Ch.45Terraforming (2)

# Chapter 45: Terraforming (2)

Despite two failed gacha attempts, the atmosphere aboard the ship remained unchanged from before.

Of course, this wasn’t because the people who followed me had extraordinary patience…

“Minister, why are we the ones doing climate measurements?”

“That’s right. Honestly, this seems like something the Ministry of Resources and Environment should be handling.”

Except for some researchers who knew the truth, the rest of the personnel believed they were here just to measure the climate of this hostage planet.

‘But seriously, how am I supposed to explain this?’

The problem was that I hadn’t actually told them anything like that, so I had no excuse to offer.

Fortunately—if you could call it that—while I remained silent, unsure of what to say, our obsessive fans and mad dogs from the Purge Unit stepped in to cover for me.

“Hey, are you that clueless?”

“What do you mean?”

“Think about it. Why would we be assigned to this task when it’s clearly not our job?”

“Uh… I don’t know, sir?”

Seeing the clueless new Purge Unit recruit and the researcher who wasn’t connected to Gaia, the senior Purge Unit member beat his chest like a gorilla and explained:

“Since we’ve been working so hard, the Minister is giving us a sort of vacation!”

“…Oh?”

“That… makes sense!”

“No matter how strong the storm is, it’s just a moon’s storm! The ship won’t be affected, so we can just relax here, that’s what I’m saying!”

“Ohhh…”

“Minister, you were thinking of us that much?”

‘…What’s that about? I have no idea.’

Anyway, since they were managing public opinion on their own like that, fortunately I didn’t have to worry about the situation on the ship.

Or more accurately, I simply had no capacity to worry about the ship’s situation.

-“…Listen, Arto, what exactly is going on here?”

“I’m sorry, but if you could just give me a little more time and budget…”

-“If you add resource requests to that excuse, it’s the same thing I hear every day from Minister Vermut and the Ministry of Technology and Science, so stop it.”

“Oh.”

Understandably, after Gaia continued to fail the terraforming tests, Artralaya’s face had transformed into something resembling a wrathful demon upon hearing the reports.

-“Arto, this seems very different from what you told me.”

“…”

-“Look, the reason I accepted that child from Prosnack in exchange for that vast northern territory was entirely based on the abilities you described working properly.”

Of course, Artralaya had every right to be furious.

As she said, I was the one who claimed that Gaia was worth the northern territory or even more…

But now there were no results to show for it.

No matter how close we were as friends, as the Empire’s emperor, she would be justified in sending the imperial guard to arrest me right now.

Nevertheless, I did my best to somehow deflect Artralaya’s wrath.

“Just give me a little more time. You’ve seen the reports about what Prosnack did to Gaia’s body, right?”

-“…Sigh.”

“And are you really thinking of abandoning that poor little girl? Really?”

-“…”

“Seriously? For real?”

On top of that, though I hated doing it, I resorted to stimulating Artralaya’s maternal instincts.

“Me too?”

When I activated what could be called the “crying cat project,” Artralaya seemed unable to bear it any longer and turned her head away.

-“…Fine, but you only have one week.”

“Thank you.”

Of course, the crying cat expression disappeared from my face the moment I got what I wanted…

-“But if there are no results after one week… then Gaia will be reduced to a common civilian, and you’ll be imprisoned in the imperial palace forever.”

“What.”

-Communication terminated.

Before I could respond to Artralaya’s subsequent words, the communication was cut off…

“…!!”

“Wow, that’s a truly ugly expression.”

I ended up showing a genuine crying cat expression as I shoved my fist into my mouth.

———————–

The next day.

Having received the ultimatum from Artralaya, I was about to start another test with quite a heavy heart.

“Alright Gaia, the weather is nice today, so let’s start with a relaxed mindset.”

“Yes…”

“Minister, we can’t call it nice weather when there’s a rock storm with boulders several meters in diameter flying around.”

But as Riel pointed out, the outside of the ship was truly hellish.

-Boom! Boom! Boom!

The sound of rocks constantly colliding and breaking beyond the ship’s thick armor plating.

