The gist of the report was that the Juraian fleet had discovered a Shank Guild base the size of a nation state. It was a plant, producing everything from food and commodities to planetary-class battleships. Considering its scale, it was an important interchange. That was why they so relentlessly pursued Kanamitsu.
Bulldozing Shank’s fierce resistance, the Jurai fleet had just annihilated about half of the facilities. An energy reading detected a large battleship several hundred times the size of a planetary-class ship. The battleship’s name was Shippris, and it was an unusual vessel, in that most of its structure was an energy generator. Internalizing a quantity of energy so tremendous that it rivaled a star, the battleship fired directly at the Royal Ship.
“That’s weird. For the energy readings generated, the attack was actually strangely weak.” Washu looked quizzically at the data set’s values. Actually, the weak attack wasn’t much of a surprise. The fired energy was only a small fraction—a few thousandths—of what was generated in the reactor. Of course, even if Shippris used all the reactor’s energy, the opponent was still a Third Generation Royal Ship. Penetrating its ethereal Light Hawk Wings was impossible.
“And yet, the Royal Ship was destroyed.”
Washu nodded at Naja’s words. The Juraian fleet, in shock over the sinking of the Royal Ship, underwent a Shank counteroffensive; the report described how the Juraian fleet finally destroyed the large ship and Guild relay point, sacrificing 80% of the fleet in the process.
“I see. So this is the data Professor Ikuma was asked to analyze.” Naja reached over Washu’s shoulder and opened the data file on the Royal Ship’s destruction.
“What’s this…?” Looking at the image of the moment the battleship’s energy blast struck Shippris, Washu noticed a unique streak of energy.
“What? I don’t see anything.”
“How can that be? It’s right here,” Washu pointed at the streak of light on the monitor.
“I see where you’re pointing, but I still don’t see a thing.”
“B-but…” Washu checked over each data type. No data was detected on that streak of light.
“Washu-chan, can you really see something?”
“Yes.” Washu could only nod at Naja’s question because it was true.
“It’s not in the databanks, and it’s visible only to you. It’s concerning that the Light Hawk Wings have a similar quality. When attacked, the Royal Tree undoubtedly deployed its Light Hawk Wings. But it was still destroyed.”
“What happens when Light Hawk Wings strike each other?”
“There’s no record of anyone conducting such an experiment. That might be why the Royal Ship was destroyed.” That was as far as their deductions went. They would get into serious trouble if they were discovered perusing the data without permission. Even in the Department of Philosophy, Academy students were forbidden from any type of involvement with the Royal Trees, Jurai’s most carefully guarded secret.
The second incident took place when Washu carefully copied the data and returned to the directory level. She suddenly found herself connected to the deepest part of Jurai, which she had previously been unable to access: the archives of information on the Royal Trees. It was not clear why, but it was not due to any improvement in Washu’s hacking skills.
“We’re connected to the lower level. Washu-chan, what did you do?”
“I didn’t do anything. What is this?”
She had found the biological data of the entire Royal Family, from the very first Emperor to the present day.
“Genetics, astral…assembly, bio-fortification… What is this?! What are they creating?” Only part of the data was remotely understandable to Washu and Naja. It was common knowledge that the Jurai Royal Family possessed some form of bio-fortification, but that in itself was not a rare thing. Most of the intelligent life in the galaxy benefited from bio-fortification. The major difference was that the Jurai Royal Family’s technology was far more advanced.
“From analyzing tiny fragments of cellular remains from the Shank Guild representative you encountered when you first came to the Academy, we know he was a soldier, carefully bio-fortified over generations…”
“And yet, he didn’t stand a chance against Nishia-dono.”
“Yes, but if we were to believe this data here, even civilians who become a part of the Juraian Royal Family through adoption or marriage gain the Royal Family’s power through this bio-fortification. That’s impossible, even with the Academy’s technology!”
Washu and Naja stared at each other. They seemed to have come across something they were not supposed to see. However, their pure curiosity as scientists overruled their fear. As they tried to dig deeper, wading through the waves of incomprehensible data, their access was suddenly denied.
Were we discovered?! They both thought for a second, but there was no anti-hacker counterattack that they could see. Was this an accident or on purpose? There was no way for them to find out.
“Oh well. It’s too dangerous to dig deeper.”
Washu nodded at Naja’s words. “How should we deal with this—gack!!” The most deeply buried data she had recorded was gone. The rest of the top secret information was unscathed.
“What’s going on?” Naja’s face showed only confusion, but Washu had formed a hypothesis from the brief glimpse of the data.
“Naja, I’m only speculating, but what if Jurai’s bio-fortification is a kind of biological and mental recombination by something that forms a core?”
“Could be. We might only understand a bare minimum of the data. The other thing I could imagine is that this core still receives biodata feedback from current Royal Family members.”
“Yes… But what are they trying to do?” Washu was very interested. Not only as a scientist, but also from a deep-rooted impulse.
“Washu-chan, this was very interesting to us, but it’s not important right now,” Naja reminded Washu, aware of her friend’s feelings. “It has nothing to do with your current goals.”
“Yes… You’re right.” Washu closed the data file and returned to the work she should have been doing.
Four years passed. Washu stood on Seniwa. Everything she had done—whether interfering with the various systems of each country, disrupting Jurai’s storied information network, improving high-speed interstellar spaceships and designing new engines, rewriting personal data, or developing a lifelike android—was for this moment. Washu watched the snow falling relentlessly from the skies and thanked Naja for sticking by her all this time.
“I’ve arrived at last…”
Her boy was here. She was finally going to see him. Deep emotion overcame Washu as she gazed toward her child’s home.