Ch.113Gatekeeper

# Chapter 113: Guardian

‘No, why? How? Why?’

To cowardly put forth not a fleet but a massive planetary fortress as a guardian.

Seeing this perfect example of squatting, I could barely contain my anger.

‘A radar that detects cloaking that evades radar, what kind of childish…!’

But I’ve learned painfully over the past 16 years that getting angry doesn’t solve anything.

[Pause]

I paused briefly to manage my crumbling mental state.

[Unpause]

I decided to first ask Levia about the detection range of the fortress.

‘Can’t we just avoid getting close? Even if it takes more time, we can just slowly detour beyond the edge of the star system.’

In response to my words, Levia made a strange groaning sound, as if an old computer was powering on, and after contemplating…

A moment later.

“Hmm, we’ve just entered the fortress’s surveillance range.”

“…What?”

No sooner had Levia’s calm and emotionless words ended than all kinds of alarms began to go off in the bridge system where we were.

And the operators connected to or monitoring those systems likewise panicked and screamed at us:

“Minister!!! A massive energy reaction from ahead is heading our way!”

‘Insane.’

At the end of my gaze, naturally drawn by the operators’ screams, was a rather large.

No, “very”… extremely large and massive particle beam flying toward us.

“Look at that, what impressive firepower.”

“Minister!”

“Full evasive maneuvers!”

Meanwhile, that true madman Minister Vermut was thoroughly analyzing only the technical aspects despite a continent-sized beam heading our way.

Inwardly expressing my disgust at such behavior, I began to pilot my small and precious Leviathan earnestly to avoid being swept up by that crazy beam.

————————

Fortunately, we were able to avoid being atomically disintegrated by the continent-sized particle beam along with the Leviathan and everyone inside it.

Of course, if it had been an ordinary battleship, it would have been caught in the effective range of the particle beam before even attempting evasive maneuvers…

“It was incredibly powerful. Any decent-sized ship would have instantly vaporized within several hundred thousand kilometers of the beam’s path, let alone being grazed by it.”

Had that happened, we would have vaporized just as Minister Vermut said, who seemed extremely excited despite having nearly died from the particle beam.

-“External armor plate heat dissipation in progress… Ejection of waste containing collected residual heat complete.”

“Wow, even though we escaped the effective range, the armor plates accumulated enough heat to nearly melt.”

The Leviathan we were aboard, being a ship from the distant ancient Dark Age, was able to safely escape from that insane massive particle beam bombardment by displaying agility that, though momentary, was swifter than most fighters despite being tens of kilometers long.

Of course, since it was a “continent-sized” particle beam, the enormous radiant heat energy was evenly applied to the hull, requiring Levia to collect the heat into waste and eject it.

-“Cooling process complete, stealth system reactivation initiated.”

Once the Leviathan’s self-cooling was finished, the bridge operators immediately began reactivating the ship’s stealth system.

And while evading, had I unconsciously thought about wanting to get away from that damned fortress?

When I came to my senses watching the operators, I felt that the fortress seemed much farther away than before.

“Levia? Have we moved further from the fortress?”

“Yes, we’re now outside the fortress’s surveillance radar range… so we shouldn’t have any major problems for a while.”

So it wasn’t just a feeling; we had actually moved away.

Indeed, without real combat experience, no matter how determined one’s mindset is, it shows in situations like this.

‘Can’t be helped. Since we’ve moved this far away anyway…’

So to dispel this awkwardness, I gestured to Riel and others nearby and said:

“Then let’s start by reporting the ship’s damage status. If heat accumulated on the armor plates, there must be damage somewhere, right?”

“Got it! Everyone heard that? Move quickly!”

Seeing everyone start to busily move at my words… how should I put it?

I suddenly understood why fleet admirals and captains refuse to leave their ships even when offered promotions.

With just one word from me, everyone on the ship rushed to follow my orders.

It was literally living power itself, which is why captains and admirals try to maintain their positions whenever possible.

But as I thought about this, I suddenly realized that I was at the very pinnacle of that power…

‘But why… does it feel like I’ve never tasted such power?’

I should certainly be within the top 5 of the empire’s power hierarchy.

But experiencing this true power play made me feel… how should I say it?

All my actions so far seemed less like those of a person in power and more like…

‘…A space bureaucrat.’

I was essentially putting into practice the self-deprecating term that players of this game I was possessing always used.

‘Well, being a bureaucrat isn’t wrong per se…’

As my mental state continued to veer in strange directions and I found it difficult to control with my will alone.

[Pause]

I immediately activated the pause and decided to deliberately enjoy a period of mental wandering.

————————————

After what felt like a long time.

‘Right, there’s no need to dwell on this, and this isn’t the time for it either.’

I finally entered the stage of self-justification, but because of that, I felt my mental strength growing stronger.

‘In the end, my mental instability and sense of bewilderment are all due to my lack of practical experience… and being unprepared for it.’

After continuing to repeat these self-justifications in my mind, directed at no one in particular…

I felt my slightly strengthened mental fortitude.

Then I deactivated the pause, deciding to face reality again.

[Unpause]

But immediately after.

“Minister, the check of the ship’s internal systems is complete.”

“…Hmm?”

“Except for some of the cooling systems for the ship’s external armor plates, there were no issues with the ship itself.”

At Levia’s words, I almost showed a momentary look of surprise.

‘Already?’

But honestly, such a reaction would be justified.

It only felt like a long time to me.

In reality, barely a minute had passed.

No, saying a minute is generous—it had probably been less than a few tens of seconds.

Perhaps my confusion showed on my face, as Levia reported to me with her characteristically expressionless face and monotone voice:

“You seem to have forgotten, but this ship and I essentially share a single brain.”

“…Hmm.”

“Therefore, if there’s a problem on the ship, I can immediately identify it and report it to you.”

Is this… the capability of a Dark Age ship?

Even the ships currently in active service occasionally perform feats that would seem magical compared to the reality I lived in before being possessed.

The Leviathan, built with overwhelmingly superior technology, seemed almost like a living entity itself.

Looking at Levia, who reported without blinking an eye, I thought:

‘Hah, now I understand why the setting guides and community always claimed that Dark Age technology was the best.’

So I was about to nod and compliment Levia’s calm… no, confident demeanor.

“Impres—”

But at that moment.

“GYAAAAAAAH!!!!”

A high-pitched scream of despair filled the entire bridge, cutting off my words.

‘…That voice is Minister Vermut again.’

Thinking that perhaps bringing him aboard wasn’t such a good idea, I turned my head lazily toward the source of the screaming.

“The stealth equipment is completely ruined!!!”

“All the circuits have melted down, how are we supposed to fix this!”

“We prepared spares, didn’t we?!”

“The entire storage area with the spare parts has melted down, what are we supposed to do?!”

Hearing the screams of the Science and Technology Ministry officials filled with madness, I naturally turned my head back toward Levia.

And in response to my gaze, Levia…

“…That was merely additional equipment, so I couldn’t have known about it.”

She only showed that she was not responsible for the death of the poor stealth equipment.