Copyrights and Credits
Prologue
Prologue
WOKEN BY THE SOUND of someone moaning, I felt the warmth of two bodies beside me. My own body ached a bit—maybe because I hadn’t been able to roll over in my sleep.
“Nyununu…gyununu…”
“Sleep-talking? What in the world are you saying?” I teased the redheaded girl mumbling in her sleep with furrowed brows. When I bent my arm and lightly patted her head, her tightly furrowed brow relaxed a little. She apparently hadn’t been sleeping well tonight.
“Zzz…”
Unlike her older sister—who was noisy even while asleep—the blue-haired girl was sleeping peacefully. She pressed tightly against me with an expression of pure bliss, sound asleep. Her and her sister both had smooth skin and a slightly elevated temperature that felt good to the touch.
Despite appearances, the two were proper adults. Had they not been, the present scene would’ve appeared highly illegal, since both were in their birthday suits. If police officers had suddenly shown up, and someone pointed at me saying, “Officer, right here,” I’d probably have had no way to defend myself in court. In the end, though, that was just hypothetical, since they were grown women.
“Guess I should get up…”
I didn’t have any particular reason to get moving early this morning, but lying idly in bed wasn’t a good habit. Before getting up, though, I had to figure out how to wake these two girls, who weighed down on me much more powerfully than their looks suggested.
***
Having somehow managed to finish my morning routine, I entered the lounge of our mothership, the Black Lotus. “Good morning…huh?”
My entrance seemed to take the crew aback. The confused girl with light-brown hair was Mimi, a capable operator who’d been the first crew member to join. She was on the short side, but you could say the voluminous chest armor straining under her clothes was battleship class.
Mimi came from a distinguished lineage, though she seemed not to care much about that. If anything, she saw it as a burden—something that might get in the way of her remaining by my side. Not that I’d ever have considered letting her go just because of her bloodline. Not unless she herself wanted to leave, that is.
“What the heck are you doing?” The silver-haired beauty with pointed ears shaped like bamboo leaves asked in mixed disbelief and exasperation. Her name was Elma, and she was a skilled pilot and silver-rank mercenary. As a viscount’s daughter, she had undergone physical augmentation; thus, despite her thin frame, she had the strength and athleticism of a super soldier. However, her chest armor stood no chance against Mimi’s; it was way flimsier.
“Seems like Tina had a bad dream last night,” I explained.
I was supporting the redhead girl who clung to my front—Tina—with my left hand while lightly patting her the back with my right. Speaking in her Kansai-ben-like accent, Tina usually lifted our spirits; today, though, she was giving me no end of trouble, acting like the little girl she resembled.
On that note, although her shortness made her look like a young girl, she had curves in all the right places. And as a dwarf, she had extremely dense bones and muscles, making her much heavier than she looked.
Given Tina’s bear-like strength, pointing out her heaviness right now might put my ribs or spine at risk, so I wisely chose not to mention that. I was no weakling myself, so although she was a little heavy, it wasn’t anything I couldn’t handle.
“Sis…”
Wiska, Tina’s younger sister, looked up at her with an ambivalent expression. Wiska’s blue hair was distinct from her sister’s, but apart from that, the young dwarf girls—I mean, ladies—were practically identical. Despite their similar facial features, though, they carried themselves completely differently, so mistaking one for the other was all but impossible.
Wiska was usually far more reserved—well, far calmer—than her sister. When her intellectual curiosity was aroused, however, she tended to develop tunnel vision. That said, both she and Tina were incredibly skilled mechanics—second to none—so a little flaw like that was actually kind of endearing.
“Would you like me to examine her, my lord?”
Kugi twitched her vulpine silver ears and swished her three excessively fluffy tails as she approached me. She hailed from the distant Holy Verthalz Empire, a place thousands of light years from our present location. Kugi was a silver-haired shrine maiden with psionic abilities; according to the customs of her country, she was responsible for serving and occasionally guiding “Fallen Ones” like myself. She specialized in psionics that affected the mind, such as telepathy; on top of that, she was quickly improving as the Krishna’s co-pilot.
By offering to “examine” Tina, Kugi was likely volunteering to check on her mental state, and if possible use her special psionic powers to improve it.
“Hang on. Taking care of the crew’s mental well-being should be my job, shouldn’t it?”
The speaker was our newest crew member, Dr. Shouko, who served as our ship’s doctor and researcher. Her long, dark brown hair was slightly unkempt, and she wore a white lab coat over her clothes, which had been chosen more for comfort than fashion. Pushing that lab coat outward was one of her most striking features: chest armor on par with Mimi’s. Dr. Shouko came from slightly problematic—well, special—origins, but that wasn’t anything unusual considered against this mercenary group’s other members. We pretty much all had our own special circumstances.
For example, I was a strange being from another world who could barely be considered human at this point. Mimi was a blood relative of the emperor of the Grakkan Empire, and probably deserved to be addressed as Your Highness. As for Elma, she was the noble daughter of Viscount Willrose, a member of the Grakkan Empire aristocracy.
Tina and Wiska didn’t seem to have special circumstances of their own, but Kugi was a shrine maiden in Verthalz, which—from what I could tell—was a rather high-ranking position. I suspected that there was something special about Kugi’s origins too, but I hadn’t yet learned anything specific.
Compared to all that, a designer baby genetically modified to enhance her mental capabilities, like Dr. Shouko, was nothing special. It might sound a bit strange coming from me, but compared to Mimi and myself, that sort of thing wasn’t noteworthy. Besides, the Empire’s nobles were all physically enhanced after birth to increase their mental processing speed and memory. From my point of view, there wasn’t much difference between that and what Dr. Shouko had gone through.
“I don’t believe that mental health falls under a doctor’s purview,” Mei declared, appearing out of nowhere. “Master, if you’d like, I will take care of the issue.”
Mei was a high-spec Maidroid—in other words, a maid-style android…or, since she was female, a gynoid. She wasn’t just a machine, but rather something called a machine intelligence. That basically meant she was a super high-spec AI possessing her own personality. Machine intelligences like Mei did have a concept of the self, but usually remained connected to a broader information network, making them something of a collective intelligence.
At any rate, Mei was an incredibly capable being who demonstrated absolute loyalty to me—her designer and purchaser. She was fully responsible for managing the Black Lotus and boasted a high computing speed that made her adept at cyber warfare, as well as traditional combat abilities that greatly exceeded those of even power-armored combatants. She was truly an all-powerful maid.
But if you were going to make a Maidroid, you might as well make the strongest one you could, right? That was how Mei had come about. She’d been assembled from the highest-spec parts imaginable, and every conceivable skill had been installed in her. She was our wild card, capable of handling anything we needed.
Hmm? What about her appearance, you ask? She looked like a dignified maid with long, glossy black hair and red-framed half-rim glasses. She was about my height, and her chest armor—although not as big as Mimi’s—was still rather large.
Mei was jam-packed with my own preferences and interests, and I’d given her a high capacity for love while also giving her almost the lowest possible expressiveness. Kuudere maids were the best.
“I appreciate everyone’s concern, but for now, let’s just leave her be.”
I’d noticed that Tina had clung a bit more tightly to me ever since we entered the lounge. She might’ve only just realized the situation she was in; she was potentially enduring extreme embarrassment at the moment. She held on even tighter when I tried to peel her off, which probably showed that my hypothesis was correct. That kind of hurts.
“…Well, okay. But let her know that she doesn’t have to bottle up everything,” Elma said, seemingly sensing something about Tina’s headspace.
“Aye aye, ma’am,” I responded, saluting her. For now, I was getting something to eat…as soon as I did something about this bug clinging to me, that was. Sheesh.
***
“So, you’ve been feeling down because you started dreaming about the past?” I asked.
“Well…yeah, somethin’ like that,” Tina replied.
It was an hour later. I’d somehow gotten Tina off of me, after which I ordered some breakfast from the cafeteria’s automatic cooker. I’d brought it to Tina and Wiska’s room, and Tina and I were currently eating as we talked.
I’d invited Wiska to join us, but she’d refused, saying, “It’ll be easier for you to talk if it’s just the two of you.” She was a good sister who cared about her elder sibling.
“I know it sounds lame to say this, but I’m not a psychiatrist, so I can’t give you any actual treatment,” I admitted. “In fact, there’s not much I can do.”
“How blunt,” Tina laughed. She was smiling, but it seemed a little forced. She was really going through something.
“No point offering empty comfort, right?”
“True.”
“Well, there’s no reason to beat around the bush, so I’ll just come out with it: No matter what happens, I’ll protect you. I don’t plan on handing you over to anyone else.”
“I haven’t even told you what I’m wranglin’ with… You sure you should make a promise like that?”
“I’m sure. I don’t think too deeply over matters of life and death.”
“Can you be more specific about how you mean that…?”
I shrugged. “Well, my hands are already dyed red with blood. There might’ve been innocent victims on the pirate ships I’ve shot down. But I don’t have the luxury of worrying over the lives of strangers I don’t care about.”
“Well, no, but…” Tina wore a wry smile. She probably wanted to point out that my explanation didn’t really fit the situation.
“Anyway, what I’m trying to tell you is that you have nothing to worry about. Worst-case scenario, after we get to…uh…what was the system’s name again?”
“Rimei.”
“Right. The Rimei System. Once we’re there, we can just sell our cargo and peace out, if it comes down to that.”
The reason Tina had been feeling down in the first place was that we were headed to her old home, the Rimei System. Dr. Shouko had officially joined our crew after undergoing the proper procedures in the Arein System; there, we’d stocked up on a bunch of high-tech luxury medical supplies via Dr. Shouko’s connections. Although we were mercenaries, we occasionally acted as merchants too. Unlike mercenary work, commerce was taxed, but if you purchased goods at a cheap-enough price, there was no reason to pass up the chance to make extra money.
A lot had happened in the Arein System. For one thing, Mimi’s grandmother, Celestia, had tipped us off about some sort of pandemic that had broken out in the Rimei System. It sounded like an opportunity to earn a high profit, so we’d decided to head there to sell our medical goods. But when we were about to set off, we’d learned that our destination also happened to be Tina’s old home, leading to the current situation.
“You say that, hon, but have you ever actually managed to ‘peace out’ when a problem occurred?”
“…We should probably eat before our breakfast gets cold.”
“Hon?”
“This lovely breakfast was made by our very own Steel Chef. Yum.”
Ignoring Tina’s question, I began to eat. I didn’t want to admit it, but there was probably an 80 or 90 precent chance that we’d get dragged into some kind of trouble. In any case, taking care of Tina’s headspace was the most important thing right now.
Still, I should probably go check in with Dr. Shouko, Mimi, and Mei, and make sure our protective gear and quarantine measures are in order. It would be idiotic to knowingly dock at a colony where a pandemic was underway and allow it to spread to our ship.
***
Leaving Tina in Wiska’s care, I headed to the cafeteria, where the rest of the crew had gathered. We were going to meet to discuss our plans once we arrived in the Rimei System. The first thing we should talk about is…probably this. “How’s our protective gear looking?”
“We’re fine on that front! No problems,” Mimi said proudly.
For some reason, her extreme confidence worried me more. Just to be sure, I glanced over at Dr. Shouko.
“As Mimi said, there won’t be problems in that regard. On top of the stuff we’re selling, we have medical supplies set aside for our own needs, and the ship’s outfitted with proper disease-prevention equipment.”
Mei chimed in through the speaker. “There is no need to change your behavior while aboard the ship. However, you will need to take preventive measures in the colony.”
Mimi was pouting, disappointed that I didn’t trust her, but she forgave me when I apologized and made nice with her.
“By the way, how is Tina? Is she okay?” Elma asked.
“I think so. I don’t know what happened to her in the past, but this will probably work out one way or another.”
“Is that so? It should be fine, then,” Elma said.
It would’ve been more accurate to say that I’d ensure that it worked out, but Elma must’ve read my unspoken meaning, since she nodded in understanding. We had funds, political power, and firepower, so we were pretty well equipped to deal with anything that came our way. Still, that didn’t mean I’d get complacent and drop my guard.
Hypothetically, if we were excessively cautious and prevented Tina from leaving the ship, then any personal problems of hers would be unlikely to erupt. We could have Wiska stay behind too to be safe. Although their hair and eyebrows were different colors, they had very similar facial features as twins, so people might mistake Wiska for Tina and assume that she’d simply dyed her hair before coming back home. So, thinking it over, it really might be a good idea for the pair just to stay aboard the ship while we were there.
“My lord, if I may be so bold…if your priority is to avoid trouble, perhaps we could simply cancel our plans to visit the Rimei System to begin with,” Kugi suggested. “Although we likely wouldn’t turn as large a profit, it might be safer to sell our medical goods elsewhere.”
“That may be true, but I’m technically a doctor,” Dr. Shouko said with a dry little smile. “So if people there are suffering from a contagious disease, I’d like to deliver them medical supplies if possible.”
Dr. Shouko disagreed with Kugi on the basis of her vocation, and while Kugi had a point, Dr. Shouko’s perspective had merit as well. Taking profit, honor, and fame into account, selling our medical goods in the Rimei System made the most sense. We’d earn a lot of money, we’d help the locals, and society at large would praise us for delivering crucial medical supplies during a dangerous pandemic. The mercenary guild would be delighted with us. It would be a win-win-win for the seller, buyer, and society at large.
“At any rate,” I said, “the ‘trouble’ we’d probably run into would just be a local gang or syndicate. If they pick a fight, we can use our resources, connections, and strength to resolve the problem.”
“You really do sound like a mercenary when you talk like that,” Dr. Shouko commented.
“Of course. I’m a professional mercenary,” I replied.
“Is that something to be proud of?” Elma asked with a puzzled look.
I wasn’t sure why she responded that way. If a space pirate messed with me, I’d kill them. Wasn’t that what being a mercenary meant? I supposed that treating gangsters and syndicate members like space pirates wouldn’t be quite right, though. It could lead to legal implications, since those types were still technically citizens of the Empire… Then again, since they would likely be commoners and I was an honorary noble, I shouldn’t have any worries on that front.
“Hey, Mei. Hypothetically, if armed citizens were to attack me, then on the basis of my privileges as a noble, I wouldn’t run into legal repercussions if I just killed them for offending me, would I?”
“From a case-law perspective, you would not. In fact, swordsmen with noble titles have occasionally used such methods to eliminate gangsters and syndicate members, since they’re difficult to deal with through strictly legal means.”
“No problem, then. Still, I guess we should probably give a heads-up to the noble responsible for managing the Rimei System in advance before taking any action. Mei, contact them and get us off on the right foot. Feel free to make use of the stuff in our special storage if necessary. Mimi, stick to Mei and learn the proper way to deal with nobles from her.”
“Understood,” Mei replied.
Mimi nodded in surprise. “O-okay. Got it.”
Why is she so taken aback? I wondered.
“Hiro, you had a change of heart, didn’t you?” Elma asked.
“Huh? I don’t think I did. Change of heart? What’re you talking about?”
“In the past you always avoided getting involved with nobles, but here you are, suddenly talking about giving the lord in charge a heads-up and getting off on the right foot with them. What would you call that except a change of heart?” Elma said.
“Oh. Well, I don’t feel like I changed… This is just the first time I’ve seriously considered making use of my noble privilege.” I wasn’t an idiot. If I was potentially going to fall back on that privilege, it was best to be prepared.
“I see… By the way, you mentioned ‘the stuff in our special storage.’ What’s in there?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“Ah, that stuff. I’ve got a bunch of goods you can use in transactions you don’t want others tracking. When we take down pirates, we not only acquire their bounties, but also various spoils of war. A lot of those are valuable items that are tough to track, like Rare Metal.”
This universe’s main currency was Ener, but that was a digital currency, so whenever you made a transaction with it, it left an easily traceable record. That made it inconvenient for illegal transactions, or even just transactions that you preferred others not to know about. Rare, highly valuable goods like Rare Metal were convenient in situations like that.
Rare Metal, as its name suggested, was a metal with immense industrial value and extremely limited availability even on a cosmic scale. To put it in numbers, one kilogram of Rare Metal ingots was worth about a hundred thousand Ener. Converting that to Japanese currency gave you ten million yen. I’d had a lot of Rare Metal already when I arrived in this reality, which was why I hadn’t needed to worry too much about startup funds.
Other rare goods would be jewelry or artwork; depending on the brand, booze might also count. Spirit silver, which was only produced on Leafil Prime, the elves’ home planet, was also a rare good—not that many people in the Empire wanted it.
“I’ve been stocking up on those just in case,” I concluded. “That’s why I’ve got a stash.”
“So it doubles as an emergency fund, but you can also be used for bribes as needed? Is that really okay?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“Of course. We’re mercenaries, in the end, not agents of justice or purehearted heroes.”
“Hmm…I see,” Dr. Shouko nodded, then fell silent, seemingly in contemplation.
“My lord, after arriving at the Rimei System, what are our plans?” Kugi asked.
“First we’ll head to the system’s main colony, Rimei Prime, and stay there for a bit to gather information. Nine times out of ten, the main colony is a system’s trading hub, so we’ll probably end up selling the medical goods there.”
“Makes sense. The problem is, who are we selling them to?” Elma asked. “I guess the likeliest source of clients would be the mercenary guild. They probably already have requests up.”
“If they’ve already put up requests, it would make things simple. Selling via the guild would cut into our profits a bit, but it’s definitely the easiest route,” I said. “Selling on the market would be more profitable, but going to the mercenary guild first is probably best.”
“We should do things by the book,” Elma said.
Completely ignoring the mercenary guild in pursuit of greater profits would have bad optics. The guild likely wouldn’t overlook our actions, and since they’d been taking good care of me, ruining the relationship at this point wouldn’t be a good idea.
“Mercenaries are more restricted than I expected,” Dr. Shouko commented.
“Newbies might have more freedom, but once you’re a platinum-ranker, there are certain expectations,” I told her. “You’ve got to show that you deserve to be at the top, right?”
“You’re just randomly proper at times, Hiro,” Elma remarked.
“I believe it is a praiseworthy trait, as I would expect of my lord,” Kugi said.
Ha ha ha… Kugi just outright praised me. She’s really a good girl. Meanwhile, Elma’s such a hypocrite. Why can’t she just flatter me? I don’t get it. “In any case, we’re heading to Rimei Prime. Once we arrive, we’ll gather intel and look to establish contact with the mercenary guild. Based on the info we acquire, we might get in touch with the noble in charge too.”
“Aye aye, sir,” my crew replied.
So what’s the state of things right now on Rimei Prime? I hope it’s not a complete mess, with over half the population already dead or something…
Chapter 1: Rimei Prime
Chapter 1:
Rimei Prime
“SO…WE’VE ARRIVED.”
Aboard the Black Lotus, we exited the richly colored, psychedelic-looking alternate dimension, having reached the gate of a hyperlane on the edge of the Rimei System. Hyperlane entrances were generally located on a system’s outskirts, so even using our FTL drive, arriving at a colony or habitable planet normally took us at least two hours.The Krishna could’ve gotten there a little faster, but there wouldn’t be much point sending that ship ahead by itself.
“For now, let’s prep our protective gear. We’ll need it if we want to walk around the colony,” I said.
“Right,” Elma replied.
Those of us who weren’t busy headed to the ship’s cargo bay and prepared the environmental suits we would need. These were the stereotypical skintight outfits common in sci-fi novels. Despite their appearance, they were quite durable, and the attached helmet protected the wearer from harmful pathogens and poisonous gases. They were an extraordinary product.
The suits had a strong retrofuturistic vibe and looked rather low-tech, but they were equipped with an automatic feature that adjusted the garment to perfectly fit the wearer’s frame. You could also add other enhancements; for instance, one allowing the wearer to maintain a ship in the vacuum of space. These suits didn’t look like much, but they were capable of a lot.
“This suit really accentuates a body’s lines,” I noted. “Ar…aren’t you embarrassed?”
“Not really. All environmental suits are like this. You do seem to be staring at me, though…” Elma said with a judgmental glance.
Seeing her in clothes like this, I couldn’t help admiring how aesthetically pleasing her figure was. She was on the slender side overall, but the curves from her waist to her thighs—and the modest, yet distinctly defined, lines of her bust—were just…well, exquisite. Truly exquisite.
“Ugh… They’re a little tight around the chest,” Mimi said, her fingers pulling the chest area where her environmental suit was pressing against her. Gazing upon the sight, I offered my thanks to the gods. A flawless, perfect marvel of a bosom. Jiggle indeed! What man could have witnessed such a sight and not offered his reverence? I’d say he didn’t exist.
“Although I’m allowed, I don’t like the idea of sharing this sight with other men, so cover up with these,” I instructed, handing over some cloaks.
“Oh, chameleon thermal cloaks,” Elma said.
I’d purchased these back in the Vlad System. They offered thermal control and some—though not total—optical camouflage. When I bought them, my crew had accused me of wasting money, but the cloaks occasionally came in handy. Without their camouflage function activated, they were just plain hexagonally patterned cloaks in subdued colors. With their camouflage activated, just like their namesake, the cloaks shifted their patterns and colors to match their surroundings, allowing the wearers to blend in seamlessly. With these on, the girls wouldn’t have to worry about the crowd’s rude stares whenever we headed outside.
Holding her environmental suit in her hands, Kugi cocked her head. “My lord, won’t carrying more equipment increase the inconvenience we face during decontamination procedures while reentering the ship?” she asked quizzically.
“Yeah, but that’s a small price to pay if these cloaks let us avoid unnecessary trouble,” I replied as I checked my combat armor. Kugi was right—managing all this equipment would be a bit of a hassle. Still, it would be vastly preferable to letting the crew go out without cloaks and garner uncomfortable stares or harassment from weirdos. Most importantly, it gave me peace of mind.
“I see. Um…my lord, I don’t think I can wear this.”
“No…? Well, there’s no helping it, then. Hopefully we can find some protection that fits you on Rimei Prime itself.”
I hadn’t been sure whether the environmental suits we’d obtained would fit Kugi, given her fluffy tails, and my fears were seemingly well founded. The suits weren’t designed to handle tails, after all, and we couldn’t just open a hole for them. Thus, Kugi would likely have to stay behind on the ship.
“Well, I can’t say we didn’t run into any problems. But everyone’s equipment—aside from Kugi’s—seems to work fine,” I said. Since that concluded our final safety check on the environmental suits, I dismissed the crew. “You’re all free to go for now.”
“Okay!” Mimi chirped.
“Got it,” said Elma.
“Yes, my lord,” added Kugi.
Although I doubted one would happen, we also had to remain on guard against pirate attacks. A pandemic unfolding in the Rimei System wouldn’t stop pirates from attacking transport ships.
The Black Lotus was on the large side, but unless its weapons were out, it looked no different from a transport ship, so a pirate attack wouldn’t be a surprise. I’d kind of designed the ship with that intention, because I wanted to lure pirates in to attack us, but it could still be occasionally annoying. There was no use complaining about it, though.
***
As we headed to Rimei Prime, I checked in on Tina. Then I headed to the Krishna’s cockpit, where I remained on standby in case an emergency arose.
“This is awful…”
While we were en route, I reviewed the information Mei had gathered, which was displayed on the Krishna’s main screen. The situation on Rimei Prime honestly didn’t look good. First of all, the pandemic seemed to be a primarily airborne disease, but not the type transmitted from person to person through coughs or sneezes. Rather, it apparently infected people through exposure to spores dispersed by the fruiting bodies of a pathogenic fungus—a literal mushroom.
Initial symptoms included fever and coughing. As the disease progressed, the infected experienced chest pain and bloody sputum. In the final stages, their lung tissue necrotized, causing respiratory failure and death by asphyxiation. Even when the patient survived, the disease could spread to their central nervous system if they were unlucky. In any case, without treatment, mortality was high.
The tricky thing about this disease was that, after a patient died, it quickly reproduced inside them. If the corpse wasn’t dealt with promptly—to be precise, within two hours—it became a new source of potential infection. Mushrooms grew from it and immediately unleashed new spores.
To make matters worse, the pandemic didn’t only target humans; it apparently tried to infect all life-forms. It could kill rats or other small animals that dwelt within air ducts or sewer pipes, then turn them into breeding grounds that spread spores throughout the entire colony.
“All in all, it’s basically a bioweapon, isn’t it?”
“It’s pretty close.”
The mushrooms that grew on the corpses didn’t look edible in the slightest. They had slender stems and caps on top, kind of resembling laughing shrooms—often known as magic mushrooms.
“Examining the composition and genetic makeup of the mushroom responsible for this outbreak, it has similarities with those used in certain drugs. It’s been modified a lot, though,” Dr. Shouko said.
“What do you mean?” I asked.
“Some idiot might’ve smuggled these mushrooms here and tried unsuccessfully to cultivate them. Or someone might’ve used poorly produced drugs, died, and caused the outbreak that way. I can’t say for certain what happened, but it was probably along those lines,” she explained.
“Talk about being a nuisance… Can the situation still be brought under control?”
“If you treated everyone infected after eliminating all the sources of infection, then maybe. But it probably won’t be possible through normal means.”
Rimei Prime was a rather large and old colony, so there were likely a lot of small animals that could serve as sources of contagion. Eliminating all those animals, purifying the entire area, and then treating all the infected citizens would definitely be a tall order. Yet it wasn’t impossible, given this universe’s resources, assuming enough money and effort were put into it.
“In any case, if we don’t let the spores get into our bodies or aboard the Black Lotus, the ship will be safe. We don’t have any small animals on board that could infect us,” Dr. Shouko said.
“Indeed not. Our quarantine measures are flawless,” Mei said.
Mei’s awareness of the Black Lotus was total, and if she held that no rats had stolen aboard, then there wouldn’t be any problems, as long as we were careful not to bring any in with us. That was a relief to hear.
“Oh, right. I doubt this is a worry, but don’t buy any weird drugs and secretly try them,” Dr. Shouko warned. “As I said earlier, poorly produced drugs that included those mushrooms might’ve caused this outbreak.”
“We don’t have any drug addicts in our crew, but I’ll make sure to warn everyone just in case.”
“Do that. If they really want to dabble, they can talk to me,” Dr. Shouko said.
“Please don’t drop unsettling statements like that out of nowhere.”
I wasn’t sure whether she was offering to prepare drugs for crew members willing to dabble in potentially dangerous substances, or if she was saying that she had methods to quash such desires. Either interpretation was unsettling.
In any case, it seemed that drugs might’ve been involved in this situation. Combined with the issue of Rimei Prime being Tina’s old home, I had a bad gut feeling about this visit. I couldn’t really do anything about it at this point, so it was best just to prepare for whatever happened.
***
“We will soon arrive at Rimei Prime, Master.”
“Got it. Careful… Don’t want any accidents to happen.”
“Yes, Master. I will take the utmost care to ensure our safety.”
After speaking with Mei from the Krishna’s cockpit, I deactivated my seatbelt. Now that we were this close, it wasn’t likely that any hazards would arise.
This might be surprising, but the area around a colony was typically dangerous. After all, ships of various sizes tended to crowd together near a colony. Some would be large vessels over a kilometer across, such as the Lestarius. The Black Lotus was no small ship itself; it was easily over four hundred meters long, larger than a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier on Earth.
The fact that our small crew could operate a ship that large was a testament to this universe’s advanced ship-control systems. That said, in our case, it was mostly thanks to the fact that Mei managed most of the operations. She was simply incredible.
“First up is the usual docking request process,” Mimi said as she boarded the Krishna. In the operator’s seat, she activated the hologram interface and prepared the request.
“If you say in the ‘special notes’ section that we’re transporting medical goods from the Arein System, they’ll probably give us docking priority,” I pointed out.
“Oh, good point. I’ll do that,” Mimi said with a nod. She began typing that detail into her request. Although technology was significantly more advanced in this universe, people still had to input characters directly through a keyboard-style interface. That involved a holographic keyboard nowadays, but I still found something about it moving. Since humans had ten fingers, was a keyboard-style interface simply the optimal approach?
“I’m a little worried about the state of the colony, my lord.”
“Yeah.”
Although I agreed, I wasn’t really worried. The spreading disease was highly fatal if untreated, but as long as you treated it, it wasn’t that scary. If the colony had been capable of providing proper medical services, the situation wouldn’t have escalated too far. I doubted a colony under the Grakkan Empire’s management would’ve fallen into such disrepair that they couldn’t address this kind of situation. Then again, considering that the Grakkan Empire colony where Mimi had been living—Tarmein Prime—contained districts that had essentially deteriorated into slums, the situation might be direr than I thought.
“Maybe I was being a bit too lackadaisical,” I said, reconsidering. “This could be more dangerous than I suspected.”
Thinking it through more carefully, although advanced medical technology was available in this universe, rumors of a spreading pandemic had still gotten out, and the outbreak itself actually was happening. We had taken proper precautions not to get infected ourselves; still, it probably wouldn’t be a good idea to take the situation lightly.
“Hopefully the medical supplies we brought will be useful,” Mimi said.
“I hope so,” I replied.
I didn’t know what idiot had brought in this pathogen, but the afflicted people who’d been dragged into their mess hadn’t done anything wrong. I really did hope that the supplies we brought could help them.
“Hiro, we need to start off gathering information, right?” Elma asked over our comms channel.
“Yeah, that’ll be a good jumping-off point. Let’s head to the mercenary guild to handle that first. Mimi and Kugi, stay aboard the ship and work with Mei to figure out where else we can go to acquire information.”
“Understood.”
“Yes, my lord.”
Let’s get moving.
***
Booom!
The thunderous sound let me know, even without me looking outside, that the Black Lotus had exited FTL travel. We appeared to have arrived safely at Rimei Prime.
“Send over our docking request. I’ll go contact the mercenary guild from Elma’s Antlion.”
“On it!” Mimi answered over the comms.
I headed to the Black Lotus’s exterior hatch, where the Antlion was docked. The Antlion was a medium-sized ship, so it was too big to fit inside the Black Lotus’s hangar, which forced us to dock it to the exterior hatch when we traveled long distances.
“Yooo. Knock knock, anybody home?” I asked.
“I’m opening the doors,” Elma responded over the comms.
Having arrived at the exterior hatch and requested entry, I stepped aboard the Antlion. If all I’d wanted to do was contact the mercenary guild, I could technically have done so from the Black Lotus’s lounge. But greeting local guild representatives for the first time from that luxurious space might look kind of bad, so I’d chosen to do so from the cockpit of the Antlion instead. Mimi and Kugi were currently using the Krishna’s cockpit, after all. They’d be busy in there gathering information from civilian news sources, colony bulletin boards, and online forums.
“Good work.”
“Right back at you. We managed to arrive safely. So far, so good.”
Elma welcomed me as I entered the Antlion’s cockpit. Well, I say welcomed, but all she did was rotate the main pilot seat toward the entrance where I’d appeared.
“Look. There aren’t that many ships,” she pointed out.
“Yeah. There probably aren’t many people keen on visiting a colony undergoing an active pandemic.”
Any visitor here risked bringing the pandemic back with them onto their ships if they weren’t careful. It was common sense to feel that it wasn’t worth the risk, and that it would be better to head to a safer colony instead. The view displayed on the cockpit’s main screen seemed to affirm these conjectures.
“The airspace is completely deserted,” I noted.
“It does look like a lot of ships are docked, though. That makes me think that you probably can’t leave once you’re here,” Elma said.
“That’s possible. You probably need to undergo a safety check to guarantee that you won’t take the infection with you when you leave, but they probably don’t have the manpower to do those checks. So those ships are stuck here.”
“That might be intentional.”
“As long as the ships remain here, they’ll have to keep paying the colony docking fees, and covering water, air, and food expenses. I’d rather not think they’re that greedy here…but if push comes to shove, I’ll use my authority as either a platinum-ranker or an honorary viscount to get us permission to leave.”
Power was meant to be used at a time like this, and when it came time to do so, I wouldn’t hesitate.
“So we dock as planned, then?”
“We can’t sell our medical supplies without docking. In any case, let’s start by contacting the mercenary guild.”
I sat in the co-pilot seat next to Elma to operate the interface, calling Rimei Prime’s mercenary guild branch. Soon enough, someone on their end picked up.
“This is the Rimei branch of the mercenary guild.”
The holo-display was projecting an intelligent-looking female staff member. Once more, my hypothesis struck me—that, since receptionists served as an organization’s outer face, they tended to be attractive. That said, they were never as attractive as my crew.
“Hello. This is Captain Hiro. Here’s my ID.”
“I’m Elma. This is my ID.”
Elma and I used our terminals to send our identification information. After all, we had to reveal who we were before we could do anything else.
“Checking now… Welcome, Captain Hiro, Miss Elma. It’s an honor to welcome a platinum-ranker and his skilled crew.” The receptionist’s face hadn’t changed one bit. Her control over her expression rivaled Mei’s.
“We’re carrying a mountain of high-grade medical supplies from the Arein System. We plan to unload them here, and we’d like to do that through the guild. There should be requests up already, right?”
“You live up to your reputation as a platinum-ranker. Most mercenaries are only interested in hunting pirates, chasing bounties, guarding merchants, or serving in wars as hired guns. They only care about fighting.”
“As long as we make Ener and help people, that’s all that matters. Whether we earn that Ener by fighting like mercenaries or transporting goods like merchants doesn’t change the money’s value.”
