Chapter 74: The Calm Before the Storm

Chapter 74: The Calm Before the Storm

Deep-Sea District, Starbearer Association · Deep Blue Branch, The Tidesong Hall.

“No! Absolutely not! There’s no way I’m giving you an entire special-operations squad!”

Upon hearing that the envoy from headquarters actually intended to transfer an entire special-ops squad from his branch at once, the Deep Blue Branch President, Dotray, the Starbearer known as the Predator of The Shallow Sea, finally failed to contain the fury boiling inside him. He slammed a palm heavily onto the coral conference table before him.

The impact was so forceful that the luminous pearls hanging overhead began to sway uncontrollably.

And under the wavering light, the others in the conference room looked at Branch President Dotray who was currently locked in confrontation with Headquarters Envoy named Byron.

None of them dared to make a sound, terrified that the slightest slip might drag them into this disaster for no reason.

Fortunately, while Dotray was furious, he was only venting his frustration—he had no intention of genuinely opposing headquarters.

After all, leaving everything else aside, Byron’s strength alone was enough to take on the entire Deep Blue Branch by himself.

Thus, once he calmed his emotions, Dotray sat back down.

He lifted his gaze toward the metal-masked headquarters envoy not far away—‘Indestructible Body’ Byron.

With a severe expression, he said:

“Byron, at most I can give you half a squad—and even then, the one leading them can only be a vice captain.”

“After all, the area around Deep Blue Metropolis only has a low-risk exploration zone. That means the Starbearers in our branch—both in number and in quality—are far inferior to those in other New Federation cities.”

“Not to mention, our limited manpower must also be used to guard the precious deep-blue ore veins.”

“If word gets out that our branch suddenly lost a full special-ops squad, there will absolutely be people who start getting ideas.”

Safe Zones, Low-Risk Zones, High-Risk Zones, Fallen Zones, Forbidden Zones.

These are the risk classifications for exploration areas jointly determined by the Starbearer Association and the New Federation Government.

The first three are publicly available region data, while the last two are confidential and cannot be disclosed.

A Safe Zone, as the name suggests, is relatively safe.

City areas like Deep Blue Metropolis, or the First Floating City, the Luminous Ark where the Association’s headquarters is located—these are considered generally safe, with very few dangerous incidents.

A Low-Risk Zone is an area where only Starbeasts up to the second-order are consistently observed.

A High-Risk Zone is where Starbeasts up to the third-order are observed.

As for Fallen Zones and Forbidden Zones, these two categories are designated solely by the Starbearer Association and never made public.

Unlike the nearly semi-transparent nature of low- and high-risk zones, Fallen Zones and Forbidden Zones are areas the Association cannot observe at all.

Both are unobservable, but the Association distinguishes them based on one factor:

The survival rate of Starbearers who entered.

Any unobservable dangerous zone where a fourth-order or higher Starbeasts are active, but from which Starbearers have historically managed to return alive, is designated a Fallen Zone—open only to high-ranking Starbearers.

As for areas from which no Starbearer has ever returned alive, the Association classifies them as Forbidden Zones, absolutely prohibited from exploration.

What is astonishing is that among all officially recorded Fallen Zones that are considered explorable today, over two-thirds of them were singlehandedly opened up by the current Association President in his youth.

Truly, his title as the Strongest of the Era is well deserved.

Inside the conference hall, although Dotray had already explained his difficulties to Byron, it was clear that the HQ Envoy had anticipated this long beforehand.

After thinking for a moment, he spoke.

“Dotray, have your people leave first. There are things I can only say to you alone.”

“Alright.”

With a wave of Dotray’s hand, the six Starbearers of the branch—Gohn included—immediately stood up and left the conference hall.

At the same time, the two second-order Starbearers Byron had brought from the Steam City also left voluntarily under his signal.

Not long after, the wide conference hall was soon left with only Dotray and Byron.

Once Byron confirmed that no one else remained besides Dotray, he took a Star Gear from his coat—something like a “signal blocker”—and placed it on the table.

It severed all possibilities of outside surveillance.

After completing all these layers of security, Byron finally began to speak about the mission details he was allowed to disclose.

And after hearing the staggering information embedded in Byron’s words, even a man as experienced as Dotray could not help but widen his eyes, jaw dropping in utter shock.

Ten minutes later.

“Dotray, that’s all I can reveal to you, the rest is something that would be best for you to never know.”

“Knowing too much brings you no benefit. On the contrary, it may very well cost you your life.”

Dotray, still overwhelmed, did not respond.

He kept taking deep breaths, clearly forcing himself to digest the earth-shaking information swirling in his mind.

After a moment, Dotray closed his eyes, and the gill slits beside his ears closed tightly.

When he opened his eyes again, all the earlier hesitation and anger had vanished—replaced entirely by a powerful, blazing excitement.

“Alright, Byron. One special-ops squad is one special-ops squad. As long as the promise you made can be fulfilled…”

“Forget one squad—even if you needed this old man to go personally, I’d do it without a second thought!”

