Another Lull before the Storm

No matter how free mercenaries may seem to be, once they're under a

contract, they're basically tied to the ones who hired them until the

completion of the job. So I can't just act arbitrarily without the earl's

consent. In the first place, the other party was a high ranking imperial

noble, so I had to be even more mindful of my actions. If the earl

thought of us as 'guys who he can't get a read on and seem highly likely

to double-cross him', then I can't even imagine what kind of actions he'll

take against us… I'm scared just thinking about it. Maybe he'll pull out

his sword without a word and cut us down on the spot?

"And so, Captain Hiro has decided to turn a blind eye towards

everything and became just your regular flunkie."

I then tapped the send icon on the messaging app and sent the above

mail along with some silly emoji stickers.

[Don't worry, Hiro-sama. It seems my grandfather is already taking all

possible precautions against my uncle. I don't think there's any cause

for concern, but I'll try to warn him just in case…]

A reply was sent back along with an animated cartoonish black cat

sticker with a troubled expression. Fumu. It looks like Chris was quite

skilled in playing mahjong.

[I'm sure it'll be alright! Even if something did happen, I'm sure Hirosama will do something about it.]

That message was sent along with a cartoonish squirrel-like creature

sticker posing like a bodybuilder. After sending that message, Mimi

made some more reckless moves. However, she always seemed to draw

good tiles.

[No matter how skilled Hiro is, there's still a limit you know... Well,

judging from all that's happened before though, he'll likely pull through

one way or another.]

That message was sent along with a super-deformed one-eyed alien

sticker sipping a glass of wine like a boss. It was finally my turn to draw.

And it was–

"Hey, I got a Ron!"

[Same for me.]

[What!?]

The one-eyed alien from before appeared again. But this time, it was

incinerating a city with an eye beam. Uh, well, Elma's uchisuji wasn't

bad, but she just has the most rotten luck. It was bad to the point that

even that starship filled to the brim with good luck charms, the U*ko,

would probably get attracted to her, just like with a certain galaxy

police officer. Her incredible bad luck may even rival that guy. As such,

she was way too weak at gambling. She was a total pushover. She only

ever got bad hands ever since we started playing this mahjong app on

our portable terminals. Her total score was quite a sight to behold, in a

completely different sense.

By the way, Mimi was the reigning queen of the game. She played really

recklessly, but always seemed to avoid bad hands, and as a result, her

score steadily rose. She truly seemed to be blessed by the goddess of

luck.

By the way, I was chilling in Krishna's cockpit and playing online

mahjong with everyone using my portable terminal while exchanging

silly messages with them in order to kill time. Mimi and Elma were

currently taking a break.

Even if Krishna was traveling the hyperlane via auto-pilot, at least one

person should still stand by inside the cockpit just in case. Mimi and

Elma were probably inside their own rooms or the dining room. May

was with me, sitting quietly on the sub-operator seat. She didn't join in

the fun but served as the audience to our mini e-mahjong tournament.

[I wouldn't lose to you guys if we were playing a racing game!]

The SD alien was dejectedly bending forward as the one who sent it

grumbled in frustration. Is she really that down about losing... Well, in

any case, we didn't have much to do except playing around like this.

Like I said earlier, we were traveling on the hyperlane via auto-pilot,

and it's next to impossible to get attacked by enemies while inside the

subspace tunnel.

We were now traveling from the Zeiger system to the Uerick system.

And once we pass the Uerick system, we'll finally reach part of Earl

Daleinwald's territory, the Comatt system. And after that, we'll finally

arrive at the Dexer star system.

We didn't face any problems when we warped out to the Zieger system,

and even got escorted by Zieger system troops part way because of Earl

Daleinwald's friendly relations with the ruling noble house over there.

We traveled through it without any incident, and now we just left the

system and went back into the hyperlane.

The travel time between the Zieger system and the Uerick system via

hyperlane was roughly ten hours. It was an hour or so since we jumped

into the hyperlane.

"Master, you can just leave the task of standing guard inside the

hyperlane to me you know."

May called out to me as I continued playing e-mahjong with everyone.

"I'm sure you'd be able to do everything well May, but I don't wanna

push everything onto you, so..."

"I do not mind. Unlike biological life forms, I feel no physical or mental

fatigue whatsoever."

"Yeah, I know. But still… I know what you're capable of, May. But I don't

want to get used to dumping all the work to you alone. And anyway,

there's little chance the enemy would be able to mount an attack inside

the hyperlane. As you can see, we have nothing much to do and are just

playing around."

"What about deepening your relationship with the two ladies?"

"We have to keep a balanced lifestyle. I think we have to keep

everything in moderation. Or rather, it's to keep everyone from getting

too preoccupied with stuff like that. Especially me."

