”

After giving out instructions, I pulled out my short sword and handed it to Tina.

“Alrighty then. Let’s get to work.”

“Be careful with that. You’d get your foot chopped off if you don’t pay attention.”

“I know.”

Tina carefully received the sword and walked toward a tree I chopped down earlier. Well, Tina was accustomed to handling dangerous equipment because of her job as a ship engineer, so I suppose she’ll be fine.

Elma’s work seems to be proceeding smoothly as well. She was already operating the molecular composition device to break down and reconstruct fallen trees and the like.

“Whisker, Mimi, go and join Elma to learn how to operate the molecular composition device with her. I’m gonna keep alert for them, but it’s possible that some dangerous animals might approach this area, so I want you guys to accompany Elma and warn each other just in case there’s danger.”

“”Understood.””

The two nodded and quickly ran over to Elma. After seeing them off, I decided to continue with my work. Man. I didn’t expect logging to be this fun.

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After clearing out the area to a passable extent, I headed toward the three who were studying the molecular composition device and witnessed them crowding around a strange object. What the heck? I can’t even find words to describe it.

“Uh, is that some sort of avant-garde art piece or something?”

“……I tried to make a lookout platform but it didn’t turn out so well, okay.”

“A lookout platform……?”

This spiral-shaped wooden object constructed from triangular and square boards was actually a lookout platform? Uh, I can feel your effort, but how about you make the structure a bit simpler next time?

“Is it really that difficult to operate?”

“It has a bit of a knack to it. You’re gonna have it hard until you get used to this thing.”

While saying so, Elma pointed the molecular composition device toward the so-called lookout platform. The device emitted a bright blue light that enveloped the wooden object. Man. This device was actually a bit scary when seen working from up close. I mean, what if it got pointed toward a person?

“Don’t point that toward people, okay. It’s scary.”

“I won’t. In the first place, this thing’s equipped with a safety feature that doesn’t allow it to activate when pointed toward a living creature of a certain size.”

“That’s great, but still, be careful with that, okay? Oh, I just thought of something I wanna do with that thing.”

I explained what I wanted to do to Elma and had her operate the device.

“What’s the use of making holes on the ground?”

What I told her to do was to break down the grasses growing in one corner of the area I just cleared of trees. And then, I had her break down the ground in order to create three slightly deep holes. I’ve already cleared out the surrounding trees, so it should be fine as long as we’re careful.

“I’m gonna burn some raw wood.”

“Raw wood?”

“Freshly cut trees are called raw wood. They give off a heck of a lot of smoke when they’re burned.”

While saying so, I picked up some of the branches that were chopped by Tina earlier as well as some fallen branches that seemed to have been laying on the ground for quite some time, divided them evenly, and then spread them beside the holes.

“Um, those aren’t freshly cut, right?”

“These are already dried up. Unlike raw wood, these things burn up easily. I’ll burn these first to get the fire going and then throw in the raw wood next.”

I pulled out my laser gun, dropped the output to the lowest setting, and used it to ignite the firewood. Having a laser gun sure is convenient for igniting stuff, though it would vaporize things quickly if you fired at them under maximum output. Once the fire was sufficiently large enough, I picked up the branches chopped by Tina and yeeted them inside the holes! Exciting!

“Wow, it really is smokin’ a lot.”

“This is gonna end up a disaster if you did this inside a colony.”

“You’d get yourself put behind bars immediately……”

Smoke started rising up from the three bonfires I made just as planned. Or rather, the sparks are flying around like crazy huh. I guess making the holes deep was the right call. If we burned these up on level ground, we’d probably have a forest fire on our hands right now.

“This, my fair ladies, is humanity’s oldest wireless communication method – the smoke signal. By the way, where I’m from, three smoke signals going up at once means SOS, or a request for immediate rescue. I don’t know if it means the same on this planet though.”

“Uh, so isn’t creatin’ three kinda useless?”

“Even so, three stands out more than one, right?”

While saying so, I started hacking the fallen trees that were now devoid of branches apart with my sword as well. We’re gonna use these once the branches get depleted. It might be bad to burn trees in Grado clan territory or to cut them down without permission, but it’s their responsibility that the vehicle they provided us crashed anyway. If they complain, I’m gonna insist on that in order to evade responsibility. Yep.

Well, uh… It’s possible that I was the cause of the crash in the first place, but even so, making us ride a vehicle that would crash just by me riding it was definitely no good. It’s not my fault!

“I’ll continue to raise the signal like this, so you guys go ahead and proceed with making a shelter for us to spend the night.”

“Alright. I’ll do my best.”

“Sure. But remember, if you don’t produce any results, we’ll be sleeping outdoors. I’m really counting on you, okay?”

In my opinion, judging from the avant-garde lookout post she made earlier, I think it would be better to have someone else be in charge of making the shelter instead of Elma. Well, I guess I’ll just have to hope for the best. I believe in everyone’s effort. Yep.

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