Looking at the overly agitated Dotray, Byron used the characteristic rational composure of his Machina Type Starbearer physiology to cool him down.

“There’s no need, Dotray. This isn’t because I look down on you, nor because I don’t want a powerful helper like you.”

“It’s because the amount of intelligence those people have gathered on Deep Blue Metropolis is far beyond what you can imagine.”

“Deploying a special-ops squad will alert them, yes—but not enough for them to flee immediately.”

“But if even you, the branch president, start moving personally… with the intelligence network they’ve built here over the years, they’ll sense danger instantly and relocate.”

“And once they move, catching them will become much, much harder.”

Hearing this, Dotray couldn’t help but ask the most critical question:

“Byron, if you’re so afraid of alarming those people, why don’t you seek help from your house? Or even the Association headquarters?”

“You and I both know that whether it’s the Iron Dome House behind you, or the headquarters with the largest number of high-ranking Starbearers in the New Federation—they’re all far stronger than my tiny Deep Blue Branch. They can dispatch far more high-level Starbearers than I ever could.”

Faced with this question, Byron gave an answer Dotray had absolutely not expected.

“That’s because my house once made an agreement with the President.”

“Unless that person commits an act that endangers the New Federation, we are absolutely forbidden from laying a hand on him.”

“And although that man has done many things over the years, if you judge solely from the perspective of the New Federation and the Starbearer community… none of what he has done harms the Federation.”

“On the contrary—he has been pushing the development of both the New Federation and the entire Starbearer world forward.”

“So if the President learns that, despite our outward compliance, we’ve been secretly investigating him behind the scenes… he would wipe us.”

“And both the headquarters and our own house contain plenty of the President’s people.”

“Only in edge regions like Deep Blue Metropolis and the Steam City—places far from the Seven Floating Cities—can I guarantee that there are no eyes or informants belonging to the President.”

“Otherwise, even if I claimed to be exploring a high-level Fallen Zone, I still couldn’t ensure that no information would leak.”

Hearing this, Dotray finally understood the whole situation.

And now that he understood the importance of the mission—and the enormous benefits he himself could gain—Dotray no longer had any hesitation.

“Alright, Byron. I get it. Tell me, who in my branch have you set your sights on? Whoever you choose, just say the word—I’ll make sure they cooperate fully.”

“Gohn. I need him for now.”

“You’re sure?”

Dotray looked at Byron in surprise, then reminded him seriously:

“Byron, Gohn is indeed strong, but due to the harsh conditions required for a Perfect Awakening, he absolutely won’t—and cannot—fight at full power right now.”

“If he could, he wouldn’t have avoided the core branches in the Seven Floating Cities. He would never have come all the way to the Deep Blue Branch.”

Byron’s reply was resolute:

“Don’t worry. I have a way to make him fight at full strength without disrupting his Perfect Awakening conditions.”

“Is that so? Then I have no objections. It depends on whether he agrees.”

“His personality is rather… unusual. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to persuade him. I hope you understand.”

“No problem.”

With the selection confirmed between Dotray and Byron, the anime’s scene switched again—this time to the hallway outside the conference room.

And to the surprise of the dimensional audience, the camera focused on a middle-aged Starbearer completely unfamiliar to them.

Next to him appeared a brief info panel:

【Name: William Howard (Clockwork Knight)】

【Affiliation: Starbearer Association · Steam City Branch】

【Rank: Mid-Level Second-Order】

【Base Star Energy: 7500】

【Star Origin: Transformation Type · Black-Iron Clock】

While the two bigshots inside were still talking, William, bored out of his mind, leaned against the hallway wall.

He was carefully adjusting the time on the pink children’s wristwatch on his left arm.

Not only was the watch ridiculously childish, even the edges of the dial were covered with crooked strawberry stickers.

The cute, silly little accessory contrasted so sharply with his heavy black armor, the massive greatsword on his back, and his intimidating knightly aura… that it looked absurdly out of place.

“William, why do you keep wearing that children’s watch? Does it have some special function?”

Lost in his own world, William suddenly heard a voice beside him.

He looked up toward the source.

The speaker was none other than Benjamin—the recently assigned new First Squad Captain of the Steam City, transferred directly from headquarters one month ago.

At the same time, a new info panel appeared:

【Name: Benjamin Sesko (Demolition Expert)】

【Affiliation: Starbearer Association · Steam City Branch】

【Rank: High-Level Second-Order】

【Base Star Energy: 8500】

【Star Origin: Machina Type · Metallic Detonation】

Although William wasn’t particularly close to Benjamin, he still smiled and answered:

“Captain, this isn’t just a child’s watch. It’s an important protective charm my precious daughter gave me. Of course I can’t just take it off.”

Seeing William’s face full of fatherly joy, Benjamin—being a Machina-type Starbearer—immediately leaned his upper body back exactly 15 degrees.

At the same time, the muscles on his face precisely shifted into an expression of helplessness mixed with envy.

He perfectly acted out the “complicated emotions” of jealousy and admiration upon hearing William’s words.

