This is the conference room of the Quantum Road, the Dark Continent survey ship dispatched by the Sahelta Federation.
Three figures were in the room. One was Commander Andarm, who held the highest command authority on the ship. An elderly man nearing old age, but his physique was robust, as expected of a military man. With his salt-and-pepper hair and beard neatly trimmed, his dignified appearance suggested a person in a position of authority.
He was receiving a report from his subordinate.
"Is that so... the Expedition Team is already at its limit..."
The elite unit 'Quantum,' entrusted with the mission of bringing a new Return (Hope) back to their homeland, was facing a crisis of collapse. The unit, which had been celebrated as the face of this expedition—even having the ship named after it—was now a shadow of its former self.
At the time of departure, 200 members were aboard. All were hand-picked soldiers, but their value was not just in strength. They were a unit trained and organized over a vast amount of time, based on information obtained from the previous survey. Their focus was placed more on stealth and survival longevity than on combat power. Their goal was to slip past the eyes of the Calamity (Risk), the watchdog of the Return (Hope), and snatch the treasure.
However, the remaining troop count was now only four.
The expression 'crisis of collapse' was inappropriate. They were already in a state of annihilation. The eyes of the unit captain, who was reporting the results of the distant expedition before him, were dead. Andarm listened with a heavy heart to the unimaginable hardships recounted by his subordinate.
The trump card unit, deployed with full confidence, was scattered like mere vermin. Thinking of the regret of his deceased subordinates, Andarm nodded deeply while listening to the captain's story.
In his heart was a raging fury.
'These... incompetents...'
He was aware of the report's contents from the documents submitted in advance. His expression of mourning for the deaths of his subordinates was merely the mask of a virtuous man he constantly wore. In reality, he harbored no emotion other than contempt.
"Further continuation of the mission is impossible. If it were only me, I am prepared to stake my life. But to impose that burden on those who remain...!"
The captain desperately pleaded for the search to be called off. It was a blunt appeal to a superior officer, but it was likely the act of a man who genuinely cared for his subordinates and couldn't contain himself.
Andarm, on the other hand, felt a physical disgust at the captain, who was vigorously arguing his point. It was the saliva of a human who had walked the unexplored land of the Dark Continent. Who knew what kind of pathogens might be lurking? Of course, thorough, precise inspections were conducted upon their return, but his anxiety was not entirely alleviated.
Andarm rose from his chair. He placed both hands on the desk and bowed deeply to the captain.
"Commander, what are you...!"
"I understand exactly what you are trying to say. I feel the same way. I would prefer to prioritize your safety above all else. However... an order from someone who sits in a safe place giving directions while sending subordinates to their deaths will not resonate with you. You may hate me all you want."
'Why must I bow my head to a mere unit captain?' Andarm grimaced in humiliation and ground his teeth.
"We are soldiers. For the sake of our homeland, I beg you...!"
Andarm was a Nen user. He excelled in the ability to contain his emotions inwardly. In normal humans, emotions manifest externally as the flow of aura. A skilled Nen user could discern an opponent's psychological state from these subtle changes.
He could suppress even those microscopic changes without allowing them to leak out. Furthermore, he could redirect his explosive passion into a different vector and express a completely different emotion through the flow of aura.
The aura Andarm was emitting now was absolutely compelling. The profound sorrow that only a person who is crushed by their own helplessness—a person who worries for their subordinates but cannot escape the mission that the military must fulfill—can emit, was masterfully expressed through his aura.
"I... understand..."
Having been shown such resolve, the captain had no choice but to back down. He realized that any further pleading would be futile. Since Andarm would never change his orders no matter how much he pressed, his judgment was correct.
Looking disheartened, the captain finished his report and left the room. The people remaining in the conference room were Andarm and one other person. The person who had not spoken at all during the report addressed Andarm.
"Commander, was your response just now... perhaps a little too forceful? I would have thought a man of your integrity would believe that the lives of the soldiers should not be needlessly sacrificed."
He was a portly man who sweated profusely. He was not a Nen user, just an ordinary civilian. That meant he was a person with a position high enough to board this ship, despite being a civilian.
He was a Special Mission Division Staff member who was accompanying the Expedition Team as part of the Special Voyage Section. He was an observer dispatched as an external body to maintain safety and transparency in activities on the Dark Continent, managed by the Five Great Continents Alliance 'V5.' In reality, he was a 'collar' placed on the travelers.
"You overestimate me, but I am merely a soldier. Sometimes, one must make heartless decisions for the sake of the system."
"Was that sacrifice truly necessary? While I wouldn't say that normal ways of thinking are always correct in this extreme situation, the soldiers are also human beings with lives."
It was an empty platitude. In fact, this staff member wasn't worried about the soldiers' lives at all. His mission was solely to prevent the travelers from doing anything unnecessary. His greatest objective was to prevent the countless Calamities scattered across the Dark Continent from being brought into the human world. For that purpose, he would have preferred that the soldiers all perished secretly in the depths of the jungle.
The Special Mission Division fundamentally maintains a passive stance toward the investigation of the Dark Continent. The conditions required for travel to be approved are extremely strict, and individuals are almost never approved for travel. Even the military of a great power like the Sahelta Federation spent an immense amount of time—over 40 years since the last survey—to lobby and forcefully meet conditions that should not have been met.
