Talos II — one of the natural satellites orbiting the gas giant ‘Talos,’ and the only habitable world within this region of the star system.
The azure blue that signified life floated across the surface of this planet.
If one could simply overlook the glaring ‘scars’ marring its face, perhaps this could have been the perfect home.
At this very moment, in the skies above this much-suffering world, a massive aircraft hung suspended in Talos II’s geostationary orbit, gazing down upon the planet below.
And there on the bridge of this aircraft, a flax-haired Liberi girl sat poised in the central command seat, gazing out at the enormous world before her.
A pen spun ceaselessly between her fingers, while her mind seemed to be turning over something no one could quite read.
The figures bustling around her would, every so often, cast glances her way — yet none of them dared step forward to disturb her thoughts.
None of them, that is, except a black-haired girl — twin horns crowning her head, a dragon’s tail trailing from her back, and two pitch-black longswords tucked at her waist — who, after hesitating off to the rear for the longest time, finally walked over with trembling features and stiff, rigid limbs.
“P-Per…
Perlica, Director!
Endfield Special Service Operator Chen Qianyu, reporting in!”
The courage the girl had forcibly mustered was clearly applied with way too much force.
Her single shout startled several of the logistics operators around her.
The girl in the seat — the one named Perlica — still appeared as composed as ever.
Provided, of course, one ignored the pen in her hand that had just snapped clean in two.
“Chen, what’s all the shouting for?”
Perlica shook her head with a touch of helplessness.
After all this time the two of them had known each other, this girl was still just as scatterbrained as ever.
And it wasn’t as though Perlica were some sort of monstrous beast — was there really any call to be this nervous…
“Sorry, Perlica — I’m still not all the way used to it.”
Chen Qianyu let out a couple of sheepish laughs, her eyes darting around almost involuntarily.
Even though she’d long ago learned of Talos II’s true appearance from books, standing in a position like this and gazing down at the homeworld where she’d been born — it really was hard to keep the surge of emotion in check.
Not to mention the Dijiang beneath their feet — these past few days aboard had been quite the eye-opener for Chen Qianyu as well.
“Are you settling in alright aboard the Dijiang?”
Perlica’s tone was gentle.
She had known Operator Chen Qianyu for a long time now, and it had been she herself who’d recommended Chen Qianyu join Endfield — so naturally she’d be concerned about how she was doing.
“It’s great, really great — everyone’s easy to get along with.”
Chen Qianyu nodded again and again, the tail behind her swaying side to side without her noticing.
“It’s just…”
“Just what?”
“It’s just that there really isn’t much to do, heheh.”
Chen Qianyu touched the hilts of the swords at her waist, smiling a touch sheepishly.
The Dijiang was lovely and all, but most of the people aboard were technical and logistics personnel — for a martial artist like her, there really wasn’t much to be done here.
She couldn’t even find someone to spar with — everyone seemed plenty busy.
“I see…” Perlica nodded knowingly.
“In that case, I’ll have to ask you to endure a few more days.
There’s an urgent shipment of cargo over at Valley No.
4 that’s going to need you to deliver it.”
The moment those words came out, Chen Qianyu’s eyes lit up in an instant.
As long as she had something concrete to look forward to, that was enough — she’d just been a little worried that Perlica might get too caught up in work and forget about her.
“I’ll see the mission through!”
Chen Qianyu snapped to attention, saluted, then went bouncing happily out of the central command room.
Perlica let out a helpless little laugh.
Still, with little Chen kicking up a fuss like that, much of the gloom in her own chest had dissipated.
“No time to rest just yet — there are still several documents to deal with today.”
Murmuring softly to herself, Perlica rose from her chair and headed toward the core sector.
But as she passed by one of the unmarked cabins within the core sector, her steps came to an involuntary halt.
[Identity Verification Passed]
Using the terminal on her wrist to open the cabin door, Perlica stepped alone into this pure-white room.
A few potted plants sat along either side of the room, and the polished floor was spotless.
And right at the center of the room rested a massive stone, emitting a faint, golden, flowing light.
Perlica stepped forward in silence, her head slightly lowered.
No emotion could be read on her face — only a thread of hesitation and reminiscence in her gaze betrayed the fact that her heart, in this moment, was anything but calm.
“Administrator…”
She sighed softly, as though calling out someone’s name.
And when she raised her head, intending to take one more look at the figure slumbering inside the stone sarcophagus — her eyes suddenly went wide.
“Administrator?
Administrator?!!!”
The massive stone before her held absolutely nothing — the figure she had longed for day and night was nowhere to be found.
The ever-composed Director Perlica, in that very instant, let out a piercing shriek that even startled several operators passing by the cabin.
And once the cabin door opened once again, all they saw was the figure who had been toiling day after day for the sake of Endfield Industries — now collapsed motionless on the floor before that massive stone.
The operators who’d witnessed the scene were all completely dumbstruck.
“S-Somebody!!
Help!!
Director Perlica has collapsed!!!!!”
Cold.
As her consciousness gradually rose to the surface from out of that endless deep sea, this was the very first sensation to come back to her.
A bone-piercing chill crept up her spine, and a biting wind whipped relentlessly against her cheeks — until it escalated to outright pain.
Fortunately, the clothing on her body was at least enough to shield her from some of the cold.
The suffering brought on by the freezing chill actually hastened her awakening.
The girl strained to open her eyes.
The visual module on her face mask reactivated, revealing a world of pure snow-white spread out before her — exactly like the frozen plain where she’d been before her slumber.
The cold in this moment, in fact, brought her a faint sense of familiarity.
‘Who am I?’
Chaotic fragments of memory flashed unceasingly through her mind, countless scenes battering against the girl’s brain.
She bore the pain as best she could, struggling to sift through the scattered shards of memory in her head — but the bone-deep cold made it impossible to gather her thoughts.
‘I have to get out of here first.’
Her body’s warmth was being stolen away without pause, and yet her body itself was so weak that even moving her own neck was a tremendous struggle.
Could it be that, having only just woken up, she was about to slip straight into eternal slumber?
The will to live drove the girl to want to struggle with all her might — until a muffled sound reached her ears.
Before she could even process what was happening, a warm palm had already taken hold of her left hand.
Then it began to work its way up and down — from fingertip to palm, that slightly rough, large hand passed over every inch of skin on her left hand.
The warmth belonging to a human being melted the ice and snow off her hand.
The next moment, the snow piled atop her was swept entirely away, and in the girl’s dazed field of vision, a pair of bright eyes appeared before her.
Joy, excitement, exhilaration — countless emotions came surging out from within that pair of eyes, just like sweet rain falling on long-parched earth.
What followed hard on its heels was a single, emotion-soaked cry of astonishment.
“Holy shit!
A person!!!”