novelraw Chapter 194
Chapter 194
Chapter 194
It is said that no intelligent lifeforms capable of forming a society currently reside on the planet Ramadite. Adie Ze's species, including himself, had all migrated to the Central Star Cluster, and the planet itself is widely open to Federation citizens for migration and tourism.
Surprisingly, not a single member of Adie Ze's species has ever returned to Ramadite. There was a reason for that—one Kait couldn't even imagine.
'The creatures that dominate Ramadite's environment are not us.'
Ramadite is a forest planet, with an environment resembling Earth's jungles stretching endlessly. After searching for a suitable landing spot, they set Queen Bee down on a moss-covered boulder.
Kait inwardly felt ashamed of his preconceived notion that the planet must be small because Adie Ze's species was small in stature. Though slightly smaller than Earth, the planet was astoundingly vast.
Yet this raised a question. Adie Ze's species was tiny—small enough to fit in the palm of Kait's hand. How could such beings have left this life-filled planet to venture into space?
'We are a species that lost the survival race on our planet. The environment here was too harsh for us.'
"I see?"
As he stepped out of Queen Bee, the dense scent of trees hit his nose. It was strange—though their roots and everything else were different, something about it felt nostalgic.
The leaves weren't green, but predominantly yellow. It gave the illusion of looking at a row of ginkgo trees in autumn.
Kait's eyes caught sight of an animal darting between the trees.
"Legs... no, it has six functional limbs."
'That one is a dominant species. It doesn't have functional limbs for climbing trees.'
The creature skillfully ran using its six legs. Adie Ze watched it through the camera synced with Emotion's vision. The dominant beast ran boldly past Kait's eyes. It was quite large—perhaps four meters tall at the shoulder.
A horse with a lion's mane might be the closest description. He couldn't tell what its feet were like, but its face was long for now.
'It's chasing prey. That one has a very selective diet.'
"Prey."
He turned his gaze in the direction it had run. Several trees were shaking vigorously.
With a loud flap, something took off from between the trees. A winged snake might be the correct way to describe it. The lion-horse (tentative name) kicked off the ground with a thud.
It leapt over the trees, exposing its entire body in midair. Its fur was pure white, and its feet ended in claws. Its leg structure wasn't like a horse's. Its tail was short and curled like a pig's.
I see—Kait realized in that moment how he classified organisms. It was the face. He judged them primarily by their face.
The lion-horse opened its mouth and bit into the winged snake's head. As the snake turned its head toward its predator, the lion-horse clamped down and began swallowing it whole. Perhaps that's why its head resembled a horse's. It crunched the wings caught in its mouth and swallowed again.
By the time it landed with a ground-shaking thud, the winged snake had been swallowed whole by the lion-horse.
"That's quite a hearty meal."
'Indeed. That creature preys on our natural enemies—it's a wonderful being to us.'
"Natural enemies."
'That winged one. Our species evolved in the wrong direction on this planet. The fact that we made it to the galaxy was thanks to a series of fortunate events. Had we failed, we'd still be cursing our fate and living in fear of their return.'
There was an unmistakable fear in Adie Ze's voice.
Kait didn't press further, but Adie Ze quietly began to explain why the planet was called a hunting planet.
***
Adie Ze wasn't born on Ramadite. He was a third-generation member of the smallfolk born in the Central Star Cluster, and everything he knew about his ancestral planet was simply due to his line of work.
Planet Ramadite is home to animals that mostly survive by hunting.
Even animals at the very bottom of the food chain chase after fleeing fruit to consume—it's that extreme.
And because of this hunting-based ecosystem, Ramadite's creatures are generally large in size. According to Earth's logic, an increase in large animals should lead to food shortages and starvation among them, but the planet's food supply was abundant enough to overturn that logic.
The plants that dominated the surface began mass-producing food to expand their territory. They made animals that liked their fruit destroy rival trees to spread their domain. Even plants actively influenced animals in this ecosystem.
Adie Ze's species was one that had been left behind in that food chain.
Their bodies grew smaller to avoid being targeted by large creatures. And to be satisfied with minimal food.
Of their six functional limbs, four were shaped like arms—an adaptation for life in the treetops. They were excellent climbers, able to move up and down trees at great speed.
Their species made their homes in tall, thick trees called 'guardian trees,' and lived their lives without ever descending to the ground. That's how they lived.
Their entire lives revolved around the small fruits of the guardian trees and the tiny insects that lived on them.
'When a guardian tree is about to die, it produces a large fruit unlike any other. That fruit is flung far away and becomes a new guardian tree.'
"Oh!"
'Our ancestors were tired of life on this planet. They hid inside the final fruit of a guardian tree to migrate to new lands. Until the new tree grew, they lived in fear, never knowing when they might die. Even when they finally felt safe living in the treetops, if a large beast appeared nearby, their lives would be instantly at risk.'
There was a saying among them: never hide in the highest-hanging fruit. One of them flies straight upward and never comes back.
'It's said that the beginning of our fortune came when one daredevil hid in that fruit. The fruit grew at the top of the largest and tallest guardian tree in recorded history. Apparently, it was about the size of Kait Third-Rank Citizen's Queen Bee.'
"That's... certainly big."
As he responded, his gaze wandered. Among the trees, there were indeed occasional giant ones sticking out. That must be the guardian tree.
'I've heard the daredevil tried to make the inside of the fruit as livable as possible. It was by chance, but that effort is said to have saved his life.'
"Hmm?"
Setting aside the daredevil's case. By that time, Ramadite had already become an object of observation for the Federation, which had expanded its domain into the galaxy. The fruit of the guardian tree was occasionally collected by the Federation as a mysterious object that sometimes flew out of the planet.
At first, they were used for research, and later, as collector's items. They were apparently traded at a decent price.
And one day, a little person was found hiding inside one of the retrieved fruits.
'It seems that before the daredevil was recovered, there were instances where others of the same kind had died inside. But by some stroke of luck, the daredevil was retrieved alive. The Federation Congress was quite troubled, I hear?'
He made contact with the Federation while still alive. Even if it was by accident or coincidence, they admired the daredevil's reckless courage. Technologically, they were clearly lacking. But the Federation Congress concluded that the smallfolk had an extremely low chance of developing a civilization capable of reaching space on their own.
On the other hand, the first smallfolk to become a Federation citizen pleaded that his fellow countrymen be granted citizenship as well, not just himself.
'Just like you, Third-Rank Citizen Kait.'
"Well... I'm not so sure about that."
At the very least, it was clear he cared more about his own people than Kait did.
If they lumped him together, wouldn't that be an insult to the daredevil?
'In the end, our ancestors abandoned Ramadite. Quite a few of our people hold citizenship ranked Seventh or higher, but they all live on planets other than Ramadite.'
With refreshing certainty, Adie Ze declared that he had no attachment to his homeland whatsoever.