CH 302

I sat down on the large sofa set up in the spacious break room, placed Elma’s head on top of my lap, and started patting it. I then began looking up info using my portable data terminal. We’ve decided on which star system we’ll head to next using the gateway, but we haven’t decided on our specific itinerary after we arrive there.

“What are you looking up there?”

“Hm? I’m checking out a list of advanced tech companies based in the Windas system.”

Elma moved her head to look up at my face directly, so I tried to show her my terminal screen, but she shoved my arm to the side and continued quietly staring at me.

“Why are you checking out your data terminal when you have me lying on top of your lap?”

“Uwaah. Just look at you. Being all troublesome. But it’s cute, so I like it.”

“And just what do you mean by me being troublesome?”

I gently stroked the pouting Elma’s head and threw my data terminal to the side. She’s in full ‘Spoil Me Rotten’ mode after all, so I suppose I’ll just play along.

“Well, you’ve always been taking good care of me, Elma. So I’ll be completely at your disposal today milady.”

“Yes, yes, that’s it. That’s how this is supposed to go.”

Elma, who was acting all smug and self-satisfied, was really too darn cute. Now then, how should I go about this? Well, we had plenty of time, so let’s just play it by ear and do whatever comes to mind.

I used the data terminal to adjust the settings of the break room a little, activating the holo-display, and playing a holo-video of forest scenery complete with relaxing audio.

“……Your taste is like that of an old man. It even feels like moss will grow on me.”

“Fine then. You want me to put on Mimi’s death metal playlist instead?”

“No, you dummy.”

Oh, and by the way, Mimi doesn’t exclusively listen to death metal and rock you know. Some of the tunes are certainly weird from my point of view, but she actually has a pretty wide selection of music tracks under various genres. It’s just that Mimi’s sensibilities were rather, um, unique.

“C’mon. Even if it’s old-fashioned, it helps you relax, right? I think one of the greatest luxuries of life is to spend time whiling away like this without doing anything in particular.”

“Perhaps.”

Afterward, I spent time relaxing while flirting around with Elma. She really was absurdly cute.

After waiting for a few more days, we were finally cleared for departure to the Windas system.

Eh? How did I spend these past few days? Do you even need to ask? I had plenty of fun with everyone inside Black Lotus, of course. We’ve constantly been on edge for quite a while before getting here after all. Since we now had the opportunity to relax, we really capitalized on it.

Well, let’s set that topic aside for now and talk about our new destination, the Windas system. It was actually quite close to the capital and held the largest concentration of shipyards, weapon factories, and dealers in the entire empire. Even the central HQ of the imperial military was in the Windas system, and it was regarded as one of the foremost military and economic hubs in the Graccan empire.

It held a pretty great geographical advantage (even though we’re in space). Its asteroid belt and resource planets held an abundance of mineral raw materials. Many of the neighboring systems connected to it via hyperlane also produced abundant quantities of rare metals and other raw materials. Windas system also housed quite a few habitable planets. Add the fact that it was close to the imperial capital, and you had the perfect recipe for massive development.

“Mm, the military’s central HQ huh……”

I muttered while looking at the info of our next destination on the holo-display while lounging inside the break room.

“Will we get to meet up with that person again?”

“Timing-wise, I wouldn’t be surprised if we did, actually.”

Mimi and Elma, who were sitting on the same sofa as I was and looking at the information, displayed bitter smiles and shrugged their shoulders in resignation.

As for who we’re referring to, well, it’s our lovable newly promoted Col. Serena after all. It seemed we have some sort of mysterious connection after all. The one who led the subjugation operation against the Red Flags was her, and it’s been several weeks since that operation got concluded. She should have already made her report to the top brass in the military, so it wouldn’t be strange if she and her men were now in the middle of replenishing their supplies and performing maintenance on their ships and equipment.

“Well, it’s no use worrying about something like that now, I guess. If we meet her again, then it’s business as usual…… That’s what I think, at least.”

“Yeah. I’m already pretty sure we’ll encounter her again though.”

“There’s this nagging feeling that would be the case, right, Elma-san?”

