CH 304

“Thanks for all the hard work. I’m Whisker. We contacted you earlier.”

“I’m Tina. Here are our IDs.”

“Thank you.”

We finally arrived at the Space Dwerg Co. Ltd. branch office that sported their strangely corny company logo, and for the time being, we decided to take a step back and let Tina and Whisker handle arranging things with the receptionist. The sight of two small girls who looked quite young and a gruff but equally small uncle interacting politely with each other was a bit strange, but it certainly felt like they weren’t playing around and was pretty formal. All of them were proper adults after all.

“Is that gentleman the owner?”

“Right. That’s the shipowner, Captain Hiro. He’s a Platinum-ranked mercenary and a new rising hero of the empire who personally got awarded by His Imperial Majesty with the Gold Star.”

“He’s also an honorary imperial viscount, so please mind your manners when interacting with him.”

“But, of course. He’s here for a consultation, right?”

After saying so, the male dwarven receptionist turned his gaze toward me. Tina and Whisker have already informed Space Dwerg about today’s visit, so they already know the details.

“Sorry for the wait, everyone. Please follow me.”

Soon after, a female dwarf dressed in a so-called business suit appeared and led the way for us. I’ve already seen it a couple of times before, but even so, disregarding the stern-faced bearded male dwarf, the female dwarves who looked decidedly like junior-high-school or even primary school students wearing formal business suits kinda felt like they were cosplaying or something…… However, most dwarven women were merely short in height. The other parts that were supposed to grow were suitably ample and this made them weirdly sexy in a way. They really were such a strange race. You can sense the vast mysteries of life just by observing them.

“Hey Boss, d’ya prefer that sorta dress?”

“Do you want us to wear one next time?”

“Pipe down, you two.”

They may have lowered their voices, but other people might still hear them after all.

“Hmmm?”

“Mm, we haven’t really tried wearing those types of clothes before.”

The other ladies at the back were whispering among themselves as well. C’mon guys. We’re gonna be talking about some serious business today, alright? I apologize for giving the dwarven lady walking ahead of us – who hopefully hasn’t noticed the ruckus we were making – a rude look, okay? So please drop this topic already.

We continued walking and eventually boarded something resembling an elevator. After a few minutes, we finally reached a pretty posh-looking reception office.

“Excuse me, sir. I’ve brought Hiro-sama and his party over.”

“Good work. Please bring out some refreshments for the guests.”

“Right away.”

“Please, have a seat, everyone.”

The Space Dwerg employees waiting inside the office urged us to take our seats, so we took them up on their offer and promptly made ourselves comfy. I sat right in the middle of our group, right across from the Space Dwerg employees. On my left-hand side were Elma and Mimi. Tina and Whisker sat to my right. Mei stood right behind me as always.

“I’m his maid, so I shall remain standing here.”

“Will…… Will that be fine?”

A male dwarf who seemed to be the main facilitator on the Space Dwerg side inquired, so I nodded in response. If Mei herself has decided on doing so, then I have nothing to say. Shortly after, the female employee who had been instructed to bring out refreshments came back with a pitcher and glasses. She then began pouring drinks for everyone.

Hm? The drink was composed of a slice of fruit submerged in iced water. Was it something like fruit juice or lemonade? If they used natural fruits, then this beverage would be quite a luxury item.

“Alright then. Let’s go ahead and get on with the discussion. I like to get straight to the point when it comes to stuff like this.”

“Of course. First, let us introduce ourselves. My name is Ergot and I will be the main representative of our company in this negotiation. And this lovely lady is Teresa from our technical department.”

Teresa, who was introduced by Mr. Ergot, silently bowed to us. Mr. Ergot was…… Err, it was really hard to tell the ages of dwarven males. Though judging from his voice, I think he should be in his thirties or forties, but that’s just an unreliable guess. Teresa was a dwarven lady, but it was equally hard to tell her age from her appearance alone. However, seeing that she was quite calm and composed, she seemed to be older than Tina and Whisker.

“Nice to meet you. I’m Hiro, a mercenary. I don’t plan on flaunting my honorary viscount title around, so just treat me as your regular old mercenary please.”

We only bought their latest mothership model at a bargain price, took an interview once, and occasionally provided some operational feedback data, so we probably weren’t regarded as big customers for Space Dwerg. It would be a different story if we made bulk orders or accepted a lot of requests from Space Dwerg.

“No, no. You are regarded as a very important customer by our company, Hiro-sama. Due to your resounding feats, the sales of our motherships are on the rise, and according to the latest report, the orders are ramping up at an astonishing rate. Modifying the mothership as a heavily armed transport carrier is a really novel idea. Thanks to your example, plans for an attack-type transport ship with improved cargo capacity while maintaining ample firepower are being drafted–”

“Ahem.”

It looks like he was about to spout some classified info. Teresa-san cleared her throat loudly and stopped Ergot’s rambling.

