The Road to Keren
Grrr—
"Ah."
What broke Jincheon's train of thought was the rumble that rolled out of his disciple's stomach.
Even Kunlo thought the sound had been far too loud; he clutched his belly in embarrassment.
"Let's eat."
"Yes, sir!"
Jincheon walked over to the refrigerator he had repaired with his own hands and pulled out a slab of meat the size of a human head along with an assortment of vegetables—everything taken from the White Shriek Forest.
Then he began to cook, not with a microwave, but with an electric range, a method used by only the tiniest fraction of chefs.
In this world you simply loaded ingredients into a microwave, selected a cooking mode, and the machine prepared the dish on its own. A modern chef's craft consisted mainly of adjusting the type of ingredients, their placement, their thickness, and so on so that the automatic result would taste good. Using open heat the way Jincheon did was widely regarded as primitive and uncivilized, reserved for special dishes alone.
At first Kunlo had fretted that nothing delicious could possibly come from cooking like that. Now any food that was not Jincheon's was something he ate merely to stay alive, never for pleasure.
Sizzle—
"Hooo…"
The scent of meat marinated with wild berries and vegetables picked straight from the White Shriek Forest rose as it seared. Kunlo set the tableware out while fighting the hunger that only grew sharper.
After a while,
"Kunlo, catch."
"Yes!"
Without warning Jincheon flipped a piece of meat with the spatula and sent it flying backward. Kunlo snatched up a plate and caught it cleanly. Next came the soup made from meat broth and seasonings; he caught every drop without spilling a single one and set the bowl on the table.
To a stranger it might have looked like some bizarre circus drill, but for Jincheon and Kunlo it was simply daily life. Finally Jincheon arrived carrying a bowl of salad, and the meal was ready.
"Thank you for the food, Master!"
Jincheon neither answered nor ignored the words; he simply picked up the neatly sliced pieces of meat one by one with chopsticks and ate.
"Whoa~! Master's cooking is seriously delicious no matter when I eat it!"
"Shut up."
"Yes, sir."
After the scolding Kunlo quietly savored every bite, letting soft sounds of pure enjoyment escape him.
Just for this cooking alone, giving Master twenty percent isn't a waste!
Learning martial arts and getting to eat food like this—he would have paid far more than twenty percent without a single complaint. In texture, in flavor, in every respect, he had never tasted anything this good even back in the village.
"Kunlo."
"Yes, Master."
"Starting tomorrow, find out if any smuggling ships are coming or going from this planet."
"…Are you planning to leave for somewhere else?"
"Yeah. I'm thinking of heading to Keren. As long as the ship can get us out of this star system, I don't care where it goes."
Keren was a neutral asteroid trade city and star system built by the merchant nation Doperos, a member of the Anti-Zabalcan Alliance. Originally it had handled only intermediary trade, repairs, fuel, and supply sales. Once word spread that countless merchant fleets passed through, mercenaries hunting for work flocked in and turned the place into a proper city. Positioned exactly where ships bound for other star systems would run low on fuel, it had become a commercial chokepoint—and that was what made the transformation possible.
Jincheon's plan was simple: get there somehow, acquire a mecha of his own, and begin life as a mercenary. Under the Zabalcan Empire's surveillance, building a mecha was impossible from the start.
"But in the middle of this war, a smuggling ship…"
"If there's money in it, there are bastards who'll run straight into the heart of a war zone. People are the same wherever they live."
"…Yes. I'll look into it…"
He answered, yet there was no strength in his voice.
There's still so much I need to learn. Of course I should follow Master.
Jincheon, for his part, held no particular grudge against the Zabalcan Empire. They were merely a bothersome obstacle blocking his path—something he would forget the moment he reached Keren.
I…
The real problem was Kunlo's heart. He could never forgive the Zabalcan Empire that had murdered his parents and destroyed the happy life he once lived. The meal he would normally have wolfed down with delight was only picked at; soon he went to bed early.
He's agonizing.
Jincheon saw it clearly, yet he took no special action.