Benjamin’s performance was extremely convincing, as a tenth-generation elite of the Iron Dome House—a bloodline filled with Machina Type Starbearers—he had undergone the house’s “Emotion Removal Procedure” at the age of six.

His amygdala, the part of the human brain responsible for emotional processing, had been surgically removed.

Thus, everything he was displaying now was nothing more than a cold, calculated façade.

A Machina Type Starbearer had no need for useless “human emotions.”

To them, such things were nothing but burdens.

【Human Emotion Simulation Program activated. Generating appropriate emotional response…】

【Optimal emotional expression computed. Estimated increase in target individual ‘William Howard’s’ favorability: 5%–10%】

【Recommended emotional expression as follows…】

Powered by his advanced Human Emotion Simulation Program, Benjamin quickly identified the ideal response.

He suddenly lowered his head, studying William’s children’s watch with exaggerated seriousness.

A moment later, he offered a very “kind” reminder:

“William, the time on your watch seems a bit off. Could it be that the internal components have rusted from age?”

Hearing this, William sighed helplessly.

“Yeah… the humidity here in Deep Blue Metropolis is too high. It’s nothing like the dry climate of Steam City. As soon as my precious charm arrived here, it started having problems.”

“But it’s fine. Once I return to Steam City, I’ll bring out my tools and give it proper maintenance. I’ll make sure it works again.”

Benjamin asked with “curiosity”:

“Why wait until you return? If I remember correctly, the internal structure of that kind of watch is extremely simple.”

“As Steam City’s famous watchmaker, fixing it shouldn’t be hard for you.”

William waved his hand with a proud smile:

“Captain Benjamin, that idea is what an excellent watchmaker would think—not what an excellent father would think.”

“For an excellent father, repairing the watch is important, yes. But even more important is enjoying the look of admiration and worship in his daughter’s eyes while he fixes it.”

“So no—this watch must be fixed only after I return home.”

Hearing this, Benjamin froze for a moment before saying, with a very “emotional” expression:

“A man without a daughter… can’t really understand what fathers feel.”

“It’s alright, Captain. Once you meet someone you want to protect for a lifetime, and once you become a father yourself, you’ll understand.”

“…Then I’ll hope that day comes.”

“Don’t worry, Captain. It definitely will.”

. . .

Real World · Crustyroll.

The dimensional viewers watched the two unfamiliar characters who appeared for the first time.

Even though they didn’t know what roles these two would play later, nor how they would interact with the main cast, the fact that the production team devoted precious screen time to flesh them out showed one thing clearly:

These two were absolutely going to be important later.

Otherwise, Stellaris’ production team would never waste so many valuable resources on two irrelevant side characters.

And combining their conversation with the earlier dialogue between Dotray and Byron, some sharp viewers had already started putting pieces together.

“A daughter’s gift. A watch that suddenly broke. His obsession with going home… Old man, why do you look like a man with a death flag plastered on your forehead?”

“Seven Floating Cities, Fallen Zones and Forbidden Lands… and now the sudden appearance of the Steam City. Looks like the production team is already laying the foundation for Season 2. Don’t tell me the next season's main setting is going to be Steam City?”

“The HQ guy specifically asked for Gohn? Looks like the Noob hunter is about to get dragged into a high-end lobby. I wonder how he’ll perform this time.”

“Human Emotion Simulation Program?? Damn, the machinas in Stellaris are terrifying. Why would anyone choose to stop being a normal human just to become a machine… absolute madness.”

“Guys, do you think the HQ Envoy’s mission is actually the trigger for that terrible prophetic dream Tendou had earlier? Otherwise why would the production team suddenly insert this entire sequence out of nowhere?”

“Damn—if that’s the case, doesn’t that mean Tendou and the others are suddenly going to face a fourth-order Starbearer, four second-order Starbearer, plus a bunch of first-order Starbearers? How the hell is the current Ember Base supposed to fight that?”

While the dimensional viewers continued fiercely debating all the implications revealed in this new plot segment, the scene in the anime suddenly cut to the doors of the conference hall.

Creeeak—

As the doors slowly opened, the very first thing shown was a unique, almost ominous composition of the hall’s interior.

The luminous pearls hanging from the ceiling were being gradually swallowed by something like thick storm clouds.

Their light grew thin and sparse, and even the originally straight beams seemed to warp into faint halos, giving the entire space an inexplicable sense of pressure.

At the same time, the tidal carvings along the conference hall walls began to move—slowly flowing like tides gathering before a storm.

Just moments ago, it had been an ordinary meeting room.

But under the production team’s deliberate atmospheric rendering, the simple hall now carried the unmistakable illusion of a violent tempest on the verge of breaking.

As the camera pushed in closer, it soon focused on the very center of this “storm”—

The Headquarters Envoy, Byron.

“Alright, everyone. I’ve finished speaking with Dotray. You may enter now.”

The instant Byron’s voice fell, the entire screen abruptly dimmed.

Only a pair of special eyes remained, shining with mysterious light in the depths of darkness.

Combined with the distinctive ocean-wave ambience unique to The Tidesong Hall, everyone watching immediately understood one thing:

A colossal storm… was about to begin.

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