Chapter 35 - The Summoned Hero and the Fugitive Hero
~On the satellite orbit of the third planet of the Tauro star system in the Lambda Nu Galaxy~
Sangou was collecting the debris floating around to create metal ingots while investigating the wreckage that was thought to have originally been artificial satellites or the like.
In parallel with that, as a matter of course, Sangou was monitoring Shin and Kichou in Dragon Cavalry mode, active within the atmosphere.
Under such circumstances, Deli, who remained inside Sangou, was staring intently at the images of Shin and the others on the monitor alongside Miu.
The young Deli, perhaps from frustration at being unable to do anything in his current situation, was clenching his small fists with all his might.
Miu, who stayed close to him, could understand both Deli's demeanor and the feelings he harbored, but for that very reason, she simply sat there in silence.
Now is not the time to say anything, the beast-woman instinctively understood.
The video the two were watching showed a situation where a giant humanoid weapon was attacking Kichou in Dragon Cavalry mode with Shin riding her, and she was gracefully dodging the attacks.
Why had things come to this?
Let's rewind time a bit and follow the sequence of events starting from when the Hero Shin obtained permission from Laura to head to the third planet of the Tauro star system in the Lambda Nu Galaxy.
From Kichou's statement, it became clear that Shin's combination of Shadow Storage magic and Long-Distance Teleportation magic was extremely effective for matters related to Deli.
Therefore, regarding Shin and Sangou's departure to such a distant place, the matter was settled by Laura reluctantly giving her de facto permission.
Once that was decided, well, the movements from there proceeded smoothly in a short time.
The energy required to travel between galaxies, and the issue of supplies, starting with food during the travel period, were normally problems that would not be easily resolved, but for the duo of Shin and Sangou, they did not exist.
Under such circumstances, it was perhaps inevitable that preparation did not require much time.
Incidentally, the thing that actually took the most time was the adjustment of Shin's domestic affairs.
If an outsider with common sense knew about that, they might be surprised and at the same time find it nothing more than a funny story.
The day after Laura spoke to the Emperor and Shin officially received permission to leave the imperial capital with Sangou, Shin, accompanied by Miu and Deli, boarded Sangou and departed.
Deli had grown attached to Miu, and Miu, for her part, felt her protective instincts stirred by the very existence of a 'cute toddler boy.'
Thus, Miu offered to accompany them, taking on the triple role of mother, older sister, and caretaker for Deli.
Under those circumstances, the composition of the departure party settled on Miu joining in addition to Deli.
Of course, it goes without saying that Kichou, who had not disembarked from the beginning, remained 'aboard Sangou.'
Thus, the living spaceship set out on a long journey toward the Lambda Nu Galaxy.
Huh? Couldn't Miu and Deli have just waited at home?
Shin noticed this when he first returned home temporarily.
Shin's thought was correct.
However, the fact that no one had noticed that point until Shin did might be objectively a laughable story.
Incidentally, Shin happened to realize this at home, but during the preparation stage before leaving the imperial capital, he had fully discussed with Rouj and others, adjusted the accompanying members, and decided to bring Deli, Miu, and Kichou.
So he felt an indescribable awkwardness, but that was probably a trivial matter.
And he noticed more than just that after departure.
Oh! I forgot the procedure for my mercenary guild rank!
He encountered Deli during a mercenary guild job, and after returning to the imperial capital, he was busy preparing to solve problems related to that.
As a result, he now belatedly realized he hadn't done any procedures related to the mercenary guild, but that didn't affect the big picture and was even more trivial.
Of course, now that he noticed them, he couldn't just leave the situation as is.
He asked Rouj to send the combat data against the bandits created by Sangou to the mercenary guild, and had Miu and Deli wait at home while switching to full-speed travel with only Shin and Kichou aboard. He took the appropriate measures properly.
But that aside,
As the long journey aboard Sangou began, Kichou began to strongly feel the potential for evolution in her own existence.
