Chapter 16
Along the banks of the gray river as it flowed by.
As she walked along, what came into view was……
……A spaceship?
The girl was bewildered by the jarring sight, so utterly out of place.
-……Let me out.
……?
Just now, she was sure……
The spaceship had spoken to her.
Had she misheard……?
That suspicion vanished in an instant.
-Let me out……
"Ah! You startled me."
Ripples spread across the calm surface of the gray river.
……
……!
The spaceship was trembling.
-Me…… Get me out right now, too!
The spaceship split open in the literal sense, and a gigantic mouth sprouted from its cross-section.
That ravenous mouth possessed a grotesque will, much like Erysichthon's, powerful enough to move its entire body.
With sheer force of will, the mouth dragged the spaceship toward her, inch by inch.
Its massive movements sent waves rippling across the gray river.
"What is this……?"
Her body stiffened, unable to move.
Move! Move right now!
……
……But nothing happened.
The mouth soon drew close enough to reach her, then opened wide and swallowed her whole……
"Stop."
Bang.
The spaceship burst into tiny pieces.
It split into a swarm of tiny bugs, which cowered at the familiar voice and sank to the bottom of the gray river.
The mouth left behind flopped around like a fish stranded on land, then dried up and died.
"Rubedo."
"……Me?"
"Yes. You."
The girl realized.
"There won't be a second time. Don't ever do that again."
……
She was talking to herself.
"Take this with you. It'll help."
"……Okay."
When she picked up the dried-up mouth……
A strange sensation, like a hook catching her navel and tugging, came over her.
Light returned to her vision.
……Ah.
Rubedo woke up in a hospital bed.
"Mijeong……?"
In her hand was the corpse of a dried-up bug.
……
……
……
A high-level emergency in-person meeting was convened in the name of the Director of the Human Security Bureau.
Federal officials from across the universe answered her summons and gathered in the First Sindalot Multistar System.
Martian Senate: Senate President Constantine and 299 senators.
Human Security Bureau: Military Intelligence Director Liu, Information Analysis Director Tayushteua, and Technology Development Director Albert Antonov.
The military: Commander-in-Chief Karyan.
Rulers, presidents, and kings of the Federation's autonomous territories.
Others who, due to unavoidable circumstances, could not attend in person and joined by video……
Representatives of the cybernetic realm, an unidentified John Doe, and others.
The purpose of the meeting was to inform the entire Human Federation of the Nkhilakarn's terrorist attack on Bahati and their massacre of the Federal troops stationed there.
And……
"First, I sincerely thank everyone for coming despite your busy schedules."
Yamashita Luna stood at the podium and continued in a calm voice.
"Each of you is an important and busy figure in the Federation, so I'll get straight to the point. Two incidents prompted me to convene today's high-level emergency in-person meeting."
Someone stepped out from behind her.
A soldier with white hair and a beard, his left arm replaced by a prosthetic.
It was a face everyone in the room knew: Brigadier General Ramirez.
"Brigadier General Ramirez, please give us your report."
"Understood, Director."
Yamashita stepped aside, and Ramirez took the podium.
The senators looked at him with open disapproval.
The Martian Senate had agreed to reject the Earth Emperor's orders. So it was hardly likely to look favorably on Task Force 42, a special operations unit formed by the Bureau, which styled itself the Emperor's right hand.
Its commander, Ramirez, was especially unlikely to win their favor.
In truth, they should have directed their opposition at Director Yamashita.
But most of the senators lacked the nerve to do so.
"On March 5, 2353, Federation Standard Time, Task Force 42 was carrying out a mission on a colony planet near the Seventh Sindalot Multistar System under the Earth Emperor's orders. On our way from Fettuccine to Bahati, we were attacked."
Murmurs rose through the room.
The news sent a shock through those who had not known the Emperor had resumed his activities.
Most of them were leaders of the Federation's autonomous territories and people joining by video from the cybernetic realm.
The Emperor of the Earth Empire, who had led humanity into its golden age, had resumed his activities after 150 years.
Though the Emperor had driven humanity from Earth, there were still many who missed him and remained loyal to him.
