Published at 17th of August 2019 11:46 am

Volume 22, Chapter 1: Whereabouts of the Meteor

This chapter is updated by NovelFree.ml

Saturday, November 20

The planet Alaia was the sixth planet from the sun in the Forthorthe solar system. It was originally a barren planet without life, but as the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire entered the space age, it was terraformed, and now allowed for people to live on it.

However, as Alaia was the first planet to be terraformed, many parts of it were made very simple. In particular the ecosystem, and there are were few types of flora and fauna on the planet. Only the bare minimum was brought to the planet, such as plants to create breathable air, farm products to support the residents and scenery to calm the mind.

As a result, Alaia's environment looked faintly similar to what one would imagine the countryside to look like. Though flora and fauna that originally weren't present continued to grow as people came and went due to interplanetary travels, it was still very simple. It would most likely take over another 1,000 years before it became a true, complete ecosystem. However, some people showed up that would be ever so slightly delaying that completion. They appeared on the sky as a blue meteor.

"Kyaaaaaaaaaaaaa, Nooooooooooooo!"

The meteor screamed as it came into contact with the ground and tore up its surroundings for dozens of meters before finally stopping. While the destruction wasn't that widespread, it would likely take a few years for nature to recover.

Once stopped, the meteor in question lost its blue glow, and its true nature was revealed. The meteor was in reality a boy and two girls.

"Ow ow ow, I-I thought I would die..."

"Koutarou, let up a little. I really will die"

"Ah, sorry"

"There's no need for apologies. You've done a good job"

The meteor was actually Koutarou, Theia and Yurika. During a battle in space they had been caught by gravity and entered the atmosphere. It was a very dangerous situation, but they somehow managed to descend to the surface.

"Are you okay?"

"Yes, you protected me after. How about you?"

"I'm fine too. I'm not hurt...Though it doesn't look like I can say the same about the armor"

"Fufu, as long as you are safe. The armor can be replaced"

"P-Please whorry abouht me too~"

Koutarou and Theia smiled at each other and swiftly stood up to pull out Yurika whose face was buried in the ground. Fortunately, none of the three had any major injuries, with the largest one being Yurika's nose being grazed. They had avoided any injuries that would prevent them from taking further action.

"... Uhhh~... that was scary... I thought we would die..."

"We're fine now, so calm down, okay?"

"That's a lie. Even if you say that we're fine, I won't believe you anymore!"

"Okay, okay, I get it, just turn this way for a moment. Your face is a mess"

"Okay"

If anything, Yurika's mental state was a bigger problem, but as Koutarou was wiping her face, she gradually returned to normal.

"... But still... to think we'd be okay after falling all this way..."

While waiting for Koutarou to finish wiping Yurika's face, Theia blocked the sunlight as she looked up at the sky. In response to her voice, Yurika turned her eyes to Theia's direction.

"Are there a lot of hellish places like that in Forthorthe?"

"Like I said, it's the upper layer of the atmosphere. Most planets with people on them have one"

"Eeeeehhh!? You're kidding!! If they're all like that, wouldn't spaceships just break apart!?"

"They're made sturdy to avoid that"

"Really?"

"Strictly speaking, the hull isn't made that sturdy. It's being protected by a distortion field after all. Moreover, as they fly controlling inertia and gravity the re-entry speed is slower, and there's not as much heat"

"See~!! I'm sure that it only happens here!!"

"Theia, don't make it any more complicated"

"Sorry. Fufufu"

Koutarou and the others had fallen from orbit without any spaceship. Normally, they would burn up like any other shooting star. The fact that they had escaped with minor scratches and burns was not just because of them combining their powers, but also due to a great deal of luck. It was a situation so dangerous Yurika would prefer to think that is something unique to the planet of Alaia.

"However, it will be more dangerous from here on out"

Theia waited for Koutarou to finish wiping off Yurika's face before dropping her smile and explaining the situation to the two with a serious expression and tone of voice. As a result, Yurika's and Koutarou's expressions were dyed with tension.

"Is there still something else?"

"The enemy will be coming. The imperial army will surely know we've landed in this area. If we waste too much time, we'll be surrounded before we know it"

"Eeeeehhh!?"

"Don't be so loud. What will you do if the enemy hears you"

"S-Sorry..."

