We of the Zen God Race—specifically, the Secular Faction—fled the galaxy, setting out for a new horizon.
Our eternal ambition: to create a god with our own hands.
We chose to embed ourselves within the local lifeforms, pulling their strings from the shadows. We did not seek to destroy them; we merely managed them, keeping their populations in check. Then, we conducted endless experiments on the individuals we culled.
What followed was born of pure chance. It was an experiment to create the ultimate being—one capable of converting despair into raw power. We succeeded in developing the Zork as their vanguard.
Yes, it should have been a success.
The Ghouls, burdened by their fleeting lifespans, never managed to forge a civilization of their own. The Proone, evolved from mollusks, became ensnared by their own obsessions and turned against us. In response, we granted civilization to the Latarnians, whom we had originally designed as humanoid laborers. But they, too, grew wise and refused to obey.
We then studied the ecology of bees and created the Zork, centered around a Mother. But even then, an unforeseen event occurred.
An entity meant to dominate the Mother—the Diable.
From their ranks, a mutation emerged. This entity’s nature was tolerant, even pacifistic. While the Diable were fundamentally egoistic, this one leaned toward altruism—no, toward coexistence. One might even have called it merciful.
At first, we mocked it as a weakling. We dubbed them "the Fools"—the Matto.
Yet, to our horror, we later realized our mistake. The Fools... and the legions they led. The more their numbers grew, the more their strength multiplied. The armies led by the Fools did not fear death; they grew stronger through cooperation. The reach of that power... tens of thousands, hundreds of thousands—there seemed to be no limit.
The Fools themselves grew more powerful as their sphere of influence expanded. True to their name, they made irrational decisions with alarming frequency. They would sacrifice themselves to save a handful of comrades who should have been abandoned, or attempt to coexist with enemies they should have destroyed.
Normally, such soft-heartedness would lead a community to ruin. It should have been their downfall at the hands of another power. With that assumption, we released them into the wild for observation.
That decision was our undoing.
The Fools challenged the Empire that ruled the galaxy. Their goal was the total overthrow of the Zen God Race, who pulled the strings of the ruling class. The result? We were driven back to our ancestral home once again.
The Fools, too, saw their numbers decimated until they were on the brink of extinction. Upon our return, we found that the Zen God Race had perished, leaving only the scattered Ancient People. We established our nation once again, but we had to prepare for the day the Fools returned.
We should have thinned their numbers enough. And they lack the capacity to reproduce... or so we thought. But our predictions regarding them have always been wrong. Even now, they may be multiplying somewhere in the dark.
Ah, it is terrifying. If they return, we will surely be destroyed. Before that happens, we must secure hegemony over this galaxy.
■
We headed for the mines.
The Nakajima Main House, which essentially ran the planet as a corporate dictatorship, possessed vast mineral wealth. In the past, accidents had been frequent, and companies related to the Duke Association had supposedly covered them all up.
However, with the collapse of the Duke Association, those companies had been forced into total management overhauls or liquidation. Now, they had been replaced by firms with at least a modicum of ethics—well, enough to at least report it when an accident happened. The workers seemed a lot happier for it.
The digital signage claimed zero accidents today. I could actually believe the numbers, mostly because they were using the latest Imperial-grade machinery and drones were handling most of the efficiency optimization.
"So, where exactly are these ruins you found?" I asked.
"Right this way, sir," replied the guide.
Wifey stayed behind this time, along with Shiyun and the others. With Tatiana standing guard, I didn't have to worry about anything major going wrong. Truth be told, it would be a huge headache if Tatiana ever decided to quit the military.
A group of high-ranking officers and the muscle-bound Nakajima family guards were looking after the women. The man leading us was a middle-aged employee from a trading company. Since he’d been at the party, I assumed he was some big shot from the head office. He was an elite graduate from an Imperial Capital university, and his work clothes looked entirely out of place on him. The guy had clearly never done a day of field work in his life.
In that regard, we were the experts. We marched ahead, decked out in our heavy-duty combat suits.
The ruins didn't match the style of either the Latarnians or the Taikyoku Nation. If I had to describe it, it was almost like a gaudy, Western style. There was writing on the walls.
"Hmm... It's not the language of the Ogre nation or the Latarnians," I muttered.
Claire chimed in. "What about the Taikyoku Nation Language?"
"I can't read that yet. Fairy, can you scan this?"
"The characters look like the ones on the device found in the Tachibana Main House shrine. Why don't you ask Mr. Berger?"
"Oh, right. Mr. Berger, could you take a look at this?"
Berger came running over. "Did you find something?"
"It looks like Zen God Race script again."
"Y-Yes! Let me see... Ah, this is an ancient dialect. Let's see... 'Herein lies the seal of the Black Calamity'."
"Excuse me?"
"Is something wrong?"
"No, it's just... did you say 'Black Calamity'?"
"Yes. It's written right here."
"Fairy! It says the Black Calamity!"
"Gyaaaaaah! What kind of nightmare are you people digging up!?"
The Black Calamity. I had completely forgotten about it. The rebellion caused by the Jester.
"But why would a historical event be 'sealed'?"
"I have no idea!"
"Thought so!"
With that, we began a proper investigation of the ruins. Between the graduate students and me, the exploration proceeded at a brisk pace.
"There's a terminal here."
It looked just like the terminal Fairy had been sleeping in before.
"Fairy, I’ve got nothing but a really bad feeling about this."
"Yeah, yeah. I just have to check it, right? Check it!!"
Fairy buzzed around in augmented reality. Suddenly, her expression went dead serious.
"Okay, Leo, listen to me and stay calm. This is the Jester Prototype Recipe."
"Right. Got it. So, can I just go back to the Kamishiro estate and shut myself in for the next seventy years?"
"A plan to outrun your own lifespan!? Trust you to come up with one dirty trick after another, Leo!"
"That wasn't a compliment!"
"It was obviously sarcasm!!"
Goddammit. Why was a topic I’d completely forgotten about being unearthed now? And besides, what happened to the 'cannot reproduce' setting? Their descendants were already several times more numerous than I’d expected! It’s an invasive species situation! Total American Crayfish State!
At this rate, there were probably as many of them as there were Beast Race or Chlorella-treated humans.