“Exactly. Ener is Ener, however it’s earned. Earning Ener is the foundation of being a mercenary. May I have a list of your cargo?”
“Okay. Sending it over now.” I used the interface at my fingertips to transmit the cargo list.
“…This is quite a large quantity. But your cargo also appears somewhat problematic.”
“We have a licensed doctor aboard. I’ll have her send you her license information.”
We were carrying several types of goods that required a special license to transport. The fact that the receptionist could immediately point that out indicated she was good at her job. I contacted Dr. Shouko and had her join the call, and after the receptionist had her license, we began to talk business.
“We can purchase any supplies that there are already requests up for, but you’ll still have leftover cargo. Want us to help you get rid of that as well?”
“We’ll pass on that for now. We plan to speak with the noble in charge here later; he might want the rest. If we have leftover supplies even after that, maybe we can leave them to you?”
“Understood. Providing us with supplies that there are requests for is already more than enough. Thank you.”
“Yeah. After we’re done here, we’d like more info about what’s happening on this planet. Can you provide that?”
“Yes. We’ll inform you of everything the guild knows.”
Okay. Looks like our interactions with the guild will proceed smoothly.
***
“The situation’s worse than I thought,” I said.
“Yeah,” Elma concurred.
I frowned as I read the information the receptionist had given us. Elma clearly felt the same way I did; her brows were furrowed as well.
First of all, there was no mistaking that a genuine pandemic was taking place in this colony. The disease wasn’t affecting all the residents equally, though—there was a dramatic imbalance according to social status.
“This colony’s awfully stratified.”
“Yep. It’s pretty cleanly divided between those on top and on the bottom,” Elma said.
Roughly 90 percent of the citizens were considered lower-class; they were essentially laborers. Apparently, there were further divisions among even this lower stratum, but not much difference in their living conditions. Most of the infected belonged to that social group, and most of the deaths too.
As for the remaining 10 percent of citizens, the upper class, they were mainly business leaders, government administrators, and members of large, wealthy families. Basically, rich people. There was a major gap in social status between the two groups. When upper-class citizens were infected, they were in a position to receive advanced treatment right away, so most of them survived.
Rimei Prime was a large colony, with a population of about five hundred thousand people. Roughly nine-tenths of those people were in a precarious situation, finding themselves at a high risk of infection, and the death toll slowly continued to rise.
“Won’t this lead to a riot?” I asked.
“Maybe. And people will probably try to stow away on the ships docked here.”
“We’ll need to be on our guard,” I said.
The crude drug derived from the aforementioned mushroom was further exacerbating the situation. It turned out that the colony’s governing body had long since identified the current epidemic’s source, and had issued a colony-wide announcement warning of the dangers of the drug made from the mushroom in question. But use of that drug continued to spread, so the epidemic showed no sign of ending. The drug had not only psychoactive effects but also strong analgesic properties. It induced a sense of euphoria, and that resulted in a widespread and vicious cycle in which people turned to the cheap drug to escape the pain and suffering caused by the illness, serving only to spread the pandemic.
“No, no, no… There’s no way, is there?” I said.
“Driven into a corner, humans grasp at straws. There will always be contrarians and conspiracy theorists who act illogically, whatever the situation,” Elma said.
“My head hurts just thinking about these circumstances, and that’s as an outsider. The noble in charge here must have one hell of a headache.”
“Probably.”
However much technology advanced, humans were still human. Although they’d gained the ability to leave their planet and explore the galaxy, and their tools had become more and more useful, human nature didn’t change easily. I guess that makes sense. It’s not like my way of thinking has changed much since coming to this reality. Well, that’s not entirely true; I’m now capable of taking others’ lives when necessary, which is a big change. Though maybe I always had the potential for that within me. Maybe since I lived in Japan, a peaceful country, that trait just never had the opportunity to manifest. Not that I have any way of testing that theory at this point.
“According to Dr. Shouko, when proper treatment isn’t administered, the pandemic’s fatality rate is around seventy percent. Only about ten thousand people have died so far, so I guess you could say they’re putting up a good fight.”
“They’ve poured a lot of money into controlling the spread of the disease. But they don’t have the ability to provide proper treatment for everyone. It seems like people don’t develop immunity either, since they can become reinfected even after being cured,” Elma said.
“What a miserable state of affairs… Will things be okay?”
“How should I know? You’ll have to ask Dr. Shouko,” Elma said with a shrug. She seemed to be treating this as someone else’s problem, and she wasn’t wrong. We were delivering a batch of medical supplies to this colony, but all we could do beyond that was pray that the noble and his administration contained the disease. A single team of mercenaries couldn’t make much of a difference in this situation, nor were they in a position that required them to.
“Let’s share what we learned with the others.”
I sent the information we’d received from the mercenary guild to the rest of the crew. In hindsight, that turned out to be a mistake; unfortunately, by the time I realized that, it was too late.
***
“You’re telling me that, no matter the risks, you want to go check to see whether someone you know in this colony is safe?” I asked.
Tina nodded weakly. “Yeah…”
How we’d arrived at this situation was quite simple. After I’d shared the information we got from the guild, the colony’s miserable state had shocked Tina, and she and was no longer willing to just sit by and watch.
“Too bad. This place already poses a risk to you, and conditions are unstable right now due to the pandemic. The virus isn’t the only thing going around; shady drugs are too. I can’t approve your request to leave the ship.”
“I agree with Hiro,” Elma said.
“Same here,” said Dr. Shouko. “I’m not all that worried about the disease—if you really got sick, I could do something about it—but the fear of death by disease is placing enormous stress on the locals here. Public order is probably at an all-time low.”
Elma, Dr. Shouko, and I had all refused Tina’s request. After all, it was far too risky. And even if we found the person Tina was looking for and confirmed whether they were safe, it wasn’t as if we could do much for them. We could provide them with some medicine, but that was about it.
I supposed that Tina could use her personal savings to try to do something. She had gotten looser with her money since working for Space Dwergr. But even if she spent all the money she’d earned up till now, she’d help five people max escape this colony.
“Mgh…” Tina grunted.
Mimi, meanwhile, seemed deep in thought as she tried to come up with a solution. Kugi simply remained silent as she watched things develop. Tina’s sister Wiska appeared deep in thought as well, likely of the same mind as Mimi.
“But you’re not the type of person to just back down because it’s dangerous, right, Tina?” I said. “You’re probably planning to sneak out by yourself if push comes to shove.”
Tina reacted like a deer in headlights.
“If someone has to go, it should be me,” I continued. “I’ll let you communicate with this person you’re looking for remotely through my combat helmet’s comms link. That’s as far as I’m willing to compromise.”
“Going by yourself is too risky. I’ll come with you,” Elma said.
“I will accompany you as well, Master,” Mei declared.
“Given the situation, you should probably have a doctor with you too,” Dr. Shouko noted.
“My lord, please bring me also,” Kugi requested.
“Stop, stop! You guys are making this more complicated!”
One person after another was volunteering to accompany me, but I couldn’t exactly bring everyone. Going with such a large group would defeat the purpose.
“I’d like to go as well… I would, but…” Mimi, who lacked any in-person combat abilities, trembled in frustration.
Mm-hmm. Mimi can view herself from a realistic perspective. Good girl. “Well, I’m not bringing Kugi. We haven’t got an environmental suit that fits her, for one thing.”
“How frustrating for my tails to be a hindrance…”
Kugi was clearly disappointed. The pandemic seemed to be primarily airborne, so full body protection wasn’t necessarily imperative; a mask that protected the mouth and respiratory organs might suffice. That wasn’t guaranteed, though, so I couldn’t risk Kugi coming with us.
“And I need Mei to keep monitoring the ship, so she can’t come either. Mei is the only one I can entrust with safeguarding our home base.”
“Understood. You may rest at ease, knowing the ship is in my hands.” Mei puffed out her chest and nodded.
She couldn’t catch the disease to begin with, so there was no need to worry about her. She was also skilled at everything including in-person combat, but that was all the more reason to have her protect the ship during our absence. With Mei monitoring the ship, Tina couldn’t sneak out on her own.
“I’ll be counting on you two, Elma and Dr. Shouko. Given the situation, Tina’s friend is likely already infected, and we may need to provide emergency care, depending on the circumstances. If Elma and I are there, we should be able to protect Dr. Shouko if anything happens.”
“Makes sense,” Elma said.
“Yeah, that does make sense,” agreed Dr. Shouko. “I’ll go prepare the things I’ll need for treatment.”
Elma was an experienced mercenary, quick on her feet and skilled at in-person combat. After Mei and me, she was the next best shot with a laser gun; in hand-to-hand combat, she was even better than I was. That said, even she wouldn’t stand a chance against Mei, who was faster, stronger, heavier, and more skilled.
As for Dr. Shouko, it probably goes without saying why her coming with us was a good idea. Not making use of her abilities in a situation like this would have been flat-out incompetent. If Tina’s friend was alive, it was likely that they were infected; even if they weren’t, at the very least, people close to them probably were. So it was best to prepare to deal with any problems that might come up.
“This is the plan. Let’s start by arranging an appointment and meeting the noble in charge here. While we’re out there, we’ll check to see if Tina’s friend is okay. You have until we get going to find out where this friend of yours currently resides, Tina.”
“Okay… Got it. Thanks, hon.”
“No sweat.”
Considering all the risks, it would be best for us just to sell what we could and be off. But given Tina’s current state of mind, it wouldn’t be a good idea to simply ignore her wishes and leave. I’d been more or less prepared for this, anyway; I’d jump in with both feet.
***
“Mm…good. Very good. Excellent. Molto bene.”
I clapped as I admired Elma, who now wore the tight, very sci-fi-cliché-style environmental suit. It accentuated all her lines perfectly. Excellent. Just excellent. This was a view I could never tire of.
“Cut it out, already! Hand over the cloak!” Elma demanded.
“Huh…? Didn’t you say earlier that you didn’t find environmental suits embarrassing, since they’re all like this?”
“Your lecherous gaze is embarrassing me!” Elma’s long ears reddened as she angrily grabbed the chameleon thermal cloak from me.
Aw… She hid under the cloak.
“I’ll put one on later too!” Mimi volunteered.
“Good idea,” I replied with a thumbs-up.
In an environmental suit, Mimi looked…how would I put it? Well, the suit accentuated her property-tax-deserving “goods,” providing an exquisite view. As for whether all this universe’s outfits had a sci-fi feel, that would be too all-encompassing a claim, but most definitely felt sci-fi-inspired to me. But people usually didn’t wear tight sci-fi-cliché outfits in normal circumstances. The sight was truly moving. I wonder whether I’ll get to see bikini armor at some point?
“Do you enjoy these that much?” Dr. Shouko asked as she cocked her head and lifted her ginormous chest armor, which strained against her tight-fitting suit.
“I do.” No man in this universe wouldn’t feel something when greeted with those gigantic breasts of hers. Actually, there are lots of nonhuman life-forms in this reality, so I guess that isn’t a given. Non-mammalian life-forms probably wouldn’t have breasts at all. In any case, I was incredibly impressed with Dr. Shouko’s breasts, which were magnificent. Amen.
“Master.”
“Yes?”
“I believe maid uniforms are just as good.”
Mei had interjected with unusual force as I worshipped at the altar of Dr. Shouko. “Calm down, Mei. I think you may have jumped to conclusions there.”
“I’m perfectly calm,” Mei said, but she nodded and backed off at a speed faster than the human eye could follow.
Mei had an especially strong attachment to maid uniforms. She would wear something else if I requested it, but she believed a maid uniform was the ultimate clothing choice.
“Come on, let’s get going. Hurry up!” Elma said.
“Ow, ow! Okay, sorry, my bad.”
I’d been staring at Elma before my attention was stolen away by Dr. Shouko and Mei. Fine, I’ll admit that I’m at fault here. Can you please stop kicking me? Her whiplike kicks were painful even through my combat armor.
“I’ll keep my comms link open at all times,” I said.
“Have a safe journey, Master,” Mei said.
Even though Elma had already changed into her environmental suit, she muttered as she watched me don my combat helmet. “Maybe I should get combat armor too… As a business expense, of course.”
“I guess it could be considered one…as long as I approved it.”
“You would approve it.”
“Of course.” So, please, lower your hands. Combat armor can shield me somewhat from your kicks, but it provides no protection against joint-locking techniques. In fact, the armor makes those moves even more hazardous. I don’t mind getting close and personal with you, Elma, but I’d rather not have my arms and fingers bent in unnatural directions.
Undergoing decontamination in the Black Lotus’s airlock, Dr. Shouko—who wore the same environmental protection helmet as Elma—muttered in a slightly worried tone, “I hope Tina doesn’t do anything crazy.”
“It should be fine,” I told her.
Since Tina had been feeling pretty down lately, she was currently receiving meditation therapy from Kugi. Being unable to come with us, Kugi had jumped at the opportunity to do something useful. Hopefully her enthusiasm wouldn’t backfire and damage Tina’s mood further. In any case, Wiska would be there too, so it wasn’t likely that anything worrisome would happen.
“We’re the ones who have to be careful now,” I added.
“You’ll be carrying swords and wearing a full suit of combat armor, so I doubt anyone will want to pick a fight with you,” Elma commented.
“I hope not.”
“Me too,” said Dr. Shouko.
If I set my helmet’s visor to its opaque mode, people couldn’t see my face, which was perfect for intimidating others. My face apparently lacked the presence or intimidating affect expected from a platinum-ranker. Of course, the swords I carried were a different story.
Chapter 2: The Upper and Lower Districts
Chapter 2:
The Upper and Lower Districts
AFTER UNDERGOING thorough decontamination while leaving the spaceport district, I offered my honest impression of Rimei Prime.
“What a miserable-looking colony.”
“Well, there is a pandemic going on right now,” Elma pointed out.
First of all, there were few people on the streets, although that was in comparison to other colonies of the same size. Not many people wore full protective gear like me; most simply wore masks. They were likely residents of the colony, whereas those decked out in protective gear were other visitors who’d docked here.
Why did I think that? Well, a full-body protective suit was expensive, whether it was for one-time use or repeated use. To use one properly, you also needed access to a decontamination facility. I doubted that this colony’s lower-class citizens could afford such a thing.
“Are masks enough to prevent the spread of disease?” I asked.
“I suppose a full-face mask could be effective,” Dr. Shouko answered. “The type that covers the eyes as well, not just the nose and mouth. You’d still need to sterilize the mask when you went from an infected district back to a clean one, so it wouldn’t be possible to achieve perfect protection without dedicated facilities. Given the situation, those facilities probably couldn’t keep up with demand or weren’t operational to begin with.”
We exited the lower district—lower in status, rather than geographical elevation—and headed toward the upper district, where the noble responsible for this colony resided.
“The noble who rules here is a baronet, right?” I asked.
“Baronet Radius. He’s more a governor than an actual ruler,” Elma said.
“What’s the difference?”
“‘Ruler’ implies that a noble owns the land, or in this case, the star system,” Elma answered. “A governor is a noble given permission by a ruler to manage a star system. That means there’s another noble above Baronet Radius who actually owns the territory. That would be Viscount Magneli.”
“I see. By the way, will we need to watch our words? I’m not great at speaking politely.”
“As long as you at least try to be polite, it should be fine. Even though your title’s only honorary, it’s still technically higher in rank than his.”
“Is that how it works?”
“Hmm… Hearing this conversation, you really do seem like a noble,” Dr. Shouko commented.
“I don’t feel like one most of the time,” I replied.
While we conversed, we’d arrived at the gate separating the lower and upper districts. Guarding the gate were soldiers equipped with laser rifles and full-body combat armor that likely had the same functionality as environmental suits. There were laser turrets mounted by the gate as well. It was quite a heavily fortified location.
I guess that makes sense. Public order is probably at an all-time low right now, and given what I’m seeing here… “This is terrible,” I remarked.
“Well… It’s not really a surprise, I guess,” Dr. Shouko replied.
A group of angry residents had converged close to the gate, but they weren’t blocking it or anything—they were just gathered nearby.
“Hmm? What’s this? They’re asking for food and water?” Dr. Shouko said.
“They’re requesting air-tax exemptions and financial assistance with medical treatment,” Elma noted.
“They want the governing body to take responsibility for the pandemic and pay out compensation? Hmm… Well, I suppose that makes some sense,” Dr. Shouko mused.
“I’m not sure whether the governing body messed up their initial response or not, but since they’re still unable to control the outbreak fully, it’s not surprising that they’re being blamed,” said Elma.
“Yeah. Results are all that matter,” I said.
It wasn’t clear whether the government had failed to contain the disease properly, or if it’d already been too late to do anything by the time they realized a pandemic was brewing. Either way, the governor must be having a tough time. None of this was our problem, though.
“I’d rather not head over there right now, but I guess we don’t have a choice,” I said.
“Going there on foot will attract a lot of attention,” Dr. Shouko warned. “Maybe we should’ve rented a car someplace.”
“Honestly, at some point, we should probably just acquire a reconnaissance vehicle for general use. We have plenty of extra cargo space,” I noted.
“True,” said Elma.
The three of us walked toward the gate. The soldiers guarding it tensed at our approach, but they immediately calmed down again. They probably noticed the two swords I wore at my waist. In the Grakkan Empire, carrying a sword indicated that someone was a noble. Commoners tended to fear nobles, but from a societal perspective, they were generally considered trustworthy.
“Hey, mind if we pass through this gate?” I asked the guards. “We have an appointment with the governor.”
“Understood, sir. Can you provide us with your ID, please?”
“No problem.”
I flipped aside my cloak, ensuring that my combat armor’s pocket was clearly visible to the guards, before taking out my terminal and showing them my ID.
“Oh—you guys don’t seem to be imperial marines,” I realized. “Do you belong to the star system army?”
“Yes, Your Excellency, we’re part of the star system army. We work for Lord Magneli.”
“I see. I hope you guys can resolve the situation here.” So these are Viscount Magneli’s soldiers. They gave Magneli’s name rather than Radius’s, so does that mean the ruler is also trying to fix this situation? Probably, if his own soldiers are here.
“We’ve verified your ID. Please pass through the gate, Lord Hiro.”
“Thanks.”
Starting through the heavily guarded gate into the upper district, we first had to go through full-body sanitization. They seemingly had proper infection-control measures in place at the upper district’s entrances.
“The upper district’s clean,” one guard informed us. “Even without an environmental helmet, you won’t be at risk of infection.”
“I see. Thanks for the info. Let’s go, you two.”
“Yeah,” Elma said.
“Okay,” agreed Dr. Shouko.
We finally passed through the gate and entered the upper district for real.
“This place is doing way better than the lower district,” I observed.
“This is what happens in stratified societies,” remarked Dr. Shouko.
“This colony’s approach to that is over the top, though, isn’t it?” Elma said.
Not many people wore masks in the upper district, nor full protective gear like we wore. The only exceptions were the guards manning the entrances. If I had to guess, not many people were going between the lower and upper districts, given the situation. In any case, since the area on this side of the gate was free of the pandemic, a mask wasn’t necessary.
“Anyway, let’s go visit Baronet Radius. Properly greeting the guy in charge is important,” I said.
“Yeah, let’s go,” Elma agreed.
I took out my terminal and checked the route we’d need to take to our destination. I had to decide now whether to walk or use some other transportation. I saw that it wasn’t that far, however, so heading there on foot seemed fine.
***
Although this was the upper district, the quality of the structures here wasn’t that different. But the advertisements were slightly more flagrant…no, more refined…and the billboards were less messy. The walls were devoid of graffiti, and trash didn’t litter the streets. Overall, the upper district was clean and orderly.
“This district really is pretty well maintained,” I commented. “What’s that theory again…? Right… The broken windows theory.”
“Broken windows theory?” Elma inquired.
“If you just ignore broken windows, it can make people believe that nobody is paying attention to the area, so all the windows end up broken, or something like that. I think the theory argues that maintaining a clean atmosphere discourages people from dirtying a place. It takes guts to be the first one to do something, right?”
“I see. I think I came across something like that back in the day, when I was studying governance.”
“Elma, you once studied governance?” asked Dr. Shouko.
“I’m a noble’s daughter, so yeah.” Elma shrugged.
Thinking about it, Elma was the daughter of a viscount, so if she had taken the normal route and married some noble in charge of territory, she might’ve had to govern it. I figured it wasn’t surprising that she’d received that type of education.
“All knowledge is useful, eh?” I remarked.
“Huh? What are you going on about now?” asked Elma.
“Nothing much. Just sharing my honest opinion.”
I was thinking that, although Elma had gone through the effort to learn that stuff, the knowledge would basically be useless as long as she continued life as a mercenary. Should I think about arranging a situation in which Elma could make full use of her skills? My initial goal had been to acquire a single-family home with a garden on a safe inhabitable planet, but maybe I should aim higher. I would probably have six wives at least—way more than a normal single-family home could accommodate. I’ll at least need a mansion or multiple houses… Would that constitute a settlement?
“Your face tells me that you’re thinking about something weird again,” Elma said.
“What makes you say that?”
“That’s what that face means?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“Yeah. Without a doubt.”
How rude. I was just thinking earnestly about our future. “Oh—we’re here. Hunh. This place has an air of dignity. I can almost hear it as a sound effect.”
“What kind of sound effect?” Dr. Shouko wondered.
“I guess it’s like the building is shouting ‘Dignity…!’?”
“Did you hit your head? Or have those mushrooms we talked about grown where your brain’s supposed to be?” demanded Elma.
Why do you actually sound worried about me? Stop it. I felt that my response to what we were seeing was reasonable. In this colony where lifeless structures stood in rows, a mansion with gardens had suddenly appeared, surrounded by a fence of red brick and iron railings. For a moment, I’d seriously thought that something was wrong with my eyes.
“This place stands out, don’t you think? It’s clearly different from the other buildings nearby. Its very existence ‘raises’ attention like an anti-gravity device. What’s up with that lush green lawn?”
“It’s probably fake,” Dr. Shouko said.
“An artificial lawn?” I asked, taken aback.
“Maintaining a real grass lawn in a colony requires a lot of meticulous biological maintenance. It’d be quite expensive.”
“A problem of money, huh…? It’s a tough world we live in these days.”
“The owner’s only a baronet, after all,” Elma reminded me.
“Now I think I more or less understand where baronets fall on the social ladder.”
They must be one tier below other nobles in terms of social status and economic resources. Still, since the baronet in question was the acting governor, they were probably doing fairly well.
“It’s not a good idea to bring up aristocratic rank when talking to baronets, so try to avoid that if possible. It’s a sensitive topic,” Elma advised.
“Got it.” I took note of that; I had no intention of making unnecessary enemies.
We approached the faux-rusted metal gate and told the guard posted there who we were, and that we’d already made an appointment. He opened the gate for us and led us toward the mansion.
As we followed behind the guard, I secretly spoke to Elma through the communication device in my helmet. “Hey—anything I should watch out for when we meet the guy?”
“You should probably take off your helmet. Even if you rank higher than the baronet, leaving it on would still be rude. Hold it at your waist when we actually meet him. Otherwise, you can just talk to him how you usually do.”
“Is this guard also one of Viscount Magneli’s guys?”
“He’s wearing the same equipment. It’s possible that Baronet Radius’s men are equipped the same as Magneli’s, though.”
We were speaking so softly that, without some special countermeasure, the guard guiding us couldn’t have overheard our conversation. He’d have to somehow intercept our transmissions, and I doubted they’d go that far.
“This way,” the guard told us. Outside a door, he announced, “I’ve brought some guests.”
“Come in.”
I was surprised; the voice from the other side of the door was less mature than I expected. Based on my research prior to coming here, Baronet Radius wasn’t exactly young.
“Welcome, Lord Hiro. I’m Hartmut Magneli, eldest son of Viscount Gunther Magneli and heir to the House of Magneli. It’s an honor to meet you.”
The person waiting for us in the room beyond was a handsome young man about my age, or slightly younger.
I see. Hartmut from the House of Magneli, eh? I removed my combat helmet and held it by my side, then worked my way to the question on my mind. “Nice to meet you. I’m a mercenary and honorary viscount—Captain Hiro. It’s an honor…but I believe the appointment I made was with Governor Baronet Radius?”
Hartmut nodded. “My apologies about that. Lord Fabian was feeling unwell, and he was therefore relieved from his duties as governor of the Rimei System this morning. By my father’s order, I was appointed to serve as governor in his stead. Your appointment was scheduled prior to his dismissal being publicized, leading to the current situation. However, if your goal was simply to meet with the governor, then I believe meeting with me will serve the same purpose. I would appreciate your understanding.”
“Got it. So the reason we wanted to meet with the governor…” I glanced at Elma, who shrugged. Does that shrug mean that it should be fine to be blunt about this? Well, no choice but to give it a shot either way. I didn’t have the level of conversational skill that would give me an edge in negotiations with another noble, so I figured I might as well be blunt. “Well, for personal reasons, there’s a good chance that I’ll visit some less-safe parts of the lower district. If a problem occurs, I might…cause a bit of a scene. So I thought it best to pay my respects to the person in charge here. That’s why I came.”
Hartmut’s brow furrowed as he asked in obvious displeasure, “Lord Hiro…are you asking that I provide you with a letter of pardon allowing you to murder the citizens residing within the land I govern?”
I defended myself with an awkward smile. “You seem to misunderstand me. I’m not a bloodthirsty murderer, but I’ll fight back when attacked. That’s all I’m saying. I don’t plan on deliberately going to dangerous areas to attack random people I run into.”
“Forgive my rudeness. There are various…rumors going around about your…bravery,” Hartmut said.
“I’m suddenly struck by the desire to investigate what exactly those rumors are,” I said, rubbing my head with my free hand.
“Don’t,” Elma warned me. “Let them say what they want.”
Does that mean she knows what those rumors are? I’ll ask her to explain in detail later. “I’m aware of the colony’s current situation, so I don’t want to cause any trouble. But I tend to get dragged into trouble whether I want to or not…”
“Understood. Thank you for informing me in advance. I’ll issue orders ensuring that our soldiers and maintainers of public order exercise the utmost discretion.”
“Thank you. It’s not much, but in return, I’ll give you a fair price on some medical supplies we brought from the Arein System. We don’t have that many, since we only brought what fit on our mothership, but I hope they’ll help.”
“That would be most welcome. Merchants have been exploiting the situation by hiking their prices.”
“I’ll send you a list of what we brought later.”
I would charge them a fair price; I didn’t want either of us to owe the other. I could’ve given them the supplies for free in exchange for a favor, but striking that kind of deal with a noble was annoying, so I’d decided it would be best just to settle on a reasonable payment. Based on Hartmut’s reaction, that had been a wise decision. They’d be tolerant when it came to my actions on this colony, and in return, they’d acquire relatively affordable medical goods with no strings attached. A fair exchange.
“How long do you believe you’ll stay here in this colony?” Hartmut asked.
“Not that long. It’s not really suited to my line of work.”
Setting aside the issue of visiting a colony undergoing a pandemic, the quarantine situation would make leaving and returning far too arduous. The number of pirates targeting ships carrying high-grade medical goods would likely increase, but that didn’t make up for the pain-in-the-ass quarantine restrictions we’d have to deal with during customs.
“I see… While you’re here, in light of your abilities, I may ask for your assistance in—”
“I’ll consider it as long as you go through the mercenary guild. Whether I accept will depend on the conditions.”
“Understood. It would be most helpful if you didn’t charge exorbitantly.”
“I can’t undersell myself, so don’t expect much on that front.”
Underselling would cause problems for other platinum-rankers. Getting into trouble with them would be a pain in the ass, so I wasn’t lowering my prices…no matter what.
***
Having met with Hartmut successfully and accomplished our goals, we wrapped up quickly, using the excuse that he must be busy dealing with the pandemic. Then we began making our way through the upper district toward our next destination.
“Going in and out is a hassle. Still, the upper district might not be too bad a place to sightsee in. It’s also quite close to the port district,” I said.
“Yeah. And it hasn’t got any real safety issues, disease-related or otherwise,” Elma said.
“Still, is this really the time to sightsee, given the situation?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“Well, not really.”
If we stayed here for a while, then we’d have to leave the ship for a change of pace. But we wouldn’t be here long, so there was no need to take the risks sightseeing would pose. The pandemic had likely also curtailed the flow of goods, meaning that the overall price of items and services had probably gone up. It wasn’t worth paying extra just to go outside. And even if the upper district was theoretically clean, it might not be completely safe.
“It’s about time that we contacted the others,” I said, then did so. “Hey—can you hear me? We’re exiting the gate and heading for our destination.”
“Yes, Master; connection quality is good. Be careful.”
I’d used my combat helmet’s comms link to contact the Black Lotus before passing back through the gate to the lower district, and Mei had responded: voice communications were working fine. Next, I had to test whether the camera feed worked.
“We see your camera feed now too. There’s a lot of security around that gate…” Mimi noted through the comms.
“They’re probably worried about a potential riot,” Elma pointed out.
“Yeah, but don’t say that out loud…” I cautioned.
“It’s not like they’d get mad at me even if they heard me, so who cares?” Elma replied.
“Ha ha… Elma’s quite a tough cookie,” laughed Dr. Shouko.
Elma’s a tough cookie…? Well, yeah, I figured that was a fair description. She was definitely strong-willed…though in bed, she was more of a cute kitten.
As we underwent the inspection required to pass through the gate, I looked over and examined Elma’s profile. She noticed and glared back at me.
“What…?”
“Nothing.” I wasn’t thinking anything inappropriate! She didn’t seem to believe me, though. My combat helmet’s visor was currently opaque, so Elma shouldn’t even have been able to tell where I was looking. Can she detect when others look at her? How scary…
“We’ve completed our inspection,” said the gate guard. “Be careful.”
“Thanks,” I replied.
The inspection when we left the upper district went a lot faster than the one when we entered. I supposed that made sense. Our belongings hadn’t changed since we’d gone in. Although Elma, Dr. Shouko, and I were actually carrying a lot of supplies, the guards had already checked them all earlier, and nothing had changed since. That was probably why it didn’t take as long.
As for what those supplies were, Elma and I carried mostly food and water, whereas Dr. Shouko had a bunch of medical items. According to Tina, people were probably struggling to obtain those three types of goods under the circumstances, so we’d brought as much as we could. If what we were carrying was insufficient, it’d be smarter to transport additional supplies with our combat bots. It would just be silly to keep transporting heavy stuff like this ourselves.
We also had some extremely long-lasting rations, but they were more of a last resort, so I’d kept them stored on the Black Lotus for now. Hm? Curious about what those rations are like? They’re basically just large tablets. You swallow one with water, and that single tablet provides you with enough nutrients for the day. Combined with water, it even produced a chemical reaction in your stomach that provided a sense of fullness. The taste wasn’t anything to write home about, though.
“Plot us a route from where we are now to our destination.” I directed.
“Okay! I’ll send a mini-map and locator to display on your visor.”
The moment Mimi said that, a mini-map and locator appeared inside my helmet’s visor. The mini-map was, as its name suggested, a small map, while the locator was a support function that visually indicated where to go. Basically, there was now a line on the ground that highlighted the path to our destination. Am I on a mining spaceship? This disease isn’t about to mutate and make the dead rise again, is it?
“So, where exactly are we headed?” I asked. “Oh—I don’t mean physically where. More like, what kind of place are we headed to?”
Tina answered through the comms. “Oh—I forgot to tell you. Um…how do I put it…? It’s like an orphanage. A nursery. Something like that.”
“Sounds pretty tame,” I noted.
“I thought we were heading someplace with poor public order?” said Dr. Shouko.
“Sis, however poor public order is, as long as there’re men and women, kids are goin’ to be born,” Tina explained. “People can’t afford to raise ’em, though, so they just abandon ’em. But if the streets are littered with kids’ corpses, it ain’t exactly a good look, and the authorities will object. The bad guys don’t want the authorities lookin’ too closely into what they do. So, they arranged for a place to hold those kids to at least keep ’em from dyin’ in the streets.”
“Is that…a good thing?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“It doesn’t sound very positive to my ears,” Kugi said.
“You can’t avoid manipulation goin’ on behind the scenes, however much you struggle. But believe it or not, some of the people in charge come from a background along those lines, so it doesn’t always end badly.” Tina said.
“You can’t divide the world easily into good and evil, huh?” Dr. Shouko observed.
I wasn’t sure just how many criminal factions existed in the lower district, but taking Tina’s words at face value, it sounded like the orphanage or nursery we were headed to was something of a noncombat zone. A kind of buffer area or inviolable territory.
“Did this place take care of you, Tina?”
“Well…rather than sayin’ the place took care of me…I guess I was the one takin’ care of it? It’s complicated. I have a lot of friends in the colony, but I’m most worried about this place.”
“You don’t need to worry about your other friends?”
“Well, I’m worried about ’em, but they’re all adults—they should be takin’ care of themselves. The situation bein’ what it is, though, people are probably too busy looking after themselves to help others. So…”
“Got it.”
Tina’s relationship with this orphanage still wasn’t clear to me, but I could more or less guess that the place was in a rather precarious situation. If the pandemic caused the power balance between the various local factions to crumble, the orphanage would likely be one of the first places affected.
