kscans

Chapter 401 - Descendants

Lee's hideout was underground, its entrance camouflaged with optical stealth, making it difficult to find. Long ago, it had also served as a spaceship hangar, and the inside was spacious enough for many people to live without issue.

The exposed pipes and other features gave it a very old feel by Hayato's standards, but the solar power system was still active, and as long as they didn't do anything reckless, the place was still perfectly functional.

And in that hideout, a banquet was being held.

Hayato had come along as a member of the team heading to the spaceship Aphrodite, but his skills as a cook were also valued. It was something Hayato had suggested himself, but he was so busy he was starting to regret it.

That was because he was also serving food to the members of "Hyena," one of the communities on the surface. Having to make an additional three hundred portions of food was no easy task.

Of course, Hayato wasn't the only one who could cook, but the others were here as escorts and only had the bare minimum skills for preparing camp meals. Feeling that it wouldn't be fun to have a banquet with crudely made food, Hayato was implored by those around him to cook in large quantities.

(So I'm mass-producing food in reality, too...)

Things that could be done instantly in virtual reality weren't so simple in reality. There were many things to consider, such as controlling the heat, the size of the chopped ingredients, and the timing.

It would be nice if he had help, but the women here specialized in eating and had zero cooking skills. Esha was quite skilled when it came to making chocolate parfaits, but not so much with regular cooking.

For these reasons, Hayato steeled himself and decided to cook a large amount of food by himself. Due to the ingredients available, it ended up being curry, but he made other dishes as well, within his means.

No matter how much he made, there seemed to be no end in sight, but Hayato continued without stopping.

As he served rice and curry to the Hyena members lined up with their plates, they would say "thank you" and eat with relish, which brought a smile to Hayato's face. It was hard work, but it was also rewarding.

The Hyena members were a bit dirty, but they weren't rowdy and were behaving politely. They followed the creed of survival of the fittest, but their docile behavior had to do with Lee.

Jolth had said that the Hyenas wouldn't attack them due to the difference in military strength, but the closer they got to Lee's hideout, the more the Hyenas resisted.

In the end, they had no choice but to capture the Hyena combatants, but the reason for their fierce resistance became clear when they reached Lee's hideout.

Hyena had been using Lee's hideout as their base. Not only that, but it was discovered that the members of Hyena were the descendants of the families of Lee's team, "Scavenger."

At first, unaware of this, they had no choice but to take the hideout by force, but the Hyenas' attitude changed abruptly when Lee performed a retinal scan at the door leading to the deepest part of the hideout. Lee had passed through a security check that should have been registered only for members of Scavenger without any issue.

A heavily guarded door that no one had been able to open. The Hyena members were surprised enough that she had opened it, but when Lee brought a picture frame out of the room, a great cheer went up. It was a photo of the entire Scavenger team, and the person in the center was unmistakably Lee.

Lee had only intended to take the photo with her on her way out, so she didn't understand why there was such a commotion, but when the situation became clear, she burst into tears, clutching the framed photo.

After that, Jolth made the Hyenas promise not to leak any information and then explained the situation.

He told them a partially accurate version of the truth. That Lee was the sole survivor of Scavenger and had been put into cold sleep for 100 years.

Various things happened after that, and the banquet began.

It seemed that the stories of Lee had been passed down among the Hyenas, and now they were treating her like a goddess. They were in high spirits, saying she had come back for them.

Lee felt a sense of guilt for not being able to protect her team, but the Hyena members said they didn't resent her at all and were just happy she had come back. At that, Lee couldn't stop crying.

Now, she was in high spirits, drinking with the Hyena members.

Because of all this, the banquet had gone on for a long time, but now that things had finally calmed down, Hayato brewed himself a coffee and drank it slowly.

(Still, to go through a month's worth of food in one day...)

He had made considerable preparations because he didn't know how long the spaceship maintenance would take, but at least half of the food he brought was gone. They would last much longer if they could use the food held by the Hyenas, but he felt bad about taking food from people who lived on the surface.

He was thinking he had no choice but to contact Ney to have more food sent when Jolth came over with a smile.

"Something unexpected happened, didn't it?"

"Isn't this kind of unexpected a good thing?"

"Indeed. Thanks to Lee-san, they promised not to engage in plunder anymore. And they even said my family's Foundation would look after them. They were surprised and asked what kind of negotiations I'd conducted."

It was unclear what Lee would do, but the Hyena members had no intention of living in the Colonies and would continue to live in this hideout.

They had a small production plant and a water purification system, as well as livestock, so they wouldn't have trouble living. There were also devices they hadn't been able to operate due to security issues, but Lee could get them working, which would significantly improve their quality of life.

"Just having fewer attacks is a huge deal, but we're desperate for people who can conduct outside investigations. I can't thank Lee-san enough."

"Is that so. But I wonder if it's okay. I hope she hasn't forgotten the reason we came here."

"That's fine. Lee-san went to see the spaceship. The Hyenas... no, that's not right. She said they would call themselves Scavenger again, so I guess she's checking on things with the Scavengers."

"Checking with everyone?"

He learned that the spaceship was equipped with devices that allowed for extravehicular activity, and the Scavenger members had used them. So they were checking the situation with Lee.

"If the spaceship hasn't been operated at all, it will require a lot of maintenance, but if even a part of it has been running, the maintenance might be a little easier."

"But it's a hundred-year-old spaceship, right?"

"The members we brought are talented in that field, so it should be fine. And the Scavengers seem to be very motivated, saying they'll do it for Lee-san's sake."

"Then it should be okay. Oh, could you ask for more food to be sent? We used up a lot at once, and from now on we'll need to prepare food for the Scavengers too."

