Chapter 11 - Arrival at the Main Star, Handover of Beta One, and Meeting with Rouj's Father and the Hero
～Space Around the Third Planet of the Betasia Star System (Main Star)～
Sangou was navigating at the maximum possible speed within numerous constraints, with the third planet of the Betasia Star System, the main star of the Betasia Count's territory, as its destination.
Since the destination was the main star within the star system, as it approached closer, Sangou's detection picked up several reactions thought to be ships.
Because Sangou currently did not possess a code to confirm the affiliation of ships, if it approached the main star too much in this state, it would inevitably cause a commotion.
Therefore, prompted by Sangou, Captain Jin sent a communication to Count Betasia.
Jin informed him of Sangou's approximate current position.
As a result of discussing directly with the Count, it was decided that the Count's household would arrange measures so that no problems would occur when approaching the main star.
Specifically, ships were dispatched under the command of part of the Count's territory's military to rendezvous with the navigating Sangou.
From there, with the territory's military ships accompanying Sangou to the main star, it was arranged for them to take care of everything step by step so that no problems would occur.
Additionally, Beta One, which was being towed, would also be handed over at the rendezvous, and orders were issued for vessels to receive the handover to head to Sangou.
By chance, a territory military ship that was near Sangou's current position arrived first, and as per the prior communication, the handover proceeded smoothly.
With that, one of the matters Jin and the others had been dealing with was completed.
However, Jin merely listened and left nearly all the necessary information exchange during the handover to Sangou.
The hero entrusted what should be entrusted to Sangou, and while the handover of Beta One was in progress, he was pondering the future of that ship on the bridge.
But Sangou casually also intercepted communications from the Betasia Count's territory's military.
And those naturally included the remarks of military personnel engaged in the recovery work of Beta One.
"With this level of damage, there'll be too few reusable parts even if we scrap it. Considering the effort, they'll probably decide on complete destruction and disposal,"
These words from an unknown soldier reached Jin's ears through the monitor's built-in speaker.
As for Jin, hearing such remarks that Sangou intercepted and played out, he found himself having thoughts.
"If they're going to destroy it anyway, I wish they'd let Sangou predate it!"
Given Sangou's performance that Jin knew, if it predated Beta One, it could process the specified rare metals contained in its hull into ingots and extract them.
Therefore, since the rare metals could be reused as resources, it was certainly less wasteful compared to complete destruction and disposal.
Also, Sangou itself, like Jin, had judged that "under such circumstances, it would be acceptable to predate Beta One with conditions."
However, what would happen if Sangou were to propose "let me predate it"?
"The spaceship owned by the person named Jin incorporated and concealed military armaments."
One had to consider the possibility that such a complaint might be raised later.
As for Sangou, it could not place full trust in the territory's military, which the Count could freely command, at this stage.
Therefore, to avoid the danger of potentially being unfairly criticized, Sangou did not propose the predation itself.
Well, that aside, even if the Count's side understood Sangou's ability to "predate," there would be some issues in recording the predation on video and choosing it as an alternative means of proof of destruction.
Even if the Count's household properly submitted the video record of the predation to the armaments management bureau of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire as evidence that the disposal was completed,
would the reviewing side actually acknowledge that "it is the same as destruction"?
That point would become dubious.
In the first place, since they did not understand Sangou's abilities, Count Betasia ultimately did not choose a risky option.
Therefore, the possibility of conflict with the armaments management bureau was eliminated, but such a thing was probably trivial.
Having completed the handover, Sangou successfully rendezvoused with the ships accompanying it to the main star and headed for the spaceport in the planet's satellite orbit.
This was because, for Sangou to dock and be moored, and for the captain Jin and all seven passengers to follow the procedure of "descending by shuttle" before meeting the Count on the main star, it was necessary.
During the process of Sangou docking at the spaceport, no incidents similar to when the port controller in Greta had been confused occurred.
This was because Sangou had, based on information it had sneakily extracted from Beta One beforehand, already constructed a system that could do exactly the same as ordinary ships of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire when entering or leaving port.
