Chapter 79: News of the Ruins

When Ephnel returned home, her parents had just gotten back as well.

However, they each held a black metal briefcase.

As soon as they got home, they took out a card, swiped it across the electronic identification area of the case, and opened it.

Inside was a laptop computer and some other electronic instruments.

Ephnel keenly noticed something strange.

She had seen these things before in Masaki Hinaki’s office.

“Dad, Mom, what is this…”

“These are portable third-waveform input terminals, used to detect the ‘dust’ left behind in areas where Erosion disasters have occurred,” Yanase Takuma explained straightforwardly without much elaboration.

“Actually, your mother and I have another matter to attend to on this trip back. You’re more familiar with this area, so we were hoping you could show us around the city.”

“What is it about?”

“Ruins.”

“Ruins!?”

Ephnel’s face showed astonishment.

As an Agent, she knew better than anyone what “ruins” represented.

The so-called Agents, as well as their core devices—the “Beacons”—were all products of ruin technology.

…

“But, no ruins have ever been discovered in the Seikyo City area, so why…”

“That’s what we find strange too, but we were too far away when we received the news and couldn’t be certain,” Yanase Takuma’s expression was grave.

“A week ago, two very serious Erosion incidents occurred in Seikyo City, right?”

“Yes, at that time… several disasters did indeed occur.”

“We were under restrictions before and couldn’t contact you and Yukina. Your mother and I were very worried. It wasn’t until yesterday that we learned you and Yukina were safe. Your mother and I were both so relieved…”

Yanase Takuma gave Ephnel a deep look.

“We never expected you to become an Agent. That was your choice, and I have no right to question it, but… no matter what, Naoto, you are our child. Both you and Yukina must live well.”

“Dad, I promise, I’ll do my best.”

“That’s good.”

Yanase Takuma nodded, glanced at the Azure Pendant around Ephnel’s neck, and said no more.

Being an Agent was a profession with a very high mortality rate, and Yanase Takuma understood this.

But sometimes, there were things that even they couldn’t choose.

He could only protect his daughters in his own way.

“I also received some intelligence from that time. Based on my speculation, this may be related to the ‘ruin technology’ we are searching for.”

Yanase Kaoru chimed in at this point, and Ephnel frowned slightly.

“Ruin technology? Are you sure?”

“No, but we have seen video recordings of the incident, so we have some understanding.”

“You still have the recordings?”

“Only a portion of them.”

Ephnel nodded.

What happened in Seikyo City was no secret, but generally speaking, people in this era had completely closed their eyes and ears.

She hadn’t expected her parents to be paying attention to even this, and from the looks of it, they seemed to have very detailed information.

In this fragmented era, everyone was more willing to care about what happened in their immediate surroundings.

Incidents in other cities, even major events like a “city’s destruction,” were rarely discussed.

On one hand, it was because people were, consciously or unconsciously, avoiding such negative information, and the relevant departments also had a certain degree of control over it.

On the other hand, it was related to the distorted development model of human society today.

Due to the lack of a ground transportation system, cities couldn’t cluster together, otherwise, the amount of arable land would be severely compressed.

The most efficient way to ensure the food and lodging for such a large population was to separate the construction of cities, allowing various regions to adopt a decentralized development model.

But this model had a very fatal flaw: the stagnation of technology production and industrial and agricultural trade between cities.

The safest, fastest, and most effective mode of transport was by air transport aircraft.

However, because the air transport system was equipped with “Concealers,” the operation and maintenance costs were prohibitively high for ordinary people.

Moreover, it was impossible to transport large equipment, substantial amounts of raw materials, and enough food and products between cities.

In other words, due to the “Concealers,” using airplanes was a very unprofitable business in most cases.

Apart from ensuring the completion of tasks assigned by the Human Federation, the air routes were generally idle.

That left ground facilities as the only means of communication between cities, but the dangers of ground activities in the outer regions of the Boundary could not be ignored.

The energy consumption of Concealers was extremely high, and together with the power supply equipment, they occupied an exceptionally large volume.

Even if a vehicle could carry it, it would not be fast enough and would run out of energy to maintain its operation before reaching its destination.

What followed would be the danger of directly facing the overwhelming swarms of Erosion Organisms.

Someone had once proposed the idea of using old-era railways and equipping several carriages with power supply equipment, but this was also proven to be unfeasible.

The density of Erosion Organisms on the ground was not on the same order of magnitude as those in the high altitude.

And unlike air routes, ground facilities like railway tracks required regular maintenance, otherwise, they were completely unusable.

So, if airplanes were not used, the only option was to dispatch Agents to escort and protect them, but this would indirectly lead to a void in the city’s internal defense forces.

Ultimately, there was very little interaction between cities.

Some cities even cut off contact with the Human Federation because they could not afford the maintenance of the ground network lines in their respective areas, completely sealing off the city into an isolated region.

In short, for various reasons, the connections between cities had been compressed to a very low level, a far cry from the original intention behind the establishment of the Human Federation.

Even though the administrators of each city knew the importance of “united strength,” between “taking a chance” and “the immediate danger at hand,” most people chose the former.

“Taking a chance” might allow them to survive for a while.

Perhaps the city would completely perish in the next few decades, but at least for now, they could choose a moment of peace.

Conversely, they would constantly face enormous risks.

In this era, many people had already lost the courage to move forward.

It had to be said that Seikyo City was fortunate because Masaki Hinaki was a commander dispatched from the Human Federation.

She had graduated from a military academy and had always been a strong advocate for the importance of external contact, which was one of the reasons why Seikyo City’s network communications were relatively more developed than other cities.

But this was not always the case in other regions.

The high degree of autonomy of cities could sometimes bring great disadvantages.

This was an undeniable fact.

There, Agents became consumables for such degenerate decisions until all the Agents in a city had died in battle, at which point the city’s lifespan would be declared over.

“Of course, this matter is still just a speculation between your mother and me. Because it involves many things, we haven’t reported it for the record. This is our own unauthorized action.”

Yanase Takuma continued at this point.

“Originally, we didn’t intend to involve you in this matter, but since you are already an Agent, we have no intention of hiding anything from you.”

“So, what you were talking about this morning was this matter?”

“Yes.”

“Right,” Mother Yanase Kaoru added, “Naoto, are you feeling unwell? If it’s not convenient for you, you don’t have to accompany us.”

She was, of course, referring to what happened that morning.

Ephnel’s cheeks grew hot as she recalled the scene from the morning, being pressed against the door by Yukina while talking to her mother on the other side.

She quickly shook her head.

“I-I’m fine…”

“Don’t force yourself. Your dad and I… we spent last night watching all of your heroic deeds in Seikyo City. You really haven’t changed at all.”

“Eh??”

“Seikyo City’s strongest Agent, the face of the city, the strongest beautiful girl, the magical girl idol…” Yanase Kaoru chuckled as she recited a long list of titles that had been bestowed upon Ephnel.

“And the newest ones, the sis-con idol, Onee-sama, and so on…”

“Eh, eh!!???”

Ephnel was stunned.

“Wait a minute, why would you…”

“Discussions related to Ephnel are all over the place with a simple search. I was bored last night, so your dad and I looked it up online.”

Yanase Kaoru ruffled Ephnel’s hair.

“You’ve done well, Naoto. I’m really proud of you.”

…