Soft people trusted in the idea of constant peace.
It felt enduring enough to quiet the instincts of survival and dull the edge of constant vigilance, making a man weak.
That comfort held until it shattered, exposing how hollow the idea of safety truly was when the monsters finally came out to play.
Sir Thyren never admired such quiet moments because his entire life revolved around the bloody rhythm of war.
Those endless conflicts carved a single truth into him that no silence or false hope could ever erase from his soul.
To him, there was no such thing as real peace in this world, only a collective delusion sustained by the weak who needed to feel safe.
Even so, his constant vigilance and the scars of a thousand battles failed to prevent his recent, crushing failure.
The memory of that failure burned in his chest like an open wound, refusing to let him rest for a single damn second.
"Sir Knight, the scanners are clear, and there are no hostile signatures within our immediate zone."
"Understood."
Inside the bridge, he stood by the viewport with his hands clasped behind his back, watching the stars stretch into cold white streaks that mirrored the chill in his bones.
He spent his entire life bleeding for the crown as the First Blade of Alfheim, a loyalist to the High Queen who now questioned everything.
This realm of eternal autumn and golden leaves always prized its sacred legacy of peace, passing it down through generations of undisputed rule.
That tranquility fractured with the death of the late queen, plunging the court into darkness and a desperate race to claim the vacant throne.
The most beloved candidate, Princess Catherine Featherwine, ascended to restore balance and secure the lineage.
But that hard-won stability collapsed the moment her daughter, Aesla Featherwine, vanished without a trace.
It was a bitter shame that a child of royal blood was snatched away like a common trinket by lawless pirate filth right under his watch.
The true agony lay in failing the only innocent soul who ever looked at a battle-scarred veteran like him and smiled as if he were family.
In truth, he was more than a guard to that little squirrel. He was the mentor who taught her swordsmanship and the noisy uncle she always complained about.
Those filthy scavengers struck while the royal party visited a Kree trade hub, leaving a gap in the lineage and throwing the court into absolute chaos.
That visit formed part of a growing alliance with the Kree Empire, as dissatisfaction with Odin's passive rule pushed them toward a power that actually shared their interests.
Now that same alliance provided the lead on the missing princess, revealing exactly who dared to kidnap her highness.
"If we return to Alfheim with empty hands, the Queen will not grant us even the mercy of a quick execution."
"She would sooner see us burned in the golden pyres for allowing a child of the High Throne to be lost to such filth."
He felt the terror radiating from his crew, men trapped in a brutal dilemma. Failure meant facing their queen's wrath, while success meant pushing deeper into the territory of the Viltrum Empire.
To these elves, the Viltrumites were something far more sinister and menacing than any demon from their ancient stories.
"The Queen expects results, so focus on the star charts and leave the politics of the throne to me."
"Even with permission papers, it is impossible to remain calm when we are entering the territory of a race that kills for fun."
He watched the trembling pilot's reflection in the glass, a pink-skinned Kree whose skill in space remained undeniable despite his low-blood birth.
Even so, Sir Thyren carried his own doubts about these Kree bastards who could not even keep a guest safe while boasting of their defense treaties.
But since finding that child was impossible without them, he kept his mouth shut.
"A Viltrumite is just a predator with a title, and once you understand their hunger, you can learn to walk among them."
Sir Thyren spoke with absolute conviction because he traded something the Viltrumites severely lacked to secure this passage.
It was the hardest gamble of his life, a desperate move that would see him branded a traitor by the High Queen if she ever uncovered the truth.
"Sir, we are still sectors away from Draxil, but the long-range scanners are picking up local defense signals."
"Keep the sub-light engines at cruising speed and ensure the signature dampeners remain active."
He walked to the tactical map and tapped the holographic display to steady the image of the distant star system.
.
.
.
Draxil looked alive from orbit.
The glowing view felt entirely wrong for a pirate world because I expected a graveyard of shadows instead of a massive cluster of scrap-metal hubs wrapped in rust and engine smog.
The local traffic panicked to make space for us long before we gave a single command, firing their emergency thrusters so frantically that several smaller ships collided in the vacuum just to widen the distance, as if driven by pure instinct to avoid a predator.
Earlier, we modified the exterior so we did not look any different from the other rusted vessels in the sector, but that meant nothing to their collective sense of a lurking danger they could not name.
The reason for the disguise was simple, because Carliya wanted someone to misunderstand our identity so she could kill them rightfully.
Regardless, my hands gripped the cold metal rail of the command deck as I watched the displays flash.
"Sir, the docking bay at Port Malice is signaling for our clearance codes, and their flight controllers are shaking so hard I can hear the feedback through the comms!"
