Chapter 298:

After the Mother of the Sky returned, we began preparing to leave the planet.

Adhai joined me for one last massive hunt to gather plenty of prey, ensuring the Gallagons would have enough food for some time.

Meanwhile, PS-111 left the Screamer support vessel with just one mini-Screamer behind, taking the other four aboard the Gigacracker to depart ahead of us. The remaining mini-Screamer was tasked with managing and maintaining the support vessel.

The Mother of the Sky reluctantly agreed to transport PS-111 and the four mini-Screamers. Her heavy sighs made it clear she wasn’t thrilled about it, but in the end, she accepted the role.

The Gallagons seemed quite disappointed to hear we were leaving.

Those in charge of rearing the young were especially saddened by the news of Number 26’s departure. Likely, they knew how much harder their tasks would become without it.

Ham Ort, too, appeared disheartened that her daughter would once again embark on a long journey. Adhai, perhaps feeling similarly, spent her time with her mother after the hunt until just before our departure.

After tying up loose ends over the course of a day, we returned to the Gigacracker.

As I entered the command room, a device I’d never seen before greeted me.

It resembled a miniaturized obelisk, roughly one meter in height, with a bright silver surface engraved with geometric patterns.

‘An interstellar communicator from the Cult?’

Cultists, known for their obsession with geometric designs, often reflect their preferences in specialized equipment and ships. However, I’d never seen an interstellar communicator quite like this one.

‘Was it modified?’

Its appearance was peculiar, especially the base, which typically should have been unadorned but now sported multiple ports. These ports were connected to cables and wires running through the command room.

「This was a piece scavenged from the black market, so it operates on alternative power sources besides psychic energy.」

The Mother of the Sky, now in her humanoid form, seemed to anticipate my curiosity and explained.

[ZZZZ Z ZZ ZZZ (It looks different from what I remember.)]

「Yes, it’s a modified model based on the Cult’s standard interstellar communicator.」

It seemed they’d torn apart the communicator itself to repurpose it.

[ZZZZ ZZZ ZZZZ (You weren’t just trying to contact someone?)]

「That was the plan, but things got complicated.」

She frowned slightly as she answered.

「I tried contacting them continuously upon arrival, but there was no response. Since the signal was going through, the device itself wasn’t broken.」

[ZZZ Z ZZZZ (They’re not answering, huh?)]

「So, we’re verifying through another method.」

[ZZ ZZ (Another method?)]

「Yes. The device has a location-sharing feature between linked units.」

“Location coordinates analyzed. Displaying hologram.”

As PS-111’s voice chimed in, a massive hologram appeared in the center of the command room.

The Cult Empire’s territory materialized, filling the room. The expansive map zoomed in on a specific point, first showing a star system, then a star, a planet, and finally a city-level detail on the planet’s surface. ř

“This is Berzan01, a planet in the Auro star System.”

「Berzan01? It’s there?」

“Do you know of it?”

Auro99’s Berzan01. One of the Empire’s most prosperous planets, it’s famous for two things.

‘The largest branch of the Prophets’ Assembly is located there.’

The Assembly’s original base isn’t Berzan01 but a desert planet known as The Guide.

However, that planet is more of a cultural and historical center, while Berzan01 holds the Assembly’s practical power. Even the militant faction of the Assembly, the Eye of Revelation Priests, is stationed there.

[ZZZ ZZZZZ ZZZZ ZZZZ (Wasn’t Rank 22 supposed to be Coldblood? That’s unexpected.)]

「It is, but what’s going on here?」

In the Cult Empire, Coldblood individuals are often treated as cultists or criminals. Their reputation is even worse than that of the Volfs, who are at least given some recognition as slaves.

A Coldblood hiding in one of the Empire's most religiously influential locations, Berzan01, was unexpected but not entirely impossible.

‘Hiding in plain sight, perhaps.’

After some thought, I realized it wasn’t entirely strange. Even a Coldblood could find ways to operate covertly.

