Chapter 7 - The Hero's First Battle in Space
~Neutral Colony Greta, Spaceship Port, 500-Meter-Class Berth~
Sangou remained moored at Greta Space Port.
However, it maintained a state ready for departure at any time.
Sangou-type bio-spaceships do not possess so-called engines.
As long as they have the energy necessary for navigation and, if there are crew members, the supplies needed for their survival, they can act immediately.
And currently, Sangou fulfilled those conditions.
Hence, then.
Captain Jin contacted the Greta Immigration Bureau.
The content was regarding a departure schedule.
He conveyed his wish that, provided Rouj and the others were permitted to land without incident, Jin alone would not land and would depart as quickly as possible.
This meant, the originally planned procurement of supplies has been cancelled.
Well, regarding supplies, it was actually only scheduled as one of the plausible reasons for port entry, and in the first place, it wasn't really necessary for Jin and Sangou.
Additionally, from the Greta side's perspective, another meaning arises—with the precondition that if one believes the application content submitted by Jin to the Greta side before Sangou entered port is to be trusted—which is that despite being a foreigner from outside the Gialpha Galaxy, Jin will not even conduct sightseeing landing for pleasure at Greta, his first port of call.
Moreover, too.
Currently, Sangou does not have a ship registration code valid within the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
If they rush to depart without obtaining one, the process will be to obtain only a certificate proving that they legally paid the usage fee for Greta Space Port and departed—essentially the procedure for creating a Greta Departure Certificate.
"If we have a 'Greta Departure Certificate,' physical document verification becomes possible, and although there will be a time lag until information transmission within the Empire is complete, it will also be possible to query it as electronic data. Therefore, even without a ship registration code, there is a high possibility that entry inspections at other ports will be simplified for the time being."
The Greta side explained as above.
Incidentally, even if they return to Greta without calling at any other port after departing, the part about simplified entry inspection remains the same.
Because they are rushing departure, as a result, the fact that the Jin and Sangou pair will end up spending no money in Greta other than the port usage fee is likely also a point of concern for the Greta side.
"Is there something you are dissatisfied with regarding this colony?"
In this situation, it is unavoidable that the Greta side makes an inquiry like the one above.
Because, for Greta, a neutral colony functioning as a transit point for trade, if spaceships acting like Sangou become the norm, its very raison d'être will be questioned, and it could become a matter of life and death.
So, in a sense, it was a natural inquiry.
Jin sincerely answered that question, referring to Sangou's advice.
Because he intended to return within one day as planned, and wanted to be able to re-enter port smoothly if possible.
"The reason I am rushing departure is solely because an urgent place to go has come up on my end. There is no dissatisfaction with Greta. If I had time, I would have liked to replenish supplies here. The schedule is fluid, so I cannot say for certain, but after leaving Greta, this ship may return to Greta within one to two days at the shortest. If that happens, I ask for your kind assistance."
With Jin making a statement that was half an excuse like that, they somehow managed to end the conversation amicably.
Due to the change in circumstances, the boarding inspection that the Greta side had been planning to conduct on Sangou naturally became vague and was canceled.
Jin entertained the selfish fantasy that it would be nice if the talk of boarding inspection didn't resurface next time we enter port and got overlooked.
Well, Jin's personal fantasies are but trivial matters.
It seemed Zilfa's follow-up observation would end safely.
In response, Sebas had already stationed escorts around Sangou to welcome Rouj and the others when they disembarked.
In the common understanding of Jin and Sangou, the butler Sebas was the one who committed the major blunder of 'forgetting prior communication' during first contact.
Because of that bad impression, the fact that the arrangements for Rouj and the others' disembarkation this time were unexpectedly good caused his evaluation of Sebas to be updated in a positive direction.
Sebas, being in close contact with the Greta administration, knew that Sangou was in a hurry to depart.
Therefore, the Betasia Count Household's Greta-Tei butler perfectly prepared the welcome for Rouj and the others not only because of his faithful duty to the family he served, but also due to an aspect of consideration for Jin and Sangou's situation.
Incidentally, though the timeline goes back and forth, I will mention a slightly future event here: Sebas made the women cease their wishy-washy send-off (reluctant to part from comfortable Sangou?) and rapidly withdrew from the space port.
That was solely to not waste Jin's time, and to get Sangou to depart as quickly as possible.
Sebas showed that intention only through silent, earnest action.
And those observing from inside Sangou were not so foolish as to be unable to sense that.
