Ch.63Nano Machines, Youngster.(3)

# Chapter 63: It’s a Nano Machine, Rookie. (3)

After numerous conversations with the help of time pauses and Riel Wiki waiting beyond the hologram screen…

The entity of the gray nightmare, who called itself “Ash,” finally showed signs of deciding to join our empire.

[Event: Return of the Gray Nightmare]

[A calamity that once drove an entire universe to destruction has finally decided to enter the embrace of the great empire after long periods of agony and self-criticism.]

[Of course, your “persuasion” was somewhat mixed into that agony, but what does it matter?]

[“Gray Nightmare, Ash” joins the Holy Sebeli Empire.]

Up to this point, the situation could be described as truly favorable.

From the current empire’s perspective, it meant that a fleet’s worth of military power was joining the empire without any cost.

Of course, compared to a regular fleet, there were some slight deficiencies in its combat capabilities.

“Minister, are you sure it’s right to incorporate that mass of nanomachines… I mean, Ash into the empire?”

Even Riel standing right beside me was expressing doubts about my choice.

Of course, such reactions were perhaps to be expected.

Despite my lengthy conversations with Ash, working out mutual interests and establishing that Ash was friendly toward us…

The very fact that it was a mass of nanomachines that could instantly disassemble and devour people, equipment, and even ships inevitably caused some degree of aversion.

“Riel, there’s something you don’t understand.”

“What?”

“I see… you know nothing…”

“Oh come on.”

“I won’t tell you.”

Of course, I didn’t need to respond to each expression of aversion individually.

Such minor negative reactions would naturally resolve themselves before long.

-“Woooaaah!”

-“Massive energy reaction detected from the planet’s surface! No, this is… a gigantic battleship!”

-“C-could it be?!”

This was because Ash was gathering all the nanomachines that had been spread across the entire planet to join the empire.

And using those nanomachines, it formed a shape convenient for travel and emerged into space, all of which was being broadcast on screen in real-time.

“Wow, Minister, did you anticipate even this?”

At Riel’s words, I nodded confidently and spoke proudly this time.

“Of course, although I didn’t expect it to be quite this massive.”

However, as I mentioned, Ash’s size boasted dimensions beyond what we had anticipated.

‘Wait, in the game, it was at most 2-3 times stronger than a late-game battleship…?’

Unlike what I remembered, the real Ash was… truly the size of a moving satellite, no exaggeration.

———————————

Still, if that had been the extent of it, we could have exercised some understanding.

What did it matter if it was a bit large?

Rather, the Minister of Defense or fleet admirals would probably be ecstatic, raving about the massive battleship and mobile fortress.

The problem was that this Ash character had, according to its backstory, been isolated in that universe for at least hundreds of thousands of years.

Moreover, if the game settings I remembered were accurately applied, Ash had never left that universe even before it was isolated.

So the moment Ash followed the research ship through the gate…

“Wooooow!!! So small and cute! So amazing!!”

“Aaaaargh!!!”

The black hole that served as the gravitational anchor for the gate.

New constellations beyond the star system, visible through gravitational lensing effects.

And humans in space structures unlike anything it had seen before, not just research ships.

Upon seeing all these sights, Ash went berserk, charging at and attaching itself to the orbital station that was relaying communications.

It showed signs of causing a major incident immediately upon arriving in our empire.

…And Ash’s incidents didn’t end there.

“That ship has a really unique design, doesn’t it?”

“No, don’t!”

It swallowed a newly constructed cruiser that had just been transferred to the fleet.

This caused the 2nd Fleet’s cruiser squadron, which hadn’t received timely information, to deploy urgently.

It picked up several satellites from another planet out of curiosity, causing communication network disruptions on that planet.

“This is really interesting too! When I wasn’t yet ‘me,’ I never saw orbital fortresses like this!”

“Aaaaargh!!! It’s charging straight at headquarters!!!”

“…”

Shortly after arriving in the Kesada planetary system, the Holy Sebeli Empire’s capital system, it crashed into the orbital defense headquarters while maintaining its battleship form.

“Hello? So… Mr. Sebelian!”

“Aaaaargh”

“What do you like? I like metal the most!”

“Gyaaaaaaah!!!”

It restrained some soldiers with tentacles or crystals and conducted forced guerrilla interviews.

It caused all sorts of incidents wherever it went.

As a result, I, who had wanted to incorporate Ash into the empire…

“Minister Arto, how do you plan to take responsibility for the problems caused by that massive mass of nanomachines!”

“You are absolutely right, we must stop it from infiltrating the orbital defense headquarters immediately!”

“We’ve received a diplomatic message from Sebanar planet, whose satellite communication network partially collapsed recently, demanding compensation for damages.”

“…”

Had to endure an intense hearing by the council that had received reports of these intense incidents.

And the council hearing wasn’t the end of it.

“Arto.”

“Yes.”

“Is that thing really okay?”

“Probably?”

“…You know that’s not what should be coming out of your mouth right now, right?”

“Yes, that’s why I’m doing this in front of you, Artlaia.”

I found myself prostrating before Artlaia, who was deliberately grilling me, begging for forgiveness.

For not having disappeared somewhere in advance, I was being held accountable daily for the incidents caused by Ash.

“Minister, did you anticipate even this and prepare yourself from the beginning?”

Meanwhile, Riel kept making strangely provocative comments from the side.

“Kya, as expected of the Minister, realizing you must drink all the tears of the nanomachines and die!”

Of course, the moment she crossed the line, I immediately struck her with the etiquette injection rod from my pocket.

Perhaps because of that, the stress didn’t seem to build up too much.

——————————

And about a day later…

“Hello! So, Holy Sebeli Empire’s Emperor and ministers!”

Emperor Artlaia and the empire’s high officials, including myself, finally witnessed Ash’s appearance with our own eyes.

Of course, some people had more than two eyes, but there was no need to mention them specifically.

But as the proper and formal meeting finally took place, I began to feel somewhat afraid inside.

‘What if these people reject Ash?’

Of course, I remembered that in the game, when Ash joined the empire, there weren’t any events showing rejection or anything like that…

But that was probably just the game system glossing over what it couldn’t implement.

In this real world where actual people existed, things sometimes unfolded differently from the game.

Still, just before Ash arrived, I thought everything would go smoothly according to the game, with Ash being neatly incorporated…

“Oh, this person’s face is interesting too!”

“That’s not a face, it’s a respirator.”

“Wow.”

Ash kept doing strange things like mimicking not only Sebelians’ faces but also those of other alien species who were present as officials.

-*whispers*

“Somehow this feels… off, doesn’t it?”

“Ahem.”

The faces of the meeting participants were filled with an indescribable subtlety.

No, that would have been fortunate.

“They said this entity is a mass of nanomachines… isn’t that essentially no different from a hostile intelligence?”

“That’s quite a reasonable point.”

Some even viewed Ash as potentially a hostile intelligence, an AI like Alina had been.

Of course, such skeptical views were thoroughly refuted by Minister Bermut, who was also attending the meeting, staking his pride as a technician.

“We call it a nano ‘machine,’ but practically speaking, it thinks and acts by creating a brain just like ours.”

“Is that so, Minister Bermut?”

“Yes, when I scanned it, I found that the nanomachines are actually intertwined to form a real brain.”

With Minister Bermut’s words, the subtle and ambiguous gazes toward Ash instantly shifted in a very favorable direction before my eyes.

“Ah, then we can consider it our friend.”

“I heard it’s been trapped in an empty system for ages? Then it’s only natural for it to be fascinated by new things.”

“Indeed, that’s a very reasonable point.”