Chapter 23


    023 – Daily Life of Three People


    Trantor: SFBaka


    “You beast!”


    “Yeah . Just leave it to me . ”


    “I wasn’t praising you!”


    Elma, who was sitting opposite me, bristled in anger . We were in the dining area once again . Mimi was beside me, clinging tightly onto my arm while smiling in satisfaction .


    “You did all of… ‘those things’ to mest night! And now I find you going at it with Mimi first thing in the morning!? Just how backed up are you!?”


    “That’s cause I think fairness is important . Don’t you think so too?”


    “Fair……!”


    Elma’s sharp criticisms faltered after hearing my retort . She should be thinking about what exactly I meant with ‘being fair’ .


    “We’re allrades here, staying on the same ship . I think it’s better if we all got along, right?”


    “Well, it’s certainly a great situation for you huh . ”


    “Do you dislike Mimi, Elma?”


    “Wha- !? Of course not!”


    “So it’s fine then . And also, you boarded this ship willingly despite knowing just what kind of rtionship Mimi and I were in, right? I think it would be ridiculous if you startining about that sort of thing now . ”


    “That’s……! I guess you’re right, but……”


    “Everyone gets along . Everyone’s happy . Isn’t that great?”


    “……It kind of feels like I’m a kid being coaxed . ”


    “What? No, of course not . ”


    I shed her my most sincere-looking smile . If Mimi was OK with this kind of rtionship, then I’ll have to persuade Elma as well . It was just the three of us here after all .


    “Well, let’s just leave that issue forter, okay?”


    “Later huh… Oh, fine . It’s not like I can do anything about it at this point anyway . So, what’s up?”


    “Mm . I want us to decide our next course of action . ”


    “Well now, this actually sounds serious . ”


    “Oh, more than serious . First, I think we’ll have to earn more funds the soonest we can . We still have enough to live off for a while, but it’ll dry up quickly if the ship ever gets severely damaged . ”


    “That’s, um……”


    Elma seems to want to say something, but held herself back . Well, our reserve funds decreasing was a direct result of paying for Elma’s fines, so I guess she was still feeling guilty about it .


    “Right now, we have two options . The first one is moving out of this star system right away and searching for a more profitable area to earn money on . ”


    “Is this system no good?”


    “Well, since the numbers of pirates prowling about have decreased, so have the money-making opportunities . Besides, the current situation here seems a bit fishy . I personally think moving to another star system would be the better option . ”


    “It does seem that way . ”


    Elma nodded in acknowledgement .


    “Tensions between the Empire and the Federation have been ring uptely, so this border sector would probably be the first to be affected once the situation develops into open hostilities . If you consider our safety as first priority, moving out of this system does seem like the best choice . ”


    “Yeah . And the other option is to remain in this star system and wait for the conflict to ur while hunting down pirates in the asteroid belt area . Once the war starts, demand for mercenaries will surely rise . There would be a risk of going against the Empire’s interster army, so it’s quite dangerous, but the potential returns are huge as well . ”


    “There’s also the fact that lots of small-scale pirate groups would probably start bing more active from here on out . The military’s security patrols will surely be morex after thatrge-scale pirate subjugation, so those pirate groups would not pass this chance up . Aside from being hard to find, they have some decently high-quality weapons and equipment on them and their bounties are also quite high . Because there’s a danger of being caught up in the impending war, this is a high-risk-high-return option . ”


    “I see… But which one will we pick?”


    “That’s what we’re going to discuss right now . What do you think, Mimi?”


    Mimi let out a *hauu after hearing my question and opened her mouth to speak after being troubled for a bit .


    “I think it would be best if we stayed here and hunted some pirates . ”


    “Hou . Why’s that?”


    “Well, with Hiro-sama’s piloting skills and Krishna’s firepower andbat capabilities, I don’t think pirates with just some decent equipment would pose us any danger . And even if we get caught up in the conflict, it would still be possible for us to get away, right?”


    “Guess so . It’s not like we absolutely have to participate once the conflict erupts anyway . ”


    I nodded at Mimi’s words . It’s just as Mimi said . We really don’t have to get involved even if conflict erupts between the Empire and the Federation . Rather, I’m sure pirates would take advantage of the conflict and be a lot more active in order to attack civilian ships and military supply convoys . There’s the option of getting rid of those opportunistic guys once the war gets going and escape right away once things turn for the worse .


    “I’m also for staying in this star system . With your skills, I’m sure you’d also be able to rack up achievements even if you decide to participate in the conflict . The pirates shouldn’t be much trouble either . ”


    “What, you too, Elma?”


    “Yes . I’m all for it as well . ”


    Elma nodded nonchntly . It kinda makes me happy that a veteran like her rates my skills so highly .


    “So it’s decided then . ”


    “So, Hiro-sama is okay with it as well?”


