Origin (27)

Somewhere in the refining facility. Under the faint lighting that blinked at regular intervals, Cystus wore a deeply sunken expression, lost in thought.

The first bud, prepared to bloom by the pureblood supremacists before any other.

Ordinarily, when the second bud had already bloomed—far from being silent—the first bud should have been rampaging at the very front lines. It should have become an even purer existence and ushered in an era of purity.

However, that did not happen.

'The blooming of the first bud is being delayed.'

Cystus suspected the cause. It was nothing else but the blooming of the first bud. Only the will of the holy tree could interfere in that process.

When the second bud fell into silence, for some reason, the cocoon of the first bud suddenly developed a second layer. Such a situation was completely unexpected—there had never been a case like this before.

'... Did the holy tree sense a crisis?'

For a moment, an unbelievable thought floated to the surface, and Cystus furrowed his brow.

It was then that a pureblood supremacist, shrouded in black smoke, approached Cystus, who was controlling things.

"Cystus, the hand of grace has started to encroach upon the robot production facility. At the current rate, it will reach the deep sectors in two days."

"Well done."

"And..."

While handling the passing, all-consuming smoke, Cystus looked at the pureblood supremacist, as if to say, "If you have something to say, say it."

"It's been quite some time since they tried to contact us. We ignored the communications routed by the impurities."

A remark suggesting that, with such disregard, did they really think anyone would come—Cystus answered firmly.

"They must already know something is suspicious. All the idiots who wouldn't have noticed are dead by now anyway. Still, they have no choice. They'll come here eventually. And perhaps Myosotis will come too. Whether she joined the impurities or is operating separately, we'll have to see."

"But haven't they... already betrayed us? They will be our enemies."

"It doesn't matter. They can't move carelessly."

The pureblood supremacists possessed what Myosotis—more accurately, their leader—wanted. That woman would certainly think so.

To a degree, it was a correct notion, but now that things had gotten complicated due to the betrayal of a root-ranked executive, Lobelia, the information the supremacists had lost much of its leverage.

However, that was only the case if the information was revealed. The true value of treasure was in how tightly it was hidden. Even trash, shrouded in mystery, was enough to catch one's eye.

Heading somewhere, Cystus spoke quietly.

"Prepare more thoroughly for our guests."

"Understood."

The pureblood supremacist bowed and withdrew. Then, as if it had lost interest, the black smoke beside Cystus spat out what it had trapped. Whatever was inside fell limply to the ground at almost the same moment.

With the departure of the black smoke—once buzzing like a swarm of bees—what lay revealed on the floor was the engineer, Chen.

"Aaah, ah..."

Having been imprisoned like a plaything inside smoke that seemed to embody malice, Chen had completely lost his mind. He had wanted desperately to keep the security protocol secret, but, unable to endure the horrifying torture, he ended up revealing everything he knew.

"It's... all... over. Gotta run... gotta run, run..."

Contrary to his incessant muttering, engineer Chen clung desperately to the faint light, curling up his body. He grabbed at his ears, digging and scratching as if wanting to tear something from within, as though something was hidden inside.

"Be quiet, be quiet, get out of my head...! Ngh...!"

The muttering, repeating like a broken tape, did not stop.

Not until the flickering light went completely out.Not until his viciously broken nails tore jagged gouges in his skin.

***

In the early morning, before the day had even begun, a quiet commotion broke out in front of the town gate.

"Hyun-woo, once I pack this, I'm completely ready!"

"Nadia... you said that earlier, though."

"This time, I really mean it!"

"... So, what is it?"

"A one-touch tent! One that cold, wind, snow, or rain can't get into, with a small heater and light inside so we can stay warm on lonely nights—or, if we're not lonely, have a hot night instead!"

"... A tent."

She went on at length, but in the end, it was just a tent. I mulled over the word, glancing at the hover bike parked in front of the gate. The hover bike, taken out from the container, was bigger than expected, but still fell under the 'bike' category.

Thanks to some modifications from the engineers, it now had a sidecar with increased cargo capacity and could carry one more person. At least, that's what I thought. But now, not only was there no extra space for an additional passenger, I barely had a seat myself.

It was all thanks to the huge amount of supplies Nadia had brought. I even doubted if the hover bike would be able to lift off, especially since we had to bring specialized equipment, making space scarce to begin with.

I decided quickly and without hesitation.

"Okay. You swore this was the absolute last thing. Let's leave seventy percent of this behind."

"What? Why! We need all of this!"

"It's too much. At minimum, there has to be space for me, you, Carry, and Celestia."

When I signaled with my eyes, asking where those seats were supposed to be, Nadia's ears drooped. But only for a second—suddenly, as if she'd had a great idea, her tail shot upright.

"I'll ride Carry! That's fine, right, Carry? We're friends! Plus, this is the perfect chance to test the new module! Right?"

Nadia looked utterly triumphant as she smirked and gazed at Carry, tail swishing in expectation, confident that Carry would oblige.

But Carry was ruthless—not the slightest waver.

【( ⩌_⩌)】

With a cold, stony look, Carry turned its back before Nadia even finished her request, brusquely making it clear that the deal was off.

Approaching the hover bike, Carry spun its lens around, calculating. It discarded anything it deemed unnecessary right onto the ground.

"Hey? Carry? What are you doing? Ah...! No...!"

Nadia's eyes went wide as the tightly-packed cargo came crashing down. She rushed to halt Carry, but I easily lifted her out of the way.

"Carry, don't...! Hyun-woo, let me go...!"

"No."

"Waaah...!"