However, it lacked a ship registration code and a fleet registration code.
As a special measure for that, Sangou had the accompanying ships also confirm this with the port controller.
The exceedingly capable living spaceship had left no oversight.
However, precisely because Sangou was so capable, upon entering port and visually confirming a shuttle parked nearby, it suddenly changed its plans.
The original plan was to use a shuttle prepared by the Betasia Count's household at the spaceport to enter the atmosphere, and Jin and the others would descend to the ground.
But,
After a glance at the prepared shuttle, Sangou instantly decided to prepare a substitute from its own side and have the captain and the others use that instead.
Why did it suddenly choose a different method?
"The shuttle prepared by Count Betasia is too outdated,"
To put Sangou's true feelings bluntly, it came down to this.
Because it was too outdated, Sangou doubted its safety.
In short, Sangou felt that the probability of an accident occurring during the process from atmospheric entry to landing at a shuttle airport on the ground was high and unacceptable.
Of course, this was only the case when judged against Sangou's own standards.
The shuttle prepared by Count Betasia was one normally used in the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
It had a solid operational track record, and accidents rarely occurred.
Still, it couldn't be said that "accidents are nonexistent."
However, even if not nonexistent,
Despite many units being used over long periods across the vast empire, serious accidents were at the level of "one every thirty years or so."
If one were told that "the probability of an accident occurring is high," the Count's side would have no choice but to be bewildered.
Nevertheless, from Sangou's perspective, it did not recognize the need to expose the captain to unnecessary danger.
To more accurately describe Sangou's situational awareness, it was something like: "Even if an accident occurs, the captain would probably survive, but that's not necessarily true for the women. And if something were to happen to the women, especially Rouj, the mental damage the captain would suffer would be incalculable."
As a result, Sangou obtained permission from Jin and decided to newly construct a sub-craft as a substitute for the shuttle.
Furthermore, Sangou informed the Count of this via communication and requested the provision of information necessary for the substitute sub-craft.
Two specific means were presented at that time:
Either to receive the data related to the shuttle's operation control?
Or to have Sangou collect data on its own by sending a sub-craft into the shuttle that was to be used?
Sangou requested whichever was possible to be realized.
In any case, at this time, Sangou was beginning construction of a twenty-meter-class sub-craft that was far smaller than the shuttle for round trips to the surface that it had examined in person.
Incidentally, the original shuttle prepared at the spaceport had a length of just over fifty meters, so the newly prepared one would be less than half that size yet superior in performance.
In short, the moment Sangou confirmed the shuttle that was at the spaceport, it had no intention whatsoever of entrusting the captain and the others to an old-looking craft.
Although Sangou had some friction with the Count's side over the requested data acquisition, it somehow succeeded in constructing a system without issues in communication link methods and automatic control during harbor entry and departure.
Then, it integrated this into the newly built twenty-meter-class craft, and manufacturing was completed.
With the manufacturing process complete, the party of eight, led by Jin and Rouj, boarded the twenty-meter-class sub-craft and began their descent toward the main star's surface.
This occurred merely ninety minutes after Sangou had docked at the spaceport.
This part will be a bit of a digression.
Actually, Sangou naturally possessed atmospheric flight capabilities as well.
It also had the ability to enter the atmosphere and depart from the atmosphere to outer space.
Of course, these were possible for Sangou alone, and no additional equipment like boosters was necessary.
However, if Sangou were to descend directly from space into the atmosphere just because "it is possible,"
there would likely be no airports for aircraft or ports for marine vessels that could accommodate Sangou, a five-hundred-meter-class spaceship.
Sangou could easily predict that.
Also, it was not to be hoped from the start that a dedicated spaceship port existed on the surface.
In fact, at the time Sangou received the notification of the action plan that presupposed the use of a shuttle, there were things it could have predicted in advance.
Sangou had judged that "in the Gialpha Galaxy Empire, civilian spaceships and military space vessels generally lack 'atmospheric descent capability' and 'atmospheric departure capability,' or even if they have them, they are considerably inferior."
