BXBX NOVEL Chapter 37: Debra (4)
Mechanical devices flying around the barrel of the Magic Wand cooled it down, emitting acrid smoke.
The Crown Prince felt he would never forget this sight.
She stood there, holding the massive barrel, with none of her usual hysterical demeanor. Her expression, as if burned out like a great warrior, seemed almost empty.
He felt a sense of solemnity watching her gaze blankly at the energy fragments scattered like cherry blossom petals amidst the bombardment.
Was that all? No.
The target had disappeared without a trace, and the floor where the bombardment had passed was boiling with lava, melting the metal. A huge hole was punched behind where it stood, revealing the sky. Even the clouds were pierced, forming air currents along the trajectory.
Gulp-
The Crown Prince’s throat bobbed.He wouldn’t have known time was passing if he hadn’t consciously swallowed.
Never, never again….
The Crown Prince resolved never to mess with her again.
At the very least, let’s not tease her about being an old maiden.
Yep, yep. That’s the right thing to do.
He didn’t want to experience that Dragon Breath firsthand.
“What… is this….”
Meanwhile, the person in question was engulfed in confusion.
After all, the power was beyond her imagination.
W-What did I just see?
That bastard had clearly activated some defensive mechanism. A blue light had enveloped his body, shimmering faintly. It was just that, whatever he did, he was pierced without any resistance by the giant beam.
The Magic Wand(?) was slowly turning to ashes and scattering. But she had no time to care about that.
[(Magic Is Just For Support): …W-What on earth are you?]
Since the Crown Prince was present, she sent it via message. She didn’t want to seem like a crazy woman talking to herself.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-mm?
[(Magic Is Just For Support): Could it actually be that everything you said thus far is true?]
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-I’ve never lied, though?
“….”
Despite the playful tone of the Oradge, she couldn’t find it in herself to laugh.
This can’t be true….
She wasn’t an idiot.
The being who created such a miracle with what looked like a joke of a wand(?) couldn’t possibly be a liar or a bluffer.
Upon thinking about the things he had said previously in the Community, chills ran down her spine.
To think that the things he mentioned, like blowing up planets, were real.
He must be someone beyond her wildest imagination.
She looked down at the hacking chip included in the package.
Staring at the black, blunt object, she noticed a faint blue light emitting from a tiny crack.
This must not be any ordinary item either.
Recalling the instructions he had given, she threw the hacking chip into the massive machine in the laboratory.
Though she was shocked, she didn’t forget what she needed to do.
The hacking chip flew through the air, hit a pillar, and then attached itself, emitting thin wires.
Woooong-
The pillar, which had been glowing blue since she first entered, began to change shape with subtle vibrations.
As a researcher, her curiosity piqued, but she suppressed it. Discovering what he was up to was more urgent than her curiosity.
A hacking chip... It must be in the package for a reason.
The large pillar, blinking blue, pierced through the roof of the Imperial Palace, forming a giant spire.
It was said to be for communicating with their homeland, but no one knew its exact purpose.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-hmm?
[(Magic Is Just For Support): Did something happen? What exactly is this?]
The Oradge remained silent for a while in response to her question.
Just as she was about to send another message out of impatience…
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-It’s an Ether cluster, huh? Primitive, but it’s definitely that.
“What?”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-Try throwing this at it too.
Wooooong-
At that moment, something dropped from the sky, just like when she bought an item from the Dimensional Store.
It seemed to be a device similar to the hacking chip included in the package.
She followed his instructions quietly.
Ether?
As a process similar to before took place, the Oradge began to speak.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-Mmm. This is way too inefficient, isn’t it? Moreover, the usage method is so primitive that its efficiency is even more terrible.
“….”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-It’s definitely Ether-related. I mean, well, it’s a difference between a campfire and nuclear fusion, though.
[(Magic Is Just For Support): What is that?]
The Oradge, who usually answered questions diligently, didn’t speak on this matter. No, it seemed like he was lost in his thoughts, ignoring her completely.
“….”
Still, she waited patiently, and the Oradge shared a few facts.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-How to put it…? It’s like destroying a planet worth 100 to extract a value of 5, I guess? I don’t know what you mean by mana contamination, but this device seems to have had a significant impact. Planets drained of Ether don’t just face physical catastrophes, you see.
“!!”
