August Without a Galactic Emperor ②

4. The Perfect Human

"Hey, Nape..."

The cat-person, who had returned while dragging its leg, said.
"!"
I can understand the cat-person! Its voice was somewhat high-pitched, but it spoke like a mature man.
"You saw it too, right? The Emperor is dead. Once your master is gone, your job is done too, isn't it? Just pack up and leave."
The boy called Nape turned to face the cat-person.
"That's not going to happen. It is also my mission to retrieve the seeds you stole."
"I see... but that girl has nothing to do with this. I'll deal with you again later, so let her go."
"That is also impossible. In fact, resolving her problem is a higher priority. Do not interfere."
The boy pointed his spear at the cat-person and declared.
"What problem? Are you planning to drag this kid along? This is outside the Empire's territory. Whether you're Nape or a Senator, you shouldn't be able to judge the natives based on the Code!"
Natives... listening silently, I felt like I was being treated as a backward race living in an undeveloped, remote region.

"Wait a minute..."
Asato, who had somehow regained her composure, interrupted their argument.
"I don't know what you're talking about, but my friend was where that explosion happened earlier. I want to go check what happened to them... is that okay?"
"Ah, yes, of course. You are free. You have the right to walk around this planet as you please."
It was the cat-person who answered first.
"You are free. I won't let anyone get in your way. I'm with you..."
Saying that, the cat-person approached Asato and...
Then, it collapsed right at Asato's feet.
"Hey!"
I had forgotten. The cat-person was wounded.
"Oh no, I have to treat it!"
"Is that what you wish?"
The boy... Nape asked Asato.
What is he saying? Is he saying he will grant my wish? Asato prayed that it would be so, and replied with a firm tone.
"Yes! Please, help me treat this child."
Nape's body made a clanking sound.
Looking, the boy was now in the form of a normal human standing on two legs. The mechanical horse part from his waist down had separated.
Nape picked up the cat-person, looked around, and started walking toward the club building.
The separated mechanical horse followed on its own. Its legs were closer to retractable tentacles than horse legs. The way it walked was like a metal spider or octopus.
"Is this... a robot?"
To Asato's question, Nape replied.
"It is a Calibec. A synthetic horse for Meta-Troopers."
He's using polite language... I didn't understand the meaning of the words at all, but the polite tone eased Asato's anxiety somewhat.

Carrying the cat-person, Nape climbed the stairs and stepped into one of the club rooms.
Laying the cat-person on the sofa, Nape took a plastic bottle of water from the refrigerator and began washing around the wound. Asato tried to look for a first-aid kit, but Nape beat her to it in an instant. It was as if he knew the place like his own home.
"You seem to know where everything is."
"Simple observation and deduction."
"...Easy for a Perfect Human, I suppose."
The cat-person had regained consciousness.
"Perfect Human..."
"That's right. A Perfect Human, and the Emperor's Meta-Trooper... though I just saw you fail at the most important job of protecting the Emperor... ugh!"
The cat-person groaned as the bandage was wrapped tightly.
"Will it be okay?"
"It is not a major wound. The collapse was due to exhaustion and the heat."
Asato had said "help me," but in the end, Nape finished the treatment all by himself.
"Why are you helping me?"
The cat-person asked Asato.
"I don't know... I don't know, but too many terrible things have happened..."
Mima... I wonder what happened to her...
"Maybe I just wanted to make things a little less terrible... though I don't even know what 'less terrible' means... what am I saying?"
"............"
The cat-person just stared intently at Asato's face.
"I am Shenga."
Suddenly, it introduced itself.
"I am... Asato. Asato Endo."
"That's a long name..."
Saying that, the cat-person closed its eyes.
Asato let out a sigh and closed her own eyes as well.
A pleasant, cool breeze was blowing from somewhere... that boy, Nape, must have turned on the air conditioner. Just a little longer, let me rest like this...
Then, I'll go to Mima...