Otherwise, the only reason for the regular use of shuttles, which are smaller compared to spaceships, would be resource consumption savings.
One could not say that the idea that "a huge spaceship is unnecessary" for transporting just a few people is "wrong."
However, that is assuming "all other conditions are exactly the same."
At least in the Deltania Star System, where Sangou was built, moving between the surface and space while remaining in the spaceship itself was commonplace.
Of course, there was a suitable historical background for this.
Spaceships do not only go to planets that are inhabited and have every convenience well maintained.
If going to an undeveloped planet, using a shuttle would be extremely inefficient since there would be no spaceport or ground facilities.
As a result, based on such circumstances, the choice of including such capabilities as standard equipment on spaceships was determined.
Once such capabilities exist, they naturally become commonly used.
"The technology and philosophy for manufacturing spaceships are backward and hopeless."
If you asked Sangou, harsh thoughts would spring forth just from the shuttle-related parts alone.
"There is no need to uselessly flaunt Sangou's own atmospheric descent and departure capabilities."
For this case, Sangou's final decision was thus, and it steered toward the new construction of a sub-craft.
However, it was fully intent on showing off the performance gap with the twenty-meter-class sub-craft.
That aside, let me also mention something Sangou does not know.
Spaceships of the Gialpha Galaxy, with exceptions like "special small ships," fundamentally do not have atmospheric flight capabilities.
And once they have landed on the surface, it is common knowledge that even the aforementioned special small ships cannot return to space unless they are equipped with disposable boosters.
The statement Sangou had previously made to Jin, that "there is a difference of thirty generations in performance," naturally applied to these aspects as well.
Incidentally, mass drivers and orbital elevators are technically constructible in the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
However, due to historical background, they have never been adopted.
There was an era when such facilities were repeatedly targeted by terrorist destruction, leading to cycles of destruction and reconstruction, and the defense and construction costs grew too high, forcing them to abandon maintenance and operation.
This historical fact is likely no trivial matter for the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
Now, let's end the digression and return to the main story.
As part of the raw materials for constructing the new twenty-meter-class sub-craft, Sangou had begged the captain for organic matter.
Through that request, Sangou obtained an entire dragon from the fantasy world that had been in Jin's Storage Space.
Incidentally, this included a magic stone of considerable size, and its analysis as Sangou's new toy began is another story.
The descent through the atmosphere, the flight within it, and the operation including gravity control, which had not yet been achieved by this world's technology, were comfortable for the humans inside the twenty-meter-class sub-craft, while to those observing from the outside, the operation itself was incomprehensible.
Moreover, it was unmanned automatic operation; there was no pilot, so to speak.
If a person from a company that manufactures shuttles, spaceships, or space vessels in the Gialpha Galaxy Empire had witnessed the operational state of the "sub-craft with specifications equivalent to a shuttle" built by Sangou in real time, they would likely have gone insane.
With all this and that, "Jin stands on the ground!" is established.
Jin and the others went through quarantine at the ground shuttle airport.
"I have come to escort you. I am the butler, Sutsan,"
"I'm Jin. Nice to meet you,"
A male elf butler with a resemblance to Sebas appeared before Jin and the others and guided them to a car for transport.
("If they were together, they'd be Sebastian, but there's too many 's'es!")
It would probably be more peaceful if no one knew what Jin was shouting in his head at that moment.
Next, in his heart, a debate about the two butlers' names, whether they were appropriate or not, had started, and it was certainly more peaceful if no one knew that either; it was a trivial matter.
"Jin-sama. Thank you so much for rescuing the young ladies,"
"Oh. Yeah,"
How should Jin respond to Sutsan's words of thanks, delivered with a perfect bow?
Jin was at a loss and could only give a short, vague reply.
Feeling nothing but discomfort in this flow, Jin racked his brains to break through the situation.
"Um, I'm terribly sorry, but would it be alright if I slept until we arrive? I'm a bit tired,"
"Yes. I will call you before we arrive,"
Jin executed the pretending-to-sleep tactic.
By doing so, he avoided "the annoyance of having to steer the conversation well" or rather, "participating in conversation inside the car."