Nadia wriggled but could not free herself. Honestly, there was nothing wrong with her packing so much—it was what I'd asked her to do.

Still, it couldn't be helped. We couldn't go directly to the robot production facility on the east side of the Heaven mining base.

With pureblood supremacists suspected of occupying the vicinity, we had to minimize unnecessary luggage and accept some inconvenience to slip through undetected.

If a shuttle could take us halfway, we could save both time and essential supplies, but the shuttle had just been forcibly upgraded to a mid-size and couldn't leave dry-dock until after a checkup.

Transitioning from the small Medivac shuttle to a standard SSTC mid-size shuttle meant a complete model change—and with Roxy having tampered with it, the core was now doubled, making things even trickier.

That meant lots of system checks, and if we skipped those, a crash would be inevitable.

Realizing her struggle was useless, Nadia slumped limply, defeated, hanging off my arm like laundry. All she could do now was pout like a beaver watching its dam get destroyed.

Before long, the pile of baggage on the hover bike had shrunk dramatically. As expected, Carry had restored order.

"As expected of Carry."【ദ്ദി(⩌ᴗ⩌)】When I gave a thumbs-up as if to say I'd always trusted him, Carry echoed the gesture. It promptly finished organizing the remaining load from the bike. Now that most things were out, the scale was obvious—anyone would think we were relocating a whole outpost.

"Nadia, you still got the tent, so have a drink."

"Cheers..."

Nadia muttered listlessly, burying her head in my shoulder.

Just as we finished organizing things, Celestia came out of the building, tying her hair as she looked around, then spotted us.

She visibly startled, then practically hurried over.

"Hyun-woo, d-did I keep you waiting? ... Sorry."

"No, we just came out early."

I waved my hands to tell her not to worry. I knew the situation was awkward in its own way. It almost looked like I'd intentionally excluded Celestia from coming with us.

But the team was already assembled, and we would have to work together from now on. There was no way I'd let a crack form just because I was in a bad mood before we'd even started. I had actually gone to Celestia's room to wake her.

'... If I had knocked at the door when I heard her sniffling, this would've been even more awkward.'

Whether it was my imagination or not, if I had knocked, things would have gotten more complicated.

If Celestia really was crying softly, I had a good guess as to why. So, in the end, I just stood outside her door for a while and then returned. When Nadia asked why I was alone, I just made up an excuse.

I glanced at Celestia's apologetic face. Hard to notice unless closely observed, but her eyes were definitely a bit red.

This was where Nadia's skills shone. I tapped her lightly, sending the signal. Realizing what had happened, Nadia nodded. She flicked her fluffy tail, shifting Celestia's focus. Celestia unconsciously followed the movement of the tail.

Successfully passing Celestia off to Nadia, I turned my attention to the next person walking out—Licorice, stretching while letting out a "Nnngh—haa..."

"I didn't expect you to come out."

"How could I just lie in bed when you're all heading out?"

"I'm seriously touched."

Someone who claimed never to wake up early was seeing us off at dawn. I was genuinely moved.

Noticing my gaze, Licorice chuckled and asked,

"Are you all set?"

"Yes."

"How's the custom suit fit? We should've done a better adjustment, but we ran out of time and it's a bit rough."

Licorice, standing on tiptoe, carefully checked the suit I was wearing. The way she personally inspected me made for a weird tableau.

I felt oddly embarrassed—not at all in a bad way. In fact, it felt nice. I stifled those emotions with a cough.

"I can have it adjusted again when we get back."

"Right, after the mission. I won't ask about your gear, knowing you'd be thorough. Also, since you're using a hover bike instead of a shuttle, the travel time will be quite long. The distance is considerable. Have you thought of that?"

"Of course. Nadia prepared well for that—too well, actually."

When I nodded towards the piles of supplies, Licorice, face still a bit sleepy, let out a gentle laugh. Maybe because she'd just woken up, she was showing more emotion than usual.

"Well prepared. Once you're out, be careful. The hover bike won't trip over stones or ice, but watch out for crevasses. That could get dangerous."

"Understood."

"There's a lot I want to tell you, but you can hear the rest on the way. We've got all day."

"By the way, what happened to the multi-legged tank? It was here yesterday."

The tank, usually standing like a guardian at the town's outer wall, was missing. Its absence left a strange emptiness and a bit of worry.

"It's off being spruced up for a big debut later. Look forward to it."

"Understood."

It seemed to be related to the upcoming refinery operation. They were even planning to attach laser cannons to the shuttle. I was secretly looking forward to seeing how the tank would change.

"Once you're infiltrating the robot production facility, we'll launch the shuttle as soon as we're ready and draw attention by flying in openly. The goal is for everyone to notice us so it's as late as possible before they discover you."

"That's pretty dangerous..."

"You're the ones in the most danger. We'll create the distraction; you just follow the plan in the meantime. Got it?"

"... Yes."

"Good. Go on, then."

We waved from the hover bike. Licorice hesitated, unsure whether to wave back, then offered a brief, almost embarrassed flutter.

Before leaving, we gave the town one last look. We'd hoped to slip away quietly, but people had already woken up to see us off.

- Mr. Lee Hyun-woo, I'll see you at the refinery. And please take care of Celestia. She's more than capable, so she won't be a burden.

A text from Eric. I nodded in the direction he was standing.

Soon, with three people and one transport robot aboard, the hover bike picked up speed.

With the hum of its thrusters, we began to leave the town behind.

-------------= Clacky's Corner -------------=Mission start.Wait, what is that black smoke? Nanobots? Or is it a part of the Holy Tree?【(⌐■_■)-︻╦╤─】

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