"Alright, the two of you, follow me"

While they had safely gotten onto the surface, the danger was not over yet. They would need to leave before the imperial army sent pursuers after them.

In the Forthorthe solar system, there are another seven planets, excluding the main planet of Forthorthe. And those seven planets were individually managed by one of the seven royal families.They were territories under their direct control. In other words, the royal families of the Holy Forthorthe Galactic Empire each held territories on the planet of Forthorthe, and a planet of their. Being more specific, the royal families had other planets in other systems, but those circumstances will be omitted for now.

As one could tell from how strong the support for Elfaria is on the planet of Alaia, this planet is under direct control of the Mastir family. Because of that, Theia had a lot of knowledge in regards to this planet. That knowledge included information such as where they could conceal themselves.

"Let's hide here for a while"

"Shouldn't we be trying to group up with Kiriha-san and the others right away?"

"We've only just arrived here, so the imperial army will be gathering nearby. It's dangerous to move around right now"

While they didn't know who for certain, someone in Forthorthe's imperial army should have been observing this area. They would of course send out troops to capture anyone entering the planet illegally. As a result, the guard around the area would be tight for a while. But as time passed, the army would expand their search radius assuming that Theia and the others moved, leaving the guard around the area looser. They would be safer by not moving until then.

However, Theia still felt anxiety.

If that person reports in, there's a chance the guard will never ease up... but if I keep thinking about that, nothing will come from it...

If the pilot that had been saved reported to his superiors about Theia, then a large amount of forces would be gathered in the region. If that happened, they would be in an extremely dangerous situation, but they wouldn't be able to move right away regardless. Besides, Theia didn't regret saving the pilot. That's why she would think about it when the time came.

"So Theia, what kind of place is this?"

Koutarou twisted his head and looked around. Theia had taken the two to a building hidden half underground so that it blended in with the forest. Part of the building was collapsing, moreover it was covered in moss and ivy, showing that it hadn't been used for many years. As a result, it was impossible to tell what kind of building it was just by looking at it.

"This was a building used in the first stage of development for this planet. It was a forward base for the afforestation project. But as you can tell, the afforestation was a success, and the building fell out of use. After that, it appears to have been used as a hiding place for anti-government forces, but as development advanced they moved to a different location"

"So an afforestation base and a bandit hut, huh... so this is a place with a lot of history"

"That's why we have data on it"

As the Mastir family were in charge of the terraforming, they had the most information about the region. Even more than the imperial army that came later. Theia used that information to pick up a couple of hiding places, and chose to hide in a place the military had no information on.

"Then that means we're safe for a while!? We can rest right!?"

"That's right"

"... Pheeew.... thank god..."

Yurika sat down on a large block. As she had remained tense ever since the atmospheric re-entry, she bent over forwards in an exhausted fashion. It didn't look like she'd be able to stand up again for a while.

"You can rest easy. They won't find this place right away"

The building was hidden by the surrounding forest and melted in with the environment. The building was half underground and covered in moss and ivy, camouflaging it. Moreover, it wasn't on the army's map. Unless they fell for a series of misfortunes, they wouldn't be found right away.

Koutarou and the others decided to take a meal as they were resting. That said, their menu was a simple one. As it was food pulled from the survival kits from Koutarou's armor and the remains of Star Purple it was just high calorie conserved food and coffee.

"Thank you for the foo~d!

"Thanks for the food!"

"Thank you for the food"

However, Koutarou and the others didn't have any complaints about the menu and they silently carried the food to their mouths. They knew what time it was, and their stomachs were empty. Instead, Koutarou was thinking about something else.

"But still... Theia, your eating manners have become completely Japanese"

Koutarou was thinking of how Theia's manners had changed. When Koutarou had been in the past Forthorthe, he learned the difference. When he returned to Japan, he couldn't help but feel Theia's Japanese manners funny.

"... That might be true. I spent a long time there after all"

Having had that pointed out to her, Theia found it funny as well and smiled. Theia was now aware of her change. Having been able to see parts of it with her own eyes, her conviction grew stronger.

"Just make sure your political maneuvers don't become Japanese style as well"

"I know. In fact, I'm more worried about you"

"Me? Why?"

Having had the topic turned on him all of a sudden, Koutarou's eyes opened wide in surprise. As if directing an orchestra, Theia pointed her finger at Koutarou and stared at him.