This was due to a prolonged stay in the hyperspace used for warp travel, an experience no individual dragon had ever had before.
Although Kichou was 'inside Sangou,' she was a super-organism that perceived the external environment with her Divine Dragon abilities and was fully affected by it.
Originally a dragon in the monster category, Kichou had evolved into a Divine Dragon, and the word 'Divine' in her species name was not for show.
To give the conclusion first: 'during the voyage toward the Lambda Nu Galaxy, Kichou would completely satisfy part of the conditions for evolution.'
Of course, that alone was only a part, and still insufficient; she needed to accumulate more combat experience to evolve.
But conversely, 'if the other evolution conditions were also met, Kichou would undergo further evolution from her current Divine Dragon state.'
Aside from such matters concerning only Kichou, was there anything noteworthy during the considerably long voyage?
The answer to that question is 'nothing.'
In particular, no orders from the Emperor were issued to Shin and the others, and Sangou's voyage continued smoothly.
After all, in the space between galaxies, there is basically almost nothing of note, so that was the proper state of affairs.
Shin and the others would never know, but at this time, the Hero's power of fate was fully focused on 'some kind of incident that would likely occur on Deli's home planet,' and the current situation might have been the so-called 'calm before the storm.'
After such a tranquil time, Sangou finally reached the outer edge of the Lambda Nu Galaxy.
Shin was informed by his reliable partner of the arrival at the temporary first destination.
The Hero unsparingly unleashed his cheat powers, extending the range of Map Magic and Search Magic as much as possible.
"Hmm. I don't sense anything particularly artificial in its movements. What about on your end, Sangou?"
When he used Map Magic, he somehow knew all the names of the star systems he shouldn't have known, but Shin dismissed it with 'it's magic.'
That was fine in itself, but in reality, Deli did not possess knowledge of the star names or planet names of the star system that was his home.
Therefore, Shin and Sangou had no way of knowing them either.
Shin had no intention of relying on the star names that Map Magic could reveal when searching for inhabited planets; he planned to look for objects moving artificially in space and use them as markers.
In that sense, his expectation was off.
However, even if Shin couldn't pinpoint the location of Deli's home, it was a different story for Sangou, the artificial intelligence of the living spaceship.
Sangou had extracted the data from the spaceship Deli was on earlier, and through analysis, understood the planet of the departure star system.
But still, when they actually arrived, there were problems that only became apparent then.
"Yes. There's nothing at the moment. I'm currently trying to determine the positional relationship of the destination based on the data extracted from the spaceship Deli was on."
"Hmm? Is there a problem?"
"Yes, there is. There's a slight discrepancy in the data I have. So I'm now making corrections based on estimated values. Probably, the cause of the difference from the current state is that the star chart data was tens of thousands of years old. The positional relationships of the stars have shifted over time."
Although it took a little time for Sangou to pinpoint the location of the planet in the star system that was Deli's home, she managed to complete the task safely.
Even with Sangou's outstanding performance, it took that much effort, so there is no doubt that identifying the location was actually a considerably difficult task.
"Captain. The correction is complete. There is a planet believed to be Deli's home about two days' distance from here. Shall we head there now?"
"Yeah. Go ahead."
Thus, another two days passed without anything special happening.
Sangou took about forty-eight hours to reach the satellite orbit of the third planet of the Tauro star system.
In the space around the area they arrived at, wreckage that seemed to be remnants of artificial satellites, which had apparently 'stopped working and broken down long ago,' was floating here and there.
"Captain. We've arrived. There are a fair number of life responses on the surface and in the sea. What would you like to do?"
"Hmm. Let's start with visual confirmation first. Show me the surface images."
"Yes. I'll display the surface images on the monitor now. Please instruct me on any areas you need enlarged."
Thus, the image of the blue planet that the Hero saw was, though quite personally so for Shin, a rather shocking one.
"Wait, this looks exactly like the Japanese archipelago I know. Though it's bigger in size."
