Chapter 147: The Path Flows with the Traveler - 3
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 147: The Path Flows with the Traveler - 3
Even without distinct sensations, a person can recognize the unfamiliar.
The bed was relatively comfortable, the space small but clean. Yet, my sleep had not been deep. My body hadn't adjusted to the strange place.
"Please wake up."
The subtle difference in the pillow's height. The slightly altered posture from the mattress's softness. The temperature was a little higher than in the Abyss, and there was more dust. On top of that, the noise from outside pricked at my nerves.
The scent of military-grade soap and dried grass lingered at the tip of my nose. An unfamiliar smell. Not unpleasant, but grating—the smell of the Military State. A dry, crisp coolness seeped through it.
"Please wake up... Third wake-up request attempted. Further attempts are deemed meaningless."
Even the noise in my ear was something I'd never heard before. All these sensations were disturbing my sleep. It was a shallow slumber, the kind where a single word could wake me...
"In accordance with the response manual, I will now activate the forced-waking protocol."
Wait. A sense of déjà vu.
"WEEEEEEEEEE!"
"Aaaaaaaargh!"
Startled by the sudden noise, I rolled off the bed. As I scrambled to my feet, the captain, already fully dressed in her uniform, was staring at me.
As if she had no idea what she'd just done, she looked at me placidly. I shouted at her.
"Why are you screaming?!"
"You are ten minutes past the wake-up time. You did not wake even after I turned off my alarm and finished my preparations. I was therefore forced to implement the forced-waking protocol."
"You could have just nudged me! That would've been better!"
The captain nodded.
"The first priority is a request, the second a warning, and the third the use of force. Direct physical contact with another's body should be postponed until later."
"But that warning is as intense as using force! It felt like you were punching my eardrums! I'm asking you to wake me up more gently, like by touching my body!"
"Request denied. Approaching close enough for direct physical contact carries the risk of the golem being damaged by your reflexive flailing."
"Captain Abbey, you're in your real body right now, you know?"
The captain blinked twice, then exclaimed.
"Ah!"
Ugh, what a blockhead.
Just how long has she lived as a golem that she still isn't used to her own body?
"Besides, it wouldn't even hurt if I flailed my arms. Next time, just pat my shoulder to wake me up."
"...Input accepted."
The captain agreed, though she sounded displeased.
After putting on my Clothing Packet, I went down and ate the provided breakfast. We filled our stomachs with canned bean soup and standard-issue bread, then headed straight for the Meta Conveyor Belt terminal with our transit passes.
A supply officer saluted the captain and quickly checked our passes.
"Amitengrad Terminal. Two persons, estimated travel time of about three days. Please take sleeping bags for the nights, a multipurpose lamp, canteens, and rations. Would you like packet-type sleeping bags? We also have non-packet sleeping bags available for those with insufficient mana."
"A packet for me, please. As for him..."
The captain glanced at me. I scratched my head, feigning a bit of embarrassment.
"I'll take a non-packet one. Unlike Bbey, I'm a little short on mana."
'Bbey?! Still?!'
Though I was only a level 1 citizen, perhaps because I was supposedly the captain's family, the supply officer replied politely.
"Understood. A non-packet sleeping bag for your brother. The straps may need to be used properly in case of performance issues."
'Negation! He is not my brother...! Ugh! Patience! This will all be over once we get on the Meta Conveyor Belt!'
Is that so? You think I'm going to drop this delightful fake identity just because we're on the Meta Conveyor Belt?
Haha. Not a chance.
With our supplies in hand, Abbey and I headed for the terminal.
Even as everyone sleeps, the land flows and the cargo arrives. So what is the solution?
Simple. Don't let the laborers sleep.
Since cargo arriving overnight also had to be unloaded, the laborers worked in day and night shifts. The night-shift laborers, with dark circles of exhaustion etched under their eyes, glanced back and forth between the approaching containers in the distance and the day-shift workers arriving to relieve them.
A few of them, hearing our approach, brightened up, thinking their replacements had arrived, only to be greatly disappointed. They quickly turned their heads, afraid of catching the captain's eye. They could only sigh, simultaneously preparing to rush toward the cargo and to begin the shift change.
We walked past them toward the passenger lane.
The 'people' who rode the Meta Conveyor Belt were long-distance travelers, especially soldiers on assignment to other regions or in the middle of an operation. Unlike cargo, they could get on and off of their own volition.
