Fated to Die to the Player, I'll Live Freely with My SSS-Class Ship! Chapter 72: Preliminary Conflict

"A variable wormhole?"

President Anderson raised a brow, clasping both hands on top of the table and resting his chin atop them.

"If that’s true, then protecting you three from the pursuit of the yers Royal Family would be a small matter," he continued, his expression turning slightly unreadable.

"Tell where it is first so I can confirm whether it’s real or not. After all, I’ve had my eyes on every inch of the Astoraxia Galaxy and haven’t found a single variable wormhole anywhere."

"Promise that you’ll keep your word of protecting us first."

Of course, I wasn’t about to just hand over my ace for free.

"If you take the information and pretend this talk never happened, then I’m just losing out in the exchange, after all."

"...From the way you speak, do you have other things you could use as leverage against ?"

"Who knows?"

Our gazes locked, the tension between us crackling like static.

Although I did have plenty of information that could be useful to him, nothing was as valuable as the variable wormhole I was dangling in front of him.

In truth, it was sothing they wouldn’t have discovered until 12 years later.

Its discovery would propel the Astoria Conglorate back to power, altering the flow of the original plot with their increased influence.

In a way, I was rely accelerating the process.

It was worriso, to be honest, but it should be fine. After all, right now, the Astoria weren’t our enemies... and I hoped to keep it that way.

"...Alright. I promise," President Anderson sighed. "Should I sign a contract first as proof?"

"No, your word alone is enough."

I smiled, raising my left arm and pressing a button on my terminal.

A second later, his voice played back—starting from the mont I entered the room.

I didn’t let it run for too long, just enough to prove I had recorded our entire conversation.

"Heh," President Anderson chuckled lightly, shaking his head. "Well, I suppose that’s to be expected."

Then, his expression sharpened.

"Now, tell . Where is this variable wormhole you speak of?"

I tapped on my terminal again, sending him a single file.

"This contains the coordinates and the thod to access the location. Just a heads-up—I’m only telling you where it is. If there’s so weird alien guarding it or sothing, don’t bla ."

"Hmm..."

As soon as he received and opened the file, his hands moved fast—typing out several ssages in quick succession.

In less than ten seconds, he had already forwarded the data to hundreds of his contacts.

A reply ca almost imdiately.

His lips curled into a thin smile as he raised his head, locking eyes with .

"I just received confirmation that the information is valid," he explained.

"Although I’d love to ask where you got this intel… I doubt you’d answer honestly." He leaned back, satisfied. "Regardless, I’ll uphold my end of the deal."

"...Alright. Thank you, Father."

I bowed slightly, keeping my tone respectful—but inside, I was shaken.

’He confird the existence of such a remote location in seconds… How terrifying are his connections?!’

The Astoria Conglorate truly had a grasp on the entire universe.

At this point, it was no longer just a theory.

---

After securing protection for our group, I wasted no ti returning to where Eva and Cassandra were staying.

Apparently, a room there had been reserved for as well—one I could use to rest.

I had expected so personal villa or sothing, considering my status, but I guess not.

Although I wasn’t as exhausted as Cassandra, who had undergone intense training, I was tired enough to collapse onto the bed the mont I arrived.

I slept like a log.

"Arthur? Wake up."

"...Huh?"

Soti later, a voice drifted into my ears.

I lazily cracked open my eyes, spotting two figures standing beside the bed. Wait—didn’t I lock the door?

"Casey said you two were supposed to continue training now." Eva’s voice was dripping with annoyance. "If you don’t get up, I’ll stomp on your back."

"What kind of logic is that...?" I muttered groggily, my tongue sluggish from sleep.

With a yawn, I pushed myself up, causing the blanket covering to slide down.

"...!"

The two girls gasped.

I blinked, confused—only to feel the chilly air against my skin. A second later, I glanced down.

"Ah."

I was wearing nothing but boxers.

...Well, it’s not like they haven’t already seen naked.

When I was using the dical Pod aboard the ship, they should’ve gotten a full view, so it shouldn’t be that big of a deal.

"Sorry about that," I grinned, grabbing the fallen blanket and loosely covering myself. "I should’ve gone full commando before sleeping."

"Y-YOU!"

Eva turned red in an instant.

"Change your clothes right now! We’ll be outside!"

Like a startled rabbit, she bolted for the door.

Cassandra hesitated for a mont, looking between and Eva in confusion—before ultimately following after her.

Of course, I didn’t miss her furtive glances as she ran off.

"Heh."

I smirked to myself.

