August Without a Galactic Emperor ⑤

8. Gondrowa

　As soon as Sorato and the others finished paying and stepped outside, the convenience store was once again plunged into darkness.

“Let’s go home quickly. As I thought, the inside of the Corvette is the safest place.”
　As Nape closed the door, a beam of light suddenly illuminated the group.
　Nape and Shenga braced themselves.
“You there! What are you doing?”
　From the other side of the intersection, two police officers were pointing their flashlights at them. This is going to be troublesome...
“Shenga, say ‘meow’.”
“W-what?”
“Even if they ask you something, just say ‘meow’. That way, they won’t be suspicious.”
“Why don’t we just finish them off instead of doing something like that?”
“No! Nape, don’t lay a hand on the police officers either.”
“Police officers... are these the government authorities of this country?”

　The officers crossed the intersection and approached them.
“What are you doing? The lights in this convenience store seemed to be on just now...”
“Yes... it looks like we just closed up...”
“That’s strange, there’s supposed to be a power outage.”
　One of the officers had already started reporting to someone over his radio.
“Yes, I’ve found some children at the 4-chome intersection. One of them... appears to be a foreigner...”
　The flashlight shone rudely on Nape and Shenga.
“Wait, this is... that cat-person from the news!”
“Meow.”
　Shenga meowed in a voice that sounded incredibly grumpy.
“U-um, this child, a neighbor’s kid is doing cosplay... we were planning to have them appear in our high school’s cultural festival... and when we went outside like this, it accidentally ended up on the news...”
“What about this one? Is it cosplay too? A local kid?”
“Y-yes... their parents are from Greece, you see...”
　Nape remained silent.
“Come on, why don’t you say hello to the officer?”
“It won’t work if I do. I don’t have a Reeling to lend them.”
“A Reeling?”
　Nape removed what looked like a glowing earphone from Sorato’s left ear to show it, then immediately put it back.

　I hadn’t realized at all... was it thanks to this thing I was given at the start that I could understand Nape and Shenga? That means the two of them don’t understand the police officers’ language either.
“Greek, huh... what’s in this bag?”
　The officer started checking the convenience store bag. Caribek seemed to be staying perfectly still to avoid drawing attention.
“We just bought it here. We paid for it properly. We didn’t shoplift.”
　When I emphasized that this part was the truth, it only made it sound more suspicious.
“Anyway... you know there’s a curfew in effect right now, don’t you? We still don’t know where the unidentified military forces are in this area. We’re going to take you into protective custody at the mobile branch office.”
　Unidentified military forces... so that’s still how they perceive it. Well, I suppose the government and the people in charge wouldn’t easily admit it’s an invasion from space...
“Um, can’t we go back to school? We still have cultural festival practice...”
“Of course not. Why haven’t you evacuated in the first place? Is there still someone at the school?”
　At the officer’s interrogating tone, Nape and Shenga reacted with a twitch. The atmosphere was such that they might start rampaging at any moment... Oh, this is bad...

　Just then...

“Whoa! What is that!”
　One of the officers screamed, looking up behind Sorato and the others.
　When I turned around, I let out a small scream too.
　Standing in the darkness was a giant nearly three meters tall.
　A robot?
　The giant’s surface looked like metal, or perhaps mineral. The overall shape was human, but the individual parts like the head and limbs were connected with a balance that was far from human.
　The hole that seemed to be an eye on its head glowed, looking down at Sorato and the officers.
“D-don’t move!”
　One of the officers drew his handgun.
“Let’s go.”
　Nape took Sorato’s hand and started running, slipping past the giant.
“H-hey! Wait!”
　The officers tried to chase them but stopped immediately. The giant had also started moving, and when it turned around, it began to follow the children.
“Headquarters! Headquarters! Send urgent backup to the 4-chome intersection...”

　Heavy, thumping footsteps echoed from behind Sorato and the others.
“It’s chasing us, isn’t it?”
“It’s fine. We’ll head straight back to the ship.”
“But...”
　Nape suddenly stopped.
　In their path, that eye-jellyfish... the Dromech, had drifted out.
　Nape turned around, pointed at the Dromech, and for some reason shouted at the giant that was chasing them.
“Catch that Dromech!”
　To my surprise, the giant obeyed that order.
　It started running as if to leap over Sorato and the others, grabbed the tentacles of the Dromech as it tried to ascend, and dragged it down.
　The giant returned and presented the struggling eyeball machine to Nape.
“Good, keep following us. Don’t let that thing escape.”
“I see!”
　Shenga approached the giant and tapped its leg.
“So this is a Gondrowa. First time I’ve seen one.”
“A Gondrowa... is that the army the Emperor found? Didn’t they only listen to what the Emperor said?”
“This is a Chief Gondrowa. It can move somewhat freely even without orders. But to command the subordinate Soldier Gondrowas and have them carry out complex military operations, the Emperor’s orders are necessary. The Emperor’s own life signs were the key to the commands... Since that is gone, the settings must have been reset.”
　As Nape started walking, the Gondrowa followed behind him like a loyal dog.
“Right now, its functional level is at the lowest stage. It looks for a human to give it orders, and if it finds one, it follows them. And as long as the language is understood, it will listen to anyone’s orders. It can’t do complex work, but it can be made to do things like what just happened. We’ll make it listen to your orders later.”
“Why did it appear all of a sudden?”
“Since they are originally combat soldiers, they are designed to automatically head toward a battlefield. It must have sensed our battle earlier and moved here.”

　Eventually, the group returned to the schoolyard where the spaceship was waiting.

　After a late meal... Shenga had taken a great liking to the tuna and grated yam bowl... Sorato decided to rest.

　A comfortable bedroom for the Emperor had been prepared in the Star Corvette’s cabin, but Sorato refused to sleep there. She didn’t want to use the bed of a person she had killed.
“I’ll sleep in the club room...”
　Nape allowed it, after emphasizing that she should not leave the club building in case of a surprise attack.
　Accompanied by Shenga, Sorato returned to the tennis club room and sank into the sofa.
　She checked her smartphone, but as expected, she couldn’t get a signal... The message she had sent earlier had been marked as read. Her family seemed to be safe, but what had happened to her house... Nape had said he would find out by morning...

“Is he... planning to work without sleeping?”
“Nape? Even perfect humans need sleep. Though, it seems he can keep part of his consciousness awake so he can move immediately if something happens.”
　Saying that, Shenga lay down on a single-seater sofa and let out a big yawn. It was a completely cat-like gesture.
“Hmm, that’s amazing...”
　A difficult day had ended, and she should have been exhausted, but for some reason, Sorato’s eyes were wide awake. She was afraid of tomorrow coming... She had a feeling that something even more terrifying than today would happen... Driven by that anxiety, she didn’t feel like she could sleep.
“...Hey.”
　Sorato called out to Shenga.
“Hey, come over here.”
“What?”
“Come over here. Sleep with me.”
　The Min-Gan warrior looked astonished, but he got off the sofa and stood in front of the girl.
“Normally, if you said that to a Min-Gan, you couldn’t complain even if you were killed...”
　He said in an unusually serious tone, his eyes sparkling in the darkness.
“Then, will you kill me?”
“That’s not going to happen, is it? You have to become the Galactic Emperor, and I also owe you a debt of gratitude for my life. Min-Gan don’t refuse requests from their benefactors.”
　As Sorato moved to the back of the sofa, Shenga lay down on the sofa with his back to her. Her thin arms hugged the fur-covered body.
“Thank you...”
“It’s hot, hey...”

　A turbulent day had ended, and another turbulent day was about to dawn.
　Sorato’s premonition had been correct.

To be continued