302: The Imposter Incident

"I see. In that case, there are several matters we must now question in reverse. Lord Dragstarck. Are you truly the real one?"

Vilijanira asked Dragstarck with a serious expression.

At the same time, I and Johalis prepared ourselves for anything that might happen.

Mekoxi... seems to be communicating with someone somewhere.

"At the very least, as far as the mechanical intelligences aboard this vessel can determine, I am genuine. No impostors have appeared so far, and there are no signs of foreign objects implanted in my body. However, the possibility that I've been replaced by a perfectly copied impostor—whose thoughts and memories have been duplicated entirely, beyond the reach of mechanical perception—cannot, unfortunately, be ruled out."

"……"

There was no sign of hesitation or deception in Dragstarque's expression.

And if Dragstarque's words were actually carried out, unless Vilijanira and Dragstarque were already acquainted, it would be impossible to detect the deception.

Moreover, considering what the oppressors in the Shibrasmith system had done, the execution of such suspicions is technically feasible.

To clear up the doubt, the only way is to uncover the source of the counterfeit.

No, in some cases, even after discovering the source, it might still remain uncertain.

It's quite a troublesome matter, I can understand why Virijanira would be troubled by it.

"Captain Dragstark... no, let's set aside the matter of the people aboard the ship for now. We just need to implement double and triple layers of mutual surveillance to prevent any suspicious behavior."

"Yes, that's exactly what I'm doing as well."

Then again, considering that Viljaniela's eyes aren't reacting, I think Dragstarck is fine—certainly not likely to make any immediately fatal moves.

"The second point I'd like to confirm. Dragstarck, you seem to have somewhat relaxed your vigilance toward us. Given our current situation, wouldn't it be reasonable to lock you in solitary confinement immediately?"

"I see. A perfectly reasonable question. The answer is simple. Because you've been watching us so closely, we've judged you to be trustworthy."

"……"

Dragstarck reactivated his information terminal, displaying the data from the previous two pairs on the monitor.

What appeared there was...

"——!?"

"Ah, I see. The reason we captured that earlier footage wasn't because we failed to... "

"Wait... so it was like that from the very beginning...?"

The footage showed Pseudo-Vilijanila A arriving at 'Tamaimazekawa,' acting arrogantly and shouting boastfully, until her excessively insolent behavior led to her being captured by soldiers and thrown into a private cell.

Even as the fake Viridianiya B, she was so quiet she seemed dazed—hard to describe, really. Every single movement was unnaturally slow and meaningless, so in the end, she was judged a fake and quietly sent to a private room.

"We crew members of the 'Taimamazekawa' know Lady Villigianira only by hearsay. Some among us haven't even heard her name. Yet we understand at least a part of what is expected of those descended from the Imperial family. Therefore, we don't merely remain cautious—we can tell at once when someone acts in a manner unworthy of such a lineage."

"…….That's not all, is it."

"Do you understand? Yes, indeed. To be honest, it's actually easier with the servants themselves. Lord Sata, Lord Mekoshi, Lord Johalis—each of them is unique, so even impostors couldn't perfectly replicate them. Thus, to be honest, identifying them after capture was remarkably easy."

So spoke Dragstarck.

My fake was just a mere android, and Herb openly and normally produced the herb, which turned out to be an illegal drug.

The fake Memox was found to possess illegal mechanical intelligence and a forged ID.

The fake Joharis was nuclear-based, but by this point, it was already impossible to imitate the non-nuclear Joharis.

So apparently, the identification was remarkably easy.

"You aren't someone who can immediately be declared a fake. As for whether you're genuine or not... we can wait until the situation is resolved. There's a chance that several more groups might come to visit Lady Virijanila, after all."

"That's a scenario I'd rather not think about..."

But now that it's come to this, a slight doubt has begun to arise.

This fleet, including the Taimamazeka, is currently navigating through hyperspace, but the route it's taking is neither standard nor publicly known.

The fact that a fake has been allowed to join seems to be due to Funaka's technology, but the quality of this fake appears too low for that.

What on earth is going on?

Or perhaps Funaka, like the Emperor and the others, has calculated everything... No, even so, the quality of these fakes is still too poor...

Moreover, the fake Imperial soldiers don't seem to be of poor quality, so why is it only our fakes that are... It just feels off somehow.

"Given that, Lady Viridiana, we'd like your cooperation in resolving this situation. To ensure mutual oversight and collaboration, we'll be assigning Imperial soldiers to monitor you. Is that acceptable?"

"Understood. We'll keep a close watch on each other to avoid any suspicious actions, and together we'll uncover the root cause."

"Please. You really seem like someone I can trust."

For now, let's save this discussion for later.

Well, Vilijaniara probably has her doubts too, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

06/03 Correction of typo