"Is that so. It's interesting that it resembles something you know, Captain."
What Shin saw on the monitor screen were a giant Hokkaido, Honshu, Shikoku, and Kyushu.
At first glance, the shapes of the four landmasses and the blue sea resembled the original so much that it reminded him of them.
However, comparing the size of the original Japanese archipelago in his memory with each landmass, they were abnormally large.
Each of them was no longer an 'island' but might be called a 'continent.'
But there were also differences besides size.
Islands like Sado in Shin's memory were almost absent, and there was nothing corresponding to Okinawa, Amami Oshima, or the Ogasawara Islands.
After all, only parts of a giant Japanese archipelago existed, and continents like Eurasia, Africa, America, South America, and Australia were completely absent, so even if it was similar, it was definitely a different thing.
"Should I scout the area first before bringing Deli-kun? Or should I bring him along and ask him to guide us? This is a tough call. Oh, Sangou. There's no problem with the atmosphere composition or gravity, right?"
"Yes. The ozone layer is a bit thick, but the composition at the surface is not much different from the current air inside the ship. The gravity is about 0.5% stronger, but I don't think it's at a level where you can clearly feel a difference that would hinder movement. Their technological level seems too low to be considered 'capable of reaching space.' I can confirm horse-drawn carriages and the like as a means of ground transportation."
"I see. Then I'll go take a quick look first. Where are the cities with large populations?"
In response to the captain's question, Sangou indicated on the monitor the position that would correspond to Tokyo in Japan, based on the number of life responses detected.
Upon receiving that, Shin headed there with a series of short-range teleports.
Shin approached the surface and observed the city from a distance in the sky.
The buildings visible in the scenery were wooden and Japanese-style.
But the people's attire and the race discernible from their appearance were Western-style.
Well, he could imagine that much in advance from Deli's appearance.
So it's Japanese-style Nareuropa! That was Shin's own secret, which he inwardly shouted.
The one in the distance looks like Edo Castle to me! That subsequent impression was also a trivial matter but should probably be kept secret as well.
Needless to say, even before being summoned to the Louvre Empire from Japan, Shin of course had no experience seeing the real Edo Castle.
But that aside,
Shin took out clothes he had used during his time in the Louvre Empire from Storage Space and quickly changed.
This was because he felt that staying in Gialpha Galactic Empire-made clothes would make him stand out completely from the surroundings.
And since he naturally didn't have local currency, he put into his pocket the small gold and silver plates and gold dust that Sangou had given him for exchange.
When he had prepared as much as he could, Shin teleported to a place he thought would be out of sight.
Even in a new land, it might be a good thing that he didn't have to worry about language at all.
Shin, feeling grateful for the bestowed abilities even now, thought about the person Deli had described as likely a problem child.
I wonder how it is for the guy summoned here in that regard... He vaguely thought such things while deciding to walk around and see the town.
Let's see. 'Currency exchange' or 'buying'? Is there any shop-like place around here where I can get currency that works here?
While keeping an eye on his surroundings and vaguely looking for that kind of shop, he noticed a child who seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to steal from a stall owner.
It was exactly the same behavior as the slum children he often saw in the Louvre Empire.
Perfect. I'll grab that kid, give him some pocket money, and use him as an information source.
This kind of thinking by the Hero might have been far from what one would call a hero.
Still, once he thought of it, he acted immediately.
And it was a fact that his subsequent actions and words easily overturned the future where that child should have been doomed.
Shin concealed his presence and quickly got behind the child.
Then he lightly placed his hand on the child's shoulder and called out to her.
"Hey. Don't do that. That stall owner's already onto you."
"Whoa! I, uh, I wasn't doing anything, mister."
"Oh? Is that so? That's fine then. Anyway, kid. I don't have any money that works around here. So, do you know a place where I can exchange this for the local currency? If you tell me, I'll buy you a meal or something."
