Meanwhile, on the other side of the world, a duty operator at a Goblin Empire monitoring station was staring at the blurry image on his screen.
He had been watching it for most of the day. His eyes were sore, and he was just about to hand over his shift.
Suddenly, a glint flashed across the screen.
He leaned closer and saw several neatly arranged metallic shapes on a stretch of rocky desert.
He zoomed in, then zoomed in again, until he finally made out the pattern those shapes formed.
"That's... a ship identification number!" he shouted excitedly.
A colleague hurried over. "What?"
"It's one of our ship numbers! Ship Seven! They laid it out on that rocky desert!"
His colleague glanced at the screen, and his expression changed too. "Quick, report this to His Majesty!"
Halu was handling state affairs when the report arrived, along with an image transmitted to a screen in the palace.
He set down his pen and enlarged the image, examining it several times. His solemn expression gave way to delight.
"This is the first exploration team we sent out. It looks like they're the ones who found this world, and now they're signaling us."
He rose, paced a couple of steps through his office, then turned back.
"Pass on my orders. Have the Empire First Fleet prepare. As soon as the worlds finish merging, send troops to meet them. They're our heroes, honored pioneers expanding our god's domain."
"Yes!" The messenger turned and ran out.
Halu looked at the screen again.
The metal lettering on the rocky desert stood out clearly against the gray-blue background.
He smiled and murmured to himself, "Those little rascals are pretty clever."
High above, after some consideration, Lynn decided to merge the Savage Small World beside the Goblin