I arrived back just as a soldier was pressing the barrel of his gun against an Ozenian’s head.
“Whoa, whoa! None of that!” I shouted, putting a stop to it.
The Chronosians, whose nation had essentially been wiped out by the locusts, were beyond furious. They needed a way to vent, but this wasn't the way.
“Don’t kill him, okay? I know it’s aggravating, but you have to hold back. We’re going to put them through a proper trial. The Grand Duchy of Chronos Army is the strongest, most disciplined organization in the universe, after all.”
“Your Majesty... but my wife was... the locusts killed her... I just can’t forgive them!”
The young soldier broke down in tears.
The other squad members were moved to tears as well. They were all in the same boat.
I stepped forward, gave him a hug, and patted his back.
“Look, think about this in terms of profit and loss. If they know they won't be killed—that they’ll at least get a fair trial—it makes it much easier for the enemy to surrender. That lowers the mortality rate for your comrades in this unit. I want that to be the image we project from here on out. Besides, a great war is about to begin. We won't be facing small fry like this then. If you can be good boys and endure this, I’ll let you fight against the Great Evil.”
At that, the Crew-cut Captain’s expression turned solemn.
“Will you promise us that?”
“Yeah. But you have to promise me something in return. Don’t die.”
The captain and the soldiers finally broke into smiles.
“Your Majesty, we will follow you for the rest of our lives.”
“Hey, just kick me out if I’m no longer needed, okay? Go back to democracy.”
“No thank you.”
Though I have a feeling the time to kick me out will eventually come.
Economic policy failures, losing a war, getting mired in corruption—that sort of thing is largely up to luck. Plus, there’s always the risk of my judgment declining as I get older.
I conducted a geological survey to verify the effectiveness of the Locust-B-Gone.
The locust eggs were covered in mold. The way the Locust-B-Gone works is by using that mold to kill the eggs. If any manage to hatch, once they ingest the Locust-B-Gone, it reacts with their digestive juices and turns into a lethal poison. It’s a two-stage kill system.
Furthermore, it has no effect on normal grasshoppers or other Orthoptera. Apparently, their digestive processes and eggs are fundamentally different from natural creatures.
Was this a vulnerability born from genetic manipulation? No, that didn’t feel right. They had intentionally built in a weakness for the sake of their occupation strategy. They’d destroy everything with the locusts, then spread the mold to make the area safe before moving in. These things are always developed as a set.
The fact that they’ve gone feral means... the locusts were likely born on this planet. Whether they leaked out or were native to this world, I couldn’t be sure.
The Underground Ruins might be the actual source of the locust swarm.
We people of the Galactic Empire are treated as the Legendary Demon Race... but I don’t think we can compete with the pure evil on display here.
After digging for about three days, the ruins finally came into view.
...Along with a staggering mountain of industrial waste.
“These enemies of the universe...”
Claire, a recycler to the extreme, was snapping with rage at the sight of the trash heap.
It was the literal usage and disposal of an entire planet.
Then again, we weren't exactly ones to talk. Before Wifey became the Emperor, polluting planets and then discarding them was a rampant practice. Only the Duke Association had the power to pull that off, though. A family like my own House Kamishiro couldn't have managed it. It almost felt like it was inevitable for those guys to perish.
In the end, nothing good happens when power is too concentrated.
If the pollution could be stopped, this would be a mountain of resources. If we could process it all, there would be enough to build an entire city.
“Leo... we have to defeat the Zen Divine Race.”
Veins were bulging on the forehead of Lady Claire, Ruler of Magellan.
“Ah, yeah... definitely. Let’s do our best.”
The soldiers of the Former Magellan Army were shivering and shaking in their boots. They’d gone and angered the scariest person among us.
We headed toward the ruins dressed in Chemical Warfare Combat Suits. After drawing lots, I was assigned to a team with the Imperial Guard Knight Order and the Isono Squad. It was a rarity for me to be in the same group as that guy.
I set off with Isono.
“Pollutants, huh? How terrifying...” Isono said, his voice unusually serious.
Whenever it was just the two of us, Isono acted all serious, as if there was no need to play the fool.
“Right? I mean, I heard chemical substances can make your personal ‘ultimate weapon’ shrink...”
Because he was being serious, I went full-on with the jokes.
“What?! That’s terrifying!”
“Terrifying, right?!”
The subordinates listening to our exchange looked utterly exasperated. Behold, the true forms of the Grand Duke of Chronos and a high-ranking official!
The ruins were sealed by a massive gate. My team and the others were halted there. It wasn't exactly the kind of environment where you'd want to take a break, though.
Step one: open the gate. I left this to Kevin’s drone. He just needed to find a control panel.
“I couldn’t find a control panel, but I found the internal control board. Connecting directly to the circuit now... okay, done. Luna-chan, if you would?”
“On it~!”
The Fairy began analyzing the software.
“This firmware... this barely even counts as security. All right, unlocked.”
She cleared the lock. In any normal country, the gate would have opened then and there. But this was Magellan.
“The gate won't open!” a soldier shouted in a panic.
Ah, yeah. Figures. The moving parts were probably seized up due to the pollutants. Just as everyone was reaching that conclusion, Kevin’s report came in as expected.
“The gears are rusted shut. I’ll try a release agent.”
“Roger that.”
I could have just smashed it, but the university professors would have had my head. I respected their desire to investigate the site properly.
“Oh, it’s starting to move... wait! It’s a trap! Get back! Everyone run!”
I already knew how this was going to end. We scrambled away. These were well-trained soldiers—elites capable of reacting perfectly even to a sudden explosion skit.
As we fled, the gate groaned open, and a torrent of liquid filled with pollutants came gushing out!
“Is everyone okay?!”
“We’re safe!” Raven-kun called back.
“Sorry. The moment the gate opened, pollutants started flooding in from multiple vents...”
“Well, I figured there’d be traps.”
This facility was built by people nasty enough to create locusts. There were bound to be a few traps. That’s why I was on the front lines. Unless it was something truly catastrophic, most things just ended up as a gag for me.
Work was suspended since a massive puddle of pollutants had formed. We had no choice but to find a different route inside. Seriously, what a bunch of jerks!
“Hey Leo, if you run around the minefield naked, won't Jester's Ability stop the traps from triggering?”
“It seems the time has come to settle things between us... my Strong Enemy (Tomo)!”
And so, the bickering began. Eventually, Eddy came over from checking on his own squad and kicked both our asses.
“Are you two elementary schoolers?!”
“...Sorry.”
Once we quieted down, Eddy went back to his squad. I waited until he was gone before glaring at Isono again.
“Leo... I got scolded because of you!”
“Nyah-nyah! Stupid, stupid!”
“You got scolded too, you moron!”
Then, a message came in from Kevin.
“I’ve cleared the liquid.”
“Roger.”
With that, we turned our attention back to the ruins once more.