Chapter 55: What the Heck!? How Troublesome!

“I’m not gonna let you escape.”

“Ugh……”

Three days after making our preparations for departure. We’ve mostly finished restocking the necessary equipment and supplies and completed the maintenance of the power armor. All that’s left is to set out into space again! But Major Serena suddenly barged into Krishna once more.

In civilian clothes, no less.

“This is troublesome, dear guest. My dear, dear guest, please. Ah, dear guest. Dear guest. Ah–”

‘What the heck is up with that unemotional address of yours!? Stop pushing me out! Rude! It’s utterly rude of you! I’m a daughter of the Holz marquis house you know!?”

“Tsk. How bothersome.”

“Did you just click your tongue!? Bothersome!? Me!?”

Major Serena’s expression turned livid after hearing me blurt out my true thoughts. Oh? What now? Are you gonna insist on your privilege as a noble and cut me down milady?

“Um, Hiro-sama…… That attitude is a bit too impolite, don’t you think?.”

“Hah. There’s a limit to being unafraid of the consequences……”

Seeing my blatantly rude attitude toward Major Serena, Mimi attempted to soothe me while being a bit blue in the face as Elma covered her face with one hand as she turned toward the ceiling. No, no. I don’t think I’m in the wrong here. I don’t care if she’s of noble blood and whatnot. Krishna is MY ship. And in my ship, I’m the king.

“What the heck is with you lady? I thought you said you would stop aggressively forcing me into joining the military?”

“Uguh…… Y-You’re right, but……”

“But?”

“Don’t you think it’s unfair! You three are going on a lovely resort vacation while I’m stuck here busy with work! It’s unfair! Unfair I tell you!”

Major Serena pointed her finger straight at me and raised her voice in protest. I see.

“What the heck is with this bothersome woman?”

“You said I’m bothersome again!?”

I completely ignored Major Serena’s indignant reaction and let out an exasperated sigh. I mean, I think anyone else in my position would also find her troublesome. How else would I call a person who would purposely choose the timing when we’re about to set off to pay a visit and be an absolute bother?

“How should I say this? Hiro’s unexpectedly harsh when it comes to dealing with her, huh. Even though he’s usually quite nice to women.”

“It would have been fine if she was just a military officer, but she’s also the prized daughter of a noble house. Maybe he’s worried about inviting unwanted trouble if she ever became attached to him more than necessary?”

“Atta……!? I’m not some sort of pet!”

“……But didn’t it backfire? See?”

Major Serena’s elegant way of speaking was starting to crack from anger and frustration. Seeing her like that, Mimi could only give a quiet sigh. Oi, oi. Don’t joke around. Are you saying this sort of troublesome person would actually get more attached to me the more I treated her badly? I sure hope not.

“So what do you really want from us anyway? We’d really like to go ahead and travel to the Sierra star system in order to have a vacation while hunting pirates on the side you know.”

“Well, you see…… I, uh, think that very action is improper.”

“Improper?”

“Correct. The Alein Tertius colony was just recently hit by a bioterrorism incident, and a lot of people have lost their lives. Don’t you think having a resort vacation in that sort of situation is improper?”

“I see.”

“Fufufu, so you’ve understood? If so, then please stay here and–”

“It’s got nothing to do with us. Alright lady. We’re gonna depart for the Sierra system now, so could you please get off the ship? Or rather, don’t you think trying to stop us from doing our business with that sort of arbitrary reasoning is even more improper?”

“Ah–! Ah–! No! Stop! It’s not proper to touch an unwed noble lady such as myself like this! Ah! It’s blatant disrespect! I’m gonna cut you down you know!”

“What the heck!? Will you stop that!? It’s annoying! Did you actually go drinking before coming here!?”

I kept on trying to push her out of the dining room forcibly, but Major Serena latched on to the sides of the dining room’s entrance desperately. Dammit! Can somebody get me my power armor, please!? I’m gonna toss out this stubborn tomboy off my ship!

“Geez…… Calm down already, you two. There, there.”

Elma got between me and Major Serena in order to diffuse the situation. It won’t do any good if I kept being stubborn, so I held up both hands and agreed to sit back down on a dining room chair. Mimi sat down on a chair beside mine and Elma led Major Serena to sit on the opposite side. Elma then sat right next to her.