“In any case, we have to check the place out before we can reach any conclusions,” I said.
“Yeah, but let’s take it slow and steady,” Elma replied.
“Right. Nothing good comes of rushing,” Dr. Shouko added.
As long as we followed the locator, we’d reach the place eventually. It was a little far, so I would’ve liked to find some form of transportation…but if that wasn’t possible, we’d just have to continue walking.
***
“This is the place, right…?”
“The mini-map and locater both point here,” Elma confirmed.
We’d followed the route the crew aboard the Black Lotus had provided, and after walking thirty or forty minutes, we’d arrived at our destination. As for what we found there…
“This place is a complete mess,” Dr. Shouko remarked.
“There’s blood and laser burns,” Elma noted.
The structure we’d reached was in terrible shape, as if a big battle had taken place there. The scorch marks had likely come from lasers on a lethal setting, and the red-black splashes indeed appeared to be dried blood. From the looks of things, a serious fight had broken out between a faction stationed at the building’s entrance and another faction stationed in an alleyway facing the building.
“Hon…go in. Find out what happened. Please.”
“You got it. Elma…”
“I’ll watch your back. Leave it to me.”
I wasn’t sure whether it had to do with the destruction we saw traces of, but not a single soul was around. I didn’t feel eyes on us even as we approached the building. It was probable that the locals had either fled, not noticed anyone approaching the building, or hidden to avoid getting caught up in a conflict.
Resting my right hand on my sword, which I was prepared to unsheathe at a moment’s notice, I opened the door of the rundown building and entered.
“Hm?”
Focusing my senses, I detected a number of presences within the building. I’d recently gained the ability to clearly detect the…presence, or I guess thought waves, of other life-forms, so long as they were near enough. It didn’t matter whether they were on the other side of a wall or the other side of battleship plating that could endure direct hits from laser cannons.
“Anything?” Elma asked.
“Multiple people inside. Three or four adults. The rest are children—about seven of them. I think several are in a weakened state.”
More than a few of the presences I detected were extremely faint. I didn’t get the sense that they were purposely hiding, but rather that they were severely weakened.
“That’s a useful ability. I definitely want to learn more about it,” Dr. Shouko said.
“It comes with its share of problems. What do you think?”
“I think entering out of nowhere would be dangerous,” Elma replied.
“Yeah. Guess we should inform them that we’re here first.”
Considering where we were, and the state of the building’s exterior, the people inside could be armed—armed with laser guns capable of firing at a lethal level. Equipped with laser guns, even children could easily kill adults, so it would be best to avoid conflict if possible.
As Elma watched my back, I strode farther into the building, heading toward the room where the presences had gathered. Hm… I don’t see any trace of battle inside the building. It’s a little dirty, but not damaged. Did they manage to keep the fight outside? Or were the defending forces completely wiped out, allowing intruders to enter?
“They’re in here,” I said by a door.
“Should we knock?” Elma asked.
“Let’s call out to them. They should’ve heard our footsteps.” I called through the door. “Hey, can you hear me? A friend asked us to check on you. Mind opening the door for us?”
There was no reply. The presences through the door seemed restless. They were likely unsure how to respond.
“Hon, try tellin’ ’em that you’re friends with the redheaded repair girl.”
“Okay. Uh…by ‘friend,’ I mean the redheaded repair girl. She asked me to come check on you guys. In any case, I promise not to harm you.”
The presences within the room began shuffling again. Shortly after, the door’s lock released. As the door opened a rebellious-looking boy peeked out from within.
“…Don’t try anything funny,” he warned.
“I’ll do my best not to.”
The boy gripped a small laser gun in one hand. Yup. They really were armed.
Looking over the boy—who only came up to my chest—I examined the room. The sight was pretty disastrous. Aside from the boy, everyone inside was clearly ill. Three of the adults seemed drained to the point that they couldn’t even get up.
“This is awful,” I said.
“They need immediate treatment. I’ll handle it,” Dr. Shouko said.
“Mei, grab Tina. Make sure she doesn’t leave the ship,” Elma instructed.
“Understood, Miss Elma. Already done.”
“Let! Go! Of! Me!”
“Sis, calm down!”
Over the comms, I heard Tina and Wiska yelling. These were Tina’s friends, and after seeing the state of things, she probably couldn’t sit still. But there wasn’t much she could do even if she came over here, so it was best if she just calmed down.
I glanced at the adults on the floor inside the room. “Can they talk?” I asked the boy.
He nodded. “…Probably.”
In any case, we’d have to treat them before we’d be able to talk to them.
I have to ask… Why is this kid okay? He’s not even wearing a mask. Was he born with an extremely strong immune system or something? I had a lot of questions, but we’d have to deal with the tragedy unfolding before us first.
***
“I want to get a clear picture of this situation…but before that, we should introduce ourselves. I’m Hiro. A mercenary.”
“Elma… Also a mercenary.”
“I’m Shouko. I’m a doctor.”
We switched our helmets’ visor mode from opaque to transparent, revealing our faces, and the boy with the laser gun seemed to relax somewhat. Well, that makes sense. It’s hard to trust people concealing their faces and identity.
“As we mentioned, we’re here because the redheaded repair girl… That’s a mouthful. Because Tina…was worried about you guys.”
“I don’t know her. But…” The boy with the laser gun glanced at the adults on the floor.
Yeah, it figures that if anyone here knew Tina, it’d be one of the adults. Again, though, we needed to care for the adults before we could talk to them. “Dr. Shouko.”
“Yeah, yeah… I’ll examine them.” She turned to the little boy. “Are you okay with that?”
“Yeah,” the boy said reluctantly.
Having received his permission, Dr. Shouko took out a medical scanner and used it to examine the three adults and seven children in the room.
“How do they look, Dr. Shouko?”
“The three adults and two of the kids show advanced symptoms, but no need to worry; with me on the job, they’ll be perfectly fine,” Dr. Shouko said. She took some kind of injector out of her medical bag and quickly set about treating the adults and kids, her movements clearly demonstrating her abundant experience.
“Do the first-aid nanomachines used by mercenaries like me not work for stuff like this?” I asked.
“First-aid nanomachines are generally only used to mend injuries. Injecting them doesn’t improve someone’s immune system, nor assist in creating antibodies. They can alleviate symptoms temporarily, but the symptoms will soon resurface,” Dr. Shouko explained.
“I see.”
“That’s not to say they’re useless, though. You just need to boost a patient’s immune system by other means while you repair their body. So as long as you prevent reinfection, nanomachines can be effective.”
As she said this, Dr. Shouko used a scanner to check the room’s airtightness. After confirming that it was secure, she placed what looked like an air freshener in each of the four corners.
“What’re those?”
“Nanomachine dispersion units to help maintain the room’s air purity. They’re pointless if a room isn’t airtight, but fortunately for us, not much air is leaking into this one. But this is just a temporary measure until we prep a proper treatment room.”
“I see.”
“Hmm… We should probably get Mei to help us turn one of this facility’s rooms into a proper sickbay. We’ll need to bring over the necessary materials.”
Dr. Shouko continued to mutter under her breath as she treated the children lying on the floor. She seemed to have things under control, so I began taking bottled water and food—the most palatable of the various rations we’d brought—from the backpack I’d placed on the floor. Seeing this, the only boy who’d remained healthy gulped audibly.
“Don’t hold back—eat,” I told him. “Elma and I brought as much as we could carry, and we can bring as much more as needed.”
“You sure…?”
“Yeah. It’s no big deal. We’ll figure out a way to deal with whatever problems you guys are having,” I said, pushing a bottle of water and some rations toward the boy. I couldn’t save everyone in trouble on this planet, and that wasn’t my job either. It was the responsibility of the governor, the ruler, and ultimately the emperor.
Still, I’d do my best to save the people Tina cared about.
Chapter 3: Linda
Chapter 3:
Linda
“THANK YOU.”
“No sweat.”
One of the three adults—whose name we’d learned was Airia—had recovered to the point that she could move. She smiled. “Hee hee… ‘No sweat’ sounds like something she’d say.”
Airia was somewhat younger than me and seemed gentle. Her hair color was…light pink? Is that its natural color? It’s quite a unique hue. Beautiful wasn’t exactly the right word to describe her, but she had charming facial features.
“We figured you guys might be suffering due to the pandemic, but we never imagined you’d be caught up in some violent conflict too. What the heck happened?”
“Nothing out of the ordinary. There were looters. How much has Tina told you about this facility?” Airia asked.
“Uh…she told us that you’re funded by the gangs or syndicates or whatever that claim this area as their territory.”
Inwardly, I was appalled at how nonchalantly Airia brushed off an attack by looters; still, I wanted to ask her for more details. The living situation here might be rougher than I’d expected.
“I believe that should explain enough. The people who keep this facility going brought us medical supplies, food, and water before the situation worsened, but thugs unaffiliated with that organization came to steal them.”
“What? Wouldn’t looters have to respect a gang or syndicate’s territory?” I asked.
“Normally, yes. But those organizations are on their last legs, so…”
“I see.”
Based on what Airia said, the gangs in question had lost control of the area surrounding the orphanage. Even if they had sufficient supplies, they no longer possessed the strength to protect their territory, which led to this place being attacked.
“That means that taking out whoever attacked you wouldn’t solve the fundamental problem, huh?”
“No, it wouldn’t. But we no longer have anything left worth stealing, so there likely won’t be any more attacks,” Airia said with a chagrined smile.
Yeah…not a very funny situation to be in.
“What are we supposed to do about this…?” I wondered.
It wouldn’t be hard to provide enough support to the people here for them to make it through the crisis. Tina should have sufficient funds to bankroll that, and if she didn’t, she could always ask Wiska for help. I didn’t mind pitching in either. But supporting them physically and economically wouldn’t matter if what we gave them was just taken by force. In fact, our assistance might backfire and attract danger.
“We can’t exactly stay here and protect this place,” I mused. “The first option is to massacre any thugs who might potentially come here to loot.”
“How many people do you plan to kill…? Do you intend to make the streets run red with blood?” Elma needled me.
Airia quickly tried to dissuade me. “Um…the looters are also struggling to get by.”
I mean, I was obviously joking. Still—you guys are struggling to survive too, right? Are you some kind of saint? Why defend people who attacked you? “That brings us to the second option: station bulky combat bots around this place to protect it.”
“If no one’s here to maintain them, they’ll eventually get hacked into,” Elma pointed out. “Then those bots would be deployed against the people they were supposed to protect.”
“Know anybody who might be able to help us with that?” I asked Airia. She shook her head. “No? Guess that won’t work, then. Anyway, the third option is to push the problem onto Hartmut.”
“I don’t know what principles he holds, but I’m not sure an imperial noble would take great care of an orphanage propped up by a criminal group,” Elma said.
“During our earlier negotiations, he didn’t seem pleased with the idea of me killing his citizens, so he clearly cares about them to some degree. It might work, right?”
“Um…who’s Hartmut?” Airia asked.
“The noble who was appointed this colony’s governor only a few days ago. The previous governor was dismissed for failing to prevent the pandemic. Incidentally, Hartmut is the eldest son of this system’s ruler…meaning he’s his heir.”
“I doubt a noble would do anything to help us…um, I didn’t mean anything by that. I wasn’t saying it about you.”
“Despite what I’m carrying at my waist, I’m more of a fake noble. No need to worry.”
Elma and Airia seemed doubtful about getting Hartmut’s help, but I thought it might be possible. This colony’s residents were intentionally divided into upper and lower districts, so the lower district’s poor public order had likely been an outcome of the previous governor’s leadership. Now that the person at the top had changed, perhaps the social structure would change as well.
Furthermore, the ongoing pandemic had dealt a heavy blow to the lower district’s more troublesome residents—namely the gangs and syndicate groups. Hartmut could take advantage of the situation to completely clean out those guys and establish a new system in the lower district. He might already have thoughts along these lines.
“Even if we assume that Hartmut has such intentions, he has no incentive to take care of this orphanage,” Elma insisted.
“True. If I push the issue, he might do it, but that could give rise to problems. Ideally, we need his involvement to benefit him somehow. Maybe he could advertise it as a humanitarian act to improve his approval rating?”
“I don’t think nobles care very much about the approval of those below them…” Airia said.
“I don’t really agree, but I suppose they probably do view classes below them more like statistics than like humans.”
Those at the top tended to reduce the people underneath them to numbers. It was something of a necessity; they couldn’t have manage their territory properly otherwise. If they tried to resolve each individual resident’s personal issues, they wouldn’t be capable of governing properly.
“Hiro, can I suggest something?” Dr. Shouko asked.
“Hm? What’s up?”
“In regards to benefitting Hartmut…I believe this girl may serve as the key.” Dr. Shouko pointed at the young boy—no, young girl—distributing the food and water I’d brought to the recovering children.
I see… She’s a girl. I offered the child a mental apology: Sorry… Your hair’s short, and your outfit isn’t very feminine, so I assumed you were a boy. Then I asked Dr. Shouko, “What makes you say that?”
“Despite the pandemic, she has no symptoms, so she may have antibodies resistant to the disease. If we figure that out, we might be able to create a drug that can cure the disease.”
“And you’re saying we could use that to negotiate with Hartmut?”
“It might work. He must want to resolve the pandemic by any means necessary. I think a cure would be quite a bargaining chip.”
Dr. Shouko had a point. The heir to this system’s ruler should definitely be interested in adding “resolved a pandemic in no time” to his list of accomplishments. I wasn’t sure how much he’d give up for a cure, but it would definitely be valuable to him.
“Would it be easy to develop a cure?” I asked.
“Of course not. But with the facilities you put together for me aboard the Black Lotus, it’s definitely doable. I’ll prove to you that those facilities are worth the money you put into them,” Dr. Shouko said, her voice full of confidence.
I see. We can potentially approach the situation from that direction, then. I glanced over at the young girl.
“What…?”
The girl had seemingly finished handing out food and water to the kids. Rather than partaking of any herself, she’d prioritized caring for the weaker children. Though she was a little brusque when she spoke, she was a good kid.
“You heard what we were talking about, right? Are you interested in coming aboard my ship for a bit?” I asked.
“What?!” The girl’s eyes narrowed as she reached for the laser gun at her waist, but she stopped herself.
Why were you reaching for your gun?!
“You just mean for that cure you were talking about, right…?”
“Yeah. Oh… That’s why you did that! No, you were mistaken—I wasn’t planning to drag you aboard my ship to have my way with you or anything. As our ship’s doctor said, you seem to have antibodies resistant to the disease that’s been spreading. If we examine you, we might be able to develop a cure.”
“That’d help everyone, right…?”
“Probably. If we succeeded, the situation would definitely improve. But even if this approach doesn’t work out, I’ll figure out a solution, so don’t worry on that front.”
It would be perfect if examining the girl’s system allowed us to develop a cure, but problems were rarely resolved so neatly. If it didn’t pan out, though, I’d just have to come up with an alternative way to arrange for Hartmut to owe me a favor. For example, he might agree to certain conditions in exchange for my team hunting the increasing numbers of pirates. There were plenty of ways to achieve our goal.
“Why are you helping us? There’s nothing in it for you. We’ve got nothing to give,” the girl said, her eyes full of doubt.
Well, I guess her point of view isn’t a surprise. She probably thinks I’ve got nothing to gain by helping them. And she’s probably uneasy about what I’ll ask in return for assistance. It’s a natural response. “Several reasons, but the biggest reason is that a crew member of mine is friends with Airia. She asked me to help you guys. Fulfilling a request from a woman you love is what it means to be a man, right?”
“Well…yeah. Guess so.”
“Also, I’m technically an honorary viscount of the Empire. I got a fancy award directly from Her Highness. When I run into a colony in trouble like this, I’ve got to do what I can to help on her behalf.”
“Are you sure that’s how it works? Nobles typically don’t care about us lower-class people at all.”
“I don’t know about other nobles, but that’s how I conduct myself. The final reason I’m helping is that I’m already involved—and since I’m involved, I’ll see things through to the end.” I shrugged. “If I didn’t, I’d be haunted by regret later. I don’t want to think back on this and lament, ‘If only I’d given them more help.’”
The girl didn’t seem completely convinced by my reasons. Well, I didn’t exactly provide a logical answer, all told. It’s probably hard for her to understand my actions—not that I care. Even if it doesn’t make sense to other people, I’m going to do what I decided to do.
***
“Let me introduce this girl—Linda. She’s temporarily joining our crew.”
“…Hello.”
We were in the Black Lotus’s lounge, and Linda—the girl I’d thought was a boy—bowed her head in greeting, acting as meek as could be. She too now wore one of the tight environmental suits we’d prepped; Dr. Shouko had gone out of her way to have Mei bring Tina’s suit to the air lock.
“Sorry to cut the introductions short, but you’re coming with me straight to the medical bay,” Dr. Shouko told Linda as she dragged the girl off.
After providing some basic treatment at the orphanage, we’d returned to the Black Lotus. We needed to prepare supplies and combat bots so the people at the orphanage could recover in peace.
“I wanted to show her around…” Tina said in disappointment as she watched Linda leave with Dr. Shouko.
I guess she wanted to ask about Airia while she showed Linda around the ship.
“Master Hiro, how come you brought Linda here?” Mimi asked.
“She seems physically unique—according to Dr. Shouko, she might have special antibodies resistant to disease responsible for this epidemic. That’s why Dr. Shouko wants to do a detailed examination in the medical bay,” I explained. In any case, I could leave dealing with Linda to Dr. Shouko. “Tina, Wiska…sorry to push this onto you guys, but I’ll need you to look after Linda with Dr. Shouko. If we want to restore that orphanage Airia’s at to an acceptable state, I have to go prep a bunch of things. Mei, help me out.”
“Yes, Master. The doctor provided a list of the necessary facilities and supplies, so you may leave the rest to me. I have already begun loading the Arachnes.”
“You work fast.”
“Thank you.”
Arachnes were a type of combat bot we kept aboard the Black Lotus; they were manufactured by Eagle Dynamics. I had bulk-purchased various parts for the bots: maintenance systems, various equipment options, associated specialized gear, prototype equipment. Tina and Wiska had modified them, and now often used them as assistants on maintenance tasks—for instance, when they worked on the Krishna. When the Arachnes were needed for their original purpose as combat bots, though, Mei usually commanded them.
It seemed that, under Mei’s instructions, the Arachnes had now been loaded not only with the materials Dr. Shouko specified, but also medical supplies and food. This type of combat bot, which had four legs, could transport much more stuff than Elma and I could’ve carried ourselves. They were also equipped with standard weapons: two antipersonnel lasers and two small shield units each. Thugs carrying shoddy laser guns didn’t stand a chance against them. They were perfect assets that could both transport supplies to the orphanage and act as its guards.
“Once you’re finished loading those, let’s head back to the orphanage. Tina, I don’t need to say anything, do I?”
“I know… I won’t cause you problems, hon. Well, I guess I already have…”
“I don’t really mind. Just don’t panic and head out solo. If you have any worries, talk to me, Elma, or Mei. If you can’t get in touch with us, talking to someone else is fine too. Got it?”
“Yeah. Thanks, hon.”
“No sweat.”
Tina looked up at me apologetically, so I patted her head. This situation had pretty much ended up being more than we’d bargained for, and now Dr. Shouko and I were both running around trying to do what we could for Airia and the others. Tina seemed to feel guilty about that—not that she needed to.
“Master, we have finished loading the supplies.”
“Oh, really? Let’s head out, then. I’m leaving Linda in your care, everyone.”
“Got it!” the crew members chorused as I left the lounge.
I doubted anyone would target the orphanage again so soon after the previous attack…but it was best to hurry, just to be safe.
***
Inside the place they called the “medical bay,” Dr. Shouko did various examinations on me. Then, after making me change into a clean—if kind of thin—gown, she brought me to the room they called the “lounge.”
This is the inside of the ship owned by that mercenary Hiro, right…? I thought mercenary ships were supposed to be cramped and dirty. This place looks like the luxury hotels nobles use in holo-films. It’s pretty and extravagant. I could tell Hiro wasn’t an ordinary mercenary, but he must be raking in the dough.
Everyone I met aboard the ship was female. Dr. Shouko was gorgeous, but the people I met in the lounge were cute and beautiful as well.
“Is everyone on this ship besides that mercenary—besides Hiro—female…?”
“Yup,” replied Big Sis Airia’s friend, the one called Tina. “It’s basically hon’s harem.”
Harem…? Isn’t that when a guy, like, has a bunch of women around him and does what he wants with them? “Tina…right? You’re about my age, aren’t you?”
“We’re dwarves,” Wiska said. “We’re much older than you think, Linda.”
“Yeah—we’re older than Airia. We’re older than hon, too,” Tina added.
“Seriously…?”
That guy was a different story, but Tina and Wiska both looked the same age as me. Yeah, their breasts and butts were a little bigger than mine, I guess.
“I’m the closest to your age, Linda!” said the one named Mimi.
“That’s not… Well, that might be true. But…”
This “Mimi” girl was awfully energetic. I kind of got what she meant when she said we were the closest in age, but, well, her boobs were huge. Like massively, unbelievably huge. It had to be a hassle that they were that big.
“I’m not sure I should ask this, but…that guy’s kinda dangerous, isn’t he?”
The girls’ initial response to my question was muted. Huh? Not the reaction I was expecting.
“I’m not sure what your idea of ‘dangerous’ is, but he does play around a lot,” the beautiful elf named Elma said with a wry smile.
Tina—the redhead who looked about my age—nodded. “No mistake about that.”
“B-but Master Hiro is very stoic and serious!” Mimi said. “He doesn’t do—he almost never does bad things! He’s very kind!”
“He plays around a lot, though, doesn’t he?” I asked. “And is it me, or did you correct yourself just now?”
“He plays around, but he doesn’t go after any woman willy-nilly,” Tina replied. “Hon makes sure to take care of us. He’s kind, and he really is a nice guy.”
“He’s consistent, I guess,” Elma said. “He has his own policies that he abides by. He won’t touch any girl that he doesn’t plan to bring aboard his ship.”
“I…see?” I said. “Where does that leave me?” I’m pretty much “aboard his ship,” aren’t I? Am I getting put in his harem? Is that his intention?
Elma dismissed my worries with a laugh. “Just because you’re on board doesn’t mean he’ll make a move. He’d only do that if he intended to bring you on as a crew member. There are mercenaries who forcefully bring women to their ships and have their way with them, but he won’t. Several women have boarded his ship who didn’t join the crew, and he didn’t make a move on any of them.”
I see. Guess I can relax, then.
“Even if he did plan to, hon’s a bit uptight.”
“It took a long time before he was willing to make a move on us,” Wiska said. “So in that sense, there’s nothing for you to worry about, Linda. You can relax.”
“Even if my lord had such ideas, he would have to go through me first,” the one called Kugi declared.
“Th-thanks.” This…“Kugi” looks cute, but she’s awfully direct at times. Why does she call that guy “my lord” anyway? She’s wearing a strange outfit, so maybe she’s just a weirdo. I’m kind of curious, though. I wonder if it’s okay to ask?
“I do not hail from this Empire, but from the faraway Holy Verthalz Empire,” Kugi told me. “My relationship with my lord cannot be described in a single word…but to explain it as simply as I can, you may consider me his servant. Regardless of his position, my lord is someone worthy of respect.”
“I…see?”
As if she could read my mind, Kugi had answered my question preemptively before I could even ask it. I wouldn’t call her creepy, but she was mysterious.
“Well, not sure how long you’ll be here, but while you’re here, let’s get along.”
“Yeah… All right, Elma.” She was so beautiful that I unconsciously stiffened up. She’s got a presence about her, that’s for sure. I wouldn’t want to get on her bad side.
“No need to speak so formally.”
“The vibe you give off is probably intimidatin’ her,” Tina said. “In any case, I’ll show ya around the Black Lotus, Linda. There’re a few places you shouldn’t enter without permission, since they can be dangerous.”
“That’s a good idea,” Wiska said. “This place is pretty big, and it’d be a headache if you got lost.”
Tina and Wiska each took one of my hands, leading me away to show me around the ship. Um…I’m not a little kid. You don’t need to hold my hands like that…
***
Ready now to return to the orphanage where Airia and the others were waiting, we landed once more on Rimei Prime. This time the party consisted of me, Mei, and the four military-use Arachne combat bots carrying material-transport pods.
“We definitely stand out now,” I said. “Damn.”
“Attracting attention is part of the plan,” Mei told me.
“Yeah, that’s true, but…”
We were parading through the colony as if we were dangerous individuals, since that might serve to protect Airia and the kids at the orphanage. Aside from Mei, the obviously heavily armed combat bots should make quite an impression. I added to the effect, walking beside them with swords at my waist. Only complete idiots would attack an orphanage protected by the likes of us.
The combat bots helping us to transport supplies would remain here to guard the orphanage afterward. Military-use combat bots’ security systems were significantly more advanced than those of civilian security bots, but they might still be hacked after enough time. To deal with that, we planned to have Mei stick around the orphanage for a bit. Airia had just recently recovered from her illness, and she probably wasn’t a hundred percent yet, so Mei’s presence should prove helpful.
“By the way, Mei—Mimi, Elma, and I have all had our all-purpose vaccines, haven’t we?”
“Yes. That is what my records state. The doctor, Miss Tina, and Miss Wiska have been injected with the same vaccine. Miss Kugi was injected with a technically different vaccine, but one with similar effects.”
“Doesn’t that make us immune to the disease going around here?”
“No. It is still technically possible for you to become infected. The vaccine would likely lessen the symptoms, but even if you were asymptomatic, that would not mean you were not infected. You could still become a carrier and bring the disease back to the ship.”
“Oh. I see. That’d be annoying.”
Even if we all felt healthy, we wouldn’t be able to leave the colony if we brought the disease back to the ship. If we did manage to leave, we might spread the disease to other colonies. That was why we couldn’t afford to get infected in the first place.
“In that case, under what circumstances is that all-purpose vaccine even useful?”
“To be precise, you were not injected with a vaccine, but with nanomachines that boost your immune system. They reduce the likelihood of your perishing due to an unexpected illness. And although you could still become infected, they would practically eliminate your symptoms.”
“So you’re saying that if we were in a situation where we hadn’t expected to be exposed to illness, so we weren’t wearing our environmental suits, and we got infected by a dangerous disease, the vaccine would prevent us from dying?”
“Yes, Master. It is as you say.”
So, the vaccine doesn’t let me go, “Ha ha ha! I’m invincible!” I’d learned something new today.
***
We reached the orphanage without incident—as I’d expected, no one was crazy enough to attack us—and unloaded the supplies we brought before getting right to work. Well, to be precise, Mei was the one working, with the combat bots acting as her assistants. After all, I didn’t have the skills or knowledge to help set up a clean room or first-aid station.
So then what was I doing, you ask? I was standing guard while flaunting the swords at my waist. All I really knew how to do was pilot a ship and fight people, but at times like this I could at least do my part as a sentry. I didn’t even have to patrol, since my sixth sense would detect anyone approaching the orphanage; I still had to pose as if I was on guard, though.
As I stood around that way, Airia—the woman Dr. Shouko had treated earlier—walked over to me from the orphanage entrance. She wore one of the protective helmets we’d brought. Even after you recovered from this disease going around, it could apparently reinfect you, so preventative measures were necessary whenever you went outside.
“Thank you so much,” Airia said to me.
“You’re welcome. You should thank Tina, though.”
“Yes.”
Airia smiled when the name “Tina” was brought up, and for a moment her gaze wandered. Feels she has something she wants to say, but she’s hesitating.
“Um…Tina’s doing well, right?”
“Of course. Well—I guess she’s been a little down lately, since she heard all of a sudden that we’d be stopping by this colony. Aside from that, though, she’s been doing great…along with her little sister.”
“I see…” Airia seemed relieved to hear my words.
I didn’t know what kind of relationship Airia and Tina had, nor did I know what had happened when Tina left this colony. I hadn’t asked Tina, either. But I could tell that she and Airia cared about each other, and that was reason enough for me to help Airia.
“Oh yeah… Those two adult men who had collapsed in the room with you. Who were they? Do they work here?” I asked.
“No, that’s not it… How do I put it…? They’re people who’ve helped us a lot.”
“That’s a pretty vague way to phrase it,” I pointed out.
As I cocked my head, confused, one of the men in question headed toward me. He wore the same protective helmet as Airia.
“Hey, you! What’re you doing to Airia—ow!”
“Cut it out, idiot.” The second of the two men, who had a blond crew cut, had given a hard thump to the back of the purple pudding-head. I thought of the first guy that way because his purple-dyed hair contrasted with his natural blond roots. Crew Cut bowed his head to me. “Big Bro, thanks for not only saving Airia and the orphanage kids, but even us. We owe you one.”
“I don’t recall becoming your big brother…but I accept your thanks. Your pal there doesn’t seem too happy, though.”
“Sorry, man. He’s got potential, but he doesn’t understand how the world works yet. Please cut him some slack.”
“I won’t split him in half over something so trivial, but if he lays a hand on one of my crew members, I can’t guarantee his safety.”
I looked the two men over. They both seemed to have received some sort of special physical enhancements, but they apparently didn’t have any cybernetic augmentations. Even if they were armed with laser guns, I could tell it wouldn’t take even three seconds to put them down from this distance.
Perhaps sensing something of my thoughts from the way I looked at them, Purple Pudding-Head and Crew Cut held their breath and tensed up. Did I scare them? I wondered. I don’t actually want to kill you guys, so relax. Aloud I asked, “So, who are you guys?”
“I’m Heinz, and this is Sieg,” said Crew Cut. “Think of us as…uninvited bodyguards.”
How vague. That description explained nothing, but I could more or less tell that they weren’t exactly on the straight and narrow. These two definitely weren’t ordinary citizens, and though they didn’t reek of blood, they definitely smelled of violence. Well, they didn’t actually smell; that was just the vibe they gave off.
“I can pretty much guess that you guys don’t keep your noses clean. I also know where this orphanage’s support comes from. Can I assume you guys are part of the organization behind this place?”
“Yeah, but due to recent events, that organization we belonged to…” Heinz trailed off. “That’s why we’re kind of stuck in limbo. Still, we have to protect this place.”
“I think I get the gist—although I’m not entirely sure what you mean. In any case, your willingness to stick out your neck for virtuous reasons—even though nobody’s ordering you around anymore—is worthy of respect.”
As a mercenary who only took action for money, it was difficult for me to comprehend their behavior. Oh, wait… Isn’t what I’m doing right now basically the same thing? I couldn’t exactly have refused Tina’s request, given her mental state. I supposed I wasn’t that different from these guys after all.
“I plan to leave some combat bots here for a while to guard the place, but we aren’t staying at this colony forever,” I told them. “It’s a pleasant surprise that there are people I can leave the orphanage to after we leave.”
As long as the orphanage was here, a certain level of violence would be necessary, even if the facility came under Hartmut’s protection. Generally, only violence prevented violence. If it became known that a building containing only defenseless women and children was loaded with proper food, beds, and supplies, it would attract those with bad intentions. That had led to the current situation, after all.
“By the way, what weapons are you guys carrying? Since you’ll be taking care of this place, it’ll be a problem if you haven’t got proper firepower,” I said, tapping my laser gun’s holster lightly.
Blond Crew Cut—Heinz—pulled out an improperly maintained laser gun that had clearly seen better days, while Purple Pudding-Head—Sieg—took out some kind of improvised police baton or club made of what looked like a metal pipe.
Hmm… Complete trash! Those won’t suffice. “What to do…? I could give you guys some spares we have aboard the ship, but maintaining them would be tricky.”
“Big Bro?”
“You guys might be attached to those weapons of yours, but I’m going to be blunt here—those things border on trash. You need the right tools if you want to do a good job—that’s what I believe. So, let me ask you: Can you get proper weapons anyplace around here? Someplace that’s still in operation?”
“Yeah, but under the circumstances, it’d cost a lot,” Heinz said.
“Price is no object. Can Ener be used there?”
“Yeah…”
“Take out your terminal.”
I’d spoken in a tone that brooked no disagreement, so Heinz—though still perplexed—produced his terminal. I took my own terminal out and transferred 50,000 Ener to him.
“Huh?! B-Big Bro?!”
“Use that to get fitted out in some proper gear. Don’t just buy weapons… Get protective gear too. Doesn’t matter how much they rip you off for. That should be enough to equip you two.”
“This should be enough for ten people, let alone just the two of us…”
“Given the situation, you need a lot of stuff, right? Use whatever’s left however you want. Don’t be stingy; buy the best gear you can. Get on it while the combat bots and I are still here,” I said with a wave that urged them to hurry.
After thinking for a moment, Heinz silently bowed his head and left the orphanage, along with Sieg.
I’d told them not to be stingy. Still, they couldn’t exactly go out all the time wearing the kind of full combat armor I was outfitted in right now. The best they could do in terms of defensive equipment would probably be clothes, coats, and cloaks made from laser-resistant materials. But in any case, they had more experience operating within the colony than I did, so I figured they’d be able to handle it.
“Um…should you really be doing this much for us?” Airia asked, looking worried.
She probably felt I’d handed Heinz a fortune. Fifty thousand Ener was a large sum of money from a normal colonist like Airia’s point of view—well, perhaps Airia’s situation actually left her somewhat worse off than a normal colonist. The sum was nothing to me, however.