“How many times have we had this sort of conversation again?”

Honestly, it was a great mystery how we keep meeting up with Col. Serena despite the vastness of space. Even I was starting to believe there was some sort of fate between us. Well, it wasn’t absolutely set in stone that we’ll be meeting each other again this time though.

“So, this time’s Ms. Main Lead. Do you already have ships you’re eyeing in mind?”

“Nn, I have a few picks. But you’ll be the one with the final say regarding which one we’ll get in the end anyway, right, Hiro?”

“Well, yeah, I suppose. I do have some plans in mind, but we can’t make concrete decisions before getting there after all.”

“That’s true. We have Tina and Whisker with us this time, so it would be good to hear their professional opinions as well.”

“I see. I’ve also been studying up a lot, but I guess I still have plenty more to learn huh.”

“You can’t look solely at the spec sheet when choosing a ship after all. You’ll have to take things like weight balance, thruster positioning, and ease-of-use into account as well. It’s certainly important for you to get experience handling all sorts of ships using the simulator, Mimi. But it’s crucial for you to get real hands-on experience as well.”

We have several goals for coming to the Windas system, but one of our main reasons for going there was to find and buy a new ship for Elma’s use.

Considering the long term, it would be nice to prepare a ship for Mimi as well. But the hangar of the Lotus can only accommodate up to two small-class ships. If we want Mimi to have her own ship as well in the future, then we might need to consider replacing our mothership. Well, it wasn’t time for something like that yet anyway.

“But we’re not just buying a ship this time, right?”

“Yeah. I also want to buy a lightweight power armor model. Honestly, I don’t want to go through something like that again, but…… you never know after all.”

Memories of me getting dropped in the middle of a planet being terraformed and attacked by bioengineered monsters came flooding back. Since our enemy back then was formerly an imperial noble, it was difficult to finish him off without using swords. However, only I and then-Lt. Col. Serena were able to fight with swords back then. That’s why I ended up fighting with a bloodthirsty bioengineered monstrosity without using power armor but only my own flesh body. It was seriously insane. I don’t really wanna go through that again.

Anyway, I wanted to steer clear of incidents like that from now on, but the possibility of getting caught up in something similar wasn’t zero. I had the money and extra storage space anyway, so I wanted to buy power armor that would allow me to still wield my swords.

However, I wasn’t sure if there really was a power armor model that meets my needs. Many among the nobles like the Drawn Sword faction strengthen their bodies through advanced biotechnology and cybernetics, so they basically don’t bother using power armor in the first place. Also, most power armors weren’t able to defend against attacks made by the exclusive weapon of nobles, the monomolecular sword.

“I wonder if we’ll actually find anything good though.”

“It would be better to fight without one than wearing unsuitable power armor after all.”

“He can definitely do it if it’s Hiro-sama.”

“C’mon guys. I’m not that special…… Actually, I really can’t say that huh. Sheesh.”

My perception of the flow of time slows down to a crawl whenever I hold my breath, and I end up performing feats that no normal human was capable of. Recently, I also felt like my instinct toward sensing danger was getting sharper and sharper.

I wonder what’s happening with me? Was I leveling up or something? Should I try opening a status window?

『Master, we’ll be going through the gateway soon.』

“Roger. I’ll leave the navigation to you.”

『Yes, please leave it to me.』

The screen switched from displaying the information of the Windas system to a real-time image of the huge gateway. Yep. It sure was absurdly gigantic. It was even comparable in terms of sheer size to that Mother Crystal we managed to bring down back then. Maybe it was even bigger? I wasn’t too sure. Anyway, it was big. Very, very big.

『Commencing advance.』

Intense light gathered at the center of the gateway, and a huge distortion in space was formed. It seemed to be an artificially generated wormhole or something. I don’t get the detailed theory and mechanics of the gateways at all, but in any case, we’ll soon pass through one and come out to a place thousands of lightyears away in practically an instant. I don’t get it, but it’s fine as long as it works!

We proceeded forward along with the other ships heading to the Windas system and successfully entered the artificial wormhole created by the gateway.

Onward to a new land.