The Foreigner on the Periphery

The Committee members made a prediction.

“It will take a considerable amount of time for Asif-666 to reach this far.”

They expected Asif-666 to utilize the tentacle monsters raised in the facility.

The drawback to this method was the significant physical and mental damage inflicted on the tentacles with each jump. Even accounting for healing through Divine Power, they would inevitably need time to recover.

It was exactly like when Minjun’s group had relied on Dell to escape.

The Committee members noted,

“This is different from when the Committee advanced by operating a fleet through normal means. Over the course of seventeen dimensional jumps, we only used the tentacles once, but they will have to rely on them every single time. Furthermore, they will need time to train just to handle the hijacked Space Motherships. Considering the complexity and scale of the equipment, it won't be easy.”

However, their prediction was wrong.

The path taken by the prisoner’s army was reported to the Committee much faster than expected.

“They’re crossing dimensions by occupying Terminals one by one?!”

It was a method made possible only because Asiph-1 could cross dimensions with his bare body.

They had chosen a more cumbersome approach that ultimately saved a massive amount of time.

First, Asiph-1 would select a suitable adjacent dimension, infiltrate its Terminal, and dominate the control personnel. Then, he would secure a single operational slot while the facility ran normally.

Once those preparations were complete, the Space Motherships, equipped with their Jump Code Generators, could easily cross the dimensional boundary to follow Asiph-1.

Once even a single ship crossed over, bringing in the rest was a piece of cake.

“Why are they doing it like that? What’s the rush?”

“They must have shut down the fleet's artificial intelligence entirely, since it can’t be brainwashed. If they're relying on manual controls, it should take a long period of training to get used to it, yet they’re moving this quickly...”

After going through the trouble of stealing a massive military force, they were advancing recklessly fast without even preparing to fully utilize it.

From the Committee’s perspective, it was an utterly incomprehensible course of action.

Their prediction that the enemy would take their time to train while advancing was completely wrong.

Meanwhile, because they touched every Terminal along their route, their movements became known across all dimensions after only a slight delay.

The ones who reacted most sharply to the news were, naturally, the dragons who acted as the rulers of each dimension.

“One hundred fifty-eight Space Motherships?!”

“Asif-666? And who is that?”

“Apparently, he’s a prisoner who was serving time on a planet called Earth.”

“Ah... that escaped convict? They still haven’t caught him?”

“Failing to catch him isn’t the problem. From the looks of it, he’s ready to wage an all-out war with the Committee.”

The dragons across the dimensional system grew tense.

If Asif-666 passed through their lands and decided to turn his guns on them just to test them out, it would spell immediate ruin and disaster.

Fortunately, however, the prison breaker did not seem to have any intention of making enemies out of the dragons at this time.

His fleet refrained from looting or using force in the dimensions they passed through. They merely prepared to jump to the next dimension and quietly moved on.

The Dragon Race debated how they should respond to this situation.

“The Committee is frantically sending requests for cooperation. They want us to shut down the Terminals in any dimension the enemy fleet might pass through. Even if they get taken over, they want us to render them inoperable.”

It was the Committee’s attempt to slow the fleet’s advance by even a fraction.

“What? They want us to evacuate all personnel and remove the Mana Crystals from the Guidance Towers?”

“It’s more than that. They want us to completely dismantle the facilities and equipment and move them elsewhere.”

“...Are they out of their minds?!”

This was completely different from when they had sealed Earth’s Terminal to stop the fugitive from escaping to another world.

Right now, far too many dimensions had received similar demands. This was compounded by the fact that the Committee was accounting for every possible route the fleet could take.

But doing so would completely halt the flow of logistics and money between neighboring dimensions.

The rulers of each dimension made different choices depending on their debt relations with the Committee or their degree of subordination.

Some dimensions immediately closed up, just as Earth had done, while others dragged their feet and delayed as long as possible.

Asif-666’s army seized those openings and continued their advance.

There were even dimensions that blatantly cleared the way for them.

