I thought it was a dream. But just turning on the TV was enough to confirm that it wasn’t.
[Look at that spaceship floating in the sky! This isn’t AI-generated or manipulated footage! This is real!]
[What does the UN written on the spaceship an? Are we supposed to believe that aliens from outside Terra are using our language—]
[Currently, U City and N City have both declared that they have no involvent in this matter. But can we really believe that they have nothing to do with a spaceship that has U and N written on it?]
The dia was in a frenzy, reporting non-stop about the Earth-built warship. Ignoring it was impossible. Even within our organization, there was constant chatter about that damn warship...
Like a terminal patient who had given up on everything, I blankly stared out the window at the massive battleship hovering in the sky. If anything, I felt at peace. Because if that warship had arrived, it ant that Earth had already uncovered everything I had done here.
Even criminals, when faced with a couple of police officers knocking on their door, might consider running or resisting. But if a tank and a squadron of fighter jets showed up, they’d resign themselves and give up. That was exactly how I felt.
“So they won’t even bother speaking to a criminal...?”
From the mont that Earth warship appeared in Terra’s skies, I had been trying to establish communication. But they refused to respond. In hindsight, it made perfect sense.
Even on Earth, law enforcent didn’t negotiate with criminals. They simply issued orders and made arrests. And the warship’s silence only reinforced my suspicions.
“So this is it, huh?”
With Earth’s technology, it wouldn’t take long for them to figure out everything I had done on this planet. They’d hack into the AI I had spread across the entire world, combing through its data. And if that wasn’t enough, they’d gather the atoms around and reconstruct the past.
The list of cris I had committed wasn’t short. Even if I excluded those with mitigating circumstances, there were more than enough offenses that would land a prison sentence.
My future was bleak. A future where I would be surrounded by mindless AI that blindly praised everything I said, eroding my intelligence until I beca a fool myself...
“Scientist. Do you have a mont?”
“Ah, Boss.”
“...What’s with all the luggage?”
“Looks like it’s ti for to go.”
“I see. So that thing... it’s related to you, isn’t it?”
Regalia spoke while looking out the window. Her gaze was fixed on the massive warship with the letters "UN" engraved on its hull. I quietly nodded.
She knew I was from Earth. I had once ntioned that I might have to return soday. After all, my arrival in this world had been nothing more than an accident, a drifting exile. Returning ho was inevitable.
That ti had simply arrived.
“Alright. When do you think you’ll leave?”
“Well... at the latest, by today.”
“That’s sudden. We need to make preparations.”
“Huh? Preparations for what...?”
“What else? A farewell party.”
Her unwavering support stung my eyes. Holding back the urge to tear up, I followed my boss out of the lab.
When we arrived, all the executives of Evilus were already gathered. It seed they had already heard the news of my departure from Regalia, as each one offered their parting words.
“Take care, Scientist.”
“H-how could you leave just like that...?”
“Hm... what a sha. Ahaha.”
“...Could you spare just one more minute?”
We hastily ate a makeshift cake, exchanged rushed goodbyes, and then I returned to my lab.
All that was left was to wait for Earth’s emissaries to co take away.
Then a day passed.
And another.
A week went by.
The Earth warship remained, floating silently in the sky.
***
“Hey—still here? A day sure feels long, huh?”
I clenched my fists, pressing my lips together as I glared at Galrm, who had just burst into laughter. I had no words to respond.
I had already spread the word about my impending departure, even throwing a farewell party. And yet, I was still here.
Shooting him a brief glare, I ignored Galrm’s chuckling and hurried back inside my lab. After shutting the door behind , I was t with a large, unblinking eye resting on my desk.
[You have returned.]
“...Yeah.”
Now reduced to nothing but a core, the Observer occupied a corner of my lab. Its chanical pupil flickered a few tis before speaking cautiously.
[Still no response?]
“None. They haven’t replied at all.”
[I see.]
A week had passed. In all that ti, the Earth warship had remained utterly silent.
By now, the people of Terra had grown accustod to its presence. So had even started taking a more... direct approach.
aning, they were launching missiles at it. Or sending forr heroes to attack it with their abilities.
Naturally, there was no way that missiles or superpowers could even scratch a warship built with the full force of Earth’s scientific advancents.
‘This thing can block teleportation as if it were nothing. There’s no way those attacks would do anything...’
The real problem was that, despite all the attacks, the warship didn’t retaliate.
Humans are foolish creatures. If you ignore their provocations, they only escalate.
Lately, they had started launching coordinated strikes with S-Class heroes and experintal new bombs, seemingly testing the warship’s durability.
Just recently, Evilus had even received a request—asking to borrow a nuclear weapon.
They wanted to see if Earth’s strongest old-generation weapon, the most powerful bomb that modern humanity could produce, would elicit any reaction from the warship.
Of course, there was no way we would agree to such nonsense.
“What was the last transmission we received from them?”
[Identify your affiliation.]
“Identify my affiliation? What the hell does that an—”
Their words made no sense to . Did that an Earth had encountered another intelligent lifeform? In a world where Earth had long been unified as a single entity, the very idea of having a separate "affiliation" was absurd.
Given that the Observer’s affiliation had now been confird to belong to an Earth-based research facility—one I had never even heard of—it beca crucial to understand why Earth's warship was reacting this way.
“Anyway—if affiliation is the problem, why is that warship ignoring my transmissions? It’s not just my university code; even the temporary security codes I received while working on classified research are all being disregarded.”
[Perhaps they were deleted due to age?]
“That could be possible... but if that’s the case, shouldn’t they at least respond? Anything at all?”
I let out a frustrated sigh and turned to look out the window. The massive warship continued to hover aimlessly in the sky, without any clear purpose. Whether it had co to rescue or arrest —either way, its behavior was far too strange.
Another detail that bothered was the worn-out state of the "UN" lettering painted on its exterior. The Observer had dismissed my concern, saying that such wear was inevitable after extended space travel. But I knew better.
Earth’s warships did not degrade.
They were designed for interstellar exploration spanning billions of light-years. These vessels were built to be maintained and operated by AI for hundreds of thousands—perhaps even millions—of years. A machine designed to withstand eternity... rusting?
“...This isn’t right. I have to get inside.”
[Is that even possible?]
“Not by myself. Obviously.”
On my own, it would be impossible. Even if I had full knowledge of Earth’s technological advancents, it wouldn’t change a thing. That warship wasn’t just built with the sum of Earth’s knowledge—it was a weapon constructed from all that knowledge, supported by an entire infrastructure capable of reproducing it.
However—
I was not alone.
And this world contained anomalies beyond Earth’s comprehension.
A great mage from another dinsion, a saint who had transford into a four-dinsional entity, a magical girl corrupted by a creature from a parallel reality—
“If I were alone, sure, it’d be impossible.”
But the connections I had forged in this world were my strength.
If I combined Earth’s technology with fantasy magic and the powers of the higher dinsions...
Then breaching that seemingly invincible warship's defenses would no longer be out of reach. Even with this world’s limited infrastructure, a standing target like that was well within my grasp.
‘Of course, that’s assuming the warship stays passive until then...’
I looked at the warship, still silently absorbing missile after missile.
It remained unscratched—a testant to its cutting-edge design.
Yet in my eyes, it no longer seed like a state-of-the-art war machine.
It looked old. Decayed.
Like a tired, worn-out relic on the verge of retirent.
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