The Community Might Still Be Salvageable

Yu Lian took the coffee without hesitation and gulped it down. He had just caught his breath when he spotted a girl wearing a bright smile.

Yep, confirmed once again: he still didn't recognize her face.

She was fourteen or fifteen, quite pretty, with a poised and graceful air. She wore plain but neat and practical travel clothes, and had violet eyes and long, dark purple hair that was almost black. Of course, her eye and hair colors made it obvious at a glance that she wasn't from Earth, either.

This scene felt kind of familiar! Yu Lian thought.

"Sorry you had to see me make such a fool of myself."

"I'm the one who should apologize, Officer. If you hadn't arrived in time, we can hardly imagine what condition everyone would be in now. Thank you again." The girl nodded to Yu Lian and held out a hand. "My name is Frederica. Frederica Weilbart..."

"This is Penny, and this is George." The girl introduced the two little shadows beside her. One was another girl a year or two younger than she was, and the other was a boy of seven or eight. They were both ordinary-looking Earth kids, but rather cute.

"Penny made your sandwich. She really wanted to hear what you thought of the taste," said Miss Frederica, who was probably from the Alliance.

Miss Penny blushed and nodded to Yu Lian. The little boy beside her gazed admiringly at the powered armor and rifle Yu Lian had set aside.

"It was delicious. I feel like all my fatigue just vanished," Yu Lian said.

The ham and dried vegetables had clearly come straight from cans, so there hadn't been much cooking involved. But even someone with Yu Lian's social skills knew what to say.

"That's wonderful." The purple-haired girl thanked Yu Lian on behalf of her friend, but showed no sign of leaving.

"I heard that the councilor wanted you to escort us into the city. Is that right?"

Yu Lian gave the girl, who looked about fourteen or fifteen, a serious once-over. He'd expected another representative of public opinion to come and sound him out, but he hadn't expected the first to be a little girl.

Dr. Banks had warned him that there was another Alliance citizen in the convoy, a remarkably perceptive girl. But this was more than perceptive—it was precocious to an almost absurd degree.

He looked at the beautiful girl and was certain he didn't know her. He had never heard the name "Frederica Weilbart" in the future, either. "Those are just some preliminary thoughts. I'll know more after I've discussed things with everyone. By the way, Miss Weilbart..."

"Just call me Frey." The Alliance heiress was so familiar? He'd never heard she was like that. Besides, her whole vibe didn't fit someone frivolous, shallow, or carefree.

"All right, Miss Frederica. Where are your parents? You didn't come all the way here by yourself, did you?"

"Doesn't Earth have a saying that goes, 'Travel ten thousand miles and learn more than you would from reading ten thousand books'? You can think of it as gathering material for a paper," the girl said with a smile. When she saw Yu Lian's curious expression, she added, with the pride and self-assurance typical of young people, "I'm a student at the Alliance Ocean University."

..."Gifted student" didn't even begin to cover it. Or was she actually a legally adult loli?

"Besides, my family has some assets. We really were considering investing in New Jade Gate, so I came to scout things out."

According to Miss Frederica, who was rather forward, she wasn't a legally adult loli. She really was the kind of super-genius who entered university at twelve and was nearly finished by fourteen. But that wasn't the point.

The genius girl really had come to New Jade Gate to assess the place. Her family sat on the board of the famous Purple Letter Orchid Group, a huge food company that had started on the Alliance's homeworld but had since become a colossus spanning multiple star systems. Its businesses included food imports and exports, snacks, canned goods and ready-made meals, fast-food chains, bars and cafés, and high-end restaurants. It was a famous food company across the galaxy.

While inspecting plantations and ranches on New Jade Gate, she had also met Mr. Pierce, who was there to assess the area and planned to invest in a food-processing plant. He was Penny and George's father.

"Dad's such a scatterbrain. He said the scenery here on New Jade Gate was beautiful, with lonely columns of smoke rising over the desert and the sun setting over the river, horses galloping across endless grasslands, so he brought the whole family along for a holiday. We've really lost out this time! If you hadn't arrived in time, our lives would've been in danger." Penny was quite annoyed with her father, but didn't seem too frightened. She had even volunteered to make sandwiches for the soldiers as thanks. What a good girl.

Yes, she really was a good girl. We couldn't blame her just because she'd remembered to make sandwiches for the soldiers but hadn't thought to share the extra food with the refugees, who lacked both food and clothing. Adults couldn't manage that, and many hadn't even thought of it. Why expect a child to?

Frederica continued, "You're the officer, and in this situation you're the most qualified to make the call. We should follow your judgment... If there's anything we can do to help, just let us know."

Penny nodded. She probably wasn't as much of a genius as her friend, but she was also a little grown-up, wise beyond her years.

"Then, Penny, let's take these to the other soldiers," Frederica said.

"Penny, can I stay and look?" George suddenly asked, his eyes fixed on the rifle and powered armor leaning to one side.

