I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary - Chapter 435

Mercenary Guild Volks Star System Branch

[They say that if a dog walks too much around, it will get hit with a stick…]

“Woof!”

I yelped like a dog at Colonel Serena in holo-display, who seemed to be taken aback by it.

[I originally intended to tell you to stay still because you’ll get into trouble if you keep moving around. But still, you did something great.]

“Yes, I have. Usually, in my case, instead of me causing trouble, problems are attracted to me as if I am radiating a mysterious gravitational pull. I’m not proud of it.”

[Well, nothing can be done about that. As for the inspection of the captured ship, please leave it moored at Volks Second Colony for now. We’ll inspect the inside of the ship as soon as possible.]

“Understood. I’ll also compile any salvaged data storage so that it can be handed over to you. Oh, and we can have Mei analyze it, if you like.”

[It’s fine if you simply want to hand it over to us, but I would appreciate it if you could analyze it as much as possible.]

“Aye aye Ma’am, I’ll instruct Mei to do so.”

[Please do. I will finish reorganizing the fleet as soon as possible and head over there. Ending communication.]

The communication was terminated as I returned a salute to Colonel Serena, who saluted me through the holo-display.

“You heard what she said, right? Sorry, please tell Tina and Wiska about the conversation I just had with Colonel Serena.” (Hiro)

“Okay! I’ll let Mei-san know as well.” (Mimi)

“Alright, please. For now, I’ll call Elma and… Kugi as well to come with me. We’re going to show up at the mercenary guild.”

“Yes, my lord. I’ll accompany you.”

Dr. Shoko would probably be stuck in her laboratory doing research on her hobbies, but I’d like to inform her. I don’t think she’ll go with me, though, since I don’t think there’s anything to satisfy her intellectual curiosity when the destination was a mercenary guild.

???

“So this is the mercenary guild! Wow, I’m so excited. It’s like I’m in an amusement park!” (Dr. Shoko)

“…”

“Sorry…” (Dr. Shoko)

Elma, who saw Dr. Shoko’s excitement rising as soon as she stepped through the mercenary guild’s door, gave me a glare. No, I didn’t expect Dr. Shoko to be this excited… There were things even I didn’t understand.

“Ehem, Dr. Shoko?”

“Hmm? Oh, excuse me, excuse me. A researcher like me doesn’t have the chance to visit mercenary guilds. At most, I would have had a chance to get involved in the security department or the foreign trade department. Well, my decision to join your ship was originally due to my fascination with the mercenary business, you know? Until then, I had only developed this yearning for mercenaries from holo-movies and holo-novels, that depicted them, you see? And now that I’ve finally arrived here on my own two feet, I can’t help but feel excited, you see?”

“You talk so much… I understand the reason now, so I hope you calm down a bit.”

“Yes, yes, I understand.”

Dr. Shoko showed an innocent smile. This was quite an unusual expression for her, who usually wore a grin. But that didn’t matter, just please stop being so excited.

Anyway, right now, in this star system, something like space pirates with high-performance equipment that you don’t usually see were roaming the area. That means…

“Damn, he’s taking women with him… he’s having a good time in paradise, huh?”

“I don’t recognize that face. So that means those cute little girls will soon be dead, or they will be the playthings of those space pirates. What a waste.”

Near the entrance, far from the office counter, was a lounge.

Depending on the guild branch, this kind of lounge may or may not be available, but this guild branch did have such an area. It was not similar to an adventurer’s guild from a fantasy novel, but it did at least have a bar. No drinking and piloting on a combat ship, okay.

And the mercenaries who were hanging out there were grumbling about something when they saw us.

“Hiro-kun, they are–” (Shoko)

“Yes, keep your mouth shut. Thank you, we’re going through.” (Shiro)

Sensing that Dr. Shoko was about to say something bad, I covered her mouth with my hand, and dragged her to the counter. How troublesome.

“You’re getting used to it, aren’t you? Dealing with trouble.” (Elma)

“I didn’t want to get used to this… Dr. Shoko, I don’t know what you were going to say, but the people who are not doing their jobs and goofing around at this time when space pirates with good equipment are roaming around means that they’ve been beaten up so bad that they’re having to repair their ships, or they have a vacant slot in their crew and are looking for a replacement. Some of them are waiting for the storm to pass. They’re also resentful. If you say something bad to them and make them lose their temper, you’ll definitely get in trouble.”

