Chapter 205: 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.