Ini adalah hari kedua dari tur pemandu kami di Planet Theta.
Kemarin, Lilium telah membawa kami ke sebuah pabrik minuman ringan dan pabrik pengilangan minuman keras di wilayah klan Rose, dan kini, pada hari kedua dari tur pemandu kami, kami dijadwalkan untuk besok mengunjungi wilayah klan Grado.
Wilayah klan Grado memang penuh dengan alam. Tentu saja terdengar lebih baik ketika digambarkan begitu, namun ketika kami benar-benang melihatnya, yang kujumpai hanyalah lahan yang belum dikembangkan, atau lebih tepatnya, hutan hujan liar yang menyebar selebar-lebarnya.
Klnan Grado sepertinya hidup di sini dengan membanguni pemukiman kecil yang tersebar di seluruh kawasan tersebut.
"Itulah sebabnya, pastikan setiap orang mempersiapkan peralatan dengan baik."
Saat pagi tiba, hal pertama yang kujalankan adalah mengumpulkan seluruh anggota Black Lotus untuk rapat. Hotel kami tidak jauh dari pelabuhan terpadu tempat Black Lotus bersambat. Itu sebabnya, kujalan pada kemarin, Lilium untuk membawa kami kembali ke Black Lotus di pagi hari.
"Kami…… sedang berlibur santai, ya?"
"Betul. Berlibur santai. Tapi, tempat yang akan kami kunjungi hanyalah hutan hujan liar yang tidak diketahui banyak orang di sebuah planet yang tidak dikenal oleh kami."
"Bukan berarti tidak dikenal sama sekali…… Aku mengakui memang belum pernah ke wilayah klan Grado."
"Ini terlalu berlebihan, Bos."
"Aku rasa kami sebaiknya mendengarkan saudaranya saja."
Sebenarnya, aku ingin mengeluarkan rompi perlindungan lingkungan ekstrem yang bisa kami pakai di segala jenis kondisi ekstrim dan juga melindungi kami dari serangan nyamuk beracun, parazit, suhu tak terduga, dan bahaya semacam itu. Namun, rompi-rompi tersebut nampak seperti kostum ranger yang bertema SF, dan rasanya terlalu berlebihan. Cukup tidak masuk akal untuk memakai mereka saat berlibur.
"Sebenarnya kalian sebaiknya jangan meremehkan gunung dan hutan, teman-teman. Kami tidak akan ke sebuah resor alam yang dikelola dengan baik, tapi hutan hujan yang benar-benar liar."
"Benarkah?"
"Memang benar kah?"
"Ya memang. Atau lebih tepatnya, meremehkan tempat ini adalah bencana yang sudah dipastikan."
Selain Elma, Mimi, Tina, dan Whisker semuanya adalah wanita yang lahir dan besar di koloni. Para yang telah hidup sepanjang hidupnya di lingkungan yang dikendalikan secara buatan tidak akan pernah memahami betapa berbahayanya alam semesta ini.
"Coba pakailah pakaian yang tidak terlalu menunjukkan kulit. Untuk kalian berdua, Kemeja kerja biasa kalian pasti sudah cukup."
"Aku tidak ingin pakai itu pada hari libur, Bos."
"Baiklah. Entah bagaimana, jangan pakai pakaian tipis yang mudah terbang. Mereka akan rusak begitu tersentuh dahan pohon. Pilihlah pakaian yang tahan lama dan tidak berantakan. Tidak apa-apa meskipun terasa tidak nyaman agaknya."
Setelah itu, kujarakan semua orang mengenai jubah termal kameleon yang telah kujabutkan. Setelah semua, jika kalian memakai ini, kalian akan tetap nyaman bahkan mengenakan pakaian yang terasa tidak nyaman. Jubah termal kameleon memiliki daya tahan yang baik dan telah terbuktikan tahan terhadap kondisi ekstrim di sebuah planet yang sedang dalam proses terraformasi.
"Uh, kita akan diiringi oleh seorang pandu kamu tahu. Aku rasa kamu agak berlebihan."
