「…Pretty peaceful out here.」
About three hours had passed since I landed at my destination. I was sitting on top of the Zabuton—the shuttle I’d arrived in—eating a ration and watching the holograms projected into my field of vision. I’d already activated several reconnaissance drones and utility and construction bots equipped with fabricators, setting them to work scouting the area, collecting resources, and building a shelter and storehouse. For now, I was taking a meal break while checking their progress.
Most of my body had been replaced with cybernetics, but that didn’t mean I could function without food. If I didn’t eat, I’d eventually starve to death. Meals were also important for maintaining morale. Good food gives you the will to keep living, after all.
「Plenty of animals around, too… Wonder if I can get some real meat out of ’em.」
The drone footage showed six-legged creatures placidly grazing on the grass, along with plenty of four-legged creatures roaming in herds. Apparently, the meat of carbon-based life forms was generally edible, but depending on the species, there were risks like toxins, pathogens, and parasites. You couldn’t just eat anything you came across.
Guess living off hunting isn’t so simple, either.
Well, I’ve never butchered an animal in my life. Even if I hunted something now, the best I could do would be to chuck it into the food processor and turn it into sloppy, foul-tasting nutritional paste. I’d really rather not resort to that stuff.
「Gotta get food production going soon, too.」
The food I’d brought was finite. There was enough to keep me fed for about a year if I was the only one eating it, but apparently crops weren’t something you could eat as soon as you planted them. If I didn’t start producing food early, I’d end up starving to death. And if I acquired any more mouths to feed, that grace period would get even shorter. I couldn’t afford to take my sweet time.
「Still, defenses and a shelter come first.」
Sure, I needed to get the farming started quickly, but there wasn’t much point if I couldn’t protect my food and farming supplies. I also needed somewhere safe to sleep. Securing a food supply was high on the list, but at this stage, plenty of other things needed to come first.
「I want a good-sized storehouse, too… Maybe build it halfway underground.」
A partially buried structure—or a fully underground one, if possible—would offer the supplies better protection in an emergency than some slapped-together shack. Fortunately, the local soil contained plenty of the elements needed to produce sturdy building materials. The bots were also breaking down plants that got in the way and collecting carbon materials, so it should be possible to make every structure durable enough that a few hits from a laser at antipersonnel output wouldn’t easily destroy it.
「Right, that’s lunch done. Back to—huh?」
One of the reconnaissance drones issued an alert. Wondering what was going on, I brought up its video feed. It showed six figures, but…
「What the hell kinda group is this?」
Five of them were easy enough to figure out. They were men carrying what looked like weapons. Three of the five had what appeared to be firearms…
Wait, are those guns that fire actual bullets? Talk about retro… Has civilization gone that far backward on this planet? And the other two have a knife and a club. Wonderful.
「And the last one is…」
A woman. Her clothes were in tatters, and she bore obvious signs of abuse. They’d even gone to the trouble of putting a bulky collar around her neck.
That collar was an external implant. It intercepted nerve signals at the cervical spine, taking away control over the body and, to some extent, even suppressing free will. People called them slave collars.
Well, that’s a fitting name. Or a straightforward one, anyway.
「Definitely a bunch of scumbags.」
The fact that they were openly using an external implant like that settled it. They were probably former space pirates or something along those lines.
Well, I’ve got no shortage of violence myself. Allow me to oblige.
Oh, right. Even with a bunch like that, there’s still a chance they’re here for a friendly visit. Can’t see us getting along even if they are, though. Guess I’ll try making contact before we start killing each other.
□■□
「Erika. Going on a pilgrimage alone is far too dangerous. The situation has been growing increasingly unstable of late. Please reconsider.」
The bishop’s words kept running through my mind.
Why didn’t I listen to the bishop back then? Why did I help these devilish men? Why did I let my guard down around them, even for a moment? Why, why, why…?
Regret seared my heart.
My thoughts, dulled by the slave collar, went around in circles. Again and again, I relived the moments when their hands, their tongues, and those loathsome masses of flesh had defiled every part of me. Each time, my heart felt as though it would tear apart, and I wanted to scream. But the abhorrent collar around my neck would not allow it.
