Chapter 140: Transport Request and Trading

I was thinking of going out for pirate hunting again since we already sold off the loot and the captured ships, but there was a call from the Mercenary Guild about a potential client for a transport request.

“So they managed to find a client straight away even if you just arranged for it yesterday huh.”

“It’s a good thing though.”

After our usual morning workout routine, I took a quick shower. The call came through while I was busy washing the sweat off. And now, I gathered everyone to the dining room for breakfast and to talk about the details of the request. The mechanic sisters also participated in the morning workouts, and now they were dining with us as well.

“You’re actually pretty busy, boss. I wasn’t expecting it, to be honest.”

“Oh, I understand where you’re coming from, Tina-san. I was also surprised about how diligent Hiro-sama was when it came to working when I first boarded. He’s honestly such a workaholic.”

“Really?”

Mimi echoed Tina’s sentiment and I gave them both a questioning gaze. Me? Diligent? A workaholic? It’s not like I focus on work and making money every single day you know. I do take breaks for a day or two whenever we finish a job, so I don’t really think I’m a workaholic or anything.

“There’s a common image of mercenaries taking one week, or even one month breaks to play around after jobs, you know?”

“Yup. I also thought that was the case, boss.”

“Actually, I also thought it was like that at first.”

Tina and Whisker nodded to each other, and Mimi did the same.

“But if we rest for that long, we won’t be able to build up our savings, and we won’t be able to update our equipment either……”

“But there are actually lots of mercenaries like that. They do big jobs, get paid a lot, go all out until every Enel’s down the drain, and then look for more jobs again.”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s what I had in mind.”

“Compared with those mercs, Hiro can certainly be described as diligent huh. He has proper savings, and he doesn’t do a lot of meaningless spending.”

“Really…? Well, it’s not a bad thing anyway, right?”

“Yes, it’s definitely a good thing.”

Whisker agreed with my words.

And besides, I wouldn’t say I didn’t make any excess purchases. I did get forced to buy May, made the Black Lotus’s interior way too fancy, bought those novelty thermal cloaks, among other stuff. Well, it’s not like I’ve fully accustomed myself to this world yet so that might be one of the reasons why it seems I’m holding back to others. I don’t have anything else to splurge on at the moment aside from ships and equipment after all.

That’s just how it is.

“As long as you girls are with me, I have the responsibility to ensure that you aren’t wanting for anything. I can’t just slack off and leave everything up to fate now, right?”

I also have a goal I’m working toward too. I’ll purchase a detached house with a nice garden on a residential planet and drink all the carbonated stuff I can get my hands on until I get sick of em.

“You’re so responsible, boss…… Just why did you choose to become a mercenary anyway?”

“Uh, for the thrills?”

“Why did you answer a question with another question?”

Oh c’mon. Don’t sweat the small stuff Whisker. Anyway, I currently have no intention of telling the engineer sisters about my special circumstances, so I’ll just have to put aside the topic for now.

“Anyway, let’s talk about proper business now. May, if you please.”

“Yes.”

At my prompt, May put up the details of the transport request on the dining room’s holo-display. She didn’t participate in our earlier exchange at all and just silently stood behind me as she listened to us talk like certain characters with thin presences. But she wasn’t exactly the type to be inconspicuous, so she didn’t actually have a thin presence at all.

“These are the details of the request submitted by the Commerce Guild to the Mercenary Guild. It’s a request to deliver about 120 tons of supplies to the imperial military outpost in the Izrooks system.”

“Delivering supplies? To a forward base?”

“???”

I and Elma had puzzled looks on our faces. Mimi and the engineer sisters followed our lead and tilted their heads cutely as well. We basically all had question marks on top of our heads.

“What are you puzzled about, Hiro-sama?”

Elma and I exchanged gazes after hearing Mimi’s question.

“Well, uh, it’s an imperial military forward base y’know?”

“It can’t be simple if the almighty imperial military actually resorted to a civilian transport ship to deliver supplies instead of relying on themselves. And furthermore, it’s just 120 tons too. It’s certainly not a small amount, but it’s also far below what the military usually requires.”