    “Well, I would have preferred the other option, honestly . I want to earn more money even if we had to move to a different star system . But we really can’t tell what would happen during long-distance navigation, and it’s not like I’ve decided where exactly we will go either anyway . ”


    “I see . How much do we have on us right now by the way?”


    “About five hundred thousand . ”


    “It certainly doesn’t seem to be enough . Alright then, shall we go ahead and earn some money?”


    Mimi and I nodded at Elma’s words, and we started to prepare for a sortie right after .


    After we’d decided on staying on the Termaine star system to earn some money, we immediately set off . What we needed to do was quite simple: go around the resource-rich asteroid belt area to find and hunt down pirates who were aiming for the mining ships . We need to proceed with utmost caution, drop our generator output once we find a mining ship being targeted, set up an ambush, and swiftly take down the piratesing in to attack the mining ships in question .


    The earnings have been quite ster so far . We’re averaging about ten pirate bands a day . We’re also salvaging a lot of spoils from them, and the average ie flow is 10,000 Enel per band . If the bands have more members than usual, it goes up to 30,000 Enel, including the bounty money . We even managed to swipe a cargo of rare metals today . Adding up the bounties, salvaged equipment and plundered cargo, we’ve managed to earn 1,780,000 Enel in a week .


    The current reward distribution was 0 . 5% for Mimi and 3% for Elma . Mimi’s share, including the bounty and loot sales is 12,900 Enel, and Elma’s share is 53,400 Enel . Our total assets earned right now amounts to about 2,200,000 Enel, which finally allowed us to break away from being in the red .


    “We earned a lot today as well~! Cheers!”


    The disappointing space elf poured lots of liquor into her cup and drank without reserve, downing the entire cup in one go . It was kinda frustrating that I found the movement of her white, delicate throat to be somewhat alluring .


    By the way, the alcohol we’re drinking right now is ale . Elma and the store clerk insisted it was actually beer, but it really looks and tastes like ale as far as I’m concerned .


    “Ah, okay, okay . Cheers, cheers . ”


    The content of my cup however is chilled tea . Don’t I drink alcohol, you ask? I do, as a matter of fact . But I don’t have much tolerance, so I’ll immediately get piss drunk and get knocked out cold once I’ve downed a few! Yeah, I’m extremely weak to alcohol dammit!


    “To think you don’t drink alcohol . Hiro’s unexpectedly childish in some aspects huh~?”


    “Shut up! That’s just how my physical constitution is . And it’s not like you’ll be considered an adult just by drinking some alcohol . ”


    Elma, who was sitting beside me, wrapped her arms around my shoulder andtched on to me . It seems this disappointing space elf was the clingy type once she gets drunk with alcohol . Her tension’s higher than usual . Our skinship has increased by a lot . She’s really beening on to me a lot more .


    “You really enjoy drinking liquor, don’t you Elma-san?”


    “Uhuh . It’s fun . Drinking it straight down and getting smashed feels pretty great y’know!”


    “No drinking . ”


    “…Yes . ”


    I wagged my finger at Mimi who was staring hard at the liquor bottle . When I looked it up, I found that this world, or rather, this gxy, doesn’t have any particr legal drinking age imposed . But I don’t think it’s a good idea for young people to start drinking alcohol early in any case .


    In my eyes, Mimi’s still just a kid so drinking alcohol’s still– Hold up . If Mimi’s just a kid, then doesn’t that make me, whoid his hands on such a Mimi one hell of a pervert?


    No, no . I’m probably safe cuz there was mutual consent . I also looked into that and since she’s over fifteen and consented to the act, I’m probably fine . Yeah, that’s right . I’m safe . Yup .


    “But you really have some great skills, don’t ya? This ship’s really powerful, but you’re impressive for fully taking advantage of that power . You’re also great at ambushes and surprise attacks . ”


    “It seems like my body remembers . Battle rted stuff just flows into my head and my body moves ordingly . ”


    “Hmmm… Hey, are you perhaps hiding something from us?”


    “Nope, I’m not . ”


    I immediately retorted to Elma, who was staring at me closely . There’s quite a few things I’m hiding from them actually, but I don’t think I can talk about that stuff with these girls yet . For example, I’m actually a guy from another world (or would ‘real world’ be more appropriate in this case?), or that my supposed amnesia is a big, fat lie, or the fact that I knew this world as something from a ‘game’ . I think I’ve be quite close to Mimi and Elma, but if I confess these things right now, they’ll probably just think I’m saying some really weird, unbelievable stuff .


    “Well, I guess that’s fine . We also have some things we find hard to talk about after all . Right, Mimi?”


    “I don’t really have any though . ”


    “Oh really~? Let’s see . Right now your current weight is– “


    “Wha– ! No! You can’t say! You can’t say that!”


