164: Summary of the Nellianipotts System

"Is this it? Memoqsi."

"Yes, received. There don't seem to be any issues. I'll send it over there."

Several days had passed since the ancient rifle race.

In the meantime, we'd been busy with various things—sightseeing casually, solving unexpected incidents we happened to encounter, gathering information about the Silbrassmith system, collecting intel on the Empire's frontier, and basically doing some basic research on the Sirtrilich system under the guise of it, each of us tending to our own personal matters.

What I'm currently working on with Mequoshi is one of our personal tasks—creating specifications for a cultivation chamber needed to grow Heikyo Moruly in the Ether Space, to be built in the Sybrassmith system.

Yeah, since it's an unfamiliar task for me, I've had to go back and revise it multiple times.

With Seiryō Corporation, I could just go straight to the point, clarify the core issues, and quickly finalize the specifications... but that's just wishful thinking, huh.

"Satā, the memo says the materials on the Niryani Tek Genzokusha and the heretical mechanical intelligence that became a cosmic monster-like entity known as Inakaini have been compiled. Shall we review them together?"

"Understood."

"Got it."

Just as we are actively moving, others beyond us are also in motion.

With that in mind, a report on their results has reached Vilijaniara, so we've prepared some drinks and snacks, and then Joharis operated the viewing equipment to show us what it contained.

"First, let's talk about the Viscount Niliyanitek family."

"Naturally, the viscount's family was disbanded as expected."

Well, aiming for the throne of a star system ruler—basically, that's just rebellion, isn't it?

Moreover, spreading years of misconduct and sowing discord—wouldn't it be more problematic if no disciplinary action were taken?

Viscount Nieranitech

To be precise, they are already the former viscount's family.

After all, they held a crucial position overseeing the adjustment of the Nierani Potz system's S-W, yet abused their authority and plotted rebellion against the Nierani Potz system—thus, their dissolution was nothing short of justified.

Although the family has been dissolved, punishment for each individual is still to come.

The Empire does not believe in punishing children for their parents' crimes; instead, each person will be thoroughly investigated and only those proven guilty will be punished.

That said, without a home or assets, even those who haven't committed any crimes will likely face a tough future.

"Hmm. So the facility where Inakai was held was prepared by Lord Nillianitech?"

"It seems so. It appears they intended to use force if necessary."

"With a force that small? That's unrealistic."

"In truth, it seems the unit was deployed as a diversion to buy time for escape to another star system. It would be pointless to build such extensive facilities just for that purpose, so during normal times, they were also used for underground dealings involving both physical and electronic exchanges."

"Oh, I get it now."

The facility located on Planet Nelianipotts 1 was reportedly constructed over decades through collaboration between the Viscount Nelianitech, the 'Black Root,' and other criminal organizations present within the Nelianipotts system.

Originally situated in a remote area of the planet, unused for any known competitions, and carefully concealed through meticulous maintenance, the site remained hidden—partly because the official landowner had been the Nelianitech Viscount family—thus evading discovery until now.

And from the note left by Mekokushi—stating it was used for backdoor dealings—it becomes clear why Inakaini fled there and turned into a fake space monster.

"Ah, I see. That place concealed the mastermind's information—perhaps even ties to the Siltorilich system. That's why they went to such lengths, transforming Inakaini into a fake space monster, just to erase the evidence."

I agree with Sata. The report states that important data was lost due to Inakaini's actions, but among the lost data, there were certainly pieces of information that, if exposed, could have traced back to the source.

The report states that due to Inakaini's actions, all valuable electronic information within that facility was lost.

However, since electronic information wasn't the only kind of data available, it seemed possible to infer what kind of information had been present based on the other remaining sources.

In other words, details about who was involved in illegal transactions and what items were being exchanged.

As a result, the report ended up listing a significant number of names—individuals, companies, star systems, and various objects.

Yet, information surrounding the Siltrilich system seemed to exist exclusively in electronic form.

No matter how thoroughly searched, it couldn't be found.

Seriously, not even once—not at all.

Not even a single mention of anyone who taught the method of spreading discord.

Yeah, when you put all our information together, it really does seem like the mastermind is someone from the Siltrilich system.

"And we still can't determine the origin of Inakaini."

"Contact with the former viscount of Narianiteck occurred about a year before the incident. Their movements before that remain completely unclear."

"It seems this information was also something the mastermind behind the Siltrilichi system wished to conceal."

"I agree. Most likely, Inakaini's origin was also within the Siltrilichi system."

Inakaini's place of origin and the route taken to reach the Narianipots system remain unknown.

However, since there were no traces even in the usual network, it is believed that someone must have infiltrated by storing the data on a memory medium.

Well, there's not much we can do to prevent this, and once someone's on the regular network, they'll inevitably be detected by other machine intelligences... We'll just have to deal with it as it comes up.

Incidentally, the Inakaini operating in the Nerialnipots system appears to have infiltrated the network using the ID of another machine intelligence that died in a separate accident, different from the Mekokushi.

It seems the machine intelligences across the empire are now frantically checking things in response to this.

"Then, there are other reports to go through, so shall we keep looking?"

"Indeed."

As Vilijaniira spoke, the next piece of information appeared on screen.