90. Truce, Then

The fleet that had mediated the civil unrest on Halmaine and constructed the orbital elevator had safely returned to Agirakana.

Meanwhile, in Japan, a general election had taken place. The Liberal Democratic Party secured a comfortable majority in seats, coming close to two-thirds of the total. Adding the seats of the potential ruling party, the lower house now held more than two-thirds of the seats—constitutional amendment, for the first time, was within reach.

As a result of this election, the leader of the Liberal Democratic Party, Keiichi Yamada, was chosen as Prime Minister in both houses, securing his continuation in office, with no cabinet reshuffle taking place.

Former party members, including a former minister, who had previously been mentioned in connection with foreign donations, were now being prosecuted and indicted—something unprecedented in their case history. Meanwhile, multiple instances of large-scale "indirect donations" from foreign entities had come to light, prompting discussions on establishing legal regulations.

Based on pre-election talks with Agirakana, the Japanese Government shifted its focus toward actively promoting immigration.

Given that increased immigration to Agirakana will inevitably exacerbate labor shortages within Japan, Agirakana has decided to provide, at no cost, high-performance humanoid robots—standardized by Earth’s metrics, of course—to the Japanese Government. For each Japanese immigrant family, two robots are slated to be loaned to the Japanese Government. For single individuals, the official stance is one robot; however, from Agirakana’s perspective, the cost of the robots is effectively negligible, so in practice, it will amount to two regardless.

This robot is deliberately detuned to prevent it from engaging in so-called advanced intellectual labor requiring certification; however, it is capable of autonomous decision-making and exhibits extremely high operational efficiency. Combined with the Japanese Government’s swift regulatory relaxation, this has made its usage exceptionally affordable for industries struggling with labor shortages—so much so that widespread adoption is anticipated. Naturally, its applications are also expected in agriculture, fishing, transportation, retail, and beyond.

Although the robot is leased to the Japanese Government, an agreement has been established such that, following retirements prompted by immigration, it is prioritized for re-leasing to companies that have experienced such departures. Consequently, some firms have begun actively encouraging their employees to pursue immigration, and this trend appears poised to evolve into a significant social issue in Japan.

Of course, both the capacity and the number of immigration centers are gradually increasing. Even this season, with its short recruitment period, approximately three hundred thousand immigrants—seventy million including families—are estimated to be en route to Agirakana. Annualized, this amounts to several million people.

Previously, we had considered providing education for immigrants’ children only up to the Japanese high school level within Agirakana, leaving higher education to be handled through studying in Japan. But given the sheer scale of this population, we’ve reconsidered and decided to establish a comprehensive university on Satsumaimo Island, the destination of choice. The island’s name, Satsumaimo, has been met with some criticism—it’s considered a bit awkward, apparently. It was just a name I picked on a whim, with no particular thought behind it. The residents will likely rename it themselves eventually.

The comprehensive university plans to introduce specialized Agirakana education programs, with graduate schools and affiliated research institutes established for those individuals who demonstrate aptitude and express interest in continuing their studies.

In the future, we anticipate that talent capable of advancing Agirakana science and technology will emerge from such research institutions.

As for the mediation outcome at Halmaine, we have secured one planet within the neighboring star system as a reserve destination for Earth-based移民. We have informed the Alze side that settlement will not begin for at least several decades.

Settling within Agirakana is no concern at all—infrastructure of any kind can be erected in short order. But for migration beyond Halmaine, large-scale infrastructure will need to be built from scratch. That said, if a single workship and a cargo vessel fully stocked with materials are dispatched in reasonable numbers, the workship can be reconfigured into task-specific vessels, making the construction of infrastructure—well, trivial. Even if infrastructure development begins only after the migration plan is finalized, there’s absolutely no need to worry.

The matter of migrating toward that sector remains a distant prospect, but in accordance with the agreement with Alze, numerous Zeno-warning probes have already been deployed around the Alze region. The number will increase further in the future, but even with the current deployment, we’ll receive warnings fifty years before a Zeno incursion. As long as no supermassive Zeno swarm approaches like one heading straight for the Solar System, we—Agirakana—intend to repel it ourselves.

With that settled, one might say the broad outline is finally in place.

At long last, my worries as the one Earthling selected to become captain of the planet-class starship Agirakana seem to have vanished.

Back when I was a company employee, watching meteors streak across the night sky—well, that’s when everything changed. Perhaps it’s time for me to retire.

First constitutional amendment: we’re marking this as the first. Apologies for the formality.

Thank you for reading this far.

Please see me through to the end.