I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary

Chapter 532: 「But If We’re Usin’ that Comparison, You’re Definitely a ‘Super Robot’ Protagonist Type, Right?」

「Sorry about the shared rooms. We don’t have enough rooms for everyone.」

「Don’t worry about it.」

「We’re military officers; we’re used to this sort of thing.」

Moegi and Konoha reassured me, but as for the scholars…

「The interior is quite nice. We can’t underestimate the Grakkan Empire’s shipbuilding capabilities.」

「It feels like a luxury hotel. The rooms are more spacious than I expected.」

Ameno, the ship engineer, seemed very impressed with the Black Lotus’s interior, and Buubo, the relic researcher, didn’t seem to have any complaints either.

「So I’m sharing a room with Inaba-kun, huh…」

「If we leave you alone, you will probably do something untoward, won’t you, Professor?」

Fuguruma seems a bit disgruntled… But if Inaba can stop her from trying anything weird, that’s a relief. That said, no matter what Fuguruma tries, I don’t think she can evade Mei’s surveillance. The Black Lotus is practically Mei’s own body. If Mei wanted to, she could monitor every single move on the ship without fail. No matter how much Fuguruma tries to mask things with her psionic powers, she won’t be able to escape Mei’s watchful eyes. Though, to be honest, I don’t even know if psionic powers can be used for that kind of thing.

Aside from them, there were other passengers—colleagues and assistants of the scholars—but none of them seemed to have any major complaints.

「It probably won’t be a particularly long expedition, but… are we good on supplies?」

「Yes, Hiro-sama. Fortunately, we managed to stock up on retort-pouched food from the Holy Vuelzarus Empire in time, so I don’t think we’ll have any issues like running out of meals or water. The life support system should be able to handle it as well, right?」

「Yes, Mimi-sama. The Black Lotus

‘s life support system still has plenty of capacity. As for our food reserves, even if we don’t ration at all, we can operate for four to five days without resupplying.」

The ship’s life support recycling system was highly efficient in terms of water and air, so there didn’t seem to be any major concerns in that area. We can’t go on indefinitely without resupplying though.

「Will the Holy Vuelzarus Empire cover those expenses? I should check on that later…」

「I’ll look into it for you, Master. I’ll also handle tracking our resource consumption.」

「Sorry to trouble you. The Holy Empire’s fleet seems to have already launched into space, so make sure we’re ready to depart as quickly as possible. I’ll go check on the Krishna.」

「Yes, Hiro-sama!」

「Yes, Master.」

I can trust Mimi and Mei to take care of the preparations and supplies. Elma should be able to keep everything running smoothly, so I should make my way to the hangar. It’s great to have reliable crew members you can trust.

☆★☆

「Hello-ze!」

「What the heck’s ‘hello-ze’ even supposed to mean?」

「I dunno, just a greeting or something? Anyway, it’s clear the Krishna can fly in the atmosphere without issue, but how’s it looking for space combat?」

I decided to check in with Tina, who had been doing maintenance on the Krishna alongside the Holy Vuelzarus Empire’s engineers.

「We didn’t take it apart or nothin’, so it’s ready for combat. But with the new Maneuverin’ Light Wings, the thrust balance has changed a lot, right? You sure you’re okay flyin’ it without much practice?」

「We should have some time before the space monsters appear, so I’ll use the spare time to do some training flights. They’ve also predicted where and when the monsters will appear, and since the Black Lotus can’t make jumps, we’ll use FTL to go to the predicted location. If I have that much time, it should be easy to get used to the new Krishna.」

「Alright then, sounds good. By the way, Krishna’s got six pairs of wings, right? It should be able to do long-distance jumps too. You gonna test that out at some point?

「Eventually. But first, we’ve got to exterminate those space monsters.」

「Got it, roger that. We’ll have to get that done while we’re still here.」

「Exactly. Speaking of which, what are they doing over there?」

I pointed toward Wiska and Dr. Shouko, who were gathered with the Vuelzarus engineers around a machine I didn’t recognize.