From the feel of the slender shoulder under his hand, Shin noticed that the person he had spoken to was actually a girl.
Still, he ignored that realization.
Because it was common for children like this to pretend to be boys to protect themselves in sexual matters.
With his other hand, Shin showed the gold and silver plates he was holding.
Showing actual valuables was the most effective way to convince the child in front of him that what he was saying was true.
Sadly, Shin knew that correct answer.
Incidentally, he was quite shocked at being called 'mister.'
Inner age aside, Shin's appearance definitely looked to be in his early twenties, and at worst, he might even be seen as in his late teens.
"Mister, you for real? But, I want money more than food. I can't just eat by myself."
"I see. Then I'll give you some money as a reward. And I'll also throw in some takeout food. On the condition that you tell me, an outsider, all sorts of things about this area. Also, my name is 'Shin.' I'd prefer it if you called me by my name, not 'mister.'"
Shin lured the girl he happened to find with a reward and turned her into a convenient guide for himself.
On the surface, it sounded completely shady, but Shin himself thought it was a 'win-win-win for all three.'
So there was no problem.
Anyway, with that flow, Shin was led to a large shop that would buy his gold plates and such, and successfully obtained local currency.
At that time, he felt that the other party saw him as 'a customer who was not a local newcomer,' so he accepted the undervaluation of the exchange amount as a 'necessary expense.'
Next, he confirmed the location of a tavern that seemed good for nighttime information gathering, and further extracted various information from the girl as an addition.
Children living in the slums had no education.
But they had a surprising amount of detailed information necessary for survival, making them very convenient in situations like this.
Of course, it came with the condition: 'as long as one wasn't attacked or deceived and stripped of everything.'
As promised, Shin gave the girl a generous amount of money as a tip, and also bought as much food as she could carry.
The girl, with a beaming smile, properly thanked Shin and ran off.
"Thanks, uncle! See you around if luck has it!"
Shin had evolved from 'mister' to 'uncle'!
The fact that he was never called by his name to the end—was that a trivial matter?
Am I 'uncle'? No matter how much Shin inwardly brooded over that title, it didn't affect the big picture, so perhaps it could be dismissed as 'trivial.'
There was still some time before the next information-gathering spot, the tavern, reached the good time of day where it would be filled with bustle.
But that aside,
He wanted to get as much information as possible.
Therefore, Shin spent his time visiting stalls and shops, listening to the conversations that drifted by, keeping his awareness on his surroundings.
After dusk fell, he drank at the tavern, buying drinks and snacks for promising individuals here and there.
In that manner, Shin succeeded in extracting the information he wanted.
Having done everything he could at this stage, Hero Shin returned to Sangou via teleportation.
Since Sangou shared information through the sub-units attached to Shin's clothes, the explanation from there could be skipped.
That should have been the case, but still, to confirm the known information, Shin couldn't help but tell his partner various things—it was perhaps inevitable for a human being.
"Originally, it seems each of the four big continents had its own country. Then, here on Kyushu, around Mt. Aso, a monster—well, according to Kichou, it seems like a 'variant of an earth dragon'—appeared and destroyed that country. Next, when it crossed over to Shikoku here, Deli's country on Honshu started a ritual at the ruins near Mt. Fuji. And they succeeded in activating a giant mechanical knight, a 'legacy of ancient hyper-advanced civilization.' It was fine up to the point they defeated the monster, but before that, Shikoku was also destroyed. Then, on the remaining Honshu and Hokkaido, that mechanical knight suddenly attacked the castle that was the political center and took out all the top brass of the country. And so, the fool who was summoned and piloted the mechanical knight declared himself the founding king. Some regional lords didn't obey him, but they were all crushed. And now, he's based in the ruins where the mechanical knight was found, and extorting taxes."
"Is that so. Then, what do you intend to do, Captain?"
