The monitor in the living room shows a giant ring around a star. But half of it is destroyed, and only a quarter of it has the fertile land and the sea that sustains life.
The giant ring structure known as Huang was left destroyed hundreds of years ago. The people there left or all died. All that remained was the mad manager mechanical intelligence that attacked around it.
From the monitor, a soft and peaceful guitar-like sound echoes softly in the living room.
“Good morning everyone, this is the Pokapoka morning news. Our top story this week is the addition of the giant ring structure Huang to the Federation of Star Systems.”
Says an elf woman wearing a large hawaian shirt with a flower pattern, calmly.
“In recent times, the empire that has been troubling the federation, and of course, Pokapoka Prime, Livaceno… Excuse me. The Livaceno Empire’s Count Dellaovonno made a move on… What? Count? Ah? That thing became a count? Excuse me.”
A subtitle says Count Dellaovonno became a count two hundred and twenty years ago.
It also says that the empire has been troubling Pokapoka Prime for a hundred fifty years. Calling something that happened a hundred fifty years ago recent is like calling the Boshin War recent for someone living in 2025.
“Count Dellaovonno’s fleet attacked, and upon realizing it could not defend itself, Huang traded its entry into the Federation for protection.”
“This giant ring structure was known to many pilots as untouchable, but the manager mechanical intelligence has softened in recent years. Furthermore, a walker woman claimed ownership of the structure, making it known as Huang.”
A lively young elf I assume is a man takes over the commentary, and the image changes. It looks like they’re showing our battle.
“A friend of the owner of the structure went to her rescue in the Shiitake, a large transport ship, leading them to withstand the assault of the imperial fleet. But upon realizing Huang could not guarantee its independence alone, it sought the support of the Federation of Star Systems and the Galactic Credit Union Alliance. Both responded positively.”
The image changes again, showing the names of a few companies. Among them is Ethel Cybernetics, who made my eyes.
“With this, efforts to attract a few factories to the surface of Huang have begun. Many companies have already thrown their hats into the ring.”
“There are many restrictions about factories on colonies. Permission isn’t easily granted on new land, even a planet. We should celebrate new factories being built close to us.”
“Also, the owner of the structure owns a star system, and the ring structure already has many solar panels placed. It generates a surplus of electricity.”
“The climate is mild and there are no earthquakes. There is fertile land for food, so technicians and scientists are eager to join. Slaves are already being deployed to expand farming.”
A giant rabbit is pulling a farm tractor and tilling the land. People with collars… The ones we caught before, are giving carrots to rabbits bigger than people.
“Originally, vegetables were Huang’s staple food, with ten thousand kilometers of farmland. Currently, slaves and robots are being purchased and added to the unmanned farming machines, as they gear up to expand to a hundred thousand kilometers of farmland.”
“What a huge area. It’s amazing that it also has water with salt distinctive of planets.”
“They are also producing pleasure goods such as alcohol and sweets. Rough calculations say they are preparing to receive ten million people.”
“Surprisingly, as far as the totality of Huang is concerned, this is nothing but a fingertip.”
The studio monitor shows a picture of the ring
“Huang has requested a loan of several billion puni from the Alliance, using some land as collateral. Also, several companies will begin to rent land, and ten mechanical intelligence have been purchased to assist the main computer…”
▽▽▽
I’m between the L-shaped couches, buried in a mountain of pillows and Kori.
“We didn’t do anything grand this time.”
“We couldn’t~. We were fighting a destroyer~…”
“We met a few people instead. Isn’t that nice?”
“Yes, and I would say we are lucky to purchase bonds in Huang at an early stage.”
The Shiitake mediated between us and Huang. I took advice from Suzuri, and purchased a million puni worth of colony bonds on Huang. Now I should receive two percent of that every year in interest.
This might have been unbelievable on Earth, but I bought bonds for a hundred million yen to theoretically get two million yen a year.
But since the Alliance taxes it automatically, my workless life is still far away. Also, it will be nothing but trash if Huang is destroyed. It’s only redeemed in five years anyway, so my workless life is a dream within a dream.
I thought a million puni would be nothing to Huang, since it has the area of hundreds of planets, but apparently I was wrong.
There was never any real economic activity between them and the outside world, so Yue and the mechanical intelligence had no money. Apparently she had an information device to enjoy manga and stuff like that.
Hiiragi served as an intermediary. Apparently Yue was a bara writer, but that was where the conversation stopped.
In the end, while the amount was definitely small, Huang’s rail cannon, or mass driver, fired a barrel full of salted white fish, almost ten kilos of what looked like mooncakes, five giant rabbit fur pillows, and a barrel full of what looked like pocket rice cakes as a thank you. I didn’t know what to make of it.
“Ownership is guaranteed by the Alliance through digital data. Someone like me doesn’t get it.”
“Geez, I explained it to you.”
“I never had to deal with that on Earth either.”
“Hm, colony bonds are one thing, but if we are talking about trading stocks, should I help Miss Suzuri? Organizations under the Alliance operate stock markets.”
“I’m hoping to spend money on equipment right now.”
Says Saratha, and Suzuri also shakes her head. I met some people and bought bonds from Huang. I’m good for now.
I can visit the Shiitake any time. If I ever need a rest, I can spend some puni to go there.
“But equipment…”
I’m pretty troubled here. Tortilla Double’s large laser cannon turret is decades old, but it’s of the highest military rank. It may have degraded with time, but that’s about it. Even if I wanted to change it, I can’t buy something of the same rank.
The two sub cannons, pulse lasers, are standard military grade. I feel like there I’d be reinforcing something I don’t really use…
What about defense? I could have more special defensive missiles and torpedoes. A few things fired at me while hunting pirates caught my attention. Should I go to Akul and check it out?
“I’m good in terms of money, so after we gather some information in Pokapoka, how about we go to a technological colony like Akul?”
“What about going to Van’s place~?”
Ah, that’s right, I was going there to deliver stuff from Earth. He said there was no hurry, but we’ve been taking it easy too much, so let’s head there.
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