Relax Time

I woke up from the sensation of something poking my cheek.

What greeted me was a familiar ceiling. It was the ceiling of my

bedroom in Black Lotus. I felt warmth on both sides of my body. Ah,

that's right. I slept together with Tina and Whisker last night huh. So it

was probably one of the sisters who was poking my cheek. I gently

grabbed the thing poking my cheek while being careful not to wake up

the two sleeping next to me.

Hm? What's this?

"…A foot?"

It was actually a small foot that was poking my cheek. Fumu. It was

small and cute but surprisingly not that squishy. Perhaps it's due to all

the work she does standing on her feet? But she sure has a bad sleeping

posture… So this is Tina's foot huh?

"Nn… Is it time to get up already?"

Surprisingly, I heard Tina's voice from the opposite direction of the foot

I grabbed. When I turned toward where the voice came from, I found

Tina, whose eyes were still half-asleep, adjusting her head's position on

top of my arm. So that means the owner of this foot was actually–

"Foot… Whisker sure has some bad sleeping habits."

"I think that's an understatement."

Just how did the position of her head and her legs get reversed while

we were sleeping? Whisker seemed the more sensible of the two, but

she can also get pretty weird sometimes.

"Let's just ignore Whisker for now. Mornin' Boss."

"Good morning, Tina."

I couldn't move my upper arm since she was using it as a pillow, so I

just bent my elbow a bit in order to touch Tina's hair with my fingertips.

Yeah, I just barely reached her head. Since I was only barely touching

her, I couldn't actually pat her head. I settled for running my fingertips

through her hair.

"Mou, can't be helped."

Tina rubbed her cheek on my arm. Was she imitating a cat or

something? Well, it was cute, so there's no problem. Now then, I

suppose we better get up now.

"Oh, that was so embarrassing…"

"That was just how Whisker actually is y'know."

"Big Sis…"

We were now inside the dining hall of Black Lotus. Whisker was sitting

side by side with her sister and glared daggers at Tina. The two of them

seemed to have ordered the same breakfast set. They really were very

close sisters.

"You guys sure are lively so early in the morning."

Elma was sitting beside me and watched the two's banter listlessly. She

didn't look all that energetic, but that's probably because she drank her

fill of alcohol last night again. Her breakfast set was unusually light, so

she really might be feeling a bit under the weather. She regularly ate

heavy stuff like steak and mashed potato for breakfast after all.

"Are you okay, Elma-san?"

Mimi, who was sitting next to me as well, anxiously called out to Elma

in concern. Her breakfast set was, as always, that sweet porridge-like

cereal meal. She actually told me the name of the dish a while back, but

I was unfamiliar with it and eventually forgot. It was kyuke-somethingor-other.

"It's unusual for you to be that sick in the morning."

"The liquor I drank last night was probably too poor in quality, I think?

It was a waste not to drink it though, but I ended up getting a nasty

hangover… My head hurts."

"Why don't you head to the medical bay after having breakfast?"

"Nn…"

Elma leaned against me and groaned in response. Was she feeling so

sick that she couldn't muster a proper reply? It might be better to just

finish up breakfast straight away and take her to the medical bay.

"Poor-quality alcohol huh?"

Tina, who was sitting across from us, grinned cheekily as she looked at

Elma. Whisker was also gazing at Elma warmly as well.

"…What?"

"Oh, nothin'. I ain't implyin' anythin', okay?"

"Heading to the medical bay is good, but I think it would be nicer for

you to head to the break space and spent some alone time with Big

Brother instead. You'd be able to rest and recover better that way."

Elma glared at the grinning Tina, but Whisker quickly mediated the

situation. Fumu, I ain't that dense, so I already had an idea of what was

going on. But maybe it would be better to spoil Elma by pretending I

haven't noticed.

"Alright then. I think I'll head over and relax with Elma just like you

suggested."

"I'm going to Krishna's cockpit and train using the simulator."

"We're gonna work on writin' the periodic report we're gonna hand

over to the company."

"Right."

Mimi had already finished her training as an operator, so she was now

starting training on how to work as a sub-pilot. She also needed to

study reference materials and digital textbooks when it comes to

training on how to become a qualified sub-pilot, but getting actual

experience through a simulation was also important. She had been

heading to Krishna's cockpit whenever she had free time lately.

As for the mechanic sister's report. They seem to have finished the

restoration of the foreign high-speed combat ship that we salvaged

during the operation to destroy the Red Flags, and now they were

putting together a report about its particulars to send to their employer,

Space Dwerg.

Well, we were currently taking it easy like this, and the reason was that

we were waiting for our turn to use the gateway.

We were caught up in a maliciously induced crystal lifeform swarm on

our way here, but we ended up getting through it safely and finally

made it to the Eineolus system where the gateway was located.

So I brought out the gateway usage license personally granted by His

Majesty the Emperor in order to get approval to use the gateway, but

it's not like we can go through it immediately just like that.

After all, it was a device that could transport matter tens of thousands

of lightyears ahead in practically an instant. Since it used a great deal of

energy in order to do so, a certain amount of time and effort is required

to activate it. Even if you had a special permit handed by the emperor, it

doesn't mean that you can perform a jump immediately after applying.

In other words, it was more efficient for multiple ships to perform a

jump rather than sending them out one by one, so you had to wait for a

certain number of ships heading to the same system before a departure

clearance is authorized. And that's why people often used the Eineolus

system as a rest stop and dropped quite a bit of money their way. Of

course, it wasn't like they implemented such a system with only profit

in mind, but it was still working out pretty well for them.

"Okay. We're finished with breakfast, so let's head to the break room to

relax, shall we?"

"Nn… Carry me."

"Yes, yes, here we go."

Mimi gestured to me signaling that she'll take care of cleaning up, so I

princess carried Elma, who was now in full 'Spoil Me Rotten' mode, and

headed to the break room as planned.

Sheesh. This one sure is one handful of a princess.