I learned a lot from Kugi about the Holy Vuelzarus Empire. From serious topics like its political system to lighter topics like what foods were popular, and what kinds of people — racially speaking — lived there.
「I see… Hey, would you tell me about your childhood, Kugi?」
I asked out of pure curiosity, with no real intent behind the question. However, Kugi's reaction was completely unexpected.
「Um… well… I can't really talk about my childhood…」
Kugi's fox ears flattened against her head, and she looked almost scared. What is this? Does she have some kind of trauma associated with her childhood memories? Whatever the case, it seems like a topic better left alone.
「Don't worry about it, I was just curious. Then, can you tell me about the life of a shrine maiden instead?」
「Yes, I can talk about that as much as you'd like.」
Kugi's expression softened with relief as she began explaining what life as a shrine maiden was like. As I listened to her, I couldn't stop thinking about her earlier reaction. What exactly was that all about? Since Mimi is particularly close to Kugi, maybe I'll ask her about it next time.
☆★☆
The journey to the Neeparc Star System was surprisingly peaceful. No pirate attacks, no civilian ships under siege. The reason, of course, was that the current Comatt Star System—ruled by Chris—had just finished terraforming its habitable planets and was in the early stages of large-scale development. It was what you'd call a special boom period due to frontier development.
So, why did this lead to safety in the route between the Comatt and Neeparc star systems? The answer is simple: the Imperial Space Force was rigorously patrolling to ensure the uninterrupted flow of development supplies and immigrants through the gateway into the Comatt System.
The route we took started from the Dexer System, passing through Comatt, Uerick, Zieger, Mellkit, and finally, the Neeparc System. Our course followed the same path as the supply lines.
Uerick and Zieger were territories governed by a viscount not affiliated with House Dareinwald, but it seems that the Imperial higher-ups were putting pressure on them to ensure safe passage so as not to interrupt the development boom. My condolences. On the bright side, those supply and immigrant transport ships are stopping by their trading colonies for refueling and maintenance, which means they're probably making some good money off of it, too.
By the way, the Neeparc System, which houses the gateway, and its neighboring Mellkit System were systems directly controlled by the Empire. The security level was top-notch. If any pirates dared to stir up trouble, the Empire could flood the area with military reinforcements through the gateway. The only pirates that operated here were loners flying solo, or at most, small groups of three ships who drifted from system to system, conducting raids and fleeing—small fish, really.
They might be 'small fish' but we can't let our guard down. Some of them operate with a smaller, elite crew, making them quite dangerous.
「Well, it's good that the route is safe.」
「Yeah, it's a pain that every time we drop out of the hyperlane, we get hit with a stop order and a security scan though.」
Elma replied, clearly irritated, her gaze fixed on the warning message about the ongoing security scan displayed on Antlion's main screen.
「Haha… well, we don't have anything to hide, so it's fine to wait for a bit, right?」
Mimi tried to calm Elma down. Even though she was sitting in a different operator's seat than usual, she was as composed as ever. She's really become a seasoned operator now. Me? I'm sitting in Antlion's sub-pilot seat. We were training to operate Antlion as a trio, just in case something happens and Krishna becomes unusable.
「Yeah, I guess you're right. So, you wanted to ask something about Kugi?」
「That's right, it's about what happened the other day.」
Honestly, the training was just an excuse. The real reason I gathered Mimi, Elma, and myself here was for a little private chat. I told them about Kugi's odd reaction when I tried asking her about her childhood.
「Hmm, I've never heard anything about that, what about you, Mimi?」
「I feel like I might've asked her before… but I don't really remember. It's kind of fuzzy, like maybe she avoided answering…?」
Mimi tilted her head thoughtfully. Could it be that Kugi used telepathy to mess with the memory of the question itself? Would she really go that far to keep it hidden?
「It feels like Kugi's childhood is a bit of a landmine topic… maybe we should avoid bringing it up.」
「Agreed. It's not something worth pushing and causing trouble over.」
「True, but it still leaves me feeling a bit unsettled.」
Mimi has a valid point, but knowingly stepping on a landmine isn't exactly wise. As Elma said, it's not worth risking trouble just to satisfy our curiosity. If Kugi doesn't want to talk about it, the considerate thing to do is not to pry.
「Alright, let's forget about this topic. Or at least, let's make an effort to do so.」
「That sounds like the safest option.」
「Understood.」
That said, since we're all gathered here in Antlion's cockpit, we might as well fire up the simulator and get some practice runs in. I wouldn't mind seeing Elma's piloting skills in action.
☆★☆
After completing the security scan, the Black Lotus—with Antlion still docked to it—arrived at the Neeparc Prime Colony. As expected of the main colony of a system with a gateway, Neeparc Prime had port facilities large enough to accommodate the relatively big Black Lotus while it remained docked with Antlion at its lower external connection hatch. Being a gateway system, it served as both a military and logistical hub, so naturally, the port facilities were quite extensive.
「Hey there, how'd the training go? Productive?」
After separating from Mimi and Elma who were going to take a shower, I went to the Black Lotus's lounge, as soon as I entered Tina called out to me. She and Wiska had been relaxing on the sofa together.
「Yeah, it went alright. I don't foresee many issues as long as Krishna's functional, but it's always important to be prepared for the worst.」
「The generator in Krishna is a black box after all… If it suddenly stops working, we wouldn't be able to fix it.」
Wiska is absolutely right. The generator block in Krishna was a complete mystery, a black box we couldn't mess with. If it stopped functioning, that would be the end of it. Apparently, there were safety mechanisms in place to prevent it from going rogue and causing a massive explosion, but even those systems were beyond our understanding. According to the sisters, it's an enigma how a generator of that size can output as much power as a cruiser-class ship.
For reference, the generators typically used on ships in this universe seem to be some sort of antimatter reactors—seem to be, because I can't fully grasp how these generators create energy. From what I could gather, antimatter is involved in the energy cycle, but exactly how it's used and how it produces energy is beyond me.
I don't even fully understand what kind of 'energy' is being produced. Is it electricity? Not exactly, though electricity seems to be produced as well.
Speaking of which, the anti-ship reactive warheads equipped in the torpedoes I use also appear to be based on antimatter technology. It seems I have been unknowingly firing antimatter weapons all along.
Well, even if I don't understand the full scope of the technology, I can still use it. It's like using a smartphone or a computer without needing to understand how it works on a technical level—just on a far larger and more dangerous scale.
「Yeah, it's tough to figure out. Even Space Dwerg couldn't make sense of it.」
「Exactly. We've been doing our best, but honestly, it's beyond us.」
「Oh, but what about the Holy Vuelzarus Empire? They have a completely different technological base from us, so they might be able to figure something out.
「That's possible. After all, Krishna was probably generated when I got thrown into this world. The Vuelzarus Empire might hold the key to understanding it.」
If that's the case, then I've got one more reason to visit the Holy Vuelzarus Empire. Showing Krishna to their ship engineers could be very worthwhile.
「Master, docking has been completed,」
「Got it. Alright, let's disembark and explore the colony while Kugi takes care of the paperwork to contact the Holy Vuelzarus Empire. Gather everyone, would you?」
「Yes, Master.」
Time to see what this bustling colony looks like. I'll have to make sure we don't get separated in the crowd.