Ranmarok leads his team on a "mission".

He sent a team to intercept the Imperial taxing fleet that had departed from the port of Jestal in the civilized world, demanding that the entire fleet be inspected under the pretext of searching for possible fugitives.

Judging from the timing of the contact between the squads, they may have encountered some difficulties after boarding the ship, but Ranmarok didn't care, he just asked his fighters to complete the mission.

These contacts reported on administrative or armed institutions set up by the Empire 10,000 years later, unknown to them, some local specialties (grain, dried vegetables, locally grown spices, a few expensive handicraft luxuries, etc.) that were used by Jestar to deduct the tithe, some ship facilities that were not very unImperial truth, and a mess of so-called "state church" personnel. They had apparently had some minor friction between the ships and the government officials, but for his part, Ranmaroke was only concerned with the outcome of the mission.

None of the squads found any trace of the fugitives, which is a common outcome in pursuits and investigations. Ranmarok shouldn't have been upset about this, but he just had a strong feeling that "something was wrong".

He thought back to the whole thing again: they decided to hunt down the fugitives, they followed the fugitive's trail and jumped into the subspace, they encountered a subspace storm, they managed to return to the physical universe only to find that 10,000 years had passed, and they cobbled together the current state of the empire with the words of the short-range communication waves scattered in the universe, and they ......

No, wait a minute, will they be able to sort out the current state of the empire in such detail just by relying on intragalactic communications in this remote sector?

In addition to the logical problems, he had a vague feeling that he had forgotten something.

The feeling that something was wrong made him a little restless, and when a Dark Angel Firewing Grand Master was fidgeting, it was easy to start looking for the source of his restlessness almost paranoidly.

As soon as he thought about it, he noticed more and more that something was wrong: why did he only stop the tax-collecting fleet leaving the port, but not the entire airport? Why was he so sure that the fugitives pursued by the Dark Angels were on this fleet? After all - they left the subspace to find that 10,000 years had passed, why did he conclude that the fugitive they were hunting was still alive? And even the same subspace storm? Also landed on this planet?

The whole thing is not right. This caused Ranmarok to nervously inquire about all of his movements after the Lionmane leapt out of the subspace - the subspace storm had destroyed the ship's Geller position, and there had been some inexplicable and unspoken accidents on board, which he suspected...... Stuff, after the ship left some influence after the ship left out of subspace.

Ranmarok probably knew what was going on, but it shouldn't be publicized, even within the Dark Angels. And the entire crew of the ship, in addition to him, should be subject to a similar investigation - but this is the amount of work that he alone cannot quickly complete. If possible, he hoped that those who knew about the investigation could be confined to a particular inner ring to which he belonged, but—

- However, he suddenly discovers that there is a very unreasonable entry in the Lionmane's communication log: a short-range communication has been received from the Imperial Dream, and the timestamp indicates that the incident occurred twenty-six times before Terra Standard Time.

If such an important communication had been received, it would have been clear to anyone on board the Lionmane, whether it was an Astarte warrior or a mortal auxiliary, that the matter should be reported immediately and left to him to decide.

The problem was that the communication log was marked "processed", but he had no memory of the incident at all.

-----------------

"If the 'manager' on the Dark Angel's ship really sends a message asking what is going on, I must first laugh at him to his face."

Yago Savitarion made a bold statement from the main control room of the Storm Frontier, in exchange for Rika Fujimaru, who was huddled in a chair beside Somny, holding hot milk, and from a psionic point of view, Rika Fujimaru was not very strongly opposed:

"You're pure anger." She pointed out objectively, "You didn't even know his name until I told you that this man was Ranmarok, and you probably didn't even meet him directly. ”

"So what does it matter? Laughing at the jailer is one of the few interesting pastimes in the dull life of any prisoner. "A lady like you certainly doesn't understand, but please don't deprive us of the means to have fun." ”

"But you're not a prisoner anymore, are you?" Fujimaru Ritsuka's tone was reasonable, "By the way, I haven't had time to discuss this matter with Conrad: if there are other Midnight Lords on that ship, I think it would be better to save them from the Dark Angel as well." ”

Saivita was dumbfounded for a moment, carefully looked up and down whether Rika was sitting or not, and then considered and spoke: "Yes, yes, but ......"

Rika Fujimaru frowned and put down her glass, "Are you worried that your Legion brothers will get in the way of Conrad's eyes again, or do you think I can't talk to the Dark Angel about this?" ”

Sevita didn't speak, just shrugged her shoulders oddly, trying to get the question over it. Rikka was a little tempted to hold on, but a holographic screen of light from Somny's side caught her attention.