"Ah, did we use a lot at the banquet just now? Understood, I'll contact them. By the way, the real maintenance starts tomorrow, but what are you going to do, Hayato? Spaceship maintenance is outside your expertise, isn't it?"

Hayato crossed his arms and thought.

"I won't be of any use here, but I'm thinking of helping out somehow. It seems like it will take a little longer to pinpoint the location of the research facility, so I think it's too early to go back."

"Not of any use, you say... You know, too much modesty just comes off as sarcasm."

"I'm not being modest, though?"

"If that's what you think, then fine, but at the very least, I think your cooking is delicious, Hayato. Some of the Scavengers were even crying."

"Isn't that because of the circumstances of Lee-san's return? Well, anyway, I'll do what I can. If I don't do anything, I'll just think about unnecessary things."

"I suppose so. For you, Hayato, it's not just about not being able to play the game anymore."

The spaceship Aphrodite was leaving Earth. For some people, that just meant they could no longer play Another Frontier Online. But for Hayato and a few others, it was different.

The NPCs were human, and there was a high possibility they would never see them again. They weren't dying, but if he could never see them again, it was no different from death.

It might be possible to dismiss them as just companions he played a game with, but Hayato couldn't do that. Even if it meant parting ways, he didn't want it to be like this.

And there was the matter of Diite. If it was her will, then he would have to accept it, but no matter how he looked at it, that wasn't the case. Hayato's wish was to meet her again and talk.

But he was anxious.

Would it really work out? To begin with, what was he supposed to do when he boarded the Aphrodite and met Diite? He couldn't see any of that, and Hayato was filled with an indescribable anxiety.

Hypnos, Amanda, and Infinity had made various preparations. But he hadn't been told what he should do. He had only been given a chance to see Diite again.

"You look scary."

"...I don't think I want to hear that from you, of all people, Jolth."

"That's true. But you're taking on too much. You should relax your shoulders a bit more. Well, I suppose that's why you want to keep busy."

"It's a bad habit of mine to think about things that can't be helped. On top of that, my life has just been one big case of playing it by ear."

"I know how you feel. In that case, why don't you make some sweets for the ladies? I'll request the food, so it should arrive tomorrow. You can use all of it. I'll request it from not just Libra, but my family's Foundation too, so just make one delicious thing after another."

"Then I'll do that... oh, can I ask for some coffee beans too?"

"I'll order several of the highest quality ones."

Jolth said this and headed toward the car with the communication device.

Hayato slapped his cheeks with both hands to fire himself up and headed toward the kitchen.

"I'll make whatever sweets you like, so feel free to order."

"Chocolate parfait."

The first one to respond to Hayato's words was Esha.

Everyone thought, "Huh?" but when Hayato said, "Understood," the look in the women's eyes changed.

From there, a torrent of orders came in, and Hayato ended up making so many sweets that he had no time to think.

Three days had passed since their arrival at the hideout.

It was determined that the spaceship at Lee's hideout, the "Demeter," was an old model but solidly built and definitely in usable condition.

The engine couldn't be started due to fuel issues, but as long as they could get that, they could manage.

Esha, Relic, and the others were in the middle of checking the program to see if there were any problems on the software side, and at the same time, they were identifying potential troubles that might arise from replacing the engine.

There was a lot Hayato didn't understand, but Ox and the others, who were checking the software in the same way, had looks of surprise at Esha's and the others' feedback, so he was impressed, certain that Esha and her team were quite talented programmers.

However, Esha frequently requested sweets, saying she needed sugar because she was using her head. Hayato wondered if that was really true, but he prepared a large quantity of sweet snacks that could be easily eaten.

Jolth, who was watching, said with a slight grin, "Esha-san is a good person," but Hayato asked back, "Why?"

To put it simply, she was intentionally keeping Hayato busy to reduce the time he had to get lost in his thoughts.

He didn't know if that was true or not, and Esha would probably just evade the question if he asked. However, Hayato had a feeling that might be the case, so he continued to make sweet snacks, thanking Esha for this and everything else she had done.

And so, three days passed, and they reached a point where, if things went smoothly, they would be able to fly in about another week.

(Well, I've run out of things to do besides making sweets.)

Hayato had been busy on the first day, but now he had calmed down to some extent. The Scavengers had taken over the cooking, so although Hayato helped, his main job was making sweets, and he wasn't that busy. And it seemed he had made too many of those sweets, as he had been told to stop.

He had also received a simple lecture from Lee on how to operate the spaceship, but since it was basically on autopilot and operation only meant setting the coordinates, it was over in less than a day.

(Things seem to be going smoothly here, so should I go back to Central for a bit and help Lunaria-san and the others...?)

As he was wondering, Jolth came over.

"I got a message. They've found the location of the research facility, so they're heading there now."

"Oh, really? Does that mean I'm not needed?"

"No, they said they're going to stop by here and pick you up, Hayato."

"Huh? They're coming here?"

"The research facility is in a hazardous zone too, it seems. It's close, so they said it's just a small detour."

"I see. But am I really necessary?"

"The members here are all connected through you, Hayato. And I think they want you to know various things in case an unforeseen situation arises."

Hayato understood, more or less.

Hayato's part was the final login, but that didn't mean he didn't have to do anything until then. It was necessary for him to know the various situations and circumstances. In an emergency, having information versus not having it would narrow the range of countermeasures, and it was better to have more options.

"Got it. Then I'll get ready."

"Also, it seems they're counting on your skills as a cook."

"So that's the main reason."

There were many women in the group going to the research facility. Hayato was slightly wary that he might be made to make sweets from morning till night, but he figured that would be fine too, and began to prepare.