Chapter 16
Chapter 16
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 16
Chapter Title: The Elf's Song
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Watching her sister, who had just committed an act of excessive violence one way or another, Enri wore a complicated expression.
Sharin, noticing her younger sister staring daggers at her, shouted at Tanggal.
“They tried to jump us first, so it's self-defense, right?”
“Tch…!”
Tanggal, seemingly unable to find a proper response, hesitated for a moment before shouting to his subordinates.
“Hey, you guys! That’s enough, let’s go back! What good is it going to do, picking a fight with the cops?”
“We’ll be a nuisance to President Cha-yoon! Everyone, disperse!”
Tanggal glanced back at Enri and Sharin with a complex expression, then turned his back again without another word.
In the distance, the B-class mercenaries could be seen supporting the limp one-eyed man as they moved away.
Sharin peeked at Enri out of the corner of her eye.
“…Isn’t this resolved, then?”
Enri pressed her lips together and checked the time.
She didn't have time to bicker with Sharin here.
“Let’s talk about this later, sis….”
The lobby of the Republic of Korea Space Federation Government Building.
4:20 PM.
Not much time left before quitting time.
The female employee at the front desk was secretly watching a news video on Nertube.
The video showed a blood-soaked Sharin standing on the Beherit ship, holding the Actrazer.
“Ahem.”
“Ah…! Yes! How may I help….”
The employee hastily looked up at the sound of a cough. Two formidable women stood before her.
Her face was filled with alarm as her eyes met Sharin’s, who was looking down at her intently.
“Ah, yes. We were wondering if we could see the condition of the Bluerobic spaceship that was hijacked by the pirates?”
Enri did her best to hide the weary expression brought on by the recent incident.
“Ah, yes, yes…! And the reason?”
“Ah, the reason is….”
Enri hesitated for a moment.
“We left something behind. It belongs to our family.”
Sharin looked down at the employee and lied brazenly with a straight face.
“Ah… yes! Understood.”
The employee, feeling intimidated, typed away with a frightened look on her face.
She then raised her head and confirmed the U.C.I.D. letters on Enri’s police uniform.
There was a verification process, but for a police officer to show up this close to closing time must mean it was something urgent.
A moment later, she handed Enri an access card.
“You can go to Warehouse 5-1 in Sector G, on basement level 10.”
“Yes, thank you.”
Enri responded with a kind smile, then turned and gently nudged Sharin.
“Let’s go, sis. Stop trying to scare her.”
“I didn’t do anything!”
“Ah, we’re on the first floor, perfect!”
Enri and Sharin crossed the marble lobby of the government building and boarded an elevator in a corner.
Whirrrrrr-
Clank!
The two stepped out of the elevator and crossed a space that resembled an underground parking garage, arriving in front of a massive iron door marked G-SECTION [5-1].
When she touched the card to the reader in the middle of the iron door, it slowly began to open.
Pshhhhhhhhh-
The dreary interior of the warehouse.
Clunk, clunk, clunk, clunk.
Tungsten lights on the ceiling began to turn on in sequence.
Beneath the lights, the scorched form of a spaceship was revealed.
It was the Bluerobic space exploration vessel, the ‘Exlion.’
Seeing the Exlion, which smelled of her homeland after so long, brought a wave of new emotions over Enri.
The first space exploration vessel she had ever ridden, back when various alien technologies were first introduced to Bluerobic.
She remembered walking inside, holding her sisters’ hands on either side.
The vessel, once filled with the vibrant joy of travel, had seen its character completely transformed by the devastation of war.
Enri slowly looked around the Exlion.
She saw marks on the side of the vessel where it had been struck by a hook. They were clearly left by the Shark Tooth Pirates.
Enri slowly walked toward the rear.
A moment later, she discovered a large hole punctured in the back.
Around it, an unidentifiable black liquid had hardened.
It was clearly the mark of an attack from something massive.