I watched Solvek practically vibrate in his seat while his fingers flew across the navigation console.
His sudden bursts of excited energy always meant some incredibly technical adjustment to the engines that none of us understood.
"Why are we even wasting time with codes?"
"I say we just fly through the main spire and see if any of these pirate bastards have the balls to try and stop us."
That was natural Carliya for you, standing by the airlock with her hand resting on her hip.
She stared down at the planet with a look of pure bloodlust.
Sometimes I wondered if I was not strong, would she have challenged me too.
No, she probably would have just killed me.
"Stinky bitch, if you spent half as much time learning the layout of a sector as you do looking for a fight, you might actually be more useful to the Commander."
"Do you wanna die..."
Virexa did not turn his head as he stared into the dark with those blind eyes.
The old man leaned on his cane with the pride of a warrior who once claimed the stars for himself.
"In my prime..."
"Be quiet!!!"
I cut him off before the story could start because I wanted to save his old bones from the Butcher Girl, and I was already tired of hearing about his ancient glories.
"Can we just land already?"
"..Hey Glenn!! I just want a bed that does not vibrate every time Solvek hits a space bump."
A bone-deep groan came from the back of the bridge as my lazy friend finally woke up.
I looked back at Kang, rubbing his eyes with the miserable look of a man forced to face the world before his time.
As for me, I could not deny my own excitement.
This was the last stop before we faced a threat that could actually kill Viltrumites in a place no one conquered.
Though I honestly doubted it could kill me since I am the undying. After all, I intended to give my all to enjoy this stay as much as possible before the real thing started.
After a few minutes of steady descent through the vibrant atmosphere, the ship finally touched down in the terminal of the Gadget Colony with an impact that rattled the floorboards.
The moment my boots hit the ground of the terminal, the four Pirate Emperors of the planet scrambled forward to meet us with looks of desperation and visibly shaking fear.
We were currently in the country of Inovia, which was ruled by the Gadget Emperor, and landing here was entirely the choice of Solvek because that nerdy fellow wanted to buy something.
One by one, they offered the most exquisite treasures in their possession, yet none of it sparked even a flicker of genuine interest within me as I stood there in silence.
One old emperor even offered his own daughter, and looking at that fish-woman with her large lips smiling cutely at me made me feel a sudden, revolting wave of intense physical nausea.
To them, my lack of interest was more terrifying than an open threat because they could not calculate my thoughts or predict what a man of my standing might do next.
If only they knew I just wanted to spend a good time.
Regardless, their desperate sucking up only stopped when I let Solvek accept a data slate of their riches just to shut them up so we could finally move past the crowded docking bay.
Finally, we began roaming the city, though the sight of us caused the citizens of the pirate nation to scurry away or hide in whatever dark corners they could find nearby.
"Ehehe..Commander!!, look at these readings! This market is a goldmine of modern tech and unauthorized gear modifications that we absolutely need if we want to stay ahead of our enemies!"
"..Sure!"
That "absolutely need" was only for himself, as neither the crew nor the ship actually required those things to function at peak performance.
Solvek completely forgot his usual timid nature as he dragged the rest of the crew toward the high-end tech shops with a manic focus I rarely saw from him.
An hour later, Solvek finally filled three massive cargo crates with enough hardware to rebuild a cruiser from scratch after dragging us through the most exclusive shops in Inovia.
Roaming the city bored me to death, and since none of us tasted actual food during the entire journey, I decided it was finally time to find a place to sit.
Soon, we found ourselves in a major restaurant that usually hosted a dozen brutal bar fights a night, but now the entire hall remained as quiet as a secluded temple.
The patrons sat at the far edges of the dark room, staring into their drinks as if looking at us would cause their heads to spontaneously explode.
That terrified isolation did not matter to me, because for the first time, I finally enjoyed a rare moment of genuine peace and quiet.
Unlike most times, my crew was not fighting verbally or reaching for their weapons, instead focusing on the mountain of alien meat in silence.
It felt incredibly strange to see them eating peacefully without looking for a target or finding an actual reason to start a massive fight.
Of course, a second later I realized my mistake because the reason they stopped arguing was that their new target was me and my empty plate.
"Commander, you need to eat more of this krak-beast liver"
Carliya shoved a steaming plate of blackened, bleeding meat toward me with a look of intense, frantic concern.
"She's right for once, brat, so eat up before you wither away and I have to carry your scrawny ass back to the ship."
"..."
"Actually, Commander sir, the nutrient profile of this specific grain is perfect for stabilizing the energy levels you expended earlier, so I took the liberty of ordering four more servings."