“In other words, you guys thought we were given a request from a private company or individual, but it turns out our client is the military, so you got surprised, right boss? But it’s true that the imperial military cruisers stationed here on Brad can handle120 tons of supplies just fine. I don’t get why they would hire a private ship either.”

“Yeah, if you put it like that, it does seem a bit strange.”

The engineer sisters also began to have doubts. Mimi nodded in understanding as well.

“Or rather, what did they build a forward base there for anyway? Is the Izrooks system near the border with Vereverem?”

The Vereverem Federation is one of the galactic powers that are hostile to the Graccan Empire where we’re currently staying. We’ve also worked with the Graccan military to fight them once.

“No. The Izrooks system is located in the remote regions of the empire. It’s probably a forward base to defend against the crystal lifeforms.”

“Oh…… The crystal lifeforms huh.”

“Ugh. S-Space monsters huh……”

“Space monsters……”

Tina turned blue in the face after hearing the words ‘crystal monsters’. Whisker also looked shaken up. The so-called crystal lifeforms are silicon-based alien lifeforms that look exactly as their name suggests. They are one of the alien races regarded as space monsters that the rest of the known civilizations have not been able to effectively communicate with until now.

They made their nests on planets and asteroids that carbon-based lifeforms cannot live in, and when they detect other sentient races, they would immediately attack with high-density energy projectiles and lasers. They would also ram their large crystal-like bodies against ships in order to destroy them.

The reason for their aggression has not been discovered until now, but any carbon-based lifeform will be consumed by them and subsequently killed. There has been a lot of studies made regarding them, but so far, there have been no results worth mentioning. They were an extremely mysterious hostile alien race.

“The supplies we’ll be carrying are newly developed ammunition shells that are effective against the crystal lifeforms. They will be conducting a field test for them soon, so they want them delivered as soon as possible.”

“But isn’t that the military’s job…?”

“It seems they chose us instead because they deemed we would get there faster than their standard vessels. If you aren’t up to it, then I can turn down the request, Master.”

“No, it’s not that I’m unwilling. What do you think, guys?”

“Since it’s a request from the military, it’s relatively reliable, and the pay’s fine, so why not?”

“I think it’s fine to accept it too. And why don’t we use the remaining 60 tons of cargo space to stock up on alcohol and other luxury items? I heard that dwarven alcohol is pretty popular.”

“That’s actually not a bad idea.”

Luxury goods are usually in short supply in places like military forward bases. They may limit the amount we could sell so as to not undermine military discipline though. Oh well. We can always sell the remaining stock at another star system.

“Great suggestion, Mimi. Ya can’t beat dwarven alcohol.”

“Yes, that’s right. Our colony is more famous for shipbuilding, but there are also a lot of master alcohol brewers here.”

The locals, Tina and Whisker, were in favor of Mimi’s suggestion. Just in case, I turned my gaze toward May for confirmation. She nodded in assent.

“I think it’s a good idea as well, Master.”

“Okay then. I’ll leave stocking up on trade goods to you, Mimi. I’ll also rely on you for this type of stuff in the future as well, so do your best.”

“Yes…… Huh? E-Eeeh!?”

Mimi nodded with a smile at first, but her smile quickly froze up and she raised her voice in shock. Huh? Did I say something strange?

“Mimi’s just shocked after being dumped with such a heavy responsibility all of a sudden.”

“Eh? Heavy?”

“Of course it’s heavy. I mean, you just handed her full responsibility to purchase trade goods using your money and produce profits, right?”

“Yeah, I guess.”

Is that really so strange?

“Mimi’s not a pro or anything, so there’s a certain risk she might cause you to lose money, right?”

“That could happen, yeah.”

“In other words, she’s afraid of the possibility of using up your money and causing the venture to fail.”

“Ah, I see. So that’s what you mean by heavy responsibility huh? It’s fine y’know. I don’t really mind a loss or two from time to time.”

