Sales

The next day.

Man, that smoked stuff sure was quite the surprise. They were stuffed

in vacuum-sealed packs, but once we opened one, the contents started

wiggling creepily. But, well, when we mustered the courage to try them

out, they were actually quite tasty, so the three of us ended up finishing

them all.

As for the taste… they kinda were like richly flavorful shrimp. Not the

boiled kind though. They were more like sashimi. But the texture was

similar to, um… abalone? Anyway, that was my impression and I have

absolutely no intention of digging deeper than that. It's better for stuff

like this to remain a mystery… for my stomach's sake.

"I want to look around for power armor weapons today."

After waking up, I ate breakfast, did my routine workouts at the hotel's

training gym, took a quick shower to wash off the sweat, and went off to

do some shopping.

"Lemme serve as your tour guide, boss."

"S-Sis… You have to be more careful with your words. Don't talk to big

brother so casually."

For some reason, I found the dead ball sisters standing in front of me

the moment I opened the door to go out of the room. Just what is going

on? I turned my gaze to Mimi, Elma, and then Sara, who was standing

outside with the sisters. Yep. It looks like Sara tagged along as well.

"Yes. These two really wanted to make it up to you, so I came with them

as a chaperone… so if they do anything stupid again, I'll be able to

immediately throw them inside a holding cell in prison."

Sara just casually said something dangerous, which allowed a glimpse

of just how peculiar the internal affairs in a dwarven company is. She

just casually said something like throwing people in prison with a

straight face after all.

"So, how did your company decide to deal with these guys anyway?"

"Due to your request Hiro-sama, they narrowly avoided the harshest

punishment. They got severely reprimanded, got prohibited from

drinking for two weeks, and got slapped with a pay cut for three

months. By the way, I also got fined a two-month salary reduction, but I

was not prohibited from drinking. The chief engineer was banned from

drinking for a month and got fined with a three-month salary

reduction. He is also scheduled to undergo another round of leadership

training seminars."

"Why is getting prohibited from drinking part of the punishment? Is

that really something unbearable for dwarves?"

"Course it is, boss."

"It's too cruel."

"I'm glad I wasn't prohibited from drinking myself."

The dead-ball sisters looked pretty down while Sara had a relieved

expression on her face. As outrageous as it sounds, getting prohibited

from drinking is supposedly one of the cruelest forms of punishment

for dwarves. They really are hopeless alcoholics huh?

"Okay. I gotcha. Like I said last night, I'll accept your apology. But I

thought I told you not to cause me any more trouble yesterday as well,

right? Then why did you bring these two troublemakers here again?"

Normally, they should have been prohibited from getting in contact

with me.

"Well, about that… It's not yet set in stone, but the company is thinking

of dispatching these two as Hiro-sama's personal mechanics."

"…I'm sorry, but come again? You're saying what now?"

"Um, these two would be dispatched as your personal mechanics."

"…Why does it have to be these two?"

I glanced at the red-haired loli with a silly grin on her face and the bluehaired loli who looked flustered due to her sister's behavior. Isn't the

personnel selection weird? Why did they have to push these

troublemakers onto me?

"These two are greatly skilled, you see. And they have great enthusiasm

for their work. But, well, that enthusiasm did backfire on them in this

case."

"If you ask me, the little sister should be more than enough. She looks

more well behaved and decent overall."

"U-Uhm? T-That's…"

"Just why!? I'm also cute, right boss!?"

The blue-haired little sis blushed at my compliment, while the redhaired big sis made a fuss and complained. Why? Because you're 'that'

sort of person, that's why.

"Rather, what do you mean about personal mechanics anyway? How

would that work?"

"Their salaries will still be paid for by Space Dwerg. In other words,

they will still be serving as Space Dwerg employees. Of course, we will

do all the necessary procedures in order to allow them to travel freely

outside the colony as well, so you don't have to worry about that end.

The only thing you'll need to bother with is providing these two rooms

to stay in the Skizbrazunil. We will be shouldering all their living

expenses as well, of course."

"Fumu…?"

Well, isn't this a bargain? I'll get to have two experienced maintenance

crews, and practically all their living expenses will be provided by the

company they work for. I can't deny having some skilled pro engineers

to take care of maintenance work does sound quite nice.

"I'll say this first before anything else. Tagging along with mercenaries

like us can be quite dangerous. I can't guarantee your lives, and you

might get to have some really scary experiences if you're with us."

