Sleeping Princess

The Sierra Prime colony looked to be the same torus-type colony as the

Termaine Prime colony where I, Mimi, and Elma met each other... but

it was a bona fide tire-shaped supercolony with high-performance

mobile elevators and a large-scale low-gravity port block.

It was considerably larger compared to Termaine Prime, and the

number of 'tire spokes' as well as the tire-shaped ring section's

thickness were at least two times that of Termaine Prime. Just how

many tens of thousands of people can this thing accommodate?

"It resembles Termaine Prime colony a lot."

"They're the same colony type after all. But the interior facilities are

worlds apart."

Mimi and Elna were talking with each other, but Mimi's voice lacked its

usual liveliness. She may have been hit by a wave of nostalgia after

seeing a colony that resembled the one she was from.

"Mimi, send out a docking request."

"Ah, yes!"

Mimi followed my instructions and sent out a docking request to the

port administration of the Sierra Prime colony. After a short while, a

reply from the port administration was sent back. We were allowed to

dock inside hangar number thirty-two.

"Yosh, let's go. And we should pay attention to driving safely."

"I guess. Drive safely huh."

Elma's gaze seemed like it was aimed at something far away. I guess it's

because she was reminded of the debt she incurred when she caused an

accident a while back. Well, it's not like all fault lies with her… Nah, as a

matter of fact, it kinda does huh. Yeah, it definitely does. Come to think

of it, just what kind of treatment does that type of spaceship with a fatal

defect receive in this dimension? If it were a car, then every unit would

definitely have to be recalled. I'll look it up later.

Now then, even though there was a lot of traffic in this port, we were

able to successfully dock without causing any type of accident. Well, I

guess this was just a piece of cake for someone experienced like me.

Most of the newbies in Stella Online couldn't really dock their

spaceships all that well at first and spend their time flitting

precariously here and there, scrape their bottoms on the walls,

mistakenly going in reverse and hitting something or other, among all

sorts of clumsy blunders.

Once you're a bit more experienced, docking safely inside a hangar

becomes second nature. Just like me. Well, in other words, you finally

discover the wonders of automatic docking.

"The use of auto-docking is utterly evil..."

"What did the auto-docking function ever do to you anyway? Did it kill

your parents or something?"

"Now, now, isn't it fine since it's convenient?"

Mimi comforted Elma, who was totally against auto-docking for some

reason. Just why does Elma hate the auto-docking function to this

extent anyway? Maybe something traumatic happened to her in the

past.

"Where should we contact to take care of the cold sleep pod?"

"You can just inform the port administration about it. They also hold

jurisdiction over the enforcement of space travel laws after all."

"I see. Please take care of our temporary residence application, Mimi.

I'll take care of informing the port administration about the cold sleep

pod. Please offer support as you see fit, Elma."

"Yes!"

"Yes, yes. I got it."

Saying yes one time is enough you know. I didn't voice that opinion in

the end though and gave the port administration office a call. The call

connected immediately. It was a woman's voice on the other line.

[This is the port administration office.]

"This is Captain Hiro, a mercenary affiliated with the Mercenary Guild.

My ship's name is Krishna. We are currently docked at hangar number

thirty-two."

[Please wait while I verify... Verification complete. Do you have any

inquiries for us, Captain Hiro?]

"Well, I guess you can call it an inquiry. We were attacked by pirates

when we arrived at this system and we managed to defeat them, but we

found an unopened cold sleep pod among the wreckages."

[Understood. So you rescued the survivor, correct? So you need a

witness before opening the pod. Are you already familiar with your

responsibilities as the rescuer?]

"Yeah. We're required to shelter the survivor for one week, right? But

what happens when the rescued person ends up with no idea about

where they're from?"

[We will be confirming the person's identity within the one week

period, so you don't have to worry. If the person is an imperial citizen,

we will have almost 100% certainty of determining their identity.]

"...And what happens if the person's not an imperial citizen?"

[In that case, the empire will take over custody of the subject. But we

are not able to divulge their future treatment if that happens.]

The lady from the port administration office continued to talk with a

cheery tone. It was kinda scary imagining what will happen if they take

over custody, so I didn't ask. I'll just pray that the person inside the cold

sleep pod is an imperial citizen.