She found it hard to keep her head straight with the barrage of information.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-In other words, that guy has been sucking the planet’s resources dry. Causing mana contamination in the process.
“W-What do you mean by that?”
A sputter escaped her lips. She couldn’t care less about the Crown Prince right now.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-Anyway. The guy is dead, but soon his species might react.
“Pardon?”
She struggled to keep up with the rapidly progressing conversation.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-It seems his bio-signal has already been transmitted somewhere hehe
As she mulled over his words, something dawned on her.
“T-Then! Shouldn’t we have not killed him?!”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-ah no that’s not it tho hehe
The Crown Prince was staring at her as if she was batshit crazy, but was that really what was important right now?
“You’re saying that’s not the case?”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-I’ve already sent a signal by hacking them first, you see.
“What? What did you send….”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-To roughly summarize... This place is a resource treasure trove overflowing with Etar, and the natives are fiercely resisting. Requesting support. End.]
What?!
Wait, hello? Excuse me?
For a moment, she thought she misheard. What did he even think was the reason for her anxiousness all this time? And why else would she have assassinated(?) that guy?
Wasn’t it to prevent the acceleration of mana contamination and the invasion from his homeland, Debra?
Upon being struck with a wave of dizziness, she was reminded of the massage chair. To think that even in this situation, she thought of the massage chair he gave her. She felt a sudden sense of self-loathing.
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-It’s okay. We have Magical Girl Keisha-chan☆ with us, after all!
She felt lightheaded. He was cracking jokes right now? When there was about to be an impending planet-scale invasion?!
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-hehe anyway dwdw
“How can I not worry?!”
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-Because I’m thinking of calling in a helper to experiment and also collect some Ether while I’m at it hehe
“What?!”
A helper? What did that mean?
[A message from the Administrator has arrived.]
-Of course, it’s gotten quite a bit bigger tho hehe.
Was the Oradge just a lunatic? Moreover, an extremely powerful lunatic?
She started to feel scared.
However, she began to hear a commotion from outside, forcing her to pull herself together.
Uh… Ah?
Now that she thought about it, such a commotion wouldn’t go unnoticed by the people outside.
She looked down at her clothes.
“….”
The greatest crisis of her life had arrived.
***
The planet Debra, filled with spires piercing through the atmosphere.
The command tower responsible for planetary security and commanding the entire military also handled defenses against potential alien civilizations. The command tower stood taller than any other spire, easily recognizable.
Though it played many roles, recently, it was focused on one specific task.
Handling the authority over space probes.
Currently, 300 space probes were dispatched beyond the planetary system. The command tower managed the overall operations related to this.
Beep-
In the upper floors of the command tower, a Debran in a high-ranking officer’s uniform adorned with numerous insignias widened his black pupils.
“This is the third time already?”
“Yes, it is excellent news.”
The first suitable planet was being slowly prepared for terraforming. Though it had few resources, it seemed good as a forward base for territorial expansion.
The second one was marked for ‘scorching.’ Primitive civilizations on the planet’s surface were being eradicated to prepare for resource extraction.
And now they had found a third suitable planet.
Thus, there was no need to worry about resource shortages for a while.
Moreover….
Though the report was a bit strange, it said that the third suitable planet was overflowing with resources, particularly with an unimaginable amount of Etar.
Etar, the great power source that allowed the Debran race to conquer the universe.
However, the request for support was somewhat concerning.
Nevertheless, the report was trustworthy as probe soldiers could not lie. And only Debrans could send such communication anyway.
“Hmmm.”
Primitive natives resisting, even though they weren’t able to reach space? It was hard to believe.
The bio-signal of the probe soldier indicated that he had sent the communication and then died. And regardless of the situation, killing a probe soldier was akin to touching the entire Debra planet.
“In that case, we must respond.”
The only answer to provocation was retaliation.
How dare such insignificant aliens touch one of them?
“Report to the higher-ups and prepare to gather all forces.”
“Pardon?”
“We can’t just disregard the Etar, after all.”
“So….”
“Prepare for a total war.”
“!!”
Eventually, 60 percent of Debra’s planetary forces, amounting to space warships, began preparing for departure.
A total of around 24,000 space warships took off towards the planet where Keisha was.
This was an unexpected move that even Karlstein didn’t anticipate. He couldn’t have.
After all, for Debrans, Etar was a resource more precious than /genesisforsaken