The pain in the ass job I never want to do again of destroying meteors is over, so we returned to the Pokapoka colony. There were no issues with Suzuri docking.
“We’re doing well in terms of money, so I was thinking I want to take three days off!!”
“Days off!!!”
I declare in the living room after drinking a banana flavored smoothie with a ping-pong ball sized life tree fruit on top.
And everyone except me and Suzuri smiles awkwardly.
“Everyone agrees, so let’s sleep!”
“Sleep!”
And Kori is banned.
I laid down, and immediately fell asleep, despite not taking any medicine. Kori is supposed to be banned, so I’m interested in why she’s sleeping next to me in the form of a rice cake, but I try not to wake her up as I stretch.
I really feel nice when I wake up after eating life tree fruit. Maybe it’s because of the life extension surgery too, but lately it feels like I don’t wake up tired. It’s like when I was in school.
But I feel like when I eat life tree fruit, I’m full of energy. Not down there.
Well, we still have plenty, but I’m wondering if we can buy it from time to time.
“Good morning~.”
“Good morning. Sorry, did I wake you up?”
“It’s fine~. You slept a lot even though I didn’t fool around~.”
Was it that much? I think as I look at my phone and see it’s been fifteen hours.
“I really slept a lot…”
“Right~? You weren’t coming out, so I came in and saw you sleeping peacefully. I was surprised~.”
I haven’t slept like this in a long time… I guess it’s because lately I’ve been taking breaks before I get tired from work.
“I want to move my body a little. And maybe go to the free market later… With you, Kori.”
“Yes~!”
“Oh? Good morning boss, Kori. You sure slept a lot.”
“Good morning Vasilisa. Looks like I was pretty tired.”
“Right~? I was worried and it turns out he was just tired~.”
Vasilisa is used to Kori clinging to me in the morning, and doesn’t react to it anymore.
I head to the food printer to input some values, but my excellent butler Iris is already standing by.
“Good morning master. What will you be having for breakfast?”
“Ah… Easy to eat noodles. What about you, Kori?”
“I just ate breakfast, so I don’t need anything big~.”
“I will input bean tea and sweets.”
Iris lets go of me when we sit at the bar counter. The noodles taste like soy sauce, and the toppings are roasted pork slices, corn, and broccoli.
Is the broccoli necessary, I think as I eat, and lately I’ve been getting used to Kori looking at me with a puzzled expression.
Kori is the only one here that can’t slurp noodles. Not that she needs to, since she doesn’t breathe through her nose or mouth.
I was a little impressed to find that a mechanical intelligence with a machine body like Iris can, but on the other hand, is such a feature necessary?
“Boss, how are you feeling?”
“All better. I haven’t been that tired in a while.”
“It’s weird to think that fighting pirates is easier.”
“That level of space pirate is nothing for darling~.”
Using only the laser cannon can’t be tiring. I’ve slept for fifteen hours, so let’s turn on the news….?
“Is Mishun Prime okay?”
“Right!? There’s a revolt~.”
“It happened while you were asleep.”
So there was that whole thing with the ship crab being taken away from Mishun Prime. A mercenary heard about it and got into a drunken argument with a soldier, that devolved into a fistfight. And that’s become news.
It would’ve been fine if it ended there, but the mass media needlessly fanned the flames, and it looks like there are protests going on. And mercenaries mad about the ship crab being taken are taking part.
While I was sleeping?
“Twelve hours ago the Mercenary Guild asked about your whereabouts, and we sent them a photo of your sleeping face, boss.”
“It’s my phone’s wallpaper now.”
No way.
“Delete that. What’s with that face!? And everyone’s giving a double peace sign!? Did you really send that!?”
“It was a way to confirm we were all here, and the guild approved it. We should decorate the living room with it.”
Can you at least take one when I’m awake!? How did this prank get through the Mercenary Guild…
“Did they say anything weird?”
“No~.”
“Apparently there was no problem.”
“We showed off how friendly we are.”
I guess it’s fine then, and I want to go near Mishun Prime even less now.
After we eat, we talk about going to the free market. Vasilisa, Saratha, and Suzuri are staying, and I’m going with Kori and Iris.
The free market is very busy in the afternoon. Not just people participating, but with pickpockets and luggage thieves too, so I need to be armed with my laser pistol.
I guess it really is necessary, but I doubt I’ll come across any of that while walking around here.
“Darling, why did you want to come to the free market~? I only see weird stalls~.”
“I received a strange message while destroying meteors yesterday, and when I looked into it a bit, I read that sometimes those beacons end up here.”
But I don’t see anything. Looking at junk items is interesting though. There’s a bunch of stuff that’s unusable because of the difference in scale one star makes.
“Hey bro, are you an adventurer?”
“No, mercenary.”
An idle vendor is apparently interested in me.
“Meteor beacons aren’t around here. They’re in the third block this week, in the stall with a huge teapot.”
He starts shooing me away, so I head where he said.
There really are all sorts of stalls. The accessories are all completely different in design, so it feels like I’ll never see anything like them again, but they’re probably pretty cheap compared to how it was on Earth.
There’s the alchemist crafter, and the fact that the jewels themselves are mass produced. I assume there’s a whole bunch of man-made ones.
“That old man made me wonder~… Is adventurer a viable occupation~?”
“Like scrounging around abandoned ships? I don’t think I’ve seen an adventurer guild.”
“They were formed on planets, but the ones in space were taken over by the Mercenary Guild.”
Even though there’s a sense of adventure to space.
As we talk, we reach the stall with the teapot.
Like others around it, there’s a vinyl sheet on the ground, with mechanical parts and price tags on it.
The difference it’s that there’s a huge teapot that I wouldn’t be able to lift. Why did they decorate this with that?
There’s a man with a long and thin face sitting there. He doesn’t have a beard, and has a military crew cut. He’s muscular and has a tank top, but his upper body is that of a walker. I’d describe his skin color as close to milk coffee.
His lower body is that of a muscular horse. But unlike the horses I know, he has eight legs. Those are more like black coffee in color. Eight legged horse… Like a sleipnir?
Don’t his centaur and sleipnir attributes clash?”
“I heard you might sell beacons from meteors.”
“Hohon!? Now that’s rare! It’s been a while since anyone’s asked for that! I’m Anders! I work as a mercenary to scrape together a living, but my main occupation is adventurer! I’m a Grassland one by the way!”
“I’m Genma, also a Grassland one. I’m curious about adventurers too, but more about meteor beacons. Do you sell the messages too?”
He goes hmph, and shows me the screen of a thirteen inch tablet shaped information device.
I see sound files there, each with the date when they were collected in the title, along with what I assume is the first sentence they play.
“Ten ten puni each. That’s six hundred thirty puni for all sixty-three.”
“I’ll take them. It sounds interesting.”
Iris and Kori look a little exasperated, but… Give it up, it’s like a hobby of mine. I get ready to receive the data and pay the puni, and Anders smiles.
“Awesome! Hey! Wanna join forces!?”
“Why? I don’t want any male crewmates.”
“We don’t have the room, so please don’t recruit more.”
He keeps laughing and saying don’t be like that. I’m all set to pay and receive the files though.
“Sorry, but I have my wives to look after and have no time for adventures.”
“Yes~! Genma has three more~!”
“Kah! No spirit of adventure in this guy!”
I am curious though.
“Then do you wanna buy the coordinates of an old battlefield? I’ve been there once, but space beings drove me away. You have a combat ship, right?”
“No, I don’t want that old treasure map… What kind of space beings?”
It’s different if I can make money.
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