Chapter 91: The "Arsenal" of the Interstellar Alliance

Their original plan was to head straight to the bar. But now they had a child in tow, one with almost no fighting ability, a burden in plain terms. So they decided to find somewhere to rest first. At the very least, they had to settle the child down before going to a place where all sorts of people mixed together to gather information.

From Pega, they learned that in this city called the Insect Nest, the basic form of trade was still the primitive barter system. Beyond that, the city’s rulers, the backers behind the people known as the Armory, had issued a form of currency. Those who worked in the factories under their control could earn it, and that currency could then be used to buy supplies from the Armory: dried meat of unknown origin, drinking water, and some basic medical goods.

That was what sustained the currency’s value.

Following the map’s directions, Youkyo and the others arrived at an inn. Ignoring Ayoru-senpai’s disapproving gaze, Youkyo spent half the food in his supply bag to rent a room with two beds, and the four of them took shelter in a cramped little room.

Youkyo first introduced Pega to the others, saying he was a friend of an acquaintance, and then introduced Ayoru-senpai and Maguna to Pega.

“This is Soya Ayoru, my senior. We’re in the same unit. And this is a RUSH Hunter, Magma Master Maguna.”

“Magma Master?”

Pega tilted his head. He had never heard that title before, and Maguna, hearing himself introduced that way by Youkyo, actually blushed.

“?”

Why are you blushing?

Youkyo was baffled. Maguna had no choice but to explain that when he had first entered the trade, in the depths of his chuunibyou phase, he had given himself that title. It was a bit like a stage name. In the first place, very few people ever addressed him by it, so suddenly hearing Youkyo introduce him like that made Maguna feel rather... embarrassed.

“Don’t you know that whenever your team appears, ‘Magma Master’ gets displayed at the bottom of the screen?”

“Don’t you even rewatch the playback of your hunt videos?”

Maguna was momentarily speechless. He really didn’t, and he had no interest or energy to watch those videos cluttered with idiot commentary that made RUSH hunts look less like hunts and more like some variety show. Maguna hated that.

The introductions ended there, and then Youkyo, still under Ayoru-senpai’s disapproving stare, handed all the remaining food in the supply bag to Pega.

To be fair, Youkyo did feel a faint resistance toward those dried meats of unknown ingredients. Perhaps he simply was not hungry enough. But Pega, who had been hungry for a long time, did not care about any of that. He ate happily and thanked them over and over.

Watching Pega eat with such delight and relish, Youkyo...

Youkyo felt nothing at all. He really was not hungry. He had no idea why.

“Youkyo, if you don’t eat, you won’t have the strength to fight.”

“I’m really not hungry. I don’t know why... I’ve got strength, Ayoru-senpai. If you don’t believe me, let’s arm wrestle?” Youkyo had just started to roll up his sleeves when he thought better of it and let them fall again. Perhaps his movement had been too deliberate, because Soya Ayoru noticed. “What’s wrong with your right hand? Injured?”

“No. I just suddenly remembered something. Don’t mind it.”

Youkyo did not particularly want to show the captain’s bracelet, lest some interested party notice and cause unnecessary trouble. Soya Ayoru looked at him suspiciously, but did not press the matter.

And since Youkyo himself had lied, he naturally had to patch it up himself. He turned to Pega and asked, “Do you know why those people are called the Armory?”

That could not possibly be the special anti-monster aerial mech squad from Zetta, could it?

What kind of collision of names was that?

Seeing Pega blink, then organize his thoughts before asking in return, “Do you know the Star Alliance?”

“Sort of... a little,” Youkyo said with a nod. He only knew it was a dark organization, one of those that put on a good face, looked bright and polished on the surface, but secretly did all kinds of rotten things behind the scenes.

Seeing Youkyo nod, Pega skipped over the introduction to the Star Alliance and continued, “In the army of the Star Alliance, all units responsible for garrisoning planets are called the Armory. That term has been around for a long time. It was called that from the very beginning, when the unit was first founded, and later everyone just kept using the name.”

Youkyo nodded. He only knew that the Star Alliance was an organization formed by the union of many participating planets, a little like the European Union, no, perhaps more like NATO. Each member world in the Star Alliance had a clear role. Some planets specialized in weapons development, with even finer subdivisions such as biology, machinery, heavy industry, and information. Other planets handled foreign trade, providing commercial services to the other member worlds.

Each member planet would be granted a domain of its own, while also being required to relinquish everything else.

For example, the member world Planet Ganon had become a planet devoted entirely to tourism and commerce. Commercial buildings had been raised on the former site of the Tree of Life, and they had even been designed to resemble the Tree of Life itself. One could only wonder what the local people thought upon seeing such a scene. As for Gagula, who had once cut down that tree, he only thought it was stupid.

On that planet, aside from the mascot royal family retaining a small portion of the defense force, the other units had all been disbanded. Of course, part of the military had directly been absorbed into the Star Alliance army. And so, naturally, the defense of Planet Ganon was entirely entrusted to that Star Alliance force.

That army existed to provide the member worlds of the Star Alliance with arms and defense. Its supplies depended entirely on the Star Alliance, and it strictly observed a policy of no commerce, under the supervision of all member planets.

An army without supplies or a source of income was a tree without roots, water without a spring. It could only rely on the Star Alliance’s provision, and the Star Alliance used that very dependence to prevent the army from turning against it.

Soya Ayoru was also drawn in by Pega’s explanation. He asked, “Could this city also be the work of the Star Alliance?”

Pega nodded, then shook his head. “I’m not sure. But if a regular military force were teleported into this city, and the city was originally inhabited only by ordinary people, then they really could take the whole place with ease, couldn’t they?”

It was more than taking it with ease. It was a crushing blow from an entirely higher dimension. What suspense could there be in a regular army fighting a bunch of ordinary people, even if those people were thugs, hoodlums, and street punks? They were still only ordinary thugs, hoodlums, and street punks.

“And there seems to be some strange force field here that prevents us from using our power,” Pega went on. “I tried before, to call on my power to open the Dark Space. I hadn’t even managed to crack it open before the power felt as if it were being drawn away.”

“Drawn away?”

“Yes.” Pega nodded, explaining, “It’s not that the power suddenly disappears.” He gestured in frustration, trying to describe the sensation. “It’s more like it veers off its original course and flies somewhere else.”

If using power on Earth felt merely strenuous, then here it was chaos. Strenuous at least meant you could still force the skill out. Chaos meant there was truly nothing you could do.

“Right, the Skyport Tower. Do you know about the Skyport Tower here?”

Soya Ayoru immediately asked the next question. He had thought the first priority now was to leave this place and return to Earth.

“The Skyport Tower?”

Pega thought for a moment, choosing his words. “I know the place, but I don’t know the details. At the very least...”

“I’ve been here for more than ten days, but... I’ve never seen any aircraft taking off or landing near the Skyport Tower.”