episode_0025

At that time, near the Starlight Colony area. Le=Kandar district.

Kyaang!

“Tch.”

A large, middle-aged man stabs a cue stick into the air and hits a billiard ball. As soon as he hits it, his eyebrows furrow.

“Damn, playing billiards in zero gravity is so boring.”

The white ball that hits the cue stick moves forward, but hits the wall and bounces back to the square.

It bounces three-dimensionally in the internal space of the spacecraft rather than in the flat space of a billiard table, and rather than touching the yellow ball, the white ball is moving according to inertia in a completely different space.

“Damn, I came to catch Fenrir, but it was all empty.”

“Hehe, hehe. older brother. Rest assured though. If you get a clue, you will definitely find it quickly.”

Next to the middle-aged man, a thin, rat-like man was bowing his head and shaking his head.

“Who are we? Aren’t you a beast hunter? Even if he is the Creator, he cannot be our, or even your brother’s, opponent.”

“Keuhum. Guy.”

The middle-aged man, space pirate ‘Cradle’, stroked his nose with his hand and twisted the corners of his mouth.

“That’s obvious. But is that really true?”

“When you say that… oh, do you mean ‘that woman’?”

“Yes!”

Cradle burst into anger at the word ‘that woman’ and touched the long scar over his left eye with his hand.

“Damn, damn. When I think about that woman, this wound still throbs.”

“The opportunity for revenge will come soon. According to inside information, the woman is planning to go out on the Academy’s ship…”

“Are you sure about that information?”

“Yes. This information was obtained by hacking the personal SNS of an internal official. It was just plastered with curses. The stones that rolled in ignored the system and did as they pleased.”

“Hmm… Well, I’m not interested in internal conflicts.”

The man licked his lips and played with the fourth finger of his left left hand.

“If we don’t get any information about Fenrir, we’ll take ‘our’ bride to the watermelon. Kkeukkeuk….”

“Oh my, wasn’t she your brother’s bride?”

“Should I get a bride for myself and a bride for us?”

“Wow, as expected, brother! You are a great person!”

“Yes, yes.”

I don’t even think about the person who will give me rice cake, but it would be like this if I started drinking kimchi soup.

[older brother. I will report to you. The ‘Bride Transport Ship’ is currently approaching the current area. It seems like they are out to hunt the ether monster.]

“Oh, really?! Then, would you like to move like a space pirate?”

What the person giving the rice cake thinks is not important to them at all.

“Let’s go, guys! Eat it all up!”

Because these are pirates.

* * *

[Advanced reconnaissance, Lee Sang-mu. Le=It seems that there are no special enemies in the Kandar area.]

“Hmm….”

After a report came in from Natalia’s platoon, which had gone out to scout the surrounding area aboard Harkon.

“What do you think, instructor.”

The captain turned his head towards me and asked for my opinion.

“Which instructor are you talking about?”

“…This was rude. I asked both instructors.”

The captain may have originally asked for my opinion, but perhaps because he noticed Aria’s feelings, he also secretly asked for Aria’s opinion.

“Le=The Kandar area is full of colony remains. There’s nothing strange about an ether monster wandering around nearby to devour any remaining ether.”

Instructor Aria calmly expressed her opinion.

An extremely common sense, extremely exemplary, and extremely textbook answer.

“Who is the cloud instructor?”

“I think so too.”

I have no intention of denying the obvious proposition ‘1+1=2’.

“Excluding the variable Fenrir, it is highly likely that only ether monsters will appear in this area.”

But this is not math class.

“It seems that Harkon with the Colony Defense Mark is scanning the surroundings and they are not coming out, but if Harkon with the Academy mark is out, they will come out right away.”

“Space pirates… you mean?”

“Yes.”

“……Captain. I.”

“No. It’s not allowed.”

Aria stood up and made a move as if she wanted to go to the hangar, but Captain Edmund firmly stopped her.

“Are you here as an instructor, or as an ace pilot from Virgo Colony?”

“That’s….”

“According to the list I received, there is only one student being organized into the main unit and four students from the reserve unit.”

“…….”

“There is no Harkon for you. Even if a situation arises where I have to send you out, I will not let you go.”

Without me needing to stop him, Captain Edmund suppressed Aria.

“And when space pirates appear, isn’t there this battleship? haha. Even though it is a small ship, its combat power is sufficient.”

As Captain Edmund said.

Although it is not a very large battleship, this third ship of Gargantia is capable of dealing with space pirates.

“Instructor Aria. Have you ever dealt with space pirates?”

“…there is a little bit.”

“Have you ever participated in a battle to eradicate space pirates?”

“That doesn’t exist.”

“I see. If so, rest assured. I have no intention of forcing a practical manual on you.”