“Don’t worry. Just leave everything to me.”
“So you say, but how are we supposed to repay you?”
“To tell you the truth—I brought a bunch of medical goods with me from a high-tech system and made a killing off them. They let me fill a bunch of mercenary guild requests, and that noble kid I mentioned earlier owes me one now too. You really don’t need to worry,” I said with a smile, and Airia seemed to finally relax a little. “In any case, just let me help you. It’s what Tina wants.”
“I see… Thank you.” Seeming satisfied with my answer, Airia bowed her head to me.
I nodded, accepting her gratitude.
At that moment, Mei’s voice came through my combat helmet. “Construction is complete, Master.”
“Okay, got it. Airia, it seems they’re done. Want to head back inside?”
“Yes.”
Airia and I entered the orphanage once more; there, we were now greeted by a simple airlock. Sterilization equipment detected our entry and began scanning and decontaminating us. Once that finished, the airlock doors opened. It works pretty much the same way as the airlock on the Black Lotus.
“That feature seems expensive,” Airia remarked.
“No need to be concerned. Once it’s no longer needed here, it can be taken apart and reused elsewhere.”
After undergoing the decontamination procedure, Airia seemed timid, so I gently urged her forward as we stepped into the actual orphanage. There, we found Mei seated and surrounded by children.
“Your clothes are so pretty,” one was saying to her.
“Yes. Maid uniforms are the most beautiful garments in the universe,” Mei replied.
“You have pretty hair.”
“Yes. My master created it for me. It is the most beautiful black hair in the universe.”
“Cool.”
“Yes. Maidroids are…”
She entertained the children in a detached, yet strangely happy, way. The mechanical parts near her ears apparently looked cool to the kids—not only the girls, but also the boys, seemed excited. Shouldn’t the boys think I look cooler, seeing as I’m wearing full combat armor right now?
“Um…Hiro, you have swords at your waist,” Airia pointed out.
“Oh. I get it.”
Apparently, the idea that someone carrying a sword was a noble was ingrained even in these kids. I doubted that many nobles would go so far as to act unreasonably toward children, but that didn’t mean none would, so the kids had likely been taught to stay away from people with swords for their own safety. Getting into a fight with a noble would lead to serious problems.
“Let’s wait a bit,” I said.
“Yes.”
Airia must’ve found this scene uplifting as well, because a small smile crept onto her face as she watched Mei and the kids. Seeing that the children were fine presumably eased her worries. For the moment, it seemed that the first stage of our operation to rescue the orphanage was a success.
***
After touring the ship and returning to the area called the “lounge,” I muttered, “This ship is huge…and probably really expensive.”
The lounge was a vast open space with bright lighting and a liberating sense of spaciousness. There was a dining area to one side of a hallway-like thoroughfare; the other side had an area with sofas and stuff. Rather than solid walls, the hallway and different “rooms” were separated only by partitions that gave an unobstructed view of the whole chamber. On the wall, I saw what looked like green plants—but were they real? I’d heard that keeping real plants was ridiculously expensive.
“This place did cost a lot,” Tina said.
“Hiro doesn’t compromise when it comes to our living conditions,” Wiska added.
“Is that one of those hobbies for rich noble kids or something…?”
“No. Master Hiro wasn’t always a noble,” Mimi replied.
“Yeah. Hon wasn’t a noble when we first met him,” Tina confirmed.
“That was when he was buying this ship,” said Wiska.
“But he has swords, doesn’t he? Doesn’t that mean he’s a noble?”
“Even though he wasn’t a noble before, he was awarded an aristocratic title after he performed a great deed as a mercenary,” Wiska explained. “But it’s just an honorary title that he can’t pass down to his descendants.”
That’s a thing? Not all nobles are originally nobles?
“How about we keep chatting over some tea, since you’ve finished the tour of the ship?” Kugi suggested.
I tilted my head in confusion. She hadn’t seemed to be looking over at me as she brought up the idea…but it seemed like awfully convenient timing. Not that I had any complaints.
“Good idea!” Mimi said. “Now that I think about it, we haven’t shown Linda around the lounge yet. This is a common space for everyone to use. Mei and the cleaning robots take care of it, but we should still be careful not to make too much of a mess. That’s about it for things to watch out for, I think.”
“Yeah,” Tina agreed. “Well, Linda, if there’s anything ya don’t get, just ask. Ya probably won’t remember everything we’re tellin’ ya right now anyway.”
“That’s true,” Mimi said. “Also, Linda, feel free to eat whenever you want at the cafeteria over there. We have a really good automatic cooker that makes great food.”
“Food…”
Now that I thought about it, I hadn’t had a good meal in days. I’d eaten a bit of the food Hiro brought to the orphanage, but I’d prioritized feeding everyone else. Suddenly I felt hungry.
“Just sit there and wait, Linda. I’ll brew some tea for you,” Kugi said.
“Okay. Then I’ll go get Steel Chef to make us some sweets. Wis, help me carry everything!” Tina said.
“All right, Sis.”
“I’ll help you, Kugi! Sit wherever you’d like, Linda,” Mimi said.
She was the last to head off. Once even Mimi had left, I didn’t really have anything else to do, so I decided to just find somewhere to sit.
Besides being huge, this ship was also clean. This was probably my first time being somewhere so big and well-kept. The orphanage wasn’t small, but however much you cleaned the walls and floor, they never really got spotless. And other kids immediately got the place dirty again anyway.
Kugi soon returned, handing me a cup of tea. “Here you go.”
It smelled nice. We had tea at the orphanage too, but aside from its color, it wasn’t much different from hot water. The tea this ship served would definitely be way better.
“And here’s the Steel Chef’s recommended light meal,” Tina said.
“If you want more, don’t hesitate to ask,” Wiska added.
“Wow…”
None of the dishes Tina and the others had brought were things I’d seen before. There was something that looked like a hotdog but way more refined, some kind of overstuffed sandwich thing, and also something resembling candy that gave off a sugary aroma. Again, all of them were things I’d never eaten or even seen.
“I can’t relax with you all staring at me like this,” I complained.
“Sorry about that. People’s reactions when they first eat meals cooked by the Steel Chef are fun to watch, so we couldn’t help ourselves,” Mimi said with an awkward smile.
People’s reactions when they first eat this stuff? She has to be exaggerating. Even I had eaten food made by an automatic cooker before at a food stand. All automatic cookers used the same food cartridges, so all the food they made should be about the same, right?
I tried something. “What the heck? This is so good!”
“Yeah,” Wiska said.
“Right?” said Elma.
I’d been wrong. The ingredients had a fresh, juicy texture and were enveloped in soft bread dough. The sauce asserted its flavor but didn’t overpower the taste of the other ingredients. In both regards, what I was currently eating far transcended the taste of anything I’d had from automatic cookers in the past.
“Are you using special food cartridges…?” I asked.
“We can, but right now we’re using normal ones,” Elma replied as she ate the same meal I was.
Seriously? This was made from normal food cartridges? What the hell have I been eating all my life?
“The automatic cooker we use is quite expensive, though,” Wiska said.
“Yeah, I figured. Still, it feels like my understanding of the world just shattered.”
I endured the desire to grab the food with both hands and stuff my face, slowly tasting the dishes one by one instead. After all, that was how Big Sis Airia had taught me. “At least use basic table manners,” she’d said.
“This was provided by that mercenary…by Hiro, right?” I asked.
“Yeah. From the moment I joined Master Hiro’s crew, he’s never been stingy about equipment that would improve our living standards,” Mimi said.
“Something about higher living standards improving morale, or something,” Elma added. “I was really surprised too when I first entered the Krishna. It’s a small combat ship, but the interior looks like you’re in a first-class hotel.”
“Oh…? Mimi, you were the first one to join his crew?”
“Yes, I was. Are you curious about it?”
“Yeah. I kind of am.”
I had no idea what kind of person Hiro was; it’d be good to learn about him from someone who’d known him a long time. It was a nice way to pass the time too.
“Very well! Where should I begin?”
“Perhaps from the very start? I believe narrating chronologically would be best,” Kugi said.
“Maybe I should start, then? I met Hiro first, after all,” Elma said.
“Good idea,” Tina agreed.
Elma began to narrate the story of how she had met Hiro, the mercenary.
***
Having delivered supplies to the orphanage and constructed medical facilities—plus left behind some combat bots for safety—Mei and I returned to the Black Lotus. Heinz and Sieg were slightly more presentable now too; the new weapons they’d shown me were more or less at an okay level. They should now be able to handle the situation at the orphanage as long as nothing crazy happened, so I decided to leave its protection to them and the combat bots. Mei would have to check the bots regularly to ensure that they weren’t hacked, but she could easily do that even from the Black Lotus.
Doing that remotely from the Black Lotus will mean using a transmission line or something, right? I was concerned that such a line could turn into an additional vulnerability, but according to Mei, “It would be convenient for me should someone abuse the vulnerabilities within the transmission line. It would make it easier to track them down and launch a counterattack.”
Deliberately leaving a cyberwarfare vulnerability as a trap to launch a counterattack…terrifying. The ultimate maid I’d envisioned had become an absolutely perfect reality.
For the record, after passing through the airlock and being sanitized, Mei immediately entered a maintenance pod. She might have to leave the Black Lotus and stay at the orphanage for several days at some point, so she’d decided to undergo her scheduled maintenance early to ensure that she was in perfect condition, just in case.
As for me, after sanitization I split from Mei; I changed out of my combat armor, and now I was passing the lounge to go take a shower. On the way, I bumped into Linda, who had changed from her previous tattered clothes into what looked like a thin medical gown, likely provided by Dr. Shouko. I see. That gown will probably suffice if she just stays inside the ship.
“What…?” said Linda.
“Nothing. Good to see that you’ve relaxed. I’ll tell you more about it later, but you don’t need to worry about things at the orphanage. They’re prepared to handle medical treatments as needed now, and we finished transporting supplies over. There won’t be any security problems either.”
“Um…thanks.”
“Don’t sweat it. Man, staying in combat armor all day is stuffy. I’m heading to the showers.”
I’d assumed Linda was rebellious, but now that didn’t seem to be the case. She came off as rather honest and a good kid. The fruit of Airia’s teachings? In any case, it wasn’t unpleasant to hear her thank me like that.
I entered the showers and refreshed myself. Now then. There wouldn’t really be anything to do until Dr. Shouko analyzed Linda’s antibodies and developed a cure. I’d tasked Mei with sending Hartmut our remaining medical goods, so I had nothing on my plate. Thus, after my shower, I headed to the lounge and reclined on a sofa, lost in thought.
Elma arrived and handed me a bottle of water. “You worked hard today. Here.”
“Thanks.” I gladly accepted the water, opened the cap and gulped it down. Mmm… Chilly and delicious. Water tasted best when it was ice-cold, although apparently room-temperature water was healthier.
“So, how’d it go with Linda? Is she adapting?” I asked.
“Probably? We chatted earlier over tea, and she seemed like a good, honest kid.”
“I see. Guess things should be fine, then, although I’ll need to confirm her sleeping arrangements.”
“She’s apparently staying with Tina and Wiska. Tina was excited, saying something like, ‘I’m goin’ to make a bed for ya!’”
“We’ve got plenty of empty rooms with beds and anything else she could need… But I guess that’s fine.”
Tina must’ve deemed it necessary. I wasn’t sure what kind of life the orphanage kids led, but based on the facility’s layout, I doubted that they slept in their own rooms. Linda might have a harder time sleeping alone, which could be why Tina had decided she should stay with her and Wiska.
Since both twins were involved, they could adjust the feel of the room and make whatever furniture they felt they needed, and if Linda was fine with it, then that would be that. That said, I figured I should at least check in on her later.
“Everything all right over at the orphanage?” Elma asked.
“Yeah. They’re recovering well, and we created a setup that will likely prevent reinfection. They should be fine on the security front too.”
“Then we don’t have anything to worry about for now. Do you plan on just leaving the combat bots with them?”
“No. Remember the two adult men who were there? They apparently belonged to the organization that supported the orphanage. I think they could handle a violent threat, so I gave them some money and hired them as guards.”
“You mean they’re former syndicate members?”
At Elma’s unspoken question—“Are you sure this will be okay?”—I shrugged. “If they’d run away with the money instead of living up to my expectations, I would’ve blasted them into outer space.”
That wasn’t just a figure of speech; I’d actually have done it. I would’ve dragged them onto my ship, and after we set off, I would’ve ejected them “accidentally.” Given the colony’s chaos, nobody would’ve noticed two people disappear, and there were many ways to sneak extra people aboard a ship.
It was illegal for colony residents to immigrate to other colonies or join a ship’s crew without the proper paperwork. Stowing away amid a ship’s cargo was rather simple, as long as you could get inside; however, problems began once a stowaway arrived at their destination colony. If the local authorities found out that they were an illegal migrant, the stowaway’s rights as a citizen would be taken away, and they’d be sent to a prison colony. Since they wouldn’t be treated much differently from space pirates, it was practically a death sentence.
There were occasional cases of a ship owner abducting people, and those people later escaping and going to the police for help, but there were also immoral businessmen who would sneak their own people onto rival companies’ ships, then go to the authorities claiming they’d been abducted. If the authorities couldn’t figure out who was telling the truth, they’d look into the heads of both parties, which would more or less clear things up. All in all, stowaways were best avoided if possible.
Whoops. I strayed off topic.
“In any event, what happens next will depend on Dr. Shouko’s results. And just to be safe, we should handle the paperwork required for Linda to temporarily stay on the ship. It’d be annoying if we got investigated for no reason,” I said.
“Might be a good idea. Best to leave that to Mei… Maybe doing that kind of thing yourself would be the right call from time to time, though?”
“No thanks.” Sorry, Mei, but I’ve never had a positive experience dealing with paperwork. I’ll rely on you fully for such things.
***
“It won’t take much longer. I’ll be finished within a few days.”
That was Dr. Shouko’s claim, but would she really come up with a cure that rapidly? We were talking about a disease that had plunged an entire colony into chaos. I knew nothing about the topic of developing medicine, so I asked Wiska, who might at least know a bit.
“That isn’t my specialty, either, so I don’t grasp the specific details,” Wiska said. “But if that’s what Dr. Shouko is telling you, her estimate probably isn’t far off. She did say you’d provided her with the necessary materials and facilities.”
“Hon, you kind of just left all this to us, so you don’t know this,” Tina added, “but we’ve got tons of stuff people normally can’t get their hands on, and lots that you wouldn’t even expect to find on a mercenary’s mothership.”
“Well, yeah—what was someone with zero technical knowledge supposed to contribute? All I could really do was put up the money needed. Since we’d invited someone of Dr. Shouko’s caliber onto our crew, I felt we also had to provide appropriate resources for someone of her stature.”
“What about us? Spoil us too,” Tina griped.
“I thought I was.”
The quality of our facilities directly correlated to our overall fighting strength, so I never compromised when it came to investing in them. I told my crew not to hesitate in bringing up anything they felt they needed, and after running such requests through Mei just to double-check them, I signed off on those that met her approval.
“Boss Mei’s real strict…” Tina complained.
“Mei is the one you have to persuade. I leave hard problems for her to deal with—I’m just the idiot who agrees to whatever she decides.”
“No need to disparage yourself like that… I think your judgement and decision-making abilities are incredible,” Wiska said.
“I think so too!” agreed Tina.
“Flatter me all you want; it won’t change a thing.”
That said, nobody disliked compliments. In fact, I quite enjoyed them. I was a simple guy, and cute girls praising me was enough to boost my mood. What could I say? That was just how guys were.
To describe our present situation, we were idly chatting while relaxing on a sofa in the lounge. I sat in the middle, with Tina and Wiska sandwiching me on either side. They both had a high body temperature, so when the two of them clung to me that way, it was really warm.
As we lounged about, a shadow suddenly passed before my eyes, and someone claimed the previously open spot between my legs.
“You guys are chilling, I see.”
“Ah! That’s cheating!” Tina said.
“Wha—?!” Wiska blurted.
The mechanic twins shouted in protest as the “best seat”—which they had deliberately left open—was taken, but Elma ignored their complaints as she rested her back against my chest. She had just gotten out of the shower, so her silver hair was damp.
“Done for the day? So, how’d it go?” I asked.
Elma offered her evaluation of the pair who weren’t here: Mimi and Kugi. “They’re surprisingly decent.”
We were talking about the fact that Elma had recently been serving as a combat instructor for those two. Specifically, she was teaching them hand-to-hand combat.
Unlike Kugi, who could protect herself telepathically, Mimi had no self-defense skills. She did technically have a laser gun I’d bought her, and she’d been trained in how to use it—but in the end, the only thing you could truly rely on was your own body.
Mimi’s daily training routine had more or less provided a solid base physically, so whenever we had a lot of free time—like right now—I had her learn self-defense techniques or hand-to-hand combat from Elma and Mei. Kugi joined in participating in the training sessions because, for some reason or other, she’d wanted to learn as well.
“Good to hear. If Mimi at least reaches a level that lets her take down common thugs, I’ll have no complaints… But I guess having her operate alone would be unreasonable anyway.”
“Yeah—not happening.”
Given Mimi’s height and those boobs of hers—as well as how beautiful she was—a guy would definitely show up to hit on her within three minutes of me sending her out alone. Before we could do that, we’d have to do something to dissuade people from approaching her to begin with, such as giving her a cloak that concealed her figure, or an intimidating full-face gas mask.
“What a shame…” I mused. “Where are Mimi and Kugi, anyway?”
“Mimi was exhausted, so she went to rest in her room. Kugi will probably join us here after she’s done helping Mimi back.”
“You trained Mimi to the point of collapse? Yeesh…”
“No pain, no gain.”
Elma didn’t hesitate to say terrifying things at times. She looked like a slender beauty, but she had muscles for brains.
“So, are we just going to chill here like this?” she asked.
“Not a bad plan, but we could try doing something to impress Hartmut.”
We didn’t have any pressing tasks, but spending too much time idly wasn’t good. If there was something we could do, we should do it.
“We could,” Elma agreed. “Right now, we’re just acquaintances, but if we show we’re allies willing to lend a hand in hard times, he’ll be likelier to help us.”
“It’s decided, then. It seems like Mei’s done the paperwork for Linda’s temporary stay here too.”
A message from Mei that had arrived on my terminal earlier notified me that the necessary documents had been completed. As one would expect from Mei, she worked fast. If I were to return to my former reality, I wasn’t sure I could function without her there to help. From paperwork to annoying official procedures, she handled it all. On top of that, she was cute. Wasn’t she a little too awesome? Well, that was exactly how I’d designed her.
“Given that it’s you, hon, that means you’re plannin’ to hunt some pirates, right?” Tina asked.
“Good guess. I suppose that’s basically all I do.”
Under the circumstances, we couldn’t leave the system, but operating within the system should be fine.
“Will you be able to earn much?” Wiska asked.
“Probably, considering the situation.”
Fewer merchant ships were visiting due to the pandemic, and it was much more difficult to leave port, causing Rimei Prime to suffer supply-chain shortages. Those shortages made it harder for the star system army to operate at full capacity, which negatively affected the system’s safety. A weakened star system army would naturally embolden pirates…and bold pirates meant more food for us mercenaries.
“Since fewer merchants are visiting Rimei Prime, wouldn’t pirates also have fewer opportunities to make money?” Wiska asked.
“Not necessarily. Even if they don’t plan to stop here, the number of merchants that need to pass through the Rimei System to get to their destinations probably didn’t change much. This is a hub system with hyperlanes to three other systems.”
If they couldn’t unload goods on Rimei Prime, or if doing so was too dangerous, the merchants would have to unload in another system. But that didn’t mean they wouldn’t have to pass through the Rimei System en route. If my hypothesis was correct, the number of ships taking a route from one outer-system hyperlane exit to another had increased. That meant the number of pirates targeting the route would have increased as well.
“Still, it’ll be a pain in the ass if we have to go through a lengthy inspection process every time we return to sell loot,” I mused. “We should talk to Hartmut and get him to give us some kind of special privilege that’ll shorten that process for us.”
“That’d be kind of unfair,” Elma remarked.
“I’ll use whatever tools are available. If I was out there actively hunting pirates, it would benefit both of us, so I doubt Hartmut would refuse.”
The loot I’d bring back would likely include supplies the colony was low on due to the pandemic. The actual quantity we’d be able to retrieve probably wouldn’t be high. Still, since merchants were no longer visiting, the colony had to be without vital materials. Hartmut and his father Viscount Magneli were likely arranging for merchants to come provide the goods they sorely lacked right now, so if I showed up and offer to enhance, however slightly, the safety of the supply chain—while providing some supplies myself—they would likely be thankful for my assistance, even if they had doubts about my intentions.
“It’s decided, then. First let’s contact Hartmut. Then we’ll head out to make some money while improving the guy’s impression of us.”
The three girls’ voices overlapped: “Aye aye, sir.”
All right. Time for some pirate-hunting action.
Chapter 4: A Mercenary’s Job
Chapter 4:
A Mercenary’s Job
“I APPRECIATE THE OFFER—truly, I do. But…why go to the effort?”
We’d set up an appointment with Hartmut for a remote meeting, and after hearing our request and proposal, that was his response. I guess it was to be expected. All he had to do was provide us with some kind of tag or special ID that would simplify the process of leaving and entering the colony for our ship. He likely did the same thing already for merchants under his direct employ, since he needed them to transport goods quickly, and a human-free process was safer from a disease-control perspective. All he had to do was add us to a system he’d already implemented and provide his subordinates with corresponding orders; it wouldn’t cost him much effort at all.
As for us, we weren’t asking for any special renumeration, and we promised to bring back the loot we acquired by hunting pirates. Hartmut probably felt the offer was far too convenient for him; he seemed unsure about my motivation. After all, he had no way to know what I was actually thinking. It was uncomfortable to accept benevolence for unknown reasons.
“To be perfectly honest, a member of my crew has a friend…or maybe benefactor…? Anyway, someone very close to her who lives in your colony. My crew member wants me to help that person. That’s one reason. The other reason is simple—turning my back and saying ‘not my problem’ to suffering, desperate people… Well, that would make a mockery of the Gold Star I received from His Majesty and Her Highness, wouldn’t it?”
Hartmut sat back in shock for a moment, but then he broke into a smile. Yeah, an attractive person’s smile hits different. If I were female, I’d probably be fangirling right now.
“It seems I didn’t give you enough credit,” he said. “Allow me to thank you.”
“I’m not just offering to do this out of the goodness of my heart. After we finish our job, expect me to come to you for a reward.”
“A reward?”
“I mentioned this a moment ago, didn’t I? One of my crew members has a friend living in your colony, and we’re doing this to help her. So, later, I’ll be asking you to pitch in on that.”
I didn’t want people to get the wrong impression and call me chivalrous, so I was making sure to nip that in the bud. I wanted to keep them from seeing me as a convenient tool who would work for free.
“Can you be more precise about what you’d like me to do? There are things I have authority over, and others I don’t.”
“In the lower district, there’s an orphanage that takes kids in and cares for them. The people who used to run it have suffered huge losses due to the pandemic, so the orphanage has lost both its protection and its support. I’d like you to take care of those orphans. I’m looking after them right now, but I can’t do so forever. And it’s kind of your job in the first place, right?”
“That hurts to hear,” Hartmut said with a bitter expression.
Baronet Something…was his name Radius? Anyway, that baronet had pushed forward policies that ignored the lower district’s needs. In turn, the gangs and syndicates there had to come together in cooperation to set up and run the orphanage. That was a failure of the nobles in charge and could be considered a black mark.
“Also, our doctor may have found the key to doing something about this pandemic. A trial subject is currently aboard our ship, and we’re in the middle of testing. I’m just keeping you in the loop, though—don’t expect too much.”
“What? Your ship’s doctor—who are they?”
“Until recently, she worked in the medical and genetic-engineering branch of a large company in a high-tech system. When she decided to join us as our doctor, we spared no expense installing shipboard facilities on par with a research laboratory.”
“That’s some serious talent you have in her. This is primarily a commercial colony, so we don’t have many skilled researchers. I’m quite jealous.”
“Well, you can’t have her. Anyway, that’s where things stand. For now, do you think you can do something about that special permit I asked for?”
“You’ll be provided with it. I’ll inform the appropriate coordinator immediately.”
***
“The permit will simplify the process but not allow us to completely skip the inspection,” Kugi noted.
“Yeah—of course not. It’s more about being given right-of-way,” Elma said.
They were discussing the simplification permit—well, right-of-way permit—we had received from Hartmut as we watched the colony’s port-inspection team leave.
The inspection had gone relatively quickly. They checked our ramp’s airlock and measured the concentration of spores—the source of infection—at various locations inside the ship, as well as assessing whether I or any of my crew members were infected. Naturally, Linda was assessed and flagged, but since Dr. Shouko had a medical license and Linda was in her care—and since we weren’t leaving the system—the inspectors didn’t give her a hard time.
“They were probably told to overlook minor issues,” Elma noted.
“The power of being a noble,” Dr. Shouko commented.
Given the strict quarantine restrictions on Rimei Prime, the inspectors wouldn’t normally have allowed an infected patient to leave the colony, even if they were under a renowned doctor’s care. But the power and authority of a noble was absolute.
“I’m exhausted…” Linda said.
Since she actually was infected, the inspectors had conducted a thorough examination of her, and she currently looked beat. Linda wasn’t displaying any symptoms, despite technically being sick; she also wasn’t spreading spores. Dr. Shouko’s current investigation revolved around why that was the case, but could she really arrive at a conclusion within just a few days? Even if I remained skeptical, there was nothing I could do, so I decided to just trust Dr. Shouko and wait.
“That was tougher than I expected, but we’re free to go now…so let’s head out.”
As for me, I was also drained from the exhaustive inspection, which had been thorough despite our right-of-way permit. I couldn’t imagine how intense other ships’ inspections were. No—maybe the inspection was the same, and we just skipped the line?
“Let’s do our best!” Mimi exclaimed.
“Mimi sure is energetic,” Tina said.
“Yes… We should prepare too,” Wiska noted.
Mimi was the only one who seemed energetic. Why was she still full of energy? It was a mystery. The mechanic twins headed off, apparently to prepare what they’d need for salvaging the equipment and pirate ships we’d soon acquire. For now, we decided to rest for the remainder of the day and set out tomorrow. Today had been busy. Upon arriving on Rimei Prime, we’d immediately headed over to meet Hartmut, then visited the orphanage twice, and then met Hartmut again. After all that, most people would be wiped.
***
There were several methods for hunting pirates. One standard approach was to patrol an area of space where pirate attacks were likely, then rush in when a merchant ship sent out distress signals.
“This is the Krishna of the mercenary guild, entering the battle.”
“Mercenaries?! If it’s money you want, we’ll pay! Save us!”
“Mercenaries?! Damn it! What should we do?”
“They’ve got a big ship with them—but only two combat ships! Go get ’em!”
Over our comms, we’d heard a merchant ship screaming for help, as well as the pirates who were assaulting it. From what I could see, the escort ship guarding the merchants had already been taken out and turned into scrap metal, and only two merchant vessels were left. They were equipped with turrets, but those turrets didn’t boast much firepower and barely kept the pirates at bay.
“I’ll activate the jammer,” Elma said.
“Do that. I’ll leave the ones just keeping their distance and watching to you. Black Lotus, approach the merchant ships slowly. Once you’re in sufficient range of the enemies, focus on defending against inbound fire.”
“Aye aye, sir,” Elma said.
“Understood, Master,” Mei replied.
There were fourteen pirate ships. If that was it, we could eat them all.
“We’re making our charge. I doubt it’ll be necessary, but ready the shield cells.”
“Yes, my lord. Leave chaff and flares to me as well.”
“The enemy’s vanguard is approaching!” Mimi exclaimed.
I pushed the throttle to the max and charged straight at the enemy’s vanguard. When we had superior shield strength and firepower, few strategies were more efficient than just fighting head-on. If the pirates were inviting me into a contest, I’d gladly accept. Firing my four heavy laser cannons wildly, I used the Krishna’s altitude-control thrusters to make minute, jittery movements in all directions. The pirate ships shot at me, their aiming systems automatically correcting for my motions, but their firing systems were trash; they overcompensated for my movements and missed. That was why you didn’t skimp on your equipment.
“Aaagh! Damn it! We can’t hit him, and he’s freaking tough!”
“Gyaaah!”
“Crap! This guy’s strong! He’s definitely silver-rank at least!”
“Disperse! Disperse!”
Unfortunately for them, I wasn’t merely silver-rank—I was a platinum-rank mercenary. I fired my flak cannons into the side of the pirate ships that turned to escape, chasing after the others with my heavy laser cannons.
“My FTL drive won’t activate! M-missiles?! Hel—”
“Stop! We’re burning?! We’re burning! We’re burn—”
As planned, Elma’s Antlion had used its gravity jammer to block the pirates’ FTL drives and keep them from fleeing. Then the Antlion used seeker missiles and its laser beam emitter to destroy them.
To top it all off, the Black Lotus arrived on the scene and revealed the cannons hidden under its concealment plating, annihilating more frantically escaping pirates. That was that; the pirates would have no way to fight back unless they were carrying anti-ship reactive torpedoes.
“A-are we saved?” a merchant asked over the comms.
“Looks like it’s your lucky day. So about that payment you mentioned…”
The bounties and spoils from taking out the pirates would already be enough of a payday, but since the merchants had said that they’d pay us, I’d be remiss not to take them up on their offer. I wasn’t one to leave money on the table.
***
“Ha ha ha! This is what ‘to the mercenary go the spoils’ means!”
We saw off the merchant ships, who paid us an amount far greater than the usual bounty for a pirate ship; we recovered some decent spoils and salvaged some good equipment from the pirate vessels too. Naturally, we also received the bounties from the pirate ships themselves. We still hadn’t made a lot, though—at least not by my standards.
“How much did you make?” Linda asked curiously, who still wore a simple medical-gown-like garment.
“The merchants paid us twenty thousand as thanks. Pirate-ship bounties are generally three to five thousand, though notorious pirates can be worth more. There were fourteen of them, which should come out to around forty-two thousand. If we sell the spoils we acquired, that’ll add a chunk, as will selling their salvaged equipment. We’ll probably make about a hundred thousand total. Maybe a bit more, depending on the quality of the spoils and equipment.”
“Seriously? Mercenaries earn a lot…”
“Well, earning that much requires hundreds to thousands of times that amount in investment,” Mimi pointed out.
“I know it’d be out of reach…but still, how would someone like me theoretically become a mercenary?”
“So…”
Mimi began to lecture Linda about the path to becoming a mercenary. She seemed to enjoy teaching Linda—she often spoke with her. Meanwhile, Kugi nodded along as the fox ears atop her head pricked up, twitching with curiosity; it was interesting to watch.
Leaving them to the lecture, I headed to the cafeteria, where Elma was enjoying a beer after her day’s work. I took a noncarbonated cola from the fridge and sat next to her.
“Good work,” she told me. “So, what are we doing about her?”
“I don’t plan to do anything. If we added a new crew member everywhere we stopped, it wouldn’t be long before we ran out of cabins.”
“Hm? You made a move on Tina and Wiska, so I thought a girl like Linda might be up your alley too.”
“Actual children are a step too far for me, of course. I’ve got normal sensibilities, you know? It was quite a while before I was even okay with hitting on Tina and Wiska. And it’s not like I ever hit on Chris.”
“I thought you might’ve changed your policies.”
“I haven’t. Why are you focusing on it? Oh—I see.” That’s what this is about? Now I understand. Okay, okay.
“What…?”
“Nothing. I was just thinking that I’d like to spend time with you today. Got any strong booze that’s also easy to drink?”
“That’s an unusual thing for you to ask. Well, if you’re joining me, I’ll get you something.”
It was too bad that this universe’s drinks didn’t have that refreshing carbonation, but even I could drink rum and Coke. Of course, since I couldn’t hold liquor at all, a single glass would render me drunk as a sailor. Elma was here to take care of me, though—and she would.
“It won’t be long before I’m drunk, so look after me,” I said.
“Whatever you do, don’t throw up all over the place,” Elma warned.
“I can’t hold my liquor, but I’m not going to throw up from a single drink.”
Elma took a clear alcohol from her exclusive stash and topped it with some (fake) cola, then stirred the glass. I accepted the drink and sniffed it, finding that it had a sweet smell. That alcohol likely wasn’t rum, so this wasn’t exactly a rum and cola, but it probably wasn’t far off.
The two dwarves who usually appeared instantly whenever drinking was underway were currently busy working on the equipment we’d salvaged. Meanwhile, Dr. Shouko—quite the drinker herself—was busy analyzing data she’d collected from Linda. Mei was returning the Black Lotus to Rimei Prime. She probably still had enough free processing power to hang out with us simultaneously, but she didn’t usually join drinking parties. Alcohol did nothing for her, since she couldn’t get drunk; booze she’d consumed was simply stored inside her. I wasn’t sure how she’d process it then, but in any event, the alcohol would be wasted. That wouldn’t make anybody happy, so Mei purposefully stayed away from our drinking parties.
“Cheers.”
“What are you toasting?” Elma asked.
