Ch.102Looking for Ash who left home.

# Chapter 102: Looking for Runaway Ash

As soon as the news of Ash’s disappearance spread through event messages and word of mouth, I was at a loss for words, completely bewildered.

‘Wait, why would a nano-machine suddenly leave home on its own?’

There was at least a record of communication between Riel and Ash right before Ash disappeared, but…

“I don’t really understand why it left either.”

If even the person directly involved couldn’t understand it, how could I possibly comprehend?

Thinking there might be some clue in their communication, I sent the recording to a specialized agency in the capital for consultation.

“There wasn’t anything particularly noteworthy, Minister.”

“Is that so…”

Since even the experts said there was nothing problematic in the communication itself, it was truly perplexing.

But regardless of my confusion, I couldn’t just sit back and do nothing…

[Pause]

I activated the pause function and spent a considerable amount of time in deep contemplation.

‘Let’s find Ash first, then I can ask about the reasons later.’

Having reached my own conclusion, I immediately deactivated the pause and spoke to Riel.

[Pause Released]

“Riel, have you figured out where Ash disappeared to?”

“No? It just vanished like a random jump without using any hyperspace routes.”

“Tsk.”

Various technical knowledge was thrown around, but the conclusion was simple: even if we wanted to know where it went, there was no way to track it.

“So to find out where Ash went, I’m busy collecting rumors now.”

“Rumors…?”

“Yes, sometimes these primitive methods have their uses too.”

Suddenly having to rely on word of mouth to find a battleship in a space-age SF setting—thanks to this, I felt my mood souring at the absurdity of the situation.

I even doubted whether this approach would work at all.

“Well… let’s give it our best shot.”

——————————–

Not long after deciding to try capturing Ash through rumors, Riel approached me, waving a terminal device and proudly announced:

“Minister, we just received information that Ash has been spotted!”

Seeing her bouncing in with a bright smile, I couldn’t help but feel skeptical.

“Haven’t many of these reports turned out to be pranks?”

That was precisely the problem with this approach. It was impossible to distinguish between jokes and truth, and when we went to verify, about 90% turned out to be lies.

“Ugh, but we’ve locked up all those pranksters, so there shouldn’t be any more jokes.”

Of course, as Riel said, anyone who dared waste the time and resources of the Diplomatic Enforcement Agency—essentially the secret police—with pranks would pay a bitter price for their momentary amusement and curiosity.

“It seems we’ve consumed quite a lot of resources because of this.”

“Don’t worry too much! This time it’s for real!”

After being fooled by so many pranks and false information, and having to punish the perpetrators repeatedly, I had no expectations despite Riel’s excitement.

For all I knew, it could just be another convincing but ultimately empty report with no actual information.

There were even cases where investigation experts would say “this looks promising,” only to arrive and hear:

‘Oh, I was writing a novel and used this as promotional material.’

It was a vast universe that reminded me there were plenty of crazy people out there.

That’s why, as I mentioned earlier, I accepted the terminal from Riel without any expectations.

But…

As always, life doesn’t unfold the way we expect it to.

“What do you think?!”

“…Hmm.”

“This time they even sent evidence!”

As Riel said, the detailed report included a photo that, though blurry, showed Ash’s form.

“Impressive.”

“Right?”

When I acknowledged this with a nod, Riel snorted proudly and thrust out her non-existent chest.

“I told you I’m good at what I do!”

“Hmm… I don’t recall ever saying you weren’t.”

After dismissing Riel’s behavior, I continued reading the report.

And shortly after…

“The last place it was spotted was… the Cardian Black Hole?”

I couldn’t hide my skepticism upon hearing that Ash had been spotted at the Cardian Black Hole, located in the southernmost region of the Empire.

Responding to my doubt, Riel nodded and began to speak:

“Yes, that’s right, but what the informant said was a bit strange.”

“How so?”

“First, the informant was a planetary waste disposal worker who was dumping garbage into the black hole at the time.”

“Hmm.”

“Then he happened to spot Ash on the opposite side of the star system and took a photo, saying it was an oddly shaped ship.”

Since that much was already written in the report, I nodded and signaled for her to move on to the next part.

“And since the informant was in the middle of work, he just took the photo and went back to focusing on his job.”

“And then?”

“He said that after looking away for just a few minutes, he witnessed Ash suddenly appear at the gate on the exact opposite side from where it was first spotted, and then disappear through it.”

Hearing this, I wondered if Ash could really move that quickly. Even though Ash was built with the transcendent technology of an ancient civilization… or whatever it was, it should still be based on the performance I knew from the game.

‘What’s going on?’

Riel seemed to share my confusion, tilting her head with a puzzled expression.

“But the strange thing is, there’s no information about Ash being spotted at any other gates afterward.”

“Ah.”

“What is it?”

“No, it’s nothing… please continue.”

Embarrassed that I had misinterpreted Riel’s reaction, I quietly decided to just listen.

“Yes, anyway, we’ve dispatched our personnel to each gate management office to gather detailed information.”

Of course, by other countries’ standards, this might seem like an action that would prompt questions like “Don’t you trust your own offices?” In fact, such criticisms occasionally arise when people see our purge squad members of mixed alien races.

But this is the Holy Sebeli Empire.

For some reason, the Sebelian race itself tends to be more… how should I put it… YOLO-minded compared to other aliens, often doing things half-heartedly or trying to slack off.

So when higher-ups like us make requests, they often just throw together something they’ve handled carelessly. That’s why for important matters like this, we either handle it directly from the start or, as Riel just mentioned, storm in and collect the data ourselves.

‘What’s wrong with these guys that they never listen properly?’

With that thought, I began my next task after Riel’s report ended. No matter how important Ash was, we had already done everything we could at the moment…

Any more attention from me would just be a waste of time and resources.

So I started to look through the next report, waiting for the gate-related report that would arrive soon.

But at that moment.

-Ding♪

[Pause]

[Event: Gate Lockdown!]

[For some unknown reason, the warp gate at the Cardian Black Hole in the southernmost region of the Empire has ceased operation, cutting off connections with other gates.]

[This mysterious phenomenon is causing confusion among numerous stakeholders, including the Ministry of Science and Technology and related businesses, which threatens to spread throughout the Empire!]

[Option 1: Implement information control first (Slight decrease in confusion within the Holy Sebeli Empire, Information Control trait added)]

[Option 2: Investigate what’s happening first! (Increase in confusion within the Holy Sebeli Empire, additional linked events related to gate malfunction will proceed)]

Looking at the event message that appeared before my eyes, I felt another forgotten memory surfacing in my mind.

‘Black hole… gate… lockdown… nano-machine…’

As these words combined in my head like I was becoming a cyborg with a red star on my arm, I realized what all these clues were pointing to.

‘…The Gray Nightmare?’