Even if Jin is a bumbling hero, he has the excellent Sangou to support him and compensate for his shortcomings.
Jin was impressed by Sebas's capable demeanor.
"(As expected of Sebastian! A man bearing the iconic name of a capable butler—he really is something else!)"
It would probably be more peaceful if no one ever knew that Jin was thinking such a misguided, or rather, off-target thought at this time.
He is Sebas, and definitely not Sebastian.
Let's leave that slightly future story here and return to the original timeline.
Jin finished his talk with Rouj in the lounge.
The man who wanted to be a hero in Rouj's eyes, after a short interval, dove into a pre-meeting time with Sangou.
"Captain. If we rush to the 12th planet at full speed, Sangou will consume about 70% of the usable energy it currently possesses. How do you plan to exterminate the space beasts? And how will we replenish Sangou's energy? If we only go, we can reach the 13th planet via the 12th, but..."
Initially, they had intended to head to the 13th planet first, then the 12th, in order of proximity from their current position, but in terms of efficiency for the round trip, heading to the 12th planet first was better.
However, as Sangou explained to Jin, the issue of energy supply accompanies this matter.
How to deal with the space beasts?
Sangou thought, There will naturally be energy consumption there as well.
However, in this case involving a hero, that assumption is off the mark.
"Oh, about that. Actually, I came up with an idea when I was wearing those seven sub-units. I thought, 'Can't I just pour my magic power directly into Sangou?' And if that's possible, then thinking back to when I first met Sangou, it makes me feel down."
"Ah, I see. So you intended to use that unknown energy. That makes sense. But why would you, Captain, feel 'down' about that?"
"Hmm? It just makes me think, 'What was the Perfect Heal even for! I'm a moron! I should have figured that out first!'"
"I see. However, this matter is different, so rest assured. That energy, puzzlingly, can only be used by Sangou for storage, release, and propulsion systems. It cannot be used for hull regeneration and repair; for that, a process called 'magic' seems necessary. So, your magic at that time was the correct choice. Rather, if you had absorbed it as energy first, you might have been furious, wondering 'Why can it only be stored but not converted into energy for hull regeneration?' So, all's well that ends well. I consider it good for both of us. However, 'magic power' really is a mysterious energy. What is that stuff?"
Even when Sangou plainly asked, "What is that stuff?" about magic power, unfortunately, Jin did not have an answer to that.
Because he himself does not understand at all what kind of principle it operates on, or what it even is!
He uses it because he can.
For Jin, that's all there is to it.
And, as has become apparent now, there is no magic in this world!
What's more, there isn't any!
In a fantasy world, even elves should have some, the template spirit magic—not a trace of it.
That's only natural since there is no magic power floating in space in the first place.
If the original source doesn't exist, there is nothing to absorb and use.
It was that simple.
In that sense, it's amazing that Sangou can use Jin's magic power as energy, even if only partially.
On that point, one could say, As expected of a bio-spaceship created by hyper-advanced science civilization.
Of course, Sangou's awesomeness is not limited to that single point.
However, in this regard, Sangou itself does not recognize that as being amazing.
It will never have such recognition, for all eternity.
Does having a disappointing hero as captain somehow influence it with that disappointment?
Perhaps Sangou needs words of encouragement, including consolation, like Do your best!
That aside, then.
What exactly are elves in this world?
"They are known as a race that is 'good-looking, slender, slightly lower in physical strength but slightly higher in agility compared to other races. With individual differences, they generally have high aptitude for ranged weapons. Also, they are basically long-lived and have high resistance to disease. Female elves have a low pregnancy rate, making their reproductive capability somewhat weak.'"
The answer to such a question would be as above.
Though irrelevant here, Rouj's biological father fathered three daughters with his one and only wife.
So, he was both lucky and probably tried hard.
Unfortunately, no heir son was born.
In any case, elves in this world cannot use magic!
That is what they are.
While this was happening, Sangou finally received the awaited message stating permission granted.
It was notification of permission for the six elven women to disembark: Rouj and five others, six in total.
There was no scene here of a touching farewell and promise of reunion.
Additionally, they did not respond with smiles to friends waving in farewell.
The disappointing hero and his partner Sangou have not a shred of such sentimentality.
Jin, while discussing future plans on Sangou's bridge, was on standby maintaining a state ready for departure at any time.
Upon receiving the permission to disembark, he briefly exchanged parting greetings with the women via monitor.
Rouj and the five others disembarked without issue, and at the same time, they completed receiving the Greta Departure Certificate for which they had applied.
