Tap!
As I set the glass down, the distinct, mellow aroma of honey vanished.
In its place, a fishy and unpleasant scent of blood took over.
In addition, my sight, touch, perception, and hearing—all my senses—awakened.
It was no different from reality. No, it was much sharper than reality.
And then, there was the sixth sense.
I could feel the vast flow of the universe.
It was dark energy.
“Captain. Please give us your orders.”
The Vice-Captain wore a serious expression.
Even with a look like that, a beautiful person is still beautiful.
“The enemy is pursuing us.”
Every ship that hadn’t been half-destroyed or sunk was following us.
“We still have some breathing room.”
The distance between us was quite significant.
It would continue to widen for a while.
After all, we had punched right through the enemy in our current direction of travel.
“I have shortlisted the three closest planets.”
The Vice-Captain unfolded a map of this star system.
Several planets were marked.
Why go to a planet?
Because planetary gravity is required to perform an interstellar warp.
“Vice-Captain. Do you believe we can shake off the enemy’s pursuit like this?”
The problem was that we would be exposed and defenseless while preparing for the warp.
“Our fleet is currently heading toward an asteroid belt. If we can definitely lose them there, I believe we can buy enough time to warp.”
I shook my head.
“You’re being too optimistic. Do they look like a ragtag bunch to you?”
“That… no, they don’t. I simply thought we were able to land a blow thanks to your wisdom, Captain.”
It was clear they were elites. Just three of them had nearly massacred everyone in the situation room.
“Then what about their tracking skills?”
“Ah!!”
The probability of an army being good only at close-quarters combat was very low. It was reasonable to assume they were proficient in the basics of everything else as well.
“With our current skills, we cannot lose them.”
“Then… what should we do?”
“We have to land a proper blow and completely break their will to pursue us.”
Everyone’s expressions darkened.
Against those who were even more elite than us?
If we had the numbers, it might be different, but we were the ones who were outnumbered.
“Then wouldn’t it be better to settle things here?”
“That’s right. Our only advantage is that we are familiar with these waters…”
“If we enter the asteroid belt, we won’t be able to maintain speed, and our only advantage will vanish.”
Everyone added their two cents.
The silver lining was that they all seemed to think it was worth a shot.
Grin—
I smiled.
Yes. This was much better than them being paralyzed by fear.
“I’m not heading into the asteroid belt because I haven’t thought this through.”
Their expressions brightened slightly.
Even if it was a result obtained by deceiving the enemy, I had already shown them what I could do.
“Move all the junk on the ship to the hangar. I noticed there’s plenty of trash in the hallways.”
They looked like they didn’t understand what I was saying.
Of course. They were probably wondering what I could possibly do with trash.
However, the situation was different in the meteor zone we were heading toward.
The meteors there possessed peculiar properties.
“Understood. I will issue the orders immediately.”
“Oh, and clean up those corpses as well.”
A moment later.
The door opened, and a group slid inside.
Ssssk!
Goosebumps broke out over my body.
Their identity was…
‘The Cockroach-kin?!’
They looked like a mix between cockroaches and humans. Which made them…
‘Even more disgusting!’
“Is this food?”
The creatures looked at the corpses and spoke like machines.
The Vice-Captain shook her head.
“They are being preserved as evidence.”
At those words, they lowered their antennae as if disappointed.
“This corpse is Corporal Dobby. Can we eat this one?”
“It is being preserved to be returned to the bereaved family.”
“Hmm…”
The Cockroach-kin preyed on humans.
This was why their race served on ships instead of opening restaurants, despite their excellent cooking skills.
Ssssk!
The mess personnel skillfully placed the corpses into zipper bags.
“Shall we clean as well?”
“I’ll leave it to you.”
The creatures began to crawl across the floor.
The bloodstains splattered everywhere vanished rapidly.
They looked filthy, but the Cockroach-kin were actually one of the cleanest races.
Their bodily fluids were even used as antibiotics.
Ssssk!
I watched them and wiped my cheek.
Blood came off on my hand.
It must have splattered on me during the battle earlier.
Whish!
The head of one of the cockroaches turned toward me.
Ssssk!
It suddenly approached me at high speed.
“Ugh!”
Startled, I kicked the creature.
It fell and rolled across the floor.
“…”
It looked at me with an absurd expression and then abruptly left the situation room.
Then, Picol approached and whispered to me.
“Young Master. You’ve spent weeks courting the Head Chef. Why did you hit her?”
“What on earth are you talking about?”
“Didn’t you say you needed at least one Cockroach-kin concubine…”
“This is driving me crazy.”
I think I had heard stories about how the internal structure of the Cockroach-kin was unique.
Among the wealthy of this world, there were quite a few who took them as concubines.
In an emergency, they could even draw their blood to use as an antibiotic.
“Ugh, I’m going crazy!!”
No matter what, not the Cockroach-kin.
As I stood there shivering, a soldier in the situation room shouted.
“Captain. Damage report. A total of 8 dead. 11 seriously injured. 23 with minor injuries.”
I nodded vaguely and fell into thought.
Why isn’t this dream ending?
What do I have to do to wake up?
Am I going to miss work at this rate?
‘Ah!’
I remembered something I saw in a movie. A way to wake up from a lucid dream.
It’s surprisingly simple. You just have to gently bend your finger backward.
