This Is Nothing But X Dust

Building it had cost as much capital as two battleships of comparable size, and now that research battleship was gone…

"This is my final data! Take iiiit!!!!"

"Research battleshiiiiip!!!!!"

True to a vessel that had lived its entire existence like a soap bubble, the research battleship sacrificed itself and somehow managed to fling the escape craft—no, the escape pod—and the information inside it out beyond the gate.

The survey team that received that data and the escape pod reorganized everything and forwarded it to me.

The result:

"Hmm. Nano-machines…"

"The moment you enter the gate, activated nano-machines break down absolutely everything. That's insane, yeo."

We realized the universe beyond the gate was an absolute dumpster fire, and a chill ran down our spines.

No… even the Grey Nightmare event wasn't this vicious…!

And I was probably feeling it worse than anyone.

I had known that the far side of that gate was the region where the Grey Nightmare had once poured out…

But if it had been the Grey Nightmare event I remembered, a situation this deranged should never have been possible.

In the first place, once Ash had appeared in a Grey Nightmare-related event… under normal circumstances, no further rampage of nano-machines should have erupted inside that nano-machine-filled universe.

That was how the event structure worked, wasn't it?

If Ash emerged from the place where the Grey Nightmare was supposed to appear, no other events would trigger.

From my perspective, the current situation was so abnormal it outright refused to make sense.

Why the hell are nano-bots pouring out of there?

And that wasn't even the only problem.

"This is a disaster! We've lost contact with the countless resource-extraction facilities installed in the universe beyond the gate!"

"…"

"Whoa."

"It seems they were hit by a surprise attack from the nano-bots and completely occupied, yeo."

Just as Riel said, the resource-extraction facilities we had so diligently planted in that universe had, by now, almost certainly become a delicious meal for the nano-machines.

When we relayed the news to the Council exactly as it was, the chamber descended into pure pandemonium.

"How could something like this suddenly happen?!"

"What in the world is going on, Minister Vermouth?!"

"Well, we're still looking into it ourselves, so it's a bit hard to say."

Of course, whether the rest of them went mad or not, the woman who had always been a true lunatic remained remarkably calm.

To everyone else, however, the present crisis felt like a full-blown PTSD flashback.

In the past, under the Predecessor Emperor, they had been forced to hand over countless northern resource deposits to the Prosnak for nothing.

Perhaps the thought that they had just lost a domain of comparable size in a single instant was filling every head in the room.

"We must lift the gate's seal at once and reclaim our rightful territory beyond it!"

"Hear, hear!"

"The ancestral gods watch over us! Nano-machines will be thoroughly crushed the moment the Imperial fleet advances!"

The Council's genuine spiritualists and the small-happiness faction began insisting that, since a hole had already been punched, they should dismantle the seal entirely and recover the lost domain (?).

"Are you seriously saying that after watching a battleship get shredded the instant it entered the space beyond the gate?"

"That only happened because they entered without deploying proper shields, didn't it?"

"We're already unable to expand properly because of border friction with other nations, and now our territory is shrinking? Does that make any sense?!"

Naturally, those opinions vanished back into their mouths almost immediately…

"Ah, hold on a second. I think everyone's forgetting something."

"What seems to be the problem, Minister Vermouth?"

"Well, since Minister Arto, who led the initial survey team, happens to be right here, I'll just say it."

I had been sitting quietly, so why was she suddenly dragging me into this?

Right after that—

The familiar chime rang out, and Pause activated automatically once more.

Just like before, I shoved the Pause window floating in front of my eyes aside and, with a motion as natural as flowing water, reached for Choice 1.

There was no grand reason for the decision.

What kind of lunatic wrote a mod that tells you to shove a fleet into a place where battleship-class ships get shredded?

Sending a fleet into a zone where perfectly intact ships are diced the moment they enter was pure nonsense.

Even an elementary-schooler in my previous life could have written something better, I thought, as I selected Option 1.

The instant Pause lifted, words almost identical to the event message I had just read spilled from Minister Vermouth's mouth.

"The survey team punched a small hole in the energy net sealing the gate for investigation purposes, and nano-machines from inside keep trying to pour out through that hole."

"…!"

"What? Then what happens?!"

"What do you think happens? Stop the nonsense and reinforce the seal on that gate immediately."

I suppose I should thank the true lunatic's performance for this.

It was the choice I had selected, of course, but abandoning the territory without even deploying a Domain was still a bitter pill.

I had fully expected a massive backlash—PTSD and all—to come crashing down on me.

Yet thanks to Minister Vermouth's formidable aggro-drawing ability, I was able to enjoy a far more peaceful and uneventful day.

Or so I thought, until the meeting ended and I returned to my office.

The moment I saw the triangulation data from the research battleship lying on the table, words slipped out unbidden.

"Ugh… no matter how I look at it, Ash is in there."

"You think so too, Minister-nim, yeo?"

It might sound strange, but the triangulation had given us a rough idea of Ash's location.

I nodded and asked for a further situation briefing.

"All right, so how are things progressing right now?"

"Yes. Right now the survey team under that old parachute officer we dispatched to the gate is busy stacking defensive facilities around it, yeo."

"Hmm… is that ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠so? Then no other news?"

When I pressed for more, Riel shook her head.

"What other answer is there besides that, yeo? Aside from a defensive station with maybe one or two turrets bolted on… anything more fundamentally demands massive energy."

"That's true…"

"And it's the Kardian Black Hole, yeo. It's basically a garbage dump, so the surrounding systems and hyperspace lanes are barely connected at all."

She was ruthlessly stuffing fact-based violence into me, and every single point hit with shock and awe.

Just as Riel said, there was only a single hyperspace jump lane leading there at present.

Of course, there might be a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠hidden hyperspace lane that neither she nor I had discovered yet…

No. There's no way something like that exists.

Common sense—and game logic—made it absurd.

I shook my head vigorously, silently scolding myself for even entertaining such a ridiculous fantasy, and forced my mind back on track.

Sealing the gate was one thing, but we might still have to enter someday.

I began rifling through the final data copy from the research battleship that had arrived with the escape pod, searching for anything that could withstand the nano-machines' frenzy.

Before long, however, I received some rather despairing news via another event.

Watching the military and the ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Ministry of Technology and Science join hands in a desperate search for answers through the event window, I felt a tremendous wave of irritation wash over me.