“All the necessary procedures have been taken care of. We’re sorry for all the trouble, Christina-sama.”
“No, it is I who has troubled all of you. Thank you.”
In any case, since Chis woke up at last, we proceeded with finishing the necessary formalities first, since we wouldn’t be able to take any further actions without doing so. We’ve done all the necessary procedures on our end, but Chris’ family also needs to work on theirs as well. I did think of slipping out with Chris in tow immediately earlier, but I decided against it in the end since it would probably lead to more trouble down the line, and I also didn’t want to get Bruno and the other staff get caught up in the mess as well.
Bruno along with his subordinates asked Chris about the circumstances that led to her being put inside an escape pod and put the details on record, and explained to her about my being put in charge of taking care of her temporarily, as well as the outer space rescue laws and regulations that served as the basis for it.
Chris talked about how her mother was shot while protecting her and how her father overcame all odds to let her escape, but she didn’t say anything about her uncle, Balthazar, to the bureau staff. Perhaps she came to the conclusion that telling Bruno and the other staff about it would be useless in the end.
It was, in the end, an internal problem within the Daleinwald house after all. The one who has final say regarding these matters wasn’t her, but her grandfather, who was the current head of the house, instead.
“My grandfather… I wish to contact Earl Abraham Daleinwald if possible.”
“Yes, you can do so via a pre-recorded holo-video message. Are you familiar with the address we need to send it to?”
“Yes. I’d like to include him in the video as well, since he’ll be serving as my guardian for the time being. I would also like to talk about some private matters concerning the earldom, so, if possible, I would like for no one else aside from us two to be present while we’re recording the video.”
“Please leave it to us. We have a fully functional holo-message recording facility available. We also utilize the latest encryption technology, so you don’t need to worry about the contents of your message leaking out. Hey.”
Bruno gave me a stare which seemed to say ‘Is it okay for this guy to hear about the internal matters of an earl house?’, but it only lasted for an instant. He exchanged looks with one of his subordinates soon after, and the said subordinate swiftly left the room. He’s probably going to get the recording room ready.
By the way, a holo-message is basically just a video letter. The only difference from the video letters I’m familiar with is that it will be played as a full 3D hologram projection.
“The mailing address is the Daleinwald earldom based on the third planet of the Dexer system, Daleinburg. The transmission code is ADK-4330208.”
“Understood. Please wait for a moment… Yes, the message will arrive at the stated address after five days’ time.”
Bruno operated his handheld tablet and declared as such.
“It unexpectedly takes a while huh.”
“We can opt for FTL transmission if it’s just within the star system we’re located on, but if you want to transmit to a different star system thousands of light-years away… it’ll be better to use hyperspace communication and gateways, so it’ll take longer for the message to arrive.”
Bruno shrugged his shoulders and answered my doubts. The gateways he mentioned are facilities that can artificially create wormholes that can allow one to traverse points in space that are hundreds or thousands of lightyears away from each other within mere moments.
Hyperdrive technology allows for the usage of hyperspace in order to move between different star systems via special subspace tunnels which allow faster than light travel. Simply put, it’s a lot like driving on an expressway via car. The wormholes created by gateways however, allow for travel between different points in space within moments. In other words, it allows instantaneous warps. They make moving from point to point in practically an instant possible.
The theory behind it seems to imply bending and opening holes in space-time or something, but I don’t really understand it all that much. What I do understand is that the gateways are strictly monitored and administered by each empire or state where said facilities are located. They’re not things your average mercenary normally has access to.
And the location of Chris’ grandfather seems to be pretty far away, seeing as it’ll still take five days for the message to arrive even after making use of such facilities. Considering that our message will arrive in five days’ time, the earliest that people from the side of Chris’ grandfather can arrive to pick her up will be after ten days or so. If we factor in the assignment of personnel, preparing a suitable ship, as well as various other procedures and schedule adjustments, Chris would likely spend up to two weeks in our care.
“Five days… In other words, the one week period where Hiro-sama is obligated to take custody of me will likely expire first before people from my grandfather’s side arrive to pick me up.”
“You need not worry, princess. I won’t do something like abandoning you before your escorts arrive. Do I look like that kind of heartless person to you?”
“No. In fact, I believed you’d say that.”
“You’re one strong-willed princess. Don’t you think so too, Bruno?”
“Please don’t drag me into that conversation……”
It looks like this guy wanted to avoid saying anything that would seem impertinent to the genuine granddaughter of an earl huh. Typical of an honest imperial citizen I guess. Bruno then guided Chris and I to a pure white room. No, it was predominately white, but the walls were covered with square tiles with sides that were about 30 centimeters each. Each square had a black dot in the center. I’m guessing those are sensors or cameras used to take holo-vids. There was a console sitting in the middle of the room, and a blue sphere about the size of a typical basketball was buried in the wall directly in front of the console.
“This is actually my first time recording a holo-message.”
“Is that so?”
“Maybe it wasn’t all that common for ordinary citizens to send messages to distant acquaintances or relatives via holo-vids where I’m from? And I basically didn’t travel beyond the colony I was born and raised in before I became a mercenary.”
“I see… That really might be the case then.”
Chris nodded in a serious manner. Based on what I know, people who leave the colonies they’re born in are mostly composed of mercenaries like me, smugglers, outlaws who serve mostly as battlefield cleaners and paid hitmen, as well as pirates. More proper examples include traders and businessmen who often travel between different star systems, as well as soldiers on active duty. Oh, and researchers as well, I guess.
“Anyway, let’s go ahead and record the message. It needs to be done in one shot, right? What should I actually say?”
“I will be the one to explain the circumstances. I’m also going to introduce Hiro-sama later, so a simple self-introduction will suffice.”
“Well, I’ll go with that then…”
I observed from behind as Chris deftly operated the console. Fumu, it didn’t look all that complicated. It was even somewhat similar to operating the settings on the standard video camera I was familiar with.
“Well then, we’re going to start recording now. Please stand a little bit behind me on my left.”
“Gotcha.”
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