"Betul juga. Asal jalan sesuai rencana. Akan tetapi, bukan berarti tidak mungkin hal-hal berjalan berbeda."
"……"
Elma mengerut kening mendengar perkataanku. Ya, memang benar. Aku mungkin akan berpikir sama jika seseorang memberiku tahu hal-hal seperti itu. Aku sangat ingin menikmati liburan secara normal tanpa harus khawatir keesokan, namun karena latar belakang pengalaman kami yang selalu berada dalam masalah, aku tidak punya pilihan kecuali harus waspia.
"Pak apa yang kamu masukkan ke dalam punggungmu, Hiro-sama?"
"Satu buah kotak selamat dengan makanan kalengan portabel, beacon sinyal kecemasan, dan baterai pengganti."
"Kotak selamat?"
"Di dalamnya ada unit nanomesa pertama, dan satu mesin komposisi molekuler portabel untuk membangun tempat perlindungan sementara."
"Mesin komposisi molekuler portabel?"
"Ingat lomba turnamen di ibukota kekaisaran? Pasukan militer kekaisaran menggunakan sebuah alat untuk mengurai dan mengatur ulang medan lapangan untuk kompetisi jarak dekat di tempat. Ini adalah versi yang lebih kecil dari alat itu."
"Oh, alat itu."
Mimi mengetuk telaput nenekuknya dengan penuh pemahaman. Jadi, secara singkat, alat high-tech ini dengan nama panjang ini sebenarnya adalah sebuah printer 3D portabel yang sangat canggih.
Bagaimana cara kerjanya? Tidak ada. Itu tidak masalah asalkan kuingat cara pakai. Menurut akal sehatku sebagai seseorang dari Bumi, tidak mungkin bisa mengurai dan merekonstruksi suatu benda tingkat molekuler dengan sebuah mesin yang hampir setengah ukuran remoter televisi, namun alat ini justru bisa melakukannya. Joke-nya sudah di situ. Aku pernah mencoba membaca cara kerjanya di jaringan, namun tidak tahu apa-apa. Yang kujumpai hanyalah barisan istil-istilah teknologi yang tidak terduga.
Karena bisa mengurai materi, sebenarnya akan mudah untuk Menggunakannya dalam konteks militer. Namun, sayangnya, ternyata cukup mudah untuk mengadakan untuk menghadapi ini, jadi tidak se sederhana itu. Akhirnya, penggunaannya terbatas hanya pada benda alami seperti tumbuhan dan bahan galena.
"Apakah kamu masih membawa beacon sinyal panggilan kecemasan? Apakah kamu benar-benar harus pergi begitu jauh?"
"Jika, sekiranya, pandu kami terluka saat kami sedalaman hutan, atau jika karena suatu sebab kami terpisah darinya dan kami terpaksa bermalam di luar, peralatan ini akan sangat berguna. Setelah semua, kami akan berada di tengah hutan hujan yang gelap dengan hewan berbahaya berkeliaran di sekitar kami. Berkat peralatan ini, meski terjebak dalam situasi seperti itu, kami bisa membangun tempat perlindungan dan menyalakan panggilan kecemasan. Kami bisa bertahan sepompeong di alam terbuka sambil menunggu SAR."
"Tapi, bukan kita hanya bisa menelepon lewat terminal data portabel atau sesuatu?"
"Tentu saja ini lebih mudah jika kami punya sinyal yang bagus. Jika memang kami punya."
"……Benarkah tidak?"
"Sayangnya, tidak."
Aku meminta Mei untuk memeriksanya kemarin, dan hasilnya adalah sinyal komunikasi yang digunakan terminal data portabel tidak bisa menjangkau hampir seluruh wilayah klan Grado. Dengan kata lain, wilayah ini berada di luar jangkauan sinyal. Aku rasa ini aneh, tapi memang begitulah. Aku tidak terlalu mengerti tentang ini, tetapi tampaknya keberadaan sistem komunikasi modern memiliki dampak sangat negatif terhadap deteksi dan latihan kekuatan magis. Aku hampir ingin berteriak kesetrangan saat pertama mendengarnya.