According to the Great Space Pirate Manual.

“An excellent pilot said that. If the space pirates were strong enough to drag a large battleship around, they would probably have been caught before they got close to the area.”

“…….”

My eyes are looking ahead, but why are the eyes reflected in the glass window looking at me?

-No, are you stupid?! If it’s large enough to not be detected by radar, it’s still a small battleship!

“……You were young.”

“Yes? Instructor Cloud, what did you just say?”

“No. I just did it because it reminded me of old times. When I was young, I thought space pirates rode around on super-large battleships.”

It was because it reminded me of boarding a very large battleship and using the rudder like a sailing ship sailing the seas of the Middle Ages.

“It is best to have an ace pilot sortie against pirates. Captain. I propose a sortie.”

“Ah. Huh. Are you ready?”

[yes!]

You’ve probably heard all the stories from the bridge, but you can only feel a little tension in the bold answers.

“Then, let’s sortie.”

“Lavender Whitely, Harkon. Standby.”

As I give instructions as an operator using the pad, the screen on one side of the monitor illuminates the hangar.

Clap, clap, clap.

Although it is a small ship, as it was built with the assumption of combat, this ship also has a ‘catapult’.

Rattling.

Harkon, equipped with a space booster backpack, climbs on the catapult, his eyes sparkling.

[Lavender Whitely, Harkon! Let’s go!]

Ta-ang!

With a sound like a gunshot, Harkon moves forward along the catapult’s rail.

“Really.”

No matter how many times I watch it, the scene where the aircraft takes off makes me sweat.

When you are directly on the aircraft, you may feel pressure due to the overload of inertia, but when you sortie into outer space, you will even enjoy that unique feeling of pressure.

purple.

There, Harkon is flying in orbit, spewing out boosters as much as he wants into space.

“11:15 AM on the universal calendar. As of now, Edmund Ham is carrying out a sweep of the ether monsters in the R=Kandar sector.”

With the captain’s instructions.

“Ether Dust, distribution begins!”

From the Starpiece ship, a huge amount of ether powder began to spread.

“Ah.”

After turning the line to ‘focused line’ for a while.

“Can you hear me, Lavender.”

[Ah yes! Instructor, I can hear you well!]

“…Change the line first.”

Because she answered through an all-line line instead of a 1:1 line, Lavender’s voice rang out on the bridge for a moment.

[Ah, ah! yes…! Sorry!]

“I have to apologize for this. Next time, don’t make a mistake.”

It is a nuisance for all of the pilot’s voices to enter the bridge.

Even if it’s just one person.

“Have you ever tried fishing?”

[yes? Fishing? I’ve only heard stories…]

“…I see. There is an ocean on Earth. Although it is possible even if it is not in the sea, you have to spread bait to catch fish.”

For a moment, Captain Edmund smiled at me, but I ignored his gaze and continued talking.

“The ether dust sprinkled near you is a bait to attract the ether monster.”

[ah…!]

“Monsters who smell the ether powder scattered over a wide area will begin to flock to this area one by one. Look.”

I immediately passed on to Lavender the information about an ether monster caught on the radar in the direction visible from the bridge.

“Just then, one of the ether monsters that was sleeping comfortably woke up after smelling the bait.”

[ah…!]

“Lavender. There is only one thing for you to do.”

Coo coo coo.

“Have you ever seen that aircraft?”

[Oh, no!!]

“This is the ‘Blade Collie’, a watchdog-shaped aircraft used for military purposes in the past by the Yang constellation, Aries Colony.”

An ether monster that looks like a quadrupedal beast runs towards you, accelerating the wing-type booster attached to its back.

” Among pilots, it is called ‘a dog with a knife’. ”

[Uh, that…!]

“Be careful of the beam blade attached to the mouth.”

Blue light began to blink from the mouth of the winged sentinel aircraft flying through outer space.

“This guy doesn’t bite, but cuts down his enemies with a sword in his mouth.”

The blade, spread out like a half moon in Blade Collie’s mouth, began to point towards Lavender’s Harkon.

“…Follow the practice. Don’t worry about anything else, trust your senses.”

[…yes!]

It runs at super speed.

If it were a normal Harkon, he would have fired his beam rifle before the enemy approached and detonated it before he got close.

“……!!”

Lavender’s Harkon simply stood in place with his arms outstretched, as if facing a running hound head-on.

“For humans without tools to deal with animals.”

The two aircraft touch, in an instant.

“You have no choice but to use your teeth and nails.”

Kwasik!

Lavender’s fist stuck under the Blade Collie’s chin.

“Beam Claw.”

At the end of that fist were claws sharper than those of an animal.

“…When I come back, I’ll have to give you the code name as a gift.”

Code name.

Badger circle.

Badger is also called wolverine.