"What procedures should we go through with, exactly? Are you going to

open the pod inside our ship's cargo hold?"

[No, we have a specialized space for that, so please send the pod here.

I'll send you the cargo transfer application, so please fill it out and send

it back to us. The transfer code is...]

I entered the cargo transfer code dictated by the port administration

staff on the cockpit's main console and started the transfer procedures

for the cold sleep pod. With this, the pod will be delivered to the

designated area inside the colony using the cargo transfer system. I do

feel a bit awkward about treating the cold sleep pod with a living(?)

person still inside as cargo though.

[I've confirmed the required documents. Please come over as soon as

you can. We would like to start the opening procedures for the cold

sleep pod right away after all.]

They're not even considering our circumstances! Well, the longer a

person stays inside a cold sleep pod, the worse the memory lapses

become after all. So I guess it was only proper to open the pod as soon

as possible.

"You guys heard that, right? I'll have to head to the port administration

office now. One of you should come with me as well."

"Wouldn't Elma-san be better? I do not have much experience when it

comes to these sorts of situations after all, so I think Elma-san, who can

cope with unexpected situations better than me, would be more suited."

"That may be the case, but... Oh, alright. Let's go then."

Elma thought for a bit and then nodded in assent. I don't know what

exactly she thought about earlier, but it didn't seem she was reluctant

because she thought it would be troublesome.

"We'll be going then. Go ahead and dispose of our cargo and the loot

while we're out. I'll leave it to you."

"Yes, please don't worry!"

After being entrusted with taking care of the cargo and the loot, Mimi

displayed a cute smile. The cargo I was referring to was the goods we

brought over from the Alein star system. I didn't know the functions of

most of the stuff they brought over, but Mimi and Elma seem to have

chosen them with the Sierra star system, which is classified as a resort

system, in mind.

Although it wasn't really that big, the cargo hold of the Krishna still had

lots of unused space, so Mimi and Elma thought it was a waste not to

put that space to good use. So they actually came up with the idea of

trading goods between systems to take advantage of the free space. I, as

the captain of the ship, will have a fifty percent cut of the profits, while

Mimi and Elma will share the other fifty.

I would have been okay even if my share was a bit smaller, but since

trading goods between systems wouldn't be possible without Krishna

in the first place, I guess that profit allocation can be considered as

justified. In any case, I did bring up the idea of reducing my share, but I

lost the argument in the end.

I and Elma exited the cockpit and got down from Krishna. We then

headed to the port administration office inside the colony.

"Why'd you hesitate earlier anyway?"

"I was thinking that we would probably be encountering more

situations like this in the future, so I wanted Mimi to gain some

experience. But I also considered that letting you gain some experience

first, and then letting Mimi tag along with you the next time will be

more efficient. So in the end, I agreed to go with you instead."

"I see. Well then, I will be in your care once again, Elma-senpai."

"It's been a long time since you last addressed me like that."

We walked while making small talk like that and finally reached the

port administration office.

"The buildings all look the same."

"It's because they prioritized efficiency. All the units are prefabricated

after all, so all they had to do was simply assemble them. On the other

hand, having something 'unique' is looked upon as an unneeded luxury.

We have to make efficient use of the limited living space and resources

out here after all."

"I see. So that's it."

I actually thought this type of style was just simply copied and pasted

from the game since this world resembled Stella Online so much, but

there was actually a logical reason for the monotonous buildings.

When we entered the port administration building, I saw a wide

counter with several staff members manning it, as well as lots of

visitors with different appearances. There were people who were

dressed in the typical mercenary style like us, and there were also

people who wore suits just like the staff at the counter. Of course, there

weren't any weirdos wearing power armor here.

"I'm Captain Hiro, the one who called about the cold sleep pod earlier."

"Cold sleep pod... Yes, I've confirmed it. It has already arrived here as

well. Please head to the first pod opening room. It's the first room along

that hallway."

"First pod opening room. Okay."

We walked toward the hallway the staff pointed toward and reached

the first pod opening room. A number of port administration staff were

already in the pod opening room when we arrived. There were also

people who stuck cords onto the cold sleep pod and connected it to a

console.

