Fantasy Galaxy: Why Are There Goblins and Orcs in Space? - Chapter 2

The words “lower-class citizen” and “slave” swirled in my mind, pushing me to the brink of confusion. In a panic, I shouted at the alien who had abducted me to take me home, hurling insults at him. Since I did so in Japanese, it seemed that Sario didn’t understand my words.

When I got tired from shouting and began to calm down, I noticed that Sario was watching me as if this were a familiar scene.

“Is it really impossible to go back?”

“No matter how much you cry and scream, you can’t go back. If you resist, you’ll be killed.”

Hearing that I could be killed made me gulp nervously.

“You should touch the back of your neck; it will help you understand reality.”

When I reached back to touch my neck, I felt a lump present, likely due to something embedded beneath the skin. I turned my gaze to Sario. I couldn’t tell how old this dog-human was. Was he older than me? Or younger?

“What is this?”

“It’s a conditioning terminal. If the one holding the controller presses the switch, you will be struck with excruciating pain throughout your body. In severe cases, it can lead to death.”

“Who’s holding that controller?”

“The unit commander has it.”

The unit commander, referred to as Valbo, was said to be the commander of the mobile reconnaissance unit.

“Now, let’s head to the training room.”

Sario took me to the training room located in a section without artificial gravity. I had expected to see training machines since he called it a training room, but it turned out to be a long corridor.

In that corridor, there were obstacles like poles and hoops.

“This is a strange corridor.”

“It’s a training exercise to move back and forth while avoiding obstacles.”

It didn’t look too difficult.

“I should warn you, the corridor is in zero gravity. It’ll be pretty challenging until you get used to it.”

As I took a step forward, my body floated. It was the same sensation I had experienced in the warehouse. At that moment, I recalled the stories regarding astronauts. In a zero-gravity environment, the circulation of blood and other bodily fluids was affected, causing facial swelling and nasal congestion. However, I felt none of that.

When I asked Sario about it, he explained that the injected “internal adjustment nanomachines” were automatically regulating my bodily functions for me. As we talked, my head bumped against the ceiling.

“Now then, let’s start the training.”

I placed my hands against the ceiling and pushed my body forward. I began to move, but not as smoothly as I had hoped. After flailing around and going back and forth the corridor once, I was utterly exhausted. At fifty-five years old, my stamina quickly ran out, leaving me unable to move.

“Huff… huff… This isn’t going very well.”

“It’s because you’re not thinking before you act. You need to move while keeping in mind that there’s no gravity.”

That’s easier said than done. I was made to go back and forth the corridor about fifty times. By the end, I was completely worn out, but I did manage to grasp some sort of technique for moving in zero gravity.

The training continued for several days, and I eventually became capable of moving freely in zero gravity. I noticed something during that time: it seemed that my body was starting to rejuvenate itself and was seemingly becoming younger.

I asked Sario if something had been done to my body.

“I injected you with three types of nanomachines: ‘antibody immunity nanomachines,’ ‘language comprehension nanomachines,’ and ‘internal adjustment nanomachines.'”

According to Sario, the ‘antibody immunity nanomachines’ and ‘internal adjustment nanomachines’ were functioning to slightly activate my body. It seemed that I hadn’t undergone any longevity treatments, so I hadn’t actually gotten younger.

By the way, the ‘antibody immunity nanomachines’ enhance immune function, protecting the body from standard bacteria and viruses. The ‘internal adjustment nanomachines’ are meant to support health in living environments that differ from planetary conditions, such as in zero gravity.

After completing the zero-gravity training, I began combat training against a robot. The robot resembled a two-meter-tall pig-human, an orc.

It moved swiftly whether in zero gravity or under gravity, attacking with its thick arms and legs. Its hands and feet were equipped with something like gloves and leg guards, so the attacks wouldn’t be fatal.

However, the strikes were painfully intense, leaving me bruised and in tears. When I complained that I couldn’t take it anymore, Valbo, the commander who had been monitoring us, appeared.

He was about one hundred forty centimeters tall, with green skin, an ugly face, and long ears. He looked just like a goblin from a fantasy anime. However, he wore a futuristic spacesuit, which created a striking sense of incongruity.

“Sario, what are you doing? Can’t you even educate the new recruit properly?”

I recognized that gravelly voice and accent.

“I apologize.”

Sario, with a frightened expression, bowed repeatedly in apology. Seeing that, anger welled up within me towards this small alien. I glared at the goblin with a dissatisfied look.

“What are you looking at? It seems you won’t understand the situation until you experience some pain.”