“Our usual victory in combat?”
“Why make it sound like a question? At least toast it properly.”
Despite Elma’s complaints, she was in a good mood. I decided to keep devoting my attention to her; that would lead to good things for me later. In light of that, though, I had to be careful not to get too drunk.
***
“I feel better.”
“Pace yourself. Your body doesn’t handle alcohol that well.”
“I’ll be sure to. Thanks, doc.”
The next day—not that, in space, there was any clear delineation between today and yesterday or tomorrow—Dr. Shouko let me off with a light scolding as I had my slightly aching head treated in a medical pod. I’d spent the previous day drinking with Elma, and then she and I had gone to my room and spent the night together. Elma had drunk way more than me, but she hadn’t even had a hangover as she headed off to get something to eat after we showered together. Is her liver steel or something?
“Oh yeah—how’s the thing with Linda going?” I asked.
“I figured out why the disease doesn’t affect her,” Dr. Shouko replied. “I’m currently calculating whether the cause could benefit other people too.”
“Calculating?”
“We don’t have time to run tests with live subjects. Fortunately, using the facilities you provided me, I can run virtual simulations to determine whether that’s likely. That’s much faster than running physical tests—and easier.”
“You’re virtually simulating what would happen to a human body if you used a new drug on them…? Will the results be reliable?”
“Of course. We have comprehensive data on all the races living in the Empire, so there shouldn’t be any problems. The simulations even cover hypothetical patients with race-specific diseases—that’s why they take a while. That said, the tests should be done running within the next twenty-four hours.”
From my point of view—even though Dr. Shouko seemed quite indifferent to the matter—science had become staggeringly powerful. The speed with which she’d developed a possible treatment was impressive, and the ability to determine virtually whether such a drug would work—as well as whether it had potential negative side effects—within a single day was amazing. On top of all that, Dr. Shouko had complete confidence in the simulation results.
“I guess laymen don’t really understand much about this field,” she added. “So if you have any questions, feel free to ask.”
“I’m not even sure I could come up with good questions. At any rate, I completely understand that you’re doing something incredible here.”
“I’m not sure you can say you ‘completely understand,’ then. Well, whatever. You can leave anything related to the pandemic to me.”
“I will. Let me know if you succeed in developing something we can hold over Hartmut’s head.”
“Leave it to me,” Dr. Shouko repeated. “I’ll make sure you get your money’s worth for these facilities.” She puffed out her chest.
Nice. A treat for the eyes.
***
We dropped off our pirate-hunting spoils at the Rimei Prime colony, which was currently undergoing a supply shortage. Since there likely wouldn’t be much demand for ship parts or salvaged equipment, though, we would store those aboard the Black Lotus for now. At least, we intended to do that.
“Would you be willing to give us the ship parts you acquired as well?”
Mimi had apparently asked around about whether we could sell ship parts on Rimei Prime. Those inquiries had reached Hartmut’s ears, and he’d gone out of his way to contact us.
“No problem, but why?”
“We’ve prioritized acquiring food and medical supplies, so we’re running low on mechanical components.”
“I see. Sure, that’d be fine. Not having to carry all that stuff around would be a plus for us.”
Hartmut basically wanted to purchase the ship parts to use as spares. They could disassemble the parts and repurpose the components to maintain the colony’s facilities—at least, according to Tina and Wiska.
“If you’re just going to use them for components, we don’t need to repair them, do we?” I asked.
“Your not doing so would be more convenient for both of us.”
“Well, you’ll have to buy the parts we already repaired at a fair market price.”
“We’re not so miserly as to quibble over something like that.” Hartmut laughed on the other side of the holo-screen.
Yeah… He’s good-looking. All the nobles of the Empire are. I wonder whether that’s the result of them breeding generation after generation of handsome men and beautiful women.
“By the way, do you have any more information about the potential cure you mentioned?” Hartmut asked.
“Yeah. We finished analyzing the…biological…? data, and we’re simulating whether the cure is effective on other people and races. I’m told the simulations should finish sometime today.”
“I’m not an expert in this field, so I don’t quite understand. What will finishing the simulations signify?”
“The simulations can apparently produce reliable results, even without live testing, so if they’re successful, the cure should be viable. Should I invite the doctor conducting them to the call?”
“If possible.”
As Hartmut wanted, I invited Dr. Shouko to join our call. I just listened as the two discussed the cure; I didn’t want to get in the way. Hartmut’s questions were simple. He wanted to know whether the cure could be used immediately, and how safe it was.
“The cure’s efficacy isn’t far from that of existing medications, so I believe it could be used immediately. Once it’s administered, a person’s body will exhibit a strong immune response to the pathogen, so even if they’re infected, they’ll remain asymptomatic. Plus, they won’t spread the infection to others.”
“Can this cure be mass produced?”
“In adequate facilities. Even the laboratory we have here could do so, though it’s quite small.”
“How much could it turn out?”
“With sufficient materials, and operating at full capacity, enough doses for about two hundred people per hour—so about forty-eight hundred people per day.”
“I’d like you to start producing the cure as soon as possible. Still, that’s far from enough doses,” Hartmut said, looking troubled. This colony had a population of roughly five hundred thousand people, so if we relied solely on our small laboratory, producing enough of the cure for everyone would take over three months. And I had no intention of staying here that long.
“In the end, our laboratory’s rather small. Still, the treatment won’t be difficult to produce as long as you have proper manufacturing facilities. Perhaps you could search for a company right here in your colony that happens to have those.”
“I’ll do that. Can you send me the necessary information on exactly what kind of facilities are needed?”
“The necessary information, hm? What do you say, Captain?”
“I’ll be rewarding our excellent doctor for her work,” I declared. “And Hartmut, you’ll reward me for providing the results of her research. Sound good?”
“So long as it’s within my authority,” said Hartmut. “I take it you’re referring to that?”
“Exactly. The orphanage is in your hands, Governor.”
“Understood.”
With that, the logistical—or rather, official—side of things was more or less settled. We’d just made a verbal agreement, but I’d recorded the conversation; if Harmut’s side feigned ignorance later, that log would come in handy. If the authorities insisted on pretending this agreement had never occurred, I’d simply have to take action. In the end, this universe ran on violence, and I’d resort to whatever I had to: money, pulling strings, or flexing raw strength. I might have to challenge Hartmut to a duel armed with either my ship or my swords. Nobles placed weight on pride, so running away from a duel could cause them serious problems—and I wouldn’t let him off the hook.
“So, I heard something about you rewarding me?” Dr. Shouko said. “Just how are you going to do that?”
Having ended the transmission with Hartmut, I now had to figure out how to satisfy whatever requests this smirking doctor of mine had in mind. Will money suffice? No? Didn’t think so.
***
Dr. Shouko forced me to participate in a bunch of experiments. She was fascinated by my strange origins and physique—and my body itself. Her examinations were taxing both physically and mentally. Kugi had been giving me thorough one-on-one instruction on using my psychic capabilities. Because of that, my psionic skills were coming along nicely; I could basically wield power rivaling that of a superhero in a cartoon or comic book. I could probably have defeated a platoon of heavily-armed marines in full power armor with nothing more than my body, and it wouldn’t even be a close fight.
Dr. Shouko dragged all this out of me during what could only be described as an interrogation masquerading as a medical interview. I’d planned on keeping those abilities secret until the moment called for me to do otherwise, but…
“Are you tired, Master Hiro?”
“Yes, I am. Very much so.”
Mimi came over and sat down next to me as I was recovering on a sofa in the lounge. She then pulled my body onto hers. I didn’t resist, allowing myself to collapse with a thump, my head landing squarely on her thighs. Mmm… Before my eyes were Mimi’s gigantic breasts; a stunning view. In fact, my face was actually touching them. Incredible. I could feel my mental energy recovering.
As Mimi’s lap pillow rejuvenated me, I heard Kugi’s voice. “You beat me to it.”
“Hee hee! Today is my turn.”
Had Kugi sensed my weakness? Either way, today it appeared that Mimi’s good fortune had bested Kugi’s telepathic abilities. Soft and squishy, or fluffy and furry… It was hard to say which would help me recover faster, but today I decided to indulge in what Mimi offered.
“What’s Linda doing?” I asked.
“Linda is currently learning about maintenance from Wiska and Tina, my lord.”
“I see. It’d be difficult to pick up anything meaningful in such a short time, but hopefully she’ll gain something from the experience.”
It should be fine to leave Linda to those two for now. Turning up and giving her false hope wouldn’t do anyone any good. Not that I was sure that Linda was truly interested in the mercenary lifestyle to begin with. Either way, I couldn’t afford to bring her with us anyway—okay, maybe I could, but we’d have no use for her.
“Oh, right… Can you let Tina and Wiska know that they don’t need to repair the salvaged equipment anymore?” I asked. “They can finish whatever they’re currently working on, but the purchaser apparently wants to use what we give them for spare components.”
“Got it. I’ll let them know,” Mimi said.
She began to operate her terminal as I lay in her lap. Nice. Very nice. I’m not about to vocalize why exactly, but this is very, very nice. This is bliss—no, it’s the true meaning of the cosmos!
“Mimi…I have a proposal. How about the two of us work together to provide my lord with comfort?”
Seemingly sensing my mental state, Kugi had made a wonderful suggestion to Mimi. Wonderful…absolutely wonderful. But would Mimi agree?
“That might not be a bad idea!”
She seemed fine with it. That’ll mean both of them at the same time, right? Very well. I’m not going to run or hide. Come! What’s that you say? Wasn’t I supposedly tired? I was, but sometimes willpower triumphed over physical weakness.
***
While I was receiving Mimi and Kugi’s avid attention, Elma was relaxing with a drink in hand, Dr. Shouko was smirking in front of the data and samples she’d acquired from me, and Tina and Wiska were maintaining and categorizing the equipment we’d salvaged—it happened.
Well, it’d be more accurate to say that it had happened at that point.
“Master, the lower district’s orphanage was attacked.”
“What did you say?”
I had just enjoyed an excellent shower with Mimi and Kugi when Mei dropped a bombshell on me. I wasn’t sure I had heard her correctly. Not that I hadn’t anticipated the possibility—it was why I’d stationed combat bots there to begin with—but I hadn’t truly expected that those bots would have to be used. Who’d dare attack a place protected by four military-use combat bots? Even I would hesitate—or flat-out refuse—to make such a move.
“Repeating: The facility protected by our combat bots was attacked. The bots and the bodyguards in our employ were able to repel the assailants, so there is no cause for concern.”
“Well, yeah. That outcome was to be expected…”
“The kids weren’t injured, were they?” Mimi asked.
“No, Miss Mimi. No one on the premises suffered any injuries, including the two bodyguards.”
“Why was the orphanage attacked…?” I mused. “Oh, well. I guess the attackers might just have been after supplies.”
I honestly didn’t want to imagine any other motive. As we understood it, the syndicates and gangs that supported the orphanage had more or less collapsed, so the attack probably wasn’t related to that. Oh…wait. Rival syndicates and gangs opposed to the orphanage’s supporters might still be intact. Maybe they’d attacked? Actually, if that wasn’t the case, then the orphanage wouldn’t have been attacked to begin with. If a syndicate or gang supporting the orphanage made a comeback, they would go take revenge on the assailants.
“Can we get in touch with the orphanage?” I asked.
“Yes, we can contact them through the combat bots stationed there.”
“Okay. We should start by asking them for more information.”
I’d been in a good mood, but now I had a headache. Was that karma for enjoying myself despite the colony’s situation? What’s the right move here? This is becoming a pain in the ass. Should I just clean out and decontaminate the entire place, so to speak?
As my head swam with violent thoughts, I started for the lounge, following Mimi.
***
“It’s good to hear that everyone’s safe.”
“It’s thanks to you, Big Bro.”
On the other side of the holo-screen, blond crew cut Heinz and purple pudding-head Sieg bowed their heads. I didn’t recall becoming the big brother of these ruffians, but I let the title slide. It was their way of showing respect, so I accepted it. That kind of thing was important in their world.
“So who were the assailants? It’d make things easy if they were just unaffiliated hooligans who got greedy and wanted your supplies,” I said.
“Well, they were definitely hooligans who wanted our supplies. But…”
Why’d you pause? Don’t look away, Heinz. How come you’re shaking, Sieg? Your face tells me there’s more to this story. “Based on how you’re reacting, I more or less get the picture. This is going to be annoying, isn’t it?”
“Well, yeah…probably. Rumor is the people behind these hooligans also have connections outside,” Heinz said.
“Connections outside? You mean to space pirates?”
“That’s what the rumors say. They always get their hands on dangerous stuff you normally can’t, and they’re definitely trafficking people.”
“Engaging in that sort of behavior even under these circumstances really isn’t good. Now that I think about it, I recall hearing that poorly made drugs are still circulating.”
No—that wasn’t quite right. Had Dr. Shouko simply said that poorly made drugs were another source of infection? I didn’t recall clearly at this point. Well, I figured it didn’t matter.
“Good ears, Big Bro. Yeah, these guys are the ones responsible for circulating that stuff. They say it helps you forget your pain and suffering. They target people who can’t afford proper treatment,” Heinz said.
“And after those people die, these guys go retrieve the corpses?”
“W-wait… How’d you know?” Sieg asked.
“Haven’t you heard? The mushrooms responsible for spreading the disease get nutrients from the corpses of living things to reproduce.”
“So…after spreading the drug around, they go back and retrieve the ingredients used to make it?”
“That’s my guess.”
While it was just a hypothesis, it probably wasn’t far off the mark. People who’d work with space pirates would likely be willing to engage in such practices as well.
“I still don’t understand why they attacked you, though,” I continued. “Is someone they want that badly to kill staying with you?”
“I don’t really understand either, to be honest. They’re crazy. They didn’t attack us directly either… They used the promise of drugs as bait to get thugs to come after us.”
“That’s annoying.”
From what Heinz was telling me, rather than taking action themselves, these crazy criminals were instead using people who could no longer afford to buy drugs as pawns. They might not even have ordered those pawns to attack the orphanage specifically, just told them “If you don’t have anything valuable, go steal something. Now that I think about it, I hear there’s pretty good stuff in that orphanage right now,” or something to that effect.
“This is a major pain in the ass. Do you know where these guys hang out, or where their base is?”
“I know where one base is, but I don’t know whether they manufacture their goods there, or if it’s just a storehouse. Big Bro, since you’re asking, are you thinking of…”
“Making them vanish once and for all would be the most satisfying solution. Especially if they’re connected to space pirates.”
Whether it was their manufacturing location or a storehouse, I could look for those criminals while destroying the base. As long as someone who knew the criminals’ location was still alive, then in the worst-case scenario, we could always extract that information from their brain. That would be Hartmut’s job, though, not mine.
“W-well, that may be true, but…” Heinz began.
“There’s no room for negotiations, since they’re in cahoots with space pirates.”
“You’re quite extreme, Big Bro,” Sieg said.
“If you’d seen space pirates’ victims with their limbs cut off turned into something like avant-garde art pieces that secrete some useful substance, I think you’d come to the same conclusion I have.”
Sieg’s face scrunched up in response as if to say, “Huh? What the hell? That’s terrifying.” An expected reaction. I myself hadn’t understood what I was looking at the first time I saw that after coming to this world.
“Try gathering intel on them for me, but don’t do anything reckless. I’ll prepare some detoxification methods. I’ll pay you five thousand if you find their manufacturing base or storehouse. I’ll pay you ten thousand if you find both, but don’t do anything that might get you killed. Your lives are worth much more, right?”
“Got it, Big Bro. The combat bots seem like they can handle the orphanage, so we’ll head out to gather info,” Heinz said.
“Yeah. I know I’m repeating myself, but don’t get yourselves killed.”
I’d have trouble sleeping if they died trying to accomplish a job I gave them.
***
“So, this is the cure?”
Hartmut let out a deeply felt sigh as he gazed at the case brimming with objects resembling batteries. Within each cell was enough of the medical solution to treat five people.
Roughly an hour had passed since I’d talked with Heinz and Sieg through the combat bots. Now I’d brought Elma, Mei, and Dr. Shouko with me to see Hartmut.
“It’s designed to be administered with a standard syringe, so injecting it should be easy,” Dr. Shouko said. “And the medicine is nanomachine-based, so you can store it at room temperature.”
“Understood. I assume this recording device contains the manufacturing data related to this cure?”
“Precisely. It also includes details on the facilities required to produce the cure,” Dr. Shouko replied.
Perhaps because she was conversing with a noble, she spoke more properly than usual, which sounded kind of strange to me. She was probably doing her best not to come off as rude.
“It’ll probably take you a few days to confirm the cure’s efficacy, and then a few more to start mass producing it, but do what you can,” I said.
“Of course. If I still can’t resolve this situation despite all the help you’ve provided, my father will disown and exile me.”
“Your father must be very strict. Anyway…now it’s your turn to help us, right?” I prompted.
“Yes. Ask for anything you wish, so long as it’s within my abilities.”
“Anything we wish? You said it, not me. I’m going to hold you to your word, got it?”
I must’ve had quite a sinister smile on my face just then, because for a moment, Hartmut recoiled. He really didn’t need to be that wary. It was going to be fine—really! I was just going to push the envelope a little bit while everything was in chaos!
Anyway, I informed Hartmut that the orphanage I wanted him to protect had been attacked, and that the group responsible likely had links to space pirates.
“I see…and what is it you wish to do?”
“I want to crush them.”
“Huh?”
“I want to kill all of them.”
“Hang on.”
“Filth must be cleansed.”
“Please calm down.”
“You did say I could ask for anything I wished, didn’t you? A proud noble of the Empire wouldn’t dare go back on his word, would he?”
“You have me there…”
All right…I’d managed to steamroll him. “Isn’t this a good opportunity? You’ve just arrived here, so you have no ties. After smashing their base and extracting any relevant information from the survivors’ brains, we should also acquire information on the upper-district trash connected to those space pirates. Given how chaotic the current situation is, we can act as we like, right?”
“Lord Hiro, my position as a noble of the Empire requires me to maintain law and order.”
“Anyone connected to space pirates is destined for capital punishment. Bending the rules a bit should be acceptable.”
“I suppose that…might be the case.”
“This’ll serve as a testament to your valor. As a noble of the Empire, having a few notches like this on your belt wouldn’t be a bad thing.”
“T-true.”
In the end, I talked Hartmut into it and got him to provide the forces I’d need to eliminate the pirates. It was a good thing he’d brought a lot of personal forces with him from his father’s territory. All that was left now was to contact Heinz and Sieg, then head over and destroy the enemy’s stronghold.
It wasn’t entirely necessary for Heinz and Sieg to have found anything; we could very likely gain any information we wanted from that stronghold. Still, I couldn’t exactly hang back after I’d essentially forced Hartmut’s hand. At the very least, I needed to show that I meant business.
Chapter 5: Settling Scores
Chapter 5:
Settling Scores
THREE HOURS LATER, I was outfitted in my light ninja power armor. Alongside Mei—who was equipped with a variable-output laser launcher—I prepared to lead the ship’s remaining combat bots in an assault against the base of the Bloodies. That was the criminal organization’s name, apparently. At the moment, we were on standby in an alley near the base’s entrance. Shortly after we positioned ourselves there, Heinz and Sieg joined us.
“Um…Big Bro?”
“What?”
Seeing my and Mei’s equipment, and our heavily armed combat bots, Heinz asked with a serious expression, “Do you plan on starting a war?”
“I mean…yeah?” Shouldn’t it be obvious?
I’d said I was going to kill these people, and that was exactly what I was going to do. I had no intention of dialing it back. I would swing with all I had, especially since the enemy was linked to space pirates. There was no telling what tricks they had up their sleeves; I wouldn’t be surprised if they suddenly launched unknown biological weapons at us.
But in this situation, I figured it wouldn’t be appropriate just to massacre them all.
“Will you guys be okay in gear that light?”
“I think you’re just over-geared, Big Bro,” Sieg replied. He looked kind of freaked out by our equipment too.
So he says. But even though he’s wearing laser-resistant linen, that’s not much different from normal clothes. His laser gun’s output isn’t that powerful either. From my point of view, it’s hard to think that he’s taking this assault seriously. His protective equipment might not block a single shot from a lethal laser. “You guys better stay in the back. I won’t say anything if you decide to loot during the fight, but help me look for clues that’ll lead to their other bases.”
“Wait… We can grab anything we think is worth money?” Sieg asked.
“Well, if you get tracked down for it and sent off to a prison colony, I won’t be bailing you out. So be careful what you grab.”
“G-got it.”
For a moment, Sieg’s face had lit up with joy, but now he was nodding solemnly. Well, given their background, these two probably had ways to get rid of riskier materials. Still, I thought it was best to caution them.
“Master, it’s about time for the operation to begin.”
“All right. Let’s start with a bang. Make as big a scene as you can. Just keep the enemy occupied—no need to go on the offensive.”
Mei nodded, holding the variable-output laser launcher wired to her generator. “Understood. Leave it to me.”
Once the battle started, she’d probably be swinging that thing around like a stick, although it was as bulky as a heavy machine gun. Mass times velocity equaled destructive force, so anyone she hit with that in close combat would end up in a really bad way.
“We’ll sneak in from behind, right, Big Bro?” Heinz asked.
“Yeah. And don’t lose that beacon ring I gave you. It differentiates between allies and enemies. Without that, when you run into Hartmut’s strike force, they’ll shoot you full of laser holes.”
“I’ll hold on to it as if my life depends on it,” Heinz and Sieg chorused.
Both had fastened a bracelet-like device that emitted blue light onto one arm. Those were the beacon rings I’d mentioned, which produced signals that would tell apart friends and foes, preventing friendly fire. Even if you mistakenly pointed your laser gun or laser rifle at someone wearing a beacon ring and pulled the trigger, the weapon wouldn’t fire. Quite a handy device.
“Okay, it’s time. Fire the laser emitter and envelop them, Mei. Make as big a mess as you can.”
“Aye aye, sir.”
As Mei responded, the combat bots simultaneously activated their weapons and leapt from the alley, aiming the barrels of the plasma emitters mounted on their demolition backpacks at the target facility.
“Firing.”
Pow! Pa-pa-pa-pa-pa-pow! A pleasantly snappy, thoroughly sci-fi sound rang out. The moment the muzzles of the bots’ emitters fired glowing green plasma shells that pierced the target’s walls, a flash of green light exploded, and a wave of heat rushed us.
“Seriously…?” Heinz muttered.
“Holy crap! Holy crap!” Sieg cried.
The power of the plasma shells fired by the five military-use combat bots was evident as the facility’s wall melted and disappeared. The red-hot edges of the round hole in the building’s wall were visible even from here.
“Keep it up. Let’s go,” I said.
“Huh? We’re charging in through there?” Sieg asked.
“Yup. Hurry up.”
“Be careful, Master.”
Sieg was beginning to shrink away, so my ninja-armor-encased leg kicked him lightly in the rear before we headed for the right side of Bloodies’ base. It was time for a break-in.
***
“Who the hell are you?!”
Since this third-rate thug had time to shout, I felt he should’ve spent it by drawing the laser gun at his waist instead. Mercilessly, I pointed my own gun at his chest and pulled the trigger.
“Mmgh!”
Bzzt! A satisfying sound rang out as a flash of blue-white electricity momentarily lit the room. The thump of the third-rate thug hitting the floor resounded through the hallway.
“This smell is hard to get used to,” Heinz said.
“No helping it. I just fired on close-to-lethal output, after all…”
Since I was in my ninja armor, I didn’t really smell it myself. Heinz and Sieg weren’t wearing anything that covered their nose, though, so the smell was probably quite putrid to them. Burnt human flesh mixed with piss wasn’t a pleasant aroma. Some of the thugs were even crapping themselves, not just pissing.
“They should thank me for not executing them on sight,” I said.
“Should they…?” Sieg asked.
“Uh-huh.”
If I’d wanted to simply execute these thugs on sight, I’d either have used a laser shotgun that fired multiple lethal lasers at once or cut them in half with my two swords. Instead, I was just using a tesla gun.
Tesla guns were essentially guns that just fired electricity; that said, they were potentially lethal. Still, about half the people I shot survived. If I’d been using a lethal laser gun instead, the death toll would’ve been much higher. If you died after being shot by a tesla gun, you just weren’t lucky enough. It wasn’t exactly a nonlethal weapon, but it was still a low-casualty one. Well, perhaps medium casualty was more accurate. Either way, it wasn’t that dangerous a weapon.
As a side note, a tesla gun usually didn’t jam. Its energy cell capacity only let you fire it about fifty times, even if it started out fully charged; still, if you swapped out the energy cell, you could immediately begin firing again.
“Big Bro, aren’t you kind of too strong?” Sieg asked.
“Why’re you surprised? I’m a pro.”
I wished I didn’t have to participate in this kind of fight, though. I preferred battling from my ship—although, to be honest, I’d kind of gotten used to fighting in person. I now also wielded the psionic powers Kugi had taught me to use. I had a lot more cards to play these days, so I didn’t see myself losing unless a fight entailed an overwhelming difference in numbers or firepower.
The ninja armor I wore was also designed for fighting in confined areas like this; it was equipped with high-power passive sensors. They picked up the slightest sound—whether footsteps, someone drawing their weapon, or even just heavy breathing—and displayed the enemy’s predicted location on my helmet’s visor. In gaming terms, I basically had permanent wallhacks activated. How could I lose?
“Find anything good?” I asked.
“We secured some stuff that probably contains data caches,” Heinz said.
“We picked up some things worth money too,” Sieg said.
“All right. Keep it up.”
They’d both picked up some kind of large shoulder bag; they were stuffing these with the objects they found. It seemed like Heinz was going after data-related items, while Sieg was looking for valuables.
“Oh…allies up ahead,” I made sure to alert Heinz and Sieg, since several people emitting allied signals were approaching us. Those two weren’t equipped with anything that provided visual feedback, so unless I gave them a heads-up, they wouldn’t know whether people approaching were allies or enemies.
“Good work,” I told the newcomers. “I neutralized a few people with this thing and tagged them, but I’ll leave cleaning them up you guys. Some of them might be dead.”
“Understood. We’ll continue securing the area.”
“Got it. We’re going to head upstairs. We’ve been collecting things that might contain data, but you check too in case we missed anything.”
Having quickly communicated those key points, we split up with Hartmut’s strike squad and began moving again.
“Those guys definitely meant business,” Heinz remarked.
“They’re taking the opportunity to clean house. You guys are lucky you’re with me.”
However you sliced it, nobles held overwhelming power in the Empire. The moment they chose to employ violence, no outlaw group—mafia, gang, or yakuza—stood a chance. In the end, power stemmed from violence. And their aristocratic position allowed nobles to wield violence that outlaws—who were merely normal citizens who’d gotten rough around the edges—couldn’t hope to withstand.
“Let’s get back to work. We need to dismantle these so-called ‘Bloodies’ before the day ends.”
“We’re with you, Big Bro,” Heinz said.
“’Kay,” Sieg said.
They nodded and trailed behind me, so we once more formed a three-man unit… Well, not really. I stayed in front, serving as point man, as we continued exploring the base.
Our goal this time was to secure sources of information, so I wasn’t going to use my swords. That would have meant separating body parts from each other. They were efficient tools for massacre, but not what I needed at the moment.
As I was engrossed in such idle thoughts, we secured the floor in a basically systematic way. Hartmut and his subordinates would be responsible for extracting information from captured criminals, so I did my best not to kill any as I neutralized them with my tesla gun.
The weapon had an effective range of about fifty meters, which wasn’t very far. That was the tesla gun’s weakness, but it wasn’t a problem when fighting indoors. The projectile speed wasn’t much slower than a laser gun’s, and even if you aimed rather poorly, you’d still strike your target, which made a tesla gun easy to use. The firearm was a bit heavy, though, so handling it was a pain if you weren’t wearing power armor.
“Next up is the top floor. Are bosses always on the top floor?”
“I think they usually are, yes,” Heinz said.
“Our boss’s place was on the top floor too,” Sieg added.
Perhaps intimidated by the sight of me destroying the Bloodies, Heinz and Sieg were acting much more polite than usual. Strength defined your relationships whether you were a mercenary or a thug. I guess you could say mercenaries are pretty much thugs, just operating within a somewhat-legal public organization with a few rules in place. Can’t really argue with that.
I was proceeding forward while keeping a close eye on the enemies I detected—the number of which had decreased significantly—when suddenly a man jumped from a nearby doorway. My ninja armor’s sensors didn’t pick him up. He must be pretty skilled.
“I don’t know who you are or where you came from, but you’ve got guts pickin’ a fight with us!” he cried. “I’m going to cut you to pieces and tear you limb from limb, and all you’ll be able to do is watch!”
The unhealthy-looking, emaciated musclehead—twiggy musclehead?—had a flushed face, and his veins bulged in anger. He closed the distance to us at an incredible speed, holding a clublike weapon that crackled with purple electricity. Charging me with a club? How reckless.
“Hyaaah ha! I’ve got you!”
Calmly watching the “hyaaah ha” guy swing his baton at me, I held my breath, slowing down time. This guy moves fast for someone not wearing special equipment. Has he undergone physical enhancements like the ones nobles get?
Regardless, there was no way his attack would reach me. I pulled the trigger of the tesla gun during this stretch of decelerated time. At same moment the blue-white flash zapped the “hyaaah ha” guy, I kicked him and sent him flying. His body had stiffened due to the shock from the tesla gun, so he had no way to resist. With that, I…somehow didn’t manage to neutralize the target.
“Mgh… That isn’t enough to defeat me!”
“You prepared countermeasures against electric attacks?”
He wasn’t unscathed, and I fired my tesla gun at him three more times as he attempted to get up. Have I no mercy? No, I don’t.
“Geh! Hang on—wait!”
“Why would I?”
After five shots, the guy finally stopped moving. Steam rose from his entire body; he looked well-done. Is he still alive? Not that it matters much. Still, he hadn’t seemed weak, so it was better to be careful.
“Hey, you guys picked up something that looked like cuffs earlier, right? Cuff him.”
“You got it,” Sieg said. He pulled some cyberpunk-esque handcuffs out of his bag and restrained the steaming and still-twitching twiggy musclehead.
Is he still alive? He’s as tough as those monstrous, unmentionable black insects. “Is this guy the boss here?” I asked.
“Not sure. We don’t know much about the people in charge of the Bloodies. I’ve seen this guy before, though, so he’s probably one of their lieutenants at least,” Heinz answered.
“I see. Hopefully I didn’t fry his brain.” I’d zapped him five times with a tesla gun, and if the heat had reached his brain and damaged it, it’d be rather unfortunate. Oh well. We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it.
Having cuffed the “hyaaah ha” guy, we kept moving forward. We ignored empty rooms and prioritized those with people inside. After all, those people might be in the middle of eliminating evidence.
“This is the last one.”
“We’ll support you.”
“No need. Just stay back and don’t get injured.”
We kept our voices low. After we finished our exchange, I kicked down the door and fired my tesla gun into the room—a pre-emptive strike! If I took down even one enemy in advance, it’d be worth it.
I announced myself. “Hey, Bloodies. Just a merc passing through. You can recite your death haikus.”
“Gyah! A fully equipped merc?! Why? Gaaah!”
“Bwaugh!”
My tesla gun’s sudden barrage had knocked several thugs in the middle of doing something to the ground. A direct shot from a tesla gun had a survival rate of slightly over 50 percent. Namaste.
“He’s already here?!”
“Fire! Fire!”
“Damn it! We won’t finish in time!”
The thugs immediately drew their laser guns and fired back, so I rolled behind a nearby desk and waited for the laser beam storm to end. I would just have used a plasma grenade, but I didn’t want to destroy the room itself. After all, there appeared to be devices in here that might hold important information. How unfortunate. Rather than destroying everything with plasma, I’d just have to soak the floor in blood instead.
“Big Bro! You okay?” Heinz called.
“I’m fine! Reinforcements could appear behind us, so watch our backs!”
I gave Heinz this order hastily, since he looked like he wanted to break cover outside the room to provide me with support fire. Then I drew my two swords from the sheaths mounted on my back and plunged into the storm of laser beams.
“Ah!”
“He brought swords?!”
As a shocked look appeared on one thug’s face, time slowed once more. Within that decelerated world, I knocked away laser beams that would’ve hit me, deflecting them back toward their source as I advanced toward the thugs.
One step, and then another. With each step I took, the thugs’ faces twisted further in fear. From their point of view, I must’ve looked like Darth *ader. Some were out of my swords’ range; I took them down by deflecting lethal laser beams back at them, and those within range I sliced to pieces. In a single breath the room was bathed in red, the thugs who’d been firing wildly now lying face down on the floor.
“Come on, you bastards!” a voice cried. “Give ’em…hell?”
“Reinforcements?”
I was surprised that they hadn’t yet exhausted their forces. I aimed my left hand—still gripping a sword—toward the four thugs who’d entered from the door across from the one we’d come through.
“A n-noble?!”
“Too slow.” I jerked my arm back, and the thugs’ laser guns left their hands, flying toward me.
“Wha—?!” the four thugs shouted in surprise.
This was a psionic ability I’d acquired recently—a type of telekinesis that let me grab objects and pull them toward me. That was a much more advanced technique than using psionic force to push an object away or destroy something. Having acquired this ability, I was now capable of pulling anything within my sight toward me.
