The day of my departure finally arrived, and I was a little bit excited.
Still…
"Adam, don't forget this, and this and this… Also, be careful of scammers, big mosquitoes, and…"
"I got it, Mom, I will be careful, so don't worry too much."
…My mother prepared a lot of things for me, things that she said would be necessary, but I didn't even know where I would put all of them.
As for my father…
"I will look forward to the results of your training, son."
…He was more interested in the fact that I was going with Liu. He didn't say it out loud, but the side glances at Liu who was standing next to me, as he said these words, betrayed his poker face.
"Yeah, I won't disappoint you, father…"
I didn't want to comment about it though. I knew what he was thinking, and I knew that he was wrong, but I left him to his fantasy.
It was not my problem if he got disappointed later. 'You will not get a grandchild so soon, father. Keep dreaming.'
After we finished our goodbyes, a vehicle was waiting for us at the main gate.
No matter how many times I saw these floating vehicles, I was always amazed.
They used a different type of mana stone called Gravitrum as a source of power for these vehicles, which also gave them the ability to float. This kind of mana stone was also used for spaceships.
'If mana some existed on Earth, then I guess flying cars like those wouldn't only exist in movies… Well, these remind me of S*ar w*rs, so I guess the imagination was always there.'
After that, I boarded the vehicle along with Liu, Cristal, and Verte.
These two were still expressionless as ever, and there was this weird atmosphere between them.
To be honest, I knew that Liu was wary of Cristal, and Cristal too was on her guard around Liu.
Mostly because, It was a hassle to come up with a background story for Cristal, and we could only manage to come up with something half-convincing.
No one knew Cristal, and this fact was very suspicious, so I said that I recruited her myself.
Things settled down a bit after that, and Cristal was given a room inside the castle, but my parents were still curious about her, so I avoided the topic most of the time.
Regardless, Cristal didn't attract unnecessary attention when she was in her humanoid form, so I believed that it was for the better to introduce her in this form.
After all, I still didn't know how exactly the Empire viewed highly advanced AI.
*****
Before long, we finally arrived at the airfield.
I had been to this place a couple of times, but it was extremely different from a normal airport, so I was always excited to see all of the spaceships lined up in this vast area.
'Cool! I want one.'
I was always thinking about owning one of these since the first time I saw one, and I would use it as a kind of personal base.
After all, what was the point of reincarnating in a world where spaceships existed if I didn't possess one?
Going from that principle, I set my eyes on a particular spaceship.
It was more like a luxurious cruiser that could fly, rather than a spaceship. Well, I could see that it was equipped with more than fifty or so canons, so I deduced that it was probably a more battle-oriented spaceship.
'The design is cool...'
However, as soon as I saw the Empire's crest, and an unfamiliar crest next to it, I immediately realized that this was Liu's ship.
As soon as we came in front of this ship, someone came out, a red-haired woman, and a blond-haired man.
They approached us, so I understood that they were acquainted with Liu.
"Welcome back, Miss Liu." The red-haired woman said.
"Mm." Liu nodded briefly. She was quieter than usual on that day.
Then, the red-haired woman looked at me and Cristal.
"You are Adam, I presume."
Her tone was completely different from the one she adopted while greeting Liu.
I felt like they didn't take me seriously.
"Yep."
I didn't intend to get along with them too, so I guess the feeling was mutual. As long as I suspected them, I would never let my guard or get friendly.
This was a test, so I tried to provoke them as much as possible and gauge their reactions. If they got provoked by this much, then they were never that much of a threat in the first place, or so I thought. From the moment I saw these two people, I always put on a poker face.
The woman frowned when she heard my answer.
I didn't say anything and just ignored her.
Liu walked inside the ship and I followed her, without paying attention to the two new characters.
However, when I was about to take a step inside the spaceship, a voice interrupted me.
"Hey kid, you look full of yourself, but do you have the qualifications to board this ship?"
The blond-haired man, who was quiet until then, talked in a very theatrical manner. It was clear that he was acting, and he was very bad at it.
After hearing him, I glanced at Liu, but she looked away, avoiding my eyes.
'Liu… I never expected that you are so bad at lying.' I was a little bit suspicious when she asked me to come with her out of nowhere, but at that moment, I understood that she was just bad at lying.
"What do you mean?" I asked, out of curiosity.
After hearing my question, the blond-haired man puffed his chest and continued his cheap act. "I challenge you in a very serious duel. If I approve you, then you can travel with us."
Okay, I was just guessing, but maybe that was not an act, and this guy was just stupid.
'Does he takes me for a fifteen years old kid or what?'
I ignored the guy and continue to walk forward.
"Hey, didn't you hear what I said?!"
I only turned my head slightly and looked back at the noisy guy. "Don't get me wrong, I am not here to play with you."
I saw that he wanted to approach me, but I activated my power and neutralized his movement.
'So he is a gift holder,' I deduced.
This time, no one else was affected, since I could now control my power, and I only targeted this blonde man.
It consumed fewer primordial particles, but the result was the same.
My power was invisible, so no one could see what happened, and even the target themselves would be confused.
It felt like I was manipulating an invisible glue at will. The blond-haired just looked like he was frozen in place.
As for me, I walked toward Liu.
From the blond-haired man's actions, I was ninety percent sure about what Liu wanted from me.
It was weird that she would come to this planet and get interested in me by pure coincidence.
So there must have been something that attracted her attention here, and when she came to this planet, I became her first suspect for a reason that I didn't know.
In that case, I could assume that she wanted to test me, or more exactly to see my power at its full potential.
And if that was the case, then I needed to know…
"Miss Liu, are you my enemy?"
I looked at Liu straight in the eyes, without a hint of doubt in mind.
I was ready to immediately activate my power, pick up Verte, take down as many people as I could, and then use one of my trump cards to get out there.
There was a long pause before Liu answered. I could hear my heartbeats and I could feel my muscles tensing up.
No one else moved but I knew that they were waiting for Liu's reaction.
Verte looked at me with her big eyes, and I wanted to protect her at any cost. I didn't want her to witness something like this, but if she were to grow up in the Empire, and if Liu was not a good person, then she wouldn't have much choice but to become a bad person too.
I couldn't let that happen, not when I knew that Verte was a sweet child and was particularly fond of me.
Liu faced me with an unchanging expression and finally answered. "I am not."
For some reason, I was a little bit relieved after hearing Liu's reply. There was no way for me to confirm that she wasn't lying but if she was lying then I would probably notice something odd about the atmosphere surrounding her.
"I see. But I know that there's something that you want to know. So, I challenge you in a duel, a serious one."
Liu's eyes widened when she heard my words.
"However, one month, no, two weeks… Give me two weeks and you can test me yourself. But if I win, I want you to become my friend."
There was no need to avoid this because my relationship with Liu would never progress unless we somehow resolved this issue.
However, this was also a trap to find out if there was someone else involved with these dark forces among her crewmembers.
As long as Liu accepted, there should be no one who would bother me during these two weeks, and if someone did, then it must be because Liu lied or someone else was acting without her knowing.
In case she refused, then I would never accept to show power to her anymore. And If she couldn't stand that, and used other methods to force me, then I would also know her true motives.
And If nothing happened, then no one would know about my power and I would be able to train in peace for two weeks.
"I accept," Liu replied.
I smiled a little bit after hearing her reply.
"But Miss Liu, we can't stay here that long!" The red-haired woman rebuked.
"It's fine. It's part of the mission."
After that, Liu walked without turning back and went deeper inside the spaceship, and I followed her.