「Should be around here.」
「No smoke. Makes it hard to find.」
「Means whatever’s inside hasn’t burned to a crisp, at least. If it fell from up there, even a load of rags’ll fetch a good price.」
「I’d rather have food or weapons.」
「Another woman would be even better.」
「Ain’t that the truth. This one looks about ready to break.」
The men broke into vulgar laughter. The sound nearly made me lose consciousness. Pain, unwanted ecstasy, humiliation, despair, and then emptiness. Every sensation and emotion mingled together, tormenting the very core of my being.
Ah… If only I could break, as they say. How much easier that would be.
「Ah, this is a warning. You are approaching my private property. State your intentions and disarm. Failure to comply will be treated as hostile action, and you will be eliminated.」
The men escorting me visibly tensed at the male voice that suddenly came from somewhere nearby. Someone had spotted them, yet even after hearing him speak, they could not tell where he was. If he had intended to attack from the outset, he would have caught them completely by surprise.
「Heh, he’s just bluffing. Don’t get sca—」
The instant after the apparent leader tried to put on a brave front, his forehead flashed with blinding light and burst apart.
「Thanks for reacting exactly as expected. Now feel free to die.」
The voice that came from somewhere nearby was flat, but there was not the slightest hint of regret in it.
□■□
「One.」
The first bandit collapsed with more than half his head blown away. A laser at antipersonnel output could easily obliterate unprotected human flesh.
Picking a fight to the death without even wearing a helmet. Gotta admire the nerve.
「Two.」
Unable to process the fact that his companion’s head had suddenly exploded, the second man stood there dumbfounded. I blew his head off, too.
Laser weapons were ideal for sniping. Wind and gravity barely affected them, and they hit the moment you fired. Down on a planet with an atmosphere, they did lose power over distance, but at a range of only a few hundred meters, the loss was negligible.
「Three.」
The third bandit apparently couldn’t locate my position. He pointed his supposed weapon in completely the wrong direction, so I blew away the side of his head.
An ordinary human couldn’t see the path of a laser beam with the naked eye. It wasn’t visible light, after all.
My eyes can see it just fine, though.
「Four.」
I blew the head off a bandit who’d dropped his weapon and was shouting something with a pathetic look on his face.
I’m not taking prisoners. Don’t have the time to look after that kind of baggage.
「Five.」
The last bandit turned to flee, and I blew away the back of his head.
Not letting anyone escape, either. For now, I’m better off with people knowing nothing about my base than knowing how dangerous it is.
I went and killed ’em without even checking who they were or who they worked for, but hey, anyone putting a collar on a woman and laughing like that can’t be much good. Probably. There’s a chance the woman’s some monstrous criminal herself, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.
「…She’s not even trying to hide.」
Through the scope, I could see painful-looking bruises on her face, as though she’d been beaten. She had her hands clasped in front of her chest as if praying, her eyes closed. It was almost as though she were asking me to shoot her dead.
「…Hmm.」
She’s clearly unarmed and has no intention of fighting. On top of that, she’s wearing a slave collar. Can’t say I feel like shooting her. There’s a chance she’s one of them despite how she looks… but a pretty damn slim one.
「Can’t have her dropping dead out here, either… And hey, I might have a chance. Yeah.」
In that state, who knows if she’ll open up to a man like me, but maybe she could become my wife someday. Besides, her clothes are in tatters, but the original quality—or the way they’re made, anyway—looks different from what those guys whose heads I blew off were wearing. Seems like she belongs to a different faction altogether. Which means she could be a source of information, too.
Justification, check. Time to make contact.
With that decided, I crawled out from under the branches and cut grass I’d draped over myself for camouflage, secured my long-range sniper laser rifle in the holder on my back, and ran down the hill I’d been using as a sniping position.
「No ambush.」
After checking the surroundings with the reconnaissance drone I was linked to, just to be safe, I stepped into view in front of her. Since she was unarmed, I wasn’t holding a weapon, either. Of course, my limbs had enough power to crush an ordinary human with little effort, and hand-to-hand combat was my specialty. I was confident I could beat someone in power armor with my bare hands.
