Chapter 7: A Wounded Fleet, a Burning Colony

“How did things end up like this?!”

Field Marshal Humildas was seething with rage.

The son of Field Marshal Imperium had died in his territory.

The murderers had fled.

The administrator of the jurisdiction in question had also fled.

“The position of administrator for the Lucifel Star System is vacant! We must appoint someone else immediately.”

That place was close to Imperium’s territory.

A person was needed there, even if only for surveillance.

“Who am I supposed to send?”
“…”

The state of affairs was so suspicious that no one would likely accept the post.

Just then.

“Field Marshal! The head of the Pack family has requested an audience.”

“For what reason?”

“He is asking to relieve his son, who is serving as a patrol squadron leader, of his duties.”

“Ah! That scoundrel?”

He remembered.

The boy had come and volunteered on his own two feet.

Thanks to that, the Field Marshal had used him politically, emphasizing phrases like ‘leading by example’ and ‘a model noble.’

Other families had been forced to provide more private soldiers, biting the bullet.

“He must be trying to pull him out now that he senses a war is about to break out.”

“That does not seem to be the case. It appears he hasn’t heard the news yet. He looked preoccupied with cleaning up the messes the scoundrel has made.”

“Oho. Bring him in at once.”

.
.
.

“I greet the Field Marshal.”

“Patriarch Pack. You’ve come at the right time. I heard you want to remove your son from the patrol unit. However, if I pull your son out now, my reputation…”

The Field Marshal put on a troubled expression.

“Our family will step forward and do our best to resolve the situation.”

“Actually, a difficult situation has arisen.”

Patriarch Pack furrowed his brow.

It seemed his son had caused another accident at his post.

It would have been stranger if the boy hadn’t caused trouble.

“That’s it!! Since it has come to this, take your son and go to the Lucifel Star System.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“The administrator there has resigned.”

Patriarch Pack sighed inwardly.

No one would want to go to such a place.

“Then I shall take charge of it for a short while.”

In the end, he took the position of administrator.

It looked like the family would be ruined if he couldn’t keep his son under control.

***

“There are no pursuing enemies.”

The scout reported after scanning the surroundings.

At those words, the personnel in the situation room slumped their bodies in relief.

“Captain. We’ve widened the gap sufficiently. How about letting the crew take a rest?”

Everyone’s minds were likely exhausted from two life-or-death battles.

It wasn’t good to stay tense for too long.

But.

“Those guys still have mobile ships left. We’ll rest after we finish maintenance first.”

“Ah—!”

The only ships left for them were a mobile ship, an escort ship, and a patrol ship. That was the entire fleet.

To make matters worse, they had exhausted all their missiles.

If they encountered enemy mobile ships like this, it would be a literal hell.

“Understood. I will relay the order immediately.”

And so, they began a large-scale inspection of the ships.

[Communication group. No abnormalities.]
[Medical group. Treating five individuals with minor injuries.]
[Kitchen group. No problems.]
[Maintenance group. Fusion reactor efficiency at 90%. Engine efficiency at 87%. No other abnormalities.]

They had been at a distance from the explosion during the battle.

Even so, they had taken considerable damage.

[Artillery group. Main gun efficiency 42%. Auxiliary beam abnormality. Two out of four auxiliary lasers malfunctioning.]

They appeared to have been broken during the collision with the asteroids.

“What about the possibility of repairs?”

[Maintenance group estimate. To repair the weapon systems, we need to enter a maintenance dock. We are also short on repair kits.]
[Logistics group. The shortage of supplies is severe. We also need to replenish mana stones for long-range warps.]

I tilted my head.

“Who is the navigator?”

A navigator acts as a guide in wormholes.

Should I call it space-style navigation?

The paths that can be used change depending on their capability.

Naturally, the consumption of mana stones changes as well.

“Didn’t you fire them because their salary was too expensive?”

“W-What about the other ships?”

“Of course there are none.”

For patrol units, only the flagship hires a navigator.

That’s because patrol units, which only operate within a star system, don’t particularly need a navigator.

Because of that, veteran helmsmen of the fleet sometimes acted as guides.

“Helmsman.”

“Yes. Yes! Captain.”

“How far can we warp with the remaining mana stones?”

“That’s… Since the gunboat’s helmsman acted as the guide until now, I don’t know well. F-First, if I look at the standard navigation chart…”

The guy suddenly pulled out a booklet and checked it.

A booklet, of all things. It was absurd.

“That’s enough.”

I placed my hand on my forehead.

As a side note, what happened to the helmsman of the artillery ship who acted as the guide?

He died a heroic death while fighting, having ignored the retreat order.

It was a total mess.

“Then, can we at least get out of this star system?”

This was the most urgent matter.

“I’m sorry. Looking at the map, I can’t guarantee it with the amount of mana stones we have now.”

