The next day, after Eve replied to Amajio Salmon that she wanted a little time—
“Commander Ma’am. A situation has occurred that I must report urgently.”
“Hm...? So it’s an emergency?”
As Commander Eve groaned and wrestled with the decision in the living space, <Ringo> addressed her like that.
“It is not an immediate problem, but I would like you to respond as soon as possible.”
If <Ringo> said so, then something pressing had happened. The exchange with Amajio was important too, but that one did not need a decision today or tomorrow. Still, it was not an issue Eve could leave untouched for a full week.
“Understood. Should I go to the command room?”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. I have already notified the sisters, so everyone will gather.”
In addition to the first five sisters, Asahi was also in <The Tree> today. It would be a full gathering for the first time in a while.
“Okay. Good thing we prepared a seat for Asahi.”
At first, the command room had only the commander’s seat, but now it had seats and consoles for all six sisters. Physical consoles were unnecessary for humanoid androids, but there was such a thing as style.
In the command room, after confirming that everyone was quietly seated, <Ringo> projected satellite images to the front.
“This is an image captured this morning at 10:32. And this is one captured twenty-two minutes later. We regularly capture images over <Demon Forest>, mainly to monitor wyverns.”
That was the displayed footage. In the first image, a wyvern was sharply visible in the center. In the second image, the wyvern could not be seen.
“Did it fly out of the frame?”
“A wyvern’s cruising flight speed is under 150 km per hour. In twenty-two minutes, it can travel roughly 50 km. Our reconnaissance satellites monitor the surrounding area for several hundred kilometers, so for an airborne wyvern to not be captured is an abnormal situation.”
“I see...”
Now Eve understood why <Ringo> had hurried the report. A wyvern that should have been there had suddenly vanished. If that giant flying creature—like a mass of unreasonable existence—went missing, there was a high chance something serious had happened.
“We tracked the wyvern’s flight path. This individual appears to have expanded its territory, and it was flying over an area it had not flown over before.”
“Big Sis, do you think some threat organism showed up again!? Like, a huge mouth popped out of the ground and CHOMPED it!!”
“Ugh... give me a break.”
Asahi said something like a careless wish, and Eve made a genuinely disgusted face.
The wyvern battle had been a fierce one, but a threat organism that could swallow a wyvern whole was something Eve absolutely did not want to deal with.
“Commander Ma’am. Asahi’s idea is... not far off, even if it isn’t exactly correct. Please look at this.”
But the wish was not granted. <Ringo> displayed a new image.
It was probably an enlarged satellite image with filters applied.
“...A grassland in the forest? And this glittering thing is... the wyvern!!”
Inside <Demon Forest>, a relatively large grassland spread out. Since the display used a matching scale, Eve could grasp the size to a certain extent.
And at the edge of that grassland, there it was.
A scar where something had slammed into the ground from the sky. At the end of the dirt-colored path gouged across the grassland, a massive body lay sprawled—the body that must have made it.
A wyvern.
“Wait, it crashed? No wonder it went missing. Honestly, I’m impressed you even found it...”
“Wyverns also reflect visible light, so it was immediately identified through analysis. Based on the position, it is presumed to be the same individual that was lost.”
Immediately, multiple images were analyzed, and a 3D model of the fallen wyvern was ✧ NоvеIight ✧ (Original source) generated.
“Analysis complete. External injury confirmed in the abdomen. Since there are no other prominent wounds, this is believed to be the fatal injury.”
“Seriously. So something hit it hard enough to bring down a wyvern.”
“Yes-affirmative, Commander Ma’am. That possibility is high.”
Eve stared up at the projected 3D model in a daze. In the span of only twenty-two minutes, that wyvern had apparently been shot down. And the attacker was unknown.
At least in the images transmitted from the reconnaissance satellites, nothing that attacked the wyvern could be found.
“Big Sis, should we dispatch an information-gathering terminal?”
“Big Sis, if it’s a flying type, it won’t take that long.”
Prompted by Utsugi and Erika, Eve murmured “Hmm,” and looked over the proposal.
They would dispatch a large transport aircraft with a function to vary rotor direction. It could hover in the air, so it really was ideal for an investigation.
“Yeah. Let’s dispatch it. If we just leave it, nothing will move forward. It’s a little scary, but even if something happens, it’s a necessary expense.”
After adding a few conditions to the proposal, Eve pressed the execute button.
What Eve increased was the escort machine strength and the construction of backup lines.
So that, if the investigation craft was shot down, they could still confirm the entire sequence from the rear.
“All right. Then I’ll leave the operation to Utsugi and Erika.”
◇◇◇◇
“Still, why would a grassland suddenly appear in the middle of the forest?”
Watching the incoming feed, Eve muttered that.
“There are several possible reasons, but in short, it is because trees cannot grow.”
“...Ah. Right. Because it’s an environment where trees can’t get big. So the question is why they can’t grow.”
A grassland, opened up like a hollow inside the forest.
Normally, trees would gradually grow, and eventually it would become a forest like the surroundings.
Why wasn’t it happening?
“It could be a swamp, preventing trees from growing large. Or the ground is periodically dug up by some natural phenomenon. Or poisonous gas is venting, and only certain species can grow. Something along those lines.”
For example, groundwater might erupt once every two years and churn everything up. If so, only plants that could grow large in two years would be visible.
“Either way, it means the environment is different from the surroundings. We dispatched the investigation craft for now, but is this really an event we should be investigating?”
“...Poking a bush and bringing out a snake, perhaps.”
“Hm. It’s outside our sphere of influence, but if the wyvern has a natural enemy, maybe we should know. Either way, we already dispatched it, so it’s fine.”
About two hours after takeoff, the investigation craft arrived at the site roughly 800 km from the nearest runway.
“First, we will survey the perimeter. After that, we will approach the wyvern corpse.”
“Starting the turn~”
“Beginning ground scan~”
While reducing speed, the investigation craft banked to circle the grassland’s perimeter.
The squat, chunky aircraft, packed with survey equipment, began a slow turn.
About three kilometers behind it, the escort craft kept watch.
“No strange reactions.”
“I’ll raise the transmission intensity~”
To obtain terrain data and estimate composition materials, the sensors mounted on the investigation craft irradiated the ground with composite waves of multiple frequencies. By analyzing the reflected waves, they could acquire a huge volume of data beyond visible light.
“...At a glance, it doesn’t look strange.”
“Looks like normal ground?”
The transmitted data was immediately analyzed by <The Core>.
Watching the analysis results, Utsugi and Erika tilted their heads.
In other words, the reason the grassland was a grassland could not be found in the ground’s constituent materials.
“Mm, whatever. Next is the wyvern’s—”
They had begun the turn for only several dozen seconds. The initial survey was unproductive, so they decided to keep circling and approach the wyvern corpse—
At that exact moment—
“High-temperature signature!”
“Detecting radiated electromagnetic waves—high output!”
Utsugi and Erika screamed.
“Huh—”
And as Eve watched—
In the telephoto feed from three kilometers behind, the investigation craft exploded in a flash of light.