And so, Sangou finally set sail.
The Greta port controller applied the experience from Sangou's previous port entry to Sangou's departure.
The controller switched to manual mode, which had only been used in training before, to prevent the instruments from becoming a uniform sea of red lights.
Once departure was completed smoothly and until reaching the space zone where Sangou could achieve full speed, navigation was at a speed considerate of the surroundings.
However, at this time, consideration for the surroundings was based on Sangou's standards.
Therefore, the controller perceived it as an act of shocking reckless driving.
Probably, the next time they enter port, they will be thoroughly scolded for that part.
Even if they avoid being scolded, they will surely receive a stern warning.
It was Sangou who did it, but the one who will be scolded by the Greta port controller later will likely be Captain Jin.
Such a possible future is indeed unfortunate for Jin.
But things like that, well.
From the perspective of Jin the hero, who wants to play the hero role and save the beautiful elf Rouj and the others from crisis, it might be a trivial matter.
"Captain. Thirty seconds until we reach the space zone where we can transition to max-speed warp navigation. Energy consumption up to this point is nearly zero. Thanks to the mysterious energy supply from the Captain. Energy remaining is over 98%. However, from here, consumption will skyrocket. What about the strain on the supply side? Sangou cannot determine that, but please be prepared for some hardship."
"Yeah. I don't mind. Do it."
Thus, Sangou entered warp navigation utilizing hyperspace.
At this time, a fact that only became clear upon trying also emerged.
A flaw in Jin's magic power recovery system was exposed.
The Origin of Dragon Vein fused with Jin does indeed continuously generate a vast amount of magic power infinitely.
However, the vessel that temporarily holds it—Jin's physical body—has an upper limit on the amount it can store.
The magic power continuously supplied from the Origin of Dragon Vein that does not fit in there is automatically channeled into Jin's Storage Space and accumulated.
Of course, Jin can draw out and use the enormous amount of magic power constantly accumulated in the Storage Space through this flow.
However, to use it, well.
It needs to pass through Jin's physical body once.
And a minuscule, instantaneous time lag is required for the replenishment of the reduced magic power.
The explanation-like talk has gone on and on, but to summarize the key points clearly, it becomes as follows.
"The amount of magic power Jin can use at once is physically limited. If he overdoes it beyond that, he will feel extremely terrible. In other words, it is painful both physically and mentally."
Simply put, it's that kind of story.
Jin probably doesn't care about the fine details.
In this incident, the first full-power voyage achieved through collaboration between Jin and Sangou was established.
At that time, an excessive burden was placed on Jin, who was supplying the energy for movement, and the fact that this high load on Jin could have been avoided if Sangou had some understanding of the principles of Jin's magic power supply became clear only after trying.
To add, in reality, during this incident, there was even a risk that Jin could have died from shock due to having too much magic power drawn out, if one step had gone wrong.
The only reason it didn't come to that was that Sangou's performance coincidentally didn't reach that level.
Both Jin and Sangou are probably lucky in misfortune.
And it was also a textbook example of first times can be scary.
That aside, even if they overdo it, if they can survive, well.
Thanks to Jin's hero growth characteristics and the bestowed level cap removal, his base performance increases.
Specifically in this case, the part of Jin's body that serves as a vessel for magic power expanded.
Additionally, there was also something that came along as a bonus, which is nothing short of a stroke of luck.
The hero from a fantasy world acquired a skill to compress the magic power stored in his body, which he did not previously possess, at this time.
By touching Sangou's cells and supplying a vast amount of magic power as energy, Jin unconsciously learned it.
Moreover, the activation condition is passive.
In other words, it is constant activation on a subconscious level.
This is a skill that none of the heroes summoned in the Louvre Empire in the past possessed, and it was a blossoming of ability that occurred for the first time due to Jin coming into contact with hyper-advanced science civilization in another world.
The time required to reach the 12th planet was five hours.
These five hours naturally include navigation time in normal space, aside from the warp navigation using hyperspace.
Jin was subjected to that painful state for just under four hours.
Because when Sangou returned to normal space navigation, the required magic power supply at once decreased.
"Phew. That was tough. I have to do this two more times?"
Going and returning, total warp count is three.
Thinking that way, Jin's count is indeed correct.