"The mastermind was Jorge São Paulo, the former planetary marshal of Fettuccine, a traitor who supported Sigma, the chaos-faction, multi-species space pirates."
Because the Martian Senate had the authority to appoint marshals to colony planets, Jorge's will was effectively the will of the Martian Senate.
The eyes of everyone in the room turned toward the Senate President.
"After some difficulties, we made it safely to Bahati. We called in the Razangriff to replenish our supplies, but Bahati changed its story and refused to grant us landing clearance, despite the spaceport being empty. We exercised our operational authority and attempted a forced landing."
Footage recorded by a satellite camera appeared.
In the footage, the cruiser Razangriff was under attack by the Nkhilakarn.
A few people with a keen interest in piloting ships voiced their admiration at the evasive maneuvers that had avoided every single attack.
"The Razangriff was attacked by the Nkhilakarn above Bahati. The Nkhilakarn who attacked us was a Capitano-class warrior who, along with an Elder-class warrior, had long been colluding with Bahati's planetary marshal."
The suspicious looks directed at the Senate President grew more intense.
Sigma, in truth, wasn't all that dangerous.
Compared to stellar associations or planetary organizations, they were child's play.
It was a waste of manpower to go out of one's way to hunt them down or wipe them out.
But the Nkhilakarn were a different matter.
Humanity's longtime enemy, dating back to the days of the Earth Empire.
A treacherous species that had secretly stirred up trouble across the Federation ever since the ceasefire agreement.
Collaborators were executed the moment they were exposed.
"……Do you have any proof?"
The question came from the Senate.
In response, Ramirez called out the name of one of his subordinates.
"Sergeant Kang Chanwoo, bring it out."
"Yes, sir."
Kang Chanwoo pushed a huge monolith onto the stage from behind the podium.
"This is the Capitano-class Nkhilakarn we captured alive. For security reasons, we can't open the monolith, but I'll present the confession we obtained through interrogation by the Military Intelligence Bureau just before this meeting was called."
The satellite footage vanished, and a photograph appeared in its place.
The captured Nkhilakarn, its limbs severed, was in a terrible state.
Pierced, beaten, eviscerated, cut apart, and more.
The nauseating image that made people wince disappeared, and……
-We had, cough. Hah…… hah……. The leader of the polluted planet as an accomplice. Th-that…… incompetent, incapable man……
A recording began to play.
A polluted planet.
Naturally, it meant Bahati.
Of all the planets under Federal jurisdiction, autonomous territories, and colony planets in the universe, none had a more polluted environment than Bahati.
-……Though ignorant, its faith in the Mother was firm……
The Mother.
The Nkhilakarn's homeworld.
The World Tree.
"I killed two Compagno-class Nkhilakarn on the spot and captured the Capitano-class warrior alive. I also deployed to arrest the planetary marshals of Fettuccine and Bahati under the Bureau's orders."
Kang Chanwoo returned backstage, then dragged a person across the floor and brought him out.
It was Jorge São Paulo.
……Though his face was a little misshapen.
"We succeeded in arresting Fettuccine's planetary marshal, but unfortunately, Bahati's marshal passed away."
"Was that excessive force?"
"No."
Ramirez easily brushed aside the Senate's accusation and brought up new evidence.
"An Elder-class Nkhilakarn killed him to silence him."
The photograph in the evidence showed the gruesome corpse of an Nkhilakarn with no head or lower body.
"Sergeant Kang Chanwoo and I headed to Fettuccine. After a clash with the Federal troops stationed there, who had been deceived by Jorge, we arrested him. But as for Bahati……"
The next item displayed after the photograph was a list of names.
"Of the Federal troops stationed in Bahati and the five Task Force 42 members deployed there, including Second Lieutenant Yangyang, the entire Federal platoon and four Task Force 42 members—all except Second Lieutenant Yangyang—were killed on the spot by an Elder-class Nkhilakarn."
The list of the dead.
Silence fell over the room.
Feeling guilty toward the young Federal soldiers and subordinates who had died because of his bad decision, Ramirez struggled to continue.
"……In the end, we managed to kill the Elder-class warrior by some means, but the sole survivor, Second Lieutenant Yangyang, is now partially paralyzed. Furthermore, at the scene, Private Rubedo, the host of Mijeong and a person subject to strict monitoring and protection under the Earth Emperor's orders…… was found in a coma."
