To the Refill Prime Colony

When we went to them to hand over the pirates, we were detained by

the system garrison and subjected to a stringent cross-examination…

Well, not really.

"We owe it to you all for wiping our behinds this time. We're sorry for

the trouble, and are very grateful for your help."

The leader of the Refill system's local forces was currently bowing

deeply toward me.

After handing over the surviving pirates to the Refill star system

garrison forces that arrived at the scene and took temporary custody of

the captured elves, we towed the large-class pirate ship we captured

with Black Lotus and arrived at the Refill Prime colony.

As soon as we arrived, a car from the system garrison headquarters on

Refill Prime came, and the soldiers told us the top guy leading the local

garrison forces, General Gem Dar, wanted to meet with me. And so, that

brings us to our current situation.

By the way, General Gem Dar was a dandy-looking handsome uncle

with a neatly trimmed mustache. I wonder how old he actually is.

"As I said earlier General, it was all just a coincidence, so you don't

really need to mind it. And besides, I had some ulterior motives when I

dealt with them anyway."

I personally didn't act with the noble intent of rescuing the hostages,

but simply wanted to capture a relatively intact large-class pirate ship,

so I even went as far as engaging in a melee combat operation, so being

thanked so profusely like this was kinda making me uncomfortable.

Things only turned out the way they did because of a whim. In fact,

depending on my mood back there, I could have just as easily decided

to blow up the entire pirate ship along with all the hostages.

"If you say so, then let us just leave it at that then. However, just know

that we are truly grateful. Thanks to you, the innocent lives of a number

of our people were saved."

"I understand. I understand, alright."

I seem to be really appreciated here, and it's honestly giving me a lot of

pressure. The intensity of their gratitude is super high. It was really just

a whim on my part, okay. Their feelings of gratitude directed toward me

were so strong that I was actually getting cowed by it a bit. C'mon man.

The only reason I went for a boarding action was to capture the pirate

ship and train Mimi for melee combat operations, okay.

"You can expect a large bounty reward and an official letter of

appreciation in addition to the prize money from the military. It will

take a few days for the paperwork, so please stay and relax in this

colony for the meantime."

"Oh, that's convenient since we were planning on staying in this colony

for a while anyway."

"This colony? If you don't mind me asking, what is the reason for your

visit to the Refill system?"

"Oh, we're just on a pleasure trip. One of my crew members is an elf you

see. I heard about the mother system of the elves from her and thought

I might be able to enjoy some rare delicacies and drinks here, as well as

find some rare trading goods. Fortunately, all three crew members

including myself have first-class imperial citizenship, so we can apply

for a surface trip on the planet."

"Hou, all three crew members you say..."

General Gem Dar stroked his chin and acted all impressed.

The citizenship system in the Graccan empire was a bit too complicated

and strange from my point of view, but first-class imperial citizenship

was surprisingly simple. Citizens with first-class citizenship could step

foot on any colony or residential planet and live there if they so desire

just as long as they followed and completed certain procedures and the

places they went to weren't under any special restrictions by the

empire. Furthermore, as long as it was a temporary visit and not an

application for permanent residency, a person with first-class

citizenship could bring one or two additional persons with him or

her... That's basically how it works.

In other words, since I, Mimi, and Elma all had first-class imperial

citizenship, we could bring Tina, Whisker, and Mei with us as well. No,

wait. Mei's a maidroid, so maybe she'll be treated as part of our

equipment instead...?

"But that truly is convenient. In fact, among the people you helped,

there was a son and daughter of a prominent clan on Refill IV."

"Ah–... I see?"

When I went inside the prisoner's holding cell of the pirate ship, I

remember meeting the beautiful woman who remained calm as she

talked to me even in the situation she was in, and a handsome guy who

was shot by lasers and had life-threatening injuries. Maybe it's those

two?

"Well, I'll just consider the matter once they actually come to me for a

talk or something."

"Yes, that would be for the best. But from what I've seen, it's very likely

that it's how things will turn out, so just keep that in mind."

"I understand."

"Haah– Man. That sure made my shoulders all stiff."

"Yeah, yeah. Good work."

"Good work, Hiro-sama."

"Nice work, Boss."

"Good work, big brother."

