202: Manufacturer of Magatsuki

"Let's retreat to the hotel for today. It looks like this will drag on."

"Got it."

"Understood."

"Roger that."

With Vilijanira's words, we leave the rental conference room.

We don't know how Magatsuki or Suumeree will move, nor where they're hiding.

In that case, there's nothing we can do—our only option is to leave it to the local police.

So, we'll keep a slight watchfulness as we return to our usual routine.

Returning... one day passed... two days passed... three days passed.

Yeah, nothing happened.

I stayed on guard the entire first day, but by the second day, since nothing at all happened, I was able to resume my research in the greenhouse, visit the powered suit workshop to adjust the cockpit for piloting my powered suit form, add minor equipment upgrades, and so on—basically, I managed to get a lot done because absolutely nothing occurred.

"Hmm, if nothing's happening at all, could it be that Magatsuki missed the transfer from the personal colony and was accidentally ejected into space?"

"There's no denying that possibility. Nothing's happening at all, after all."

"Magatsuki might be fine in space, but Su'mere needs a high-grade environmental stabilization mod to function there. Even if she had it, it's already been three days. If she'd been ejected into space at the time of the transfer, she'd normally be dead by now."

"So it depends on the abilities Magatsuki hasn't shown, then?"

"That's right. It's not a very high probability, though."

"Well, if you could just whip up the necessary mods like Sata does, you'd probably be doing something different, right? And I think that's something we're both aware of."

With that, we're currently holed up in the hotel, chatting casually.

Also, the upgrade to the 'Carnival Viper' should be completed in just a few more days, so by the time we leave the Shibra Smith star system, it'll definitely be getting closer.

If things stay still... well, it depends on Viridian, but we might just head toward the Vanilla Sid system without resolving anything.

"Vee-sama, Sata-sama, Johalis-sama. We've received information from another star system."

"Go ahead."

At that moment, Memokshi speaks up.

It seems some information has come through.

"The content of the information is about the manufacturer of Magatsuki."

"Aah, right, you mentioned earlier you'd heard from the transport company and were looking into it."

Memoku projected the gathered information onto a display visible to everyone in the room, using the indoor equipment to operate it.

"Hmm... uh?"

"This is quite a peculiar phenomenon, isn't it?"

"Looks like one mystery is calling out to another."

The name of the star system where Magatsuki was manufactured... I don't recognize it, but it's not particularly noteworthy.

What's more important to focus on is...

"As you can see, on the very day the shipping company handed Magatsuki over to a sword-specialized art dealer—more precisely, at the moment the memo detected Magatsuki's reaction—every single one of the 37 employees at the workshop that manufactured Magatsuki... had committed suicide."

The fact that every single manufacturer had died.

Moreover, they weren't simply dead—they had died in an extraordinary manner, according to eyewitness accounts and autopsy reports: anyone with access to a nearby blade had slit their own throat, and those without a blade had forcibly torn open their throats with their fingernails.

Although no drugs were detected in the bodies, traces of an extremely powerful physical control mod were confirmed.

"Satā-sama. Could you confirm the contents of the residue? I'm nearly certain, but..."

"Understood. Just a moment... Ah yes, this is Magatsuki's body control mod. The configuration matches."

Having received the attached data on the body control mod residue from Memokushi, I quickly checked its contents.

Yeah, this is definitely Magatsuki's.

"I see. So the people at the Zensuza Workshop were killed on Magatsuki's orders. The fact that the command reached them despite being far from the Star System indicates Magatsuki's power. That makes sense, but why go through the trouble of making them commit suicide?"

"Could they have been holding onto some crucial information?"

"All the documentation regarding Magatsuki's manufacturing has reportedly been preserved. Please verify this as well."

Continuing, verify the documents regarding the Magatsuki manufacturing that remained at the Zensūsa Workshop.

Hmm, according to this...

One day, a metallic mass shaped like a biological bone was brought into the workshop.

The person who brought it requested that a sword be forged from this metallic mass, and the workshop accepted the commission.

As a result, six swords were crafted.

Apparently, the craftsmanship was exceptional, as the surviving records describe the workshop master's excited state.

The client took home the finest of the six, while the remaining five were sold off.

One of those five happened to be Magatsuki.

"Ugh, there are five more of those blades out there...?"

"This is serious. Now we have a sudden surge in tasks—tracking down the client, locating the remaining five blades, and investigating their whereabouts."

"Yeah. The search for the client seems especially important. From what I've seen in the documents, the client appears to have known exactly what they were doing when they made the request."

"Is that so? Ah, yeah, I guess so…"

"Are the cases where items have gone missing ones where the client themselves brought them in?"

In addition, the documents also stated the following.

When creating the items, the worker was instructed to wear gloves provided by the client and to pack the finished product into a case also provided by the client for transport.

Since the gloves weren't disruptive to the work and the pay was good, it seems the worker followed the instructions.

Yeah, it's almost certain that those gloves and case were part of the precautions taken to prevent Magatsuki from taking over the body during production.

Moreover, since such an instruction couldn't be given without full knowledge, the client is definitely the one behind it.

"The client's name is a fake, vanished without a trace. The suspicious party might be... 'Black Root'?"

"Or perhaps the mastermind behind the space monster impersonator—the human from the Siltrilich system."

"It feels likely that 'Black Root' was operating on-site, while the human from the Siltrilich system was pulling the strings from behind the scenes."

The true identity of the client... I can make an educated guess, but I'll leave it at that.

They're beyond our reach.

"Now, the real question is how to use this information to capture or eliminate Magatsuki."

"Since it's confirmed they're hostile toward humanity, that also means we've got a clear target, right?"

There's no data on the composition ratio of the remaining metal... Still, one could say that given the metallic mass brought in, it's highly likely it originally came from a much larger cosmic beast.

A warning has been issued across the entire empire regarding blades identical to Magatsuki. For now, that's all we can do.

Perhaps I've seen a glimpse of the truth behind Magatsuki.

It was originally a much larger cosmic monster, said to have been reconfigured into the shape of a blade.

But it's not material capable of moving the current situation.

Hmm, what are the Magatsuki doing right now?