The skill’s efficacy was evident. Losing your weapon when facing an enemy provided them with a lethal opening.
“W-wait!”
“If you want to surrender, get down on the floor with your hands up before I kill you,” I said, swinging my blood-soaked swords with both hands and striding toward the thugs. The thugs, although reluctant, dropped to the floor and raised their hands overhead.
“Cuff them.”
“Got it, Big Bro,” said Heinz.
“Hey, if you don’t want our big bro here to chop you up, behave yourselves!” Sieg admonished the thugs.
At my order, the pair cuffed the thugs. Is that all of them? Seems to be. There might still have been a few enemies holding out on other floors or in other buildings, but I no longer detected any nearby.
“Collect every terminal and other means of data storage you find. We want anything that might possibly contain data.”
“You got it, Big Bro. Leave it to me.”
Finished cuffing the thugs, Heinz began collecting the items I’d specified. Meanwhile, Sieg was checking over our prisoners and their belongings. The thugs might be carrying devices with useful data, so I let him be, even though he seemed to be prioritizing valuable loot rather than data. Allowing these two some perks was only fair.
“Um…by the way, Big Bro, is it just me, or did you disarm the enemy just now?” Heinz asked.
“Oh…well, that was one of those things. It’s this custom power armor’s hidden trump card. I can shoot molecular nanowires that snag an enemy’s weapon and disarm them.”
“Seriously? Damn,” Sieg said.
The story was a complete lie, but there wasn’t much point telling him that I could use psionic powers, so I went with it. It wouldn’t be strange for a noble’s custom power armor to have such a feature—or, at least, it was a story Sieg and Heinz could believe. At a time like this, being a noble was convenient.
“Big Bro, can we just hand over the devices we collected to those guys from earlier?” Sieg asked.
“Yeah, do that. You two aren’t exactly equipped to decrypt and analyze them, right?”
“I know someone who could help with that, but it would cost time and money. If someone else is willing to do it, then that’s better,” Heinz said.
“Let’s leave it to Hartmut’s guys to handle, then.”
“Big Bro, I found something,” Sieg said, coming back from a corner of the room with a bag stuffed to the brim. The bag appeared to be intended for medicine, and it was full of some pink powder.
“What’s that?”
“You know. The drug these guys have been selling.”
“Oh, this is that drug they peddle? We should probably bring the bag back and have it analyzed.”
“Will one be enough?” Sieg asked.
“Hey, you’re not thinking of using this drug yourself, are you? If so, I won’t be bailing you out the next time you’re suffering serious symptoms.”
“Huh? What do you mean?”
“According to my ship’s doctor, this drug’s derived from the mushrooms that caused the pandemic. If you don’t make it properly, people who take it spread the infection. Yes, that’s right. There’s a ninety percent chance this drug’s ingredients include the mushrooms causing the disease in this colony. The one that turns the corpses of the infected into breeding grounds for more mushrooms.”
“For real…?”
Sieg placed the bag on a table and backed away. Then he took several more bags out of his pockets and threw them atop the bag on the table. If I hadn’t said something, he’d still be planning to get high on that stuff, wouldn’t he?
I actually doubted that analyzing these drugs would be of any use at this point, but who knew? We might find something, so I’d bring a bag back with us. Maybe Dr. Shouko could even neutralize the stuff’s negative side effects, turning it into a safe-to-use drug that allowed people to get high without infecting them. I wasn’t sure what we’d do with such a thing, though.
“I’m serious,” I warned, then added, “Those approaching us are allies. Guess they finished securing the area.”
My ninja armor’s sensors had picked up several allied signals coming our way. Once we handed over the immobilized thugs and any devices likely to contain useful data, we’d be done here for today.
Just who was that guy earlier, anyway? The one who was just fine even after he ate a direct shot from a tesla gun? That weapon was far stronger than a taser in my previous world, but I’d heard that humans high on drugs could lunge at you with a knife even after being shot by a handgun.
Still, the bottom line was that the human body wasn’t made in a way that let it endure powerful electrical currents. You couldn’t simply push through shocks using sheer willpower. If you were big enough, maybe an electric current wouldn’t conduct properly through your body, but that didn’t apply to that “hyaaah ha” guy earlier. Had he received some powerful surgical enhancement, or had he had some kind of equipment that protected him?
He must’ve had something, in my opinion. Or maybe he was just built in a manner that made him resistant to electricity? Was he of a certain type of person who enjoyed the thrill of electrocution, so he was used to shocking himself? Now that I thought about it, the man had wielded an electric club. Maybe he played around with it when he was bored. I had no way to know.
“Are we leaving now?” Sieg asked.
“Yeah. Get ready to hand over what we gathered.”
“Got it, Big Bro,” Heinz said.
At any rate, the next step was information extraction. We needed to extract that information either from the data caches we’d acquired, or the brains of the thugs we’d captured. Either would take some time, so we were done for the day.
Moments later, a different squadron of soldiers from the ones we’d encountered earlier entered the bloodstained room from the rear door—the same one the four thugs had come through. Seeing the state of things, they gasped; several even covered their mouths as if to keep from throwing up. Only a few managed to stay calm.
“Lord Hiro… Correct?”
“Yes. We’ll hand over the storage devices we collected to you. The terminals in that bag contain data these thugs were desperately trying to delete. It’d probably be a good idea to focus on the terminals with blood on them.”
“Thanks…”
There was no need for these soldiers to act so creeped out. I’d only done my best, you know? But asking them not to be creeped out at all might’ve been a bit of a tall order, considering the state of the bloodstained room.
“We’re leaving now. Sorry, but I’ll ask you to please take care of the aftermath. Those guys on the floor over there might know something, so handle them with care. With care.”
I flicked the blood off one of my swords with a sharp swing, then sheathed it, glancing at the thugs who lay bound and squirming like caterpillars. From how they trembled and whimpered, they must’ve been pretty scared of me.
“You guys better spill your guts immediately, hear me?” I warned. “If you’re too stubborn, I’ll have to come by personally to remove your fingers and toes.”
My ninja armor’s eyes flashed red with a dramatic gwoon sound, and the eyes of the thugs promptly rolled back as they fainted on the spot. Come on… That’s an overreaction. I added that function as a joke.
***
“Cheers to our victory!” I said.
“Bottoms up!” Sieg cried.
“Cheers!” Heinz chimed in.
The assault on the Bloodies’ base had ended. Roughly an hour after handing over the data storage units and other devices to Hartmut’s subordinates, Heinz, Sieg and I had returned to the orphanage, where now we were holding a small dinner party with the kids and Airia.
“Delicious! Yo, this thing’s tasty!” Sieg declared.
“Yum!”
The food items spread on the table had been brought over from the Black Lotus; they were all cooked courtesy of our Steel Chef. The orphanage didn’t have an automatic cooker, so in an utterly retro fashion, they usually just ate microwaved foods. The dishes the high-spec Steel Chef Five had prepared surprised not only the kids, but the adults too.
“Glad you guys are enjoying it. Makes it worth bringing this stuff all the way over from the Black Lotus.”
“You’re the only one who’d even think of using military-grade combat bots for something like that, Big Bro,” Heinz said.
The combat bots we’d brought for the assault on the Bloodies’ base had transported the food for us. Following the mission, they’d first returned to the Black Lotus with Mei, then swapped their demolition backpacks for cargo packs and delivered the food to the orphanage.
After the attack finished, I’d rapidly come up with the idea for this dinner party, instructing Mei to get ready to swap the combat bots’ equipment and transport the food. Even when she wasn’t physically aboard the ship, Mei could access the Steel Chef and the combat bats’ maintenance and equipment systems, and I could rely on her to communicate with the crew members still aboard the Black Lotus.
“Thank you, Mr. Hiro,” Airia said. “The kids are enjoying themselves too. Times have been tough for them recently.”
“I just acted on a whim. No sweat.”
It really had been on a whim. At first, I’d planned to have Heinz and Sieg bring us to an expensive restaurant, where I would pick up the tab. But then I figured that, since I had the opportunity, it would be better to give the orphanage kids a chance to enjoy some good food too. That had led to this dinner party.
“Hee hee… That turn of phrase is so reminiscent of Tina.”
“I’m not doing it on purpose.”
The reason I got along well with Tina—or why I found spending time with her so comfortable, anyway—was probably that we were similar in some ways, as Airia said. Tina’s actions were sometimes unexpected, but I knew you could say the same thing about me—yeah, I at least had that level of self-awareness. I wasn’t usually cognizant of acting unpredictably in the moment, though. I only noticed in hindsight, after someone pointed it out to me, or I’d spent time reflecting on my actions.
“For the moment, we’ve destroyed the base of the guys who sent people to attack this orphanage, and those of them who survived are mostly in no state to keep fighting. They might still try something later, but no need to worry. I’ll just squash them again.”
“Thank you.”
“Also, sorry to have arranged this all on my own, but it seems that this star system’s new governor agreed to start looking out for this orphanage.”
“Huh?” Airia’s eyes widened in shock.
Yeah—unsurprising reaction. I kind of nailed this down on my own without keeping her in the loop about the negotiations. “The organization that used to support this place no longer has any power, and they weren’t exactly aboveboard in the first place, right? The new governor plans to use the chaos this pandemic has brought about to purge those types of criminals, which means that even after the pandemic, this orphanage would still have lost its onetime protection. I might’ve meddled a bit too much, but I handled the issue for you guys using my own discretion.”
“I see. Um…will that be all right? One of the organizations that supported the orphanage owns this building…”
“I made sure to provide Hartmut a lot of benefits in exchange for looking after this place, so no need to worry. And if something needs to be done about this building’s ownership, we can have Hartmut seize it and place it under government custody. Or we could transfer ownership to you—whatever works better.”
That sudden declaration obviously caused Airia to panic. Sorry…now that I think about it, this directly affects you, and I kind of handled it all and pushed it forward without your input. Oh well! Things should still work out positively in the end.
“U-um…the governor…is a noble, right?” Airia asked.
“Yeah. He’s quite handsome too.” I was technically a noble myself, but I knew mentioning that would only increase Airia’s panic, so I humbly and wisely remained silent about it. If I were truly wise, though, would I have created a situation that freaked Airia out in the first place? …I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear myself think that.
“W-will things really work out? He’s not going to end up abandoning his responsibilities on a sudden whim, or have us all executed because he finds us displeasing?”
“Just how unreasonable do you think nobles are…? Hartmut seems like an honest young man, so I don’t think you need to worry about that. But if you’re still concerned, I don’t mind creating the impression that I’ll avenge you guys if he treats you poorly.”
“R-really?”
“Yeah, no problem. After all, I’m a platinum-rank mercenary. Most nobles don’t want to make an enemy of the mercenary guild. More importantly, after today’s events, Hartmut should be well aware that he doesn’t want me as his enemy.”
It wasn’t as if I’d have no options for retaliating in the unlikely event that he broke his promise to me. I could attack him socially by telling the mercenary guild and nobles I was familiar with—or even the royal family—that Hartmut was untrustworthy. Or I could always challenge him directly to a duel between nobles. If I managed to turn that into a ship duel, there was no way I’d lose. But I was also confident that I could win with my swords. In any case, if he took me lightly, I’d kill him.
“I see…” Airia’s head drooped. “You’ve done so much for us, and we have no way to repay you.”
Repay me, eh? Airia’s looks are decent, and her figure…isn’t bad at all. She was an attractive young lady, so I wouldn’t be totally against spending a night with her. She was a mature adult too, so she should understand that doing so wouldn’t mean anything, allowing me to simply enjoy myself.
But it was clear as day to me that, if I pursued such a thing, my cute crew members would frown on my actions. I might even make a bad impression on Heinz and Sieg; for all I knew, Airia might even be in a relationship with one of them already. All in all, it was best not to cross that line. Considering it despite knowing that it would be a bad idea was just male nature, so please forgive my weakness.
“It’s fine. Tina will pay me back in your stead.”
“Tina…? Um…Mr. Hiro, are you and Tina…?”
“If you’re asking what our relationship is, then yeah, what you’re thinking isn’t far off the mark. It’s what you’d call an intimate relationship between a man and a woman.”
“You have an intimate relationship with Tina…? Um…do you have…certain proclivities? Is that why you brought Linda aboard your ship…?”
I couldn’t help but notice that Airia shifted her position slightly, as if protecting the other children from my gaze. Okay, okay… I need to calmly explain. Calmly. “No. I am intimate with Tina, and her little sister Wiska too, but I’m not a pedophile. It took a long time before I was willing to lay hands on those two, because I’m a normal guy, you see? A woman I loved just happened to have that body type. I swear I’ve never looked at Linda in the way you mean.”
“Now that I think about it, aside from you, all your ship’s crew members are female.”
Silence fell. I felt as though Airia’s impression of me had suddenly degraded from “kind mercenary” to “unbelievable womanizer.” She wasn’t wrong, but I still couldn’t accept it.
“I don’t think I can say anything that will help here, so let’s change the subject.”
“…Agreed.”
Despite agreeing, Airia was still looking at me in disgust. How sad.
This unfortunate development notwithstanding, the dinner party itself was a success, and the kids loved it. As Airia said, the party seemed to serve as a good change of pace for them, and their faces seemed a lot brighter. It wasn’t like I was trying to farm positive karma to make up for my deeds, but the kids’ smiles did hit especially hard given bloody scenes that had unfolded earlier that day. At any rate, I was glad they could enjoy themselves.
***
“Master.”
“Yeah, I see them.”
Roughly an hour after the dinner party, I was hidden on the orphanage’s roof surveying the area below when Mei called me. I adjusted my ninja armor’s sensors to focus on the suspicious people now approaching the orphanage. Several small groups were all approaching the building; from how they were moving, they likely meant to surround it.
“Your orders, Master? Should we take the initiative?”
“We don’t need to keep them alive this time. I’ll go first. I’d like to make full use of my ninja armor’s capabilities at least once.”
“Understood. I’ll offer support as the situation demands.”
“I’ll leave that to you and do my best not to screw up. Oh yeah… Request a cleanup team dispatch.”
Ending the call with Mei, I moved toward one of the groups ringing the orphanage. I leaped from one rooftop to another, then fired a hook shot into a wall to slow my descent and land in silence directly above the enemy.
There were five people in the group. They looked similar to the thugs we’d taken down earlier that day; they were equipped with laser pistols and rifles, as well as what looked like spiked bats and large knives. They seemed the type of hoodlums who’d say things like, “I’ll kill you if you look down on me!” or “I’ll teach you a lesson!”
“I never thought there’d be a day where I engaged in a stealth mission in real life.” Maybe I should add some assassin’s throwing knives to my upper arm equipment.
I indulged in that idle thought as I unsheathed my swords, reversed my grip, and jumped from the building. My first target was a guy with a mohawk at the end of the group.
“Geh!”
Using the momentum of my descent, I swung the long sword in my right hand, slashing from his right shoulder through the center of his body. The blade’s sharpness enabled it to slice his internal organs and bones apart. In mere seconds, his blood and entrails littered the area.
“What—?!”
“Bwah!”
Holding my shorter sword in a reverse grip in my left hand, I struck my second target’s neck. Then I spun the sword in my right hand and slashed diagonally through my third target.
“Agh!”
“Grrk!”
I closed in on the remaining two targets, switching the short sword in my left hand to a normal grip. With a blade in each hand, I sliced clean through my foes’ torsos in a single motion.
Mm… Yeah, these monomolecular blades nobles use are ridiculously sharp. Even without putting much weight behind one, I can slice right through a body easily as long as I slash properly. “That’s one group down. On to the next.”
“Well done, Master,” I heard Mei say.
***
“Well, that about wraps it up.”
“The cleanup work we’ll have to do will be messy…”
“Good luck with it!”
Still wearing my ninja armor, I offered those words of encouragement and a thumbs-up to Rimei Prime’s cleanup team. They were from the department responsible for disposing of corpses and stuff within the colony—they’d arrived to clean up the lower district’s bloody alleys. For some reason, they insisted on splashing me with sanitizing liquid. That didn’t really bother me, though; I was inside my ninja armor, and it saved me a trip back to the Black Lotus’s decontamination facilities.
As I watched the cleanup team carry body bags and other equipment into one of the lower district’s alleys, Heinz exited the orphanage and called out to me. “Big Bro…”
“Yo,” I called back. Given the commotion, those inside the orphanage were bound to have noticed that something had happened. “There’s a bunch of corpses and entrails around, so it’d be better not to go out right now.”
“Yeah, I figured. But…”
“Wondering what happened? I mean, we went straight at them and gave them a good sock in the face, so it’s not surprising they’d want revenge, right? I figured it was about fifty-fifty whether they’d go through with it, and I’m glad I was ready.” I shrugged at Heinz. Rikishi armor couldn’t have accommodated such a fine movement; it just went to show how flexible custom power armor was.
In a nutshell, I’d anticipated that the Bloodies might try to retaliate against us. So, after the dinner party, I’d prepared an ambush for them. It had been possible that they might not show up, but my devil’s luck had seemingly worked in my favor this time.
We had thoroughly offended the other party, and naturally, outlaws like them couldn’t just leave things at that. If they didn’t take revenge on the offenders, other groups would start looking down on them; losing their prestige, they would soon have had nothing. Other groups would’ve ganged up on them, or the Bloodies themselves would’ve collapsed from within. In any case, the result wouldn’t have been good, so they’d needed to come up with a way to retaliate quickly.
But the targets they were choosing between were Hartmut and us. Hartmut was this colony’s governor; retaliating against him would’ve been a bad idea, since directly challenging the authorities wouldn’t have ended well. How had the Bloodies known to attack us? Well, that seemed obvious. Even an idiot could tell that the combat bots that had attacked the Bloodies were the same type as those protecting the orphanage. It was natural to assume that they were connected, which meant it made sense to expect an attack on the orphanage.
Doesn’t that make it my fault that orphanage was attacked? Ha ha ha! That’s why I’m here protecting it, isn’t it? As long as I’m here safeguarding these people, they’re completely safe.
So yeah…I’d laid an ambush for the assailants. If I’d carried out that ambush solo, though, I might’ve screwed things up at some point. So, just in case, I had Mei and her combat bots lie in wait nearby as well. In the end, they hadn’t needed to act, since…well…the battle had been so one-sided. After taking out one group of enemies, I’d activated my multipurpose camouflage and used my hook shot to gain the upper ground once more, enabling me to ambush the other groups from above too. From the enemy’s point of view, it had probably seemed as though some invisible nightmare had suddenly descended upon them, instantly killing five or six of their members.
The grouped assailants had been crowded tightly together, so even if they’d noticed me, they couldn’t have fired their laser guns or rifles randomly for fear of hitting their allies. I was nearly invisible, so they couldn’t easily strike me with their clubs or knives either. I easily cut them in half as they struggled to come up with a proper response.
Once I’d massacred the assailants, leaving no survivors, Mei and I contacted Hartmut and asked him to send a cleanup crew to take care of the bodies. They’d already been busy earlier that day due to our attack on the enemy stronghold, so this was their second outing, and they were rightfully upset at me.
“You really are a mercenary, Big Bro.”
“Yup. Scared?”
“Yeah,” Heinz said with a wry smile. This time, I’d cut at least thirty people into pieces. To be honest, even I was slightly taken aback that I’d had no issue with killing so many people. On further thought, though, these attackers had basically been a type of space pirate, and they were responsible for spreading the pandemic via their poorly-made drugs. Even if I’d captured the injured alive, all that awaited them would have been manual labor until they died or an existence as lab rats. In my opinion, giving them a swift death had been a form of mercy.
“I’m a mercenary, so I can’t help being disappointed that I can’t earn any Ener from killing them. Still, we’ve probably wiped out most of their forces now.”
“That means we shouldn’t have to worry about attacks for a while, right?”
“At the very least, there won’t be any more poorly-thought-out attacks without a solid plan.”
If they continued to waste their pawns by having them charge in with no goal, the organization wouldn’t last long. It was also possible that the losses they’d suffered today would have constituted a serious enough injury to the organization that it was on its last legs and bleeding out. If that was the case, they’d have few remaining options. They could either go into hiding, run away, or go down fighting. Surrender wasn’t likely an option, since even if they did surrender, nothing good would come of it—again, they’d either be forced into manual labor or turned into guinea pigs.
“We’ll be done in this colony soon. Hey, I wanted to ask… Do you know anything about Tina? What she did here, what happened, and how she left?” I asked.
“I’m familiar with the name, but I don’t know much,” Heinz replied. “I think she got into a fight with the Doss Family, but I’m not really sure.”
“Doss Family?”
“That group mostly consisted of dwarves. They made a living secretly dealing illegal arms and tech. From what I heard, the pandemic got most of their upper ranks, so they’ve pretty much fallen apart.”
“I see. Thanks for letting me know.”
That information was enough to give me a sense of what’d happened. I wasn’t sure how Tina had been involved with this so-called Doss Family and their illegal dealings, but it wasn’t hard to imagine that she ran into problems trying to leave this colony. If the group had mostly fallen apart, though, maybe Tina could meet up with Airia face to face here.…? No, that could still be too dangerous. It might be better to have Airia come aboard the ship to see Tina.
“Once things calm down here, maybe I should invite you, Sieg, and Airia to visit my ship,” I suggested.
“Huh?”
“Having Tina come down here to visit you guys at the colony would probably be a bad call, but I do want to give her a chance to meet face-to-face with Airia. But I can’t have Airia come visit my ship by herself, can I?”
“Oh…no. That makes sense.”
“That’s why you guys will come too. My ship’s pretty cool, you know? It’s probably different from what you expect.”
“Really?”
“So far, pretty much a hundred percent of our visitors have been shocked by what they saw.”
I continued chatting with Heinz as we waited for the cleanup team to finish cleansing the streets.
***
The next day, I did invite Airia, Heinz, and Sieg aboard the Black Lotus. We couldn’t just leave the kids unattended, so I sent Mei and some extra combat bots to the orphanage as reinforcements.
“I am perfectly capable of looking after children,” Mei assured me. “After all, I am a maid.”
That was what she claimed, but I wasn’t sure how fully I should believe her. Then again, the last time she’d been to the orphanage, the kids had seemed to like her; maybe it would be fine. It probably would be. After all, Mei was the perfect maid.
“Wow,” said Airia.
“Whoa,” said Heinz.
“Hunh,” Sieg grunted.
We’d entered the Black Lotus, and upon reaching the lounge, the three visitors gasped in surprise. We had entered through the accommodation ladder, and after going through decontamination and heading into the ship’s entry passageway, they’d already made comments like “better lighting than I expected” and “the floor and walls are spotless.” Upon entering the large, well-lit lounge, they were finally no longer able to contain their surprise.
“Most people seem to think of mercenary ships as dark, dirty places with metal parts jutting out of the floor, walls, and ceiling,” I remarked.
“I wasn’t expecting something this spacious and clean, at the very least,” Heinz admitted.
“It’s like a luxury hotel. Huh…? What’s going on with that wall over there?” Sieg asked.
Heinz was completely blown away, while sharp-eyed Sieg had pointed with interest at the terrarium by the wall. As for Airia…
“Tina!”
“Airia… It’s been a long time,” Tina said.
Having spotted Tina, Airia ran over to the dwarf. They probably have a lot to catch up on, so I’ll leave them be. Airia seemed familiar with Wiska as well, and Linda joined their group too. It did indeed look as though the four had tons to talk about.
“Let’s head over to the cafeteria,” I said.
“All right,” Heinz said.
“Okay,” Sieg agreed.
I led the pair toward the cafeteria, and the girls—minus Tina and Wiska—came over too. Actually, Dr. Shouko wasn’t there; I assumed she was busy with something in her research lab.
“My lord, honored guests… Enjoy.”
“Thanks, Kugi,” I said. She’d prepared a drink for us: hot tea made in the imperial style, similar to black tea.
“Thank you.”
“Thanks. Big Bro…um…these are…?”
“My crew members. The one who just served us tea is Kugi. She hails from Verthalz. As for the others…”
“I’m Mimi. I’m from the Empire. I work as the operator here, and I’m in charge of supplies.”
“Elma. I’m also from the Empire, and I’m a pilot. I’m also a silver-rank mercenary.”
“I’m Kugi, as my lord said. I am currently a humble copilot trainee.”
After Mimi, Elma, and Kugi had introduced themselves, Heinz and Sieg began their own introductions.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Heinz. I guess you could call me a bodyguard.”
“Sieg. Same as Big Bro Heinz. Um…Big Bro. These girls are all cute and pretty, huh?”
“Jealous? To be honest, I don’t think I deserve them either.” I was being completely honest. Did someone like me really deserve to be surrounded by this many women? That was a question I asked myself often. Really.
“I didn’t expect a humble response like that,” Sieg said.
“The role takes a certain level of ability, and I think you need to continually improve yourself every day to live up to it. I can’t just rest on my laurels and slack off,” I said.
“Ha ha… It’s not easy being the head of a harem,” Sieg agreed.
“Yeah. Frankly, I end up relying on my crew for a lot of things, so I can’t really afford to get cocky.”
I seriously believed I had a responsibility to live up to the expectations of these girls who cared about me. But there was a limit to what I could do on my own, naturally; it took all of us working together to form this team we had.
“He might say that, but when there’s no work to do he slacks off all day,” Elma said.
“Master Hiro never takes a day off from his routine,” Mimi put in. “Besides, none of us can talk when it comes to slacking off while there’s no work.”
“My lord works very hard,” Kugi agreed. “And however durable a string is, if it is constantly tense, it is easily cut. I believe your current lifestyle is well balanced, my lord.”
“You guys spoil him way too much,” Elma said.
“Just what is this…? What are you showing me? What’s this feeling rising in my chest…?”
Having seen how lovey-dovey the girls were with me, Sieg seemed to be turning to the dark side. At this rate, something awful would befall Sieg as the flames of jealousy scorched him. I decided to change the subject by heading to the hangar to show these guys the Krishna. I had my crew members go check on Airia and Tina, so now it was just us three men.
As we entered the hangar containing the Krishna, Sieg asked me a question with no clear subject. “Give it to me straight, Big Bro.”
“Give you what?” I cocked my head in confusion. At first, I had no idea what he was referring to.
“Do you really wrestle with those girls?”
“Yeah.”
“I think I’m going crazy from envy.”
“I wasn’t lying when I said it hasn’t been easy.”
“No, I didn’t think you were… Still, how’d you do it?”
“Ah… Well, I guess I had good timing, and I had the ability.”
Whether we were talking about Mimi, Elma, Tina, Wiska, or Dr. Shouko—who Heinz and Sieg hadn’t met yet—I felt that both timing and money had been important factors in their joining my crew. Well, it wasn’t as if I was only connected to them financially, but my relationships with all of them had started with money. Kugi was the only exception.
“When the opportunity comes, you need to be determined enough to put everything on the line. Both in the monetary sense, and in terms of your life itself.”
“…That’s rough.”
“It’s true, whether you’re saving a girl from thugs in an alleyway and helping her acquire shelter and a ‘right to travel freely’ certificate; taking on a multimillion-Ener debt to the Imperial Fleet in her stead; saving her from space pirates, assassins hired by her competitors, or biological weapons; purchasing her a ship worth tens of millions of Ener; or adding equally costly facilities to a ship for her…”
“That’d be impossible. However many times we relived our lives, even if we kept our noses clean, we’d never earn enough money for all that.”
“I’ve also been dragged into a succession conflict between nobles and needed to defeat an assassin with a space fleet, plus charged into an invading fleet from the Belbellum Federation by myself—as well as a swarm of tens of thousands of crystal life-forms—not to mention used nothing but swords to fight biological weapons capable of taking down squads of imperial marines in a single blow… I’ve got a lot more stories on top of all those.”
“That’s more than enough. You serious…?” asked Sieg.
“Yeah. If you don’t believe me, feel free to ask Mimi or Elma.”
Heinz, who’d been quietly listening to Sieg and I talk, interjected with a wry smile, “Money aside, I don’t have enough lives for all that. If you survived that many impossible fights, it explains why you treated destroying the Bloodies’ base the same way you’d treat going out for a walk.”
Actually, despite all I’d been through, laser weapons were still scary. My ninja armor’s plating was pretty thin, so if I were hit by multiple blasts while my shields were down, I’d really be in serious danger. “It’s not that I enjoyed killing them. It’s just… If they’re the same type as space pirates, I don’t think anything of their lives. I have no mercy to spare for people who actively try to kill me.”
“That’s blunt,” Sieg said.
“That’s just what being a mercenary is. We’re here, by the way. This is my lovely Krishna.”
“Oh! It’s big,” Sieg said.
“It’s technically small by combat-ship standards.”
Heinz seemed impressed, and Sieg looked excited. I showed the pair the vessel’s exterior and interior, and since we were here, I also gave them a tour of the hangar and the storage area containing the gear we used for face-to-face combat.
“Being able to arrange your favorite weapons like this, so that you can use them whenever the situation calls for it, really speaks to what it means to be a man,” I remarked. “You feel me?”
“Yeah,” Heinz said.
“I totally do! Ah, man… I want to have a weapons locker like this someday too,” Sieg said.
The storage area—which boiled down to my hobby collection of face-to-face combat weapons—received high praise from the pair. I let them try on some power armor, which thrilled them; I also allowed them to try out some of the weapons in the section of the hangar that we’d converted into a shooting range.
“After shooting these for real, I see why a high-quality weapon is so important,” Heinz said.
“Right? If you want to do a good job, then you need quality weapons.”
“The level of weapon you have is a bit too high for what we do,” Sieg replied.
The lower district was a wild place where killing and being killed were both standard, but that didn’t mean people there fought each other using military-grade weapons like those I had on hand. When someone was killed, the cleanup crew and police ultimately got involved; therefore, people usually exchanged fire with laser guns set to just below lethal, so a hit caused only in heavy injuries.
As we discussed the weapon situation among outlaws, my terminal began to ring. Hmm? I took the device out of my chest pocket to check it. Hartmut was calling me.
“Sorry… I have a call.” I excused myself from the weapons locker, then picked up. “This is Hiro. Did something happen?”
“Sorry, but I’m going to get straight to business. I need you to deploy your ships immediately.”
“Understood. I expect an appropriate reward.”
I responded immediately, without asking for more details. At this point, I felt like I mostly understood Hartmut’s character. Something serious must have taken place if someone who always showed respect, no matter what the circumstances, suddenly skipped the pleasantries and asked directly for assistance.
“We’ll deploy Krishna and Antlion. I trust you’ll handle the necessary procedures?”
“Those are a small and medium-sized ship, right? Yes, I’ll handle them. The ships under me—under Viscount Magneli—have also been ordered to deploy. The details will—”
A sudden tremor rocked the Krishna—or more accurately, the Black Lotus, on which the Krishna was housed. That briefly disrupted my connection with Hartmut. What’s going on?
“Sorry, but I don’t have time to talk long,” Hartmut said when the connection reestablished itself. “I’ll handle the colony side of things. Please handle things in space.”
“Got it—but I’m not sure what’s going on.” Having said that, I ended the call with Hartmut and returned to the weapons locker. “The governor just called me. I need to deploy.”
“The entire ship?”
“No. The Black Lotus will stay here. Mei’s still at the orphanage, after all. I’ll tell Tina and Wiska to take care of you guys. Sorry about this, but listen to any directions they give you.”
“Understood.”
“Got it.”
I returned their nods, then used my terminal to tell Mimi and the others that we’d be deploying. Oh, right… I need to notify Mei too.
I wasn’t sure what was going on, but considering how Hartmut had acted, the situation had to be dire. The sooner I got out there the better.
Chapter 6: Galleon Class
Chapter 6:
Galleon Class
“WE’RE HERE!”
“Thank you for waiting, my lord.”
“I got here first—I happened to be close by. Where’s Elma?”
“I’m rushing to the Antlion!”
When we traveled, the Antlion stayed docked to the Black Lotus like a remora to a shark. When we docked at a colony, though, that wasn’t acceptable, so we had to dock the smaller vessel separately. Thus, to reach the Antlion, Elma first had to leave the Black Lotus and then dash over to where we’d docked her ship.
“Do your best,” I encouraged Elma through the comms.
Then I began checking the Krishna’s self-diagnostics. Ammo? Check. Armor and interior? No abnormalities. Weapons systems? Check. Life-support systems, generators, sensors? All functioning. Thruster movement? No issues. I obviously couldn’t turn the thrusters on right now to check that way—it would cause a mess in the hangar, and a loose wrench or spanner could injure the mechanic twins.
“Let’s set out. Hartmut should already have informed the port authority.”
“Understood!” At my instruction, Mimi quickly took control of the operator console and began the departure procedures.
“My lord, you chose to act rather quickly this time.”
“Yeah. I’d normally have had Hartmut go through the mercenary guild, and we’d have ironed out the rewards and conditions there before I took his request. In a case like this, though, I operate differently.”
“A case like this?” asked Kugi.
“I have a good sense of the person making the request, and the situation’s obviously urgent. But the bottom line is that I’m likely to get dragged into this conflict either way. You felt that tremor earlier, right?”
Kugi and Mimi nodded.