However, it was only a pretense of sleep, so Jin's thoughts did not stop.
("I wonder, if I asked them to show me the destination on a map and then transported everyone with consecutive short-range teleports, would they get angry?")
It was a trivial matter that Jin was thinking such useless thoughts with his eyes closed.
Incidentally, if he did that, it would definitely cause an uproar.
The car ride, which took about an hour, ended, and they arrived at the Betasia Count's mansion.
Finally, Rouj's father and a beautiful elf woman standing beside him had their face-to-face meeting with Jin in the flesh.
Words of thanks were expressed once more, and Jin also completed a formal greeting.
However, Jin's gaze was fixed on the beautiful woman who closely resembled Rouj.
The only difference from Rouj was her shining blonde hair that reached down to her waist.
("What a beautiful lady.")
It was purely by chance that Jin avoided having his neck wrung by Rouj by not voicing this true feeling.
Of course, that woman's true identity was Rouj's mother.
The Count and Countess Betasia invited Jin and the others into the mansion and then headed straight for the reception room.
Jin could only be overwhelmed by the luxurious room.
"Jin-dono. I am terribly sorry, but I would like to first have a private talk with my daughters. Would you be willing to wait here?"
Jin readily accepted Rouj's father's request.
As a hero, obtaining time to relieve his own tension was also desirable.
The Count and Countess and the group including Rouj left the room, leaving only Jin in the reception room.
Shortly after being alone, light refreshments and tea were served.
"If you wish, you may also take a bath. What would you like to do?"
These were the words spoken by a maid at that time.
So unexpected was it that Jin doubted his own ears.
("Huh? A bath? That's a bath, right? Why a bath? What's with a bath in this situation?")
Jin was on the verge of panicking in the incomprehensible situation, but seeing the smiling elf maid helped him regain some composure.
"Ah, no bath for me (For an otaku guy, a beautiful woman is poison, but also a miracle cure. Both are 'immediately effective,' huh.)"
"Understood. Then, if you need anything, please call us using the bell on the table."
The maid bowed and left.
Once again alone, Jin turned his thoughts to "What should I do next?"
Incidentally, the maid of the Betasia Count's mansion informing Jin that a bath was prepared was also due to a unique custom of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
Spaceships and space vessels of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire do not have baths.
Furthermore, a guest arriving at the Count's mansion via the spaceport would have lived without bathing for at least several days.
In short, "Would you like to relax in the bath? (since you returned from space)" could be considered part of hospitality.
Jin's complete unawareness of this point stemmed from the fact that he only knew the environment inside Sangou, a highly capable vessel that allowed him to live the same way as on the ground.
In this regard, from the perspective of this world's inhabitants, only Sangou was abnormal, and it couldn't be helped that he couldn't even imagine that.
While Jin was being offered a bath and declining it, left to brood alone over his future prospects,
Count Betasia entered his own office with his wife and three daughters.
He strictly ordered that no other personnel, unless called by a member of the Count's family, were to approach the area.
Only then did the serious family talk begin.
Incidentally, the Count's office was chosen as the venue for the family talk because of its high soundproofing.
"First, let me hear your report, Rouj."
"Yes. The sequence of events began with an attack by bandits on Beta One. The ship took damage, and we three were quickly pushed into escape capsules. As a result, only we survived. I assert that 'the crew and attendants did their utmost.'"
"Hmm. I have no objection to that. Continue."
Since the part where casualties occurred was touched upon, a somber atmosphere spread.
However, the Count, in a position where he could not dwell on it, affirmed Rouj's words and urged her to continue.
"A vessel with overwhelming performance under the personal ownership of Captain Jin, which existed within the range that intercepted the distress signal sent by Beta One during the attack, came to our rescue. That vessel is Sangou. Through Sangou's attack, the bandits were completely defeated."
"Right there. Beta One, although a 'transport ship,' is a warship. Its defensive and offensive capabilities are incomparable to civilian ships. Is it really true that Sangou defeated the opponent that sank Beta One single-handedly? Is there any basis?"