"But we'll be able to travel around to all sorts of places, right boss? We

can go sightseeing and drink rare booze. Even with the danger, I'm

more than willing to tag along. We'll be imposing on you, boss, but we

also want to repay you for not pursuing the issue."

"I'm… honestly a bit scared. But I also want to repay big brother. If you

didn't speak out for us, I and my sister might really have lost our jobs."

The dead-ball sisters didn't seem to mind the dangers of boarding a

mercenary ship too much. They were quite casual about it. Are you

really fine with this, you two? You aren't underestimating the dangers

faced by mercenaries, right? Well, it's not like I'm going to let the

mothership I just bought be shot down just like that, so yeah.

Well, I guess them wanting to repay favors is admirable. It doesn't feel

bad at all, and it's not like I did anything special either… But I guess it's

really difficult to get back on your feet once you mess up in a closed

community like a colony.

"I can't decide right away. I'll have to consult with the rest of my crew

and see if they'll be able to get along with these two."

"Of course. If so, then how about having these two to accompany you

while strolling around the colony? It would be a good opportunity to

get to know each other better and check your compatibility."

"I see…"

I turned to the dead ball sisters once again. The big sister, Tina, looked

real confident about herself for some reason. Her little sister, Whisker,

seemed really worried about her big sister's devil-may-care attitude

though. We really got off on the wrong foot, but maybe it's a good idea

to start over with this. Who knows? We might even be able to get along.

"But even if we did decide to welcome them to the crew, that would

mean…"

My ship will be literally filled with nothing but women. The rumors

about me being a lecherous womanizing merc will gain even more

credence. Rather, with these two boarding my ship as well, it'll be a

bona fide eroge scenario, huh? Isn't that kinda bad in a sense?

"Um, what about that custom? You know. That custom where a woman

who boards a man's private starship will be treated as his lover or

something. You guys don't mind that?"

"I don't. Anyway, you already have that sort of relationship with those

three, right boss? Wouldn't it be awkward if you added a male crew

member instead? Rather, ain't that kinda risky in a sense?"

"Well, yeah. I can only see that as a potential root of troubles. Unless

there's some sort of special circumstances, I probably wouldn't

recommend adding male crew."

Elma agreed with Tina's words. What do you mean about special

circumstances…? Wait… Okay, I should probably stop now. I have a bad

feeling for some reason. I'm not really much of a fan of backdoor play.

"Alright, if you guys say so… But I still haven't decided if we'll let you

join, okay."

"Well, I think we're definitely a bargain, boss. And I'm confident about

my looks too. I'm pretty cute, right?"

Tina peered up at my face with a self-satisfied grin. Well, her face really

does look nice. She can be said to be a beautiful girl, sure. Since the big

sister is cute, then her twin little sister Whisker is much the same as

well. But, y'know…

"Sorry, but you guys are a bit too little for my tastes."

"Who's little!? You're just too big, boss! We're already twenty-seven this

year. We're both grown-up ladies."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously."

They're the same age as me. They're this tiny, but they're the same age

as me? Seriously? Dwarves sure are a mysterious race.

"You're twenty-seven too, right Hiro?"

"Big brother is the same age as us?"

"Well… yeah."

I didn't want to acknowledge it, but we were really supposed to be the

same age. Man… Really? If that's the case, then Mimi's the youngest.

She's more than ten years younger than me after all. Wait, if that's the

case, then Sara…?

"What is it?"

"Oh, nothing."

I was about to ask her age, but a dark and malevolent aura began

emanating from Sara, so I held myself back. I guess no matter how tiny

they were, a woman's age is still quite a touchy subject. Gotta note that

down.

"I'm the youngest among everyone."

For some reason, May was emitting a fierce and competitive aura as she

said so. She even looked a bit smug about it, despite her expressionless

face. Oh, right. Well, she's technically correct though. May was just two

months old after all. Yep.

"Okay then… Can we count on you guys to lead the way?"

"You're planning on shopping for power armor weapons, right Hiro?

Then you should bring May with you. I'll be shopping and sightseeing

with Mimi instead."

"I'll tag along with you then, boss. You can guide the pretty ladies,

Whisker."

"Un. I understand, sis."

And so, I formed a group with May and Tina, while Whisker joined Elma

and Mimi. We then proceeded to tour the Brad Prime colony.