Ch.67Celestine Incident – Ship No. 2 (1)

Following the muddy puddle with my eyes, I can see the bodies of several people. Medical staff, security, facility managers, even teachers.

Among them, there were no Inspectors.

Literally not a single one in sight.

“I heard they had deployed plenty of personnel here?”

Since EX-rank Inspectors are relatively rare forces, I was told they stationed only four in the lobby and sent the rest up to the ships. Besides that, there was also a company-sized unit composed entirely of S-rank Inspectors.

“All those Inspectors just vanished?”

“I-I don’t know what’s going on either. Anyway, this isn’t the time to stand around. We need to find survivors first.”

The Inspectors from Ship 1 who joined us afterward cleaned the lobby without a moment’s rest. They collected bodies and scooped up gory organs. They wiped away blood and cleared away pillars. Above all, they were desperate to find survivors.

“N-no. No. I said no…”

When I turned around, Mezulen Hueritia was sitting on the ground, tears streaming down her face. She wasn’t the only one. Everyone was mentally exhausted.

“It’ll be okay, damn it. It’ll be okay.”

Mathers Byteling was trying his best to comfort Mezulen, but it wasn’t enough. Her condition looked quite bad.

[— Mezulen Hueritia: 370/1000]

[Mental State: Witnessing traumatic scenes has rapidly deteriorated her mental condition. If this state persists, she may develop anxiety disorder, dissociative disorder, or post-traumatic stress disorder.]

So it begins.

Injuries to the mind are more serious than physical wounds. If not treated immediately, Mezulen would become worse than dead—a broken person. For the sake of this future xenobiologist, I had to prevent that at all costs.

“Cartesia.”

I quietly called her name. Immediately, messages of displeasure flooded my mind.

[“Do not casually call my true name.”]

The response was prickly. But then what should I call her? “Hey, Outer God” sounds weird, doesn’t it?

“I have a favor to ask.”

[“A favor? A lesser species daring to ask me?”]

“Then I’ll command you.”

I mentally calculated my remaining Pron. Excluding the 100,000 Pron I’d saved for the technology tree, I had about 50,000 left.

Pouring all of it in, I commanded:

“I want to use an area-of-effect skill that helps with mental recovery.”

[“…How forceful.”]

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ approves your request.]

Cartesia is an Outer God who values contracts and compensation. If I have enough Pron, I can force her to do things.

[— Notice: PN values of living beings within 20m of you have decreased by 200 each.]

I felt relieved when I confirmed that Mezulen’s labored breathing had calmed down.

Mental stabilization skills are rare even among constellation holders. Meanwhile, all Descartes-type Outer Gods possess this technique.

At times like this, Cartesia is an excellent patron. She complains when I throw coins at her, but she does everything I ask when I pay the price.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ remains silent.]

[— You have received a donation of 500 Pron.]

See? She’s giving me more.

“There’s a survivor here!”

An Inspector waved from a distant desk. We who had been taking unlimited rest in our chairs jumped up and ran over.

“…Teacher Kendra?”

Our homeroom teacher was there, with her left shoulder completely gone.

***

Kendra was immediately transported to the hospital.

‘Beware the pillars, the silver pillars…’

The situation was so urgent that there was no time to ask for details. That was all we heard.

Since her arm had been severed for quite some time, reattachment surgery would be difficult. Our homeroom teacher would probably have to live with a mechanical arm for the rest of her life.

What a fucking mess.

And in this world, it was a common occurrence.

After the search ended, the Inspectors focused on sending students home. Welton’s group exchanged a few words with me before leaving. Now I was the only student left in the lobby.

“…Your homeroom teacher, it’s a miracle she survived.”

Enabet said bitterly. She was standing guard over me.

“Normally, with that much time passed, she would have died from excessive bleeding. Whether the constellation watched over her or she was just lucky…”

“Probably both.”

I’m just grateful she didn’t die.

Enabet bowed her head and put a cigarette in her mouth. Then, seeing my face, she put her lighter back in her pocket.

“Kid. Want a candy?”

“Is it a silver mint?”

“It’s peppermint.”

I cupped my hands to receive the peppermint candy. A bright minty flavor. It seemed to purify the gloomy atmosphere a little.

“My friend often gave me candies like this too. She should be on Ship 2, but I don’t know what happened to her.”

“A girl?”

“How did you know?”

“Just a guess.”

I smiled slightly.

Enabet changed the subject. She looked around the now-clean lobby and sighed.

“As an Inspector, you see scenes like this quite often.”

“That must be hard.”

“Not just for us.”

She chuckled and patted my shoulder.

“Anyway, your name is Eidel, right? You seem to have special abilities… You should go home quickly too. There’s a high possibility that avatar bodies are on other ships as well.”

“I’m worried about my sister and her friend. I’m already grateful just to be allowed to stay here.”

“You’re brave.”

A shadow fell across my forehead and then disappeared. Enabet hesitated with her hand, then slowly put it down.

“Sorry. I was reminded of a junior I used to pat on the head.”