The results of the Balaur Council meetings held in such dimensions reached almost identical conclusions.

“An escaped convict who hijacked 158 planetary-class weapons... He’s certainly a threat.”

“But right now, his only target seems to be the Committee.”

Furthermore, his destination was the very place they had been robbed of long ago.

The center of the dimensional system.

“Rather than taking anyone’s side right now, it would be best to just watch.”

“Yeah! Let’s see him go all the way. If the two sides whittle down each other’s strength, we should be thankful.”

“Besides, isn’t Asif-666’s military power just stuff he stole from the Committee in the first place?”

Since the fugitive’s forces were voluntarily emptying the Committee’s coffers and consuming their weapons, the dragons only needed to watch the fire from across the river and reap the benefits.

If protests came in later about why they had surrendered their Terminals so helplessly, they could simply argue that they had been occupied before they even had a chance to react.

Most decisively, they thought this:

“The Committee will be the winner regardless. There is no chance Asif-666 will become a threat to the dragons in the future. Therefore, it is best to let them fight. Let that prisoner inflict as much damage on the Committee as possible.”

Receiving this unspoken cooperation from a significant number of dragons, the fleet continued its advance. At a speed far beyond anyone’s expectations.

Thanks to this, the king of Endelion was forced to hurriedly execute his plan.

*

Dimension #98-194.

Most of the stars in this world were industrial planets meant for ore excavation.

The planet where the middle-aged dwarf, Osdal, worked was one of them.

Working at the jump Terminal, he had just finished communicating with a departing ship. The transport vessel left for another dimension, fully loaded with the special metal mined on this planet.

Osdal took a breather and pulled a pipe from his pocket, biting down on it.

‘Do I only have about three years left to work here?’

The metal produced on this planet, Elebrium, was in high demand as a medium for Magic, but rumors were widespread that the reserves here would only last for another three years.

Osdal’s employer and the owner of this planet, the Mining Guild, was run by dragons.

And dragons were a race famous for having absolutely no interest in the job security or livelihoods of their employees.

‘That means I have to find a way to survive in advance.’

Unfortunately, changing jobs early was not an option right now. He would incur the resentment of the dragons.

He had to wait until he was officially fired before he could start a new job. This was a situation that occurred when the employer’s rights and power were exceedingly strong.

‘Damn lizard bastards.’

Grumbling, he recalled a recent communication he had with one of his employers.

The dragon had handed down work instructions mixed with its usual threatening lectures. It babbled ridiculous nonsense about working like an owner even though he wasn’t one, and showing the abilities of a dragon even though he wasn’t a dragon. That part was no different from usual.

However... its tone while delivering all that had been slightly different from usual.

‘It seemed strangely in a good mood.’

What reason would a dragon have to be in a good mood?

‘It must have pulled off a massive heist somewhere.’

It was certain they had sold off the recently shipped Elebrium at a very good price.

‘Phew, where am I supposed to go if I get fired from here? Of all times to be forced into dimensional immigration.’

It couldn’t be helped if he wanted to feed his family.

At least Osdal was a free man working at the Terminal, so his circumstances were better.

Compared to the plight of the fifteen thousand goblin slaves currently toiling away underground, that is.

Slaves were objects, not people. The goblins were treated as the property of the dragons, and there was a high probability they would just be abandoned here once the mines closed.

There was a chance the Committee might arrange a mass immigration, but lately, more and more dimensions were refusing to take in goblins.

There might be a demand for them in mines in other dimensions, but...

‘With the current market rates, the transportation costs would outweigh the price of the slaves.’

Osdal’s thoughts about the goblins were cut short there.

Even if their future was incredibly bleak and miserable, that was neither Osdal’s fault nor something he needed to concern himself with.

He began to ponder if there really was no way to secretly look for employment and make a sort of reservation behind the dragons’ backs.

The flow of his thoughts changed at that very moment.

A voice rang out from right behind him, where he hadn’t felt any presence at all.

=“Obey.”=

*

Flash!

The cargo Terminal of a remote planet.

