Chapter 536: Chapter 531: 「Stop It. I’m Going to Cry」

「Hiro-sama… You get caught up in trouble as soon as I take my eyes off you.」

「I have no excuse… even though I was at his side…」

「It’s not like that. It was out of my control… it was force majeure.」

After Konoha left and I was resting, exhausted, Mimi and Moegi—who had gone off to arrange the procurement of food from the Holy Vuelzarus Empire, specifically some prepackaged meals—rejoined with us. As soon as I explained the situation, they were both exasperated.

「Is it always like this?」

「Yes… more or less.」

「That sounds tough…」

It seemed that over the course of working together, Mimi and Moegi had grown friendlier with each other, chatting a bit more casually now. Well, Mimi is good with people. She gets along with almost everyone right away.

「Moegi-san, you’re interested in Hiro-sama, right? Will you join us? As you can see, life with him is never boring.」

「I’m interested, but getting caught up in trouble that stirs up the military on a daily basis is a bit too much for me…」

It seems I’ve been rejected by Moegi without my knowledge. Not that it really matters… or does it? Even if I wasn’t thinking of getting involved with her, being clearly turned down still stings a bit. Oof.

「Look, look, my Lord! Here’s your favorite tail!」

「Yay!」

Sensing something, Kugi offered one of her fluffy tails onto my lap, so I stroked it. Ah, this is healing. While the tails of the gorgeous nine-tailed beauty were undeniably luxurious and had a great feel, Kugi’s tails still take the top spot for me, as expected, the familiar ones are the best. I feel like Kugi is making a smug face toward the empty air, but that’s probably just my imagination. Yeah, definitely.

☆★☆

The information I brought apparently caused quite a stir in the military of the Holy Vuelzarus Empire. Normally, a national military wouldn’t take the words of a mere mercenary like me seriously. It might be different for smaller military factions on a star-system level, but a national military is a whole other matter. After all, fleets alone are costly just to maintain, and mobilizing them adds even more expense. They can’t be moved lightly.

However, this time, the true source of the information was ‘that person’—the one whose name can’t be mentioned. For some reason, everyone stubbornly refuses to say her name, and no one is willing to tell me her name either. Even the person herself didn’t introduce herself. What in the world did she do for her name to be so taboo?

Well, putting her name aside, the fact that the information came from ‘that person’ gave my words a lot of weight. Some suspected that I had simply hallucinated due to fatigue or sleep deprivation, but after mobilizing users of the Third Spiritual Form to conduct large-scale future predictions, and even performing reconnaissance into the other dimension from where space monsters appear, the top brass of the Holy Vuelzarus Empire’s military seemed to have confirmed that my information was, in fact, credible.

After returning to the inn, we had a meal, took a bath, and refreshed ourselves. Now gathered in my room, we began exchanging information.

「Using Third Spiritual Form users to predict the future, and scouting the parallel dimension from where space monsters appear… The Holy Vuelzarus Empire really goes above and beyond in some… fantastical ways.」

「And what does that make you, the one those fantastical people treat as a rare beast that should never be provoked?」

「Stop it. I’m going to cry.」

Elma’s cutting remark made me go deadpan for a moment. Lately, I’ve been starting to have some philosophical doubts about my very existence, so I really wish she’d stop.

Do you know how uncomfortable it was when people reacted like, What?! You had a direct encounter with that person and survived?! You’re taking care of her tails?! On top of that, you’ve shared senses and received instruction on how to use the Third Spiritual Form?! How are you still sane?!They looked at me like I was some inhuman creature. And this came from people who use mysterious abilities and bizarre technologies based on those powers.

「To be honest, there’s still a bunch of stuff we ain’t fully analyzed yet…」

「We need real combat data, so it can’t be helped, Sis.」

The mechanic sisters were in death march mode again, fully focused on working out how to maintain the evolved Krishna, and they seemed utterly exhausted, understandably. I hope they can take it easy at least while we’re out on the mission.

「So, is Krishna the only one heading out this time?」

「For combat, yeah. Apparently, the weapons of the Antlion and the Black Lotus aren’t effective against space monsters like the photon lifeforms. However, we’ll have Holy Empire technicians and researchers on board the Krishna this time, so the two ships will come with us as far as the rear lines. The Antlion will stay docked to the Black Lotus for use as an emergency escape pod if necessary.」

「I see. So it’ll be the usual full crew then.」

Dr. Shouko nodded, seemingly satisfied with my explanation.

「Captain, how many people are accompanying us?」

「Let’s see… the usual three—Moegi, Konoha, and Inaba— will accompany us as always, apart from them, Fuguruma, the relic researcher Buubo,  the ship technology researcher Ameno, and… there are a few more whose names I don’t remember.」

「We might be a bit short on rooms. Some people might have to share.」

「I see… Uhm, we probably should start thinking about changing the Lotus for a bigger mothership.」

Neve’s words prompted me to think again about our mothership. When we brought Dr. Shouko aboard, the lab and medical room took up quite a bit of space, making the guest quarters a bit cramped.

On top of that, our mid-sized ship, the Antlion, can’t fit into the Black Lotus’ hangar, so when we travel long distances, it has to be docked externally. Ideally, we should switch to a mothership big enough to house the Antlion. Once our stay in the Holy Vuelzarus Empire is over and we return to the Grakkan Empire, it might be time to seriously consider changing motherships.

Should I have Space Dwerg, with whom we have a contract, find us a larger one? Or maybe I should cancel that contract and go through Serena’s connections to get a ship from another manufacturer… We’ve quite a bit more money than when we bought the Black Lotus, so I’m not too worried about the cost. We could even trade in the Black Lotus.

「Are we changing ships?… I’ve grown attached to the Black Lotus.」

「That’s true. But switching ships is common for mercenaries, you know? It’s rare to part with a ship while it’s still intact and in good condition, though.」

「There’s data showing that about 40% of mercenary ship changes are due to damage. The Black Lotus is well-maintained, with barely any significant damage, so if we trade it in, it’ll definitely be in demand. In fact, Space Dwerg might even offer a trade-in themselves.」

「Yeah, that makes sense. If the ship’s in near-perfect condition, the manufacturer would want the data on how it was used and maintained.」

As we talked, Kugi suddenly turned her head in an odd direction, her fox ears perking up. Ah, she’s picking up something.

「My lord, we’ve received a message. Moegi-san and Konoha-san will be coming to pick us up first thing tomorrow morning.」

「Got it. Then we should get some good rest tonight. You can drink, but don’t go overboard and make sure it doesn’t affect you tomorrow.」

「「「Yeees.」」」

The three heavy drinkers answered in unison. Guess I’ll turn in early tonight too.

What? You’re asking if I’m just going to sleep? Well, that’s not really up to me… Mei handles that part, so I won’t know until I actually go to bed. In a way, it’s something to look forward to, haha.