Of course, a loss amounting to hundreds of thousands or even millions of Enels would hurt a lot, but that won’t likely happen with 60 tons or so of trade goods anyway. Even if we end up not disposing of everything at our initial destination, we can still sell them at other systems, so it won’t be much of a problem.

“……Well, that’s just like you, I guess.”

Elma made an exasperated sigh.

“Let’s not sweat the small stuff and take it easy, alright. If we purchase specialty goods at a colony that’s relatively cheap because of an abundance of supply, at least we’d be able to almost guarantee a minimum amount of profit. And even if we made a loss, it won’t be that much. If we don’t get a good price at a certain colony, we can just try to sell them at another one. I won’t mind certain losses as long as they’re not too great, and if we make a profit selling stuff, it would be a nice bonus. I don’t mind if the profit margin isn’t all that large as well. As long as it can help with certain expenses like our daily necessities or the docking fee at ports, that would be enough for me. In other words, it’s just a bit of extra income. Pocket money, basically.”

“The scale of Boss’s definition of pocket money is just too dang grand……”

“That’s true……”

The engineer sisters had complicated expressions on their faces after hearing my explanation.

“Anyway, that’s about it, so do just your best, okay, Mimi?”

“Y-Yesh……”

Mimi had a desperate expression on her face for some reason, but she’ll probably get used to it over time. C’mon girl. It’s fine, okay.

“You don’t really need to worry that much, okay. I’ll have May support you as well.”

“Yes, please be at ease, Mimi-sama. I will help you to the best of my ability.”

I’m sure May will be able to train Mimi into a fine trader. And if Mimi accumulates achievements, she’ll get promoted much faster as well. She’ll undergo self-defense training, learn trading know-how, and continue polishing her operator skills…… I guess I should pay attention so she won’t end up overdoing things. Yep. Mimi’s an earnest girl, so she might get a little bit too eager and bite off more than she could chew.

“I’ll help out too, so don’t worry.”

“U-Understood. I’ll be in your care, May-san, Elma-san.”

“Yes.”

“Mm.”

“And I’ll just sit back and wait for that additional income to come rolling in.”

“How sleazy……”

“Hey, I can manage the trading stuff too y’know. But it’s the captain’s job to assign appropriate tasks to the crew, right?”

I’ve dabbled in trading in SOL as well, so I’d probably be able to do it here as well if I had the mind to. It’s basically just a matter of finding out which goods are cheap and which are in short supply in the various star systems.

“You can use my money as you see fit, so please select appropriate items for trade. Here’s a piece of advice. If we’re selling stuff to the military, limit the amount of cheap alcohol. Make alcohol of standard quality the main products and about 10 to 20% should be dedicated to luxury brands.”

Because military officers have relatively good salaries, they have some leeway when it comes to spending money. That’s why they’d most likely prefer alcohol of a certain quality compared to cheap ones. We can probably sell luxury brands to the higher-ranking officers. But if we’re selling at a colony or space station, quantity tends to be preferred compared to quality.

“U-Understood.”

“May, please go ahead and inform the other party that we accept the request. And I’ll count on you to support Mimi as well.”

“Certainly.”

“How about us, boss?”

“There’s nothing, in particular, I want you guys to do for the time being. But we’ll be leaving the colony soon, so if you have any unfinished business left here, you better settle them first. We won’t know how long it’ll be before we come back here again after all.”

“Understood.”

“I’ll start making preparations for departure then.”

“Please do. I’ll go over the equipment again and confirm the route. Okay then. Dismissed.”

The girls went off to do their own thing.

Well then, I guess it’s goodbye to the Brad system for now. I was half-expecting to meet Major Serena again in some fashion actually, but I guess we’re too far away. We did make use of the gateway after all.

But I can’t say for sure though. Maybe the moment I let down my guard, she’d appear just like that…… If I didn’t know better, I’d even suspect she was chasing after me. Uh, actually, I can’t really discard that possibility.

We’re going to an imperial forward base next too. But Major Serena was in charge of hunting down pirates, so there’s probably a low chance we’ll encounter her there.

We won’t, right? Right? Yeah, I’m sure we won’t. Yep.