They killed an Elder-class warrior?
Was that even possible for a single unit?
More importantly, Mijeong?
Did I hear that right?
The bug that went extinct during the days of the Earth Empire?
The one said to be capable of rewriting reality……
The mention of Mijeong sent a greater shock through the room than the news of the Emperor's return.
That was only natural. Even in the days of the Earth Empire…… No, even back then, it couldn't change events that had already happened.
For the current Human Federation, whose technology had regressed since the days of the Earth Empire, Mijeong's power was something beyond the unknown, practically divine.
At least, that was assuming the Earth Empire's records were true.
However, Ramirez's account and the accompanying evidence were enough to convince everyone in the room that Mijeong's power was real.
The collapse of a city on Mars.
Quite a few people had died in the accident, but the reaction was indifferent.
After all, it hadn't happened to them.
The complete destruction of a Gladiator.
The leaders of the Federation's autonomous territories were somewhat surprised.
Since autonomous territories had no Federal garrisons stationed in them, many had deployed Gladiators in their place.
The transfer of a falling planetary shuttle.
Most could not hide their astonishment at seeing such a huge object transferred without passing through a jump gate.
Rubedo's gender was not disclosed.
It was a small consideration from Director Yamashita to protect her privacy.
……
"Thank you for your efforts, Brigadier General Ramirez."
"Not at all, Director. It was my duty."
Ramirez went backstage with Kang Chanwoo, dragging Jorge along with them.
Yamashita returned to the podium and resumed the meeting.
"Jorge São Paulo's collusion with Sigma, the chaos-faction space pirates; the Bahati planetary marshal's collusion with the Nkhilakarn; and the Nkhilakarn's terrorist attack on Bahati and massacre of the stationed troops. Those were the first incident."
The second incident was……
Among those who had no choice but to join by video……
She fixed her gaze on the unidentified participant bearing the identification code John Doe.
"The eternal glory of humanity, the Golden Age. I am honored to meet His Majesty, the Emperor of the Earth Empire."
The Director of the Human Security Bureau knelt.
……
……
……
Bang.
After leaving the meeting hall, Ramirez punched the wall.
"……Brigadier General, please don't blame yourself so much. It wasn't your fault."
……
"Surely it was only natural to think that Fettuccine, which hadn't surrendered to the end, was more dangerous than Bahati, where the situation had been brought under control. I would have made the same decision."
"No. It was my fault for not considering the possibility of an Elder-class appearing."
Kang Chanwoo watched Ramirez's expression and tried to comfort him.
"They were proud Federal soldiers who fought the enemy bravely. And I don't think they'd want to see you grieving."
"……No matter how you dress it up with pretty words, the dead don't come back to life."
"That's……"
"But you're right. They were born proud soldiers of the Federation, and they died proud soldiers of the Federation. I shouldn't let them see me grieve."
Ramirez shook off his sorrow and stood up again.
"And as their commander, I can't let others see me broken. Pretend you didn't see what just happened, Chanwoo."
"Yes, sir."
"……Losing comrades was nothing new."
Just as he always had.
He returned once more to being the strong pillar of Task Force 42.
"Chanwoo, take this filthy traitor and move him. I need to go see Yangyang and Rubedo."
"……Understood."
"It's a shame for the dead, but we still have the living to look after."
After parting ways with Kang Chanwoo, he stood in front of the hospital room where Yangyang and Rubedo were resting.
Knock, knock.
He knocked politely and opened the door.
"Aaaah."
"……Huh?"
Then his eyes met Rubedo's.
Wearing a patient's gown, she wasn't lying in bed in a coma as Ramirez remembered. Instead, she was standing on her own two feet, about to swallow a disgusting bug corpse.
Across from her, Yangyang was sleeping soundly inside a medical capsule.
"Uh…… Brigadier General? Hello?"
"……When did you wake up? No, more importantly, what are you…… trying to eat?"
"Oh, this?"
Rubedo blushed as if embarrassed, then dropped a bombshell.
"Probably Mijeong's corpse?"
Ramirez immediately snatched the bug corpse from her hand.