Chapter 244: Exposed

After the dinner banquet, our group returned to our room and sat in a circle on top of the futons laid on the floor for an impromptu meeting. Due to our request, we were all assigned to a single spacious room. We had them lay out futons and planned to sleep while huddled together tonight. Well, I, the sole male of the group, was scheduled to sleep in a lonely corner of the room though.

“So what the heck was that all about anyway?”

“I have no idea myself you know. Just like I told you, I was only ever taught the very basics of magic. Judging from what they were saying earlier, it looks like you have the potential to master magic at a fairly high level, Hiro. I’m not sure just to what extent though.”

“Do you have any idea about it, Mei-san?”

“Regrettably, no. There are many aspects of psionic technology we AI fail to comprehend even now, so our research regarding the subject has not progressed for a while.”

Mei calmly explained with her usual deadpan expression. She had a blank expression on her face, but I’m pretty sure she was making her stern look right now.

“We sisters are certified born and bred imperial folks too, so don’t look at us, Boss.”

“We know that elves use magic, but that’s about it. There seems to be a space empire that specializes in making use of psionic technology, but it’s pretty far away.”

“Yeah. It’s that holy empire or whatever its name was. I ain’t that familiar with it too.”

“I see. Oh well.”

“You’re not gonna care about it anymore, just like that?”

“No matter how you slice it, this matter just reeks of trouble. I don’t really care about my true origin and whatnot, so I’ll just ignore it. It’s not like I’m troubled about something like that right now anyway.”

It’s a different story if this strange force inside my body was making me sick or was running out of control and harming the others around me, but there are no signs of that so far. The mysterious effects I’m aware of were my being able to understand, speak, and write all the languages I’ve encountered so far without the need for a language translator implant, and being able to alter my perception by holding my breath so that the things around me would appear to be moving in extreme slow motion.

It’s too risky to delve into something that one doesn’t fully understand. It’s not like I desperately want to find out about my strange abilities, and I don’t particularly wanna power myself up either. I admit I got a little interested when Elma gave me a magic demonstration last time, but I don’t wanna stir up the hornet’s nest more than this.

“It’s kinda weird. Are you actually scared or something?”

After saying so, Elma turned her gaze toward me.

“I am. I’m not even sure just how exactly I got sent into this dimension in the first place. Now it kinda feels like things are way bigger than I bargained for, don’t you think? Of course, I’m gonna feel uneasy.”

“Hmm…… By the way, what did ya mean by getting sent into this dimension, Boss? What’s up with that?”

“””Ah…”””

I, Elma, and Mimi all cried out at the same time. Come to think of it, I never properly told the mechanic sisters about my origins, huh. Now that I’ve been noticed by the elven higher-ups, I guess there’s no use keeping it from the sisters anymore.

“Ok, there’s no meaning in hiding anything now anyway. I’ll tell you guys everything.”

And so, I told them about how I came to this dimension in full detail. In any case, I just suddenly found myself stranded here, so there’s not much to say. Like I said earlier, I don’t even know how exactly I got sent here, and my memories just before waking up in this dimension were still quite fuzzy. I kinda remember dozing off with the PC still running SOL and crawling to my bed to sleep, but apart from that, I was completely stumped. But that just might be a misconception on my part, and there was a chance that those memories were actually implanted in me by, uh, someone or something.

“And so, that’s why I’ve been hiding the possibility that I might not be a person from this reality from you both. At least, I’m not according to what I remember.”

“Wahaah…… So that’s it. So in your head, Boss, it’s like you got suddenly shoved inside a holo-game or somethin’.”

“Or a world similar to the game I played, at least. As far as I remember, alien races like elves and dwarves weren’t present in SOL, the game I played. Naturally, Space Dwerg didn’t appear in it too. That goes for advanced independent AI as well. They do have some things common between them, but the more time I spend in this dimension, the more things I encounter that don’t exactly match with SOL’s game world.”

“It’s a very mysterious story…… It’s like you’re the protagonist of a holo-novel, big brother.”

“Ara, I think Hiro already serves the part of a holo-novel protagonist even without the otherworlder angle mixed in though.”

“He did climb up to Platinum-rank at an unbelievably fast speed, after all. He managed to get awarded a Gold Star as well.”

For some reason, everyone’s gazes focused on me. Nothing will come out no matter how much you guys stare at me y’know.

“It’s true that I’m now a Platinum-ranker and a Gold Star recipient, but in the end, I’m just a merc who’s pretty confident in my skills. That’s how I feel anyway.”