The goblin bared its teeth and seemed to be about to operate something in its hand.

“Please wait. Banatsu hasn’t understood anything yet. Please let this slide just this once.”

Sario desperately pleaded.

The goblin grimaced in displeasure and glared at me.

“Make sure to educate him well from now on.”

With that, the goblin left. When Sario saw my dissatisfied expression, he let out a sigh.

“You really don’t understand, do you? Just now, he almost activated the conditioning terminal. If he went through with it, you might have died.”

Sario informed me that there had been cases where lower-class citizens had died from heart attacks when the conditioning terminal was activated.

He didn’t seem to be bluffing. Basically, he meant that I shouldn’t go against that goblin. After that, I began to endure the training without complaint.

However, my fifty-five-year-old body quickly reached its limits, resulting in severe muscle pain. For several days, I was in no condition to walk properly.

After about ten days, I managed to get through the training, but there was one thing I couldn’t tolerate no matter what: the food. It was terrible, simply terrible. It came in a tube that resembled toothpaste, had almost no flavor, and had a faintly foul odor.

“Sario, is there nothing else to eat besides this?”

Sario and his kind, the Kuusi, lived on the fourth planet of the Corado star system. They had unfortunately been captured by space pirates and sold here. He was apparently eighteen years old. Quite young. Although there was a significant age gap between us, we managed to build a friendship between us.

By the way, the standard time here was almost the same as on Earth. A day was divided into twenty-four hours, and a year consisted of three hundred sixty days. It didn’t seem to differ much from Earth.

“There isn’t. All lower-class citizens eat this.”

These preserved food tubes were called “complete space food.” There seemed to be several varieties, but they contained all the necessary nutrients and calories for survival for many species.

“The Kuusi race has spaceships, right?”

“We do, but what of it?”

“If you guys were kidnapped, wouldn’t a search party be dispatched to look for you?”

“They probably did search for us, but when they realized we were captured by goblin space pirates, they likely withdrew.”

“Why would they pull back when their comrades were captured by pirates?”

“The goblin race has established the Gonuva Empire, which rules over three star systems. If we resist, they will invade our star system and incorporate us into their empire.”

It seemed that the Kuusi race was classified as a weak species among the spacefaring civilizations. Still, I found it hard to believe that goblins had built an interstellar empire.

“By the way, what am I being trained for?”

Sario let out a sigh.

“You’re only asking that now? Well, fine. The destination of this supply ship is the Gorgona star system. The blockade there has been lifted recently. We are going to go up against the Orc race in that star system.”

Both the goblin race and the orc race noticed that the Gorgona star system had been liberated almost simultaneously and were fighting for control of that star system. By the way, the blockade had been enforced by a certain race among the Celestial Gods. What are the Celestial Gods though?

“The enemy isn’t just the orcs. There are also monsters in that star system.”

“Monsters?”

Upon hearing the word “monsters,” the keywords “Celestial Gods” were pushed to the back of my mind. Sario began an explanation regarding monsters. They were creatures that inhabited planets and outer space, referred to as “Star-Defiling Dragons” or simply “monsters,” which were biological weapons that had escaped into space or on planets and went feral.

“Biological weapons? Who created such things?”

“The Aurebas Celestial Gods. They are one of the three races that boast the most powerful influences and highly advanced civilizations in this region of space.”

The Celestial Gods consisted of the Aurebas Celestial Gods, who had developed bioengineering to its very limits; the Moll Celestial Gods, who had developed a mechanical civilization to its very limits; and the Rikager Celestial Gods, who had developed a mental civilization to its very limits.

Compared to these Celestial Gods, the Goblin Empire was nothing but mere “snot.” It made me sad to think about how the Earthlings, who were even more backward than the Kuusi race, were faring.

By the way, it wasn’t that goblins were more intelligent than Earthlings. The goblin race was an ancient one that had made contact with a spacefaring civilization long ago and had learned knowledge from that race to advance into space.

Thus, the goblin race had no achievements regarding coming up with new inventions. They merely stole whatever other advanced races had invented and used them for their benefit.

“There’s also a profession whose job is to hunt down those monsters.”

That profession was called “Dragon Slayer,” and was akin to an adventurer from fantasy novels. I felt that the concept of defeating monsters and collecting valuable materials was similar. The difference was that they hunted not only monsters on planets but also those in space.

“So, what kind of monsters are supposed to fight?”

“The weakest outer space monster, the ‘Space Clione.’ It can grow from one meter to over ten meters in length.”

Hearing that made the bl**d drain from my face.