Yeah… That wasn’t normal. This definitely isn’t a normal situation. Space colonies weren’t supposed to shake like that, so chances were that some large-scale incident had occurred. Given Hartmut’s behavior, it was quite likely that the “incident” was a deliberate one.
“Yes, that was quite the tremor,” Kugi remarked.
“It happened right after Hartmut called me. We were going to get dragged into this no matter what, so I had no reason to refuse his request. If Hartmut tries to lowball our reward later, we can deal with it then.” I didn’t think Hartmut was the kind of guy to try that, but if he did, I wasn’t without options. Several options.
“Master Hiro, the Krishna is ready for deployment!”
“Okay, let’s go. Open the hatch.”
“Opening hatch! Activating electromagnetic catapult at lowest output.”
Just as activating the thrusters within the hangar would wreck it, activating the electromagnetic catapult at full output would crash the Krishna into the colony wall, so we lowered the output.
The Krishna launched from the hangar at a much more leisurely speed than usual, and I immediately steered the ship toward the hermetic seal separating the colony’s interior from outside. Due to the present restrictions, there was little traffic, making the going easy.
“Elma’s still going to take a while. Mimi, get in touch with Mei.”
“On it!”
After getting her to call Mei, I guided the Krishna toward the rendezvous point Hartmut had designated; a staging area near the colony.
“Here, Master.”
“Mei, the Black Lotus is still docked in port. Evacuate the kids there if necessary. If the situation warrants it, you have permission to forcibly leave the colony. Use whatever means you need to, including those combat bots.”
“Understood. Good luck.”
“Yeah.”
That was all I had to tell her. Mei would take the optimal course of action based on my instructions. It would be best if evacuation and reinforcements weren’t necessary, but it was good to prepare.
“Master Hiro, we’re receiving a transmission from the Dahl System’s army.”
“The Dahl System’s? Oh—Viscount Magneli’s personal forces that Hartmut brought with him? Connect us.”
Mimi nodded and tapped a few controls on the operator console. That brought the communication screen up on the main display, and a stern-looking soldier appeared. The Imperial Fleet’s members typically all wore a white uniform, but this man’s was olive drab, and its design was also quite different. It had no embellishments and seemed optimized for practicality.
“Colonel Hevo Netzer, commanding officer of the second fleet of the Dahl System army. It’s an honor to make your acquaintance, Lord Hiro.”
“I’m Captain Hiro, a platinum-ranker with the mercenary guild. The honor’s mine, Colonel Netzer. Governor Hartmut told me that you’d explain the situation. And you can address me as ‘Captain Hiro’ or just ‘Captain.’ I don’t act enough like a noble to be called ‘Lord,’ so please speak casually.”
“I see. I’ll do that, then, Captain. Let me outline the situation…”
I relayed the call to Elma as well as I listened to Colonel Netzer’s explanation.
After I led that assault on the Bloodies’ base, Hartmut’s people had analyzed the retrieved data and discovered that Baronet Radius had links to space pirates; he’d communicated with them via the Bloodies. Upon discovering that, Hartmut attempted to relay the information to Viscount Magneli, but discovered that communications directed out of the system were being blocked. It was highly likely that the relay satellite used for hyperspace communications between systems had been either deactivated or destroyed.
Further analysis of the data had brought to light that Baronet Radius was in the process of enacting a scheme titled simply “Plan B,” and that the Bloodies were involved in this plan. The details of Plan B were unhinged, and cutting off communications with other systems was the first step.
That meant that Plan B was currently underway.
“Is Baronet Radius serious?”
What else was I supposed to say? Essentially, the goal of Plan B was to destroy evidence of Baronet Radius’s wrongdoing. The scale of the plan was utterly insane, though. Radius intended to destroy all the evidence, including the colony of Rimei Prime itself.
“I had doubts at first too,” Colonel Netzer said, “but it seems the plan is already proceeding. Schemes to destroy life-support systems, defenses, the system army’s hangars, and the army fleet itself have activated in multiple sectors simultaneously.”
“Idiotic. Baronet Radius might be a noble, but does he really think any imperial citizens will go along with his actions?”
This universe was quite advanced technologically, but it would still be impossible for the baronet to enact such a major plan with only his underlings’ help. Plan B might’ve been possible if he had a machine intelligence like Mei and a slew of combat bots to serve as that intelligence’s arms and legs, except that there was no way a machine intelligence would go along with this plan of his.
“…Space pirates have apparently sneaked into the colony.”
“God damn it,” I swore, then stared at the cockpit ceiling in disbelief. You’re telling me that, to destroy the evidence proving he collaborated with space pirates, he’s going to use those pirates to destroy Rimei Prime itself? Seriously? What’d he give them to get them to do this? Oh…I see. “He plans to hand over Rimei Prime itself to the space pirates? Do they really think that’ll work?”
“Beats me, but they’re without a doubt enacting the plan, which means there’s only one thing for us to do.”
“A colony-defense battle, eh…?”
It would be difficult for space pirates to continuously block interstellar communication and ship traffic. They simply didn’t have the organizational strength to maintain this situation for long. Yet…this sequence of events felt familiar. A colony being attacked by pirates, followed by a defensive battle? Events like this had existed in the game Stella Online. They’d typically been referred to as raid battles.
Upon checking the Dahl System army’s fleet information, I couldn’t help but groan. “Is this all we have in terms of fighting power…?”
The fleet was technically military size, but they only had six corvettes, three destroyers, and a cruiser—no battleships. If I compared this situation to a raid battle in Stella Online, this colony’s defenses were way weaker than they should be. Then again, Colonel Netzer had said that the pirates had sabotaged various locations in the colony.
“Colonel Netzer, this information isn’t confirmed, but we’ll likely have to deal with a galleon-class ship.”
“Galleon class?” Colonel Netzer seemed confused.
Oh, does he not know what a galleon-class ship is? Come to think of it, I haven’t heard anyone refer to them since coming here. “A gigantic space-pirate battleship. It’s not a chimera ship remodeled for battle from a civilian ship. Its base is a real battleship built for combat. They’re customized for pillaging, so they aren’t quite on the same level as a true battleship; they still qualify as battleships, though.”
This was a problem. Should I have Mei escape in the Black Lotus right away? If it was just our three ships—the Krishna, Antlion, and Black Lotus—that attempted it, we could probably break through the space pirates’ blockade. Our odds of escaping were higher than those of defeating a galleon with the forces we had on hand.
“This is my first time hearing of such a ship.”
“They usually hide deep within space. They don’t travel through hyperspace like most ships. In any case, they’re huge, about half the size of this colony. And they’re equipped with tons of defensive weapons. Their long-range cannons aren’t that impressive, but in close-range combat, they’re extremely strong. If you enter their defensive weapons’ range, they can turn you to scrap in seconds.”
“Assuming that such a ship exists, what should we do…?”
“The main cannons of destroyer-size vessels and larger ships should outrange them. Our only option is to hit them continuously while keeping out of range. The pirate fleet will likely attack in a swarm, so our corvettes will have to do their best to stay out of the galleon’s range as they fight off the attackers. A galleon has a lot of plating—to be more precise, its vital parts are buried deep inside—so they’re hard to take down.”
A galleon-class ship served as both a battleship and a base for space pirates, and at least according to Stella Online, they were also a type of colonizing seed ship. The facilities necessary to keep the ship moving were located near the galleon’s center; around that were the pirates’ living quarters and supply rooms, which served as a buffer against any damage the ship suffered. A few hits nearby wouldn’t cause the battleship any serious functional damage. In game terms, the ship had a lot of HP. It was tough.
“If we’re really going up against a ship like that, we can’t allow it to come close to the colony,” Colonel Netzer said.
“Maybe we can. If the colony’s defenses are active, it should have more firepower than the galleon. The pirates’ goal is to take over the colony itself, so they aren’t likely to fire on the colony directly.”
You could use several strategies in Stella Online’s colony-defense battles. The simplest was assembling sufficient strength to win a direct battle, and the second simplest was to buy time until a colony’s defenses were back online.
“Are you suggesting we use the colony as a shield?”
“I wouldn’t go that far, but I think we should use it to our advantage. As it stands, if a galleon does show up, we won’t have the strength to take it down ourselves. Hopefully it doesn’t…” In truth, given my luck, it probably was going to show up. Yeah, it was coming. I was sure of it.
For the record, there were more ways to defeat a galleon than those mentioned above. For example, you could pinpoint a ship’s weaknesses and destroy them, or send a ton of face-to-face combat troops aboard the galleon to take it over from within. But those strategies required even more firepower than we had, as well as a fleet with the ability, knowledge, and coordination to strike at weak points. For the second option, we would also need tons of soldiers and assault ships capable of getting those troops onto the galleon. In other words, these strategies weren’t applicable to our current situation.
Huh? You’re asking whether the Krishna and I could handle the galleon somehow? Well, that wouldn’t be impossible, but a direct confrontation wouldn’t be easy to win either. A single mistake, and bye-bye. To be honest, taking on a galleon-class ship with just the Krishna would be even tougher than charging into a swarm of crystal life-forms by myself. A galleon was capable of blanketing space with far more firepower; their laser cannons’ number and density were just incomparable.
“It seems today simply isn’t our day,” Colonel Netzer said. “The star system army’s radar net just detected a fleet approaching the colony. Within that fleet, there’s a huge signal that we haven’t encountered before. They’ll be here in roughly an hour and a half.”
“Oh, you detected them already?”
By “star system army’s radar net,” Colonel Netzer was referring to the information captured by the network of military-use scouting satellites belonging to the star system army. Those were incredible tools that, if used well, could detect ships even while those ships were using FTL travel. During FTL travel, a ship moved through an alternate dimension, so it wasn’t possible to directly see the ship or their ID. Still, it was possible to identify the ship type. A huge signal that they hadn’t seen before was without a doubt a galleon-class ship.
“Looks like we’ve got no choice…” I said. “Well, I guess I’ll handle it somehow.”
The Black Lotus was still on Rimei Prime. I couldn’t exactly run away and leave Tina, Wiska, Dr. Shouko, and Mei behind. Elma’s Antlion wasn’t exactly fast, so she wouldn’t necessarily get away in time either. The Krishna could probably escape, but if only the three of us got out, what would the point be?
“Tell Hartmut to prioritize restoring the colony’s defenses and to get them back online as soon as possible. If we lose this battle, and the galleon reaches the colony, all hell will break loose.”
“I’ll do that. There’s still some time until they arrive. Do you have a plan?”
“I do. An excellent one, at that. It’ll be a bit expensive, though,” I said.
If this had been Stella Online, we would’ve had no choice but to wait until the galleon-class ship appeared. But this wasn’t a game—it was reality. If we couldn’t beat the ship in a head-on fight, we’d just have to use tricks instead. I’d have Hartmut bear the cost of enacting this plan. I was sure he’d agree. It would, after all, be cheaper than losing a colony.
***
It had been a long time since we’d had a job this big. We’d even gone so far as to grab people from our home base for it. Apparently, there was an idiot willing to hand over an entire colony to us. It seemed that, after happily making use of our services, he wanted to erase the evidence. What an idiot. Even if he did that, the evidence wouldn’t really disappear. After all, we had plenty more where it came from. He’d remain in the palm of our hand even after this.
“We’ll arrive soon!”
“All right!”
My ship was still in the middle of maintenance, so I was part of the assault squad. I’d heard that this colony’s defenses were inoperable, as were the system army’s ships, so we were going to pull up right next to them, storm in, and plunder everything. Supposedly they had this fancy place they called the “upper district.” How arrogant. We were going to steal their lives, their dignity, and everything they had. Heh. I’m hard just thinking about it.
After prepping my weapons and heading to the assault-pod area, I found the rest of my allies already there. Were they thinking the same things I was? Well, that was just fine. I could use them as shields so I wouldn’t be shot myself.
“We’re entering normal space! Prepare for impact!”
Booom! A thunderous roar sounded. We must just have left FTL travel for normal space. All right, it was time for us to—
Sound suddenly vanished.
No, that wasn’t right. An explosion? What was going on…? Why had I been flung out into space?
***
With a thunderous boom, a gigantic galleon-class ship—accompanied by a number of pirate ships—warped out near Rimei Prime. They had appeared exactly where I expected, since Mei had analyzed their trajectory based on the radar readings and calculated their warp-out location.
Since I had time before the enemy showed up, and I knew where they’d appear, what do you think I did?
I prepared an ambush for them, of course.
I could do things in this universe that weren’t possible in the game. For instance, place remotely-activated anti-ship reactive missiles in the spot where the galleon-class ship was predicted to appear, launch a bunch of heat-seeking missiles at the flip of a switch, and plant a ton of space mines at the target location.
The Rimei System army’s fleet was inoperable due to the actions of saboteurs, but that didn’t mean we couldn’t deploy their weapons and munitions. I made use of everything we had, launching all the firepower I could at the pirate fleet led by the galleon the instant they left warp.
The results were evident. Blinding flashes of light burst near the galleon, and the reactive warheads lived up to their reputation, creating a huge ball of fire. The explosion appeared to damage the ship’s flank where its assault pods were located.
After the reactive torpedoes exploded, the seeker missiles began to search for targets. Naturally, the closest targets were the galleon-class ship and the pirate ships accompanying it. Adding to the chaos, those pirate ships that immediately reacted to the missiles and attempted to evade ran into the space mines we’d planted in advance, which blew up several ships at once.
Space pirates tended to use unencrypted comms lines that their prey could listen to. They did that intentionally, wanting to intimidate their targets and instill fear. In a situation like this, though, where they were the ones being hunted, their transmissions sounded like sinners screaming as they roasted in hell.
“Damn it! Ambush!”
“Heavy damage! We’ve taken heavy damage! We’re breached! S-save me!”
“Gyaaaaah! My eyes! My eyes!”
Shouts, screams, and death cries: The sounds of dying pirates came through the comms in vivid detail.
“Let’s get started,” I said.
“Aye aye, sir!”
We were mercenaries. We had no mercy to spare for pirates.
I activated my thrusters at full throttle and charged among the confused pirates, into the safe region we’d prepared, which contained no space mines. A galleon was large and powerful, but had a blind spot on both the port and starboard sides, located on a downward diagonal toward the flank’s center. While the pirates were disoriented, we could take the opportunity to safely exploit one of those blind spots and begin clinging to the giant ship.
“Prepare cannons! Fire!”
“Aye aye, sir!”
Behind the charging Krishna, the allied fleet began a cannon bombardment, targeting the medium-sized pirate ships as well as the galleon’s defensive armaments. Our ambush had taken down the galleon’s shields, which made this an opportunity to deal some damage, but a galleon’s front section was really dense. Even if the Dahl System army focused their firepower on the galleon head-on, they’d only get the densely packed living quarters and supply storage areas, while vital parts of the ship—for instance, the command center, generator, life-support systems, and munition storehouses—would remain safe.
Therefore, I had asked the Dahl System forces to prioritize taking out the galleon’s allies and defensive weapons instead. Colonel Netzer was doing a great job. As for Elma, she was keeping to the rear; she’d be responsible for supporting the Dahl System army. The Antlion was rather large and moved relatively less quickly, which made it unsuited for sliding into the galleon’s blind spot. Instead, Elma had been tasked with helping the system army protect the colony from the pirates’ direct attacks.
“Hey, a ship just charged in!”
“Take it down!”
“It’s fast!”
Piloting the Krishna, which had reached top speed in the blink of an eye, I weaved through pirate ships as their pilots were still reeling in shock from our surprise attack. I made sure to give them some shots from my large flak cannons as I passed by.
“Gah!”
“I’m hit! I’m hit! Eject! Eject! Ahhhhh!”
It seemed some of the pirates I struck were in a bind. Unfortunately, this was war. No—that’s not it. They’re just space pirates, and you don’t go to war with space pirates. Pest extermination…that’s what this is.
I dove into the galleon’s blind spot and fired my four heavy laser cannons and flak cannons at full throttle into the ship, tearing away at it.
“Shoot him down! Now!”
“We can’t! He’s in our blind spot!”
“Why does he know where our blind spot is?!”
“How would I know? Hey! Someone get this damn fly off us!”
The pirates’ shields would likely finish recharging soon, but I’d already managed to get inside their range. Unless the pirates pried me off them, I could attack without worrying about their shields blocking me.
“We can’t fire! The bastard’s practically attached to the galleon! If we shoot him, we’ll hit the galleon too!”
“Some damage is fine! Do it!”
Oh? They made that choice fast. Apparently the galleon’s commander, despite being a space pirate, had impressive decision-making skills. But those pirate ships couldn’t get me off the galleon. To avoid damaging its shields, they’d need to get inside shield range, but that would put them in point-blank range of my flak cannons.
“Whoa! He’s turned toward us while still hugging the galleon!”
“This isn’t working! We can’t get close!”
Sneaking inside the galleon’s shields meant I could use them as a shield against the pirates myself, forcing them into close range combat. Throughout all this, I continued shooting my heavy laser cannons into the galleon’s body, digging toward the ship’s vital parts.
Hm? I always used the exact same strategy against large ships? Of course I did! I couldn’t exactly fight them head-on while I was busy weaving through their defensive laser fire. If I could, large ships and even medium ships wouldn’t exist!
“Why the hell are you guys hesitating? Ram into him! Crush him!”
“Whoa there!” I exclaimed.
It seemed that the galleon’s captain had become impatient. He was now giving the pirates ridiculous orders. I see. Ram and crush me? That could work, actually—if they can hit me, that is!
“Dumbass! Why are you ramming into the galleon?!”
“The bastard won’t stay still!”
I flitted around, dodging pirate ships that attempted to ram the Krishna so they slammed into the galleon instead. Although the galleon ship was large, the damage caused by a heavy pirate ship with its shields up slamming into it at high speed was significant, especially in sections where the plating had already peeled away.
For the record, if they’d used signals that differentiated between allies and enemies, they could easily have entered and left shield range as they wished. Without those signals, though, they could leave shield range but not enter.
“It’s about time to end this. See ya.”
Several pirate ship collisions—and continued attacks from the Krishna’s flak cannons and heavy laser cannons—had opened a large hole in the galleon’s side. I fired anti-ship reactive torpedoes with a delayed fuse into that hole, then traveled out through the blind spot I’d used to approach the galleon, retreating. Moments after I’d moved far enough away, an internal explosion rocked the galleon and it shut down. The anti-ship reactive torpedoes had blown up and destroyed a vital part of the ship. The gigantic ship itself didn’t explode into pieces, maintaining its form, but it was still basically a corpse at this point.
“That’s that. Now we just need to hunt down the small fry.”
There were a lot of them, but now that we’d polished off the galleon, the fight was already decided. Time to make some money.
Chapter 7: Hartmut and Airia
Chapter 7:
Hartmut and Airia
“HEY, YOU KNOW, I can do more than you have me doing.”
“Uh, well, I’m not writing off your abilities or anything like that… You understand, right?”
“I do, but…I don’t like it. You get why, don’t you?”
“It’s about having the right person in the right place. You should understand that well, Elma.”
“Well, yeah, but…”
After we finished cleaning up—as in, cleaning up the remaining pirates—I regrouped with Elma’s Antlion, and we returned to Rimei Prime for a breather. There, Elma clung to me and began complaining about the battle we’d just taken part in.
Rather than being legitimately upset that I’d relegated her to a standby support role, she was probably more bothered that I’d chosen to take on danger alone, without her. She should understand that I made the appropriate decision based on the circumstances, but she still wasn’t happy about it.
“If our roles were reversed, I would probably have ordered you to stay back on standby as well,” she admitted. “But…”
“I understand how you feel. Still, in the end, the Antlion got to make a pretty big impact, right?”
“True. That did make me feel better.”
The Antlion was equipped with a gravity jammer, a specialized device that could impede the activation of other ships’ FTL drives, which effectively prevented the pirate ships from escaping. After they lost their galleon, the pirates had immediately tried to flee, which was where the gravity jammer had come in.
Pandemonium had broken out when the pirates’ FTL drives had suddenly stopped working; at that point, the situation became a completely one-sided battle. The colony defenses had also started coming back online, which really turned things into a turkey shoot. That said, if we hadn’t had the gravity jammer, a lot of pirates would likely have escaped, so the Antlion had essentially been the MVP of the cleanup mission.
“Well, it’s not like complaining to you will change anything. So, have you reported to our employer yet?”
“Not yet. I’ll call him now.”
Airia and the evacuated kids were still in the lounge, so I closed the cafeteria door to prevent our voices from leaking into the lounge as I connected with Hartmut.
“’Sup, Big Bro? Somehow we managed.”
“Yes, we could see you from here. I must say, you put on quite a show,” Hartmut told me, his cheek twitching. Not surprising, since we’d used a significant quantity of the ammo and space mines stored on Rimei Prime—probably as much as mobilizing the entire system army fleet would’ve consumed. That had definitely cost a pretty penny.
Then again, it was also possible that Hartmut just reacted that way because I’d called him while Elma was still draped over me. Sorry, but I can’t do anything about this princess. It depends on her mood, so forgive me.
“We didn’t really have a choice,” I told him. “If we hadn’t done that, the galleon would’ve docked at the colony, and a ton of pirates would’ve flooded out and caused a huge mess. Compared to that, the expenditure was nothing, right?”
“That may be, but…” Hartmut sighed. “There’s no point complaining about it, I suppose. I wonder whether my father also has to deal with issues like this every day.” The new governor began rubbing his abdomen. Had this been so stressful that it gave stomach pain even to a noble who’d undergone full-body physical enhancements?
If so, I still wasn’t going to apologize. “So, were you able to take care of the rats who managed to sneak into the colony?”
“We likely haven’t found them all yet. However, we have restored most of the facilities they sabotaged.”
“Need help?”
“No.”
“All right, then. Oh, yeah… That person I mentioned earlier who looks after the orphanage kids happens to be aboard my ship at the moment. Should I introduce you?”
“Hmm…all right. I have time. I’ve looked into her, as well as the orphanage in question. I do have some interest. If she’s fine with it, then proceed with the meeting.”
“Okay. Let me go call her.” Leaving Elma there, I opened the cafeteria door and called out to Airia. “Airia, sorry, but do you mind coming in here for a second?”
Airia had been chatting with Heinz, Sieg, and the mechanic twins, but now she looked over at me and cocked her head in puzzlement. “What’s the matter?”
“I’m on a call with the governor. I thought it’d be a good opportunity for you two to get acquainted.”
“Huh?! U-um…I’m not exactly properly clothed.” Airia’s hands moved rapidly all across her body.
Is she deciding whether that outfit works or something? “It’s fine. It’s not like you need to wear a dress. Come on… The governor’s waiting. Hurry up.”
“No, I can’t! I just can’t!”
Slipping behind the girl as she waved her hands around in a tizzy, I pushed her into the cafeteria.
“Do your best, Big Sis,” Sieg said.
“Take care,” Heinz said.
“Good luck!” said Tina.
“Will she be okay?” Wiska asked.
“Doesn’t look like it,” Linda said.
It seemed that none of them was going to stop me. I supposed that nobody really wanted to meet the governor, even though he was handsome.
“Sorry for keeping you waiting.”
“No worries. I was chatting with Miss Elma. And this is…?”
“Airia… The one I mentioned who’s been looking after the orphans. Airia…?”
“Wh-what a lovely day it is today,” she babbled.
This wasn’t good. Airia was so nervous that she had completely lost it. If this were a manga, her eyes would have been spinning circles right now. She probably couldn’t hold a proper conversation at the moment.
“She seems pretty flustered to be in your presence, Governor.”
“I am a viscount’s eldest son, but I haven’t officially inherited his title. Technically, from an aristocratic standpoint, I’m of lower standing than an honorary viscount like Lord Hiro… So, lady, there’s no need to be so nervous.”
“Al-al-although you say that…”
From the other side of the screen, Hartmut tried to calm Airia too, but it wasn’t working. Was this how citizens of the Empire typically interacted with and felt toward nobles? I didn’t recall Mimi reacting this way before Chris or Count Dalenwald. I supposed that Mimi wasn’t one to be cowed by others.
“Calm down, Airia. Um…this is Lord Hartmut Magneli, and as you can see, he’s very handsome, and the very picture of a noble—but he’s a man of honor. This isn’t a public meeting or anything, and he won’t find fault with you, even if you do something a little gauche.”
“It’s a bit embarrassing to have Lord Hiro call me a man of honor. As he says, though, I have no intention of lecturing you about noble etiquette during a private meeting, so you may rest easy.” Perhaps to calm Airia, Hartmut had spoken in a much gentler tone than usual.
“Th-thank you.”
The goal today was simply to get the two acquainted, so after we talked about the orphanage a little and they exchanged contact information, we decided to end the call.
“W-will you excuse me, then?”
“You’re excused, Miss Airia. Let’s set a time to speak again at a later date.”
“O-okay…” Like a small, frightened animal, Airia scurried out of the cafeteria.
Yeah…she’s going to struggle later. Now that they’ve exchanged contact information, she’ll start meeting Hartmut directly. Hopefully her stomach holds up.
“Lord Hiro.”
“Need something?”
“It appears that Miss Airia is currently aboard your ship…”
Hearing Hartmut’s serious tone, I immediately grasped his concern about me and Airia and replied before he finished speaking. “Her bodyguards are here too. She’s just been chatting with my female crew members during her stay. It’s not one of those things.”
“I see. She’s a very sweet girl.”
“You think…? I suppose.”
Airia’s pinkish hair made her stand out, unfortunately, and she did have pleasant facial features. I would have said she was more on the cute side, with a bit of a baby face, than beautiful. Why was Hartmut commenting about her like this anyway?
“Wait… Hartmut…don’t tell me you’re…”
“Is she seeing anyone…? The status difference between us could be addressed by having another noble family adopt her, or claim her as an illegitimate child. It would be a solvable problem. Several people still owe me favors…” he mused aloud.
“Yo. You’re still on the call,” I reminded him. “I’m going to end it now, okay? Ending call.”
“Yes, that’s fine. I have something to take care of now. Excuse me.” With a serious expression, Hartmut bowed and hung up.
“Can we pretend we didn’t hear that…?”
“Probably not,” Elma said. Perhaps imagining the events that would follow, she nodded, her expression resembling that of a Tibetan fox.
We knew nothing…nothing at all. Nothing about this obvious pain-in-the-ass landmine of a situation that involved a noble family’s heir falling in love at first sight with a commoner.
***
“Wha—? Are you serious?”
“Ah!”
After Airia and the kids returned to the orphanage, the crew and I gathered for dinner. When I shared what had happened today, Tina immediately began screaming hysterically.
Well, I guess it isn’t all that hysterical a reaction to hearing that a noble fell in love at first sight with your friend. That is surprising. But, hey—should you really be ignoring your little sister right next to you? You just knocked your full beer mug onto her, and now she’s tearing up.
“Wh-what should we do, hon? We need to call Airia and warn her!”
“No… Let’s just leave them be. They’re not children, so they’ll probably figure out an acceptable approach.”
“You say that, but a commoner girl can’t just refuse a noble when he comes on to her!”
Tina was shouting, slamming her fist onto the table for emphasis. Can you dial it back a little, please? The overly large cafeteria table bent as it might have in an over-the-top anime scene, and everything on it went flying, including the plates.
“Ah!” Kugi cried.
“Huh?!” Mimi blurted.
Mimi’s dinner and Kugi’s inarizushi were now a total mess, and the dinner I had ordered had spilled from its bowl.
“Calm down,” I told Tina. “That might be the case, but it’s not like involving ourselves would change anything. If I felt that Hartmut was just going to toy with Airia and discard her later, then yeah, I’d get involved, but I don’t think that’s what’s going on. He said something about having another noble adopt her, and that he had favors he could call in. That kind of makes it hard for me to interfere.”
After all, at this point, Hartmut and I were connected by business. He was pretty honorable, and he was also the heir of a noble and the governor of this colony, so he had status and wealth in addition to being handsome. The difference in social status between him and Airia would probably be a pain, but if they wanted to get together, then in my opinion, it was fine to just let them.
But even if Hartmut had another family adopt Airia, forcibly solving the social-status issue, could she survive noble society? And there were definitely a lot of other problems to worry about. For one thing, was Hartmut not already engaged to someone else? As a viscount’s eldest son, it wouldn’t be strange for him to have been engaged since birth. In that case, what’s he planning to do with Airia? Does he intend to make her a concubine? A mistress? A local wife? I wasn’t sure what he was thinking on that front. Regardless, though, it still wasn’t something for me to get involved in.
“Hon…”
“Hmm?”
“Hon, are you sayin’ you don’t care if Airia becomes some noble brat’s toy?!”
“She isn’t listening—is she freaking drunk?!” How could she be?! She’s only taken a sip or two today! “For some reason, when it comes to Airia, you immediately turn into a buffoon,” I admonished Tina. “I understand that Airia is important to you, but I’m going to repeat myself: She’s an adult. If Hartmut asks her out, it’s up to her whether to accept. I understand that you’re worried about her, but that’s not your place to decide.”
“I’m sayin’ that is if ish a noble, even if she wanns to say no, she can’t. If she embarrasses him—fwipsh! Her head’ll be gone!”
“Sure, if she rejected him in public, it would damage his reputation. But if he executed her on top of that, it would only make things worse for him. And I don’t think he’s the kind of guy to do that in the first place.”
“Grr… You’re stickin’ to your guns instead of listenin’!”
“You’re doing the same thing.” Tina seems to go crazy whenever Airia’s involved. She becomes, like…unstable. And she’s exceedingly mistrustful of nobles. What exactly happened when she was still here on Rimei Prime? I guess Baronet Radius was in charge back then, and he was involved with space pirates, so things were probably pretty bad.
“Okay, okay. I’ll bend, then. I just need to talk to Hartmut, right? I’ll tell him that Airia is an exemplary, obedient citizen of the Empire, and that if she’s approached by the eldest son of a viscount—like himself—she probably couldn’t rebuff him, regardless of how she felt. I’ll tell him to tread carefully in that regard. Is that good enough?”
“That noble brat won’t give up on Airia if that’s all you say to him.”
“At least give him a chance… I don’t know him that well, but you can’t do anything to change someone’s feelings, right? Offering that kind of advice is about all an outsider can do. If we tried to get in his way, we might just fire him up and make matters worse.”
Tina paused, then sat back down and stopped talking. My words seemed to have convinced her. Looking around, I realized that the rest of the crew had fled our table and were watching from a distance. Damn it! Don’t just run away and leave me behind! I would have done the same in their shoes, though, so I couldn’t really blame them.
I heard a sob. “Hm?”
“Bwaaah…!” Tina wailed, then sniffled and sobbed again.
“How come you’re crying?”
As Tina began to weep out of nowhere, I held my head and sent a pleading glance over at Elma and the other girls. They simply shook their heads, made “X” gestures with their hands, or dropped their eyes. Are you guys saying it’s my responsibility to deal with this? Well, I guess I was the one who made her cry. Wait—was I?
“Tina, your emotions really have been all over the place ever since we got to this colony. Jeez…” I sat down next to her, scratching my head, then began rubbing her back.
“Sorwy for being…sho shpoiled…hon. Waaaah…” she sobbed again.
“There, there. Don’t sweat it.”
Tina clung to me, still wailing. Due to her child-like appearance, seeing her cry made me feel guilty. Despite her looks, though, she was a heavy drinker—and the liquor she chugged like a sports drink would’ve caught fire if you lit it.
“Don’t cry. I’m not mad at you.”
That only made her cry even more. I figured I had to just shut up and rub her back until she got it out of her system.
***
“You’ve had a tough day.”
“Mmm.”
Tina had cried herself to exhaustion…or, well, she had at least cried until her eyes got puffy. Then she returned to her room, and she didn’t come out. I left her to Wiska and went back to the cafeteria, where Elma and the others were waiting for me.
“Being a lady-killer isn’t easy,” Linda commented.
“Since when am I a lady-killer? Man, I’m starving.”
I shrugged at Linda, then began stuffing my mouth with my now-cold dinner. Even a meal prepared by our Steel Chef didn’t taste great after being left out so long. I was still going to eat it, though; I wasn’t one to waste food.
“Is it actually possible for Airia to become some young noble lad’s wife?” Linda asked.
“Young noble lad? He’s older than you, you know. I think it’ll work out one way or another, but Lady Elma might know better, being the daughter of a viscount.”
“Really? You’re asking me? The tomboy who left her family to become a mercenary?”
“Huh? Big Sis Elma is one of them…? Seriously?”
“It’s true. She has this huge mansion in the capital.” Mimi held her hands wide to show just how large the house was.
Yeah, that’s pretty big.
“It’s not that big… Jeez,” Elma protested. “The Black Lotus is way bigger. Anyway, you were asking whether a relationship was feasible with those two, right? I don’t think it’d really be a problem. Some people would probably poke at Airia’s lineage, but as long as Hartmut arranged for her to be seen as some noble’s bastard child, taking her as a concubine shouldn’t be an issue. The family that backed the bastard story might run into problems, but if doing so repaid whatever favor they owed Hartmut—and if they gained some perks on the side—plenty of nobles wouldn’t mind taking the hit to their reputation.”
“Bastard child?”
“That refers to a child fathered by a high-ranking individual with someone other than their official spouse.”