“…”

The air froze coldly. I smiled awkwardly. The corner of Enabet’s mouth rose subtly.

“Thanks for indulging me. It’s quite something that an EX-rank Inspector is personally guarding just one person like me.”

“If you know that, wouldn’t it be better to stay somewhere safe?”

“Isn’t being by an Inspector’s side the safest place?”

“You rascal.”

I looked up at the sky. Three stars visible as dots. Each one was Celestine Ships 1, 2, and 3.

Ship 1 had entered a stable state, and what remained were Ships 2 and 3. Ship 4 was out of orbit, so it was out of the question.

I had two options.

But before making such a choice, I needed permission from the Inspectors, including Enabet. Permission to go there. Of course, they wouldn’t give it.

I wondered if I could somehow persuade them with words.

While pondering this, I lowered my head to where Enabet was supposed to be.

“…”

But where Enabet should have been, there was only empty space.

She had disappeared.

Not just her. All the other Inspectors patrolling the lobby had vanished as well. There had clearly been more than thirty of them.

My hair stood on end.

[— The ‘God of Wisdom and Curiosity’ has detected a malicious presence.]

[“Dodge, youngster. Lower right.”]

As soon as I read the forcibly opened status window, I threw myself to the left.

Slash!

A steel skewer shot up from where I had been standing. A diagonal line from the lower right to the upper left. It had a silver sheen, which momentarily blinded me.

[“Duck, youngster.”]

It took me 0.03 seconds to process Cartesia’s words and make a decision. As I ducked my head, a silver awl passed over me.

I almost had my eyeball skewered.

[“Oh? You dodged that?”]

After I avoided two attacks, a voice was heard. The next moment, the owner of the voice revealed itself.

The thing that crept up from the floor had a human form. At least in the sense that it had four limbs.

Its torso was emaciated, and its entire body was white. Its arms and legs were thin compared to its torso. Its fingers were unusually long, and its face looked like someone had crushed the face of the figure in “The Scream” by Munch.

[— The avatar body ‘Yodel’ has descended.]

[— Eliminate it!]

***

Celestine Ship 2.

Before the practical evaluation began.

“There’s a possibility that avatar bodies will appear.”

Instructor Isaac Clarke, who was supervising the test, declared.

“As you know, there’s a small hole in the Aether Belt right now. Until scientists find a way to fix it, we don’t know what kind of mischief the Outer Gods might pull. We’re in a very vulnerable state.”

The students stirred as expected. Unrest spread like a wave.

“Really, this is why I didn’t want to tell them.”

“They’re still kids at seventeen, right? It can’t be helped.”

Isaac, who had been talking with his subordinate Inspector Kizel, smiled slightly. His eyes were fixed on one girl.

She was a beautiful girl with a golden ponytail. Her deep blue eyes conveyed intelligence, and her flour-dough-white face exuded gentleness.

Beauty that could captivate anyone who saw her. But that wasn’t what Isaac was focusing on. He had been carefully observing the girl’s expression.

“Look at that child. Her name is Rustila, and there hasn’t been the slightest hint of agitation on her face from the beginning. Rather, she’s calmly checking her sword.”

“Indeed. She’s a rare talent.”

Kizel was also an elite Inspector raised on the sword. He could immediately recognize promising talent just by looking at their expression or posture.

“With a face like that, oh…”

“Hey, come on.”

Isaac lightly smacked Kizel’s head.

“That girl is taken.”

“I’m sure she is. With a face like that, wouldn’t it be a waste of life not to have at least one boyfriend?”

“What waste?”

For an Inspector, what matters above all is combat ability. An inadequate face can be fixed with plastic surgery. But an inadequate mindset cannot be fixed by anything.

In that respect, this girl called Rustila had talent. She had far more composure than her peers. Composure is the first virtue of an Inspector.

“She has a constellation, and good skills too. Her fundamentals are lacking, but that’s not because she’s deficient. It’s because she doesn’t fit conventional swordsmanship. And she has the potential to overcome that.”

“In other words, she was born with an abnormal frame, is that it?”

“That’s right. She might make a big impact if she joins the military later.”

The two Inspectors ended their conversation with that. Isaac introduced the practical events. Ship 2, which orbits outside Ship 1, evaluates combat ability in space.

“Battles don’t just happen on the ground. How do you subdue a monster that attacks from a distance in zero gravity with just one sword, or how quickly can you recover when your posture is disrupted by the gravity of an outer planet? Each of these small things can determine a person’s fate.”

“Um, excuse me… isn’t that too difficult?”

One student raised his hand and complained. The level of the test seemed more appropriate for cadets at a military college.

“That’s right. It’s too hard.”

“Hmm, is it?”

As complaints erupted here and there, Isaac rubbed his chin.

Just 5 seconds ago. The constellation he commanded had begun sending signals.

“Then how would you handle the current situation?”

BOOM!

The ceiling shook. The students’ heads turned blankly upward. Dozens of huge hexagonal silver pillars were falling.