Combat Spoils and Stress

"Right now, there's a great demand for small-class cargo transport vessels.

Even if the cargo capacity of the ships are a bit small, you can still sell as

many of them as you want here as long as they are sufficiently fast enough

to quickly shuttle between the surface of the planet and the trading colony.

Man, I just can't help but laugh."

As I looked at the modified cargo transport ship (formerly a pirate ship) that

was being carried out of the hangar after a buyer has been decided, the

edges of my mouth naturally curled up. But really, man. I really feel like

laughing in glee right now.

We crammed the parts we peeled off from the wreckage of the destroyed

pirate ships into the intact one's relatively small frame and stuck the armor

plating we got from them as well in order to instantly make this small-class

cargo transport ship and sell it off within the trading colony.

Of course, the equipment modules of the ship aren't exactly in great

condition, but if it was just going to serve as a shuttle between the trading

colony and the planet, the minimum amount of life support would more

than suffice. At worst, the crew can just wear spacesuits while piloting it.

Well, it's not like I'd have anything more to do with it once it's sold

anyway.

"For reference, might I ask how much you sold the ship for?"

The brown-skinned super beauty Nia from Nyaatoflix stood beside me and

asked a question as she eyed the ship being carried out as well. I thought

about the price these ships were selling for in the market and opened my

mouth to answer her.

"If I remember correctly, small-class ships go for around 50,000 and

medium-class ships go for 100,000 or so."

We were able to sell off one small-class and one medium-class ship this

time. Both of them have been modified into cargo transport ships with an

emphasis on speed and cargo capacity.

"The other parts we managed to salvage, such as the main and shield

generators as well as other modules have also been sold for a nice sum.

They are also on demand right now. I think we managed to sell them all off

for about 150,000 Enels. In total, we were able to earn about 300,000 Enels

from our spoils. The bounty reward we got for the defeated pirates is about

320,000 Enels. So we were able to earn a total of about 620,000 Enels."

In addition, we were also getting a daily wage of 300,000 Enels from House

Dareinwald. We took a total of three days to hunt the pirates down, so we'll

get a total of 900,000 Enels as wage. That means we've managed to earn a

total of 1,520,000 Enels so far.

If we take off 10% from the total sales of the ships and parts as Tina and

Whisker's bonus, 1% of the total earnings as Mimi share, and 3% for Elma,

I still have about 1.4 million for my share. A fraction of that will be allotted

to the maintenance of our ships. The related expenses include the berthing

fees, everyone's food expenses, waste disposal fees, as well as purchasing

water and oxygen tanks that are needed for survival out in space.

"Hiro-san, can you support me as well, please? I may not look like it, but

I'm actually the earnest and hardworking type you know."

"I already have my hands full, Miss."

Nia peered up at my face with her fiery scarlet eyes shining brightly, and I

refused her offer with a smile. This woman is certainly a super beauty, but

something deep inside me is warning me not to get involved with her at all

costs.

"That's unfortunate."

She simply shrugged the refusal off and drew back. She probably wasn't all

that serious about it, to begin with.

"But it really looks like it would be loads of fun to be with you, Hiro-san…

Do you really not want to take me in? I'm sure there will be no shortage of

fun things in the future you know?"

"I seriously have my hands full already, Miss."

Recently, troubles come rolling in even at the mere thought of them

crossing our minds. I certainly ain't signing up for even more. And for

some reason, I get the feeling that the 'fun things' Nia was talking about has

a bit of a disturbing ring to it.

"How truly unfortunate…"

Nia let out a forlorn sigh.

"We will leave port tomorrow at 13:00 hours, colony standard time. You

guys are free to do as you like until then, so go ahead and stretch your

wings out for a bit. We'll get really busy again in three days after all."

"Understood. What are you and the other's plans though, Hiro-san?"

"Nothing's decided yet except for dinner. We'll be attending a private

dinner party in the evening. Since it's private, I'm sorry, but I can't allow

you guys to film it."

"A private dinner huh… Color me curious."

"Didn't I just tell you to refrain yourselves?"

Nia's eyes started burning brightly with curiosity again. This woman's

brazenness, or rather, shamelessness, was pretty impressive, I'll give her

that. Seriously.