"No, Captain. I apologize for the guess, but the load placed on you this time seems avoidable by Sangou devising a different method. The excessive load on you this time was an event neither of us anticipated. However, next time, we can change the method based on that experience. It may take some trial and error. But, from now on, I will strive to reduce the load on you. I judge it appropriate to consider this incident like an accident caused by both of us overestimating our own abilities. Sangou's consideration was insufficient. I apologize."
"No, no. We're both fine, so it's not something for you to apologize about. The goal of arriving within the expected time itself was achieved. 'I ignorantly overdid it, and the resulting problem was force majeure'—that's fine. And it seems we can avoid it next time."
"Yes. Then next time, I will devise and adjust."
"(It was tough, but if it won't happen again from next time, it's not something to drag on about!)"
Jin cut it off easily and switched his thinking.
Thus, the hero let his thoughts wander to the immediate future.
"Okay, this topic is done. So, then. What are these 'space beasts' like? According to Rouj, 'They erode and eat anything. They especially like living things and love organic matter. They also eat inorganic minerals, though it takes time compared to digesting organics, they eat it all.'"
"Regarding that, Captain. Actually, Sangou has an idea about the unique waves of the numerous life reactions sensed from this space zone. This is the base organism used when Sangou was created. What Sangou's creators called the 'space cleaners.' If this is the opponent, Sangou can issue gathering instructions using the sensory wave ability. This is nothing but a harmful pest; there is no benefit to its existence. Extermination is recommended. If not completely annihilated, it will proliferate in a short period. As long as there is food, it will continue to increase, and if there is not enough food nearby, it will start moving in search of food. Therefore, not a single one must be left."
"Sangou. It's hard to say, but I'll say it. This thing is like the parent organism that created you, but are you okay with handling it that way?"
Because he recalled the idea of kin-slaying, Jin confirmed with Sangou again.
"Yes. Of course. They do not possess intelligence like Sangou's. Hehehe."
Jin muttered inwardly, "That 'hehehe' is creepy!"
Jin cannot honestly point that out to Sangou, but that is also a trivial matter.
With all this and that, Sangou used its special ability, the 'Sensory Wave,' to gather the space beasts.
As a result, the nearby space beasts gradually gathered.
The phenomenon that occurred was just like in some role-playing game where slimes gather and become a king slime.
Do space beasts merge and combine?
In any case, it grew larger and larger, transforming into a single giant body.
"We could reduce them by exterminating them individually, but wouldn't it be less trouble to defeat them all at once?"
By Sangou's judgment criteria, the danger level of each individual space beast before fusion is a 'C' rating.
And after fusion, the danger level changes depending on the size at that time.
So, what is the danger level of this case?
The group of individuals under the influence of the sensory wave emitted by Sangou in the space zone around the 12th planet.
The size after their fusion was such that describing it as equivalent to a sphere about three kilometers in diameter would not be strange.
And at that size, according to Sangou's judgment criteria, the danger level rating would be 'AA'.
Incidentally, the ratings above that continue for four levels: AAA, S, SS, and SSS, but that is completely irrelevant to the current situation.
"'Trouble,' huh. If I do it, maybe. By the way, how would you, Sangou, defeat that thing?"
"Yes. If it were Sangou, I would use the Hyperspace Cannon, which has the entire thing within its effective range."
"Ah, that thing. 'It takes time to charge, but it blasts things within its effective range into the hyperspace used for warp navigation.' But if you do that, won't that thing go berserk inside the hyperspace you sent it to?"
"It cannot survive in that space. Unless it has undergone genetic modification to adapt like Sangou, survival is impossible. Hehehe."
Jin felt relieved by most of Sangou's words, but wanted to say, "That 'hehehe' is creepy!"
But he couldn't say it.
As a result, the words that came out of Jin's mouth after Sangou's statement became something else, as described later.
The cowardly hero truly lives up to his reputation.
Is he happy to live up to that reputation?
That point may be debatable, but such things are probably trivial.
"I see. But can I have the first move this time? If my method fails, I'll leave the next move to you."
"Yes. I look forward to seeing the Captain's skill."
Sangou, having received magic power from Jin as energy for navigation, estimated Jin's combat ability as equal to or greater than Sangou's own under certain conditions.
Of course, there are limits to what a human body can do in space.
There is no doubt that is Sangou's common-sense judgment.
On the other hand, since information on Sangou's performance has been directly injected into Jin's brain as knowledge, even though whether it is accurately understood is another matter, Jin does grasp roughly what Sangou is capable of.
Even with that premise, since Jin said "let me have the first move," there should be some calculation on his part.