In other words, they never intended to approve any traveler from the start. This is partly to prevent the intrusion of Calamity, but it is also due to the political background, as the Special Mission Division is an international organization led by the V5, with mixed national interests.
The Return (Hope) is a resource that could bring about groundbreaking technological innovation to humanity, but naturally, the country that discovers it will monopolize much of the profit. Other countries would not be pleased. Therefore, they pull each other down to prevent being surpassed. It is close to an unwritten treaty to consistently deny travel. However, since that would also eliminate their own opportunity to acquire a Return, they created loopholes for exceptional approval.
The outcome the Special Mission Division hopes for in this expedition is for the Sahelta Federation to acquire no Return and to return safely after having wasted time. Andarm understood this as well.
"Wasn't the purpose of this survey to create a ship's launch/docking point? The time for your return is approaching, but the progress of the construction is poor. I humbly suggest it might be better to reallocate some personnel to the construction rather than focusing on the search for the Return."
Andarm was driven by a rage that felt like the blood in his body was boiling. 'Does a mere civilian who can't even use Nen dare lecture me?' With a single swing of his arm, the staff member's neck would part from his body.
The incompetent subordinates were frustrating, but the man in front of him was a clear enemy to Andarm. He wanted to tear him to pieces and scatter him to the sea immediately.
But he couldn't do that. For any reason, failing to return the Special Mission Division staff safely would be a professional disgrace. This man was protected by political power. The murderous intent surged throughout his body, but he did not allow it to show externally.
"While construction is certainly a priority, adding a few more people now won't change the pace of progress. We have more than enough personnel secured. The problem is the working environment. Everyone is exhausted by the conditions, which are more severe than imagined. Fundamental resolution cannot be expected without improving that aspect. If you have any good ideas, I would be grateful if you could enlighten me."
"No, I don't have anything in particular..."
He vaguely dismissed the conversation, but the lack of progress on the construction was a fact. The first mission given by the country's higher-ups was the construction of a launch/docking point to serve as a bridgehead to the Dark Continent. First, ships cannot dock just anywhere on the Dark Continent. Securing a safe place to land is crucial for establishing a base.
In this sea area, a type of seaweed called Nutakombu Kelp is widely prevalent. This seaweed secretes a special mucus from its epidermis, which has the property of turning the surrounding seawater into a lotion-like substance.
While not inherently toxic, one must not be careless. Swimming in this area is extremely difficult. Limbs are caught in the slimy seawater, and the more one struggles on the surface, the more the stirred mucus reacts with the air, transforming into a white, elastic substance. One eventually drowns, wrapped in a cocoon-like state.
Once submerged, the entire body is coated in a layer of lotion, making breathing impossible. Even fish cannot survive here. If someone falls into the sea from the ship, immediate rescue is required.
However, thanks to this seaweed, encounters with ferocious giant creatures are rare in this area. It was a valuable spot where ships could be docked relatively safely. It was a location considered so important that the construction of the launch/docking point was prioritized over the search for Returns, even though it took 40 years to push through the right to travel.
Yet, the essential construction was not progressing. Fully 60% of the Expedition Team's personnel were construction workers. Even with more than enough materials, equipment, and personnel successfully reaching the Dark Continent, the work was barely halfway complete.
Work was conducted with the utmost caution in an environment where a monster could fix its eye on them at any moment—an environment constantly adjacent to death. They had to interrupt construction and evacuate at the slightest sign of abnormality, so delays were unavoidable. This was an error on the part of the administrators whose initial assumptions were too lenient, but Andarm would never admit that.
The scheduled date of return was rapidly approaching. Even if the workers were driven like draft horses, completing the construction was now impossible. If he failed to achieve the main objective—the construction of the launch/docking point—Andarm's evaluation in his home country would plummet. This mission had billions of the Federation's national budget invested in it. Failure was absolutely unacceptable.
Everything he had desperately faked and built up until now would end. He would be branded as incompetent by the very people he had called incompetent. This was something his proud nature could not endure.
The only chance for recovery was the acquisition of a Return. He had to continue the mission, even with a unit that was practically annihilated.
If this were a war, four soldiers would be no more than dust, but in this mission, winning means just one person surviving and bringing back a Return. If the surviving soldiers were the select few, who had been weeded out from the 200 elite members, there was still a possibility of success.
And the report contained promising information regarding a Return. It seemed they had found a place where a Return might be located. It was unconfirmed information, but he had no choice but to gamble on it.
The problem was the attitude of the unit captain he had just seen. That mental state was bad. His spirit was completely broken. With the captain like that, he couldn't expect the remaining team members to be in a sound state either.
The strength of a Nen user is heavily influenced by mental fortitude. No matter how powerful a user is, they will struggle against someone with a stronger spirit. In the current mental state of the soldiers, it was impossible to draw out their full potential.
'Intervention is required, then...'
Andarm thought while exchanging opinions with the Special Mission Division Staff member. How to break through this desperate situation? How best to move and use up the pieces?
His thoroughly self-centered thoughts never showed on his exterior. He never dropped his aura disguise, not even in front of a civilian who was not a Nen user. He probably wouldn't have even if he were alone.
His extraordinary mental strength. There was no doubt that he was a first-rate user. That ability had elevated him to his current position. In the current environment of this ship, he was one of the strongest, if not the strongest. No, restricted to the environment of this ship, no one could defeat him.
However, he did not have the will to get his own hands dirty and acquire the Return himself. He didn't even harbor such a thought.