SOS CH 19 (Patreon)

After a shower that was more than a little interesting, Noah suddenly felt truly alive.

For the first time, he ate something that wasn’t some weird giant animal and though it wasn’t the food he hoped or dreamed about, it was still civilized food. Then finally, he had a bath in a civilized bathroom without having to move ice cubes from the frozen zone to the super-hot zone.

Finally — There were people other than the voice in his head around him.

But the most beautiful thing? He was wearing clothes! Actual clothes! How good was this? Though it was a shame to hide his body from the eyes of the uncultured masses, he was sure that they could still appreciate him even now.

The clothes he was currently wearing were a sort of dark blue spandex with padding around his crotch that helped avoid an awkward situation of showing a little too much. Special fashion aside, the clothes seemed able to regulate the temperature they were emitting and he did not feel like he was being imprisoned in those clothes. [1]

The amplitude of movement was quite large and the feeling of freedom was omnipresent. He even felt like he was wearing nothing.

At the end of the day, after getting food, shelter, and clothing what more could a man ask for?

Sure, everything wasn’t perfect. The current scene was a little…Well, let’s say very different from everything he dreamed about when he imagined how his first return to civilization would be.

The food was filling but tatless. He spent more time nearly torturing himself with the shower than actually showering and the people who surrounded him wanted to kill him.

As for the clothes, while he certainly was relatively happy about not having his appendage swinging in the air whenever he walked and his feet were not being cut by ice shards all around, the way those clothes stuck to his skin was a little disturbing.

But — One should always see the good side of things, right? At least it put highlighted the form of his butt, the result of hours of squats and running around for his life.

This was the only thing that helped him keep his sanity during his long stay in this silent deadly world full of things that wanted to — and actually managed to — eat him on a regular basis.

—- Ahem.

‘Yeah, I know, sorry. Getting sidetracked.’

This was a bad habit he would have to fix later on. His mind liked to wander around when there was a lull in his activities. Consequences of staying silent with no reason to actually open his mouth.

He sometimes had to force himself to talk out loud regularly just to avoid having his body adapt to the lack of necessity for the Larynx.

He loved speaking after all. Even if it was only to hear himself speak. The universe would face a loss if no one could ever hear his lovely and mesmerizing voice.

—- Enough talking, more killing. What you eat may fill your stomach but you know very well that this is not what we need.

‘I know. Do not worry. How could I even forget? But let’s use them until we do not need them anymore.’

Noah was very curious about the so-called Ruins. He had vague memories of having come near such a place. But those memories, as said earlier, were vague and difficult to observe.

Who knew what kind of value there could be?

Once he understood this, he would be able to sell the planet at the right price or continue his deal with Morgiana.

‘Speaking of Morgiana. She might be really pissed when she wakes up.’

Thinking about what kind of expression she might make, Noah laughed quietly.

“I wonder what makes you so happy?”

He nearly did not flinch when the tall woman who had given him the so-called food approached him out of nowhere.

Though she had camouflaged herself completely with whatever technology they may have, Noah had long since stopped caring about what his simple sense could share as information.

He didn’t know if a 6th sense truly existed, but if it did, he was sure that he had it. Sadly, not being surprised wasn’t part of his current persona.

All those thoughts flashed in an instant in Noah’s mind as he put on a startled expression and stepped back in fright.

“Sorry! I was a little confused by all the controls.”

“Hum… I see.”

‘How could you not see?’

Noah stopped himself from some remark that would put him in hot water. Looking at the woman, outside of the fact that she was very tall and only had one eye blinking in the middle of her forehead, which might be quite off-putting for some.

She was quite the beauty. In an Amazonian woman kind of way. Which could be very interesting when paired in the right situation.

“Something on my face?”

“....”

‘Seriously? Is she asking for it?’

Noah was speechless but he couldn’t quench his curiosity.

“Are you the one who gave me the food? You look so different now? You are so pretty!”

