CH 366

『Send me the recording.』

Inside the simply constructed command post built from parts printed out by a material projector and protected by an energy shield, Capt. Serena groaned as if nursing a painful headache. If she wasn’t wearing power armor, she would have already pressed down on her temples or the spot between her eyebrows.

『Haah. I’ll show you the footage as well.』

The holo-display installed inside the simple command post first showed the image of a man who appeared to be a front-line commander. Then, the recording switched to his perspective. Capt. Serena would have lost it if they only sent back a sound recording and demanded that they make a more detailed report. But with the technology available to the imperial military, taking clear footage of the object was easily achievable.

“……Well, it certainly looks the part of an unidentified mysterious object.”

I couldn’t help but mutter.

It was an object that’s difficult to accurately describe. I suppose you can describe it as a tetrahedron or triangular pyramid. It was a towering lead-colored tetrahedron that was actually moving about using dark grey-colored limbs of some sort. A pattern that resembled an eye could be seen on one of its surfaces, but whether or not it really was an eye or some sort of sensory organ, in general, was unclear.

『……Do you think this thing is perhaps a companion of those weird spheres?』

“It could be their father, mother, or maybe even brother or sister, Captain.”

『It looks like there really is something wrong with your head. Anyway, try to get in contact with it using the equipment we brought over.』

『Ma’am!』

The marines of the Independent Mobile Anti-pirate Fleet prepared the special equipment which resembled a hand-carried parabolic antenna and pointed it toward the tetrahedron. The machine was the one developed by Dr. Shouko, the mechanic sisters, and the other researchers to communicate with the spheres using mental waves by making use of the database of the latest multilingual translation implant.

Unfortunately, the spheres completely rejected every communication attempt, but they did succeed in deciphering the mental waves used by the spheres for communicating among themselves to some extent. They also completely succeeded in using the machine to telepathically communicate with Kugi.

It was the very first device in Graccan empire history that uses psychic waves for communication instead of the usual scientific methods such as electromagnetic or radio waves, and Mr. Wells was gushing a lot about it, but I can’t really judge if that’s amazing or not personally. Also, it seems like Kugi’s home country has something even more amazing.

『It looks like this is the first time the Screech Owls have seen that thing as well.』

“The appearance of that thing is really unforgettable after all.”

In other words, the fact that we haven’t gotten any information at all regarding that giant mobile tetrahedron meant that the other party had taken some sort of special measures in response to our arrival.

“In other words, it’s an object that has the required intelligence to grasp the situation with some degree of accuracy and take some kind of special action in response, or perhaps a pawn of such an intelligent entity, Captain.”

『……My stomach’s starting to hurt.』

The sight of Capt. Serena donned in her white power armor stroking her stomach and making clattering noises as a result was somewhat comedic. Your brand new power armor will get scratched if you keep that up, Captain.

『Captain, the target has moved again.』

After hearing the power armor-wearing Lt. Robbitson’s warning, we quickly turned our attention back to the holo-display. A portion of the giant tetrahedron pyramid split from its body and floated up in the air. Perhaps it was actually akin to a colony made up of smaller tetrahedrons.

Well, right now, instead of making such observations, it would be better to get our guards up, because we didn’t know what exactly the action meant. It would be nice if it was actually a friendly gesture, but I somehow doubt that.

『Deploy the shield. Maximum output.』

『D-Deploying energy shield!』

The instant the marines activated the portable base defense-use shield generator, we were overrun by a powerful psychic shockwave.

It was accompanied by one single thought:【Begone.】

『Gaah–!?』

『Guu–!?』

The image projected on the holo-display fluctuated violently from the shockwave, and it soon affected the ground as well. Capt. Serena, and the other soldiers inside the command post all held their heads and fell to their knees. The soldiers who were directly facing the pyramid in the front line all collapsed, and the people stationed around the command post that was 3 kilometers away also fell to their knees due to the impact.

Except for me, that is.

“……Are you guys alright?”

『……Why weren’t you affected?』

“It’s probably due to my special constitution.”

It was the truth after all, so I could only answer like that. As a result of my ‘eye’ getting opened, I was able to withdraw and restrain the psionic power that constantly leaked out of me in the past, and my resistance to psionic-type attacks increased significantly as a result. Apparently. I still haven’t gotten used to it myself.

『What was that, just now?』

“I have a good guess. Since I heard it saying ‘begone’ as it unleashed that shockwave, it was probably a high-output telepathic shock.”

I replied to Capt. Serena who propped herself up using the table where the holo-display was installed and shrugged my shoulders. To think I’d be able to easily make such gestures even while wearing power armor. As expected of a high-quality made-to-order custom product.

『Begone? How haughty…… Or rather, you actually understood that grating noise it made?』

“Noise? Didn’t it talk like normal earlier……? Oh.”

Come to think of it, my head seemed to be specially wired to be able to understand most languages even though I didn’t have a multilingual translation implant. I wasn’t sure if it was a cheat privilege of a guy isekai-d to another word or something to that effect, but it looks like the multilingual translation implant didn’t seem to be able to translate that thing’s mental waves.

“Mine’s a bit special, y’see.”

I poked the helmet part of my power armor with a fingertip, and Capt. Serena let out an exasperated sigh in response.

『Your constitution and implant are special, you can rival and even win against imperial noble swordsmen even though you are unenhanced, and you’re also an incredibly skilled combat starship pilot on top of all that. Are you actually a comic hero in the flesh or something? Well, now’s not the time to be focusing on that though.』

“Thanks for the praise, I suppose.”

If you have time to fool around, why don’t you check the status of the front-line troops first, Captain? Unfortunately, the soldiers stationed on the front line all seemed to have passed out, and none of them responded to our transmissions. Judging from the readings made through their power armors, their vital signals were in the safe range, so their lives weren’t in immediate danger for now, at least.

『Activate the displacer. Wake those soldiers up.』

『Displacer activated. Rousing the soldiers using their power armor’s medical device…… Failed. Their vital signs are normal, but they’re all in a coma.』

『How troublesome…… I heard that the Holy Empire uses supernatural powers in order to destroy the consciousness of its enemies. Was that attack earlier something similar?』

Destroying consciousness? How scary…… So, it’s basically causing another party’s mind to collapse? Wasn’t that too brutal?

『It can’t be helped…… Captain Hiro.』

“I don’t really wanna ask, but what is it anyway?”

『It looks like you are the only one present who can confront that thing. Please head to the front line and try to converse with it.』

“……The combat bots are still functioning, right? Why not blow it up to kingdom come?”

The image shown on the holo-display switched from the perspective of the soldiers on the front line to that of the combat bots accompanying them. The combat bots seem to b working without any problems so far, and we could still fully control them, so wouldn’t it be better to let that pyramid thing know the terror of large super alloy robots?

『You guys were the ones who hinted about the possibility of those things being sentient intelligent beings in the first place. If they really are intelligent beings, then the Graccan Empire has no choice but to try and establish peaceful contact with them. Unfortunately.』

“Even so, it doesn’t make sense for a hired mercenary like me to undertake such a crucial task, right?”

『You may not be a soldier of the Graccan Empire, but right now, you are still a mercenary formerly hired by the imperial military in exchange for substantial pay. Therefore, you have an obligation to follow your client’s demands.』

The knight in pure white armor asserted strongly.

Goddammit. I really should have resolutely refused this request.