    Mimi started to panic all of a sudden and Elma cackled in glee . Body weight huh? In Mimi’s case, doesn’t she have to worry about her chest instead of her stomach? Those lethal weapons are super-dreadnought-ss after all…… even though her body’s just destroyer-ss .


    “Mimi . ”


    “Hyes!?”


    “Believe in your trainer . Don’t do things like carelessly increasing your workout load, alright?”


    “Y– yes…”


    Looks like I hit the bulls-eye and Mimi hid her reddened face with both hands in embarrassment . I actually think Mimi could use a few more extra pounds though . Yosh, I’ll secretly fiddle with the AI trainer settingster . Hehehe .


    “Oh right . About tomorrow . ”


    “Tomorro~w?”


    “Yep, tomorrow . How about we skip earning money for tomorrow and go shopping instead . Take a breather, so to speak . ”


    “Take a breather?”


    Mimi tilted her head curiously after hearing the words ‘take a breather’ .


    “Yup . We’ve been doing nothing but hunting pirates for moneytely, right? How bout we go around eating and drinking or sightsee and shop for stuff like clothes and essories . There’s actually a lot we can possibly do . ”


    “You simply want to take a break right~?”


    I honestly nodded to Elma’s teasing words .


    “That’s part of it, sure . It’s also to prevent us from making silly mistakes out in the field because we didn’t set some time to rx and de-stress . Moreover, I want Mimi to feel how it’s like to spend the money she put her life on the line to earn . ”


    “Ah, I see . That’s right huh . That kind of experience is important . ”


    Elma nodded in agreement with a serious expression . Her face was still red from the alcohol, but she wasn’t really that drunk .


    “Um, I’m…”


    Mimi disyed a troubled expression . Guess it’s to be expected . The total amount of reward money I handed to her thus far is 16,850 Enel . If we use the 1 Enel = 100 Yen conversion rate, it’ll amount to 1,685,000 Yen . At Mimi’s age, an amount of 160,000 Yen in ‘earnings’ would probably be enough to make her hesitant .


    “But all I did was sit in the Operator’s seat… I still think this much money is– “


    “It certainly is hard to say that Mimi’s mastered being a ship Operator . But even so, aren’t you a team-mate who rode my ship and put your life on the line together with us? That reward money is money well-earned . ”


    “That’s right . There’s no need to be reserved . It also includes the reward for taking care of this guy after all . ”


    “Well, um… If you really don’t want to, well, y’know– “


    “I didn’t say I didn’t want to, okay!?”


    “I definitely don’t hate doing it!”


    Mimi and Elma’s retorts drowned out my words . Mimi looked at me straight with a reddened face . Elma, on the other hand, looked away while blushing until the tips of her long ears in embarrassment .


    “I like you, Hiro-sama . I really love you . I love you so much, from the bottom of my heart . Hiro-sama is my everything . So I can offer every inch of my being to Hiro-sama as well . ”


    Mimi stood up from the table and confessed to me with a beet-red face . Man, I think this kind of passionate confession is rare, even in things like movies and novels . And to think that the target of her affection is me, of all people… Did I actually drink some alcohol earlier, passed out and am now dreaming about all this stuff?


    “I– I can’t… really go that far but… W– well, you did save me and all . If it wasn’t for you, I would have experienced something truly terrible . S– so I’m kinda grateful and stuff… Really thankful or something… But it’s not like I did those things with you simply because I’m thankful . If not, then I wouldn’t have offered my body to you so many times… Idiot . ”


    It seems like she was inspired by Mimi’s confession, so Elma also expressed her feelings toward me . I somehow felt that they were simply driven by obligation because of all the help I’ve offered them all this time . But, somehow, after hearing how they truly felt, it kinda seemed like a weight’s been lifted from my shoulders and my chest felt light .


    “Wait, why are you crying all of a sudden?”


    “Hi, Hiro-sama?”


    “No, sorry . I’m just so happy to hear you both say those things . To be honest, I was a little… nah, I was actually pretty anxious about it . ”


    “You were anxious?”


    “Are you stupid or something? There’s no woman who wouldn’t fall for the Prince Charming who saved them from a desperate pinch y’know . ”


    Elma kissed my cheek whileughing . She kissed me again and again .


    “If it wasn’t for you, I’d probably be in prison now, being used by those brutes for their amusement . You’re definitely the Prince Charming who saved me from that kind of fate . Don’t go worrying about strange things . ”


    “Ah, me too! Hiro-sama! If Hiro-sama didn’t help me, I would have suffered terribly as well! Hiro-sama is my hero!”


    Mimi also went over and hugged me tight . I smelled alcohol on her . Did you mistakenly drink some while thinking it was juice?


    “Mimi, let’s thoroughly express the depths of our feelings for this stupid prince . ”


    “Yes~! I’ll do my best~!”


    The two of them stretched their hands out to grab me . I didn’t resist at all and allowed them to do as they pleased .