When I suddenly realized, the setting sun was shining into the club room.

The cat-person... Shenga was still sleeping, but Nape was nowhere to be seen.
Asato left the club building and stood in the schoolyard at dusk.

There was no one there...

Except for the traces of destruction left behind, it was a calm summer evening. Smoke was still rising faintly from the large hole that had opened where the school gate used to be.
I wanted to check what happened to Mima and my classmates, but too much time had passed to do anything... besides, I'm afraid that if I look into that hole, I'll see something I don't want to see...

What should I do... should I just go home like this...
What happened to my house? Mom, Dad?
Suddenly, a sense of loneliness welled up, and Asato's vision blurred with tears.

As in some song, I looked up at the sky to keep the tears from falling... and noticed a figure moving on the roof of the school building.
It was Nape.
I want to go home, but before that, I want to talk to someone... even if it's this mysterious boy who appeared in such an abnormal way...
Asato climbed the stairs of the deserted school building and headed toward the boy.

The entrance to the roof is usually locked tight, but now the iron door had been torn off its hinges by terrifying force and had fallen outward.
"Oh my..."
Nape glanced at Asato and immediately returned his attention to the work at hand. Even just meeting his eyes for a moment, he was still breathtakingly beautiful...
"What are you doing?"
The beautiful boy began to put away the tools connected to his mechanical horse, Calibec.
"I was confirming the situation. It is not very favorable..."
"Is that so... hey, what is this whole commotion? Where did you guys come from? You were saying something about my problem earlier, what do you want? I'd appreciate it if you could explain it so I can understand."
Nape thought for a moment and tapped Calibec.
The machine walked behind Asato with its four tentacles and lowered its main body to the roof floor as if crouching.
"Please, sit down, Asato."
He called me by my name for the first time... did he hear the exchange with Shenga?
How many years has it been since a boy called me by my first name... I sat down on the body of Calibec with a submissiveness that felt strange even to myself.

And the story Nape began to tell, contrary to those thoughts, was a dangerous and incredible thing.

"The man you killed was the Galactic Empire Emperor Zen-Zen-Ra 204th. And now, you are in the first position as his successor to the throne."
"...I see."


5. The Successor to the Galactic Emperor

Until Asato understood the meaning of those words, which lacked any sense of reality, for the most part correctly, Nape patiently continued to repeat the same explanation.
For the most part, his story was this:

The mysterious machine army that suddenly appeared, the cat-people like Shenga, and the beautiful boy in front of me had come from a country far across the universe, the Galactic Empire.

In this galaxy, there exists a Galactic Empire consisting of tens of thousands of civilized planets, and this Earth is located in the remote territory outside its borders.
At the pinnacle of that ruling system stands the Galactic Emperor.
The man Asato defeated was Zen-Zen-Ra 204th.

The Galactic Emperor descended to this Earth in pursuit of the Min-Gan, like Shenga and the others. The Min-Gan were a clan of cat-like humans said to be the most fearsome warrior race in the Empire. The Min-Gan had stolen something that was the Emperor's property and fled in order to expand their rights within the Empire.
If that were all, the Emperor would not have needed to go out himself, but he had another motive besides retrieving the stolen goods.
It was the test operation of a new army.
The Emperor had discovered an army called the <Gondrowa> on a certain planet. It was a powerful army of artificial humans left behind by a legendary ancient civilization that had perished long ago. He had succeeded in maintaining and rebooting them over a dozen years, making them his own pawns. The Emperor was looking for an opportunity for battle to test that military power and make its threat known throughout the Empire.
The rebellion of the Min-Gan that occurred at such a time could be called a good opportunity.
The only problem was that the entire Gondrowa army, due to its nature, would only accept orders from a single commander, namely the Emperor himself. That is why the Emperor set out to conquer the Min-Gan himself.
And, he descended to this Earth and...

Here, he was shot to death by a local girl...