"Thank you, Somny." She leaned over the light screen and read it carefully for a few seconds, then her tone became noticeably pleasant, "I'll just say it! Seventeen is the grade you should go to! ”

Sevita, who was usually not very emotionally fluctuating, also showed obvious surprise at this time: "Found it? ”

"Aelita's school status. Here. Rikka turned the light screen of her waving hand in the direction of Sevita, regardless of whether he was actually near - Astarte's eyesight was enough for him to see the digital photo attached to his school registration information:

With straw-colored hair, fair skin, and a slight freckle on her face, she was undoubtedly the Elita he remembered. But this was clearly not the Elita he knew: the girl in the photo was more delicate than he had remembered, and there was a more obvious vigor that had not been destroyed by the reality of suffering.

Sevita's heart was mixed.

“…… Can people who have already died be resurrected? It took him a long time to barely hold back such a question, so that the atmosphere would not be completely cold, "What kind of 'human rewriting' that rewrites the history of peculiarities also cares about this?" ”

"This cannot be called a resurrection. The technology that can completely and without side effects to bring the dead back to life is not a realm that human beings can reach in my mind...... But the emperor seems to be able to do it, so it's really cheating to say that psionic energy. ”

Rika Fujimaru dragged back the light screen, and while studying the address information on Aelita's student registration information, she explained, "Aelita is still alive, but simply because the past has been changed, the 'killing her' thing has not happened, so of course she is alive." ”

“…… So, ...... the people who died in the anomalies? ”

"Not everyone survives. While it is natural for the 'past' to be tampered with, it is natural for the 'present' to change, but it is annoying that the 'unborn', a subspace-based entity, is not bound by the rules of linear time. ”

Fujimaru Rika gritted her teeth a little when she said these words: "In case the soul is taken away by the demon in the special point, and they are told to flee to the subspace, the reconstruction of events in the real universe will not be able to affect them - the matter of 'soul being taken away' has already happened, and the fact that the demon itself holds the corresponding soul is the best evidence, so in the corresponding time after the reconstruction, the souls of these people will also disappear automatically." In reality, the person concerned will naturally die for various reasonable reasons. ”

She turned her head to look at Sevita: "To say this, Aelita was able to come back to life like this thanks to the blessing you decided to burn her along with the soul-snatching demon at that time: since the 'cat box' could not prove her death after it was opened, then she was naturally alive,"

Sevita's already heavy mood was further complicated by these words.

Fujimaru Rika obviously sensed the other party's mood, but she didn't say anything comforting, but asked directly: "I'm going to play with her later, and I said that she will invite me to eat round wheat next time we meet." Do you want to come along? ”

"Huh......?" Sevita was confused, "But we haven't crossed paths with her in history after 'Renli Recompilation', so she shouldn't remember you and me, right?" ”

"Right? Any questions? Rika was very experienced on this issue, "Then it should be the first time we met, isn't it over to get acquainted again?" 'Bonding' is such a thing, someone has to take the initiative to take a step forward! ”

“…… Even so, your 'please eat wheat' agreement never happened. Even if you go to the other party, Aelita won't fulfill it. ”

"Don't be so rigid, it's normal for girls who meet and go shopping together for the first time to buy snacks and eat together on the way." Rika Fujimaru, who had determined the specific coordinates, happily drank the milk in the cup in one gulp, and confirmed to Sevita again, "Aren't you coming along?" ”

“…… No, I'll forget it anyway. The famous Crow Prince was a little timid in this situation, "I'm here waiting for the Lionmane to get in touch. ”

Rikka shrugged her shoulders indifferently, and took a cookie from the plate in front of Somny—the same one she had brought and placed here after breakfast the day before, and had not touched it yet—and put it in her mouth, and left with her empty cup in high spirits.

The remaining two people in the main control room looked at each other. Sevita felt that he had nothing to say to this "thing" that was dressed in the shell of the Forbidden Army but was not a Forbidden Army, and Somny obviously did not have the ability to take the initiative to speak up and liven up the atmosphere, so the scene immediately cooled down visibly.

The atmosphere quickly changed from silence to awkwardness, and Sevita couldn't help but think about whether she should force a topic, but at this point, Somny moved.

He reached out and picked up a small biscuit from the plate in front of him, held it up to about the edge of his mouth—and then somehow let it disappear into thin air in front of his full visor.

Then, the golden helmet was chewed with the most unmistakable sound, and during this time, Somny returned to his usual almost sculptural posture, poking motionless again, just looking at Sevita in the direction of the eyepiece.

The Midnight Lord's company commander wasn't sure how he should interpret this act, as it was a fantasy to speculate on the idea of a ship in the human mind. But even if he doesn't interpret it, he will still be triggered by this inexplicable act and some emotional reactions.

To put it simply, Sevita was a little annoyed.