Chapter 304: San Calombo [Part 1]
Most of the workers at the inspection space station were military personnel. On a whim, a veteran had decided to scan Cillin’s spaceplane using a military scanner, and equipment automatically calculated a vehicle combat strength, especially the defense and weapons system. To say that the result almost blinded everyone who saw it was actually an understatement. It wouldn’t be surprising if an unrelated person saw the final number and mistook it as the battle strength of an entire fleet.
The soldiers wouldn’t be this surprised if the spaceplane had a noble emblem on it. After all, some upper nobles had flight equipment that was as impressive as this one. The problem was they didn’t spot any noble emblem on the ID information they were shown, not to mention that the spaceplane was much smaller than what they came to expect from nobles.
The pilot was a young man who looked like he had an average background. He was neither a noble nor a VIP, at least on the surface. That, was something to consider.
But of course, they weren’t going to flag Cillin down just because they were curious. He was perfectly law abiding after all. They were bored and mentally tired from repeating the same tasks day by day, so they needed something refreshing once in a while to keep themselves alert. In fact, they only reported this because the station master specifically told them to do so.
“You know this guy?” The guy sitting behind the office table asked.
“Yeah, I do. Strange. Why is he in the twenty-third region?”
“Is he someone from your circle?” He was referring to the nobles.
“Not really.”
“What do you mean not really? What’s with the roundabout explanation, Tousen? Just tell me if this guy’s a noble or not. It’s not that hard.”
Tousen’s friend was a long time comrade of Tousen’s. He had retired from the army due to his injuries, and he never went back after he returned to full health. These days, he worked at the inspection space station and enjoyed a relatively easy life.
Tousen put down his wine bottle and said, “Can you tell your subordinates that I want to talk with him for a bit?”
His friend stared at Tousen suspiciously, but carried out the request without question.
Inside the spaceplane, Cillin was getting ready to leave the inspection space station. He knew that someone had scanned his vehicle earlier, but he paid it no heed because he was neither on a secret mission nor was he doing something shady. He had nothing to be worried about.
But before he could fly away and resume his journey, he suddenly received a comm request from the inspection space station. He accepted it and saw a familiar face on the screen.
“Nuhatch Tousen? Excuse me, I should call you Lieutenant Colonel Tousen, shouldn’t I?”
Cillin had looked over some of the latest information of the twenty third star region before he flew over, and he noticed that some of his acquaintances were marked as objects of interest. One of them was the military personnel he encountered at Baelenbaatar Middle School. Tousen was just a major when he and Bel ran into him the first time, so the guy was rising through the military ranks faster than expected. The guy’s noble background surely played a role, but Tousen wouldn’t have risen this quickly if he wasn’t a capable man himself. As expected of a member of the head of the empire’s army, the Nuhatch Family.
Tousen skipped over the introduction after seeing that Cillin still recognized him. “I’m at the inspection station right now. Are you free to come up for a chat? I just happened to be on vacation right now.”
Tousen didn’t put on a tough act this time. He was also planning to lend a hand to Cillin if he could help with whatever business the young man had at the twenty third star region.
“Sure.” Cillin was free, so he didn’t turn down the invitation.
He turned the spaceplane and headed toward the main building Tousen directed him to. This time he was let in after a quick inspection because the workers had already been informed about his return.
“Long time no see, Cillin!” Tousen greeted Cillin as he walked up to him. The fact that he personally came to welcome him instead of sending a guide showed that he respected Cillin enough to give him face.
“Long time no see, Lieutenant Colonel Tousen.”
They arrived at a reception room that was meant to be used by the station master only. Tousen waltzed right in where the station master was already waiting for them both.
“This is Zhu Ming, the station master and an old comrade of mine. Zhu Ming, this is Cillin.”
Zhu Ming raised his eyebrows: that’s it? You’re not going to say anything else besides his name?
Zhu Ming treated Cillin courteously despite knowing next to nothing about him. Tousen might have skipped out on a lot of details during his introduction, but he was no longer the bone-headed fool who just joined the army either. This Cillin had to be important considering how respectfully Tousen was treating him.
“Is AF1 on holiday right now?” Tousen asked. His younger brother, Brielles was studying at AF3, so sometimes he would look into the affiliated schools. He knew that the exam period was over not long ago, so he thought that there might be a holiday period of sorts afterward.
The Zebra Virus had set everyone on edge for a time, but the virus was suppressed before it ever spread to the twenty third star region. Barring a small minority, the Zebra Virus existed only as a conversation topic to most people. Besides that, the army residing in the twenty third star region were only ever ordered to increase their level of inspection and nothing else. A cure was found pretty soon after that, so at this point of time Tousen had no idea how big of a role Cillin had played in curbing the pandemic.
Zhu Ming was slightly surprised to hear that Cillin was a student at AF1. He wasn’t well learned, but even he had heard about the famous affiliated schools of the empire, not to mention that Tousen had talked about the brat he called his younger brother more times than he could count. It was why Zhu Ming understood that Cillin was made of real stuff. Most of the students in AF3 were young nobles, and a bit of connection was all it took to enter that place. However, AF1 and AF2 were meritocratic institutions, and not even princes couldn’t muscle their way into that place without real skill.
If Zhu Ming was only courteous earlier, now he was sitting up straight and seeing Cillin in a new light. All he had ever been was a soldier in his life, so he truly respected those with genuine skill and talent from the bottom of his heart, especially those who remained humble despite everything.
“Ah, you’re a student of AF1? I’m glad the empire has people like you!” Zhu Ming’s smile was a lot more sincere this time.
“What are you doing here, Cillin? Visiting a relative?” Tousen investigated Cillin before, so he knew about his relationship with the Chang Family.
“That is one of the reasons, but I’m mainly here to complete my mentor’s assignment.”
Tousen nodded understandingly. He had heard that AF1 students were often busy with their mentor’s assignments beside the usual courses.
“Is there anything you’d like us to help you?”
“Nothing for now. My mentor said that everything’s been set up already, and all I need to do after I arrive is contact the people in charge.”
“That’s great. Still, if you need any help then just give me a call directly. I’m on holiday anyway. Don’t wait until I’m gone!” Tousen said with a smile.
The trio talked about the major events that took place in the twenty third star region as of late. Of course, Tousen wasn’t going to reveal anything related to the military, so they were mostly talking about the latest happenings within the star regions.
They eventually talked about San Calombo, a famous higher education institution in the twenty third region. San Calombo was the top three best higher education institutions for the last century, and they even dominated the best overall performance rankings for a time.
“Oh right, I heard that someone San Calombo invited a member of the RAS to give a speech this time. Its popularity is going to rise through the roof again,” Zhu Ming said.
“Oh, really? I haven’t heard about it.” Tousen had been too busy to pay attention to this kind of stuff. Zhu Ming was the only one who had so much time on his hands he could probably die from sheer boredom.
“Cillin, Would you happen to know who the speaker is? And what kind of topic they’ll be talking about?” Zhu Ming looked expectantly at Cillin. The RAS seldom announced their speech topic ahead of time, and not even the military could just look into the RAS and fish out whatever information they wanted.