Thus, at the passenger terminal, a guard standing at sharp attention stood in place of the shabby laborers.
"Confirmed, Captain. And the captain's older brother."
'I'm... too tired to even deny it. I just want to leave...'
Her expression didn't change, though. She must have received some training for this. Either that, or she'd given up completely.
"Your estimated time of arrival is noon in three days. Please disembark from the flow on time. Otherwise, you will end up taking another lap in the ceaseless current."
The mystique of the Meta Conveyor Belt was how it could turn a simple statement of fact into a humorous expression. There was a reason the members of the Engineer Corps who had worked on it for the last twenty-five years walked around with their shoulders puffed out.
Truly, the Military State would have gone to ruin long ago without this thing.
The gate opened with the guard's salute. The captain returned the salute as if in response, while I, knowing nothing, gave an ambiguous bow and a slight wave, like a civilian clumsily imitating them. The guard did not return my greeting.
'Must be nice having a captain for a sister. Gets to ride the Meta Conveyor Belt for free. Tch, why can't my useless brothers get into a military academy...'
Leaving behind the guard, whose posture was perfect but whose thoughts were anything but, we stepped onto the flowing land.
My body swayed for a brief moment as I first set foot on it, but we quickly regained our balance.
The speed at the terminal was one-tenth of the main current. It wasn't fast enough to make us stumble. I watched the terminal slowly recede. Even the slowest automaton carriage was faster than this; the world seemed to move as slowly as if we were walking.
However.
As tributaries flowing from other terminals merged into one, the Meta Conveyor Belt's speed gradually began to increase.
Containers passing through this section went straight through the terminal. Immediately after, at the point where the tributaries merged, the containers that had looked small in the distance grew larger until they filled my entire field of vision.
At the same time, the sensation of speed became real. At some point, the wind began to whistle past my ears.
It was a strange sight. I was standing on the same solid ground, yet the scenery rushing past us was constantly changing.
It was as if the world was running backward, leaving us behind.
A nearby sign disappeared past us. A distant tree ambled leisurely backward. And yet, the world immediately around us remained the same.
The wind blew. The proof that this land was racing forward was the stillness of the air. Though the wind sometimes moves, on a macro level, it is stationary. Thus, as the Meta Conveyor Belt moved forward, we met it as a headwind.
The symbols of motion and stillness had been inverted, crying out at the discrepancy.
"...A cold wind. It's quite fierce. This is a sensation I have not felt before..." the captain said, clutching her service cap to keep it from being blown away by the strong wind. Meanwhile, I wrapped my face in my flapping sleeping bag and shouted.
"What should we do? Huddle up in our sleeping bags here, or walk and look for other people?"
"...Walking would be better. I cannot agree with the suggestion to find other people, but a windbreak seems necessary."
"Alright. Let's go!"
We each took a step.
I, against the current of the land; the captain, in the direction it was heading.
After taking three steps each and realizing the other wasn't following, we whipped our heads around. The captain, who had been walking ahead, shouted while holding her cap down.
"Shouldn't we obviously go forward? To walk backward when we could reach our destination faster is to defy the mission!"
"You want to walk forward with this wind in our faces? Don't be ridiculous. It's bad enough taking it with our backs. How can we go forward?!"
"We cannot neglect the mission for something as trivial as the wind!"
"Are you dissing the wind? If you get on its bad side, it'll blow you away! Of course we should walk backward to find a windbreak!"
Our opinions were at a complete impasse. It couldn't be helped. There was only one way to resolve such a trivial conflict, a precious promise prepared by humanity for just these moments.
I raised my fist high and shouted.
"Let's decide with rock-paper-scissors!"
The captain shook her head firmly.
"Negative. That is impossible. The attitude with which one undertakes a mission cannot be decided by something like rock-paper-scissors."
"Oh, come on!"
Should I call this diligence or just being stubborn?
How on earth did the Military State create something like her? If every citizen of the State was like Captain Abbey, voluntarily obeying orders, this nation would prosper with military might for all eternity.
"I really didn't want to resort to this."
Still, going forward was insane. I'd rather endure a wind-based attack spell than walk against that gale in search of some uncertain windbreak.
So, you brought this on yourself, Captain.
I spun around.
"...? Why are you turning around? Did I not say we should go forward?"
"Catch me if you can!"
I bolted backward. The captain stared blankly at my retreating form for a moment, then pointed at my back and gave chase.
"Halt! You are not permitted to leave my side!"
