I’m going with a big ship big gun doctrine! Take aim at a slow life! ~I was thrown out into space, but I took over a spaceship by coincidence, so I’ll work as a mercenary while playing with the dirt.~ – Chapter 21 – Don’t hoard documents to be submitted, and spoil the office staff

Being on Tortilla Double has bugged my money sense.

Kori doesn’t think about stuff that’s too complicated, and Saratha is pretty pleasure-seeking. Kori is one thing, but despite looking like she has it together, Saratha is actually pretty quick to spend money. Especially when it comes to alcohol.

Well, this ship has been going along nicely on rough estimates. Back on Earth, I had the office staff handle all that stuff, and I made sure to never forget to bring back sweets when I went on long business trips.

And now Tortilla Double has someone who used to do that kind of work on a large transport ship, even if it was in a simple way. So what’s the first problem?

“Can I see the ledger and inventory sheet?”

“Ah…”

“Eh…”

“Uu…”

“Ah, hum, I guess I just got here today… But I’m like that when I’m working.”

Ah, yes. That’s not it. It’s really hard to say, but I have to. People got upset with me over this all the time in Japan.

“We don’t have that.”

“…Ah?”

“Darling here manages the number in the account going up and down~.”

“And as for inventory, it’s basically just us saying we bought something.”

By the way, tax is deducted during transactions and when money is being exchanged with the Mercenary Guild. It’s all done digitally and in advance.

All of us turn away from Suzuri and straighten up.

“N-n….”

“N~?”

“No!!!!!!!!”

“Uwah, we broke Suzuri without doing anything!”

“It’s because we didn’t do anything, Genma.”

▽▽▽

After calming down, and after Suzuri sees the money in my account, screams, and calms down again, we get her a small information device, a tablet type device, and a PC for clothing preparation stock management, also known as a shared stationary information device for work. When I asked if we could just call it an entertainment computer, she got mad.

This ends up taking all morning.

And I also supervise Suzuri as she checks the inventory, because when I ask her if I really have to watch everything, she comes at me hard and says of course I have to.

All of this combined means I’m tired today, and I go take a bath to relax. With Saratha.

I was also troubled about hearing them say the inventory check came up with twelve disk battle drones, but there were two lil’ killers they don’t remember buying. I thought that was crazy, but when I checked the digital receipt, it was all there.

Strange, the date is when we were in the Zadar colony, and the twelve of them were in that station battle…

“I was surprised when I saw more things in the cargo bay than I was expecting.”

“Hn, I guess it was Kori. She always had a thing for buying junk she thought was interesting, getting it working, and selling it.”

Saratha cackles while saying she still carries her tools when she’s free.

“So that’s why she keeps leaving them on the low table.”

“Yes, but she stops and hides it when you’re around. Strange.”

“I was surprised about the alcohol too.”

“It’s okay, it came out of my account.”

“That’s fine, but it was all synthetic. I want to try home-brewing if we have the time. Don’t you think that’s interesting?”

I had quite a few colleagues who violated the liquor tax law.

A guy in his forties who bought a beer brewing kit and made their own. An office lady in her fifties who liked making plum wine. I guess that one’s okay. An office lady in her forties who would make wine on the weekends after pickling it in compote. A guy in his forties who would make rice wine in plastic bottles… I feel like there were a lot of heavy drinkers.

But now that I’ll live to be five hundred, I’m thinking I should get more hobbies.

“Home-brewing? What is that?”

“Eh? You know, making your own alcohol?”

“Making… I’ve never thought of that…”

She’s talking like she’s not even sure if that’s a thing. I know I had a lot of liquor tax violators around me, but come on…

“The home-brewing I know can only be done with organic ingredients.”

“Getting pretty fancy all of a sudden.”

“Well, people used to say they only saw me drink canned shochu highball and wondered if I drank anything else, so…”

“Canned shochu highball…? That’s one of those mixed drinks, right? Was that cheap?”

“Ah… I guess it was.”

Just add some flavoring and fruit juice to alcohol… Although I don’t think I’m going to use fruit juice here.

“You can get it if you want Genma, that expensive alcohol.”

“Maybe I will, just a bit.”

