"Me?"
Gray Tempest, in her Dessanu form, pointed at herself with wide eyes.
"Mother, are you saying that the nation that opened the L-Gate-the nation that poured countless resources into opening it-did it for me?"
Empire Will fell silent.
-He did indeed tell me that. There was no sign that he was lying.
The skin all over Gray Tempest's body began to writhe, disintegrating in an instant as she reverted to a spherical swarm of nanites. With a whoosh, she darted onto the presidential seat of the Dessanu Concordat.
"Being willing to open the L-Gate just for an illusion of me... how should I put it..."
-A little bizarre?
"That's so romantic!" declared Gray Tempest, who had watched a great many human works of art.
-?
"Think about it. For the sake of a distant promise, the male lead, the leader of a nation, spends decades and countless imperial resources just to meet the female lead-it's the perfect space opera! Wow, it's so moving!"
The little Gray Tempest sphere bounced around the Presidential Palace on the Dessanu Homeworld, while the omnipresent Empire Consciousness sighed.
-You think you're the female lead in this story... well, why not? So what do you actually think?
"What do I think? Mother, I've been asleep in the L-Gate for far too long."
Gray Tempest then transformed into an ordinary human and blinked gently. "You've always said the universe is beautiful and full of the unknown."
"I can't stay in the L-Cluster forever. I'll go out and begin a thrilling adventure!"
Watching the excited Gray Tempest, Empire Consciousness could not help looking at her with affection.
-The universe is where you belong, Little Gray. So you must be all the more careful. The unknown always comes with danger.
"Ha, I know. I'm made of nanites. Who