"Kamu sangat waspia, ya, Saudaraku."
"Sebaiknya tidak apa-apa jika ini benar. Sebenarnya, aku lebih suka jika memang benar dan kita bisa tertawa bersama nanti. Entah bagaimana, untuk sementara ini, cukup bawa makanan dan air minum portabel untuk kalian."
Asal kami memiliki makanan dan air minum yang memadai, serta cara untuk menjaga suhu tubuh tetap ideal, kami bisa bertahan selama kami tidak bergerak liar di tempat.
It was now the second day of our Planet Theta sightseeing tour.
Yesterday, we had Lilium bring us to a soft drink factory and an alcohol brewing factory within the Rose clan’s territory, and now, on the second day of our sightseeing tour, we’re scheduled to visit the Grado clan’s territory next.
The Grado clan’s territory was overflowing with nature. Well, it sounds much better when you describe it like that, but when we actually checked out the place, all I could see was undeveloped land, or rather, sprawling primeval forests. The Grado clan apparently lives here by building small settlements scattered around all over the area.
“That’s how it is, so make sure you have your equipment ready everyone.”
Come morning, the first thing I did was gather everyone in Black Lotus for a meeting. The inn we were staying at wasn’t that far from the integrated port the Black Lotus was anchored at. That’s why I asked Lilium yesterday to bring us back to Black Lotus in the morning.
“We’re…… going sightseeing, right?”
“That’s right. Sightseeing. But the place we’re going to is essentially an undeveloped primeval forest in a planet mostly unknown to us.”
“It isn’t exactly unknown to me y’know…… Well, I admit I haven’t been to the Grado clan’s territory yet though.”
“Ain’t this a bit too over the top, Boss?”
“I think we better just do as Big Brother says though.”
Actually, I wanted to pull out the suits that could let us adapt to all sorts of harsh environments and protect us from poisonous insects, parasites, sudden temperature, and other such threats. However, they looked like SF-themed rider suits and felt far too excessive. It would be pretty unreasonable to wear them while going sightseeing.
“You really shouldn’t underestimate mountains and forests guys. We’re not going to a well-managed nature resort but an honest-to-goodness wild primeval forest y’know.”
“Really?”
“Ya think?”
“Yes, really. Or rather, underestimating the place is a recipe for disaster.”
Aside from Elma, Mimi, Tina, and Whisker were colony-born and raised ladies after all. Those who’ve lived their entire lives in an artificially controlled environment do not understand the true dangers of mother nature.
“Try to wear clothes that don’t expose your skin as much as possible. Uh, for you guys, your regular work jumpsuits will probably do.”
“I don’t really wanna wear that during a day off Boss.”
“Fine. Anyway, don’t wear thin and fluttery pieces of clothing. They’d get ruined the moment they get caught on a tree branch. Choose clothes that are durable and don’t flutter around too much. It’s fine even if they’re a bit stuffy.”
Afterward, I distributed the chameleon thermal cloaks to everyone. After all, if you equip this, you’d feel comfy even if you wore stuffy clothes. The chameleon thermal cloak was pretty durable and had proven itself to cope even with the harsh environment of a planet in the middle of being terraformed.
“Um, we’re going to be accompanied by a guide you know. I think you’re being overly cautious.”
“Yeah, you’re right. That’s if things proceeded normally that is. By the way, don’t you think things have been far too peaceful since we arrived on this planet?”
“……”
Elma frowned after hearing my words. Yeah, that’s right. I’d probably react the same if I get told such a thing. I really wanted to normally enjoy sightseeing without worrying about things like that, but I have no choice but to be cautious since, judging by our track record, it’s possible that something might happen during the trip at some point.
“What did you put inside your backpack, Hiro-sama?”
“A survival kit with portable food packs, a rescue signal beacon, and spare energy packs.”
“Survival kit?”
“It has things like first-aid nanomachine units and a portable molecular composition device for building temporary shelters.”
“Portable molecular composition device?”