“There are no other mercenaries who are both Platinum-rank and a Gold Star recipient, you know. Furthermore, you’re also someone whose skills are officially recognized by the emperor after your performance in the tournament where you even beat nobles in swordsmanship duels.”

“That’s right, isn’t it?”

“Yeah.”

“Yep.”

“Certainly.”

“Aaah, I’m not hearing anything. That’s why I’m saying I don’t need troublesome stuff like the title of hero or a mysterious power I don’t freaking understand. I absolutely don’t want to get involved in any of that. Just where am I heading toward with these kinds of developments anyway? Don’t tell me I’m destined to be a hero who’s meant to save the universe from evil or something like that?”

I definitely don’t want any part in that. I just wanna keep flirting with everyone, drink cola, and live a relaxed and carefree life. A little thrill every once in a while is more than enough for me. Once I get my hands on cola, I’d be living my ideal life. The main reason I want to live on a planet is that it’s the only place I can freely enjoy cola after all. If I can drink cola in my current living environment, then there’s no reason for me to get fixated on a detached house on a residential planet.

“But wouldn’t it be possible for you to predict the future using your knowledge from the game?”

Whisker inquired with shining eyes. She was probably asking about me being able to predict events that would endanger the universe or something like that, and that’s why her eyes were shining in anticipation.

“It’s not like I can’t, but there’s no guarantee the events I know will actually happen here.”

“Eh! You can!?”

“Really!?”

“Ya sure, Boss!?”

Elma, Mimi, and Tina all raised their voices in shock. Well, yeah. But I only experienced the ones I knew of through in-game events, and we kinda resolved everything before the crises really worsened back in the game.

“First, there’s the crystal lifeforms. I was able to participate in the first contact, defense battle, investigation, and extermination events in the game.”

“Come to think of it, it was my first time seeing something like a Mother Crystal in that last military operation we participated in.”

“I actually leaked information about it to Lt. Col. Serena. It was great that we were able to get rid of it quickly.”

“You’re already saying something totally outrageous right off the bat, Boss…… Anythin’ else?”

“There was an event where we encountered ravenous space monsters. It was a huge swarm of monsters that were as large as an average small-class starship. They were individually weak as heck, but there were a whole lot of them. They’d latch onto a colony directly when given the chance and would proceed to devour it and everything in it.”

“””Uwaaah……”””

“By the way, the remains of devoured colonies will eventually serve as their new nests, and that makes it possible for them to proliferate quite fast.”

Yeah, that sure was a nasty event. More than a few colonies ended up becoming infested, so we had to reduce all of them to space dust without leaving anything behind.

“H-how did you even get through that?”

“Just like the crystal lifeforms, there were larger ones among them which controlled the rest of the swarm. You can liken the small ones to mere access terminals for the large ones. So as long as we finished off the large ones, the small ones would eventually self-destruct. But until we discovered that little detail, we had a really bad time trying to repel them. Eventually, we dealt with them by sending in large-class ships with plenty of firepower directly in the middle of the swarm using FTL Drives to engage the large-types and crushed them with concentrated fire.”

“And that event will possibly also happen here……?”

“No idea. It’s possible an event like that already happened somewhere in the wide universe in a place we don’t know of and has already been resolved, so I can’t really say for sure. If we eventually encounter the need to make use of the knowledge I have in my head, we’d probably face them as well. Considering our luck, it won’t be good to dwell on something like that any further.”

“That’s true. There’s no reason to get so hung up on something that hasn’t happened yet, so let’s just forget about the matter.”

“T-That’s right.”

“Do you have anything else for us, Boss? I’m really interested in tech and stuff like that.”

“Ah, I’m curious about that as well.”

“Un, I wonder if my knowledge in SOL can serve as references for you guys.”

I obliged the mechanic sisters and told them all the ship and parts-related knowledge I knew. Before we knew it, it was already pretty late in the night. I guess it was time to call it a day and go to sleep. We’ll be visiting the various sights of planet Theta tomorrow after all. Staying up late is no good.

“Eeeh?”

“I’m gonna talk to you guys more about that stuff later, okay……”

“You promise?”

Apparently, my story really resonated with the mechanic sisters and made it hard for them to fall asleep. You guys always emphasize that you’re full-grown adults, so act like one and obediently go to sleep, please……

By the way, I was supposed to sleep in a corner of the room but ended up right in the middle of the ladies anyway. Specifically, I was sandwiched between the mechanic sisters.

C’mon guys. I won’t run away so there’s no need to sandwich me between the two of you.