"Well, I am handso—an eye candy for girls—after all. Can’t bla them."

---

After that small incident, the three of us returned to the sa location we used for Cassandra’s training.

This ti, Eva was with us, so we could practice our team coordination as well.

Of course, she imdiately pointed out how strange my training regin was, since it focused entirely on improving lap tis on a single track.

After all, common sense dictates that a pilot should train on various tracks to prepare for any situation that might arise during the race.

But since I obviously couldn’t just tell her it was the actual track for the preliminaries, it took quite so ti to "logically" explain my reasoning.

Still, after every lap we ran on the training track, Eva analyzed our performance and pointed out areas for improvent that could help shave off even more ti.

Thanks to her insights, my experience, and Cassandra’s quick learning, our initial 5-minute lap ti was pushed even further—eventually reaching a blazing-fast 3 minutes and 46 seconds per lap!

Once we were able to maintain that average speed for 10 consecutive laps, we finally took a short break.

There were only two hours left before the preliminaries began, after all. We allocated 1 hour for rest and travel, and 1 hour for standby at the race venue.

Oh, right. Regarding the Range Falcon—which that bastard Gerard technically stole from his own family’s militia...

It had officially been given to now.

Rather, it was already registered in my na long ago—but this ti, it wasn’t through so shady ans.

I, Eva, and Cassandra all boarded the Falcon—with Eva’s Hunter Frigate secured in the hangar bay—and quickly departed.

Just beside the Military Hub was a large Warp Gate, which we’d be using.

It was a massive hexagonal tal loop, floating in space. Various lights blinked across its irregular outer-edge shape, making it seem like a busy interstellar highway.

Of course, we weren’t the only ones lined up to use the Warp Gate.

Various ships—rchant vessels, militia fleets, passenger liners, and even the Astoria Conglorate’s official race teams—were present.

Even though the Astoria was filthy rich, activating a Warp Gate was still expensive. They couldn’t afford to waste its activation cost just to send a few ships through.

A few minutes later, when the designated ti arrived, the Warp Gate roared to life.

Bluish-white sparks crackled across its surface, flickering like an arc generator during a cold start.

Slowly, the space inside the loop began to ripple.

It was as if waves were expanding and collapsing, moving from the edges to the center and back in an endless cycle. With each passing second, the intensity of the ripples increased, until finally—

A blue portal ford at the center.

Right—there was no other way to describe it. It was a mystical blue portal floating in space.

’I really wonder what kind of logic these Warp Gates operate on…’

The ga never explained how warp travel and hyperspace jumps actually worked.

While hyperspace travel could at least be rationalized with known physics, warp technology remained a complete mystery.

Maybe that’s why the developers didn’t even bother explaining it—they probably had no idea either.

"Anyway, as long as we can fast-travel for free, that’s all that matters!"

Soon enough, green lights flashed around the Warp Gate—a signal that ships could begin passage.

Without hesitation—like cars at a traffic light racing forward the mont it turned green—every ship in line surged toward the portal.

Unlike entering wormholes or using unstable rifts, passing through a Warp Gate was seamless. There wasn’t even a single jolt during the entire transition.

In the blink of an eye, we moved from the Astoraxia Galaxy to another galaxy three systems away.

Cranmajia Galaxy, Aegis Star System!

As soon as we erged, ships dispersed in various directions, heading off to conduct their own business.

We didn’t dally either.

After moving out of the main traffic lanes, I initiated a space jump to our next destination.

Target: The 15th planet of the Aegis Star System—Fraxin.

It was the farthest planet from Aegis’ main star and the designated venue for the race. The entire jump took only 10 minutes—barely putting a dent in our schedule.

We still had over an hour before the actual race began.

"But first, we need to submit Eva’s Frigate for inspection."

Since this was a race, all ships needed to be checked for illegal modifications. After all, so racers were desperate enough to bend the rules just to win.

Because of this, inspections a few hours before the match had beco a standard protocol.

’I wanted to tweak Eva’s ship a little… but I guess it’s fine. It’s just the preliminaries, after all.’

We quickly docked at the Orbital Observatory—a gigantic structure nearly the size of three space stations combined.

Surprisingly, the entire inspection process for Eva’s Hunter Frigate went faster than expected.

Thanks to advanced scanners, they could instantly detect any unauthorized modifications, cutting down the process to re seconds.

With the ship cleared for competition and carried over to the race’s standby docks, we were finally set.

But just when I thought we could enjoy a mont of peace before the race...

"Bastard! Say that again!"

...In no ti at all, Eva managed to pick a fight with soone.