「That’s what happened. These two were flirting around so early in the morning nyaa.」
Nyanta was complaining to Voytek with an annoyed expression.
But she wasn’t really upset. She was just joking around. Voytek seemed to be grinning dirtily even though he was a bear.
Aki was smiling brightly, while Kou looked pretty awkward and looked away from the grinning bear Familiar.
They were currently in the ship’s cafeteria. It was very spacious, so they really stood out as they sat in the middle.
「Good going, Kou! You already raised Aki’s affection to max huh! That was damn fast.」
「Yes, he did indeed. Offering to take a walk together with them is the same as a marriage proposal for dog-type Therianthropes after all. Of course, I couldn’t help but fall after being told something like that.」
Aki made eyes at Kou with her cheeks dyed pink.
「Eh? Seriously?」
「……Oh c’mon. It’s obviously a lie nyaa. Kou, you better make damn sure you remember this. Women are pretty determined. That goes for both human and animal women. And here, we have someone who’s technically both nyaa.」
Nyanta lectured Kou while looking exasperated.
Kou glanced to the side and saw Aki with her dog ears drooping down and her tongue slightly sticking out.
「Well, I suppose it’s possible you would feel some sort of attachment if you’re invited out for a walk.」
「That’s right!」
For some reason, both Voytek and Aki expressed their agreement. Aki’s tail was waving around even faster than usual while looking pretty happy.
「On another note, we properly have meals available here huh.」
Kou forcibly changed the topic.
There was some warm soup and pizza. Carbonated drinks too. Kou encountered some familiar and nostalgic food even on this foreign planet.
「The ingredients are actually more than a thousand years old, but there’s no problem about their freshness nyaa. We have thousands of tons of meat, veggies, fish, and grains stored up. Go ahead and thankfully savor my special home cooking nyaa.」
「Thanks, Nyanta. They’re really delicious. But thousands of tons though? That’s a lot.」
「Well, no, not really, nyaa. We can actually stockpile up to three times the amount we have now. This ship can accommodate up to ten thousand people, so that’s only gonna be enough for a month’s worth of food when we’re at full capacity nyaa. We got more than enough since it’s just us here though.」
Generally, first-generation Familiars and Therianthropes have the same basic physical makeup, but they both regarded food as a luxury.
Still, though, this ship far exceeded the capacity of the aircraft carriers in service during Kou’s era. Ten thousand was a really huge number.
After finishing their meals, the trio went with Kou to check out Unit 5 that was currently parked within the ship hangar.
「Umu. Allow me to say my honest thoughts here. Technology seems to have really regressed by a whole lot. 【Sophia】must have faced a really desperate dilemma.」
Voytek let out a heavy sigh.
「Is it really that bad?」
「Yeah. Let me give you an easy-to-understand example Kou. It’s like fighting tanks with a wooden sword or bamboo spear. The Lanius is still relatively decent. But the mainstream Bear models are like passenger cars slapped with some additional armor. Those things can only serve as makeshift weapons in guerilla warfare during the Interplanetary War era.」
「I get why humanity has been pushed to the brink now nyaa.」
「The situation is far worse than we first expected. It’s difficult for us to reproduce technology used during the Interplanetary War era due to the technological restrictions placed by【Sophia】.」
「The Murders are weapons that were provided to the Stones, and the technology used on them is fairly advanced but still incomplete. However, the problem is that they aren’t bound by【Sophia’s】restrictions on super technology or the basic core tenet of【being beholden to humans】. It’s certainly very troublesome.」
The three Familiars uniformly came to the conclusion that the current Silhouette technology was woefully disadvantaged even against Murders.
「What should I do?」
「You basically have to revive lost technology and then spread it to the rest of the planet. I’m not exactly sure about the detailed process, but Astraea will handle that for you, so don’t worry.」
「Is there really a need to spread the technology around?」
「It’s impossible for this facility alone to shoulder mass-production of all the weapons that humankind will need. However, it’s entirely up to you to decide if the current humans are worthy to receive such technology, Kou.」
「I don’t know exactly how I should go about recovering lost technology though.」
Kou was honestly at a loss.
At the rate things were going, the planet will be completely overrun by Murders sent by the Stones eventually. However, even if they were to successfully repel the current threat, the technology he provided might be used in wars between fellow humans next.
In the first place, he didn’t know the first thing about the methods to recover lost technology.
『Allow me to elaborate on that topic. Technical information can be retrieved from Okeanos through me. However, you cannot obtain things that are beyond your scope of understanding.』
「Please be more specific!」
『It is possible for you to download technical information about the weapons that have been or are about to be developed during your era. Additionally, you shall also be provided with permission to use the technology under a certain scope. The railgun that you have encountered in the past is a good example.』
「I see. Yeah, I already saw railguns in action a couple of times. As for laser weapons…… They seemed to be incapable of penetrating tank armor.」
『I shall give you another example. For instance, if you request the strongest weapon system, Okeanos will never grant approval. It will also be impossible to obtain the superweapons you often see in mecha anime and games.』
「Eh? We can’t do it like in anime and games?」
『It’s impossible. In the first place, the fictitious particles and metals that exist in their settings do not exist in real life, so Okeanos can’t provide such technology.』
How blunt. Kou was hit by a mild sense of shock.
「Thank you very much for that easy to understand explanation, Astraea-san.」
Since anime and game tech was sealed, it became increasingly difficult for Kou to decide just what sort of technology should be retrieved.
He felt that he’d be scolded badly if he points out that ‘Whis exists, so maybe we can make it work’, or something along those lines, so he stopped himself from mouthing off.
『There is no other choice but to develop technology in successive stages and gradually increase your understanding of them. Would you find it easier to understand if I likened it to a game’s tech tree progression?』
「Ah, now that’s something I can understand.」
『Good. I shall support you in the development of the tech tree, so please be at ease. Develop tanks and aircraft first, and after judging which technology you actually need, draw them out and apply them to Silhouettes. The more your knowledge and understanding of technology increases, the more things Okeanos can provide you.』
「Uu…… It sounds like a whole lot of work……」
Kou only ever encountered tech trees in games after all.
『Development Engineers around the world are actively making use of their knowledge and expertise to retrieve more and more technology. You do not need to know the full technical details. A concrete image is more than enough.』
「We’ll support you with all we have, so don’t sweat it Kou!」
「Yeah, I’ll be counting on you, Voytek.」
「Don’t forget us nyaa.」
「Right.」
Kou sent a grateful gaze to his three companions who offered their support when he was at a loss about what to do.