When I got back to Black Lotus, I went straight for the break room and

found everyone else waiting there. Mei stood silently behind me and

gently massaged my shoulders while I relaxed on the sofa. Man, Mei's

service is really first-rate. As expected of my Mei.

"So how's everything progressing?"

"We're still in the middle of processing the application for planetary

descent. There are a lot of detailed steps we need to accomplish in the

application procedure after all."

"We're dealing with a government institution, so it can't be helped. How

about you, Mimi?"

"We're sorting out the cargo of Black Lotus and the cargo we secured

from the pirate ship. There are a lot of items, so it's a bit troublesome."

"There was a lot of stuff in the pirate ship's cargo hold after all. If some

items don't have that much value, I think it would be a good idea to just

include them to Black Lotus' supplies instead of selling them."

"Understood."

Mimi's become such a reliable operator now. It looks like we really need

to raise her cut soon.

"How about you guys, Tina, Whisker?"

"We're in the middle of making a remodeling plan for that pirate ship."

"When we checked it out, it was surprisingly well-made, so we probably

just need to clean the interior, make some repairs, and replace the

armor plates, thrusters, and other equipment."

"I see. I'll leave that to you pros then. Do the usual if you need any

materials and equipment for repairs."

"Gotcha Boss."

"Yes."

Repairs cost money of course. After all, in order to completely repair

destroyed equipment, you need the appropriate components, and it

costs money to build those components. And even if you bought readymade goods instead, it'll still cost money. In this case in particular, since

we only managed to encounter a single ship, it wasn't possible to strip

the needed components from the wreckage of other ships like we

usually do, so it would take more effort and money to repair it. Of

course, it would be bad if the total repair costs exceeded the selling

price of the ship, so I believe Tina and Whisker were also factoring that

in their plans.

"So I'll leave all the finer details to you guys as usual."

"Oh, it's fine if you helped out a bit you know?"

Elma pressured me with her smile, but I ignored her. If two people

meddled in each other's work, it would be totally inefficient, right?

"I'll tell you what I talked about with the general now. It wasn't really

that much of a big deal though."

So I told them about how there were children of a prominent clan on

Refill IV among the people we managed to rescue.

"I see..."

"So that's what's coming this time..."

"It looks like it's your win, Whisker."

"Ahaha..."

I'm not sure what exactly they bet on, but if I had to guess, they should

have bet on what kind of troublesome stuff we'll encounter this time

while I was meeting with the general. Yeah, that's probably it.

Mercenaries like to bet on such trivial stuff to entertain themselves

often. I'm sure they got the idea from Elma.

"Well, no matter how powerful and influential that clan is, it won't be

able to compare to the imperial family."

"That's a bad comparison, don't ya think, Boss?"

Tina cracked up after hearing my words.

Well, even if the clan was really that powerful and influential, that's only

on Refill IV. They might have received a peerage from the empire, but

compared to the imperial family, that's really not worth much. An

influential clan on Refill IV can probably be likened to a Japanese

neighborhood association or something like that.

"You shouldn't underestimate them too much. It's true that the Refill

system is just one of the many star systems under the empire, but it

also serves as the mother system of an entire race. Moreover, those are

the direct descendants of a clan deeply rooted in this system you

know… For those of us who routinely fly around space most of the time,

Refill IV is just a tiny habitable planet within one of the myriad star

systems. But for those who don't have the luxury or opportunity to

leave the planet and go out into space, that place is their entire world."

"Hm."

"I see..."

"So that's how it is."

I, Mimi, and Tina each reacted to Elma's words. Whisker seems to be

thinking deeply about them as well.

"Even so, we did save them after all. They probably won't treat us badly.

But it's always good to be careful. That's especially true when

interacting with other cultures."

I think there was an anime that portrayed humans raising a white flag

of surrender, only for the aliens to misunderstand it as a declaration of

war, and it led to a quagmire of bloody conflict...

"We'll be counting on you then, Elma-san."

"I've only come here once in the past, so I don't remember much about

this place."

"If they have a unique culture here, then there should be something like

a tourist guide available, right? Mei, can you go and look it up for us?"

"Understood. Please leave it to me."

And so, we spent our first day in the Refill system performing the

necessary procedures, searching up relevant info, and organizing our

supplies.