41: Follow-up on the Incident – 1

"Um, let's write it like this. For this photo, we'll arrange it like this..."

"Great with the text. Great with the photos. It looks good. Let's send it over to editing..."

Several days had passed since the visit to the Tifriz Corporation's mod manufacturing plant.

Recently, I visited several other facilities as part of the factory tour—metal component plants used in agricultural machinery, factories that turn various types of waste into fertilizer, and even spacecraft that undergo supply and maintenance operations while moving from unloading to loading docks.

Thanks to all of this, I’ve gathered plenty of material for my article, and today, cooped up in the hotel room, I’m fully focused on writing.

In addition, there are other places I'm involved in at Vilijaniara's request—things that can't be included in the article.

A major hospital within the First Colony, sometimes called upon to treat injured individuals from the planet Grogrobeta 1.

An orphanage raising children who have lost both parents and have no one else to take them in, due to various circumstances.

The police station seemed somewhat bustling, so we refrained from looking too deeply, wary of adding to the burden—just a casual glance was enough.

That was the case.

Of course, as expected, there was nothing amiss anywhere.

By the way, regarding the orphanage—though it officially operates as an independent charity, it's actually deeply entangled with the Imperial Army... Well, no doubt some of those children will end up becoming our junior comrades someday, probably.

Still, if they're going to serve the Empire, that's not a bad future at all, so I suppose it's fine.

"Miss Vee, Master Sata. Reports are coming in from various locations."

Understood. Sata, shall we take a break for a moment?

Yeah, let's do that.

We're not the only ones moving.

There’s an increasingly uneasy atmosphere spreading across the entire Grogrobeta system, seemingly centered around Prime Colony One. Memoqsi has been appearing at intelligence units, security forces, police, and local governments alike, delivering the information we’ve gathered while also bringing back data that they’ve judged to be safe for us to access.

Then, let’s hear Memoqsi’s report—taking this as a chance to rest our bodies as well.

Hmm, the scent of flower tea today is helping me relax again.

"Then, let's hear the reports in order. First, the latest update on the destruction of the Gigaroku Space Pirates."

"Was it said to have collapsed from within?"

"Yes."

First, details on the destruction of the Gigaroku Space Pirates.

This case is notable because the Gigaroku Space Pirates were a large-scale pirate group, and there were many suspicious aspects, so no information has appeared on general news sites at all.

Therefore, the information about Memokushi will become particularly valuable.

"It seems one of the causes is that the higher-ups attempted to purge their subordinates, while some senior officers carried out insurrections against their superiors—these events coincided and created a critical turning point."

"I see."

"However, what's more important than the cause of the collapse is what came afterward. Information has emerged from the data recovered from the space pirates captured by Lady Vee and the ship subdued by Lady Sata."

Memoqui said.

As soon as the internal collapse began, high-ranking officials and some technicians fled.

Those space pirates who attacked the 'Tsumebakei' were just such people.

The fugitives have scattered throughout the empire, going into hiding, and have begun committing lawlessness across various regions.

As a result, it seems the Imperial Army and hunters specializing in hunting space pirates are experiencing their prime opportunity.

"Can we completely eliminate them?"

"It's going to be difficult. The remnants of the Gigaroku Space Pirate Gang, if you could call them that, have already taken root across various regions. While we can eliminate the more noticeable ones, if they blend in among ordinary citizens, we'll inevitably miss some."

"And it's always the ones we miss that end up having troublesome skills—growing strong underground like that. This is going to be a real headache."

"That's true. The memo units can only report or suppress remnants if they happen to come across them—there's no capacity to actively search them out."

"I understand that. I may not want to accept it, but we'll have to make peace with it."

This is going to be a deep-rooted problem that'll plague us for years.

It's true the Giga-Roku Space Pirates themselves may have collapsed, but their seeds have already spread throughout the empire.

Even if there's temporary peace, it's undeniable that it will leave behind seeds of future trouble.

"There's an update regarding the crab that appeared aboard the *Lymstsuno*."

"Ah, that one."

Mekox continued speaking.

"Experts have re-examined the artificial human manufacturing device aboard the *Lymstsuno*."

"Ah, I see."

"Apparently, the artificial human manufacturing device was undeniably destroyed by Lord Sata's own hands. However, experts have found clear traces of the mysterious crab being created after the destruction. What's troubling is that there are no signs of any unknown mod being used—according to specialists, the situation remains completely inexplicable."

"……"

Seems like something highly abnormal is going on here.

It doesn't make sense at all—how could something be falling out of a broken device?

"A joint inquiry has been sent to Lord Sata from Seiryo Corporation, the Intelligence Division, the police, and the Imperial Army, asking if you have any idea what might be going on. How would you respond?"

"What kind of response do you expect...? All I know is what I felt at the time—something jumped through space, and some kind of interference occurred. That's all."

"I'll go with that reply.... The intelligence unit immediately followed up with another question—'Do you have any detailed information about the space monster?'"

"About space monsters... "

The intelligence unit—someone at least in contact with Mequex—seems to be fairly close by.

I won't go looking for them, though.

I'm sorry, but I'm not a typical alien monster. That crab-like creature was somewhat similar to an alien monster, but it was just a fake. So, I have no idea what regular alien monsters are like.

I see.

"Given that we're getting questions like this, the intelligence unit probably assumes that the infamous crab is related to alien monsters... but whether they're actually involved remains unconfirmed. If you're narrowing things down based solely on my information, you'd be better off broadening your perspective."

"I'll pass that along."

"Well, that's about all I can say from my end."

As for the infamous crab... in the end, we're still left in the dark.

We don't know why it appeared, or who caused it.

It's not confirmed whether my actions had anything to do with the appearance of that crab.

At this point, the only thing we can say is that we've come to realize how much remains unknown.

"Note. Any other information?"

"Yes. Next up is the incident of the serial killer at the guide colony."

Well, it seems there's still more to the story.

Let's hear it out.

10/01 Correction of typo