8: Navigation Schedule

This is the third entry for today.

"Mmm, mmm. Swallow. Thank you for the meal."

Well, I've thoroughly enjoyed the meal.

While I doubt I'll be treated to food of this quality every single time, even so, the anticipation for what lies ahead over the next three days—the journey lasting a little over two full days, in simple terms—was certainly made more pleasant by this excellent meal.

The vessel 'Tsumebakei' has successfully departed from the landing zone of the Hira Toratsugumi star system's primal colony. We will now transition to sublight travel, heading toward the guide colony. Estimated arrival time, in Imperial Standard Time...

Now then...

I look out the window built into the cafeteria.

What is reflected there is a large, screw-shaped colony and countless spacecraft docking with it.

It seems we've successfully managed to depart from the primal colony.

Now, let's take a moment to confirm once again the sailing schedule for this three-day journey aboard the "Tsumebakei" ship.

The journey begins at the Primordial Colony in the Hilartra Tsugumi Stellar System.

The destination is the first primal colony in the Grogrobeta star system.

The term "Primordial Colony" refers to a colony that is particularly large or bustling within its star system—the central hub of activity and movement.

In other words, the current mission of the 'Tsume Bakei' involves transporting cargo from a major colony to another major colony in a different star system.

Today, on the first day, we are moving toward a point capable of faster-than-light travel to the Grogrobeta star system—a navigation beacon and the accompanying facility known as a guide colony.

Since it's located in a restricted area known as the Primordial Colony's landing zone, it must now be traveling at a speed approaching several tens of percent of light speed—impossible to achieve without the use of a mod.

After arriving at the guide colony, undergo various inspections...

On the second day, perform faster-than-light travel for an entire day, moving through a special space known as hyperspace.

You should arrive at the guide colony on the Grogrobeta system side.

Then, undergo another round of inspections upon arrival at the guide colony...

By around noon on the third day, you'll reach the primal colony of the Grogrobeta system.

That was supposed to be the plan.

"Really, the power of mods is amazing..."

Moreover, space is vast—traveling between star systems takes years even at the speed of light.

Additionally, within the realm of conventional physics, as an object with mass approaches the speed of light, time slows down, its mass increases, and various other changes occur—ultimately, reaching the speed of light is impossible.

Yet, the Empire's mod technology—local phenomenon alteration—has literally rendered such physics obsolete.

Subluminal travel technology that cuts journey times, normally taking hours at light speed, down to about half a day; faster-than-light travel enabling movement beyond light speed within specific regions; and faster-than-light communication, transmitting information even more quickly than faster-than-light travel.

And shields to maintain the transportation infrastructure, environmental stabilization modules allowing life on ships as comfortably as on the ground, gravity modules, and so on.

As previously mentioned, it's not an exaggeration to say that the current prosperity of the empire is entirely dependent on mods.

"Memo."

"Yes, Your Majesty Vee."

After all, it's precisely because of this mod technology that it has reached the civilian level.

When discussing combat, there are mods that fire beams, like the blaster mod, or mods that enhance physical abilities.

When talking about preservation, there are mods that prevent decay, or cleaning mods that automatically maintain hygiene.

When it comes to processing, there are mods that add specific flavors, and others that carve items precisely as specified.

In this way, even common citizens across the empire today use mods to improve their daily lives.

That's why, among them... well, there are certainly some questionable mods, or people who misuse even legitimate ones.

The restaurant that made Virijanira suspicious is almost certainly run by such individuals.

The real question is the direction of their actions—but it doesn't seem to be anything serious, like Virijanira getting sick or anything. Most likely, they've just altered the taste a bit.

Honestly, they're just petty nuisances.

It's something only I, as a cyborg from Seiryō Corporation conducting inspections and investigations, would know—but there are actually restaurants out there that use mods capable of neutralizing most toxins within a few hours after exposure. They serve toxic ingredients to customers without revealing their nature, presenting them as delicacies. Even after customers die, the owners pretend ignorance, acting like psychopaths or serial killers.

Compared to that, just serving edible food is downright normal, yeah.

Incidentally, the owner of that restaurant was naturally arrested and executed.

"Satā-san. Do you have any plans after this?"

"After this? Well, yes... I was thinking of conducting interviews with the crew members in the recreation room. We won't know what kind of passengers would make a cargo-passenger ship happy, or which ones we'd have to turn away, unless we ask the crew directly."

"I see. Then, may I accompany you?"

"Of course."

I had planned to interview the crew members until dinner time...

It looks like we might need to do this again tomorrow.

Well, let's start with what we can discuss today.

After finishing our lunch trays, Vilijani and I left the dining hall.