“Oh, I see. I was going to ask them why they’re sitting in a place like this, with all their mercenary-ness, doing nothing but playing with pipes.”

“Is she a genius at setting things on fire?”

When three new faces, including beautiful women, showed up at a place that was already filled with resentment, and one of those beautiful women was about to say, “Hey, hey, why are those people sitting around without going to work?” It was inevitable that an outburst would erupt. It would be a firestorm.

“Nice cover…”

“I’m sorry, you two, but, please? Please, both of you, do me a favor, will you two stay out of trouble?”

“Look, Hiro-kun, I’m not a child myself, I can at least be considerate if I know what’s going on.” (Dr. Shoko)

Seeing Elma in a cold sweat and Kugi smiling and wagging her tail, Dr. Shoko puffed up her cheeks and got angry. Well, she was about to make her first mistake, you know, so I had to stop her.

Anyway, after we barely avoided getting tangled up with a bunch of failed mercenaries as soon as we entered the mercenary guild, we headed for the counter where the guild employees looked very bored.

“Oh my, how glamorous. Welcome to the Volks Star System branch of the Mercenary Guild. You’re not here to receive a request… are you?”

The guild employee who greeted us at the counter tilted her head when she asked.

At first, I thought that she must be a noble from the way she carried herself, who for some reason joined the mercenary guild. She even carried a sword… but looking at the rest of the female guild employees with her, they all had the look of a typical female mercenary. Then, after looking closely, I saw a man who seemed to be leading them dressed like a typical mercenary. He was equipped not only with a sword but also with a laser gun, proving that my assumption about that female guild employee might be right.

“We didn’t come here for a request. I’m just showing my face and gathering information. I’ve been asked by my superiors to clean up this area, you see.”

“A request from top officials? I don’t remember any request like that from the mercenary guild… Come to think of it, there’s been some activity in the military…”

I tapped my finger on the counter to make a sound, stopping the guild official who was about to say something she shouldn’t, and then put my finger in front of my lips. It was a little funny how gestures like this were still common even in different universes.

“Well, that’s how it is. I want the coordinates of the attacks that took place in this system and the surrounding systems, as well as data on the expected routes of the missing ships.”

“I understand your situation, but I’m not sure if I can give you that kind of data so easily…”

“The request itself went through the guild. If you look up my ID, you’ll find information on the requests I’m engaged in, won’t you? As you know, this is not a normal situation. I want things to be handled discreetly.”

“This is…? What the…? I’m going to go talk to my superiors, so please give me a moment.”

The guild employee lady who checked my ID looked flustered and pulled me behind the counter. My name had been on the market for a while. There seemed to be very few platinum rankers, so it was understandable that she was surprised.

“My Lord, why did you bother to visit? Can’t you just request that kind of data over the wire?” (Kugi)

“Because there’s always the risk of interception when communicating over the wire. The space pirates are good at that kind of thing in the first place, and considering the importance of this case, there is a high risk that such a method will leak information. It is safer to use the analog method of exchanging data face to face.” (Hiro)

“It’s impossible to eavesdrop on a mercenary guild, after all.” (Elma)

“Really? The staff members are humans too. Some of them may even spill a little bit of information under the influence of alcohol.” (Dr. Shoko)

“I doubt that’s the case with Mercenary Guild’s employees. If some employee commits a breach of trust, they will be hunted to the ends of the universe.” (Hiro)

“That’s scary.” (Dr. Shoko)

I didn’t know how it was handled with imperial law, but sometimes I’d see a bounty on a guild official who had committed a breach of trust, dead or alive. The bounty was quite high, even from my point of view, and of course, mercenaries would flock to chase after former guild officials with bloodshot eyes when they were offered such a hefty bounty. Guild officials were also often ordinary people, so it was impossible for them to escape.

“That’s why you don’t have to be wary of guild officials betraying the guild. Oh, it looks like they are back.”

The guild official lady from earlier has returned with a woman who seems to be her boss. Well, I wonder what we could find out.