After all, it is unlikely that when Jin bragged to Rouj, he was thinking of relying entirely on Sangou.
A giant space beast with a danger rating of 'AA' within visual range of Sangou.
Even such an existence cannot survive in hyperspace, yet Jin survived there easily when he first met Sangou.
Moreover, he possesses power in his body to save Sangou, which had been heavily damaged and had lost most of its functions, with his bare hands.
With just those facts, from Sangou's perspective, it was certain that Jin was a superior living being compared to the opponent they were about to face.
Therefore, Sangou readily yielded the first move to Jin.
"Alrighty. I'm off, then."
"Huh?"
Jin used short-range teleportation directly from Sangou's bridge and leaped out into space alone.
Of course, his defense was perfect using shield magic.
To Sangou's visual perception, he was in the flesh without even a spacesuit, but even so, it was no problem.
Jin took out the Holy Sword from his Storage Space.
To Sangou, who remained in spectator mode, it was intensely curious what he could do with a sword.
Accordingly, it was probably a trivial matter that Sangou began video recording, as if to lay bare Jin's upcoming combat actions, utilizing the observational sub-units it had deployed around it.
"And then! Annihilation Slash!"
Shouting a rather foolish-sounding technique name, Jin unleashed his finishing move.
From the name, the effect of the technique is easy to understand.
Incidentally, since it was in space, Jin's shout did not reach Sangou.
However, Sangou knew the content of the shout by reading his lips using a similar method to lip-reading.
"Nothing of consequence. Ah! That line might be bad."
Bad for what?
That part was meaningless to Sangou, but the phenomenon to focus on now was not that.
The battle itself ended effortlessly.
In space, he swung his sword and unleashed a slash that completely annihilated the target without a trace.
Using a sword with a blade length just over a meter, he felled a giant with a diameter of three kilometers in a single blow.
Moreover, even though his weapon was a sword, he did not engage in close combat.
Sangou recorded the facts as data.
However, Sangou had witnessed a phenomenon that completely overturned the common sense of military weapons it possessed.
As a result, its evaluation of Captain Jin's combat ability changed drastically, and the reality was that Sangou was confused by the inability to provide a scientific explanation for the observed phenomenon.
At this time, Sangou was relieved that it was not a mechanical artificial intelligence.
Because it is difficult for a mechanical artificial intelligence to flexibly handle ambiguous and unclear phenomena.
If one limited the analysis to the phenomena observed this time, a mechanical artificial intelligence attempting to analyze it would surely break down.
Since that means death for an artificial intelligence, it was only natural for Sangou to feel relieved.
In any case, with the conclusion of just one trial battle, it was confirmed that Jin's combat ability far exceeded Sangou's prior predictions.
Jin, having instantly killed the enemy, teleported back to Sangou.
Incidentally, the fact that Jin teleported directly to the bridge at this time caused a problem for Sangou regarding how to handle quarantine-related issues, but that part of the story is omitted here.
"Captain. Isn't that just ridiculously over-the-top?"
"I'm a hero."
Sangou's thinking stopped for a moment at this unexpected response from Jin.
The thinking of a bio-spaceship equipped with organic artificial intelligence, which should be able to flexibly handle even fuzzy matters.
This is the moment that feat—freezing it even for an instant—was accomplished.
If the people from the company that developed and manufactured Sangou knew this fact, they would faint.
Well, that won't happen, so no problem.
"What is that? It's nothing but an 'invincible word.'"
"It's fine. It's done. Let's move on to the next, next!"
Thus, the hero Jin easily saved the 12th planet of the Betasia Star System, which had been helpless against the rampage of space beasts.
The next destination for the pair of hero and bio-spaceship was, as originally planned, the space zone where the 13th planet in the same star system was located.
A miraculous collaboration between a hero born in a fantasy world and a spaceship created by hyper-advanced science civilization, unfolding in a corner of the universe.
The rampage of the strongest-class beings in their respective fields, fully trusting in each other's power and teaming up, had only just begun.
The first battle ended in an easy complete victory, but will the battle at the next battlefield go as smoothly?
Can Sangou return to Greta before Rouj and the others' arranged meetings begin?
No one knows the future.
It wasn't particularly hidden, but the summoned hero who had defeated the Demon Lord in another world, revealing a glimpse of his individual strength in the first battle against space beasts and surprising Sangou.
With a lighthearted tone, Jin said, "Partner, I'm counting on you to make sure I'm not in pain during the next move!"—relying entirely on Sangou's abilities for long-distance travel.