Berzan01, home to the largest branch of the Prophets’ Assembly, has another notable characteristic: it’s the most active hub for slave trading in the Empire. Disguising oneself as a slave would make entry relatively easy.

I smiled at MPS-05, sitting quietly in my palm, gazing up at me.

---

The “Surveillance Bureau” of the Aur System, where Berzan 02 is located.

The Bureau’s role is to record the energy flow of faster-than-light (FTL) power emitted by ships entering the system. It also serves as a contingency for ships that create unrecorded energy flows or attempt FTL escapes after causing trouble.

Today, as usual, the bureau’s staff was busy monitoring the countless ships passing through the Aur System.

The sudden appearance of unrecorded energy flows wasn’t a rare event for them. Dispatching a fleet to the area where the energy was detected was also a routine matter.

“Approaching the point of FTL travel occurrence.”

“By now, it should be detectable. Knowledge Manager?”

“Hm. The strong magnetic field is making proper observation difficult.”

“A magnetic field? Did this come from another system?”

“Uncertain. I’ll continue analyzing the data.”

A specialized fleet from the bureau approached the area filled with the mysterious magnetic field.

Inside the ship’s operations room, cultist crew members were projecting external camera footage and radar data as holograms into the air.

Meanwhile, Charras, the Knowledge Manager dispatched by the bureau, was swiftly organizing the information in her mind. Cross-referencing the wavelength data emitted by nearby stars revealed no significant matches.

The only somewhat similar pattern wasn’t from stellar activity—it had been observed during an incident on a planet.

‘The Saigil 08 tragedy?’

She recalled the event, still spoken of ominously, even now.

At the time, the Imperial carrier ‘Damos 08’ and its carrier fleet, dispatched to purify contamination, had been annihilated by an unidentified entity. The Imperial Council named the creature “The Three-Headed Demon.”

And the energy observed by the bureau closely resembled the mysterious energy storm unleashed by that creature.

‘...Though there are notable differences. What do I do about this?’

The current energy readings weren’t an exact match. Back then, what was observed was closer to a massive energy storm—a concentrated outburst of energy. The pattern of the storm’s flow was somewhat similar to the current readings, but only in part.

Here and now, there was no massive energy storm or sign of the creature recorded at the time.

‘According to the Imperial Council’s report, that thing can’t fly.’

The Aur System is immensely far from Saigil 08’s sacred star system. Even if it could fly, reaching here would be physically impossible—unless it had access to FTL travel.

“For now, I’ve found a few results matching the patterns, though not conclusively. Let’s request a review from the bureau.”

“Hm, there’s no harm in being cautious. Agreed.”

“Entering the magnetic field region now.”

As the fleet entered the area of the sudden magnetic field, the lights within the ships flickered briefly. While rare, such occurrences weren’t entirely unprecedented, so none of the crew showed signs of unease. This was true not only for the ship Charras was aboard but for the others as well.

The crews quickly restored their systems and reached the location where the large energy surge—indicating faster-than-light (FTL) travel—had occurred.

Despite utilizing cameras less affected by the magnetic field and deploying warriors capable of using psychic-powered search techniques, nothing of significance was found.

"Nothing at all? That’s strange."

“What are your orders?”

“Have all phenomena been reported to the bureau?”

“Yes, they’re currently reviewing it.”

“Just in case, some of our ships should remain here. I’ll personally contact the other vessels to coordinate.”

As the captain prepared to reach out to the other ships, a new image appeared in the operations room. It had been uploaded by the crew member responsible for managing the ship’s shields.

“Shields restored to 99.9%. Fully operational again. Something collided with the ship.”

“What’s the size of the object that struck us?”

“Less than 5 meters.”

“Probably a stray rock fragment drifting nearby.”

Whether it was a coincidence or not, the widespread magnetic field began to dissipate gradually after the collision report.

Once the anomalies subsided, the bureau issued orders for the fleet to return. The event was deemed a natural phenomenon, though as a precaution, a few ships were instructed to remain in the area while the rest withdrew.

And so, the incident of the sudden magnetic field ended anticlimactically.