Saratha’s tail coils around me, and she taps my skin while giggling. Anyway, I’m starting to have a lot I want to do.

“Expensive alcohol aside, I think I want to do a lot of hobbies that take time.”

“Is that home-brewing one of those?”

“Yes. I saw on my smartphone that there are hydroponic rooms for spaceships.”

They’re grown with water, liquid fertilizer, and sunlight. In Japan, you can grow vegetables like lettuce in indoor farms and have them ready to nibble pretty quickly.

It’s not really a farm, but there are 4mx4mx4m hydroponic container kits and specialized drones where people grow stuff like lettuce, strawberries, and beans.

I want to try eating vegetables I’ve grown. I thought of that on Earth too. I thought about having a home garden, but I was away because of my job so much that I wanted to do nothing and rest on my days off. And I was out during weekends too so…

Those were my excuses as the empty planter, seed bags, and planting compost stayed in my room. I didn’t want to let go, so I took it all with me when I moved too.

But now I have plenty of time while in hyperspace. I can also have drones look after them, which isn’t quite the same as tending to them myself, but… I want to do it on that hobby level.

Even if I get a large transport ship, it’s not like I want to operate a mobile indoor farm. I tell all that to Saratha.

“Ah, then you could get a planter size one and not a container.”

“Eh? Can I?”

“Yes. Big ones are a little hard to handle, but if it’s a small one, you can even have it in your room, right? Fertilizer is also available if you think about where to get it.”

Excretions, water from baths and showers… The port authority association can take them and use an alchemist crafter to turn it into fertilizer and drinking water, but that’s an option too.

“Ah, but I don’t want an indoor farm, I just want to try a small one. And if I can’t contain myself, I guess I could get a facility just for that.”

“Yes yes.”

“I feel like Suzuri will get mad at that.”

“If it’s a facility that takes over part of the ship. I think a small planter will be fine.”

I’m glad to have more people to hold back my desires, I think as I get up from the bath. Saratha is one thing, but Kori is the type to agree with everything, pumping gas into any car and stepping on the accelerator…

“Well then Genma, if you’re leaving, help me wipe myself.”

“Sure.”

Her tail is long, we need three bath towels.

▽▽▽

At night, I complete my care routine after using a tooth brushing tablet.

The door opens, and I see the partition screen bolted down between here and the living room for privacy, but… I thought it was Saratha, who took a bath with me today, but no…

“E-excuse me…”

It’s Suzuri, with her palm-sized round gray ears pointing up. Her gray shoulder length hair is shiny, like she took care of it before. She doesn’t have human ears, and her red eyes are watery.

But what’s most conspicuous is the navy blue babydoll that doesn’t really suit her one hundred forty centimeter body. Her normally white skin is flushed to the point where I can see pink, and she’s timidly entering the room while hiding her chest.

To be very blunt, her modest body has a curvaceous beauty to it that makes me wish she was a little taller.

But honestly, I can’t help but think she’s a little too thin. I can see her rib cage a little, her thighs aren’t really there, and the fan-shaped black tights caught on her kind of angular hipbones leave me a little worried.

“Hum… It’s unsightly but…”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

Well, she said she’d do anything, but what I really wanted was her mind. And when did she buy that? Was it a recipe from the alchemist crafter?

I can’t have her stay by the door forever, so I motion for her to come in, and she sits on the bed while looking a little scared.

“I-I took contrasheptive sho…”

“Ah, yes. I have it too.”

I touch her hand and it feels cold from her nerves, so I hold it tightly. There’s a lot on my mind, but I hold her tightly. The relationship between space faring mercenary and employee is too tenuous, so it makes sense to want a stronger and more useful romantic bond.

“Hum… I want… You to reassure me…”

▽▽▽

“Uu… Pervert…! You pervert…! I can’t be a wife anymore so you have to take me…”

“Good morning. Try not to push yourself too much today.”

“Being a little nice is just annoying! I’m not even married yet!!!!”

“You’re looking a lot more energetic than last night.”

“Shut up you fiend! That with the elbow…! And… Ah… How awful…”

Maybe I overdid it because I approached it like I did with Saratha and Kori. She’s hitting me with her tail pointed up and her ears laying to the side.

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