“So they’ll pretend that Big Sis Airia is actually the illegitimate child of some noble somewhere?”
“Yup. Either that, or they’ll just have a noble adopt her.”
As Elma had said, given Airia’s age, the fact that whatever noble family claimed her had taken so long to do so might mean severe social damage, both inside and outside the family. That said, Hartmut might know a way to handle things smoothly that we weren’t aware of.
“I see… So, what’s a concubine?” Linda asked.
“You can think of it as a second or third wife a noble takes in in addition to his legal wife. To use us as an example, you could think of Mimi as Hiro’s legal wife, while I, Kugi, Tina, Wiska, Dr. Shouko, and Mei would be concubines,” Elma explained.
I exercised my right to remain silent. Nothing good would come of me opening my mouth at this point. I personally believed I treated all my crew members equally. They were all different, but good in their own ways.
“I see…”
That hurts, Linda. Okay, fine…I’m the lowest tier of trash, but I’m not apologizing. Now that things have come to this, if I want to make everyone happy, I believe my only option is to continue as the jovial mercenary I am.
“I am not overly familiar with the Empire’s customs, but could Lady Airia adapt to such a change?” Kugi asked.
“It’d probably work out. As a last resort, they could always just directly input know-how about being a noble into her brain. There’d be plenty of solutions.”
Technology capable of extracting information directly from people’s minds existed, so there was probably technology that could implant information too. The Grakkan Empire even had the expertise to perform enhancement surgeries that increased the brain’s processing speed, so my suggestion should be possible.
“The way Hiro phrased it is a bit extreme, but yeah,” Elma said. “Several methods of achieving such a goal exist in the Empire, so it might take a little time, but it’d work out one way or another. In the end, as long as they figure out a way to resolve the issue of Airia’s lineage, it shouldn’t be too hard for those two to pair up. It’ll mostly come down to how Airia herself feels.”
“It’ll come down to Airia? I wonder how she does feel about this,” Linda mused.
“Yeah—I wonder what she’ll do. This kind of situation, a prince falling in love with a commoner girl, is common in holo-novels and TV shows!”
“True. And sometimes the male lead is a slightly evil mercenary,” Linda said, glancing at me.
I wasn’t “slightly evil,” though. Among mercenaries, I was an exemplary white knight with pure, irreproachable morals. Hmm? Would an exemplary white knight with pure, irreproachable morals misuse a singing crystal to destroy a fleet sent by the Federation? I’m not sure what you’re referring to.
“Even if Hartmut’s head over heels for her, he won’t immediately act today or tomorrow anyway.”
There were still the straggler Bloodies to deal with, as well as the space pirate saboteurs who hadn’t yet been found. Hartmut wouldn’t have the time to worry about a personal romantic relationship until after taking out the trash.
“Hiro… You…”
“Huh? Oh… No, no. It should be okay. Yeah, things’ll be fine this time around!”
At this point, I should be free from that jinx that had been cast on me…the one that turned whatever I saw coming into a prophecy!
***
The next day, I went with Mei to go visit Hartmut. I didn’t plan to start a fight or anything; I was just going to talk to him.
“I really don’t like this.”
“If you do not wish to do this, Master, I can inform him in your stead,” Mei offered.
“No. I don’t want to do this, but I’m not breaking the promise I made to Tina.”
We’d passed through the checkpoint dividing the upper and lower districts and headed toward the governor’s mansion, where Hartmut was residing. The upper district looked about the same as it had when we’d last visited, but there did seem to be fewer people on the streets. Perhaps the residents were on guard against the saboteurs that had infiltrated.
I still really didn’t want to do this. “What kind of joke is this? A guy like me has to go up to that perfect model of male beauty, Hartmut, and discuss the relationship between a man and a woman? I’m not exactly qualified…”
“Master, you maintain smooth, fulfilling relationships with multiple women at once. Therefore, I believe you could indeed be considered an expert in the field.”
“Only because you and all the other girls are so understanding and willing to help me. I’m well aware that these things working out has less to do with me and more to do with you guys.”
My personal virtues might contribute a specific percentage to that, but that hardly put me in a position to lecture Hartmut on how he should behave.
“Well, no point dwelling on it. Let’s just get this over with.”
Dragging it out would only extend the mental burden I was experiencing, so nothing good could come of it.
Once we arrived at the governor’s mansion, guards again checked us over. Once I’d handed over the weapons I was carrying—minus my swords—we headed toward Hartmut’s office. An armed guard was once more responsible for escorting us; the threat of space-pirate saboteurs had apparently given rise to heavier security. Hartmut was quite the thorough man when he acted. It was good to be careful; one of the pirates’ goals was his assassination, after all.
“Good day, Lord Hiro. News should be arriving soon, so take a seat. Tea is on the way.”
“Thanks for the hospitality.”
Hartmut seemed rather energetic today. I wasn’t sure how I’d describe it…but there seemed to be a sparkle in his eye, as if his morale bar was full or something. “So, what brings you here today?” he asked. “If you had information to share, a holo-transmission would’ve sufficed.”
“Uh…I’m just going to be blunt and say it. This has to do with Airia.”
Hartmut twitched in response to my words.
I’d rather you didn’t turn expressionless out of nowhere like that. It’s terrifying. “Hey, don’t jump to conclusions. I’m not about to tell you to keep your hands off her, or say she’s my woman, or anything. In fact, I’m on your side here.”
“I…see. Provide more details, then.”
I’m glad to see you’re willing to listen to what I have to say now, but you’re radiating suffocating pressure. Seriously. “All right—first off, I’m sticking my nose into this affair in the first place because a crew member of mine used to live in this colony, and that crew member is very good friends with Airia. Before you jump to conclusions, the crew member is female.”
“Continue.”
“Okay. So, that crew member is worried. You’re a viscount’s eldest son and this colony’s governor. To a commoner like Airia, that status is significant. After all, you’ll be in charge of supporting that orphanage. That’s why, if you ask something of her, she might just swallow any grievances and agree to whatever it is, whether she wants to or not.”
Hartmut closed his eyes as he digested what I’d said, sinking into thought. “That may be the case. But in the end, as long as I make Miss Airia happy, is there really a problem?”
“Good question. I feel the same way, dude.”
“Dude…?”
“In the end, that’s what matters, right? If everyone’s happy, it’s all good. I completely agree.”
Every story had to travel across hills and mountains before reaching a happy ending. That was especially true in this situation, since we were talking about a real, complex relationship between a man and a woman, not just some fiction. It was impossible for such a thing to be smooth sailing from beginning to end.
“In any case, the first thing you’ll need to do is convey your affection to her,” I continued. “I can’t tell you not to do that, since that would be tantamount to telling you to keep your hands off her, and I’m kind of proceeding under the assumption that you do like her, although you haven’t said as much. Is that okay with you?”
“It’s a bit embarrassing to hear it laid out like that, but…yes.” Hartmut averted his eyes and gave a small nod, his ears tinged with faint redness.
Gah! A handsome guy blushing has quite an impact! If I did something like that, it’d look like a bit from a standup routine! “What attracted you to her in the first place anyway? Her looks?”
“It is true that I was attracted to Miss Airia’s sweet appearance, but most of all, I was drawn to her nobility, virtue, and determination. After you brought the orphanage to my attention, I looked into it myself. I came to understand the circumstances under which she’d been managing it.”
“I see. Makes sense. If I’d gotten there even a day later, Airia and the kids would likely be dead now. The kids were in a better state than she was, though.”
The adults at the scene, including Airia, had all been down for the count due to pandemic and malnutrition. They honestly could’ve died. The fact that the kids had been in a better state did indicate that the adults had prioritized giving the kids whatever medicine and food they had, although they needed it just as much. Hartmut’s observation that Airia was noble seemed on the mark.
“Also, um…”
“Hm?”
“It’s the innocent, modest way she conducts herself. As I’m the Magneli household’s eldest son, the women who usually approach me are more… How do I put it…?” Hartmut closed his eyes again and sighed.
Ah, I see. I more or less knew what he was saying. The women who usually approached him were pretty on the outside, but they likely emitted the same vibe a carnivorous plant would have. Or maybe they were more the domineering type.
“Uh…yeah. Anyway, I agree that as long as you make Airia happy in the end, this isn’t a problem. I just wanted you to be aware of my crew’s concerns, and for you to keep them in mind when you talk to her.”
“Thank you for informing me. As it was you who brought up these concerns, I promise to keep them in mind.”
“Thanks. And sorry about this.”
Hartmut definitely hadn’t enjoyed me suddenly raising this topic, but he’d still listened seriously to what I had to say. I thought that that, more than anything, demonstrated his character. Most people in his shoes would’ve gotten mad and yelled at me.
***
After drinking the tea the maid poured us, Mei and I returned to the Black Lotus. I’d informed Hartmut that we’d help exterminate the space-pirate saboteurs and remaining Bloodies if necessary, but he’d turned us down. “As the one now in charge, eliminating them is my duty,” he’d said. “I am grateful for your offer, but depending on your strength in this situation would be inappropriate.” He wasn’t wrong; it was indeed his job as governor to handle such problems.
And at the end of the day, endangering myself without getting paid didn’t benefit me in the slightest. I supposed it was possible that the pressure would awaken or strengthen an ability of mine or something; still, this wasn’t a game, so the risks far outweighed the rewards. Hartmut was right, so I’d left. If he needed my help, he could just go through the mercenary guild and enlist my services that way.
“Oh… Welcome back, Master Hiro! You’re here sooner than I expected!”
“Yeah. We’re not going to participate in the cleanup operation. I told Hartmut what I needed to, and the pandemic will more or less be under control soon, so it’s about time for us to leave—”
“Hon! How’d it go?”
“Gah!”
As I sat chatted with Mimi on a sofa in the lounge, Tina—having heard my voice—had rushed out of the cafeteria and charged into my side.
“Calm down… I informed Hartmut about your concerns, but he insists he only wants to make Airia happy. He says he wasn’t just attracted to her looks, but also her character, so I don’t think we have to worry. Let’s leave it to the parties involved now.”
“Mm-hmm…okay. Thanks, hon.”
“No sweat.” I patted Tina’s head. These events had been tumultuous for her, but in the end, she fortunately seemed to have accepted the results. At this point, it was about time for us to leave the colony, but first we had to return Linda to Airia’s care. “Now that I think about it, how has Dr. Shouko been? I feel like I haven’t seen her for the last two days.”
“She’s been cooped up in her research lab. Should we go get her?”
“Nah. No need, as long as she’s okay. What’s she up to, though?”
Curious, I decided to head to Dr. Shouko’s lab to see for myself. What could she be doing that had kept her from coming out for two whole days?
“Dr. Shouko? What’re you—whoa.”
“Hmm? What’s the matter?”
Dr. Shouko’s lab was full of mushrooms. It wasn’t overrun or anything—the mushrooms were only growing inside controlled lab cases—but there were so many of them…dozens and dozens.
“What’s going on here?”
“With these? I’m trying to see whether I can selectively breed the mushrooms that caused the pandemic and neutralize the threat they pose. It’s a lot of trial and error. I came up with a cure that works on humans, but unless we get rid of its source, the disease causing the pandemic will never be eliminated. That’s why I’m trying to engineer a mushroom that kills the disease-spreading ones.”
“I…see. Think you’ll succeed?”
“Hmm…maybe. It seems to be going well, but actually deploying this solution would involve contaminating the colony with a different type of mushroom, so I doubt I’d get permission.”
“Of course you won’t.”
“Yeah, figures… Ah ha ha!” Dr. Shouko said with a silly laugh. “Well, I finished designing a purifying nanomachine that targets and removes the disease-carrying fungus from the environment, so we can just use that. Hm…living things are just so hard to control.”
“Yeah… Huh? Then doesn’t that mean you can end the pandemic?”
“Yes, combining the cure with the purifying nanomachines should resolve it quickly. I’ve organized the data and samples, so you can handle the rest, thanks. I’m going to shower and go to bed or something.” Dr. Shouko told me, yawning.
She pushed a large, sturdy container that I could barely get my arms around into my chest, yawned again, and left the lab.
“Dr. Shouko may be the most dangerous person on board this ship…”
Under the weight of the container I held, I shuddered involuntarily.
Epilogue
Epilogue
THOSE PURIFYING NANOMACHINES Dr. Shouko had developed had an immediate effect. In the district where they were first deployed, the concentration of pathogenic spores dropped significantly. Hartmut gradually expanded the scope of the trial, and in conjunction with the cure Dr. Shouko had created, that was quickly bringing the pandemic under control.
A week had passed since I delivered Dr. Shouko’s container to Hartmut. In that time, as the colony began to rebuild, I’d visited Airia and the orphanage kids, checked in with Hartmut with Dr. Shouko in tow to discuss the nanomachines, and negotiated the reward we’d receive for the services we’d rendered. It had been a busy week.
“Man, nanomachines are insanely powerful. I can’t believe a single scientist could make such a huge difference,” I muttered as Dr. Shouko rested her head on my lap in the lounge. The holo-display was tuned to the local colony news, where an anchor was reporting on the steady eradication of the pandemic.
“This incident just happened to be within my field of expertise,” Dr. Shouko said modestly. Despite her humble words, the pride on her face was unmistakable. In fact, she looked downright smug, not that I blamed her. Given what she’d accomplished, she had every right to feel proud.
“What you did was still impressive. I mean, I was genuinely amazed. If someone decided to use nanomachines as a weapon, though, wouldn’t it be incredibly dangerous?”
“Oh, that. I get that question a lot. Honestly, compared to biological or chemical weapons, nanomachines are much easier to neutralize, so they’re not really considered worth the effort of deploying as a weapon.”
“Really?”
“Yeah. They’re delicate machines, so an EMP will take them out easily. Shields can also stop them. Plus, to actually kill someone, you’d need a huge number of them. If you wanted to eradicate a whole colony of people with nanomachines, you’d need to efficiently spread a quantity equal to the mass of the Krishna. It just wouldn’t be cost-effective.”
“It’d be a lot cheaper and easier to just blow up the entire colony with a reactive warhead.”
“Exactly. I suppose nanomachines could be used for assassination, but they really don’t make great weapons.”
“I see.”
Based on what Dr. Shouko said, the gray goo scenario—global extinction due to out-of-control nanomachines—wasn’t likely. That revelation was a relief, but also somewhat disillusioning.
“Mmm…I’m kind of sleepy.”
“Don’t blame me if you wake up with a sore neck because you used my lap as a pillow.”
“I think your lap has just the right amount of firmness…but you’re right, I should probably find an actual bed to sleep in.”
“Yeah… Why are you reaching your arms out like that?”
“I want you to carry me,” Dr. Shouko said with a smirk.
Oh? Fine. I’ll carry you. This doctor was surprisingly fond of being spoiled.
***
We had pretty much wrapped up everything we needed to do here at Rimei Prime; just one last matter remained.
“Well, then… You know why I summoned you three here today, right?”
The three young girls sitting together at a corner table in the cafeteria—well, only one of them was actually a young girl—each gave me a sheepish look. Lately, they’d become inseparable, always tinkering with machines together.
“The reason Linda ended up aboard this ship is…well, partly my fault. I take some responsibility for that. Thanks to her, though, we developed a cure for the pandemic this colony was suffering from, and Hartmut rewarded us generously for that cure. Naturally, I intend to give Linda a portion of that reward.”
I paused, examining Tina, Wiska, and Linda in turn. Hmm… All three looked downright miserable. It was starting to make me feel like I was some villain.
“I’ll just be blunt,” I continued. “I have no intention of bringing Linda with us. We have enough hands already, and Linda has people here who can look after her. Right?”
“Well…yeah. That’s true,” Tina agreed.
Airia was still present at the orphanage where Linda had been living; she’d look after the girl. Heinz and Sieg were still around too. I was sure Hartmut would lend his assistance as well if Airia asked. And, while the sum of money I planned to give Linda wouldn’t purchase a “right to travel freely” certificate, it would provide her with an opportunity to learn whatever she wished to.
Frankly, the sum was probably too large for Linda to handle right now. Giving a kid that much money could be a recipe for disaster, and I didn’t want that, so I planned to hand it over to Heinz or someone similar to manage on her behalf. Heinz seemed like he’d be trustworthy enough—especially if I made things clear to him by saying something like, “You know what’ll happen if you misuse Linda’s money, right?” That would keep him in line. If I was going to dump this responsibility on him, though, I’d probably have to think of a way to make it worth his while.
Linda looked me straight in the eye. “But…I want to leave with you guys.”
Hmm… Well, yeah, that’s not surprising. I understood why she wanted that. In her position, I’d have felt the same way. It was only natural, considering the situation she’d been raised in. She didn’t know who her parents were, and there weren’t many job opportunities for a girl raised in an orphanage propped up by syndicate members and gangsters. In a place like the lower district, with no education or money, a girl like Linda had next to no chance of getting ahead.
Compared to that existence, even a risky life aboard a ship offered better prospects, despite all that life’s dangers, including to Linda’s innocence—not that I would ever touch her. She’d have a chance to gain skills that would offer real future opportunities. Anyone with half a brain could see that, even a child like Linda.
“It would technically be possible to bring Linda with us. It wouldn’t be difficult at all. Her daily living costs would be negligible, considering what we earn. But to be blunt, there’s no benefit for us in bringing her along. Absolutely none. In fact, I believe the risks would outweigh the rewards.”
Linda was still a child. Soon she’d go through puberty, a period during which it was difficult to control one’s impulses. Although she was blessed with a rare resistance to the pathogen responsible for the recent pandemic, it wasn’t a given that she’d be likewise resistant to other diseases. Besides, vaccines that could handle most illnesses already existed in this universe, and my crew had all been vaccinated with them. That lowered the value of Linda’s unique trait.
“I’ve got a lot of self-control, and I’m quick on my feet,” Linda protested. “I’m also good with my hands. Not to toot my own horn, but I think I’ve got guts too. I’m not that smart, but Big Sis Tina and Wiska say I’m quick on the uptake. I’m sure I’d find a way to be useful. Maybe not immediately, but soon enough.”
“You’ve got a way with words. Still, I’m not taking you on. There’s no room for an energetic newbie on my ship.”
That said, though Mimi was now a top-notch operator, she’d started out as a completely ordinary girl. Linda might start to shine too after a little polishing. Now that I thought about it, Tina—who was older than Mimi—had still acted far more immature on this trip, so it was kind of hypocritical of me to reject Linda on the basis of age.
Still, I felt that Linda was just far tooyoung. I wasn’t an old man going around calling everyone young, but Linda was young young—a literal child. I attracted all kinds of trouble as it was, so I wasn’t about to take on a crew member who would only add to my worries.
“Well, I guess I can’t really expect you to just accept all this, and I don’t want you to try stowing away on my ship, so I’ll compromise.”
The three girls gulped and braced themselves.
“You’re currently twelve, right, Linda? Stay here in this colony and do what you can until you reach adulthood at age fifteen. Ideally, by then, you’ll have acquired some skills that will make you a useful crew member. But even if you haven’t, as long as you’re healthy and have grown appropriately for your age both mentally and physically, if you still want to join us, I’ll come get you.”
“R-really?”
“I never lie. But don’t forget what it means to freely make the choice to board my ship and become a permanent member of my crew. I’m pretty sure you know what I’m getting at. Anybody who signs up should be prepared for everything that implies, because when it comes to willing recruits, I won’t hold back!”
“Wha...?!" Linda blushed, shuddering visibly for a moment.
“I’m sure you’ll grow up into one hell of a lady. Ha ha ha!”
“You’re a total pervert!” She glared at me. “What a bastard!”
I shrugged in response. “Yup, I’m a card-carrying perverted bastard. So what? Anyway, I’m just running my mouth, don’t take it so seriously. I’ll do my best to arrange whatever environment you need here. Do your best to take advantage of this opportunity to become who you want to be. I don’t mind if you decide to go down a different path. Joining our crew is only one of your options.” Then I passed the baton to the twins by adding, “Just so you know, making a living as a mercenary is a road full of peril. Even Tina and Wiska’s role as engineers puts them constantly in dangerous situations.”
“That’s true,” Tina confirmed.
“We’re always fighting space pirates, and if you lose to them, dying is the best-case scenario,” Wiska agreed.
“Dying is the best-case scenario? What’s the worst?” Linda asked.
“Being captured and turned into some kind of toy until you eventually die. The absolute worst-case scenario is getting turned into a ‘commodity,’ where you’re passed around like a mere object to all kinds of perverts.”
“Yikes…” Linda visibly recoiled.
I was sure that the colony’s syndicates and gangs were no strangers to brutality, but that would be nothing compared to space pirates’ actions. Space pirates were the type of people who’d pass the time by severing your head and hooking it up to a life-support system to create an “amusing singing object.”
“Well, I have no intention of ever losing to space pirates,” I said. “But as a mercenary, the possibility exists. Keep that in mind, and do your best over the next three years.”
“Okay…fine,” Linda said with a serious expression, nodding.
I returned her nod.
I figured that should do for the situation with Linda. All that was left now was to ensure Heinz’s and Sieg’s assistance, inform Hartmut about Linda’s situation, and keep Airia in the loop… Quite demanding, actually, but I was doing this for Tina. Almost finished…
***
When I set about arranging an appropriate learning environment for Linda, it was ultimately a smooth process.
“Even thinking about managing this much money makes my stomach churn… But since you’re the one asking, Big Bro, I’ll do my best. You won’t be disappointed.”
Heinz seemed glad that I’d turned to him rather than Hartmut about this matter, and he happily agreed to manage Linda’s cut of the reward money. For better or worse, he had various connections in the colony, and he agreed to listen to Linda’s requests and take care of her.
Heinz and Sieg would be Linda’s guardians for three years, so I paid for those three years of service in advance. After all, I was flush with money after being rewarded for taking down that galleon. The cost of hiring their services for three years was practically nothing compared to that reward. But Heinz and Sieg would be able to live as they pleased during that period, or if they were inclined to, use the money to start a business. That was how much I was paying them—separate, of course, from Linda’s reward money.
“I asked Hartmut to keep an eye on her as well, so don’t get into some weird conflict with him.”
Hartmut agreed to arrange the opportunity for Linda to receive higher education if she desired. Depending how the dice rolled, three years from now, she could have grown into an elite young lady.
“We know, Big Bro. She’s slated to become another of your women, so we’ll make sure to keep flies away from her,” Heinz said.
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves. If Linda finds someone she likes, let her do as she pleases.”
If Linda fell in love with someone and gave up on joining my crew, choosing to live in the colony instead, I wouldn’t mind. Her life belonged to her; there was no reason for her to tie herself to me. But if she still felt the same way in three years, then I’d bring her with me. That was all there was to it. She was far too young right now, but in three years she’d be fifteen, the same age Mimi had been when she first joined me on the Krishna. The Grakkan Empire considered fifteen-year-olds adults, so it should be fine for Linda to decide her own path at that age.
Now that I thought about it, I had no idea what would happen to me in the next three years. But unless I ended up dying somewhere, I’d likely still be a mercenary.
“That’s the plan…? Understood,” Heinz said. “By the way…isn’t it about that time?”
“Yeah, we’re leaving tomorrow. The life of a free wanderer suits me best.”
I didn’t have any particular goal this time, as there were no urgent matters at hand. But Elma, Mei, and I hadn’t yet perfected the coordination between the Antlion, Black Lotus, and Krishna when hunting pirates as a group. So, for the time being, our goal would probably be to earn money while improving those skills.
That said, in truth, we couldn’t really travel around with absolutely no other goals at all. I’d probably call a meeting with everyone that night to discuss where we wanted to go.
***
Know how I said I’d call a meeting with everyone that night to discuss where we wanted to go? That was a lie. Well, not a complete lie.
“Uh…so, in conclusion…while I’m not super happy about it, it seems our next destination is the Klion System. Yay… Everyone clap!”
Kugi, who was completely lost, was the only one who clapped. Kugi’s so cute. Ha ha ha…
“Well, if that’s what you’ve decided, I’ll follow you. We haven’t been ordered to join the front lines, have we?” Elma asked.
“No way. We’ve been tasked with hunting pirates targeting supply lines.”
“It’s all about framing in the end,” Elma remarked. “So who are we reporting to?”
“The usual person.”
“Colonel Serena always draws the short straw, doesn’t she? Ha ha,” Mimi commented with an unusually dry laugh.
Tina had a scowl on her face, while Wiska looked worried. As for Dr. Shouko, she had a big smirk, as if she found this situation entertaining. Mei was expressionless, as usual.
Explaining how we’d arrived in this situation would require going back in time a bit. It began to unfold right after I spoke with Heinz. While I was on my way back to the Black Lotus, my terminal rang with an incoming call.
In hindsight, perhaps if I’d… No, that wouldn’t have changed anything. I’d been screwed either way. I couldn’t have continued as a mercenary if I cut off all contact with the guild.
***
“This is Hiro.”
“This is Daybit from the mercenary guild’s Rimei Prime branch. I’m speaking with Sir Captain Hiro, correct?”
“That’s me.” Getting called directly by the guild was odd. When they had to inform mercenaries of news, they typically sent a message through their custom app. “It’s unusual to a receive voice call from the guild. What’s the situation?”
“A top-priority request by name has been issued for one Captain Hiro. We kindly ask that you review it as soon as possible.”
“A top-priority request by name? This request comes from a trustworthy client, right?”
I wasn’t about to blindly head to a rendezvous point only to hear the client say, “Sorry for deceiving you.” I doubted I’d earned the ire of any individual wealthy enough to afford to submit a request by name to the mercenary guild, but you never knew.
“I would say that you couldn’t find a more trustworthy client in the entire Empire.”
To submit a request by name, a client needed a certain level of credibility. What exactly did “credibility” entail? The mercenary guild based that on the individual having a proven track record, placing weight on reliable payment, the feasibility of requests, the survival rate of the mercenaries who took those requests, and the client’s overall social standing.
This meant that if the mercenary guild viewed someone as trustworthy, they likely were. If a client did end up deceiving the guild after issuing a request by name, it would destroy any credibility they’d built up and ruin the relationship. They could no longer issue requests to the guild, and depending on the situation, the guild might even come after them for revenge.
“The Imperial Fleet?”
When it came to the Empire’s most trustworthy client, the first to come to mind was the Imperial Fleet. They were the ones who paid out pirate bounties, and they also paid handsomely whenever someone managed to destroy a pirate base. The Fleet and guild were so in sync you’d have thought that they were in bed together.
“Half correct.”
“Hey, I’m not here to answer riddles.”
“Higher up.”
“Crap.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.”
Higher up? Did he just say “higher up”? The only person higher up in the chain of command is the frigging emperor himself! That bastard! Where the hell is he trying to send me?
“The rendezvous point is the Klion System, close to the border with the Belbellum Federation. You are to rendezvous at the Imperial Fleet’s established supply outpost with a unit of ships convened by the Imperial Fleet. You will work together with that unit to eliminate the ‘space pirates’ threatening the Empire’s supply lines.”
Running my eyes over the hologram projecting from my terminal, I sighed internally. It was to be expected, but the fleet we would rendezvous with was Colonel Serena’s Pirate-Hunting Unit. I had more or less guessed that it would be, since we’d be hunting “space pirates.” What was there to say…? We just couldn’t get free from her.
“Wait… I haven’t accepted the request yet!”
“If extenuating circumstances prevent you from setting out right away, we can discuss things further. But if not, you’ll be accepting this request. It’s a highly lucrative offer with exceptional terms. I don’t believe this is a bad deal for you, Captain Hiro.”
“Well, no, but…”
My resistance wavered the moment I saw the offer. The client would cover the cost of all ammunition and supplies. On top of that, they would pay a ten-million Ener fixed fee, plus additional bonuses for every downed enemy ship, and most anything we salvaged would belong to us. If they wanted something specific, that would belong to them, but they would make up for the cost of whatever they claimed in Ener. In the event that they needed our services beyond the thirty days the request specified, they would pay an additional three hundred thousand Ener per day. Our job was to deal with the space pirates targeting their supply lines, so we wouldn’t be required to fight on the front lines. Depending on the situation there, we might get dragged into whatever fight was going on, but that was an inherent risk when operating in contested territories.
I sighed. “For now, continue talks under the assumption that we’ll accept the mission. I planned to leave this colony tomorrow either way. But keep this in mind: I value my freedom to operate as a mercenary. I’ll cave this time, but if they abuse their authority too much, I might just disappear one day.”
“Thank you. I’ll inform the other party of your feelings as best I can,” the guild employee named Daybit said, ending the transmission.
As long as I operated within the Empire, it wouldn’t be safe to completely ignore a direct request from the guy in charge. It probably wouldn’t turn the mercenary guild against me, but I would definitely owe them a huge favor. That in itself was an extremely risky proposition. Essentially, the moment that damn emperor got involved, I was screwed.
I had my own feelings on the matter, but I wasn’t an anarchist who detested all authority. In fact, I was kind of a pecking-order-friendly guy. In any case, even if I rejected this request and ran away, I’d just be dragged into a different problem somewhere else. I might as well accept the low-risk, high-reward option that would potentially earn me some favors.
“So our next job is hunting self-proclaimed ‘space pirates’ on the front lines…?”
I sighed as I looked up at the ceiling of the Rimei Prime colony. Those space pirates were probably going to be well-trained fighters equipped with ships and weapons from either the Belbellum Federation or their allies.
I supposed we’ll make bank off whatever we manage to salvage… Ha ha ha… Sigh.
Afterword
Afterword
THANKS FOR PICKING UP Volume 14 of Reborn as a Space Mercenary! We’ve finally reached the fourteenth volume. I’m not sure how to thank you all for letting me continue this long. I’ll keep working hard!
Now, as I write this afterword, it’s winter—close to New Year’s. Around when I wrote this manuscript, I was running a high fever, because I had the flu. It’s not unusual for me to get a fever when the season changes, but a fever of over 102 degrees Fahrenheit was pretty agonizing. Please take care of your health, everyone.
Let’s leave the seasonal greetings at that. Time for the usual games-played-recently corner. I’ve enjoyed a number of titles lately. Starting with some Japanese games, I recently played one set in a fantasy world where you and your fairy partner gather allies to win elections. I also played the remake of the third installment of a super-popular Japanese RPG. The remake has additional bosses in each area, and the new classes are really strong. I enjoyed it a lot. A masterpiece never gets boring, however many times you play it!
I also played a few games developed overseas. In an especially fun one, you set out to destroy the dragon responsible for burning down your hometown. It’s set in a world teetering on the edge of annihilation by an all-powerful dragon. Another memorable game featured a world consumed by fog and spores that corrode both body and mind, in which you—the warrior of fire—strive to revive the world in the course of your adventures. There was also that survival game where you’re stuck on an abandoned island surrounded by krakens, and you have to uncover a destroyed civilization’s secrets while fending off nightly zombie attacks. Now that I think about it, it seems like all the games I’ve played recently involved the world either being destroyed, or being on the verge of it!
There was also that game where Japan is overrun with ghosts, and you—a government official (a mature woman wearing a Japanese sailor uniform)—exorcise those ghosts through the power of violence. The protagonist’s methods are merciless, and the shrine maidens use rather foul language as they fire their guns. It’s quite an interesting game.
I’ve played too many to list them all, and we’d be here all day if I tried, so unfortunately I have to stop there. What a shame…
This volume’s cover once again involves skintight suits. For some reason, when I think of a sci-fi setting, skintight suits are the first thing that comes to mind. I’m not sure myself why I connect the two things. When I looked up works that I thought might’ve inspired the connection, I found that the characters in them didn’t really wear skintight suits. The plot thickens…
In terms of this volume’s contents, the timeline was faster than the pace of events in the web version. Forced into corners, characters made way bolder moves. Small differences can result in surprisingly large changes.
For this volume’s world-building corner, I’d like to talk about this universe’s medical goods and facilities, paying special attention to the first-aid nanomachines and medical pods Hiro and his crew use.
The first-aid nanomachines Hiro employs are hypodermically injected units designed primarily to treat physical injuries. They work by rapidly repairing external wounds, and they’re effective even when treating more serious physical trauma, including internal organ damage and broken bones. However, they can’t regenerate a lost limb. But it’s possible to reattach a limb cleanly severed by one of Hiro’s swords if you hold the limb in place and inject the nanomachines.
Next up, the medical pods. In addition to treating external injuries, they can treat discomfort caused by a range of diseases and poisons—including alcohol poisoning. They can also treat internal illnesses and cancers, but they can’t regenerate a limb from scratch either.
Finally, there’s the special medical pod installed aboard the ship after Dr. Shouko joined the crew. As long as a patient is alive, that medical pod can treat any problem they have, including regenerating a lost limb. It’s also possible to use the device, in conjunction with Dr. Shouko’s specialized knowledge and the proper resources, to perform physical augmentations.
Even a basic medical pod is super useful—I want one! Scientists, work faster, please!
Thanks to my manager, K; our illustrator, Tetsuhiro Nabeshima; and everyone involved in this book’s publication. Most of all, a huge thank-you to everyone who bought and read this book.
Let’s meet again in Volume 15!
RYUTO
About the Author
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Ryuto
A brown bear living in Hokkaido.
My hobby is gaming. I have a wide range of tastes, but survival action and strategy games are my absolute favorites.