Mimi and Elma are both unparalleled beauties after all. And of course,

May is the same. I may lose my edge if I keep indulging myself in the

three of them; though it may just be too late for that already.

"Is that so?"

"Yep. With my current assets right now, I could probably just laze

around while hunting some pirates occasionally and just indulge myself

in a decadent lifestyle together with all of you. But I don't want to do so.

I'm serious."

That may be an attractive prospect, but I still haven't fulfilled my dream

of owning a detached house with a garden on a residential planet.

Anyway, I'm currently planning on buying a mothership to increase our

money-making options. We'll be able to earn more with it, and that

would take me one step closer to fulfilling my dream.

"I do not think that kind of lifestyle seems so bad, but if Master says you

do not want it, then I will simply comply. But if one day you feel

otherwise, then please don't hesitate to inform me. I will support you as

best I can."

May said something so tempting with a straight face. Well, she sports

that serious look more than 90% of the time anyway. She may be the

crew member I have to be wary of the most. I feel she'll lead me to a

path on no return if I let my guard down... I need to polish my selfcontrol more. And I can't exactly blame her for it because she's just

acting in good faith due to her loyalty to me. Anyway, it'll be fine if I pull

myself together. I hope.

Eventually, we arrived safely at the Uerick system. We didn't go for a

stop-over at the Uerick system main colony and continued to travel on.

Just like what happened at the Zeiger system, we were also escorted by

some of the local forces partway. It looks like Earl Daleinwald got along

fairly well with his fellow lords.

"It'll take twelve hours before we arrive at the next system, right?

Wanna switch?"

"I'll just stay inside the cockpit for the duration of the journey, so why

don't you all take a break, everyone? If my conjecture proves to be

correct, the most dangerous part of this journey is when we arrive at

the Comatt system, so it would be better if you face it in your best

condition."

"No, uh, like I said, I don't want to leave everything to you, May…"

I was about to refuse, but Mimi cut in.

"Hiro-sama, wouldn't it be better to take May-san up on her offer this

time? Her conjecture has a high chance of occurring after all. If May-san

is fine with that arrangement, it wouldn't hurt to rely on her more

depending on the situation."

"I also agree, Hiro. You act too reserved around us sometimes. Of course

I also think it's not good to rely on May for everything, but don't you

think being too reserved and not allowing her to do her job is a

disservice to her as well?"

"…Really?"

"Yes. I agree as well."

May backed Elma's claim and nodded in the affirmative.

"I am happy that you treat me no differently from your other

companions and treasure me, but I am a maidroid first and foremost.

My reason for being is to be of service to you, Master. Please do not be

reserved and make use of my services more. I will be happier if you do."

"I see."

"Yes."

May nodded once more. Umu. How troubling. In my view, May was just

a regular beautiful girl, just like Mimi and Elma… She didn't really act

like an artificial being and you wouldn't even notice if not for those

mechanical 'ears' of hers. No, well, I've been trying to remind myself

that May's an android ever since she started staying with us guys. But

since I first saw maidroids on Sierra III, my first impression of them

was beautiful maid onee-san, see.

Seeing her as a machine was also made difficult by what happened to

the two of us when we went to the workshop on Sierra Prime. And we

kept that relationship up even now. Whenever I held her in my arms, all

I could feel was the softness and warmth of a beautiful girl.

"Okay then. I'll do as you say and leave the cockpit to you, May… But I

just finished resting a while ago though."

It's only been three hours since I woke up from my last nap. I caught

some Zs just before we took the hyperlane towards the Comatt system.

"How about you eat a meal first, then take a relaxing bath, and rest in

your room afterward?"

"Hohoo. Do you plan on joining me for those, Elma?"

In other words, doing 'this and that' after eating a meal and taking a

quick shower.

"U-Uhm… D-Do it in moderation, okay?"

After getting what I was implying, Elma's face became beet red.

"I also think that's a great idea. Can I join in too?"

I'm not sure if Mimi really understood the flow of my exchange with

Elma or not, but she displayed a sunny smile and was raring to go. Hoo.

Doing it with all three of us huh? My interest is piqued. It may be the

beginning of me sinking deeper into the honey trap, but who the heck

cares at this point? What? I'll pull myself back out before sinking

completely so it'll be alright guys. No, really.

"Okay then. Let's all go ahead and spend some quality time together."

"H-Hey, Mimi! W-Wait! I said wait!"

"Let's all have a nice time together. First, we eat! Let's have some

artificial meat today!"

"Hm. Sounds good."

"Hey!!"

We pulled the panicking Elma with us and went to the dining room to

have Tetsujin V make some delicious meals for us. May sent us away

with a somewhat amused-looking gaze despite her stoic expression.