We wiped out the pirates as well.
Getting taken out in a single hit by a drone—I had to wonder if they were even trying.
I had zero academic interest in them, so I didn't bother with any captures.
Not my problem, frankly.
I reported their location to the Latarnian side.
Latarnia replied, "We will inform the Taikyoku Nation."
They would probably be rescued eventually.
If they didn't want to feel like they were going to die, they should have thought twice before picking a fight with a regular army.
Oh, and if the Taikyoku Nation tried to complain about humanitarian issues or some such nonsense, I planned to go full Yakuza on them. "Huh? That was your privateer? You’ve got some balls, don't you? Well? How are you going to make this right?!"
If you let people look down on you, it's game over.
We arrived at Planet Cross, the planet where the Third Prince was located.
When I put the name—which was a bit tricky to pronounce—into the translator, it came up as "Crucifix," though I wondered if that was just a mistranslation of "Cross."
As I was pondering it, Claire-san filled me in while looking over some documents.
"Apparently, the gravestones of the race that once inhabited this planet were in the shape of crosses."
"...Oof."
I see.
I suppose a better translation would be [The Cross Gravestones].
I’ll submit a mistranslation report later.
I attached the information regarding what happened to the previous inhabitants to the file without thinking about it too much.
Phew... why do people never stop fighting?
Answer: Because they were built to fight in the first place.
Upon entering the planet's territory, the Latarnians were already in the middle of a massive dispute.
"We are telling you, we have come to protect our own citizens!"
"But no such incident has occurred!"
"We have received reports on our end as well! Stop trying to cover this up!"
After several hours of back-and-forth, it turned out that Latarnia and the Taikyoku Nation had signed a treaty for the rescue of their own citizens during wartime, and the rescue operation was finally permitted.
They had come right to the brink of a declaration of war.
How educational.
We joined the operation flying the Latarnian national flag.
Actually, we were the core of the operation.
We descended to the surface in a transport ship.
"...Claiming that nothing happened with the city in this state... that's a bit of a stretch, even for them."
The city had been attacked and reduced to piles of rubble.
"First, we will head to the Latarnia Bank Cross Branch."
The official from the Latarnia Ministry of Foreign Affairs who was in charge said this.
He claimed it was just the right size to serve as a headquarters.
I was the one driving the trailer.
We were transporting several units of Humanoid Heavy Machinery. They were useful in almost any situation.
The Taikyoku Nation surely wouldn't suspect that a Grand Duke of the Galactic Empire was the one behind the wheel.
I was just glad the roads were still somewhat clear.
Isono and the others were also driving trailers.
They definitely wouldn't suspect a Count of the Galactic Empire was driving a trailer either!!!
I had already hammered the Taikyoku Nation traffic laws into my head.
Claire was navigating beside me.
Mainly because we only had paper maps!
"Leo, turn left there."
"Got it."
Full stop, check for safety, then proceed slowly.
[Turning left. Turning left.]
The announcement played in the Taikyoku Nation language.
Isono and the others followed close behind.
After driving for a while, we arrived at the Latarnia Bank (Loan Sharking) Cross Branch.
"Listen up! Money is life! Protect the gold at all costs!!!"
"Sir, yes sir!!!"
Heavily armed guards were lined up in formation.
They had expressions that clearly screamed, "These guys are definitely soldiers."
The Latarnians' obsession with money exceeded our understanding.
To them, it was money over life, every time.
But I understood it once I studied their history.
Once upon a time, the Latarnian people apparently had no concept of private property.
However, because they were relatively good-looking, they were treated as slaves for a long period.
Eventually, a war for slave liberation and Latarnian independence broke out, and the leader of that war became the first king.
The first king reclaimed his people from the slave traders and established loan sharking operations across the galaxy.
There, he established a culture of absolute adherence to promises, valuing money over life, and maintaining order and discipline.
I was convinced by the cultural background of the Latarnian people, but I could also see why they were so disliked.
However, since we in the Galactic Empire were also of Japanese descent and had a civilization that was incredibly fastidious about order and etiquette, our compatibility was likely why we could maintain such a friendly relationship.
So, we arrived at the bank.
First, we moved the heavy machinery and barbed wire into the warehouse.
Then we unloaded the weapons.
With the trailers empty, we headed out to provide humanitarian aid—or more accurately, to start our search.
I checked the location using a spider drone I had secretly attached to Lord Eyens.
I wasn't going to inform the Latarnian side of this yet.
I didn't want to be interrogated with questions like, "How exactly did you find him?"
It would be better to contact them after the discovery.
I checked the radar positions of the drones I had scattered without permission in outer space.
Essentially, I was using spy satellites to create map data.
I couldn't expect high precision, but a general idea was enough.
Relying on that map, I headed toward Lord Eyens.
Compared to the trip to the bank, this was actually easier since I had an electronic map.
We arrived at a mountain of rubble.
An office building had likely stood here.
"Leo, according to the paper map, this looks like it was a trading company's office."
Not bad, Old Man Eyens.
"There's a subway station connected to the spaceport... and it links up with an underground mall, I think?"
"There's a high probability he's in the underground mall. Where's the entrance?"
It looked like it was buried.
I unloaded the Humanoid Heavy Machinery and approached the rubble.
"Looks like it was blown up."
"Hmm, maybe he blew up the building on purpose?"
Knowing the old man, he'd probably fled underground.
In that case, the basement might have turned into something of a dungeon.
"Any blueprints for the basement?"
"We have them, but even from what we can see from the surface, it looks different from the drawings."
Figures.
He must have done some illegal construction so he could escape whenever he needed to.
I called out to the old man via the correspondence course.
"Lord Eyens, you still alive?"
There was no reply.
I guess we had no choice but to charge into the basement.
Isono and the others were already clearing the rubble.
"Leo! It's just like you said. The underground passage is in good shape. No cave-ins here."
"Then it's time for a dungeon crawl."
I headed down the underground stairs with Isono, Nakajima, and Raven-kun.
A typical shopping mall layout spread out before us in the basement.
People began to emerge from the shops.
"H-Help has arrived!"
"Yeah, Latarnia International Aid Unit. We're here for the rescue. Everyone, please head outside through that exit."
I guided the civilians while pretending to be Latarnian.
"We were bombed so suddenly..."
There were many casualties. Both Latarnians and Taikyoku people.
I contacted the Rescue Operation Headquarters at the bank.
"Latarnians located. Please make arrangements for them immediately. We will continue to explore the basement."
"Understood."
Now that the connection was established, I would leave this area to Kevin's squad.
"Kevin, check them for Ghouls. Be careful."
"Roger that. You be careful too, Leo."
Will do.