Working while eating stewed udon in the dining hall...
I called it stewed udon, but it was Chronos style.
Salt-based chicken broth.
With an egg.
Gentle on the stomach, with all spices forbidden.
In short, bland.
"Leo! I told you to rest!"
Kevin, who had just returned, snatched the documents right out of my hands.
If possible, I wished she'd snatched the udon away instead.
Then I could eat some fried chicken...
"Honestly... your ulcer is never going to heal at this rate! What were you even working on in the first... You've gotta be kidding me."
"Right? You'd think so too."
Well, here it was: the primary cause of my ulcer.
The problem with Rosaria.
"What do you mean by 'nothing'?"
"To be precise, it's more like 'not responding to any signals.'"
Since it was so far away, there was a limit to how much we could observe its current state.
Sure, unmanned exploration vessels and relay drones were chugging their way over, but...
Even at the earliest, they wouldn't arrive until next year, I figured...
And there was always the chance they'd be destroyed.
For now, we had them carried partway by missiles, set to deploy as ships once the fuel ran out.
Even so, there were limits.
So, as it stood, we couldn't establish any communication.
Rosaria had shared their communication technology with us.
It was supposed to be a transmission using the same standards, verified by Charlotte's personal authentication, but...
What we could infer from this was... the war situation had to be considerably dire.
We had no conclusive proof of total annihilation.
Still, it wasn't a good sign...
Ah, my stomach was starting to ache.
Today them, tomorrow me...
"Here, take your medicine."
"It tastes like minty plaster!"
"Just go drink it down."
"Waaaah."
I went and took it.
Come to think of it, I hadn't taken any since noon...
My udon had gone cold...
"The udon got cold..."
"Want me to microwave it?"
"Well, whatever. It's easier to eat like this."
If I ate too fast, Kevin would yell at me.
I ate slowly and finished it up.
Now then, time to shoot the breeze with my buddy.
"By the way, Kevin. Why did the Star God become the strongest again?"
"The mythology of the exodus from the Solar System. You learned that in elementary school Japanese class, didn't you?"
"Wait... I can't remember..."
Come to think of it, there was something like that.
"Uhh... once upon a time, an old man and an old woman were partying all night..."
"Don't go fabricating memories that never happened."
Wasn't that how it went?
I felt like it was something along those lines.
"Oh, that! The stuff they made us do alongside ethics class!"
Because they jumbled all kinds of mythologies together, though, I couldn't tell which ones were part of the Imperial mythology that began with the space age.
In the first place, the Empire had been a multiethnic state right from its founding...
Depending on the planet, they had their own unique myths.
Like where Rikochi was from.
Incidentally, no unique mythology existed in the Kamishiro Territory.
I mean, it was in the Imperial Capital suburbs.
Thinking about it that way, my family home really had been completely sidelined, huh...
"Right, that. Imperial mythology. The exodus from the Solar System. Though nowadays, nobody even knows where that place was."
Whether it was environmental pollution or war.
The exact cause was unknown, but they said humanity expanded outward from the Solar System.
...Was that right?
The history of the Sengoku period from much further back remained clearer in my head.
"As expected of a doctor... on a totally different level from me, where almost all my knowledge is half-baked..."
"I'm gonna hit you. In your case, Leo, your knowledge of martial arts and humanoid fighters is monstrous. You can even fix minor breakdowns yourself, can't you?"
"Only the replaceable parts, though. It's not like I can build one from scratch."
"That's more than enough. You're a pilot, after all. The weird part is having senior combat engineer qualifications in the first place."
Whoops, we got sidetracked.
"So anyway, I really can't remember, but why is the Star God so strong again?"
"With the exodus from the Solar System, the Sun God—who had been the supreme deity until then—ceased to be an object of worship, and people began to venerate the stars instead. See, fixed stars aren't rare out here. Nowadays, the Sun God is treated more like a god of light, right?"
"Whoaa..."
So that's how it was.
Whoaa... I felt like I just heard something really important.
Still, mountains aren't rare either, yet mountains are objects of worship...
Was it because there had only been one, or was that not allowed?
"—Which you should have learned!"
"I really don't remember. Though I clearly remember that story about the guy who became an elite in the central government, returned to his hometown after twenty years, and relentlessly looked down on every single one of the trashy locals."
"I know which story you mean! But I'm pretty sure your summary is completely wrong! That's supposed to be a much more melancholic tale, you know!"
"Ehh..."
Well, whatever.
Your impressions as a kid and your impressions now are totally different anyway.
Maybe I'll try reading it again.
"And so... worship of the Sun God weakened, and in turn, earth worship grew stronger. Even so, the supreme deity remained the Sun God, though."
To be fair, the earth was right there under your feet.
Mountains weren't rare either, but they were right there.
Even if nobody knew where the original sun was anymore.
"Whoaa... Was another fixed star not good enough?"
"It wasn't that it wasn't good enough, but I learned that the sense of specialness was lost. Because of that, Buddhism gained strength."
Gaming Buddhism, huh.
I bet over there, too, after fierce internal conflicts, the flashy, glowing faction won out.
Hmm, I didn't know the details.
Unless you specialized in it, Imperial history was impossible to understand.
It was like that thing.
In ancient history, you understood the Kamakura period, the Sengoku period, and the Edo period, but your understanding of the Muromachi period alone was at a catastrophically low level.
Besides, Imperial history was so full of fabrications that it was useless for studying for entrance exams.
I mean, out of nowhere, you'd suddenly get: 'That account has been deemed treason against the Empire, so starting today, this is the official version.'
It was the kind of subject universities hated putting on entrance exams.
The Galactic Empire didn't want people poking around events surrounding Fairy-san, either, so they ignored the general trends of university entrance exams.
Only when Wifey took over did it finally become 'academically accurate accounts based on facts.'
Exam-takers were furious, but incorporating it into actual history classes was scheduled for a few years down the line.
Apparently, they'd be learning about events surrounding Fairy-san too.
As a married couple, we always adhered to a strict no-guard tactic.
I guess it was only natural that I didn't understand Imperial history.
Ah, right.
I forgot to mention the main point.
"Hey, Kevin, I've been thinking. Isn't Zashiki-warashi actually the Sun God?"
What's with that face?
Wait, why did she just turn pale?
What's wrong, Kevin?
See, it neatly explained why she took her current form.
"Th-th-th-th-that's huge, isn't it?! Why on earth are you bringing this up right now?! You, of all people!"
"Shall we ask the shrine people about it later?"
Having zero foresight of the uproar that was about to unfold, I said that with a smile.
"My stomach's in serious danger here!"
Indeed... Kevin's perception of the situation was the correct one.