"As a basis, I have confirmed the video recording of Sangou's attack. However, there is no guarantee that it is unprocessed and genuine. But considering what Jin and Sangou have accomplished since then up to the present, I believe 'the answer is already clear.' What do you think?"
"That... is true."
"I will continue the report. Now, although it is unknown 'how it was done,' Beta One was captured, the capsule containing us three was removed from Beta One, transferred to Sangou, and the ship itself was concealed. On that ship, on Sangou, only Jin was aboard. The ship's operation seems to be carried out by an incredibly capable artificial intelligence, Sangou, following the decisions of Captain Jin."
Here, Rouj paused momentarily and looked at her father to ask,
"Firstly, are there any points of doubt up to this part?"
"Hmm. The very existence of a five-hundred-meter-class combat ship for personal use is hard to believe. Are there truly no other crew members?"
The Count's doubt was natural given the common sense of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
This was because there were no spaceships capable of long-distance interstellar travel that could be operated by a single person.
It is not that small spaceships operable by one person do not exist, but due to issues like fuel capacity, the range of operation is limited to within a star system at best.
Furthermore, "small ships" here refer to those with a total length generally less than fifty meters.
A five-hundred-meter-class ship like Sangou falls into the medium to large range, and in addition to personnel in the bridge like helmsmen, fire controllers, and radar operators, a chief engineer and engineering officers are also necessary for operation.
If meals can be covered by long-preservation rations, a cook may be unnecessary, but even so, a five-hundred-meter-class combat ship would require at least the aforementioned personnel.
Also, "no relief personnel" is unthinkable in operation, so in reality, the number of personnel should be much larger.
"Without a doubt, only Captain Jin was aboard Sangou. The fact that areas other than the captain's quarters were not restricted entry is evidence of that. Right, Linju? Ranju?"
"That's right. I wandered around the ship quite a bit for exercise when I had free time, but I never met anyone."
"Yeah. There was one place like a cafeteria, but I never saw anyone else there either. Also, big sister, you never met anyone besides Jin on the bridge, right?"
"That's right. I didn't."
("'Free access to the bridge.' That's dangerous, isn't it?")
Count Betasia noticed that dangerously unbelievable part but swallowed the words of criticism.
And at the same time,
From the fact that there were no people even on the bridge, he decided for now to believe that Jin was operating Sangou alone.
Incidentally, Rouj told a small lie here, but such a thing was probably trivial.
After all, she alone had been able to enter the captain's quarters since that night.
"I see. Then I'll accept that 'that is the case.' Next, regarding the combat situation of Beta One—"
"As for the direct combat situation between the bandits and Beta One, I was put into the capsule early and do not have a grasp of it. However, from the video provided by Sangou, I thought that 'the bandits probably overwhelmed Beta One with sheer numbers.'"
"After taking delivery, we recovered Beta One's recorders and black box. After examining that information, it seems the bandits' attack power was not ordinary. There is a possibility it could be military-grade armaments."
"Is that so? Then, will you demand that Jin submit the spoils from the bandits at that time?"
"No, I have no intention of demanding that. Although there is suspicion, it is certain that the armaments did not originate from our house. Without solid evidence, I have no intention of deliberately earning the displeasure of our benefactor, Jin. Moreover, if we investigate and confirm it as military-grade, since this incident occurred within our domain, we would incur an investigative responsibility. We don't have the capacity for that right now. It would be unwise to stir up trouble needlessly."
Having said that, the Count gestured with his eyes for Rouj to continue the story.
"According to Jin and Sangou, 'they were accidentally thrown from a place outside the Gialpha Galaxy and wandered in.' Sangou says it was 'manufactured in a different galaxy,' if we can call the AI 'it.' And they had absolutely no basic knowledge about the Gialpha Galaxy. Moreover, even the language system seemed completely different; initially, they even offered to 'point out any translation errors.' Based on the story so far, it seems reasonable to judge that 'they can be trusted' on the point that they 'wandered in from outside the galaxy.' What do you think?"