“So I’m gonna try asking again, okay. Just what the heck do you want this time? We really want to go to our next destination now. If you can’t give me any valid reason to stop us from going on with our business, I’m gonna use my authority as the captain of this ship and have the two of them send you out, okay.”

“Uguu……”

Major Serena flinched when I gave her an annoyed glare. She turned away from me, gazed at Mimi and Elma in turn, looked up at the ceiling as if thinking of something difficult, and then shifted her face away from everyone else in the room.

“I was just so utterly envious that I couldn’t help but come to bother you all…”

“……Eh?”

“Like I said! I was jealous, so I came to be a bother! Do you have any problem with that!?”

“A crap ton!!!”

“But isn’t it unfair!? I’m stuck every single day staring at images of disgusting tentacle monster corpses and asked to attend countermeasure meetings as well as write several pages of reports. And here you are, planning to spend an enjoyable time on a resort planet for a vacation! I couldn’t help but be jealous!”

“So you literally just came to be a bother!? You’re just seriously feeling jealous, aren’t you!?”

“No, no! It’s unfair! Unfair! I also want to have a resort vacation!!!”

“So you just tossed away your pride as a soldier and noble and are now throwing a hissy fit!?”

Major Serena slapped the table repeatedly in a sulk and complained loudly. Just where did that cool, collected and beautiful military officer go, I wonder……? Don’t tell me she really did go binge drinking before coming here?

“So, to sum it up, you simply felt jealous and came to the ship in order to make trouble, right?”

Major Serena looked at me with upturned eyes and softly nodded in reply. I gave her a soft smile. She smiled back in return. I see.

“Right then. Let’s throw her out and be done with it.”

“Nooooooooo! And I finally came clean too!”

“But you just came to harass us, right!? And you expect me to feel sympathy for you!?”

I tried to pull Major Serena away from the table she was desperately clinging to. Mimi was the one who finally put a stop to our antics.

“Um, can I say something?”

“What?”

“Um, I think I now understand the reason why Lady Serena is throwing a fit. I think I can relate to her more than anyone else here actually. You’re in casual clothes, so I guess it’s your day off, right?”

“……Yes.”

“In other words, Lady Serena simply wants to take a breather, or rather, to vent out her frustrations. She just wants to spend an enjoyable time with Hiro-sama, who keeps disregarding both her standing as a military officer and as a noble lady and simply treats her as herself, right?”

“……”

Major Serena turned silent. So I guess I can take that as a ‘yes’ huh.

“Play around……?”

I’m confused. How the heck should I react to that? Should I take this ojousama out for a date in the city or something? No thanks. I somehow feel that sticking around with this woman is dangerous for some reason.

“How about we have a nice time drinking in the ship then? We can’t serve those fancy organic dishes here, but I’m sure Tetsujin can whip up something delicious regardless. I have a nice stash of alcohol ready too.”

“Oh? So that’s why I felt the cargo bay was strangely full. And you haven’t even managed to pay me even a single Enel yet y’know.”

Elma turned stiff after I made a sarcastic remark. But I have to do something like this sometimes at least, or this person would most likely totally forget about paying her debts.

“Uh, isn’t it fine? A-And you said you wanted to stay with me for as long as possible too, didn’t you?”

“Well, yeah. I guess.”

That’s true as well. Elma’s a great girl. She’s also beautiful and can act pretty cute sometimes. Not as cute as Mimi though. But Major Serena’s definitely a no-go.

“Fine. Just for today. And you owe me again for this, okay.”

“Uu…… I-I understand.”

Man. Major Serena’s debts just keep on increasing…… I hope she’s not doing this deliberately in order to get closer to me. You can never be too careful around this woman.

“Well then, now that we’ve decided on partying, let’s go at it with a bang. Let’s try to forget each other’s troubles for today at least.”

“Yes! As a matter of fact, I’ve also managed to get a lot of different foodstuffs through mail order! I’ll bring them all out!”

Mimi said something I couldn’t just ignore. So that’s why the cargo bay’s been strangely looking full lately…… Even Mimi was part of the cause. I wonder if she’s been receiving some bad influence from Elma? I felt sort of complicated after witnessing a little bit of Mimi’s growth.