Chapter 5
"Phew, get a grip."
Seventh Sindalot Multistar System: Hospitality Point.
Unlike the First Sindalot Multistar System: Jump Point, where the only nearby bodies are gas planets and dwarf planets,
there are numerous Human Federation colony planets nearby.
Naturally, that means plenty of people pass through Hospitality Point.
Among them are employees dispatched by various companies and soldiers returning to their home planets.
And.
"The guests who are about to visit are more than capable of blowing my head off for no reason. I don't want to get on their bad side and end up with a hole in my head."
There are groups that visit with prior notice, like Task Force 42.
Usually, they're special operations units from the military or rulers of Federation autonomous territories.
In the Federation, the status of soldiers who contribute to peace in space is practically sky-high.
One online community user who insulted a soldier had their identity exposed in just half a day.
Behind that respect lay the military's terrifying record of massacring alien species hostile to humanity, but Task Force 42 was a little different.
Human butchers.
Dirty bastards.
Vultures and hyenas who even bite the central government.
Simply put, they were notorious among those in the know.
They were on a whole different level from riot suppression forces or strike teams, whose inhumane rumors often made the rounds.
"I really never get used to this, no matter how many times I see it. ……Ah, they're here."
The rendezvous gate opened, and three familiar faces and one unfamiliar one entered the hall.
"Thank you for making the long trip, Brigadier General Ramirez. It's been a while since I last saw—"
"Ugh."
"Feel like you're going to throw up? Probably land sickness."
"……I was fine on the Razangriff, but now that we're on the ground, ugh, urghhh."
"There, there. Big Sis will eat it all for you. Go ahead and throw up as much as you like."
"Ugh."
In that regard,
the utterly primal display of filth unfolding before his eyes
was a bit much even for Duncan, who'd spent years attending to all sorts of high-ranking guests at the Point and witnessing every kind of sordid business.
"Hahaha, Duncan! It's been a while."
"……Mm. Hmm……."
"Don't look at me like that. It's not like Yang's been doing crazy things for just a day or two."
"What is it, you old geezer?"
"All right, damn it, let's see you die today!"
Ignoring Ramirez and Yangyang trading cross-counter punches, Sergeant Kang Chanwoo took Rubedo by the hand and approached Duncan.
Duncan did his best not to look behind him as he greeted them.
"It's been a while, Sergeant. And who is this?"
"Our new member."
Rubedo bowed in greeting, and Duncan returned the gesture.
"I never would've guessed a cute young lady like this would become a member of Task Force 42. What on earth happened? Are you some kind of Federation Newtype?"
"Curious, are you?"
"……No. That was an unnecessary question."
Duncan led the way.
"Please follow me. I'll take you to Fantasy Tower."
…….
Rubedo suddenly felt something was off.
"But is it really okay for us to leave such a trail behind us? Saving me and following the Emperor's orders puts you directly at odds with the Martian Senate. And jumps through the Sindalot Multistar Systems leave official records…… The clash with the space pirates must have been recorded at Jump Point, too."
"You don't need to worry about that. With the Emperor resuming his activities, the Martian Senate—which wants to seize all power in the universe—surely wouldn't want the public to know. They must be controlling the information: about you, the resurrected Mijeong, us, and the Emperor."
"It would split the Federation."
Ramirez, who had joined them along the way, said.
"The old-timers who remember the Earth Empire's standing, the soldiers who respect the might of Earth warriors, the residents of colony planets unhappy with the Martian Senate's system, and people like us who hate the space elves. They'll have their hands full just trying to calm the unrest in those groups' own forums. And if ordinary people find out, too?"
Yangyang had caught up with them as well and chimed in.
"Either way, more people in this universe miss the Earth Empire than you'd think. As many as thirteen percent of the population are people who lived during the Earth Empire era."
"Then that's a relief. By the way, weren't you two fighting?"
Ramirez and Yangyang looked at each other, then burst out laughing.
"Fighting is a word you use for opponents on your own level."
"I can't exactly hit a washed-up old relic who's had his Combat OS removed for real, can I?"
…….
"Huh?"
"Huh?"
Once again, they traded cross-counter punches.
"You two are…… quite the flowers."
"May I ask what you mean by that, Miss Rubedo?"
"When you see a flower, you want to pluck it and take it home, but plants are rare in space. Especially ornamental flowers that are utterly useless. So plants are usually kept under strict protection."
Rubedo shook her head.
"I just…… wish I could pluck those two right off, but it's a shame I can't."
Kang Chanwoo silently agreed.
…….
…….
…….
Fantasy Tower.
The Sindalot Multistar Systems coordinate ultra-long-range jumps between one another, while Fantasy Tower coordinates short-range jumps from a Sindalot Multistar System to nearby planets.
Though they're called jumps, they don't actually pass through a jump gate.
Because of the stigma attached to the word "jump" and the exorbitant fees, ordinary people don't use Fantasy Towers.
No one wants to do something called a jump with their bare body.
At most, they'd jump rope?
So most people use the planetary shuttles stationed at the Sindalot Multistar Systems.
-Caretaker Duncan. Welcome.
"We've arrived."
Duncan stepped aside with a sigh of relief.
"Whoa, Fantasy Tower?"
"Don't act like a bumpkin from some frontier planet, rookie. You'll be using it a lot from now on."
