"That's fine," Koru said, smiling brightly. "I have a lot I can tell you!"

"Good," Zion responded, chuckling lightly. "Come, I'll also show you a little of the ship while we're at it."

He turned around, gesturing for Koru to follow after him.

They continued down the corridor, stopping at each room they came across for a quick introduction. Additionally, Zion pointed out a few things he couldn't touch no matter what because of various reasons.

Finally, they reached the storage room, which was packed to the brim with all kinds of food Koru had never seen before.

"Wait here," Zion said, quickly bringing out two plates with food.

As he handed Koru a plate with all kinds of vegetables and some E-rank beast meat, he practically watched Koru's mouth start to water.

"Come on," Zion said, trying to prevent him from eating in the corridor. "The mess hall is just one door further."

Koru shook his head lightly, quickly looking up and following after Zion.

Once they finally sat down in the mess hall, Koru immediately dug into his food, almost like he hadn't eaten anything in days.

'Good,' Zion thought, narrowing his eyes slightly.

None of this came from pure kindness. Zion knew that if he wanted real information, a little buttering up wouldn't hurt.

"So," he said, taking a bite from his own plate. "I have some questions which I hope you'll answer."

"Of course," Koru said, nearly spitting his food over the table as he spoke.

Zion shielded his food automatically, maintaining a smile on his face.

"Can you tell me a little more about your tribe?" he asked.

Koru nodded enthusiastically.

"I was born in the Silver Sentinel Tribe," he said, a broad smile growing on his face. "Our tribe is amazing and the strongest among all three!"

"Three?" Zion repeated, tilting his head slightly.

"Yeah," Koru said, stuffing a large piece of meat into his mouth. "Besides my tribe, there's also the Gold and Bronze Sentinel tribes."

Zion raised an eyebrow.

[Three different Sentinel tribes on one planet?] Uriel repeated, sensing the strangeness. [There must be something going on there.]

Zion nodded once, even more determined to figure out what exactly was going on.

"Could you tell me how many members there are in these tribes?" he probed.

Koru tilted his head slightly, his smile vanishing. He put his hand out in front of him, mumbling as he counted on his fingers.

Finally, he looked at Zion again. "Gold has like fifteen members, but they are an arrogant bunch. Bronze has a few less than that… and our Silver tribe has twenty-one members."

Zion's eyes went wide. Assuming each of them had all reached their racial limits, there would be over fifty peak B-ranks on a single planet.

Naturally, that was only if they had hit their racial limits.

[I'd estimate at least fifteen B-ranks,] Uriel said quietly. [Considering Koru has never seen a spaceship before, we can assume they've settled down long ago.]

Zion nodded once, a shiver rolling down his spine. Eight B-ranks was already considered excessive on most planets.

Sucking in a deep breath, Zion forced himself to remain calm. "And what does your tribe usually do?" he probed again.

Koru glanced up, deep in thought. "Usually, just protecting the forest from big situations… like how my parents found you after sensing an explosion!"

Hearing that, Zion's expression darkened slightly.

'They were following me all the way from there?' he thought bitterly.

Zion shook his head lightly, pushing the useless thoughts aside. He set down his fork, deciding to get straight to the point.

"Do you know why your tribe is defending the forest?" he asked, locking eyes with Koru.

"Ah," Koru responded, scratching his head. "Why…? I don't remember completely. Something about our Ancestor needing protection."

Zion remained silent for a moment.

'What is that supposed to mean?' he thought, his mind churning.

No matter how he thought about it, one question always remained. If their ancestor was in any danger, wouldn't it just be better to leave the planet altogether?

'But it seems like they were dead-set on protecting that planet.'

[I can't find a reason in our database either,] Uriel added, a hint of confusion in its voice. [Even so, it seems better to just stay away from that planet.]

'Just what I was thinking,' Zion thought. 'I have enough danger around as is, I don't need to go searching for more without reason.'

He glanced at Koru, who'd already finished his plate and was now staring at his.

"You can have it," Zion said, shoving it across the table. "Take it as a thank you for all the questions you answered."

Koru's eyes lit up instantly.

"Really?" he asked, already reaching for the plate.

Zion only waved it off.

He stood up, ready to return to his room and process everything he had learned.

'Uriel, warn me if he gets lost on his way back,' he thought, entering the corridor.

[Affirmative.]

Zion went back to his room in silence and sat down behind his desk.

He already had a lot to think about, but now even more possibilities had opened up thanks to the information he'd received.

'I could sell this to the Mercenary Guild,' he thought, tapping his finger on the table. 'I imagine they'll pay quite the penny to hear about both the protecting stuff and the Sentinel's numbers.'

But money wasn't the only thing he needed to consider.

'If whatever the Sentinels are protecting is extremely valuable, the surrounding empires will eventually catch wind of it too… including the Sovereignty.'

And then there was one final factor that caused a deep, uneasy feeling to settle in his chest: how would Koru feel if he sold out his tribe behind his back?

That thought led him back to the same question he'd been struggling with.

'Koru…' he thought, brushing his hair back with a conflicted expression. 'What should I do with you?'

He fell completely silent, staring at the ceiling.

'Do I take you on my crew... or do I dump you on planet Yalqe?'

If you find any errors ( broken links, non-standard content, etc.. ), Please let us know < report chapter > so we can fix it as soon as possible.