Enri’s eyes narrowed.
It looks like it was burned… or maybe melted by some kind of acid….
Somehow, she felt she shouldn’t touch it carelessly.
“Enough looking, let’s go inside.”
Sharin pulled a lever at the back of the Exlion, and the rear hatch slowly began to open.
Clunk. Clunk. Clunk.
The disheveled interior of the spaceship was a complete mess.
It was easy to see what had happened in here.
Various items from their homeland, which the Bluerobic people hadn't been able to take, were scattered everywhere.
Enri picked up a doll that had fallen to the floor. Half of its face was torn off.
It was a soft doll, its stuffing filled with the fur of the Submerged Fish that lived in the seas of Bluerobic’s Hisnia region, and its shell made from the leaves of the sacred water tree.
The doll resembled Furen, the legendary SSS-class hero of Bluerobic, an undefeated general, a paragon of virtue who embraced all, and the eldest daughter of the Tankobichi family.
Looking at the doll that resembled her eldest sister’s face, Enri wore a somber expression as she once again looked around, carefully observing the traces of her people.
Meanwhile, Sharin was in the cockpit at the very front, pressing various buttons.
“Damn it… what was it….”
Tick, tick, tick, tick.
She tried pressing several buttons, but there was no response.
Sharin slammed her fist on the front panel where the buttons were.
Crackle, crackle-
A hologram began to flicker in the center of the spaceship.
“Nice.”
Sharin grinned.
Pshhhhh-
Soon, blue particles began to shimmer before Enri’s eyes.
After a long moment of swirling lines and curves, the particles gathered in the center and slowly began to take a certain form.
The image of a woman singing in front of a microphone appeared.
Crackle, zzzzt-
A song in the Bluerobic language flowed from the hologram.
Like a radio….
Ah- now- hands- toge……
ther- close your eyes… zzzzt-
With that… black… breath… -zzzzt the sky-
even if it darkens-- ……zzzzt
When the particles formed the clear, complete shape of a female singer.
It was undoubtedly Tibee-ra.
She was tracing beautiful curves with her hand gestures.
Tzzt-
Tzzt-tzzt-tzzt-
Suddenly, between Tibee-ra’s singing, unintelligible, unidentified words could be faintly heard.
Enri brought her face close to the hologram.
It was definitely someone’s voice.
But she couldn't understand it at all.
Just as Enri was thinking she had to somehow extract this data and take it to U.C.I.D. headquarters….
Her eyes widened.
She remembered, from when she was a child watching tourist information on a hologram, the driver inserting a piece of equipment under the cockpit.
At the time, she had no way of knowing what that equipment was, but the Enri of today recognized it in an instant.
Enri rushed to the front of the cockpit.
“Where is it… where….”
Enri muttered, fumbling under the cockpit.
She pulled on a groove her fingertips found, and a locker-like compartment opened.
And below it, a device that looked like a receiver came into view.
Crack-
Enri carefully took out the device with both hands and fiddled with it.
Tibee-ra’s hologram began to flicker on and off, gradually fading.
Flick-
Suddenly, a status window popped up from the receiver.
“Oh! Enri! Not bad!”
Enri carefully turned a round lever, checking the transmission list.
There were only two entries on the list.
She clicked on one of them.
Beep-beep-
Suddenly, a warning sound blared, and a message saying "Access Denied" appeared on the status window.
Realizing that fiddling with it further would be useless, Enri met Sharin’s eyes.
“Sis, come with me to the station.”
Shin-ju was alone in his car, tailing a celebrity’s vehicle.
“Now- where are you off to in such a hurry-.”
Shin-ju muttered, watching the back of the express van Aila was in.
The traffic light turned green, and the cars began to move.
“Wait a minute… where on earth is it going?”
After driving for a while, the express van turned onto a quiet country road.
Shin-ju saw a sign for Yangpyeong, Gyeonggi Province.