If he follows, I'll use him as a subordinate. If he stays behind, I'll simply leave him.
It might have seemed cold, but for a man who was not even his own child, this was already more care than most would give.
Kunlo had not slept a single wink by the time dawn broke. Obeying Jincheon's order, he set out for the village. Along the way he checked the credits that had come in as his share, yet felt nothing. His head was already packed full with the problem staring him in the face.
I knew a day like this would come someday…
But the moment the words about leaving for another star system actually left Jincheon's mouth, his chest had clenched shut.
What am I supposed to do?
Follow Master, master the martial arts completely, then return?
I don't think I can hold out that long.
Even the emotions he felt right now tangled his thoughts. If he left while carrying them, he truly felt he might die.
"…Haa."
His chest was too tight. Kunlo went home, climbed onto his bike, and simply rode. He kept the throttle wide open until the ugly walls and the high-rises beyond them vanished; only then did a little ease return to his heart.
He meant to keep racing past the endless rocky mountains until the weight finally lifted—
…Kakakang…
"Huh?"
Hearing sharpened by Inner Qi caught a sound.
Guns?
That was unmistakably the distinctive report of hybrid guns. Under normal circumstances he would have ignored it as none of his business.
That's… Zabalcan weaponry!
The moment he spotted equipment used by the Zabalcan Empire near the rocky mountains, he swung the bike around. Had he been even a little more mature he would never have done something so reckless. Or if Jincheon had never spoken of leaving, he would simply have ridden on.
Zabalcan bastards! I will never forgive you!
With his hatred for the Zabalcan Empire burning at its fiercest, he had run straight into their weapons. Without a thought for the consequences, Kunlo charged toward the rocky mountains, rage flooding every vein.
Tak! Tak!
A man and a woman in nano suits moved with sharp, agile grace across the rough terrain of the rocky mountains.
Bwoooong—
Behind them, drones the size of human heads pursued, spitting fire from their built-in hybrid guns.
Tukakakakang—!
Most of the rounds slammed into hard rock and stopped, yet a few struck the pair's torsos.
Tiking!
The instant the bullets touched, a translucent shield that had been hidden flared into view and flung them aside.
"Kgh! These bastards!"
The woman—dark violet skin, two extra arms sprouting from her shoulder blades—snatched a rifle with her rear hands and opened fire on the drones. Sharp reports stitched the air; the burst shredded the machines and detonated them, buying a brief pocket of space.
"Heliane!"
"What!"
Without slowing, the man—rough brown skin, a face that possessed nostrils but no nose—called to the four-armed woman.
She was a beauty: dark violet skin, gray-blue eyes, and hair of deep blue shot through with mysterious azure light. Slightly full lips, a long elegant neck, and a face whose lines were both slender and bold, like a wild horse of pure grace. The nano suit, white and red blended just so, clung to every ideal curve and line, openly displaying her athletic allure. If one had to find a flaw, it was the sharp corners of her eyes that made her look permanently angry.
Heliane, long hair roughly tied back, answered her comrade.
"I'll hold them here—get out!"
"What? What the hell are you talking about!"
Heliane shot back with an expression that clearly said he was spouting nonsense.
"If we stay like this we both die!"
"Don't give me that bullshit! We live together or we die together!"
She had lived hard enough that her speech was as rough as any man's.
"You're the resistance's ace pilot—you living is worth several times more than me!"
"No! I'm sick to death of running while using my comrades' corpses as shields!"
"If you live you can tear up the Zabalcan bastards' rear lines! For the alliance to win we have to pin down as many of them as we can!"
"Kgh…!"
"You swore you'd take revenge on the Horned Empress who killed your father! If you die here, our dream and your dream both end!"
Heliane bit her lip hard.
"Go! Make sure our sacrifices aren't for nothing!"
With that the man stopped and took cover behind a boulder. At the same moment, from a cleft in the cliffs shaped like a , a massive sphere drifted into view as though it were drafting. Thick armor plated its front; translucent reinforced glass covered the left and right sides—a spherical land gunner.
