Hidden Truth
“···What did you just say?”
I found myself asking again, unable to process the ambassador’s words in the moment.
Ah, shit.
If I wasn’t careful, this could come off as the kind of reaction that said, So what if I ignore everything you say?
Fortunately, the Prosnark ambassador seemed to recognize that his statement could provoke exactly that response. He nodded in acknowledgment.
“I understand completely if you react that way. In fact, anyone other than Minister Virtorius would probably respond the same.”
His reply left me feeling utterly speechless.
Even if they had once defeated the three great powers of the galaxy, they were still just a nation of the present era.
“Does Prosnark want its entire nation to commit suicide?”
I wasn’t saying this just to risk a diplomatic slight for no reason.
The Precursor empires, by their very setting, had watched countless alien nations rise and fall over eons. As a result, they paid almost no attention to whatever other alien empires did.
It was like a cow watching a chicken, if I had to put it that way.
Whether Prosnark massacred countless alien races, or whether a superpower casually invaded a weaker nation amid the chaos in the east—even violations of universal moral norms meant nothing to them.
And yet a Precursor had come in person to deliver a warning?
It was as good as saying, If you keep acting up or drawing attention, we’ll erase you from the cosmos entirely.
“Don’t tell me you came all this way to say that? That you’re under threat from the Precursors, so we should form an alliance right now?”
I figured that with Prosnark in crisis, they were trying to pursue an alliance with our Holy Sevelian Empire through me—someone they considered, by their standards, at least capable of conversation.
But the Prosnark ambassador drew a firm line at my words.
“Hardly. With Sevelia’s current strength, you would struggle to properly stop even a single Precursor fleet.”
The way he casually dropped that brutal fact left me inwardly puzzled.
Then why the hell had he come here at all?
My confusion must have shown on my face, because the Prosnark ambassador idly clinked his empty coffee cup and continued.
“Well… strictly speaking, it’s to build trust, and also… we thought it best to issue a warning of our own.”
“A warning?”
“Yes. This is currently classified as well, but… word is that the Precursor envoys who came to warn us are scorning the Sevelian Empire’s religion as heresy.”
“···.”
Hearing that, I desperately hoped the ambassador was lying.
Of all the Precursors, we had been marked by the ones with an especially fanatical bent?
Faced with that bombshell, I even resorted to Pause to keep my sanity intact before continuing as calmly as I could.
“Isn’t that just everyday business in religious circles? It’s common enough for three or four major religions to compete on a single planet.”
Being treated as heretics and scorned did mean our favorability with that Precursor empire was in freefall. But it was only favorability dropping—not like Prosnark, teetering on the brink of war if things went wrong.
The ambassador shook his head at my take.
“If it were only that, we wouldn’t have come to warn you.”
“Then…?”
“According to our intelligence, voices within that Precursor empire are even calling for the complete extermination of all heretics.”
At those words, I barely managed to swallow the string of curses that had surged up my throat.
PAUSE
I immediately spammed Pause again, pouring every effort into holding onto my sanity.
After finally reclaiming my composure through sheer effort—
PAUSE RELEASED
—I lifted the Pause and responded to the Prosnark ambassador with a far calmer mind.
“So you came all this way just to tell me that?”
“···.”
“You wouldn’t have traveled this far merely to say something like that… What’s the real reason?”
At my response, the Prosnark ambassador looked thoroughly astonished… then began clapping with both hands, lavishing praise on me.
“As expected of Minister Virtorius. The level at which you maintain composure and reason is truly astonishing.”
Of course, knowing the root of that praise was just the Pause cheat, I didn’t feel particularly pleased.
When I only gave him a sullen look, the ambassador awkwardly stopped clapping and straightened his disheveled attire before sitting properly again.
Even so, he began speaking in a markedly friendlier tone than the blunt, emotionless manner he’d used until now.
“Like the Kerzin, we have no intention of standing by any longer while the Precursors casually extend their influence beyond their own sphere once more.”
“Meaning you intend to check the expansion of Precursor influence?”
“Exactly that.”
“Hmm.”
Faced with that answer, brimming with firm resolve, I set down my coffee cup.
“Then I’m extremely curious what method you have in mind.”
I leaned back into the sofa—soft yet sturdy enough—and listened carefully to what the Prosnark ambassador would say next.
“Naturally, it is to ensure that the Dark Age warship discovered a few days ago falls into the hands of the Sevelian Empire.”
“···Excuse me?”
How the hell did he know about something I’d only just received a report on?
For a moment my eyes turned sharp, wondering if there was a Prosnark collaborator inside the Foreign Executive Ministry.
“Ah, no need to worry. Our agents aren’t stupid enough to charge head-on into that insane counterintelligence net of yours, Minister.”
The ambassador answered with his honor on the line that it wasn’t the case, so I decided to fold that suspicion away carefully in my heart for now.
Separately, though, I still couldn’t understand why Prosnark would want to hand us such a thing.
“That’s a rather hard story to swallow. If you’re going to war with the Precursors… wouldn’t a Dark Age warship be something you need most of all?”
To fight the Precursors, you’d need every scrap of help you could get—even a cat’s paw. So what was the ulterior motive in helping us acquire a Dark Age warship, and one of battleship class or higher at that?
The ambassador nodded as he answered my doubt.
“When facing the Precursors, adding one more excellent ship is less valuable than having one more nation that can disperse their forces.”
“···.”
In other words, they intended to use us as an ally that wasn’t quite an ally—an aggro-spreading tool against the Precursors.
“On top of that, Minister… didn’t you honestly feel a desire to possess that ship yourself?”
Hearing that made my mood turn foul inside.
Looks like they did their profiling before coming.
Besides, did we even need Prosnark’s help just to seize a crewless ghost ship? The worst interference we might face would be ordinary special forces at most. There was no way that level of force could beat the purge unit members I’d sent.
So I was about to subtly refuse Prosnark’s cooperation when—
“Ah, and I forgot to mention this.”
“?”
“To obtain the Dark Age warship, the Kerzin Federation has dispatched their pride, the Cerberus Special Task Force… and a separate special unit from the Precursor empires has also been deployed.”
“···Oh.”
The Kerzin Federation sending a special task force equivalent to our purge units was one thing. But hearing that even a Precursor empire was after the ship made my head spin.
“Moreover, the Precursor special unit is… estimated to be aiming not for acquisition of the ship, but its destruction.”
“Ha.”
And the Precursors were even aiming to destroy it.
“I don’t understand. The Precursors, by their own laws, try not to act externally.”
The Prosnark ambassador nodded at that as well.
“Precisely why the Precursor empire itself is unlikely to intervene in this matter.”
Hearing that far, I finally understood why Prosnark was offering help to acquire the Dark Age warship.
With the Kerzin special task force already a heavy burden, facing a Precursor special unit plastered head to toe in ancient technology on top of that would be impossible.
“So… what exactly do you plan to do?”
When I spoke with clear willingness to accept, the Prosnark ambassador’s face brightened as if he could finally get to the main point.
“To help you take possession of the Dark Age warship, we will provide support from our marine corps.”
“···And the price?”
“There is no price to speak of. Simply joining hands in secret behind the scenes against those fanatical Precursors should be more than enough, don’t you think?”