Chapter 48 Thousands of Years of Hatred (Rewrite)

The next day.

Kanda woke up and headed to the dining room, where Aoi and Manami were already having breakfast. Eris and Melwin had apparently spent the night with Lawry—they said they wanted to talk to her about something.

When Kanda arrived at the table, he noticed Eris laughing with Lawry. It looked like they were getting along just fine. He sat down and started eating with the others.

Just then, Maya walked up to him.

"Kanda-sama," she said in a serious tone. "An unknown parcel arrived in our mailbox this morning."

She handed him a small box. Curious, Kanda opened it. Inside was a compact tablet.

He powered it on. Two files appeared: a video and a text document.

He opened the video first.

On-screen, Jens sat at a desk—it looked like she was in her room. She didn't waste time.

=====

"Hey, everyone. As you can see, I'm Jens. This is just a recording, so don't bother trying to talk back. I have no intention of listening to whatever those cat aliens have to say.

Maybe I'll hear out the humans here… maybe not.

Anyway, this is an invitation—for Ichijou Kanda. You'll find the location in the text file. He needs to come alone. No backup, no tricks. I won't promise his safety when he gets here—but I will guarantee that he'll stay alive until I've finished talking with him.

Oh, and a heads-up: the text file deletes itself 15 seconds after being opened. So if anyone other than Kanda tries to read it... good luck.

That's it. I'm not wasting more breath on people who side with those disgusting aliens."

=====

The screen went black.

Silence filled the room.

"…Is she always like that?" Manami finally asked, raising an eyebrow. "I mean… wow. What's her problem with Eris and the others?"

"I've been wondering that too," Kanda said, turning to Lawry. "Do you know why she hates the Catians so much?"

Lawry set her fork down and looked at everyone at the table.

"…It's complicated," she said. "But I do get where that hatred might be coming from. It's not just her. A lot of Dogisia's people feel the same way."

She looked around at the group—people from Kanda's house, Antonia's house, and the Catian crew were all listening now.

"You've probably heard about our planet's role during the fall of the Dogisia Federation, right?"

Kuune nodded. "Yes. As far as I know, our government helped when the Galactic Federation of Intelligent Life called for a joint effort to arrest the Dogisians."

"That's the official story, sure," Lawry said with a slight, knowing smile. "But it's not the whole story."

Eris frowned. "What do you mean?"

Lawry leaned back in her chair, her expression calm—but serious.

"…The truth is, Dogisia didn't fall because of its enemies. It fell because of its ally—us. The Catia Federation."

That bombshell landed hard.

"IMPOSSIBLE!" Melwin shouted, nearly knocking her chair back. "That's… there's no way! We would never do that!"

"I know it's hard to believe," Lawry said softly. "I didn't want to believe it either, at first. But the data was there—buried, hidden by the higher-ups. I only found out because our Assistroids were connected to Catia's core systems at the time. Eventually, that access got blocked unless we had clearance."

She sighed.

"Kind of ironic, isn't it? Their own ally brought about their downfall."

Kanda leaned forward. "So what really happened back then, Lawry-san? Can you tell us?"

"Yeah," Lawry nodded. "I'll tell you what I know."

She took a sip of water, then continued.

"Dogisia was… amazing when it came to research and development. They were ahead of pretty much everyone. Even our planet's R&D couldn't compete."

"Really?" Aoi blinked. "I always thought we were neck and neck."

"That's what we were told," Lawry replied. "But in truth? Most of our tech breakthroughs came from them. Through an exchange program. The Dogisians were… generous. They welcomed anyone who visited and freely shared knowledge."

"That's not like most advanced planets," Manami muttered.

"Exactly. But here's the weird part—the one who pushed for this whole 'open sharing' thing? Their leader. A human."

"A human?" Eris asked, confused.

Lawry nodded. "Yup. A human. He believed knowledge should be shared. Said if they gave freely, others would return the favor. He thought it would come back to benefit them."

Everyone stared at her, stunned.

"…That's insanely naïve," Kuune said quietly. "There's no way everyone would give back something useful."

Lawry gave a half-smile. "That's what everyone thought. And maybe that's why things turned out the way they did."

She paused, then looked at the Catians directly.

"I know it's hard to accept, but our people took and took—and when it came time to return the favor? We... didn't. Or worse, we turned our backs on them. When the political winds shifted, we labeled them a threat and joined the call to bring them down."

No one spoke. The weight of what she said hung heavily in the air.