"I plan to hear what that fool running rampant has to say, but I think 'he's guilty from the situation.' And if he's completely guilty, I'll purge him. And if possible, I'll rescue Deli's older sister. As for the rest, if Deli has any intention of succeeding the country, I'll help him."
"I see."
"Oh, and as my reward afterwards, I'll get the right to investigate the ruins. Depending on the situation, I might also get the artifacts. This time, even if the compensation is objectively insufficient, I'll just provide it free of charge. Because I can only think, 'An idiot from the same homeland did something stupid.'"
Shin recalled light novels where idiots going 'hyahhaa!' in another world appear, and could only look into the distance.
"Is it confirmed that he is 'from the same homeland'?"
Sangou did not have the knowledge to judge that part.
That was why she asked.
"Strictly speaking, there's no solid evidence at this point. But I'm going to treat it as confirmed. I don't think it'll cause any problems. Oh, I forgot about the reward said to have been given to that idiot by the country. The rumor at the tavern was that it was 'marriage to the princess and a grant of territory.' It seems he went berserk saying 'that's not enough.' There's no way that a daughter whose parents were killed and who was taken would warm up to such a guy. So just on that point, I'm certain he's an idiot."
"I see. Then, Sangou will wait while investigating the debris in the surrounding space, correct? From what you've said, it seems like your and Kichou's job."
"Yeah. That's right. But first, bring Deli here and have him wait inside Sangou. You can show them a monitor of what we're doing, right?"
"Yes. Understood."
After such a rough outline of the plan, Shin returned home to bring Deli out.
Miu was naturally eager to accompany Deli, so she ended up coming along as well.
With all this and that, Sangou remained in the satellite orbit of the third planet of the Tauro star system in the Lambda Nu Galaxy, waiting for the time to send Deli and Miu into the atmosphere.
Timing-wise, it was scheduled for after Shin and Kichou's Dragon Cavalry duo had neutralized the idiot piloting the giant mechanical knight, and they were just monitoring and waiting for that to happen.
Shin approached the area where the stronghold was said to be, in order to contact the controller of the giant mechanical knight.
That place was at the southern foot of what would be called 'Mt. Fuji' in Japan.
I plan to talk things out first, but we'll probably end up subduing him by force. I really wish I didn't have to deal with an idiot Hero like this, but...
Ignoring the fact that he himself was a pathetic, hopeless, cowardly hero, Shin having such thoughts was probably a trivial matter.
Anyway, that was Shin's preliminary thinking.
Incidentally, he knew Kichou wanted combat experience, and even if the opponent's strength was unknown, based on past experience, Shin didn't assume they would lose or struggle.
Of course, depending on one's viewpoint, it could be called 'unfounded confidence.'
However, Shin had his own fairly reliable intuition, plus the support of Kichou's race-specific instincts.
Even if it comes to a fight, being a little dismissive of the opponent is just right.
As long as Kichou didn't warn him of any danger, Shin's resolve would be as stated above.
"My visual impression is completely Mt. Fuji. But it's about three times as big, so the summit elevation easily exceeds 10,000 meters."
"Master, what are you talking about?"
Shin's muttered remark didn't contain a shred of information that others needed to understand.
Therefore, Shin had to answer Kichou's question with a wry smile inwardly.
"It's nothing. That was just my personal impression, so don't worry about it, Kichou."
"Okay~"
"Now then. At the ruins Deli mentioned, I can only see what looks like an entrance from above, but there are no people. Only something like a guard robot. Kichou, do your instincts or extrasensory perception tell you anything?"
"Master, some kind of wave signal is being emitted, so I think we're being detected over there. They'll be coming out soon~"
"I see, I see. Oh, that reminds me, I didn't check anything, but can that giant mechanical knight fly?"
Not confirming that point with Deli was probably because, subconsciously, he had decided 'it's inferior anyway!' and was 'dismissive and confident.'
Because he unconsciously looked down on the opponent's combat ability, he probably didn't think of the need to confirm it.
