CH 379

Before we were able to enter the consultation room ourselves, the door opened on its own and Mei went out to welcome us.

“Hey there, Mei. How’re the negotiations?”

“Hello, Master. We have finished conveying our requests and were about to pick up the items we chose.”

“I see. Then let’s just focus on this matter first.”

“Alright, Master.”

Regarding that sense of hostility or murderous intent, if it’s directed solely at me, then I’m pretty sure I can deal with whatever happens. I’ve also thought of plan while we were heading here. Well, it’s nothing complicated though.

“Thank you for choosing our company, sir. My name is Terada from the Okamoto Company.”

“Hello. The ones who chose your dealership are these two though.”

I have absolutely no sense when it comes to choosing a good shop, so there’s really no need to thank me. For the time being, I accepted his holo-business card on my portable data terminal and sat down at Mei’s urging.

But Okamoto Company and Terada-san huh? There really are a lot of Japanese-sounding names here on Alein Tertius. That includes Dr. Shouko and Inagawa Technology as well. Is there some reason for this?

“Since the ones who will use the research equipment would be these ladies, Wiska and Shouko, we’ll basically just go with whatever they fancy. As for budget, I will leave it to Mei here.”

“Understood.”

“Alright, Master.”

I’ve managed to rake in quite a bit of money after all. We’ve hunted down quite a few pirates whenever we moved from place to place, and we’ve also earned quite a bit of cash from our daily payout while taking on jobs for the military. I gave my account balance a quick check and found it’s currently at about 50 million Enels. Mimi’s made pretty good earnings in trading goods, and the profit from selling off the booty that the dwarven sisters have stripped off of downed pirate ships was also considerable.

Well, even if our targets were pirates, what we did was similar to bandits pillaging others for loot. But we’ve only ever targeted pirates you know? I’m sure it we’re in the clear for doing that much.

“You should have a chamber scanner made by Shundai Metric available, right?”

“I’d also like a replicator that can make slightly larger parts……”

“We indeed do have those products in stock.”

“Then let’s renovate the space like this.”

“Oh, you also have our, I mean Inagawa Technology’s latest medical pod model in stock, right?”

The researcher, engineer, company representative, and maidroid discussed renovation plans around a large number of holo-displays that projected stuff like holograms of the Black Lotus and product catalogs. As we watched them fuss about, Kugi and I enjoyed the tea and sweets provided by the dealership’s companion gynoid. I wasn’t sure if she was manufactured by Orient like Mei though.

“These are quite delicious, My Lord.”

“Yup. The tea and snacks are pretty good.”

I don’t know just how Mei and Wiska managed to find this shop, but they had pretty good customer service. I couldn’t tell if the tea was brewed from natural tea leaves, but it was rather fragrant and didn’t seem cheap. The sweets that were provided with the tea resembled rakugan, and this was the first time I’d eaten them ever since finding myself in this dimension. They weren’t that good when eaten alone, but were pretty nice when paired with tea.

“Are Elma-sama and the others safe?”

“They’d probably be here soon.”

Just after Kugi’s question, I received a message from Elma on my portable terminal. We have to move quickly once Mimi and the others arrive here. It would be great if we could make some arrangements without a hitch.

“I’m glad you guys are okay.”

When I called out to Elma and the others when they arrived at the Okamoto Company dealership, Elma responded with an exasperated tone.

“We’re not you, so we won’t simply get in trouble inside a safe colony like this without any warning.”

“Don’t say it like that, Elma. It stings.”

When you say it like that, it directly pierces my heart.

“Are you alright, Hiro-sama?”

On the other hand, Mimi immediately expressed her concern for me. Mimi was an angel after all. Well, even if she was acting all harsh, I believe Elma was also worried about me in her own way.

By the way, Tina rushed over and checked if I was okay before I even managed to call out to them, then said ‘Alright!’ afterward. She then immediately joined in on the discussion regarding the Black Lotus renovation plan. What the heck?

“It’s not like they’ve already done something, so it’s still fine. It would be nice if it was just me being paranoid.”

As I said that, I glanced toward Kugi, and she shook her head in response. Since Kugi also felt that sense of hostility or murderous intent just like I did, it would be premature to dismiss it as me being paranoid.

“So? What are we gonna do about it? We can just go ahead and get out of here if you want.”

“Well, I at least wanna confirm the other party’s identity.”

It’s difficult to make appropriate judgments without confirming the true extent of the potential threat. We’d just laugh about it if the source was just a thug who was in over his head, but judging from the intensity of that resentment, I really feel that it ain’t that simple.

“Do you have any plans in mind, Hiro-sama? I think this situation might be dangerous.”

“I do. If it’s dangerous, then we can just outsource it.”

After saying so, I showed what was on the screen of my portable terminal. Displayed on it was information about the active security service firms in the Alein Tertius colony.

“Oh, I see. That’s definitely an option. It’ll cost us though…… Are you sure we have enough budget for it?”

“It should be fine. We can just earn some more funds later if needed.”

Because the Alein system was a high-tech system, many trade goods with high commercial value frequented its market. Due to this, pirate activity was also relatively high. Furthermore, many wealthy people tended to visit the system. That’s why the hostage business was also thriving. In other words, it was a great hunting ground for mercenaries like us.

“Let’s check them out right away then! What kind of security service company should we look for?”

“It doesn’t matter if they’re expensive to hire. Anyway, it would be nice if they had a customer service counter like this shop. Assuming that there really is a hostile party that’s going to attack us soon, it would be best if the security firm is capable of casting a net and reeling in the assailants.”

“Understood. I’ll look for those companies that satisfy those conditions then.”

After saying so, Mimi took out her tablet terminal from its pouch and began to search for info on security service firms. I should just leave it to Mimi. Then I’d just let Mei scrutinize the information later and it would be perfect.