"Hmm. A ship like Sangou cannot be built with any technology within the Empire. On top of that, if 'even the language was different,' then it is certain they are foreigners from a different civilization. Continue your report."
"At the time of rescue, I determined that 'our top priority is to ensure the arranged marriage in Greta goes ahead.' I asked Jin to take us to Greta, and he demanded as immediate compensation that I provide as much information as possible, and he agreed on that condition."
"Well, this is... did Jin, a human male, not demand physical compensation?"
Although it was hard for a father to hear, Count Betasia still pressed the matter.
This thought of the Count was extremely common in the relationship between elves and humans, and since it was a fact that human males favor elf females, it was unavoidable.
"No. I was prepared for that, and I was ready to take it upon myself if necessary. But there were no such incidents at all. Jin was truly a gentleman, and he insisted on communicating via monitor for 'almost all' interactions, to the point where we 'almost never met in person.'"
As groundwork for later.
Jin's gentlemanly image was important for Rouj.
The truth was that Jin was not a gentleman but merely a cowardly hero, but that was irrelevant for now.
"After arriving in Greta, during the quarantine period before landing, I obtained time to talk with Jin face-to-face. At that time, I asked if the two returning after the arranged marriage could ride along on the voyage for the Beta One handover. However, at that point, I ended up telling Jin about the internal affairs of our house. I am sorry about that. As for what happened after that, I think Father already knows."
"No, I want to confirm everything up to your arrival here."
"Yes. Jin became furious at my explanation that 'one of us three was essentially being offered as a concubine in return for financial aid from the Baron family, for an arranged marriage with political implications.' He declared he would eliminate the space beasts that were the root cause, completed that within the short time of less than a day, and returned to Greta. Also, when he became furious, he said, with the preface that 'this is speculation without evidence,' that 'it's possible the ones who attacked Beta One were connected to the Baron,' based on the fact that the insides of the captured bandit crafts were human males. In Greta, communication with Father was completely cut off due to the unexplained deterioration of communication conditions, but Jin delivered your instructions, so I decided to escape. Jin revealed his special ability to 'place people inside shadows,' and using the shadows of the mansion's servants, he evacuated us three, the four head maids, all our luggage, and himself. We moved from shadow to shadow, entered the shadow of a spaceship departing from Greta, and succeeded in getting into space. From there, we were wrapped in something like a protective membrane by Jin's special ability, and before we knew it, we were transported to the inside of Sangou. Jin is said to be 'the Hero.'"
The story became long, and Rouj paused here.
Her mother did not interrupt at all, simply listening attentively to Rouj's story.
The two younger sisters had serious expressions.
"'The Hero'? Such a preposterous story is hard to believe. Since the escape from Greta was accomplished, I will not question the process of that part. However, 'Jin has special abilities,' is that correct? Could it be that he is 'using some kind of tool'?"
"I don't know. I understand it as 'Jin's ability.' However, he might have used some tool without my noticing. But if it were a tool, I am not aware of any tool that could do such things."
The events beyond what Rouj had told her father up to this point,
the events of that night spent with Jin—should she tell him as is or not?
Even if she did, depending on how she conveyed that part, the hurdle for achieving her personal objective might rise a bit.
So, how skillfully could she steer the conversation from here?
That was important.
Failure was not an option.
Rouj's mind was now spinning at full speed.
"Father, there are also a few things I would like to confirm. May I ask?"
Thus, the hero Jin successfully completed the handover of Beta One and also succeeded in the mission of delivering Rouj and the others to the Betasia Count's mansion.
It was probably a trivial matter that using Sangou's specially made sub-craft as a shuttle and its performance amazed the people at the ground shuttle airport.
Will Rouj's plan, which had gone smoothly so far, succeed until the very end?
Will Jin be able to marry Rouj?
No one knows the future.
But the hero is completely unaware at this stage that the course of fate from here on will be decided by how Rouj's story proceeds.
In the reception room, alone, with nothing to do but sink into a sea of thought, Jin begins to think about something extremely trivial: "Are there no male elves in this mansion besides Rouj's father and the butler Sutsan?"