“Uh, remember the tournament held in the imperial capital? The imperial military used a device to disassemble and reconfigure the field for the melee competition on the spot. It’s a much smaller version of that.”
“Oh, that.”
Mimi hit one of her palms with her fist in understanding. So, in short, this high-tech device with a long name was a very advanced portable 3D printer. Trees and raw ores can be broken down into materials suitable to build structures according to the registered presets. Anyone can easily make a temporary shelter by using this thing.
How does it work? No idea. It’s alright as long as I can use the thing. As far as my regular Earth-guy common sense knows, it wasn’t possible to break down and reconstruct a substance at the molecular level with a machine essentially the size of a TV’s remote control, but this thing can actually do just that, so the joke’s on me I guess. I did try to look up how this thing worked in the net, but I couldn’t understand anything. All I encountered was a veritable parade of incomprehensible tech jargon.
Since it could break down matter, it was easy to think of more militarily inclined uses for the thing. But unfortunately, it seems it was quite easy to deploy countermeasures for it, so it wasn’t that simple. Thus, in the end, it was limited to usage on naturally occurring objects such as plants and ores.
“You even have a rescue signal transmission beacon? Do you really have to go that far……?”
“If, just in case, our local guide gets injured while we’re deep within the forest, or if we got separated with him or her for some reason and we end up spending the night outside, these things will come in handy. After all, we would be within a dark primeval forest with potentially dangerous animals all around us. Even if we found ourselves in such a situation, we’d be able to build a shelter and call for help with these things. We’d be able to endure a night in the great outdoors in relative safety while waiting for rescue.”
“But can’t we just call for help usin’ a portable data terminal or somethin’?”
“That’s certainly more convenient if we have a nice signal. If we have one, that is.”
“……Don’t we?”
“Unfortunately, no, we don’t.”
I asked Mei to check on it yesterday, and the result was communication signals used by portable data terminals can’t reach most of the Grado clan’s territory. In other words, it was out of coverage area. I thought it was ridiculous, but it is what it is. I’m not familiar with the issue, but it seemed the presence of modern communication systems had a very adverse effect on the sensing and training of magic power. I almost wanted to scream out in frustration when I first heard of it.
“You’re very cautious aren’t you, Big Brother.”
“It would be fine if I was going there alone. And maybe we’d be able to deal with things somehow if it’s just me, Mimi, and Elma . But this time, Mimi, Tina, and Whisker will all be tagging along, right? In that case, it pays to be extra careful.”
“Mmph. I’m also already a seasoned mercenary… is what I wanted to say. I guess that won’t do this time huh?”
“Even if we’re like this, we’re still dwarves y’know, Boss?”
“Look, I don’t doubt that Mimi’s already fairly gotten used to mercenary work and that Tina and Whisker are both physically strong, but I still think you have far too little experience when it comes to living on a planet. That’s what’s got me worried.”
Mimi cocked her head to the side and replied.
“Huh? Is Mei-san not coming with us?”
“I’ll have Mei stay on stand-by in Black Lotus. She can quickly pick us up just in case something happens later on.”
“I find it mortifying, but I’ll do it if it’s related to Master’s wellbeing.”
Mei, who was standing behind me, declared in a flat tone.
Right now, we’re just talking about the possibility of something happening while we’re in a forest within the territory of the Grado clan, but there’s also a possibility of a pirate raid on planetary settlements as well. Even if we did manage to capture or kill those who perpetrated the first attack, there’s no reason to think it won’t happen again.
As a precaution for such things happening, there’s a need for either I, Elma, or Mei to stay onboard the ship. It would not do for me, who’s the leader of our group, to stay behind, and I’d like Elma, who was an elf herself, to accompany us. In that case, the only one who could remain on the ship would be Mei.
“I still think you’re being too paranoid……”
“It would be nice if that really was the case. In fact, I’d prefer that and then we can just laugh it out later. Anyway, for now, just bring portable food packs and water bottles with you, everyone.”
As long as we had food and water available as well as a means to maintain an ideal body temperature, we would be able to survive as long as we didn’t blindly move around.
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