"……Could you stop calling me rookie? It's childish."
Hwahahaha!
Rubedo shot the laughing Ramirez a sidelong glare.
"So where are we headed? Are we going to the Furnace to replace the Gladiators Mijeong destroyed?"
Factory planet.
Commonly known as the Furnace.
It had an official name, but nobody cared about it.
The factory planet's residents didn't particularly care, either. After all, most of the people living there weren't natives or immigrants, but laborers.
It wasn't exactly fit for human habitation, either.
The factory planet was the Human Federation's largest producer of machinery. Nearly every kind of machine was made there, from little household appliances and domestic androids to old-fashioned handguns for self-defense and the Federation military's latest weapons.
Shipbuilding, however, was carried out exclusively on Mars.
That was because spaceships had been a symbol of humanity's military might since the days of the Earth Empire.
"We'll stop by the Furnace, but before that……"
Ramirez grinned.
"We're going to a brothel on Planet Fettuccine."
Thwack.
"Ow……."
"Kicking my shin will only hurt your foot. Don't get worked up. Listen."
He continued speaking as he operated Fantasy Tower.
"People all pretend to be proper on the outside, but their inner desires don't disappear until they're satisfied. To satisfy the most intense—and, among them, the most wholesome—desires, all sorts of people gather at brothels. Especially soldiers and mercenaries, who build up stress while constantly facing death."
-Seventh Sindalot Multistar System. Signal confirmed. Fantasy Tower opening.
"Information gathers wherever shady people gather. Besides, Yangyang, Chanwoo, you heard this, too, didn't you?"
-Destination: Fettuccine. Uovo Brothel.
-Someone hired me. They said if I attacked Task Force 42's ship, the Razangriff, they'd help me…… wake her up!
After playing the recording of Epsilon's voice, Ramirez lifted Rubedo into his arms.
Startled, Rubedo struggled, but she couldn't break free of a Federation soldier's strength.
Yangyang and Kang Chanwoo pressed close beside them.
"At first, I thought the Martian Senate had hired Sigma. They were also the ones who put her…… Lambda into a coma, and the only people who knew about the Emperor's orders were the bigwigs in the Security Bureau and the military, and the Martian Senate. The Security Bureau and the military have no reason to attack us. The Security Bureau was the one that created Task Force 42, after all. But, as you know, Task Force 42 has plenty of enemies."
A glow enveloped them and began to disintegrate them from their toes up.
"The Martian Senate, the megacorporation Mudra, the Star Circle, the celestial-sphere organizations, and……"
Ramirez's final words never reached them, as his mouth disintegrated before he could finish,
but Rubedo could tell from the context what he had meant.
Space elves. Pointy-ears. Elves.
Neukilakarna.
…….
…….
…….
The strong perfume scent tickling her nose made Rubedo's face scrunch up on its own.
A mixture of heavy perfume, a faint aphrodisiac scent, and the smell of street food.
She wondered who would buy food sold at a street stall like this, but astonishingly, standing in line was…… Ramirez.
"……What are you doing over there?"
"Hm? You're not getting motion sick this time?"
"How would I get motion sick from being disassembled and reassembled?"
Though, I wasn't sure if I could still call myself me after being taken apart and put back together like that.
She swallowed the rest of her thought and tugged at Ramirez's waist.
"This is disgusting."
"You're supposed to eat this for the flavor. All the harmful stuff gets destroyed in your stomach."
"Good for you, Mr. Soldier. Must be nice to have such a sturdy stomach."
"So, how does it feel to be at the greatest brothel in the universe?"
"Do I have to say? Of course it's unpleasant. That jumbled perfume smell that makes my head spin, and that filthy aphrodisiac. Breathing it in makes my head feel all floaty……"
"Mijeong really is amazing. You've become a woman right down to your bones. That aphrodisiac, you see, is a potent substance that only works on women."
……?
"Be glad you haven't hit puberty yet. Otherwise……"
"There would've been a flood…… Are they allowed to pump something this potent out onto the street?"
"Ordinary women don't come to brothels in the first place. The handful of human prostitutes burn it to get their holes wet, and it seeps all the way out onto the street."
"Wait, a handful of human prostitutes? Then what about most of them? Who sells their bodies if they aren't human? Reptilians? Or do those damn elves sell themselves?"
"What do you think? Gynoids."
These damn robot perverts.
The dark depths of 24th-century humanity were more than enough to make her clutch her forehead.
……?
No.
Why is his face turning red?
……Sergeant Kang Chanwoo?
I thought you were the normal one.
She wanted to ask him that, but
the thought that she might open Pandora's box made her decide to keep quiet.
"Federation soldiers aren't allowed to have sex with civilians. Because of our body-enhancement surgeries, one wrong move could end with us killing our bed partner."
"No, no."
"Mercenaries who've undergone illegal modifications are the same. The side effects make them violent, so it's common for them to kill their bed partners the moment they feel the thrill of sexual conquest."
"Oh, please."
"That's why gynoids sell their bodies. Humans are animals that'll stick it anywhere there's a hole, but a gynoid you can pick and customize to your tastes, without worrying about killing your partner during sex?"
"I don't want to know, so please shut up."
"For the record, there are androids for female customers, too."
"Argh, I said shut up!"
Rubedo kicked Kang Chanwoo hard in the shin, and
her ankle snapped like a reed.