「…」
I showed myself about twenty paces away. Perhaps sensing my presence, she opened her eyes and stared at my face, her hands still clasped in front of her chest.
She’s filthy, and those bruises look painful, but I think she’s got a pretty face. Hard to see under that hood or whatever she’s wearing, but is her hair blonde? Nice. I like blondes. Not a bad figure, either. Her breasts aren’t huge, but they’re not small, and her waist and hips look good, too. Actually, pretty damn good.
While I was busy giving her a thorough once-over, she took a step back. Maybe my silence made her suspicious. Maybe she’d noticed where I was looking—though that seemed unlikely, considering I didn’t have eyes, or even a face. Or maybe she was simply frightened by a man who’d suddenly appeared and stood there without saying a word.
About time I said something.
「Looks like you don’t intend to attack. Sorry, but you’re gonna have to get used to this face of mine. Took a plasma grenade about ten years back, and it burned the whole thing clean off.」
I shrugged, but all she did was give a small nod. It seemed the slave collar really was dulling her thoughts and emotions.
「You’re not with the guys whose heads I blew off, right? Not with that thing on you.」
「…No.」
I pointed at the collar around her neck as I asked, and her reply came out in a rasp.
Hm? That’s the voice of someone who hasn’t been getting enough water.
A quick scan showed signs of dehydration.
「Okay. Then for now, I’ve got no intention of attacking you. My camp’s a short walk from here. I’ll get you patched up there. Feed you, too. Before that, drink this.」
I offered her the canteen I’d kept in a pouch on my combat armor. It was a handy piece of equipment that collected moisture from the air and filtered it into drinking water. It could also sterilize and purify its contents, so I always had clean, safe water to drink.
「Why…?」
「Of course I’ve got ulterior motives. But for that, I need to get you patched up first, and I can’t have you collapsing from dehydration or malnutrition.」
「I… see…」
Apparently satisfied with that explanation, she nodded slowly, took the canteen, and began sipping from it.
While she drank, I searched the belongings of the bandits whose heads I’d blown off. There were plenty of things I couldn’t identify, and the whole lot stank. My nose had been replaced with an olfactory sensor, but even I immediately switched off my sense of smell. That left me observing the odor as numerical readings.
And those are some pretty impressive numbers.
As for the contents… primitive leather waterskins, mysterious scraps of metal, ammunition for their primitive guns, some sort of foul-smelling paste wrapped in a large leaf, an equally foul-smelling squishy lump shaped like a block, an absurdly hard block of something else, and assorted small blades and other odds and ends. They’d been carrying quite a load.
「Might as well collect everything… Oh, there it is.」
I retrieved what I’d been looking for from the bandits’ belongings and called over a utility bot to help haul everything back. I had no idea what a lot of this stuff was for, but if I asked her, some of it might turn out to be useful.
「Had some water? Can you walk? I’ll carry you if you can’t.」
「I’m… all right. Thank you… very much.」
She nodded and held out the canteen, so I took—
The weight’s barely changed.
「Nothing to thank me for. This is give-and-take, and I’ll be collecting my payment later. Besides, you’ve barely drunk any of it. Drink properly.」
「But clean water is precious…」
「Unlike those primitive things, this canteen’s high-tech. Even if you drain it dry, it’ll fill itself back up in two hours. Don’t hold back. Drink.」
I pointed to the primitive leather waterskins lying beside the bandits’ corpses, then pressed the canteen back into her hands and started walking, leaving the bodies and their belongings where they were.
If she says she can walk, I’ll let her.
「Um, what about their belongings…?」
「Already arranged to have ’em collected. You can drink while we walk. This isn’t exactly a safe place.」
「Yes.」
Perhaps because she still had the slave collar around her neck, she obediently did as I said and started walking. Her pace was slow, but she seemed steady on her feet.
Doesn’t look like her legs are injured. Well, hurting her legs would’ve slowed those guys down, too. Guess they had enough brains to figure that much out.
「Still, for my first encounter with the locals to go like this… Can’t tell if that’s a good start or a bad one.」
I muttered to myself, glancing at the woman whose name I still didn’t know as she trudged along behind me, and let out a sigh without letting her notice.