Penny hesitated and glanced at Yu Lian.

"What's the harm? Boys need their own space, too," Yu Lian said with a smile.

The girls smiled behind their hands and left with a parting reminder not to bother the officer. One carried a basket of sandwiches, while the other held a tray with more than a dozen cups of coffee. They went around delivering them one by one.

"Big brother, big brother, is that an AS40?"

"Oh? You know your stuff." Yu Lian watched the bright-eyed little boy with interest. His eyes were full of the excitement of someone who'd finally seen the real thing.

"Of course! I've been reading Ship Knowledge and Young Scientist's Illustrated Defense since I was three." The little boy looked very pleased with himself.

That was right. You had to start training military enthusiasts young.

"That's a C10, right? It's my first time seeing a real C10." The little boy was excited for half a minute, but he was clearly a well-mannered child. After a long hesitation, he decided not to reach out and touch it. His face fell. "But it's not a Dragoon! Big brother, you're not Orbital Paratroopers or Marines, are you?"

"...We're the Colonial Defense Force."

"Defense Force cannon fodder?"

What was wrong with this little brat's manners?

Yu Lian smiled warmly. "George, your sister's been smart since she was little, hasn't she?"

"Yeah. I think she's too smart for her own good. She's serious all the time—more stern than our school's hall monitor—and always reading those boring-looking books. She'll definitely turn into a scary old maid who can't find a husband. But Frederica's even smarter. I've never seen Penny admire anyone so much."

"Is that so... George, do you want to go into the city right now?"

"Of course! Dad really wants to, too. Then we wouldn't have to sleep in the car. But Mom and Penny both say Dad's a scatterbrain, so you don't have to listen to him, big brother."

Mr. Pierce's standing in the family really was tragic.

"But you've been traveling with the convoy all this way. It must've been tough. Did you run into any danger?"

"Sure did!" The little boy's eyes began to shine. He seemed more excited than frightened, speaking in the same tone a kid might use to tell his friend what moves Ultraman had used to defeat a monster the day before. "When we first set out, we ran into a giant sand crocodile. Oh, and a Shadak behemoth, and a pack of wild raptors."

Yu Lian was stunned. What a string of bad luck. The one thing they could be grateful for was that they hadn't run into a gravel dragon or the Swarm, right? Just thinking of the Swarm made him shudder. He started to tremble, breaking into a cold sweat and feeling his hands and feet go numb in the hot desert climate of New Jade Gate. His eyes even started to water... Wait, the sun had already set. Desert nights were cold anyway.

At any rate, the area around Tulong had become a killing ground for a million troops from both sides. If nothing unexpected happened, there should also be warships approaching in orbit. The Swarm, which ought to still be hiding and growing, shouldn't dare show itself. Probably...

As Yu Lian pondered this, the little boy continued his boastful tale.

"Luckily, big brother Yaxiu was there. He seemed to be the councilor's bodyguard. Dad hired a few mercenaries, and Miss Frederica brought a few bodyguards, but none of them were as good as Yaxiu. That's right, even all those cowboys together weren't as good as big brother Yaxiu! Also..." The little boy trailed off. His expression took on a hint of gravity and nervousness that didn't belong on someone his age.

"The day before yesterday, a sand crocodile knocked over one of the cars. Big brother Yaxiu rescued everyone inside. Otherwise, Little Peach, Jimmy, and Aaron would've died. Mr. Rowe, the mining guy, argued with the councilor and said we shouldn't bring Little Peach and the others along anymore. Big brother Yaxiu beat him up and nearly threw him into the sand crocodile's mouth. That settled it."

The familiar name made Yu Lian feel momentarily dazed, but he was relieved that its owner seemed much the same as the person he remembered.

George looked up at Yu Lian, who'd gone silent, and asked cautiously, "Big brother, I heard... I heard people say that Little Peach and the others, and their parents, are just dead weight or something. If we hadn't brought them, we'd have reached Tulong ages ago... Big brother, you... now that you're here, you won't leave them behind, right?"

At that moment, the gaze of a seven-year-old boy put more pressure on Yu Lian than that gravel dragon or the giant explosive toy in the ruins.

If every child in the Community was like this, then maybe this broken country could still be saved after all. With that thought, Yu Lian gently patted the boy on the head. "The Community's soldiers are all Marshal Li's students. When have you ever seen us abandon civilians?"

Marshal Li, the nation's founding father, had been dead for thirty years. Thirty years was long enough for a people that had lain low to rise from the ashes. It was also long enough for a thriving organization to rot until it no longer recognized its own mother. It all depended on the choices it made.

Fortunately, Marshal Li's name still carried enough weight to intimidate people—children, at least.

George seemed to sense Yu Lian's resolve. He nodded firmly and relaxed, finally breaking into a smile: an innocent, carefree smile that suited his age.