Ch.274Did you think Jim was spending money recklessly? (1)

# Chapter 274: “Did You Think Jim Was Spending Money Recklessly?” (1)

[Quest: Track Kirsanid Scourge Psionic Waves]

[Recently, as hordes of Kirsanid Scourge continue to pour into our galaxy, the scientific community of the Holy Sebelli Empire has made a discovery.]

[After analyzing their advance routes, they’ve determined that the destination is none other than the Kesada planetary system, capital of the Holy Sebelli Empire.]

[Setting aside the fact that they appear to have neither purpose nor consciousness…]

[No one understands how these cosmic monsters from outer space could precisely identify and launch an offensive against the Holy Sebelli Empire’s capital.]

[Or rather, no one understood.]

[Not long after, they analyzed the brain of a captured Scourge fleet after battle.]

[And discovered that the Scourge fleets were determining their destination by following psionic waves emanating from ‘somewhere’ in the Kesada planetary system.]

[Objective: Eliminate whatever is attracting the Scourge to the Kesada planetary system]

[Reward: End of additional Scourge reinforcements from outer space]

‘This is really too much.’

At the very least, shouldn’t they tell us what that “something” is?

Or have an event pop up that would allow us to block it before the war officially begins.

Of course, complaining now won’t let me use some save-load technique to turn back time.

I decided to move forward with finding and destroying whatever was luring those damn Kirsanid Scourge.

[Pause Released]

When I told Riel about this situation…

“…Do you actually know where it is?”

“No clue. We’ll have to find it starting now.”

“…”

Riel, like me, wore an expression of frustration, not knowing where to even begin.

————————————————-

Fortunately, we had the best searchers at our disposal.

“There’s something luring those cursed Kirsanid Scourge to Ka’Zan, our capital and motherworld. Find it and report back.”

“Yes, Your Excellency!”

“Leave it to us, Boss!”

“We’ll follow your orders, Captain!”

I mobilized the hunters who had returned to their homeland due to the Scourge War.

No, I deployed all available personnel, including the Purge Unit members, to thoroughly search every corner of our Kesada planetary system.

—————————————–

Of course, while we were doing this, all sorts of news kept coming in from the frontlines where they were holding back the Scourge’s mass offensive.

-“Abandon the fortress, overload the power core!”

-“It’s already at maximum overload, sir. It’ll explode soon.”

-“Ah.”

News that fortresses defending the frontlines were being evacuated and self-destructed due to overwhelming enemy forces.

-“This is First Fleet Command. We’re currently surrounded by Scourge. Requesting reinforcements!”

-“Too many enemies…”

-“The Miss-Fel Independent States Alliance fleet has retreated after suffering over 50% losses.”

The majority of reports only served to relay the desperate situation at the frontlines.

Despite this, the fighting spirit of not only our Holy Sebelli Empire but the entire galaxy remained unbroken, still kindling the flame of hope.

-“Reinforcements gathered from across the galaxy are being deployed to various frontlines to engage the Scourge hordes.”

-“Ztrakfor and Riksi, followed by Roirakan and the Three Eastern Nations, are all sending troops.”

Unlike the Fuksoviet incident with its tens of thousands of enemies…

When over a million cosmic monsters struck the entire western region of Sebelli…

“Wait a minute, wasn’t the Sebelli sector always treated as a rear area in the galaxy?”

“The Sebelli sector has almost no fortifications, sir.”

Despite thorough fortification, defensive line construction, and the ‘divine fortune’ that had blessed us with massive fleet forces beyond what a single nation could mobilize from the beginning…

The Holy Sebelli Empire was seeing countless refugees emerge daily, desperately requesting aid.

If the Holy Sebelli Empire were to fall and have its territory and resources completely absorbed by those monsters…

The crisis that would follow would be unimaginable…

Any leader of interstellar civilizations who had experienced the Warlord Incident and the Nanomachine War would understand this problem.

‘The damage must be contained within the Sebelli Empire’s territory.’

‘We cannot allow another incident like the Warlord.’

Therefore, just as Sebelli had led during the Nanomachine War…

The nations of the galaxy gathered to mobilize their fleets and dispatch large-scale reinforcements to support the nation in crisis.

…Of course, unlike the previous situation…

“Our fleet is being torn apart!!!”

“Aaaaaahhhhh!!!”

“Hmm, these fellows are done for.”

The dozens of small nations belonging to ISTO had their combined fleet of 7,000 ships nearly annihilated by the Scourge hordes.

Unfortunately, they could no longer provide direct assistance in this war.

“Everyone, today is a joyful day of resource collection.”

“Wow.”

“…Bastards.”

And so, these small nations that could no longer provide direct help…

Ended up serving as excellent supply bases, having their resources stripped by the massive fleets of interstellar civilizations.

“We have no more resources!”

“If you take any more, how are we supposed to survive?!”

Of course, the small nations’ resistance to this situation was extremely fierce.

“If you’re upset, then resist.”

“…”

But due to their poor choices, they had lost even the minimal power to protect themselves, and there was no one left in this galaxy who would listen to them.

————————————

Meanwhile, as the frontlines and the entire galaxy descended into chaos…

“Minister, a report has come in from the Purge Unit marked for your eyes only.”

As I heard this report from Riel and took the sealed envelope handed to me…

-Ding!

[Pause]

[Event: Identity of the Lure]

[To discover the identity of the mysterious ‘something’ luring the Kirsanid Scourge, the Purge Unit you dispatched has conducted every possible investigation, from the palace library and secret document repositories to the outer asteroid belt.]

[Before long, they discovered an astonishing truth.]

[Believing you should be the first to know, these Purge Unit members immediately sent you an encrypted message.]

[Linked event in progress…]

[Pause Released]

As the pause was automatically released after I finished reading the event message…

I had a strong feeling that the contents of the envelope in my hand would contain information significant enough to turn the current situation around.

“…You’ve brought something very good.”

“How can you know that without looking at it? Oh, is it your status window?”

At Riel’s words, I nodded.

‘I’m really curious what kind of mischief the former emperor pulled that’s making our Scourge friends rush over here.’

With anticipation in my heart, I decided to break the seal on the envelope and check the documents inside.

And right after that, just like before, a pause occurred with a cheerful notification sound, and an event message appeared…

-Ta-da-dam!

[Pause]

[Event: The Moon]

[At last, the truth that has been submerged beneath the surface has been revealed through the efforts of the Purge Unit, your determination, and taking advantage of a gap where the party involved couldn’t interfere.]

[Surprisingly, what’s luring the Kirsanid Scourge hordes… isn’t a simple facility, equipment, or person.]

[Its identity is none other than a place that was once renowned as the Holy Sebelli Empire’s first military base, but now only has a few guard posts remaining.]

[It is Belkadur, the twin satellite of Ka’Zan, that is the source of the psionic waves attracting the Kirsanid Scourge hordes.]

After reading this far into the event message…

I paused for a moment and quietly sank into thought.

‘…A satellite? A satellite is the luring device?’

I felt a sense of indignation at how absurd this seemed.

‘Are they joking?’