"Some people really did try to give the Dogisians fake or useless knowledge at first," Lawry continued, leaning against the couch. "But… over time, even those skeptics ended up contributing real ideas. They saw how sincere Dogisia was. How open. And those who accepted their offer—well, their planets advanced rapidly thanks to that shared knowledge."

She paused. "Ours included."

Everyone stayed quiet.

"But…" she sighed. "No one can ever really escape greed."

The room darkened emotionally with her words.

"The turning point came when the Dogisia Federation was granted access to the Grand Library of the Galactic Federation of Intelligent Life," Lawry said. "A place filled with knowledge most beings couldn't even comprehend. Only the Orsonians—those ultra-intellectual beings—had ever entered it before."

"Wait, seriously?" Melwin blinked. "They actually got in?"

"They did," Lawry nodded. "The Galactic Federation's leader personally gave them access. That made a lot of other worlds… envious. Understandably so."

"Let me guess," Manami said grimly. "People started trying to steal from them."

"Exactly. But Dogisia wasn't reckless. They only shared pieces of what they learned—and only with close allies. Catia was one of them."

She took another sip of tea before continuing.

"I probably don't need to spell out what happened next."

"You mean… our people tried to take that knowledge by force?" Kuune asked, her voice low.

Lawry gave her a sad smile. "Yes. Our leaders planned an operation. They decided to use Dogisia's own leader as leverage. They tried to kidnap him."

A gasp swept the room.

"What happened?" Kuune asked again, almost breathlessly.

"…They underestimated him," Lawry said. "The Dogisian leader fought back. He was powerful. Took down all five of our combat teams. Each of them was led by a Major-Class Combatant, backed up by ten Captain-Class operatives per team."

"Five teams…" Eris murmured, stunned. "That's fifty Captains and five Majors…"

"Right. And for context," Lawry explained, "our military ranks go: Private, Sergeant, Captain, Major, and General. That guy fought through all of them."

"Incredible," whispered Aoi.

"But he didn't make it," Lawry said quietly. "He sustained massive injuries. After defeating our teams, he bled out. His death was recorded and transmitted to the Dogisian people. And they… were furious."

Everyone was silent again.

"So… what did they do?" Aoi asked.

"They declared war on Catia."

She let that sink in.

"And how did our people respond?" Kanda asked.

Lawry's tone darkened. "We panicked. Instead of admitting what we did, our leaders called the Galactic Federation and lied. Said Dogisia had strayed from the right path and was acting irrationally. At first, the Galactic Federation didn't buy it."

"But they changed their mind?" Eris asked, brows furrowed.

Lawry nodded. "Once Dogisia officially declared war on us, it gave our leaders the leverage they needed. The Galactic Federation stepped in to mediate. Dogisia demanded we hand over the people responsible for their leader's death. But our government had already destroyed the evidence."

"That's… disgusting," Melwin muttered.

"It gets worse," Lawry said. "Blinded by grief and rage, Dogisia launched an attack—right in front of the Galactic Federation's leader. That was the final straw. A counterattack was approved immediately."

She paused to take a breath.

"In the end, our forces won. Most of Dogisia's population was captured. A few escaped using advanced ships. But…"

"…But?" Manami prompted.

Lawry's face turned grim.

"The ones we captured took their own lives. Every single one of them. They destroyed their data before we could access it. All that priceless knowledge… gone."

No one said anything. The weight of her words hung heavy in the room.

"You could say we won the battle," Lawry said quietly. "But we lost the future. All because of greed and betrayal. After that, the incident was buried—locked away in classified files. Only the highest-ranking officials knew the truth."

She looked over at the Catians.

"That's why you didn't know, Eris. Or you, Melwin. Or Kuune. That's why Jens… hates us so much."

Silence blanketed the room again. Even the usually cheerful catgirls looked pale and shaken.

"…Kanda," Manami finally said, "are you still going to meet her?"

Kanda looked up and nodded. "Yeah. I want to hear what she has to say."

"But she told you to come alone," Aoi said worriedly. "It might be dangerous."

"I'll be fine," he reassured her with a gentle smile. "I think I've figured out a bit about her personality. I'll manage."

"If that's your decision, Ichijou-kun," Kuune said, "we'll respect it. But call us right away if anything goes wrong."

Kanda nodded.

He pulled out the tablet and opened the text file.

A coordinate flashed across the screen—an address.

Fifteen seconds later, just like Jens warned, the file erased itself.

He stood up and went to prepare.

END OF THE CHAPTER.