"Hahahaha! If people stopped when told, why would there be police or laws in the world! Catch me! Only then will I stop!"
"Warning...! If you do not stop, I will use force!"
"With what force! You've got nothing!"
And so, with the captain on my tail, I ran backward on the world's largest belt.
Perhaps because she was awkward running in her own body instead of a golem's, the captain fell twice while chasing me. I felt sorry seeing her clutch her reddened nose and considered turning back, but in this harsh world, being able to run on two feet was a fundamental skill.
Considering it training, I swallowed my tears and ran on resolutely.
'This realistic pain... This feeling of riding the wind... Sensations I could never feel in a golem with its pain inhibitors. Truly, I am running in my own body...!'
What do I do? I feel too bad to keep running. At this point, isn't the Military State the problem for raising a puppeteer like a puppet?
Just then, I spotted a windbreak in the distance. I subtly slowed to a stop so the captain could catch me. She ran toward me with a triumphant expression.
"I've got you!"
Uh, but why isn't she slowing down?
"Aaaargh!"
A dull impact hit my back. The captain had slammed into me without reducing her speed. Even I found it difficult to withstand a tackle from behind with her full body weight, and I ended up rolling on the ground.
The captain, now on top of me, gripped my arms tightly and declared victoriously.
"I will issue a firm warning. If you leave my side without permission from this point on, I will restrain and transport you by any means necessary..."
Clap, clap, clap.
The sound of applause came from somewhere.
The captain's head snapped up at the sound.
A few dozen meters away on the belt, there was a structure that seemed to jut out from the ground. It was a windbreak.
On top of the convex structure, designed to let the wind flow over it, someone was skillfully standing. A middle-aged man with a bold and agile air stood with his arms crossed, clapping as he watched us with a face full of interest. His body didn't sway in the slightest in the fierce wind.
He grinned with a mischievousness that didn't suit his age.
"Quite the noisy entrance!"
As he finished speaking, the faces of people who had been hiding from the wind on either side of the windbreak appeared. They looked at the new travelers with expressions of half-anticipation, half-concern.
Meanwhile, the captain's gaze was fixed on the middle-aged man atop the windbreak.
And then, shock. Pure shock filled her mind.
'...?! Why is he here?'
As the captain was momentarily speechless at his sudden appearance, I picked myself up, dusted off my hands and feet, and pointed at the structure.
"Bbey! A windbreak! Let's get inside before we freeze!"
'First of all, negation on the 'Bbey'! I do not recall permitting you to use a nickname! Nor have I ever had the nickname 'Bbey'! And!'
As long as we were on this thing, I had to play the part of her older brother. I continued my act nonchalantly, shouting to the man on the windbreak.
"Oh, there are people here! Hello! Is it okay if we join you?"
'You, halt! Entering that place requires deeper consideration...!'
The middle-aged man on the windbreak gave a big nod and shouted back.
"Of course! That's what these things are for! Come on in!"
A strong yet nimble impression. A confident demeanor, as if he had the whole world at his feet. An upright posture.
And above all, his body, which remained perfectly still while taking the brunt of this raging wind, seemed to declare that he was no ordinary man.
'Warning...! You are walking into the lion's den!'
Huh? What's she talking about? I don't sense any hostility. He has an unusual aura, but I'm a survival specialist who made it out of the Abyss, a place teeming with a Regressor, a Progenitor, and a Dog King. I don't get tense around people who mean no harm.
Unless the guy is some kind of monster, like a living murder-tank...
'Danger! I cannot even relay that information! A key figure whose very existence is a classified security level! A man whom no one in the Military State doesn't know, who possesses such a position and power...!'
I had started walking toward the windbreak, waving, but I stopped dead in my tracks. I turned my head to see the captain staring at me pitifully, tears welling in her eyes.
'If he asks me about the mission, I will have no choice but to reveal everything! There is no classified information that is not permitted to a figure like him! Including the fact that you are a laborer who returned alive from the Abyss!'
Her desperate attitude made me read her thoughts again, and I realized what she was worried about. At the same time, a sense of crisis washed over me—everything could be ruined.
No way. This can't be a coincidence...
'He is one of the Six Generals of the Military State, General Patraxion!'
To think I'd run into one of the Military State's most powerful figures. I turned my head again. General Patraxion was just leaping down from the windbreak.
...If I try to run the other way now, I'll really be playing 'catch me if you can,' won't I?