However, even if he had confirmed it, the operational records had been lost over the long years, so no one in the Rondannur Kingdom, including Deli, had any knowledge related to it.
While they were at it, a giant golden humanoid knight appeared.
Well, even if it was called 'giant,' the machine's total height was only under thirty meters.
Having grown accustomed to Sangou's five-hundred-meter class colossal body, Kichou returning to her Divine Dragon state from her young dragon form, and remembering the large Space Beasts from past battles, it might be inevitable that Shin didn't feel it was particularly 'big.'
Gold, huh. It doesn't look like that thing from that 'mobile warrior' stuff. If anything, it's more like the one with five stars? Huh? But weren't both designed by the same person?
Shin's thoughts about his dubious memories upon seeing the mechanical knight were a secret to himself.
Even with a possible battle looming before him, he was a hero with absolutely no tension.
Kichou, with Shin in such a state on her back, was flying at an altitude of around 15,000 meters.
The Divine Dragon was turning a certain degree of caution toward the mechanical knight, which seemed to be taking a firing stance.
However, it was really 'just a degree' of caution.
It would be impressive if it could break Master's shield. But I'm sure it's impossible~
Kichou had such thoughts and stood firm.
Incidentally, if by any chance the defense of Shin's deployed barrier magic were to be breached by an enemy attack, Kichou's pride would be shattered.
Because she knew that even her own full-powered breath could never penetrate Shin's barrier.
Well, in this case, Kichou's prediction was correct, and such a future naturally did not occur.
"Whoa! He just up and shoots without any warning! Does he not realize someone's riding this thing? Kichou. We can take it, but I don't want to reveal our hand, so try to avoid direct hits as much as possible."
Seeing the missed shots, Shin confirmed they couldn't penetrate his barrier magic.
The hero calmly gave instructions to Kichou.
Incidentally, this was the scene that led to the series of situations at the beginning, but well.
"Okay~ He's so bad it'd be harder to get hit~"
Dodging the shots nimbly, Kichou approached the mechanical knight on the ground, dancing like a butterfly.
"Hey there! I'd like to talk for a bit. Could you stop shooting? We can still fight after talking, right?"
It goes without saying that Shin's call was amplified in volume and directional using magic so the opponent could hear it clearly.
"Who the hell are you? There's no one who can talk to me as an equal."
"Come on, don't say that. You're probably from Japan, right? I'm Japanese too. For the sake of our common homeland. Even if we fight later, we can at least talk a bit first. My name is Asada Jin."
Shin said this while having Kichou approach, and at the same time, he removed the head of the Sub-unit Armor he was wearing, revealing his face.
This action was to show his face properly and talk.
"Asada Jin? Then you're 'Jin'! You think you can fool me with that disguise? Just a slightly different hair color! What's a heavily wanted serious criminal like you doing here? I almost died because of you!"
For Shin, the fact that the other person knew about him was reluctantly made clear from that statement.
It was a moment when completely unexpected information was thrown out.
Thus, Shin and Kichou succeeded in encountering the person who was the enemy of Deli's parents, a so-called hero from Japan.
However, it was revealed that the other party had information on Shin, and he was completely in a belligerent state, even seeming to hold a deep grudge against Shin.
Where on earth did the pilot of the mechanical knight come from, and what information did he have?
Why did he call Shin a 'serious criminal'?
Those mysteries, which would be revealed later, arose in Shin's heart.
But no one knew the future.
The Hero had no way of knowing that Deli, through the audio received by Sangou via the sub-unit and played on the bridge along with the video, learned of the exchange between Shin and the mechanical knight's pilot, and was shocked that his current protector was called a 'serious criminal.'
Nor did Shin know that Miu, who received the same information, had made the extremely calm judgment that 'Labeling is meaningless because it changes depending on the position of the person doing the labeling. For example, the old upper echelons of the Free Democratic Alliance probably hate Shin deeply and would want to treat him as a serious criminal.' He would be surprised to learn that later.