"If you act too much like it, they'll find out that you're the Blue Knight"

She wanted to keep a secret but reveal it at the same time. Those two feelings were constantly struggling within Theia's mind. Hearing her words, Koutarou broke into a smile again.

"Hearing you say that is funny"

"Why?"

"You're the one who put me through such hard training"

"Fufufu, that's true"

The one that beat the manners and heart of a knight into Koutarou was none other than Theia herself. So having her tell him not to show it was strange. That fact matched with the struggling feelings within her, and she couldn't help but find it funny as well.

"We both have to work not to show the habits we've picked up"

"Yeah. Let's watch out"

As the two laughed together, the chat reached an end for now. And without anyone initiating it, their expressions turned more serious. The two, or rather, the three of them, weren't in a situation where they could just be focused on getting better along.

"So Theia, what do we do from now on? We'll of course group up with Elle and the others"

Grouping up with the others was their top priority. If they didn't, they wouldn't be able to protect Forthorthe. It was only natural that they would get more serious.

"Normally, I'd like to communicate first, but in this situation, that's practically suicide"

"We can't use radio or gravitational waves, since Elexis is involved, we can't use magic or spiritual energy either"

For communications, some form of wave would be required. But if any wave was broadcast, the imperial army would come knocking in large numbers.

"Since communications are no good, that of course means that a gate is out of the question"

"We'd probably get surrounded by unmanned aircrafts long before any gate is ready"

For similar reasons, a gate, like the one used to travel instantly between room 106 and the Blue Knight couldn't be set up.

As it would take at least an hour to setup a gate safe enough for people to travel through, the army would surely detect it and flood the area with unmanned aircrafts. As they were replaceable, they could be sent through swiftly gates without fear of failure. That's why chances were high they'd get surrounded by unmanned aircrafts long before they could use a gate.

The problem was the same with Yurika's teleportation, as it would bend space, the results would be the same.

"So we'll have to escape on our own. We'll set out at night"

If both communications and gates were unusable they couldn't rely on their allies to help. They would have to get out themselves. That was the conclusion Theia reached.

"Don't we have to hurry?"

Obviously, they'd want to group up with the others are quickly as possible. So Koutarou believed it would be better to wait a few hours so that the guard around the area would loosen up a little and then leave. However, Theia wanted to wait until night, which confused him.

"I would love to, but there's probably satellites and unmanned aircrafts above us. It would be difficult to escape their watch during the day"

Theia essentially felt the same way as Koutarou, but had her reason for not wanting to rush it. That reason was the surveillance network that was surely set up above them. Because of that, it would dangerous to move when normal optical observation was possible.

"So it would be better at night when the cameras can't see, huh"

"Yes... however, even then there's still a risk"

"What kind of risk?"

"We can still be seen by infrared cameras"

"Wouldn't the forest and animals let out heat as well?"

"This is an artificial forest, so there's not many large animals. There's a chance they could just check out all the larger heat sources"

"So we'd need to go deep into the forest"

"That's right"

At night, optical cameras wouldn't work, but infrared cameras or heat sensors could still be used. That said, animals normally lived in the forest, so one wouldn't get found right away. But the circumstances for the forests of Alaia was different. As the forest had been created artificially, the number of animals were far less than in a natural forest. Especially the larger creatures. Which meant that chances were that they'd be found in this forest than in a natural one.

The safest way to avoid detection was to move along regions where trees grew in abundance. The infrared cameras and heat sensors wouldn't be able to see through obstacles.

"However, the army knows that as well, so there will be probably be a lot of personnel and unmanned aircrafts stationed in the deep parts of the forest"

"... I see... that's rather troublesome..."

Koutarou agreed with Theia's clear explanation and racked his brain over what to do. Rather than going out without a plan, it'd be best to have at least one insurance in place.

"Yurika"

So the first insurance that popped into Koutarou's mind was Yurika.

"Hueh?"

Having suddenly been called, Yurika had a confused expression as she looked up with her mouth full of food. Having been so focused on food, she hadn't listened to Koutarou's and Theia's conversation at all.

"Can't you use your magic to hide our temperature?"

"It's not like I can't, but for how long?"

While she wasn't following the overall discussion, she had a spell in mind to hide temperatures. It was a spell she had been thought as it was often used during stealth missions.