「Ah, that. It’s a composition converter that turns regular materials into Holy Vuelzarus Empire-made ones for future repairs on Krishna. It can make stuff like psionic reactive materials—like the spirit silver from the Refill Star System—outta regular elements, like iron, copper, or silver.」

「…Isn’t that basically a money tree?」

「Well, it ain’t that simple. Seems like as long as the material’s used on ships or machines that run on psionic power, like Krishna or the Holy Vuelzarus Empire ships, and keeps absorb’in psionic energy over time, it stays stable. But if it’s just left alone, it eventually goes back to its original form. Apparently, the material’s kinda alive, and it dies if it ain’t ‘nurtured’ or somethin’ like that.」

「Huh… That’s quite a clever system.」

「They’re workin’ on a way to make the change permanent, but looks like they ain’t had much luck yet. Things don’t always go smooth, I guess.」

Tina shrugged again. The idea that altered materials can ‘die’ is strange, but surprisingly fitting. Could psionic reactive materials be some form of inorganic life? If that’s the case, I probably did something bad when I destroyed that spirit silver hatchet when I touched it… Well, nothing I can do about it now.

「Anyway, I’m glad the Krishna barely fits in the hangar.」

「Yeah, for sure. It was already pushin’ the limits of what you’d call a ‘small’ combat vessel, but now it’s got no wiggle room. Its size is exactly the max that can fit in the Black Lotus.」

The ship’s width and length hadn’t drastically changed, which was fortunate. The overall form wasn’t that different, though it now had some new, sharp-looking stabilizer-like extensions that looked a bit too cool—to the point of being embarrassing. I’m sure those additions aren’t just for show; they must serve some kind of practical purpose.

「By the way, how did the shield test go?」

「Well, nothin’ changed when ya weren’t onboard. The Maneuverin’ Light Wings only show up when you’re inside too. Seems like none of the new stuff works unless you’re piloting it.」

「I see… Well, I can’t exactly test the combat-grade shields while the ship is parked in the hangar. We’ll need to do that once we’re up in space. Maybe we can fit a test in somewhere…」

「Won’t the fight start before that happens?」

「Yeah, that’s probably more likely… Trial by fire, huh?」

Still, there’s no reason to think Krishna’s performance has decreased, so there shouldn’t be much to worry about.

「And since it’s still docked in the hangar, we can’t check the weapons properly either. Unless you’re onboard, only the Large Caliber Pulse Laser Cannons and the Anti-ship Reactive Torpedoes are active; everything else is grayed out and disabled. Guessin’ the weapons won’t work right unless you’re in the cockpit.」

「Well, that’s fine since I’m basically the only one flying it nowadays. Telekinetic Halo and Telekinetic Impact Cannon… Seriously, from what Super Robot anime did that came from? It was supposed to be a ship more similar to those of Real Robot anime.」

「Super Robot? Real Robot? What’s that?」

「Oh, right. To compare with this universe shows, something like the Wandering Emperor would be Real Robot, and Majestic Baron would be Super Robot.」

The Wandering Emperor was a show based on the real story of an emperor from about ten generations ago who went on a journey blending in with the common folk, and took on corrupt nobles, using both his power and brute force to deliver justice. On the other hand, Majestic Baron was about a baron with superhero-like powers who, similar to the emperor in Wandering Emperor, fights corrupt nobles, but this time in grand, over-the-top battles. In that one, the corrupt nobles themselves also had special abilities, making it feel more like a superhero story.

「Got it. But if we’re usin’ that comparison, you’re definitely a ‘Super Robot’ protagonist type, right?」

「I can’t argue with that…」

I feel like I could even take on one of the super-powered corrupt nobles from Majestic Baron with how strong I’ve become. Maybe I should just think of it as Krishna powering up alongside me.

「Anyway, I get how the Krishna is doing. Just make sure you don’t push yourselves too hard and pass out.」

「Don’t worry, I know my limits. But thanks for lookin’ out for me.」

Tina smiled brightly as she said that. Yeah, she’s adorable. She always jokes around asking, ‘Ain’t Tina-chan just the cutest?’—and she’s not wrong. Tina really is cute.

「Huh? Why’re you starin’ at me all of a sudden?」

「I was just thinking about how cute you are, Tina.」

「Jeez… why’re you praisin’ me outta nowhere?」

Her face flushed red and she started poking my side with her finger, trying to hide her embarrassment while giving me an exasperated look. She’s really cute.I slept alone last night for once… Maybe tonight, I’ll spend some quality time with Tina—if I have the time to sleep, that is.