Hearing those terrible noises, I immediately stepped back and said:

“Okay, I suppose we can skip testing for a day.”

“…”

Even God can’t control natural disasters, they say.

Since our technology wasn’t advanced enough to manipulate the climate yet, we decided to start the test when the weather improved.

But unlike usual, that cursed rock storm continued for more than a day…

In the end, we were only able to proceed with the test two whole days later.

“Gaia, let’s do well today.”

“Yes, yes sir!”

But even after waiting two days, the test ended in failure again.

“…”

“Hmm.”

By this point, I was starting to wonder if I might have been wrong all along.

‘But the event window clearly indicated that Gaia was what I thought she was.’

Why was this happening?

‘The status window can’t be wrong, so this must be some other issue.’

But my troubled expression seemed to be interpreted differently by Gaia herself.

“I’m sorry! Please, just give me one more chance, just one more!”

She approached me desperately, begging not to be abandoned like a pet.

But regardless of her pleas, the cursed moon’s natural environment wasn’t going to wait for us.

“That’s enough for today. Let’s head back.”

“Ugh… okay.”

With another storm approaching from the horizon, we had no choice but to return to the ship once more.

——————

Later, inside the ship, in my private bedroom.

‘What could possibly be the problem?’

Lying on the soft bed, I was contemplating why Gaia kept failing at terraforming.

‘The event window results, and what she showed in front of me and Artralaya were clear evidence.’

Even though her condition was worse back then than it is now, she had shown at least fragments of her ability.

But here, she couldn’t even show those fragments.

As I pondered deeply, my thoughts started to drift in a darker direction…

‘Is Gaia deliberately not using her ability? No, that can’t be.’

It was too unrealistic, so I shook my head, trying to erase such malicious thoughts.

But humans can’t simply stop negative thoughts.

The more I tried to erase the thought, the stronger it became.

‘…Could she really be doing that? But… no, she has no reason to.’

As I continued to agonize, rolling around on the bed…

-Beep!

An alert sounded from my terminal, and as I was about to check what it was:

-“We have an emergency, Minister.”

“What’s happening?”

-“Gaia suddenly went outside the ship!”

“…What.”

Upon hearing that Gaia had chosen to run away, I had to hurriedly get up from the bed.

——————-

Meanwhile, at that moment.

-Rumble… CRASH!

“Uuugh… Kyaah!”

-Thud!

Gaia was pushing her small, fragile body forward, walking through a storm where massive lightning bolts were striking all around.

“Ugh… waaah…”

But the wind and lightning were too fierce, causing her to fall after just a few steps.

The experimental suit she wore for testing had long since been reduced to tattered rags.

Nevertheless, Gaia somehow managed to get up and start walking again.

‘I have to do this, somehow…!’

Even as tears welled up from the wounds she got from falling, Gaia somehow continued walking toward the testing site.

And the reason was, of course, only one:

‘For Arto’s sake, I need to try harder…!’

For someone who had worked so hard for her powerless self, shouldn’t she also make an effort?

Moreover, for Gaia, who had been self-deprecating about only being able to terraform and nothing else, the current situation was truly a crisis of life and death.

‘If I can’t do this, I’ll have no way to repay his kindness.’

That’s why Gaia continued forward despite falling, collapsing, and getting injured.

To somehow repay Arto who had believed in her.

But the moon’s storm only brought cruel disaster to Gaia.

-Thump!

Gaia, whose body was already in poor condition, collapsed on the spot.

And as she watched a house-sized boulder flying toward her on the storm winds, Gaia tightly closed her eyes.

‘To end like this…!’

She came to repay a debt, but in the end, she thought herself a worm who couldn’t accomplish anything as she prepared to meet her end…

But just as she was about to face death.

-BOOM!!

“…Huh?”

A beam from somewhere shattered the boulder, and behind her, a massive piece of heavy equipment approached.

‘What is this…?’

And in the cockpit of the machine that carefully picked her up…

‘…Arto?’

There was Arto, who had become an object of admiration to her, looking at her alongside a knight.