SOS CH 64 (Patreon)

Someone else might have missed the small shift in Noah’s aura but Dorothy was definitely not so careless. Even though this lasted but an instant she had a feeling of being stared at by a small starved beast who might have pounced at her at any moment.

How interesting.

Dorothy had to fight the smile that was tugging at her lips. The more dangerous and full potential Noah showed himself to be the more she was sure about him being the Golden Constellation.

“If you are hungry then you should visit the Kitchen. I will have someone send you there.”

Noah nodded, “Thanks. Though I gotta ask. Is the food some kind of nutritional ration?”

“No. Do not worry. Though we do have such rations, this ship was loaded with the best food and ingredients from our planet and the chefs are also top-notch.” She gave him a thumbs up and was happy to see a large smile fill his face.

“Then excuse me. I just hope your reserves are big enough.” Noah asked to which Dorothy shrugged nonchalantly.

“You wouldn’t be able to eat everything even if you tried. We have enough for years of travel stored in the ship. Eat as much as you want.”

“Hah…Haha. I like your confidence. Then, thanks, I won’t hold back.” Noah waved at her as he left alongside a robot guide, leaving a confused Dorothy who started to wonder if she had really made a mistake there by giving him free reign.

In the end, she simply shrugged. It didn’t matter even if he truly emptied absolutely all the food reserves. The Lion Pride was not a fleet designed for long space exploration in the first place and they could replenish the food once they reached Oz.

Now I guess I should take care of important matters.

After sending out Noah so that he could eat, Dorothy showed a grim countenance,

“Lion.”

“Dorothy.”

The shadow around Dorothy moved and Lion appeared behind her in all his majesty. It was impressive how a man of his stature could walk so silently but his ability to walk through shadows was even more impressive and one of the reasons that made him so deadly.

After all, who could expect that the giant armored warrior they were facing fought more like an assassin in reality?

“Your ability always impresses me.”

“I am an Apex predator, you know? I don’t fight. I hunt.” He grinned at her, showing his impressive row of sharp teeth.

The atmosphere between them was warm but Lion knew that Dorothy would not have called for him if she wasn’t worried.

“What did you find?”

Lion sighed, his flaming manes wavering and twitching slightly, “No report yet from the witches but from the receptors, there was no fluctuation in space-time. No disturbance in gravity flow. For all intent and purpose, this planet had never existed and no machine could prove the opposite.”

Dorothy started biting her check, she was not surprised by those results even though she hoped they would have been different. Dorothy had always been worried about one thing all her life ever since she had obtained her Silver Boots and changed her destiny.

For most historians, the Previous Galactic Empire most likely auto-destroyed itself. This was nothing new as the more advanced a civilization was the higher the chances they had of simply destroying themselves.

But Dorothy had another theory. They did not self-destruct — They were destroyed by an outside force. She knew this sounded crazy and she knew that her theory held no grounds outside of her suspicions and the few who thought like her were considered crazy conspiracy theories fans.

If she was right, then those outsiders might have been greatly wounded when fighting and were recuperating or were destroyed alongside the previous empire.

In the end, Noah was definitely a key and a very important one at that. She could not let anything happen to him but he was too weak now. If the Empire or the Federation caught wind of him now. Things would be more than problematic.

In a way…Should I say that the destruction of this planet is a boon?  Dorothy thought quietly and once her thought reached there she couldn’t help but stop and wonder.

The destruction of the planet had been extremely frightening but when one stopped and thought about it, such clean erasure seemed a little overkill. Why bother erasing something from existence when you could simply blow up the planet?

Unless the main goal wasn’t just to destroy the planet itself but to make sure absolutely no trace remained. If so…

“Dorothy?”

Dorothy stopped herself. Her thoughts were indeed going a little too deep. Even for her, it was hard to phantom what kind of link Noah could have with such powerful and old Civilizations. But, just in case —

“Destroy the pirate ship.” Her expression became cold and resolute. Dorothy had never been a kind woman and she had always been very decisive once she made a decision, “Kill all the pirates and make sure all the records about our fight are erased. If the Empire knows we entered in contact with one of the Theorized Supreme Gates, they will keep bothering us.”

“What about our crew?” Lion was quite surprised. After all, even for Dorothy, this was quite a radical decision. But he knew that when she was like this, it was easier to simply shut up and do as she ordered. Everything would work itself out then.

“Erase their memory. Their minds are too weak and a telepath will be able to glean information from them. Make sure Tin Can erases all records from our ships as well. I want everything to be clean. No mistake is allowed.”

She sighed and started walking with a clear purpose.

“Does it mean the boy’s mind is strong? To be honest he seemed quite weak.” This was not him looking down on Noah because of his appearance.

Lion was someone who prided himself in his carefulness and while the boy definitely had a dangerous scent, it did not seem like he could cause any mischief.

“Heh…” Dorothy snickered, “You have no idea.”

She laughed mysteriously. She herself did not know how weak or strong Noah was but sometimes, a leader had to act mysterious and smart. Sadly for Dorothy,

“You don’t know anything it seems.” Lion knew her too well and could see past her pretense.

Dorothy simply coughed and walked away, hiding her reddening cheek. “Forget about this. Let’s move the ship after we destroy the pirates.”

Lion fell back exactly one step behind her and asked, “What is the destination? Home?”

“No. Not home. Our destination will be — Sol III.”