135: Getting Started

"It's started, huh?"

"Yeah."

"Finally, I guess."

After the Viscount Nilyaniteck and six others arrived, about the amount of time it took for the survival game to end two rounds had passed.

At last, the conversation concluded, and the Viscount Nilyaniteck and his companions stood up, leaving the room.

"We won't pursue them directly, but track them remotely from here, right?"

"Yes, that's correct. Also, we'll need Satu and Mei to focus on tracking, so at least for an hour, I'll be patrolling the surroundings with Joharis."

"Understood."

One android is estimated to be at the front, another at the rear.

In the middle, the viscount with his attendant, followed by a maid and an ordinary man, then something with mechanical intelligence behind them.

The maid seems a bit suspicious in her movements, but otherwise, they're all walking calmly.

"Master Vee. Master Sata. Just to confirm, while in the VIP room, did you notice any exchange of items?"

"I didn't check. Sata, what about you?"

"I couldn't see that detail. But I'm certain no one except the viscount's attendant and the maid came within touching distance of each other. And the viscount's attendant didn't approach anyone other than the viscount himself."

"In other words, it's highly likely there was no exchange of physical evidence?"

The viscounts moved to the parking lot adjacent to the training ground without meeting anyone.

Moreover, the parking lot is well-managed, so every entry and exit by whom and at what time is precisely recorded.

Then, the maid and the ordinary man parted ways with the viscounts here and began their separate actions.

I'll note down the general size and color of the car.

If I record this with Memoqsi's cooperation, I should be able to figure out who that man was and where he came from.

"One more thing to confirm. From Viscount Vee's perspective, were they calm or agitated?"

"As far as I could tell, they seemed calm. So, if there was any sort of transaction, at least it wouldn't have escalated into an overtly heated situation."

The remaining viscount, his attendants, the artificial intelligence, and the two androids got into a high-end vehicle visible even to the main body's eyes, and drove out beyond the parking lot.

Incidentally, this vehicle is undoubtedly owned by Viscount Narianiteck.

In other words, whoever met here today isn't someone the Viscount Narianiteck would need to hide.

Incidentally, the Narianiteck viscount's residence here at this orbital colony is a secondary estate; the main mansion is located in the capital of planet Narianipotts 1.

It seems he owns several such secondary residences scattered across the Narianipotts system.

However, the homes he openly possesses are only the ones visible to the public—when including the hidden ones, the number becomes quite substantial, far too many to ever thoroughly investigate.

"Sat. How about it?"

"The car is being tracked without issue. Give me the map—I'll mark the route."

I continued following the vehicle.

Whenever the car stopped due to some reason, I checked inside to confirm there was no mistake and no change in circumstances.

At the same time, I manually drew the route up to our current location on the map.

Additionally, their positions inside the car were as follows: the viscount and his attendant, both seated separately from the mechanical intelligence.

The two androids were both seated in the front of the vehicle—one in the driver's seat and the other in the passenger seat.

"Hmm, huh. Yeah, leaving this to Satou was definitely the right call. We're not taking the shortest and most efficient route in terms of safety and time, but rather the optimal path to confirm whether we're being followed."

"The heretical mechanical intelligence is also moving, isn't it? If we try to follow it by crawling through the cameras in the training area, the pursuit would be exposed, and traps would be set as counters. The memo didn't get caught, and since there was no need to disarm it, we didn't."

"Is that so? It's fortunate we didn't pursue directly. If we had, we'd have unnecessarily alerted our opponent."

Are they really concerned about being tracked?

It's fine if they know we've met, but they don't want the destination after this to be known, is that it?

If that's the case, then for the viscount, this place might just be a decoy, and the real target lies ahead.

"«««———!?»»"

That was when I realized it.

Suddenly, a white wall surged upward, completely covering the window of the room we were in.

"Memo!"

"Wha—!?"

"What the—!?"

"Damn it!"

Vilijanira screamed.

Memoqui froze, halting even facial expressions and posture, then began acting.

Joharis broke through the room's door to secure an escape route.

Extending to protect the main body, pulling it back into safety.

A deafening roar echoed, and emergency alarms blared.

Lights switched to emergency power, and the spectator monitor feed cut out.

"What happened!?"

"It appears the exercise field's blocks and module controls have been hijacked. At the same time as generating pillars that crushed the spectator stands, a large pit was formed within the exercise field, threatening to cause fatal falls. However, the memo promptly regained control, so it's believed the collapse of the pillars and the fatal falls were mostly prevented."

Hacking, perhaps.

But this facility was supposed to be managed by the Imperial Army and mechanical intelligences.

Could we really cause a catastrophe so severe that even Memokshi’s intervention wouldn’t be enough to prevent it?

At this point, there’s no other way to describe it—this is nothing short of abnormal.

"Alert to the Security Maintenance System completed! And hurry with the evacuation! Those who can move should get to safety on their own—this way, we won’t burden rescue efforts!"

"I understand. Let’s go, all three of us."

"Satu, can you carry me?"

"Got it."

Following Joharis's lead, I carry Memokshi, who seems focused on the exercise field's control, and we leave the room.

At the same time, I attempt to reposition the main body's legs and resume tracking the viscounts... but it's no use.

I've completely lost their trail.

I'll peek into the viscount's residence within the base colony later, but I shouldn't expect any worthwhile results.

"But who would do something like this... No, actually, that hardly matters."

"That's right. The signature of the program used to hack the training grounds matches exactly the one from the heretical machine intelligence we planted a memo into yesterday. There's no doubt about it."

"Does that mean our tracking was discovered?"

"I believe so. But it's unlikely that both Satā and the memo's tracking would have been exposed, so it's more natural to assume it was someone else's tracking that was revealed."

"Probably. But would they really cause such a massive disaster just to shake off tracking... Regardless of what they're hiding, one thing is certain—they're not compatible with us."

"I agree. For now, let's set aside whether the viscount is white or black. First, we must suppress the heretical machine intelligence at all costs."

Shortly after, police and rescue teams arrived.

We safely retreated to a secure area without incident.

Although there were no fatalities among facility users other than us, thanks to Meikoshi's immediate control, many suffered serious and minor injuries.

Furthermore, this incident—along with other simultaneous events—became a major news story that shook not only the space colony base but the entire Nierani Potts system.