A blue flash of light flickered and exploded in the sky above.

Fwoosh!

Every time the blinding light vanished, a massive space warship resembling a floating island appeared.

“Alright, another one.”

Inside the jump Terminal’s control room, Asiph-1 muttered with a satisfied expression.

Beside him, a dwarf with a vacant gaze manipulated the control panel with an apathetic face. The other employees elsewhere were in the same state.

Because this Terminal had been originally designed and operated for cargo, it didn’t have as many employees compared to passenger Terminals.

That was the reason Asiph-1 had chosen this place.

Flaaash!

The space warship that had jumped first moved aside to make room, and another one revealed itself.

The unmanned weapons installed to protect the Terminal had long since been neutralized by Asiph-1.

“It would be nice if the Committee bastards fell this easily, too.”

Asiph-1 smiled bitterly. He knew full well that it was impossible.

It would be one thing if they could be easily brainwashed like in the past, but it had become quite tricky now.

“Good, the 158th.”

The final Space Mothership crossed over, and Asiph-1 took a breather.

Now he just needed to receive the decision for their next waypoint from his creator, rest a bit to recover his strength, and then cross dimensions to repeat the process.

“Done!”

Asiph-1 waved his hand.

At that, the Terminal employees, who now had nothing left to do, lost consciousness and collapsed.

‘But... isn’t there too little of a reaction?’

Because the vast majority of the residents were mine slaves devoted to hard labor underground, there were no noticeable residential areas around the Terminal.

Even taking that into account, it was far too quiet.

‘When we take over Terminals like this, the dragons usually at least put up a show of protesting even if they can’t actually resist. They have to do that so they can take credit with the Committee later.’

The owner of this mining planet was also a dragon.

Even if they all lived on other planets, they should have been informed of the current situation.

Despite that, it was far too quiet.

He had already rummaged through the memories of all the employees here beforehand, but there was absolutely no suspicious information. The goblin slaves underground were also dedicating themselves to production as usual.

Even just a moment ago, a transport ship exporting special metal had departed normally.

‘Is it a planet they don’t have much interest in?’

He was just about to send a mental wave to Asif-666, who had arrived late in this dimension.

=...!=

A sharp intent dug into his mind.

It was emanated by his creator.

=These insolent...!=

“...?!”

At first, Asiph-1 froze, thinking it was a reprimand directed at him.

But a beat later, he realized the truth.

It was a mental wave akin to a soliloquy, directed at his creator’s enemies... who were not present.

And Asiph-1 also came to realize what his father had sensed.

—!

Asiph-1’s face hardened.

From the floor of the building he was standing on. No, from somewhere deep underground, far beneath it.

A storm of magical energy of unfathomable scale was raging.

And then.

Rumbbbble!

The earth began to shake crazily.

It was the thrashing of the earth reacting to a magical lure, completely unlike a natural earthquake.

*

Grand Commissioner Todd asked.

“So, how much did you promise to pay those dragons?”

The king of Endelion answered.

“Four million Talents.”

Todd frowned.

“That is an absurd amount. What is the basis for that calculation?”

The king traced back through the contents of the report he had received.

“The land value of the planet, the estimated Elebrium reserves, the post-depreciation value of the infrastructure, and other miscellaneous assets added up to 3.7 million Talents. Factoring in the ransom for fifteen thousand goblin slaves adds another 300,000 Talents. We agreed to pay a total of four million Talents.”

Todd asked back, seemingly unable to understand.

“You priced the goblin slaves at twenty Talents a head? When the bounty on a petty criminal is a hundred to two hundred Talents? Hmph, those dragons must be grinning from ear to ear.”

The king spoke in a nonchalant tone.

“It’s not an unreasonable price to pay if we can adequately deplete their forces.”

Then, he added quietly,

“I have no intention of actually paying it in full, anyway.”

Todd muttered, “I suppose so,” and turned his head. Their gazes focused on the magic projection.

Displayed there was a planet spewing a twisted storm of magical energy from deep underground.

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