"Hurry and go!"
The man scrambled up onto the cliff face to serve as bait and shouted for Heliane to run.
The instant the land gunner's pilot locked onto him through the hologram monitor,
Kwaaang!
A boulder the size of a small car smashed into the lead land gunner's hull from somewhere out of sight.
"Huh?"
Both of them jerked in shock at the sudden support fire and started to turn toward the direction the rock had come from.
"Hyaaat!"
Before they could, Kunlo dropped from the sky, drove his sword straight through the reinforced glass, and buried the blade in the pilot's skull.
"Hoo!"
He yanked the sword free, steadied his breathing, and looked at the two people staring at him in blank astonishment.
"I wasn't too late."
"Who the hell are you?"
The man kept his guard up; help or not, the stranger's identity was unknown.
"Aspiring resistance member! Details after we get out of here! This way!"
Having said only what was necessary, Kunlo spun and ran back the way he had come.
"We're following him."
"What? Heliane, we don't even know who that guy is."
Heliane gave a short, hollow laugh at the wary protest.
"Simple math. If he hadn't helped, we'd both be corpses already."
"…True enough. No choice, then."
They fell in behind Kunlo. At first they assumed that, wearing powered nano suits, they would close the gap in moments.
Is he an enhanced soldier?
The distance isn't closing at all?
No matter how hard they sprinted at full power, the gap refused to shrink. A little farther on they began to see the wreckage of patrol drones and the corpses of Zabalcan soldiers in powered armor scattered everywhere.
"Their bio-signals are gone—reinforcements will be here any second!"
Then he pointed to his bike waiting beyond the cliffs.
"You two take this! I'll cover the rear!"
Nano suits enhanced the body, but they needed regular recharging. For the pair whose energy was already running critically low, the bike was a gift from heaven. The engine was already running; Heliane reached it first, seized the handlebars, and the moment the man locked his arms around her waist she floored the accelerator.
"Over there!"
Behind them rose the shouts of Zabalcan soldiers pouring toward the place where their allies' signals had vanished.
Wooong!
One land gunner that had been hunting the scattered resistance fighters after the ambush swung around and gave chase.
I'll intercept!
Judging that the moment the land gunner entered effective range Heliane and her companion would die, Kunlo spun and charged back.
Giiing— Kakakakakang!
The barrel mounted on the front of the land gunner tracked and spat a stream of rounds at him.
"Hup!"
Using the breathing method and footwork Jincheon had drilled into him, Kunlo flung himself sideways with a sharp shout.
He vanished?
To the pilot inside the land gunner, Kunlo simply disappeared from sight.
Beepbeepbeepbeep—!
The sensors, however, could not be fooled; a red warning light flared in the direction Kunlo had moved.
Kaddeuk! Kwajik!
"Gack… grrk…!"
Before the pilot could react, a sword punched through the reinforced glass and drove into his throat. Even through the agony he could not understand what was happening. The glass that protected him was weaker than metal, yet strong enough to shrug off ordinary bullets with ease. Yet a sword that looked completely ordinary had pierced both glass and armor and buried itself in his neck.
Chwak!
His questions ended when the blade swept left and half his throat was severed.
"Hooo—!"
Confirming the pilot was dead, Kunlo pulled the sword free and steadied his breathing.
I've burned through a lot of Inner Qi. I can't keep fighting.
Using Sword Qi twice—both times at maximum output—had drained more than half his reserves. The land gunner's glass was tough, yes, but Master's teaching was the real reason he stopped.
—With your current skill, fighting Zabalcan soldiers is forbidden. If a moment comes when you absolutely must fight, end it in a short, decisive battle no matter what.—
Faithfully obeying that command, Kunlo used light footwork and raced after the bike instead of seeking more enemies.
"Follow me! They won't be able to chase us if we go there!"
Heliane shouted back to Kunlo as she pointed the bike toward the White Shriek Forest. Vehicles full of Zabalcan soldiers thundered after them, yet once they entered the forest—where neither radar nor communications functioned—they lost their way and lost their quarry.