After this, Duanmu Huai and Dardaniel chatted for a while. As Duanmu Huai expected, Dardaniel's merchant ship had indeed come from the Holy City, so Duanmu Huai asked him about the current situation in the star system where the Guardians lived.
It was no wonder that Duanmu Huai was so cautious. The galaxy was in total chaos now.
Basically, after the fall of the Human Empire, the remnants of human civilization split into two kinds. One was like the Yajin people, who still remembered some of the Empire's history. The other was like the humans from the planet that had been invaded by demons earlier—people who had already forgotten their ancestors eighty years ago.
More importantly, since very few human civilizations were currently capable of interstellar travel, it led to some rather ridiculous and awkward scenarios.
Those civilizations that remembered the Empire's history mostly believed they were the only successors of humanity, representing the Empire's final glory—yet in truth, the galaxy had at least eight hundred, if not a thousand, of these "last glories." You were definitely not the first.
As for those civilizations that had forgotten the Empire's history, they weren't unaware that other species existed in the universe. But when you tried to communicate with them, they would look at you suspiciously, wondering why this "alien" looked exactly like a human. Could it be some kind of conspiracy?
And those who inherited Imperial history weren't much better—imagine believing you were the only crown prince, only to discover you had hundreds of brothers and sisters competing with you for the throne.
From a player's perspective… that was extremely annoying. Especially when pioneering so-called "undeveloped star regions." The locals would not welcome you, and sometimes they would show hostility. So in the end, the best way for players to make first contact with new civilizations was to ask spacefaring merchant wanderers for information. At least civilizations that had dealt with wandering merchants had some perspective and weren't like those primitive ones that never left their home system, always paranoid that "the scheming subjects are out to harm the emperor."
Fortunately, according to Dardaniel, the Guardians' civilization was still relatively open-minded. Of course, that didn't mean there were no problems. They seemed to have experienced a war recently, and for now they were still curled up within their own star system. As for their military strength… mediocre at best. Since they hadn't even left their system, their level of technology was predictable.
Still, at least they understood a bit about the galaxy, and they didn't show much hostility toward outsiders. That was good enough.
In the game, Duanmu Huai had encountered the Guardians' civilization, but that was only in the mid-game. One of the clear features of [Star Sea Online] was that everything was real-time and mutable. That meant a player's actions could influence things for everyone else.
For example, if a player was the first to encounter a civilization and treated them kindly, then that civilization would extend some goodwill to later players.
But if a player showed hostility or even committed crimes against a newly encountered civilization, then that civilization would apply the same hatred to all players.
So the factions that Duanmu Huai encountered in the game didn't necessarily behave the same way in reality. Who knew how the earliest players had treated them, or how those interactions shaped their perspectives?
For now, at least, Duanmu Huai had received good news.
After the trade was completed, Dardaniel excitedly left with his Grail-class warship. Before leaving, he gave Duanmu Huai his communication channel, saying he could always reach out for trade if needed. Since the Human Empire had collapsed and all exchanges now worked by bartering, merchants like Dardaniel were very much worth befriending.
Duanmu Huai returned to his mothership with his spoils. Normally, Inquisitors kept trophies of their victories, but for players, it was much more convenient to just convert them into [Construction Points].
This time, the loot from the boarding battle was 3 [Construction Points]—and a filthy little brat.
"Go wash this brat clean."
Duanmu Huai handed the small figure to a nearby maid puppet and casually ordered. The puppet nodded and carried the unconscious child to the bath.
After a series of washing, disinfecting, and scrubbing, the cleaned-up child appeared before Duanmu Huai again.
It was a little blonde girl, about ten years old, with a blindfold over her eyes and wearing a simple garment.
"G-good day, respected sir…"
The girl stood nervously before Duanmu Huai. Luckily, she couldn't see—otherwise she might have fainted outright.
But what intrigued Duanmu Huai most was her language. It contained traces of High Gothic, which suggested she had been born into a very noble psyker family. Ordinary people would never learn such technical speech.
"You're an Astropath?"
"Yes…"
"What happened to your eyes?"
Duanmu Huai stared curiously at the blindfold, and the girl suddenly grew emotional.
"M-my father did this, so that I could receive the guidance of God. Only by losing my sight could I receive higher revelations…"
"Hah…"
Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes silently. Most Astropaths were indeed blind, but not for this reason. They became blind after undergoing the ritual called Soul Binding, in which the pure fire of the Master of Mankind burned away their impurities, remolded their nervous system, and made their will more resistant to Chaos. Only then did they become true Astropaths.
But because the Emperor's power often destroyed structures like the optic nerves, most Astropaths lost their sight afterward.