"The Galactic Empire Code states that the successor to the Galactic Emperor is prioritized as one designated by the Emperor himself, or one designated by the Imperial Senate. The only exception is one who wins a direct battle, such as a duel with the Emperor, and defeats the Emperor. In other words..."
"In other words... me?"
"Yes. You are currently in the first position as a holder of the right of succession to the throne."

Asato felt dizzy.
A mere high school girl who had been agonizing over whether or not to quit her club until this morning was being offered the seat of the ruler who reigned at the top of tens of thousands of planets and their inhabitants... which probably numbered in the trillions.
Why is this happening...

"What did Shenga... what did the Min-Gan steal?"
"This."
Before she knew it, Shenga was standing behind Asato.
It took something out of its vest pocket, handed it to Asato, and placed it on her palm. Nape's eyes narrowed sharply.
"A Star Lily seed."
At first glance, it was just a fragment of mineral. It was transparent like crystal, but it wasn't beautiful, and it didn't look like anything of particular value.
"The Star Lily is a flower that blooms in space. Of course, it's not a real flower or a plant. It's made of a kind of mineral, but large ones can be the size of an asteroid. The strange thing is that it grows from a seed and takes the shape of a lily flower. That flower distorts space and connects star to star."
Nape took over the story.
"Where there is a Star Lily... that is the Galactic Empire. An interstellar communication network is built through the hyperspace path, the Lily Way, connected by the Star Lily, and the planetary nations belonging to the Empire manage those gates and the Star Lily. Obtaining a Star Lily means obtaining new territory within the Empire."
"And you... stole that?"
"We didn't steal it. This seed was originally discovered in the orbit of our planet, <Mizu-Kage>. The Empire unreasonably confiscated it. So we took it back."
"A difference of opinion, then..."
Shenga moved to the front of Asato and spoke with visible enthusiasm.
"Hey, about what I said earlier, if you succeed to the throne and become the Galactic Emperor, the owner of this seed will also be decided by your whim. If you return this to us, all the Min-Gan will follow you with their lives. Even down to the descendants of the last generation."
"Such a thing..."
Asato looked at Nape as if to cling to him.
"It is up to you. It is better to decide quickly. You are currently only one of the candidates for the throne, but if you indicate your intention to succeed to me, you will become the sole successor to the throne."
"Can't I just be enthroned immediately?"
Shenga asked Nape.
"It is necessary to perform the <Enthronement Ceremony>. In this situation, that is also a considerable challenge, but..."
"What if I refuse? Can't you just leave Earth as it is and have all of you go home quietly?"
"In that case... you will only become a target of revenge for the Empire and the nobility... the Emperor's family. And I will not be able to protect you."
"If I accept, will you protect me? Me..."
"Like the Emperor, I have a duty to protect the successor to the throne."
"This is outside the Empire's territory, right? Is revenge against the natives allowed?"
He said natives again... this cat...
"Of course, the use of force outside the territory is the exclusive prerogative of the Emperor. Originally, no one should be able to lay a hand on her. However..."
"However?"
"If the nobility... the Ra family starts moving, prepared to disregard the Code and clash with the Senate, that is a different story."
Shenga crossed its arms in a human-like way and groaned.
"The Ra family, huh. They're capable of doing that."
"That... prospect that those people who might do it might actually do it?"
"Fifty-fifty."
Asato let her shoulders slump.
I've been dragged into a very subtle fifty-fifty bet...

The surroundings had become completely dim, and a large moon was out in the sky.
"I understand... anyway, I'm going home for today. I'll think about it overnight and give you an answer tomorrow. I can just come back here, right? Will you wait for me?"
"No..."
Nape suddenly showed tension and stepped back.
Then, Calibec stood up suddenly, and Asato, who had slipped off, sat down on her bottom.
"It seems... it is too late."

From the twilight sky that Nape pointed to, a familiar moth-like shadow was approaching.


To be continued