If it bends to an eerie degree, the brain recognizes it as a dream and wakes up.
I put it into practice immediately.
Crack!
A gruesome sound came from my joint.
Simultaneously, an intense pain rushed in.
“Aaaaaagh!!!”
My finger was bent at an impossible angle.
I slumped to the floor just like that.
The strength of this body was incredibly high.
“Phew. There he goes again.”
The busy crew members glanced at me.
Then they went back to their tasks.
“Don’t give him any attention.”
“He might hit you and claim it’s a joke.”
“Maybe because he’s a noble, it hurts even if he hits you lightly.”
“He’s looking this way. Don’t make eye contact!”
No, it really hurts.
I looked up and gazed at the Vice-Captain imploringly.
“What are you doing? We don’t have the luxury to indulge your jokes right now.”
I carefully showed her my eerily bent finger.
The Vice-Captain tilted her head.
“I don’t believe there was any contact with the enemy… For now, let’s get you to the infirmary.”
Where was the infirmary?
The pain was making it impossible to think.
“Young Master!!!!”
Picol, who had stepped away for a moment, came running back.
He was shocked when he saw my finger.
“Oh my. When did this happen?”
“I don’t know. Just get me to the infirmary, quick!!”
“Get on my back.”
The arm the creature had lost was now perfectly fine.
As expected of Picol’s race.
“Out of the way!! Move it!!! It’s the Captain.”
I headed to the infirmary while being carried on his back.
The men slumped in the hallway in front of the infirmary cleared a path to the left and right.
“Did the Captain fight too?”
“I thought he was just a brat, but I guess he steps up when it counts.”
“He is the child of a fairly prestigious noble family, after all.”
“There was a reason he pushed all the combatants into the engine room.”
“He was confident he could protect the situation room himself.”
I could hear them whispering among themselves.
“Sir Medic! Please take a look at our Captain quickly!”
I was laid down on a bed.
The broken finger hurt much more than I expected.
Having sensitive senses was a disadvantage at times like this.
“Oh my. Captain?”
As I looked at the ceiling, the face of a stunning beauty blocked my view.
If the Vice-Captain had a cold impression, the medic was… seductive?
Long, slit eyes, a sharp nose, and sharp fangs… and a flickering, thin tongue?
“Let’s see, where are you hurt?”
She peeled back my eyelids and brought her face close.
I locked eyes with her yellow pupils.
A chill instantly ran down my spine.
“A… A snake!”
“Calling a Naga a snake. How mean.”
The Naga were a race with a human upper body and a snake lower body.
Since they were fundamentally well-versed in medicine, many of them worked as medical professionals.
“My mistake.”
Calling a Naga a snake was similar to using a racial slur.
“Your finger is severely bent. That must hurt a lot.”
She spoke in a languid voice.
“Aaaaaagh!”
In the meantime, a soldier on the next bed was screaming.
The medics were holding him down to calm him.
No matter how I looked at it, his situation seemed more urgent than mine.
“I’ll finish up here and be right back!!!”
She picked up a large blade and brought it down on the wounded soldier.
Slice!
The soldier’s leg was severed in a single blow.
And yet, she remained composed.
“Administer 2 units of Artision and 3 units of Regeneration Activator. Put him in a recovery capsule.”
“Understood, Medic.”
The medics moved busily.
She turned her head back to me.
“Captain. Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll take care of you right away.”
“Than—”
Slice!
Before I could finish, my wrist was hacked off.
Blood geysered out.
“Uh… Huh??!”
I had forgotten. That this was such a place.
Hsssss!
When she sprayed something on the severed wrist, a stiff foam covered it.
The bleeding stopped, and the pain vanished instantly.
“I’ll give the Captain a special injection for a speedy recovery. Now, roll over.”
I lay face down and waited.
“Relax. Just a prick!”
“Hng!”
It hurt like hell. Was this really just an injection?
“It looks like it will take about a month for a full recovery.”
She said, wiping her mouth.
Purple liquid from her fangs smeared around her lips.
What she had put in my backside wasn’t an injection.
*****
I was carried back to my private room on Picol’s back.
The wrist where my hand used to be was tingling slightly.
“Humans really do seem inconvenient. To have to go through such a hassle every time a part is cut off.”
It’s not like getting body parts cut off is common, is it?
No. It was very common.
There wasn’t much treatment a military doctor could provide on a spaceship.
Because there were so many different races, it was difficult to stock every type of treatment and medication.
Wasn’t cutting off a broken finger too much?
The mechanism of healing for bones and muscles differed for every race.
And if it healed incorrectly due to Force, side effects would occur.
That’s why they just cut it off first, like a 19th-century doctor.
It was cleaner to just regenerate it.
“Hey. Is your arm okay?”
“The cut was clean, so I just washed it well and stuck it back on without needing to regenerate it. Well then, please get some rest.”
The fellow smiled brightly and left.
‘This is insane.’
Now that I’ve even felt pain, I can’t just dismiss this as a dream.
The possibility of this not being a dream is 200%.
Then, what happens if I die here?
The battle from earlier came to mind.
I could have died if things had gone wrong.
Tension tightened around me.
And yet, strangely enough, I didn’t feel bad.
In fact, the corners of my mouth curled up.
In this absurd situation, I was laughing.