“It means we eventually have to resupply at this star system. Who is the colony supervisor here?”

To explain colonies.

They refer to planets where people reside and manage them.

Most exist in the Goldilocks Zone (an orbit at an appropriate distance from the sun).

In terms of the Solar System, Earth’s orbit is the Goldilocks Zone.

“The colonies here are managed by a civil administrator, not a supervisor.”

Supervisors are appointed by the Field Marshal.

On the other hand, the civil administrator was chosen from among the influential figures of the respective colony.

In terms of a fantasy game, they were roughly like a village chief.

“Helmsman.”

“Yes! Captain.”

“You can at least get to the colony here, right?”

At my question, the guy put on a confident expression for the first time in a while.

“Yes. It’s a path I know because I travel it often.”

Just as there are sea routes in the ocean, there are paths in space.

To use the acceleration drive, one must use the paths.

“Captain. We have entered the path.”

I prayed in my heart.

Hoping we wouldn’t encounter enemy mobile ships along the way.

***

The medic wrapped a bandage around Sagitta’s eye.

“Take it off and just give me a regeneration activator.”

“I’m sorry. Because the wound was caused by Dung, I cannot prescribe a regeneration activator.”

The energy of Dung was fatal not only to machines but also to living organisms.

“There isn’t much I can do for you on the ship. You must be hospitalized and treated immediately.”

If it were any other part, it could have been resolved by amputation.

Of all places, the injury was to the eye.

Grit!

Sagitta gnashed his teeth.

Not only had he lost his ships, but he had also lost one of his eyes.

“Cough! Cough!”

Sagitta spat out blood.

“It seems the poisoning is severe. You should be administered an antidote and enter a capsule.”

“Before that. What happened to that guy?”

The mobile ships had not participated in the battle.

So, he had sent them to planets where the guy might warp.

“That’s… he’s nowhere to be seen!”

“What?! Did he realize it…?”

Sagitta didn’t know.

He didn’t know the boy had moved to the colony because he lacked the skill to do otherwise.

“As expected, he was no ordinary fellow. We are retreating.”

“What about the one ship that went to the colony?”

Come to think of it, one ship had been sent to the colony in this star system to demand surrender.

“Destroy it.”

“I will relay that message.”

***

I didn’t go to the dining hall.

Instead, I only ate non-cooked combat rations.

“Young Master. They say the combat rations have all run out.”

“Good grief…!”

“I really don’t understand why you eat that tasteless stuff.”

He’s saying that because he doesn’t know.

The combat rations were quite edible.

They tasted much better than the convenience store lunch boxes that were my staple food.

Growl—!

I only headed to the dining hall after skipping two meals and being unable to endure it any longer.

Scuttle, scuttle—!

When I went to the dining hall, I saw a few roaches moving busily.

Again, despite their appearance, the Roach race was clean.

Their body fluids were the best antibiotics.

“Over there is the kitchen manager, Maxforce. She certainly is pretty.”

That is pretty?

My head felt dizzy.

Then again, even the previous owner of this body was incomprehensible.

To think he tried to make a Roach race girlfriend.

“Captain. What would you like for the menu?”

A kitchen soldier approached and asked.

“Something simple.”

Right. I decided to think positively.

In some movies, people survived by eating cockroaches and even succeeded in escaping from prison, but I’m not at that level, right?

Whir—!

Fortunately, the cooking was done by machines.

The kitchen soldiers worked on adjusting the machine’s recipes.

This task was more demanding than one might think.

The taste changed depending on the quality of the ingredients.

Shlick—!

Picol went and brought the food.

The menu was a steak set.

The appearance, as well as the aroma, was amazing.

I regretted filling my stomach with combat rations all this time.

Clatter.

As I carefully cut a piece and was about to put it in my mouth.

“Captain?!”

Maxforce suddenly appeared beside me.

Startled, I delivered a clumsy side kick.

Squeak—!

And that hit her square on.

My strength was greater than I thought.

“And after all that talk about liking me!!”

The kitchen manager glared at me and ran out of the dining hall.

“Ah! I didn’t mean for that to happen.”

While I was worrying about what to do.

Growl—!

A sound came from my stomach.

Let’s fill my stomach first and think later.

Clatter.

I put a piece of steak into my mouth.

“Whoa?! Wow! Damn!”

It was delicious. It was the best steak I’d ever eaten in my life.

No matter how much I chewed, the savory flavor didn’t disappear.

My body trembled.

‘Ah. It’s because of the senses.’

The senses in this world were much richer.

Maybe that place was a dream, and this is the real world?

I think I know what Zhuangzi meant by the Butterfly Dream.

Beep—! Beep—!

Just then, a call came from the situation room.

[Captain! The colony is under attack.]

The place where we were supposed to get resupplied was in danger.

“Damn it!”