We move to a room in the Mercenary Guild. Lu is on an office chair having a conversation, but that’s actually Chairman, the office chair spirit.
Meanwhile, Iris and I chat with the guild employee.
“So there are actually a lot of ships with spirits on board that can move through hyperspace?”
“Relatively speaking. That said, if there are ten in a star system, that’s a lot. Most are on transport or mining ships, and ones in the Pokapoka colony ran away because of that battle. So some ships moved to other star systems, but it doesn’t mean there aren’t any.”
“I see. They must have hesitated to move and draw unwanted attention.”
“Captains that didn’t fight and thought the same thing stayed in the dock. But as someone from an organization of the Galactic Credit Union Alliance, I recommend you move to another star system.”
What do you mean?
“I think you were ejected due to a problem in hyperspace… but a lot of ships were damaged. We are receiving a lot of distress signals, so we are sending out rescue missions.”
“Ah… I don’t know how easy that would be for Lu.”
<I think it would be. Despite everything, it is a medium spirit.>
“Easy!”
I’m being fooled by her appearance… I can only see a kid laughing and spinning on an office chair.
“These emergencies vary in difficulty. If their ship is damaged and they need immediate rescue, you just need to sell water and food cartridges.”
“Are you planning to restore it that quickly…? No, continue.”
“So, the Mercenary Guild is sending rescue ships, but Mister Genma, will you and Tortilla Double help?”
“Hm… As you can see, we have a small child, and my crew is composed of women aside from me.”
“Small! Two hundred years old!”
<Your father is good, he’s already putting you to good use.>
Rescue operations are fine, but I don’t want them trying to take over the ship, or in the living quarters to begin with. I guess it would be fine if I threw them in the cargo bay.
But this type of rescue operation is valued by the guild. I’ve risen to Highway rank, so I might as well go up a little more.
Apparently as I rank up, they’ll give me permission to buy some military grade stuff.
“Before, when I saved people out of the goodness of my heart, they tried to take over the ship. I’ll do it if I can throw them out if necessary.”
“You don’t need to spare criminal scum. We received a request from the government and accepted in good faith. We are also asking you in good faith, and you will help in good faith. Slugs that don’t understand this can freeze in space.”
“Scary.”
<Scary. Lock the doors.>
I don’t know if that’s the stance of the whole Mercenary Guild, but I got his word. If it comes to that, I’ll kill them.
“Can you give me the details about these rescue operations?”
After buying a few things in the Mercenary Guild, we return to Tortilla Double.
The liquid printer has finally been installed in the living room again. It’s been fixed more securely than before.
“The bolts broke because they were too thin. This time they’ve been reinforced in multiple ways, so it probably won’t fly away again.”
“Good job Saratha, that was a disaster…”
The number of pillows between the slightly damaged L shaped couches has gone down a bit, and the refrigerated display case that has been replaced now proudly displays a single smoked, salted skipjack tuna.
There is visible damage in the room, and the wall where the stationary information device was has a hole that’s been repaired temporarily with a metal plate.
“And so, this time the quest is to rescue people. But that alone would be a waste, so we are also accepting a transport quest from the Merchant Guild, and using Lu’s power to travel through hyperspace while checking for distress signals along the way.”
Images are displayed on the new giant monitor in the living room.
“First, the transportation quest. We will be transporting natural wood and nuts… The issue is that the nuts weigh as much as the wood and are more valuable, so they said to handle with care.”
Kori, Saratha, and Vasilisa look surprised, Suzuri looks like she knows what they might be, Lu looks like she has a big question mark over her head, and Iris has a blank expression.
“Why are nuts more valuable~? The wood we’re carrying is pretty high quality~.”
“Nuts are light, so their value per kilo is high. Also, each one individually is pretty expensive. On Earth, when I lived on a primitive planet, it was like that too.”
“Nuts take ten times more water than vegetables to grow. Water is precious in space, so it is a good price compared to other crops.”
Looking at the price per weight, nuts are more expensive than fruit, aren’t they? I should buy nuts…
“They have high nutritional value, so I’ll pick some for us later. And while I was at it, I also accepted a quest to respond to distress signals. That’s why I added more water and food cartridges.”
Two expansion containers worth. That’s a lot, so we could feed hundreds for ten days.
With that much, they should be able to avoid starving even if we find a stranded large passenger ship. It will work out if I submit a request to the guild in the remaining time.
“Leaving aside boss’ wastefulness… Should we make rooms in the cargo bay again, if you’re responding to distress signals?”
“That’s the idea. Iris, will operate the drones I asked.”
I’ve covered pretty much everything I wanted to say, so I grab my smartphone and order a kilo of mixed nuts from Pokapoka Flower Field Prime online. A high speed drone will deliver them, so they should be here in half an hour.
“Ah, and I got approval from the guild to kill any idiot that tries to take over the ship, so we’ll have to do it depending on the situation. If you’re not used to fighting, stay in the cockpit.”
“That’s you, Genma.”
“Yes, that is right.”
I’m really rated low for them!
“Leave the crackling to me!”
“It goes without saying that this kid shouldn’t be fighting…”
“Leave it to me!”
“Perhaps not…”
“Miss Lu should focus on using light to stun the enemy.”
Like a flash bang? But that uses sound too.
“Can light alone stun them that much?”
That said, there is a really famous example… Balus.
“Mu! Look!”
“Wai…”
Lu stretches the index finger of her small hand, and there’s a lot of light. In that moment, it gets through the flash bang protection of my ether tactical eyes, and feels like it’s burning my nerves.
Everyone aside from Kori, Iris, and Lu screams. My eyes! My eyes!!”
“See!?”
“You can’t do that Lu! You made trouble for everyone~!”
“The light shines all over. If you can’t direct it, please don’t use it.”
“Mu… Directing is hard…”
“Well, if we think about it like a bare light bulb… But can you make it shine even brighter? Don’t do it, but can you make it brighter and bigger?”
“Yes!”
“Then when we’re fighting, it would help to shine it in front, the back, and the sides of Tortilla Double. It would ruin the enemy’s vision.”
Kori feeds a beginner potion to everyone whose eyes were affected. Ah, my eyes feel crunchy…
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