"..."
"Just eat the damn thing, Glenn, before it gets cold."
"..."
Kang did not even look up from his own bowl, speaking through a mouthful of what looked like rice with an exhausted face.
Looking at the massive pile of food stacked in front of me, I realized my crew was far more dangerous when they were trying to take care of me than when they were trying to kill everyone else.
"....."
So, that was how it turned out as I was forced to eat a bunch of local food despite the fact that my internal systems did not actually require any of it.
Even a few moments of direct sunlight provided enough radiation to keep me fully charged with energy for months, making the act of chewing and swallowing feel like a chore.
"Alright, you guys, but I want you to understand that we are not here to kill without reason or spread panic, so try to be civil."
"Understood, Commander Glenn."
I looked at each of them to make sure the message sank in, because if they did not keep their impulses in check, the locals here would never survive the encounter.
.
.
.
Three hours later, the meal ended.
Right when we stepped outside the restaurant, the four emperors scrambled to keep the peace by arranging a palace in the upper spires.
They wanted to ensure my crew remained isolated from the civilian population, acting as if they held the moral high ground to judge our presence.
It made me think about how these bastards, who sell their own people into slavery and perform inhuman experiments, suddenly found the nerve to act like keepers of order.
However, Virexa and Carliya did not seem to mind the luxury at all, spending the rest of the day arguing over the tactical weaknesses of the palace's structural integrity.
Since they were occupied with their bickering, I decided I should not mind the change of pace either and retreated to the quarters they provided for us.
I spent those hours resting in the luxurious villa, finally taking some real time to recover from the constant, bone-deep vibration of the ship's engines.
For the first time in the last seven months, the silence of the room actually allowed me to drift into a deep and uninterrupted sleep.
When I finally woke up, I noticed something strange happening within my chest that had nothing to do with my mana.
Previously, I could only use one type of energy, which was my green mana used for healing magic, but now a strange orb of gold with a purple hue sat nestled in my heart.
This felt extremely comfortable, unlike mana, which has a tough edge, and it stayed as gentle as a feather while circulating through my body.
Even so, the amount of energy was incredibly small and thin, yet I could actively feel it growing at a pace slower than a snail.
It remained a separate, pulsing residue that refused to integrate or obey the usual speed of my evolution, regardless of how much I tried to force it to yield.
Whatever it was, I decided to leave it for tomorrow because there were no answers about its origin or its purpose.
After dealing with the confusion of the new energy, I went to see each of the emperors in their own fortresses to collect every bit of data they had on the Dead Zone.
In fact, that was one of the main purposes of this visit.
"Lord Glenn, age has not been kind to me, and my eyes and ears are no longer sharp enough to track the shadows of the Dead Zone, so why not drag the truth out of that centipede instead?"
"...You speak as if your age grants you immunity from my hands?"
Most of them offered nothing but stuttered excuses and maps that were decades out of date because they were too scared to even look toward that graveyard.
The only thing useful came from the Gadget Emperor, who told me about a Badoon commander named Barak who crossed the zone five years ago to attack this planet.
Barak vanished shortly after that raid, but the fact that he made the trip meant there was a physical path through the static if a pilot knew where to look.
I also went to the pirate guilds and the oldest institutions of the planet, but there were not many details about what I wanted, so I decided to pass the time silently.
That silence broke when Solvek's voice came through my comms, sounding sharp and frantic with a sudden spike of nerves.
"Commander, please, you need to see this at the docking bay, because we have something inside the ship and the sensors are going crazy!"
I took off and reached the loading ramp within the next minute, finding the crew already gathered in the hold with focused anger.
"Solvek, tell me exactly what happened and why we have a security breach in the middle of our supply deck."
"Sir, the alarms tripped right next to the hardware crates we hauled in yesterday, but it is not a pirate raid or some local thief, because there is a girl hiding inside who refuses to move."
Solvek pointed toward the large black casket we took from the Jackals, which now sat slightly open near the engine manifold.
I walked over and looked into the narrow gap where two pointed ears were visible against the dark lining of the box.
A pair of round, golden eyes stared up at me, but the moment they landed on Carliya's sharp, murderous expression, the girl flinched violently.
She scrambled backward into the furthest corner of the metal casket, her small frame trembling so hard that the heavy box rattled against the deck.
Large, silent tears began to roll down her dirt-streaked face as she curled into a tight ball, her hands clutching at the dark lining of her hiding spot.
"Sniff... please... mother... please come find me.... Waaa... uuuu... hik..."
.
.
.
(End Of The Chapter)