Sario's Journey

My name was Sario Barakel, and I was born on Zilta, the fourth planet of the Korado Star System, a Level E civilization. I belonged to the Kuushi Race, had grown up in an ordinary family, and had always dreamed of becoming a spacecraft pilot.

Unfortunately, the spacecraft I was traveling aboard was attacked by pirates, and I was captured. Since I wasn’t the child of a wealthy family, I was sold at a lower-class citizen market and purchased by the goblin military.

From then on, I spent every day being worked to the bone by the goblins. However, I eventually met an Earthling named Zen, and together we managed to escape from them. Unfortunately, returning to my home in the Korado Star System would require either an enormous amount of money or a spacecraft capable of long-distance faster-than-light travel.

Zen and I had obtained a Small Spacecraft, but its limited capabilities made it impossible to reach the Korado Star System. We therefore planned to start an interplanetary transportation business, save up money, and eventually return to my home planet.

While I was preparing to launch our transportation business, a certain news report caught my attention. I was in our room at the Guest Tower, using my Smart Glasses to prepare the application documents for starting the business, when I noticed the words “Korado Star System.” It was a report announcing that war had broken out there.

“What does this mean?”

When I searched for more information about the Korado Star System, I discovered reports stating that it had entered a state of war with the goblins’ Gonuvah Empire.

No… What had happened to Zilta? Was my family safe? I searched thoroughly for more information, but I couldn’t find out what had happened to my home planet.

My anxiety grew so intense that I couldn’t sit still. I stood up and began pacing back and forth across the room. Before long, all I could think about was returning to the Korado Star System as soon as possible.

“What am I going to do?”

Traveling the 270 light-years to the Korado Star System would cost approximately two hundred million Crebits. I didn’t have that kind of money, so my only option was to sell something to raise the travel expenses.

The only valuable thing I could sell was our Small Spacecraft. But it belonged to Zen as well. I considered whether I could sell the knowledge stored in my mind, but quickly realized that would be difficult.

The planets with markets where such knowledge could be sold were rather far away. That left selling the Small Spacecraft as my only option. Just as my thoughts were beginning to spin out of control, Zen returned.

When Zen saw my face, he immediately seemed to realize something was wrong.

“Sario, did something happen?”

I told Zen what was happening in the Korado Star System.

“Do you want to go back to Korado?”

“Yes, but I don’t have the money for the journey. I need about two hundred million Crebits.”

Zen thought for a moment before making a suggestion.

“Let’s sell the Small Spacecraft.”

“Are you sure? If we sell it, we might never be able to get another one.”

“The things we might never get our hands on again are the Trans-Spacetime Jump Field Generator and the Luon Drive, right? We can just remove those and sell the rest.”

I immediately understood his reasoning. Our Small Spacecraft was an interplanetary vessel built by the Anubis Race, a Level C civilization, but it was still the kind of spacecraft that could be purchased for several billion Crebits.

I immediately put the Small Spacecraft up for sale. We decided to remove the Trans-Spacetime Jump Field Generator and Luon Drive installed aboard it and store them in a rented warehouse along with our maintenance robots.

Because I was in such a hurry to sell the Small Spacecraft, I was forced to accept a low offer of approximately one billion Crebits. I tried to give Zen half the proceeds, but he refused.

“Once you reach Korado, you’ll have to find your family and evacuate them, won’t you? And if you decide to come back here afterward, you’ll need a lot of money for that too. I’ll earn money here, so I want you to use all of it, Sario.”

His words nearly brought tears to my eyes.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me. More importantly, don’t forget that I’m the one looking after the Trans-Spacetime Jump Field Generator and the Luon Drive. Those things are worth far more than the Small Spacecraft itself. Make sure you come back.”

I parted ways with Zen and set out on my journey to the Korado Star System. Naturally, there were no spacecraft traveling directly to Korado, so I had to transfer between several ships along the way.

After five months of traveling, I finally reached the outer region of the Taritar Star System, one system away from Korado. From there, I spent more time traveling to Rodoa, the second planet of Taritar, and eventually arrived at Farau Spaceport.

During my journey, I had heard that many members of the Kuushi Race had evacuated to Rodoa, so I intended to gather information there.

Rodoa was a planet controlled by the Kaashi Race. The Kaashi were a species that had branched off from the Kuushi Race several thousand years earlier and developed independently. Their appearance was identical to that of the Kuushi, and they had reached the same Civilization Level.

After gathering information near the spaceport, I learned that refugees from Zilta were living on Daria Island on Rodoa. With that information in hand, I headed for Daria Island.

Apparently, the Taritar Star System’s government had been reluctant to accept a large number of refugees. However, marriages between members of the Kuushi and Kaashi Races were not uncommon, so there were already Kuushi living on Rodoa. Those residents had reportedly petitioned the government to accept the refugees.

As a result, the government temporarily opened Daria Island, a previously undeveloped and uninhabited island, as a settlement for the refugees. Essentially, the Kuushi were expected to develop the island themselves and establish a way to support their own lives.

The Kuushi had fled to escape the war, so most had brought very little money with them. Under those circumstances, simply establishing the basic infrastructure necessary for survival had been about all they could manage.

Accommodating approximately ten million Kuushi on a small island was an enormous challenge. Upon arriving on Daria Island, I began searching for my family. Incidentally, my family consisted of five people: my parents, my older brother, my younger sister, and me.

Countless temporary houses had been erected across Daria Island. Kuushi families were living in these cramped dwellings.

I searched the Planetary Information Network for my family members’ names, but found no matches. I therefore visited a makeshift government office on Daria Island and asked whether there was any way to confirm my family’s whereabouts and safety.

A male employee assisted me.

“The Barakel family from Olinsara Province, correct? We have our own records, so I’ll search them now… Ah, here we are. It seems that Sonya-san is currently on Daria Island.”

I showed him my identification to prove that I was Sonya’s brother, and he gave me her address. When I went there, I spotted a familiar-looking girl walking toward me along the road, her face weary with exhaustion.

“Sonya.”

The girl looked at me and tilted her head.

“It’s me. Sario.”

Sonya’s eyes widened, and she broke into a run. She threw herself into my arms and began crying. Several years had passed since I had disappeared, but Sonya still remembered me.

“Big Brother Sario…”

I waited until she stopped crying before asking what had happened. Apparently, Sonya had been at school when the war began. As the goblins attacked Zilta, the school had sent its students to the spaceport and evacuated them to Rodoa. As a result, she had been separated from our family, but Sonya herself had survived.

The region where our parents and older brother had been living had apparently been devastated in the goblins’ initial surprise attack. Our parents and brother were probably dead. Hatred for the goblins surged within my heart.

“Big Brother Sario, what are we going to do now?”

Sonya had been living in a facility resembling an orphanage. It was a temporary shelter that looked after children until their families were found. Once a child’s family was located, they were required to leave.

After considering our situation, I decided that returning to Chiratia might be our best option. I wanted to discuss everything with Zen before making a final decision.

“Let’s go to Chiratia together. Your big brother has a friend there.”