Record #21: An Omen of His Return
Year 4667 of the Unified Imperial Calendar:
Fourth Month, Day 16. (2:14 PM)
◇ Astra's POV ◇
At last! My dream is finally fulfilled! Why? Because when in a fantasy world, you have got to go to a town right?! And that's exactly where I am! Though some things look a bit outside the medieval as it resembled something of the renaissance period, or whatever era that was, just imagine or look at the images of the setting in Saga of Tanya the Evil.
Yeah. Somewhere close to that.
In any case, I'm once again grateful at milady for picking me up as I am once again reminded how useless my knowledge from Earth will be. Thermodynamics? Is that tasty? Electromagnetism? Oh! An new idea from a 'fantasy' novel eh?
Yep. This place is not your average knowledge cheater's preferred location for isekai'ing.
Nell, who was walking beside me, saw my practically twinkling eyes, and spoke, "Y-You seem a bit too enthusiastic, Astra," she said with a wry smile, "is it really that fun?" she then asked.
I looked at her and fiercely nodded my head, "Of all your subjects, this is probably the best one," I said with a bright smile, "I never thought there was a subject for remembering local topography."
Nell shrugged, "Well, you are a Warslave after all," she said, "this is usually a subject in the Military Academy, but Lady Reyshia insisted I teach you."
"Military Academy? You're a student there?"
"Yes," she nodded, "Lady Reyshia and I are classmates."
"Huh?" I was confused, "then why do you keep calling milady as Lady?"
She giggled a bit, "It's my personal choice," she said with a smile, "after all, Lady Reyshia is very famous."
Oh? Milady was famous? Now that piqued my interest a bit. After all, I barely know anything about my saviour/master.
"She's famous?" I asked, "please tell me more."
She giggled again, and then made a small smile. As longing one that showed true admiration.
"Well," she chimed, "first of all she's very beautiful."
Yeah, I know. She's got the three sizes, and the face, as well as the attitude.
Nell continued, "And she's very athletic, which she ranks near the top,"
Oh? She's got lots of energy? Now that's an extra plus. Thumbs up.
"and she's also one of the smartest in the Academy,"
Oh! I know that too. She's one sharp girl. She knew I wasn't a normal person at glance. As expected of her discerning eye.
"and she's one of the best Ark pilots of the Academy." She said. Wrapping it all up.
But seriously, she was that talented? Maybe I was more lucky at meeting her more than I thought.
"But still," I suddenly mentioned, "it's been two days since she left. Is she alright?"
Nell had a complicated expression on her face as she answered back, "I'm not sure," she said. Worry was evident in her tone, "in the first place, she doesn't like staying away for too long."
"Yeah," I nodded, "and she hadn't flexed above the town either." "Ahem...I mean, practice." I then corrected.
Yeah. Nell's gaze was already getting scary, so I corrected myself.
In any case, I still needed to remember the layout of the town, so for now, we trek forward.
◇◇◇
After about three hours, we managed to go around the town, which was apparently named as Steel-Rose Valley. As its name suggests, this place used to be a small village in a valley where Steelrose used to grow, but a war had flattened the land, and it was named such to remember its origins.
The touching local patriotism aside, we were now on our way home the Tindalerose Mansion. And unlike the time when we were passing through the first time, it was a bit duller now. And it can't be helped. I mean, there are less people now, and my mind was still on the thought of exploring some more.
And if I were to describe the feeling, it would be like playing ab open world game with insanely good graphics and visuals. You want to roam around and explore some more, but the damn story won't let you go too far. You were in a restricted region.
That feels like shit.
In any case, it was getting a bit boring, so I stroked my collar, and felt a bit of jolt all over my body. I was about to issue orders to Quanta, but Nell saw my gesture.
She tilted her head a bit, "You really have a habit of stroking your collar when bored, huh?" she asked, but it was closer to a comment, "are you fond of it?"
"I love it." I told her. After all, not loving such a good device for connecting to Quanta was such a huge crime. I personally think so.
Nell made an awkward smile as she seemed to misunderstand something, "I-I see," she spoke wryly, "you really treasure your bond with Lady Reyshia, huh?"
I shrugged, "At the very least, she's a good master."
The talk then continued with a bunch of small talks, like 'that flower is pretty!', or like 'Wow! What a cute cat!' or something like that. Well, it wasn't really that long till we ended our conversations, and I finally connected to Quanta.
'Contact Unit 001 Beta.'
A few beeps, and we're connected. [Yes, master?]
'Do you know where milady went?'
[Though I have qualms on how you call her milady, and how much you stalk her like a creep, but I have no choice but to work anyway.] she casually insulted, [In any case, I'll begin tracking her immediately.]
She then went silent for a while, and then spoke, [Master,] her tone was a bit grave, [I found her. It seems she was abducted.]
I inadvertently paused in my steps.
"Astra? Anything wrong?" Nell asked beside me, as she saw my face. Worry was plastered in her expression so maybe my face was a bit strange now.
"Anything wrong?" she asked again, "your face is pale."
I see. So my face was pale.
However, I couldn't care a bit about my face right now. 'Hey! Isabelle, what exactly happened?!'
[Please wait for a while. I'm checking on it...]
◇◇◇ Third Person POV ◇◇◇
"Please wait for a while. I'm checking on it..." Isabelle conveyed as she didn't send the data immediately. With an expressionless face, she waited as she observed Astra's vital signals. His heartbeat, his mental state, his breathing, his body temperature...
She waited until the right time to say it. After all, the most scariest thing in the world was the unknown. And not knowing anything, was the source of true fear.
When his panic levels had reached the sufficient threshold, she added, "I got it. It seems she went into her contracted Ark Craftmaster named Ashier when she found out about the remote control for Valkyria. And as act of self preservation, Ashier took the desperate method of surviving rather than get captured immediately."
She then witnessed increased heart rate, and mental wavelengths resembling that of guilt from him. She smiled. It was good. Self-blame creates a sense of human responsibility, and if you combine it with the false security of being able to accomplish the responsibility, his next words would be...
[Isabelle...Can we save her?] he spoke in a serious tone. It was just projected from his thoughts, but that was why his tone was projected more clearly, as humans typically couldn't control their mind. Especially so for a normal human.
Isabelle's smile deepened. Her master had taken the bait, and it was now time to lead him.
"Yes," she reassured. However, nothing was certain, so to increase the incitement and sense of responsibility, she added the element of uncertainty, "however, there are uncertainties such as the unknown level of technology they posses. The rest would be up to you."
She was saying, 'We can't do this alone, so your power is necessary. Only you can make this succeed.' A typical line of thought that was perfect for inciting young men, especially of his age.
And as expected, Isabelle witnessed an increase in his body temperature, as well as his mental wavelength calm down a bit. She knew what this meant. Her 'Master' had once called it as, 'Human Resolve'.
It was a powerful thing that pushes humans beyond their limits, and a perfect tool to make them kill themselves.
However, as new as he was to this world, uncertainties were bound to be in her master's mind, so his next question would be...
[What are the advantages we have?]
And it was time to give the 'cheat' that all otherworlders wanted. Something too unfair of an advantage, and something that wasn't obvious to otherworlders. It was...
"Information, master. Though incomplete, Quanta will update the database once you get into a server room. Everything else would be uncertain until then."
In other words, 'Unless you gain access to the server room, your chances of failure will increase'. And as far as she knew, otherworlders hated failure. And her 'Master' loathed failure. That was why his path was set now.
Her master went silent for a while, and then acquiesced, [I understand,] he said, [tell me what to do.]
And the time drew nearer.