Chapter 139: Listening to Saito Talk About the Administrator's Past (Patreon)

The two of them sat by the fire staring at each other, and Rossi's cheeks grew redder by the second.

The truth was, her reasons for coming to Valley No. 4 alone weren't quite so innocent...

She may have been born among wolves, but Rossi had always looked up to that legendary Administrator. The books recording the Administrator's exploits had been read cover to cover, over and over, until every page was printed on her memory.

"Um... have you met the Administrator?"

The question she cared about most finally got the better of her. This was the first time she had ever run into people from Endfield, and she badly wanted to hear about that legendary figure from someone who knew.

"I have."

Saito nodded without hesitation. Any other question might have tripped him up, but the Administrator? He knew her far too well.

"Really?!!"

Rossi's eyes went wide and her voice climbed with delight. She lurched forward, tail swinging behind her before she noticed it moving. Saito could have sworn there were stars glinting in her eyes.

"Ah — sorry, sorry."

Catching herself, Rossi shuffled back and tugged her hat brim down to hide her embarrassment.

"It's just, I heard the Administrator has been asleep for a very long time. I never imagined you'd actually met her."

More than nine years had passed since the Administrator fell into her slumber after the Great Expedition. Most of the Operators who joined Endfield during that stretch had never so much as spoken with her, and seeing how young Saito and Mudrock both looked, Rossi had assumed they were part of that later crowd.

"That's right. She and I are pretty close, actually."

"I could tell you a few things about the Administrator, if you want!"

Saito kept the news of the Administrator's awakening to himself, but indulging a fan's curiosity a little seemed harmless enough. He struck the easy pose of a man ready to field any question — and then Rossi's very first one nearly broke him.

"The aurora over Talos II is the trace left behind when the Administrator used her Originium Arts a hundred years ago. Is that true?"

What in the world?

For a heartbeat Saito's mind simply stopped working. Unbidden, an image assembled itself: the Administrator in her penguin pajamas, waving a hand and calling down a sky full of aurora.

"That's..."

Wasn't that laying it on a little thick?

That was what he had meant to say, but with those shining eyes fixed on him, he couldn't bring himself to shatter a girl's illusions. Besides, once Rossi was a bit older she'd sort out fact from fiction on her own.

So he changed course mid-breath and nodded with the gravest face he could manage.

"It's true. That was her doing."

"!!!"

With his confirmation in hand, the blonde girl lit up brighter still.

"Then — then — then it's also true that the Administrator threw Talos V into the Hyperdomain?"

"Absolutely. In that battle she drove her enemy all the way to the barren edge of the universe. Stars shattered. Even the Great Dao itself was ground to nothing!"

"Whoaaaaah!!!"

What exactly it meant for the Great Dao to be ground to nothing was beyond her, but Rossi was thoroughly swept up. A streak of red flashed past, and a second later the girl was sitting right at Saito's side, waiting for more legends to spill out of him.

Saito reasoned that if Rossi already swallowed rumors this outrageous, the Administrator surely wouldn't mind him adding one more line to her list of glorious deeds... no, a few more lines.

And so, in the warmth of the firelight, he told her the tale of how the Administrator organized the first Great Expedition, how she traveled west with one hundred and eight heroes of Endfield in search of the true Originium scriptures, and how in the end, to protect Terra, she fell asleep upon the Golden Throne.

"That history is so far back that most of the people on that expedition are long dead. I pieced it together myself, out of the scraps the Administrator let slip."

Saito let out a long sigh, then looked at Rossi with complete seriousness.

"To us it might be nothing more than a story, but to her it's a past she'd rather not revisit. If she hadn't been in a mood to talk that day, I'd never have known any of it."

"So just take it as a story. Better not to bring it up with anyone else — and definitely not with the Administrator."

His conscience was scrambling to patch things over. Or perhaps it wasn't his conscience at all.

It was self-preservation.

"And if it does slip out, whatever you do, don't say you heard it from me."

"Mm-hm." Rossi nodded again and again; she understood how these things worked.

Night settled in. A cool wind brushed across Saito's face, and the scenery of Valley No. 4 beat those endless icy plains by more than a little.

After a long evening of talk, the Administrator had done wonders for their acquaintance. Saito and Rossi were on much better terms now.

"It's getting late. You two rest — I'll keep watch."

Rossi rose from beside the fire and stretched out her limbs as she spoke.

"Then I'll leave it to you." Saito smiled and nodded. He didn't bother offering to take the watch himself; Rossi's trust had been hard enough to earn, and he saw no reason to complicate things.

He'd rig a ring of sentry devices around the camp shortly. If anything went wrong, he would know the moment it happened.

And there was Mudrock, besides.

This land would tell her the instant danger came close.

So, under Rossi's watch, the two of them leaned back against a tree trunk and drifted off.

At first light the next morning, Saito's eyes opened. Rossi looked mildly surprised.

"You're up already?"

"Yeah. Force of habit."

Life on the Frozen Plains had beaten the habit into him. The nights out there got cold enough that even he found them miserable — and in any case, he'd barely slept, tracking the surroundings all night through his Originium Sight.

"Mudrock won't be awake for a while yet. Why don't you close your eyes for a bit? I'll get some food ready for you two."

"Don't worry, I can take care of myself."

Saito drew out Requiem. When Rossi saw the absurd shape of the hand cannon, she hesitated a moment, then nodded. One night without sleep was no real trouble for her, but a little rest was better than none.

Once she agreed, Saito took Requiem and set off toward the stream running through the wooded hills.

He didn't stop at the water's edge, though. Following the direction his senses pointed him, he walked on until he stood before the mouth of a cave.

To his eyes the cave had been packed full of material laced with Originium, and the faint bite of gunpowder in the air spared him the trouble of guessing what was stacked in there.

"So Rossi guessed right. Those Landbreakers are after Valley No. 4."

Nobody hauled this much explosive up a mountain to set off fireworks.

"Still, I'll be taking all of this off their hands."

Saito had been fretting about the dwindling Originium reserves in his pack.