25: The Empire is diverse

"Indeed, as expected, there's a wide variety of races here."

"This is a proud sight of the Empire, wouldn't you say?"

"Exactly. The fact that people of various races can move freely and coexist without concern speaks to one of the Empire's many signs of successful governance."

I, Virijianira, along with Memokushi, have begun touring the guide colony in the Grogrobeta star system... more precisely, the guide colony in the Hira-Stragumi star system.

This guide colony features two massive rings used for cargo inspection, with a large, thin disk positioned between them.

Well, "thin" is relative—this is from my main body's perspective, so in reality, the actual thickness is on the order of several hundred meters.

And right now, we're walking down the colony's main street, where there are plenty of tourists strolling around just like us.

Of these many people, about ninety percent are Imperial citizens—humans with the typical humanoid appearance—but the remaining ten percent or so are remarkably diverse.

"Ogres, elves, dwarves, halflings, werebeasts, androids, harpies, mermen, insectoids, lizardmen..."

A large humanoid with a muscular build and horns growing from their forehead—an ogre.

An elf with long, pointed ears as their distinguishing feature.

A small, muscular dwarf with a metallic sheen to their skin.

A similarly small halfling with a slender frame, proudly fiddling with intricate machinery.

A human with animal ears—a werebeast.

Mechanical intelligence... androids developed from artificial intelligence.

Harpy with wings sprouting from their back or arms.

Mer-man with fish-like features across their body, walking with specialized machinery attached to their gills.

Insectoid with an exoskeleton and lifeless compound eyes scanning their surroundings.

Lizardman with scaly skin, laughing and chatting with their companions.

Even at a quick glance, there are so many non-Human races present.

And even among Humans themselves.

Some, like Virijanila, have physical differences due to body-enhancement mods.

Others are cyborgs with mechanical parts.

Upon closer inspection, some have a third eye on their forehead or an extra arm on their back.

Or something from the mimic lineage, not as refined as me, but still mimicking Humans.

A dazzling scene unfolds, where beings of all kinds coexist, endlessly fascinating to behold.

"Man, the Hira-Toratsugumi system is in a whole different league."

"Over there... almost entirely humanoid. Just a few Harpies who migrated there, with virtually no other species present, right?"

"That's right. After all, it's just an ordinary star system."

Yeah, no surprise it's both a tourist destination and a souvenir colony.

It's astonishingly diverse.

The only ones you wouldn't expect to see are species whose physical traits mirror plants.

Well, that's to be expected in the Glogrobeta system's Sw context.

"Ordinary... but since it's the only system connected to the Seiryō Colony, there must have been something special about it?"

"True, it was the kind of system where, for inspection purposes, illegal mods would normally be smuggled in—so I won't deny there was plenty going on in that regard."

Moreover, under imperial law, they are all collectively defined as human.

There is almost no difference in how they are treated regarding rights, and when there is a difference, it is almost always because not doing so would be detrimental to the whole.

Depending on their abilities, they can be elevated to noble status just like anyone else... in fact, the home planets, or ancestral bases, of each species were likely governed by nobles of that species.

Incidentally, even between humans, since they are different species, reproduction is impossible without modification.

However, thanks to the Empire's advanced mod technology, reproduction between different races is possible. While carefully avoiding drastic imbalances in racial population ratios, the Empire today allows inter-racial marriage and reproduction without significant issues, provided both parties agree.

And naturally, there is no biased scrutiny toward those actions.

Yeah, I suppose it's only natural that even someone like me, who's originally a cosmic monster, is treated as human, given how broad-minded the Empire truly is.

"Specifically?"

There were fools who smuggled illegal mods imported for inspection at Seiryō Corporation, idiots who built their own illegal mods based on those, and even dumber ones who tried to sell me products made from illegally constructed mods. I reported them all at once.

That was... a terrible incident, wasn't it...

A mod that altered the taste beyond recognition, another mod that enhanced it further and made it look like a drug, and then someone tried to sell it to me—probably to frame me for all the shady things I’d done back then.

In the end, I seized a secret facility illegally constructing mods and producing drugs using them, located on the primary planet of the Hiratara Tsugumi system, and handed it over to a contact I knew within the peacekeeping agency.

Apparently, a substantial amount of money was involved, and some nobles had even been arrested, I heard.

"...I won't pry into the details."

"Well, whatever's been uncovered is likely more than what I know."

Anyway, it's pointless to keep observing humans forever, so let's move on.

"Well, how about we try it? It's supposed to be a specialty of the Glogrobeta system."

"Yes, that sounds like a good idea."

Vilijani and I decided to buy some of the Glogrobeta system's specialty items—vegetable chips, fruit juice, and the like—from a souvenir shop and try a portion of them in the eat-in area.

Also, of course, there are species that appear in this story but are not featured in this particular scene.