While Yuuya and the others were returning from the bottom of the hole, the third Dragonia force was closing in on Earth with their fleet in space.
In the control room of the flagship of the Third Force, a huge hologram was floating, showing the Earth.
(Commander! Traces of the missing troops confirmed! It seems they were visiting this planet after all!)
(I see…)
Upon hearing his subordinate's words, the commander ── Drade, nodded quietly.
He had come to the vicinity of Earth following the orders of Draco III, the ruler of the Dragonias.
(Any sign of that unit's ship?)
(Unfortunately, we were unable to observe any signals from their ship…)
(…As my Lord said, there is an existence on this planet that can stand up against us.)
Drade had a smile on his face as he muttered this.
The Dragonias had invaded many planets to achieve supremacy in the universe and were still wandering around the universe with a large fleet.
This was because the Dragonias did not have a home planet. Therefore, the giant spaceships were their home, and they were looking for a planet that could become their second home as they continued to invade other planets.
However, they were unable to find the ideal planet for them, and they continued to invade other planets and use them as colonies.
This time it would be the same again, Drade thought as he asked his subordinate.
(Yeah. I don't think it's likely, but you should check out the environment on Earth. In case it might be an ideal planet for us──)
(…T-this is!?)
(──What's wrong?)
Drade's eyebrows furrowed as his men suddenly raised their voices. Then one of his subordinates answered, his voice trembling.
(W-we have discovered… this planet… Earth, is the ideal planet for us!)
(…What?)
(Observations have shown that Earth is the planet with the ideal environment for us!)
(What do you mean? Explain it to me!)
(Y-yes! First of all, Earth's atmospheric composition, water quality, geology, temperature, etc., are all ideal for us! Furthermore, there are no foreign enemies in the surrounding galaxy, making it the perfect home for us! The only concern we have is the lifespan of the sun that sustains the Earth's activities…)
(We can handle that with our technology. But I never imagined that an ideal planet really existed…)
(Co-commander. And I have one more thing to report…)
(What is it?)
(Amel's electromagnetic waves have been detected at a certain point on Earth!)
(What? Do you mean to tell me that the Amelian is still on Earth?)
(Yes!)
(…What do you mean? My direct unit, which was supposed to have come to this planet to seek out the Amelian annihilation weapon, had disappeared, and the Amelian, who was the target, is still on Earth… Normally, they would have fled by now. If anything, I was planning to follow the traces of that Amelian in anticipation of that. But if they're in some kind of trouble and can't get off the planet──)
When he said that much, Drade smiled ferociously.
(──It's the best. Nothing could be better!)
His men also caught on to Drade's smile and smiled like a predator.
(Our prey, the Amelians, are on Earth without their annihilation weapon, and the Earth is our ideal planet… We have no choice but to invade! We will kill the natives, including the Amelians, and take both the planet and the Amelian annihilation weapon! It will be ours!)
(Ha!)
(First, we hunt the Amelians. Leave the people of Earth alone. We're not going to stop for those fools who don't even have the technology to cross the universe. Hey, do you know exactly where the Amelians are?)
(Yes, sir! The coordinates are fixed, sir!)
(Then isolate that point in subspace from Earth first. The Amelians won't go down without a fight. That's why I don't want the ideal planet to be destroyed in a battle between the Amelians and us. After we have the weapons to destroy the Amelians, we will slowly invade Earth. Do you understand?)
(Ha!)
At the sound of his subordinate's voice, Drade nodded in satisfaction, raised his voice, and gave an order.
(Move! The target is Earth. Now, let's plant the flag of our Dragonia on Earth!
Drade, thinking only of conquest, had completely forgotten the advice he had received from Draco III before setting out.
If there is even the slightest possibility that an entity can compete with the Dragonias, do not let your guard down.
──This was how the third unit, led by Drade, approached the Earth.
＊＊＊
"Um, is it going to be fixed?"
(Yeah. Everything's fine.)
We returned from Argena-san's place. After having lunch, Merl-san immediately started to refuel the spaceship with the obtained energy source. However, there was no place to work on the Earth, so we decided to bring the spaceship to the other world and work on the cleared land in the Great Devil's Nest.
As soon as Ouma-san returned home and ate lunch, he fell asleep. I wonder why he is so interested in Earth's culture but not in Merl-san's advanced technology? I don't really understand.
On the other hand, Night and the others seemed to be as curious about Merl-san's spaceship as I was and watched her work with great interest.
What impressed me was the special technology that housed the spaceship and the nanomachines.
Just by operating the terminal on Merl-san's arm, the spaceship instantly changed its size to the size of the palm of her hand, and when she operated it again, it returned to its original size. I really don't know what the logic behind this is.
Also, the nanomachines that were used while I was unconscious were quickly adjusting the ship. It's called a nanomachine, so it's invisible to the naked eye, and from the side, it looks like it's just going through the motions.
Unlike me, this was the second time Yuti had seen it, and she was amazed at the sight.
"Surprise. Merl, it's amazing. Is this technology from beyond the sky, from outer space?"
"I guess so. I wonder if this kind of technology is commonplace… Space is a big place, after all."
The Earth is working hard to send rockets and satellites into space, but we don't yet have the technology to travel freely in space.
On the other hand, Merl-san and the Dragonias could travel freely in space… If you think about it normally, there was such a big difference in technology, and the Earth would be easily invaded.
Then, Merl-san, who had just been able to load the energy crystals she had brought back into the ship, took a breath.
(Phew… I managed to finish it.)
"Thank you for your hard work!"
(…No, it's me who should thank you. I'd like to thank you for all your help. If it weren't for your help, I would never have been able to leave Earth.)
"We're glad we could be of some help. So, is that… spaceship going to work?"
(Yes. It's still in the trial run stage, but it looks like it's ready to go. So, now that my ship is fixed, I've been using the functions that I couldn't use while it was broken to measure which is closer to Amel, this planet, or Earth… It seems that Earth is closer, so I'd like to go back to Earth. Is that okay?)
"That's fine, of course… But if you launch a regular spaceship on Earth, there will be chaos, won't there?"
(That's not a problem. I can control the memories and records of all the people on Earth with this terminal.)
Oh, I forgot she could do that too… Space technology is really outrageous…
If I ask any more questions, I'm sure other scary stories will pop up, so I'll leave it at that.
So in order to fly the spaceship, we went back to the Earth house and went outside.
But──.
"Eh?"
──What I saw, instead of the scenery of Earth, was an eerie empty space.