“A-Ahahaha…… L-Let us move on with the discussion then. Whisker and Tina’s reports have already been analyzed by our engineering department.”

“The contents were quite interesting. You want to sell a restored sample along with the leftover parts to us, correct?”

“That’s the plan. I think this deal will benefit both of us.”

On our end, we’ll be able to sell off a ship with a dubious origin. Space Dwerg, on the other hand, will get their mitts on a complete machine sporting lots of tech that they probably don’t have, and even if the original manufacturer’s company were to try and sniff around for the ship’s acquisition route, they’d have no choice but to give up in frustration. Furthermore, the ship’s control system software was in practically perfect condition.

Of course, several layers of security measures would have been applied so it won’t be easily analyzed by other parties, but since that thing was originally employed by the Red Flag pirates, those security measures should have long been taken down. I expect the analysis would be completed relatively early if they had the help of an AI consultant, and once that’s done, Space Dwerg’s research on small-class high-speed combat ships that hasn’t been going well until now will probably get a major boost. It really was a good deal that benefited both our parties.

“So how much are you willing to pay?”

“Actually, if you have a proposal in mind, I’d like to hear it first, sir.”

“I’d prefer hearing how much of a price you’d pay for the goods myself too. I guess you can say the one who quotes a price first would be at an advantage in this sort of situation, don’t you think?”

“It depends, I suppose. Then how about this? Let us quote a price simultaneously. If ours is higher, then we’ll finalize the deal immediately. If yours is higher, we’ll proceed with further negotiations. What do you think, Hiro-sama?”

“Is that really okay with you? You’d be giving up the chance to drive the price lower, you know?”

“A-Ahahaha, you must be joking, Hiro-sama. How could we ever……”

Ergot’s forehead started breaking into a cold sweat. What’s up with him? Err, can you cut it out, man? What’s with that attitude? It’s like he’s absolutely terrified of me getting upset or something. I’m not that sort of troublesome customer, okay. I think. Well, there was the time when Whisker crashed into me and that time when I got pissed at those mass media folks, but those incidents were clearly Space Dwerg’s fault, alright?

“Alright. Let’s do it.”

“Of course. Well then……”

Mr. Ergot raised three fingers and gradually reduced it to one.

“7,500,000.”

“12,000,000.”

I quoted a price of 7.5 million while the other party offered 12 million. Hmm. It’s higher than I thought.

“Well, that was a bit of a surprise. But if you’re alright with that, then sure.”

“Yes. We’ll go with this price then. Oh, and we’d have Whisker-kun and Tina-kun stay with us for a few days to hand over the data they’ve collected so far. Would that be fine with you?”

“I don’t mind, but limit their working time to eight hours a day at most, alright? It seems they were forced to go on lots of overtime when we visited your branch in the capital a while back. That was a bit too much.”

Back then, the two of them looked quite haggard when they returned to us…… There’s no way I’d allow them to become like that again.

“Also, the both of them do work for Space Dwerg, but I treat them as my family. If something happens to them while they’re here…… You get it, right?”

“W-Wahaha…… Of course, sir.”

“Just to be clear, I’m not saying they should be treated specially. It’s just that I see them as part of my crew. I just want you to keep that in mind.”

I think this is enough hinting. Well, we’ve already advanced to that sort of relationship anyway, so I think this much is justified. Oh, there’s one more thing I almost forgot to mention.

“That ship is gonna be sold to you for 12 million, so the two of them have a share of 3.6 million. Just give them 1.8 million each.”

“””Eh!?”””

There were three people who raised their voices in bewilderment. The first two were, of course, Tina and Whisker. The last one was Teresa-san.

“Err, um, 1.8 million?”

“I’ve entered into a contract with them. They’re entitled to 30% of the profits gained from ships we manage to capture.”

I shrugged my shoulders nonchalantly as I replied to Teresa-san. Mr. Ergot’s mouth hung open in shock. It looks like he was really surprised. As for Tina and Whisker…… Oh, they have that derpy distant look in their eyes again.

“Was there really a need to mention that now, Boss?”

“Money is power y’know. If something happens, I’ll just whack the other party with a ton of money. Also, this clearly shows how much I value you, girls, right?”

“That’s…… true, I suppose.”

Whisker let out a soft sigh. Well, we’ve only been involved with Space Dwerg’s Windas system branch for just a few days. It might have made the other party uncomfortable, but with this, I’ve strongly impressed that it would be really bad if they messed with the sisters.

“Well, that’s that, I guess. Let’s talk about the ship’s transfer procedures and these two’s shift schedule next, shall we?”

“Yes……”

I proceeded with more detailed discussions with Mr. Ergot, who looked like his soul was seeping out of his body from the pressure. Anyway, this should do it for our business with Space Dwerg. It’s not like I’m not curious about why they quoted such a high price, but since they’re the ones who proposed it, I’ll more than gladly take it. I’ll put the extra money to good use as funds for purchasing Elma’s new ship.