We set about our preparations at the Village Chief’s house.
I’d intended to head for the ruins immediately, but Rikochi and Eddy had other plans. Namely, tying me to a chair.
“Leo, behave yourself until everyone else gets here.”
“Couldn’t you have just said that verbally? We’re all Taijin here,” I protested. “Let’s try to talk this out properly.”
“Are you really the type who listens to reason?” Rikochi shot back. “You’d have slipped away before we even noticed! And for that matter, what the hell happened to your Combat Suit!?”
“Oh, that? The Life Support System gave out. I almost ended up as a human popsicle.”
“I’ve brought tea. Please, take a moment to warm yourselves.”
The Village Chief and Helga arrived with refreshments—a thick, rich milk tea brewed with a generous helping of sugar and what tasted like butter. Given the climate, the goal was clearly to pack in enough fats to stave off the freezing cold.
“Phew... it was freezing out there.”
“Village Chief,” Rikochi said, nodding toward me. “Please, give our General something to eat. That’ll keep him quiet for a while.”
“I—I see... though it feels quite presumptuous to treat a King so casually.”
“Don’t sweat it. He might be a King, but at heart, he’s a pure-bred commoner who’s spent plenty of time living in a nagaya.”
“I—I see...?” the Chief stammered, looking utterly bewildered.
Well, it was the truth. At my core, I was just the third son of a farmer. On a planetary scale like ours, even the local lords were out tilling the soil. Even now, Big Brother Sam is still working the fields. You can even go to the local roadside stations and find vegetables with a sticker of the lord’s face on them saying, “I grew this!” And they sell out completely by noon!
With a background like that, how could I ever act like some high-and-mighty aristocrat?
“In that case, shall I grill some Dried Trout...?”
“Yes, please!”
When they showed me the fish, I was genuinely impressed. They salted the trout and then dried it through a rigorous process—first letting it freeze in the blizzards, then drying it completely to kill off any parasites. Since they grilled it right before serving, it was perfectly safe.
Apparently, because it was so salty, the local way was to mix a bit into pickled vegetables, stir-fry the whole lot, and sandwich it between slices of bread. The bread was Black Bread, quite hard and toasted until it had the crunch of a biscuit.
I sat there, munching away contentedly.
“See? He’s quiet now,” Eddy-kun noted.
He was being a bit mean, but I couldn't exactly argue with the results.
As I ate, the rumble of a snowmobile echoed from outside. I wondered if the team from the crashed Transport Aircraft had somehow made it safely, but it turned out to be Melissa. She wasn’t even supposed to be part of the investigation team this time.
“I’ve come to the rescue!” she announced.
“What about the others from the crash?” I asked. “My Imperial Guard Knights and the rest?”
“They’re coming here on foot. Only a few people with minor injuries.”
“And what about the failure of our Correspondence Course?”
“Here, take this.” She handed me a terrifyingly simple handheld device.
“What is this?”
“An Analog Radio. They said it’ll work within the planet’s atmosphere. They’re also planning to bring down the Humanoid Fighters.”
“Heh...”
I wasn't sure if we really needed Humanoid Fighters. You couldn't exactly pilot those things deep into the mountains, anyway.
“What about the Humanoid Heavy Machinery?”
“That’s on the list to be brought down, too.”
“And our snowboards...?”
Melissa gave me a pitying look. “They said they burnt up in the atmosphere.”
“Noooooooooooooooooo!”
The loss was devastating.
With nothing left to do but wait, we turned our discussion to the ruins.
“Helga, what can you tell us about the place?”
“It dates back to an ancient era,” she explained. “There’s a statue of a god enshrined at the entrance. The interior is vast, though I’ve never ventured deep inside.”
I felt that familiar prickle of a bad omen.
“Is the statue related to the Parcion Religion?”
“Who knows? We barely know anything about the Parcion Religion ourselves. We aren't even sure if our own customs are part of it.”
For them, as long as someone handled the burial and mourning of the dead, the specific faith didn't really matter. Yet, even if they weren't conscious of it, religion had clearly woven itself into the fabric of their lives. This was the kind of thing that required a proper field survey by a Religious Scholar.
For now, I figured we could just handle the local funerals and let a Funeral Operator take over. Dealing with corrupted religions is always such a headache; if you crush the organization, you lose the ability to investigate the history, yet the remnants of their influence stay scattered everywhere as daily habits. It was a messy problem to resolve.
God, it’s so much work!
Eventually, the Imperial Guard Knights arrived. They were caked in snow and stood in somber silence.
“Are you guys okay?” I asked.
They didn't look angry... or did they?
“We are simply ashamed that we failed to protect Your Majesty,” one replied.
“Don’t beat yourselves up. Nobody expects a Destroyer to suddenly Warp in right next to them and knock them out of the sky.”
The enemy ship had likely been so massive they didn't even realize they’d clipped us. To them, we were probably just a bit of debris.
Wait a second.
“That enemy ship was huge, right? But the number of soldiers in the village was pretty small.”
The Imperial Guard Knights began to murmur among themselves.
“Are you saying there’s a main force somewhere else?” Melissa asked.
I tried to organize my thoughts. “Maybe it’s not about the number of people, but that they were carrying Humanoid Fighters?”
“You heard him!” Eddy shouted. “Evacuate the villagers and prepare for battle immediately! Protect His Majesty!”
“Sir!”
...Right.
The evacuation got underway immediately.
“Helga, you should evacuate as well,” I told her.
“No, I’m staying. You’ll need a guide for the ruins.”
From a practical standpoint, she was right, even if the military protocol was to get civilians to safety.
“Melissa...”
“Eh, it’s probably fine. Helga’s Beast Race, after all.”
“Wait, what’s the ‘Beast Race’?” I asked.
“Ah, right, you wouldn't know. They’re Modified Humans built for combat, specifically adjusted for planets teeming with dangerous lifeforms. They’re usually pretty good-looking, so you find them on all sorts of planets.”
“Hold on, Melissa. You just said something very important.”
“I did?”
“...Helga... your family has been hunters here for generations, right?”
“Yes.”
It was a detail she’d mentioned earlier. That’s what made it so strange.
“What’s the most dangerous game on this planet?”
“Deer and bears.”
“Melissa... this is bad. I’m getting an incredibly bad feeling about this.”
“About what?”
“The villagers are all Beast Race. But there aren't any dangerous creatures on this planet...”
“Stop it, Captain,” Melissa said, her voice dropping. “You’re starting to creep me out.”
“Why would anyone station a Combat Species here?”
Ren hadn't been on Ren's Planet for generations; her mother had been brought there from elsewhere. Most of the immigrants to her planet were people who had lost their purpose after exterminating dangerous lifeforms, or those kidnapped by nobles.
On a planet with truly lethal monsters, the Beast Race would still be active as hunters. But here?
Sure, there was a chance it was just some pointless experiment, like the animals in the Battle Dome, but... I had a nasty premonition.
“What if... something is sealed inside those ruins?”
Every person in the room froze and looked at me. Eddy’s face actually twitched.
“Level One Alert!” he roared. “All personnel, prepare for full-scale combat! Now!”
The Imperial Guard Knights went into a frantic scramble. I stood up to help, but...
“Just sit there, drink your tea, and behave yourself.”
...Yes, sir.