"Theia, how far away are we from our destination?"

"Since we're walking... it'll probably take three four days"

Koutarou's armor and Signaltin, and Theia's Combat Dress had practically used up all of their energy. Moreover, since Theia had cut Star Purple loose during re-entry, only the basic equipment of the actual dress remained. As a result, they couldn't do something that required a lot of energy or relied on too much equipment. If they could, then Yurika probably wouldn't have had to land on her face. Because of that, they would have to walk.

For the time being, Koutarou and the others would like to get to somewhere where the Elfaria faction had a lot of power. The city on the horizon was 100 kilometers away. Even if they moved at full speed, it would take two days at best to reach, if they wanted to preserve some stamina in case of an emergency it would take three to four days.

"So during the middle of the night. Yurika, can you do it?"

"If it's just me I can do it, but with the three of us it would be hard"

As the spell to hide temperature was an intermediate class spell it wasn't suited to be used over a long period of time. Yurika had been born with a lot of magical power, but it was far from easy to hide the temperature of three people for several hours.

"Besides, since I need to conceal my magical power so Darkness Rainbow find us, I don't think I could last more than two hours with three of us..."

Even if they hid their temperature with magic, Darkness Rainbow could detect the traces of magical power used for the spell. Which meant that Yurika would also need to cast a spell to conceal that, roughly draining her of twice as much energy. In other words, she'd need to conceal the temperature of three people and conceal the magical power, which doubled her use, so a total of six times the magical power of what it would normally take for just her. As a result, something that Yurika could use on herself and last for half a day would at best last for two hours with six times the energy drain.

"If we can only move 2 hours a day, it would take ten days. We wouldn't be able to escape them"

Theia reached her conclusion after counting on her fingers. Another problem that made this situation more complicated was that they couldn't take too much time.

"I'm sorry... I just wish I was an amazing magical girl..."

Yurika still wasn't following the discussion all that well, as she dropped her shoulders apologetically. She could tell that the situation was serious from how Theia and Koutarou were behaving.

"How troublesome... I guess we'll have to go without magic"

"Yeah..."

"I'm sorry... I'm really..."

The discussion reached a standstill, but unexpectedly, Koutarou's flash of brilliance was what broke through the situation.

"That's right, Yurika, wait a minute!"

"Fueh?"

"We don't have to fully hide our temperatures! We just need it to look like it's not human, would that work, Yurika!?"

"That's what we could do! Good job, Koutarou!"

That was when Theia caught onto Koutarou's intention and showed a big smile. Yurika had said that she'd only last two hours by completely hiding their temperatures. That's the kind of measures that would be required to sneak into a place with a solid detection network without getting caught. However, that wasn't the case this time around, there was no need to completely conceal it, an incomplete form was fine as well. They only needed to be indistinguishable from the animals of the forest. That should reduce the required amount of magical power, and make it harder for Darkness Rainbow to sense them.

"What do you mean?"

Having only listened to the latter half of the discussion, Yurika tilted her head in confusion. Koutarou grabbed her shoulders and explained it simply so she could understand.

"During the night, the imperial army will be looking after our heat signatures at night. They'll probably use infrared cameras and heat sensors to gather information in the forest and filter out anything that wouldn't come from a human in order to locate us. Are you following me this far?"

"Yes, somehow"

"Alright, then I'm continuing... So what if we let out half the heat we normally do?"

"They would... filter us out?"

"That's right! We'll make the army think were just some dogs or cats walking about!"

"Ah!"

Yurika clapped her hands together as she finally understood what Koutarou meant. It was something even she could understand as long as she listened.

"If it's just half I think it will be okay. Though it might be best to take a rest every now and then just in case"

The amount of magical power drained to hide the temperature increased exponentially the closer the spell got to fully hiding it. That's why, allowing heat to leak through would reduce the amount of magical power needed by quite a bit. Letting half of it through meant that even a rather haphazardly cast spell would work. Being an elite, an arc wizard, Yurika should be able to last for half a day.

"Alright, then it's decided! We'll move out at night!"

"Yeah!"

"Okay!"

Thus, Koutarou and the others formed a plan of escape. They were currently isolated in a dangerous situation but there was still high chance for them to group up with the others. Thanks to that, the expressions and voices of the three had turned brighter.

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