I carried the mechanic sisters, who ended up falling asleep inside the

hangar, back to their room and helped Mimi out with ordering and

arranging the supplies. Before I knew it, it was already near dinnertime. I

knocked the sleeping mechanic sisters awake and shoved the drunk Elma

into a med-pod to get her sobered up. All of us then left the Black Lotus

together.

Mei opted to remain on Black Lotus. She didn't really need to eat, and since

Elma and I were accompanying everyone, there was no need for a

bodyguard either. In exchange, I inwardly promised to spoil her a lot once

we return.

Yep. Or rather, she'll be the one doing the spoiling though. It was a bit

strange, sure. But for Mei, it was one of her greatest pleasures. I really don't

get maidroids sometimes.

"We're going to have dinner with Chris-chan tonight, right?"

"We didn't really get to interact much during that celebration party after

all."

At that time, Chris attended the dinner as a representative of the earl and the

eyes of all the other party attendees were on her, so we weren't able to talk

freely with each other. This time, we're not going to an official dinner, but

instead, we're going to have a friendly dinner together with Chris in a

private room of a classy high-end restaurant.

"I'm sure Chris has it hard even now. Hiro, make sure to take good care of

her tonight, okay?"

"I was already planning on doing so in the first place."

"Oh boy. Nobles sure have it hard huh, Boss. She's still so little, but she

already has to shoulder the weight of hundreds of thousands of lives. That's

rough."

"I think so too, sis. I'm sure I would have been crushed by all the pressure

if I was in her shoes."

Actually, I hold the same opinion. As someone born into a prominent noble

house, I'm sure she's been strictly educated in their ways. But still, having

to shoulder responsibility for the lives of thousands of people and taking

command of all of them must have burdened her with a tremendous amount

of pressure. I guess I have no choice but to obediently listen to all of her

complaints tonight.

At least, that's what I thought at first. But–

"Please hug me tighter."

"Ah, yeah, alright…"

"Here you go, Chris-chan. Say a hn."

"Aaah…"

"This is delicious too."

Ten minutes later, for some reason, I ended up hugging Chris from behind

as she sat on top of my crossed legs. Meanwhile, Mimi and Whisker kept

feeding her with spoonful after spoonful of pudding and cake. The

remaining two in our little group were indulging themselves in drinking

while snacking on food that went well with alcohol.

"It looks like she's reached her limit. In various meanings."

"Sure looks like it. Well, isn't it peachy now since she has someone to spoil

her? Her eyes were practically dead when we first got here."

Chris arrived at the room we reserved for tonight first earlier. Although she

indeed arrived early, the state she was in was no joke.

We found her laying upside down on top of the tatami-like floor of the room

with eyes akin to those of dead fish. Man, that sure shocked us good. We

weren't sure what was wrong with her at first. Honestly.

When she noticed us enter the room, Chris slowly got up from the floor like

a zombie or something, silently took my hand, pulled me over to the side,

and settled herself down on top of my crossed legs. And then, she requested

to be fed tasty snacks. And so, that brings us to the current situation.

"Day in and day out. Day in and day out. Day in and day out. Petitions,

complaints, and contract requests just keep coming over and over to my

office with no end in sight. I've signed and signed and signed and signed

but there's just no end. None, none, none, none, none…"

"There, there. You don't have to think about things like those tonight, okay.

Here, let me give you some well-deserved head pats."

"Eeh… Ehehe…"

"She's really at the end of her rope huh."

"That looks bad… You wanna drink some alcohol?"

"Alcohol…"

"Don't try to make minors drink alcohol, you!"

"Ouch. Oh yeah. She's still underage huh. She doesn't really look all that

different from us, so it slipped my mind."

I picked up an edamame-like[1] snack and flicked it on Tina's forehead. I

get that she doesn't look that different from you dwarves, but Chris is still a

minor, okay. I mean, Tina and Whisker both look really young even though

they're both already adults. That's female dwarves for you.

"You really have it hard, Chris-chan…"

"Christi– Um, Chris-chan. If you're okay with me, then rely on me as much

as you want."

Whisker stopped calling Chris 'Christina-sama' and joined with Mimi in

calling her 'Chris-chan'. She then proceeded to stroke Chris's head

affectionately. I left the head pats to Whisker and focused on hugging Chris

tighter.

It took about 30 minutes for Chris to return to her usual state.