“Ms. Aila… this only makes you more suspicious.”
Eventually, the express van stopped in front of a mountain path.
Shin-ju parked his car in the corner of a restaurant parking lot across the street to avoid being seen and hid himself.
Screech-
The van door opened.
In his rearview mirror, he could see Aila, wearing plain clothes with a hat pulled down low and sunglasses, along with a large alien bodyguard.
Their suspicious trail seemed to lead up the mountain path. Shin-ju’s gaze shifted to the tall mountain outside his car window.
“There must be something on top of that mountain.”
Shin-ju waited for Aila to get far enough away, then grabbed the Old Book from the back seat and opened his car door.
He chanted a spell to make the Old Book as small and light as possible, put it in his pocket, and finished his preparations for the climb.
He resolved not to use the Old Book unless something happened.
His plan was to tail them as stealthily and quietly as possible.
“Dammit… Looks like I'm going for an unexpected hike.”
Shin-ju looked up at the verdant mountain with a displeased expression.
Thud!
Enri got into the driver’s seat of the police car parked in the Space Federation Government lot, ready to head back to U.C.I.D. headquarters.
As she was securely fastening the receiver she had acquired from the spaceship to the passenger seat’s seatbelt, Sharin got in the back.
Enri drove along a deserted outer road with a troubled expression.
Analyzing this receiver would surely yield clues about the sender.
But one question kept circling in her mind.
How could they have transmitted Tibee-ra’s audio to the exploration vessel at the exact time of Sharin’s escape?
With this level of information and technology….
This was by no means something an individual could pull off alone.
It had to be some kind of scheme involving a large organization.
Enri thought of Shin-ju.
And she remembered ‘Cha-yoon Enterprise,’ which he was investigating.
“I need to stop by the headquarters’ intelligence department and have them tear this thing apart right away.”
If that doesn’t work, I’ll have no choice but to use that hacker Shin-ju brought, ‘Hyde’….
Enri called out to Sharin.
“Sis! This receiv—.”
In that instant—.
KABOOOM!!
A powerful impact hit, and her vision spun violently.
“Krrgh!”
Enri fought against the inertia that threatened to throw her from the car, gripping the steering wheel with one hand and holding the receiver tightly with the other, somehow managing to maintain her balance.
Meanwhile, Sharin shouted from the back.
“Enri! It’s an attack!!”
“I know!!”
Screeeech!
Despite her efforts, the car continued to spin, leaving dark tire marks on the road.
SCREEEEECH! CRASH!
The police car spun for a while before crashing into a telephone pole.
CRASH! CRASH!
A door flew off the crumpled car as Enri and Sharin emerged from the smoking vehicle.
Unlike the completely wrecked car, the two of them were perfectly fine, without a single scratch.
Sharin cracked her neck and growled.
“It’s gotta be those mercenary bastards from before! I knew they gave up too easily!”
Enri scanned their surroundings, checking if the receiver was safe.
To launch such a bold, open attack. This receiver must be an important item after all.
Whoosh-
At the sound of something cutting through the air, the two instinctively whipped their heads around.
Ting!
Crack!
Enri struck an incoming dagger with her collapsible baton, while Sharin toughly caught another dagger with her teeth and shattered it.
A moment later, an alien with six arms appeared before Enri’s eyes.
Two of those arms were mechanical.
Enri’s eyes narrowed as her mouth fell open.
“You’re…!”
Sharin also recognized their opponent and smiled broadly.
“Heh, you punk. How're the arms?”
Her sleek body was like that of a queen ant. She wore a female mercenary uniform with the initials CH.N embroidered on it.
She was the executive and contract assassin of the Shark Tooth Pirates who had hidden herself after Sharin had cut off two of her arms.
It was ‘Java-Tamao.’
She silently walked forward, aiming the sharp daggers in her six hands at Enri and Sharin.
“As expected, this isn't nearly enough.”