Noah decided to channel his inner child. Furthermore, it wasn’t as if he was lying. She was pretty in a way.

“Compliments are appreciated, but we need to go find the ruins.”

She nodded and started walking with him. Her voice became softer. Even when knowing that it might be nothing but empty words, few people disliked being praised.

She was mostly surprised by the way he did not seem horrified or weirded out by her appearance. Some people may call it shallow. But she understood perfectly that all races had this innate dislike mixed with wonder, confusion, and repulsion when they watched something that closely similar to them but at the same time bestowed with a glaring difference.

“To make communication easier, My name is Phaeia. I am indeed the one who fed you a few moments ago.”

“So, I was designed as non-carrying weird bacteria?”

“You most assuredly do. But it was judged that they were no danger to us. Now then,

‘Meaning they are a danger for me?’

Innuendo was such a beautiful thing. But Noah did not care truly. He already knew they tempered with the food. Since they did not seem shocked to see him alive, it seemed like whatever they put was slow-acting or could be remotely activated.

“Happy to meet you Phaeia.”

Noah smiled. The level of importance of this woman rose in his mind. He immediately decided that once he started killing things…She would likely be the first and most important one on his list.

One should always aim for the support first, right?

Following Phaeia, Noah went corridor after corridor. The destination itself was not far, as the ship was not particularly big, so it did not take long for them to reach the control room.

There, he could see that all the pirates or what looked like cadres were all discussing together.

Omid was still entirely clad in his armor. Even at first glance, this one seemed to be far more sturdy than the one worn by Morgiana. He idly wondered how many punches he would have to deliver before breaking it.

‘There is also a different mode. Perhaps this is more a standby form and there is a superior form? But do all armor have this? The one who got gobbled up and the other pirates didn’t seem to have one.’

He wondered if this was something unique to Morgiana or something relatively unique to higher-ups and leaders. If it was the former then he had nothing to worry about. But if it was the latter — Perhaps he should make sure Omid was dead before killing anyone else.

‘Deciding on a list is pretty hard or I am simply being indecisive?’

— Why does order matter when you are going to kill them all?

‘I know in the grand scheme of things it doesn’t matter. But this will decide whether we are going to play on easy mode or hard mode and I will be honest…Easy mode is always my goal. One should enjoy the story fully, don’t you think so?’

Fighting to hide his grin, he advanced quietly while continuously observing everyone from the corner of his eyes and matching their silhouette with the one in the armors he had seen fighting.

He realized that many of them were inconsequential in terms of danger rating. But many ants could make an elephant suffer. It was important to plan so that he could crush them in the least amount of time possible.

There was also something else that was disappointing him and this was the lack of diversity in the crew. All those he observed were humanoid in shape with few differences there and here like having green or orange skin, or having razor-sharp teeth or one eye, long ears, no ears, and so on.

This was definitely not what he imagined when he thought of aliens. Where were his tentacles alien? Mindflayers? What about gelatinous aliens with the right amount of acidity that only melts clothes without touching the skin?

At this point, he would have even settled for the globulous black eyes, Voldemort-like nose, and huge head with green skin that was often depicted in the old cartoon of the previous era he watched with his friends.

They might be humanoid but they were exotic enough.

‘I guess one should never believe TV.’

His mind was still wandering until he finally reached Omid.

“Noah. I hope you are ready. We need to go fast. Morgiana's situation is stable but who knows what might happen. So, tell me, where should we go?”

“I am not entirely sure but — This way!”

He pointed out, watching as they started moving.

He didn’t know if there would be a ruin at the end of this adventure. But he sure as hell would bring ruins to this greedy pirate crew.

One way or another.

— …You should first work on your wordplay.

‘Oh, Shut it.’

And so, hiding a page of embarrassing moments, Noah went ahead toward a new page of his adventure.

[1]: Best reference is the suit worn by Eva Pilote in Evangelion.