Dragon Princess Will Do Her Best To Prevent The World's Destruction

Chapter 64: I Want To Live

As the sun slowly drifted away from us, the day grew increasingly hostile towards my frail body. I pulled the coat bestowed upon me by Tenko tighter around myself, but the chill still lingered in my bones. Every year, it seems to be getting colder and colder. To be fair though, I've only been around for seven winters.

Ah, I'm getting distracted. What was I doing again? Right, hunting down those brazen violators of Her Majesty's decree. So I claimed, but where should I start? At the very least, I know they weren't coming for m—

"Communication reestablished. Data banks accessed. Restarting guidance systems," a muffled voice sounded from my pockets.

I struggled with the deep pockets of my coat, finding considerable difficulty at reaching the end with my tiny hands. Eventually, however, I managed to pull out the source of the mechanical voice. It was relatively small, with the surface largely dominated by a screen glowing in a unnatural green.

Why, it was the odd device the generous people of Eden had sent me. I used it back when I was escaping the academy along with Isaac, since it could apparently detect approaching objects and people by displaying their rough position in relative to mine. However, now it was...speaking? Was there such a function? I suppose I was the odd one in assuming the odd gadgets of Eden would only have simplistic features.

"Uh...hello?" I whispered gingerly at the rectangular tablet.

"Greetings. Do you need any assistance, user?" despite the absolute lack of emotions, it still spoke politely.

"Who...what are you?"

The androgynous voice introduced itself, "Informative Guidance System, fifth generation model, third year type. This system used to be the main guidance intelligence aboard the Conqueror, but was reassigned to assist the current user."

"The Conqueror? Do you mean the naval vessel?" as much as I tried to, but I failed to remember all the ships within the MAF navy.

"Negative. The Conqueror is an artillery bombardment cruiser of the Imperial Armada, most often serving in the Invasion Fleet led by the originator, Horizon."

"The Imperial Armada?" I was slightly confused, since I had yet to meet anyone from that enigmatic branch of Eden. "Then why have you just started to activate now?"

"Despite the reassignment, this unit still depend on the main processing unit to sustain any activity. That is to say, without Horizon, this unit cannot operate. It was not until a few seconds ago that contact was reestablished with the main unit. In other words, the Imperial Armada has exited deep space and arrived at a coordinate close to this planetary body."

I have absolutely zero idea what the machine just said.

"Alright..." I shrugged, not really sure how to proceed with this new revelation.

In the first place, that part of Eden largely remained a mystery. Whenever I inquire about Horizon's jurisdiction, I would be met with vague answers and explanations. I don't think it was because they didn't want to answer my question, but it would seem they were hardly knowledgeable about it as well.

The only individual that surely grasp the entirety of the Imperial Armada must be princess Roselia, but even she seemed hesitant in answering my questions. In fact, it almost seemed as if she preferred if they were left alone. So why has this device come online now...? When it said "close", was it meant to be literal? Just what exactly called for the redeployment of such a unknowable force, one that was avoided even by Her Majesty?

Something was coming, and I really didn't like the look of things. I understand it was never in my place to have a say in matters like these, but still. Something was wrong.