"Hello there. You're Captain Hiro, I take it?"

The one who called out to me was a middle-aged guy. He was most

likely either in his mid-thirties or early forties. His way of speaking was

relaxed, but his body was well built, and he didn't look like your typical

government employee. He was an uncle with a bit of a badass look.

"Yeah, that's right. And you are?"

"Just a port administration office staff member. The name's Bruno."

He held his hand out for a handshake, so I went ahead and obliged. He

seems to have quite a grip.

"And this pretty lady is?"

"She's Elma. My crew member."

"...Hee. How enviable."

Bruno looked at Elma and said so with a voice that sounded like he was

truly jealous. Well, since she was a crew member of a merc like me, he

took us to be in 'that' kind of relationship. Well, he did get it right

though. I wonder how this guy would react if he found out that there

was a beautiful big breasted loli crew member as well?

"Well, let's get to business then… The one inside the pod seems to be

alright for the most part. We're in the middle of the thawing and revival

process right now. And it looks like the one inside is a girl."

"A girl huh… Well, I have Mimi and Elma with me, so I guess taking care

of her wouldn't be too hard."

"Yeah. It's also more convenient for us if it's a girl."

We would have had some trouble if it turned out to be a brawny uncle

instead. Well, I guess we could still deal with him somehow. Mimi and

Elma could have rented out accommodations inside the colony while I

stayed together with the uncle inside Krishna. The reverse was also an

option.

"Any other info?"

"Let's see. This cold sleep pod was ejected from a luxury passenger

cruiser three months back. It was a luxury cruise ship, so the

passengers were basically all well-to-do individuals or imperial nobles.

There's a good chance this girl is the daughter of one of those

passengers."

"...This is going to turn out to be quite troublesome huh?"

"You have my sympathies. But since you rescued their daughter, you can

probably expect a possible lavish reward. so it's not so bad."

Bruno shrugged as he said so. It would be fine if the young lady in this

pod was the meek and obedient type, but if she were the selfish,

entitled brat type, then we're going to have a problem.

"Well, she's a girl, so I'll just leave her to Mimi and you, Elma."

"Hey!"

"I'm counting on you."

"Oh come on."

"I'm counting on you!"

"..."

Elma rolled her eyes at me as I forcefully shoved all responsibility to

her. But it can't be helped, right? Regardless of whether she was an

obedient kid or not, a young lady of high standing like her really

shouldn't be in contact with a classless guy like me.

"Vitals are stable. Ready for opening."

"Yosh. Here we go. Are you ready, Captain?"

"I'm always ready. There's no point in delaying things, so let's just get

this over with."

"That sounds promising. Begin the unlocking process."

"Yes. Starting process."

The hatch of the cold sleep pod slowly opened, releasing cold, white

vapor inside the room. I approached the pod and took a look inside. I

found a cute young girl with shiny, black hair in a princess-style bob cut

lying inside the pod.

Thinking it would be pretty unfortunate if the first thing she saw upon

waking up was the face of a rough guy like me, I started taking distance.

"Mm!?"

Suddenly, the delicate arms of the young girl inside the pod stretched

out and grabbed the hem of my clothes. She looked confused and

started shaking.

"Please don't leave me, father..."

"Eh?"

"Well now..."

The eyes of the young girl grabbing the hem of my clothes started

moistening up. It looked like she would burst into tears at any time. I

turned to Elma, Bruno, and the rest of the port administration staff for

help, but they all just shrugged their shoulders and smiled wryly at me.

It looks like no one's planning to come to my rescue.

"...Haa. Okay, I understand."

I put my hand over the young girl's delicate hand that was tightly

grabbing onto my clothes. She grasped my hand back, smiled sweetly,

and proceeded to lose consciousness once more. It looks like she fell

asleep. She was still grasping my hand.

"...So what should I do about this?"

"I guess you should stay like that until she wakes up again, right,

Bruno? I'll go ahead and fill up the forms for you in the meantime."

"That's right. It's a good thing that the relationship between the rescuer

and the survivor seems to have started out quite favorably."

I brought my gaze up to the ceiling as my hand continued to be grasped

by the peacefully sleeping raven haired princess in front of me.

Just how did this happen?