And now, from this girl's words, it seemed her people believed blindness itself was the key to becoming an Astropath?
Without the Emperor's blessing or purification, they were imitating the symptoms while missing the point. No wonder—the Empire had collapsed for millennia, and the meaning and process of the rituals had long been forgotten.
"Since you are an Astropath, you will continue your work aboard my ship."
Duanmu Huai narrowed his thoughts and looked at the girl.
"But I must warn you—the Warp is more terrible than you imagine. So you may only attempt to sense or transmit messages through it when I permit it. Understand? If you disobey, I will throw you out of this warship into the cold void and let you die there."
"Y-yes, sir, I understand."
The girl nodded nervously.
"What's your name?"
"They all call me Hitomi, sir."
"Very well, Hitomi. You may go. I'll have someone prepare a room for you."
Duanmu Huai gestured, and another maid puppet arrived to escort Hitomi out of the command room.
Only then did Anne glare at Duanmu Huai angrily.
"Sir Knight, you were too harsh with that child."
"That's right, Sir Knight. She was just captured by pirates. You should have been gentler with her… at least not scared her so badly…"
Lorena also voiced her opinion. Clearly, neither of them liked seeing Duanmu Huai treat a little girl so roughly.
Duanmu Huai shook his head.
"I didn't want to, but I had to. Because that child is an Astropath, and she has great potential."
"An Astropath?"
"Simply put, she can sense information from beyond this world—including whispers from the Dark Gods and demons. If she isn't careful, she could easily become their tool or pawn."
"There's really such a thing?"
Anne was shocked, while Lorena frowned.
"Now that you mention it, Sir Knight, I do recall some people are unusually sensitive to demons and their words… if that child is one of them, then…"
"Do you have a way, Lorena?"
Duanmu Huai looked at her curiously. He knew very few methods existed to protect Astropaths from Chaos corruption, and most of them were unusable now. Perhaps Lorena knew something.
"I could return to the Church and ask the Archbishop for guidance."
Lorena thought for a moment, then spoke.
"Then go. If you can find a solution, that would be best."
"Yes, Sir Knight. I shall take my leave."
Lorena bowed quickly and stepped through a portal back to her own world. Anne, staring at the portal, couldn't help but sigh.
"I never thought such things could really exist."
"The more places you visit, the more strange things you'll see."
Duanmu Huai shook his head and sat back down in his chair. But he hadn't forgotten to assign a Murder Puppet to secretly monitor Hitomi's quarters. After all, he had learned from the pirate leader that this girl had an uncanny ability to point out where valuable targets were, almost like prophecy. That was how the pirate had managed to ambush the [Risk Assessor]. Clearly, Hitomi was already in contact with the Warp and Chaos.
Who knew if the being inside her was still herself, or something else entirely?
In any case, better to be cautious.
After that, the warship followed the star chart provided by Dardaniel, heading toward the Guardians' system. Two days later, Duanmu Huai's ship finally arrived.
"What do we do next, Sir Knight?"
Anne eagerly leaned toward him, staring at the star system ahead. Duanmu Huai patted Olgis's head and looked forward.
"In any case, we're guests from afar. Let's greet them first… Mia, send a message."
"Yes, Master~~"
Mia replied cheerfully and opened communications.
"This is the Inquisition battleship Pink Bunny. Please respond, okay~~? We are the Pink Bunny~~"
"Ugh…"
Anne, Guleya, and Lorena all blushed crimson at Mia's casual tone, while Duanmu Huai and Olgis remained unfazed.
"Sir Knight, why must the ship be called that?"
"Couldn't you have chosen a better name?"
"What's wrong with it?"
Duanmu Huai rolled his eyes.
"Name and strength aren't proportional. A pretty name doesn't mean greater firepower. Pink Bunny is great. Just the name alone—who would dare fight us?"
"Uh…"
Anne had no answer to that bold reasoning.
"Master, no response from the other side. Their communication system seems to be malfunctioning…"
Mia reported suddenly.
"Malfunctioning?"
Duanmu Huai frowned. That shouldn't happen normally. Could the Guardians' civilization be in trouble?
"I can feel it…"
At that moment, Hitomi spoke up from the window. Her hands tightly grasped a pendant hanging from her neck—the Holy Relic Lorena had received from the Archbishop, said to ward off demons and protect the soul. Whether it truly worked, only Heaven knew.
Duanmu Huai looked at her.
"What do you feel?"
"Anger… hatred… boiling rage… I can sense it, just ahead… something wants to destroy everything…"
"Oh?"
A cold light flashed in Duanmu Huai's eyes.
"Then let's go and see."
(End of Chapter)