The young man suddenly changed his friendly tone with this excited, restless one. It was obvious he was talking about Helios.
The inspector was the same just now. Including that shady director, this was now the third time Milanor was questioned about this matter.
Back at the east port, he noticed that the people there took a great interest in his ship. They had crowded the terminal window and taken photographs and whatnot.
It was like that scene where a famous celebrity or VIP was coming and the people stormed the port hoping to peek a glance. They hadn't dispersed even when they left the terminal after negotiating with Boss Hein.
Milanor wouldn't be surprised if some curious onlookers were still wandering around the pads scrutinizing Helios even now. Hopefully, they wouldn't make any trouble for Fianna.
"Y-Yes, I know about it," he replied.
"I knew it! I don't know much about fashion but I figured you look different than the people here! These look expensive and… modern!" the young man said while pointing at the captain's outfit.
"Tell me! Is it true that that ship isn't Krulic design!? It is very rare that any starship outside of this region would come here! Where is it from? Centurion? Riviera?" He was getting closer and closer to him while energetically asking all sorts of questions.
"No, it didn't come from any of those nations. It's a custom build, not a mass-produced model," Milanor answered under the pressure.
"Really?! I have never seen something like that before! I was sure that it looked like a Centurion model…"
"That probably has something to do with the yard that built it. It's located in Centurion." He was surprised he could see the Empire's influence just from the appearance alone. Not many people could deduce something that subtle.
"Wait," Milanor realized something from what he said. "You've already seen the ship? You didn't just hear about it?"
"Well, there are pictures and videos of it being shared all across the local network! One of my coworkers showed it to me this morning and I was really surprised. Look!" he fished a small holophone from somewhere on the clothes under his work overall.
It was a model Milanor hadn't seen before, but it looked quite old… The young man quickly turned it on and showed him the holographic display. The Helios was shown in all of its shiny, white glory.
'This looks like it was captured in the morning, right after we landed… I didn't notice the sneak shot at all.'
"I could tell immediately that it is one heck of a technological marvel! It has a single-engine located in the aft, doesn't it? Although that one engine looked to have a massive punch seeing from the size of the exhaust alone!"
"No, it's not just a single—Well, yes, technically. There are backup thrusters located under the stabilizers as well. Those are usually used only when there's a problem with the main engine.
"That's because the power balance would be heavily disrupted if all three were to be activated simultaneously. The performance gap between the main and subs is ridiculous."
"Is that true!? I never noticed the subs… They're under the stabilizers you say… What an interesting design," he mumbled.
"Captain, sir…"
"Hey, Milanor."
The distracted captain heard the voices of the two behind him, but before he could respond to them he was pressed on to by the young mechanic again.
"Speaking of stabilizers, why does it have them in the first place!? Is it specialized for planetary operations?"
"I wouldn't say specialized. They do help with that function, but there is one other reason as well."
Helios was designed for exploratory purposes, after all. It was expected that the ship would need to fly in various atmospheres, presumably harsh and volatile ones.
"I see, I see… So even if they are uncommon, they have multipurpose… Won't it be a problem for the balance of the mass instead though? The hull plate doesn't look like the common, lightweight titanium and steel alloy used here."
"That's because it isn't. The material is composed of reinforced palladium alloy interwoven with sheets of composite carbon nanotubes called buckypaper acting as ablative armor. Most of the time, the mass didn't matter anyway. It has two gravity modules which help the imbalance between the bow and the stern."
"Seriously!? That's nuts! I can't believe a ship that size would have that kind of energy! The core performance and output must be enormous…"
"Hmm? You never saw a double module before?"
"Here? Not a chance! Only ships above 500 meters class would have that! And I never saw even one of them here since I've been born… It's truly a shame…"
Now the mechanic looked totally deflated.
Most of the Category B or higher ships—the ones above 500 meters—were either the superheavy freighters and flagship liners, or the capital ships of the military. Milanor doubted any one of them would frequent a planet like Qwattor.
Even in Runanthor, with its tens of millions of inhabitants, he only saw a few of them, enough to count with his two hands. They would have no business being anywhere near this place. He didn't see any in Koilingen either.
That said, he was expecting some massive miner ships would be known much here, but it seemed even those weren't the case.
"Hmm." Milanor had a feeling this wasn't what they were supposed to be talking about.
"Captain, let me take over, please," Miledi gently pushed him to the side. "Sir, I apologize if I appear rude, but I would like for you to hold your curiosity over our ship until our request could be fulfilled."
"Ah, huh? Oh, sorry. Umm…" The young man gestured toward Milanor in confusion. Perhaps he wasn't sure about Miledi suddenly butting in.
"She's one of my crewmates, Miledi. Oh, I'm the captain by the way. Have I mentioned that before?"
The mechanic probably already guessed from hearing what Miledi called him. Early on in the first months of this veritable 3-person band of freelancers, Milanor ordered Miledi not to address him as master whenever they were out of the ship or in the middle of work.
He felt that particular honorific was quite problematic for those who weren't in the know.
"We are currently searching for a certain ship owner—presumably its captain—named Sir Karl. The ship's name is Kyffhäuser," stated Miledi.
'Oh yeah. That's what I'm asking. This guy's enthusiasm completely derailed me from this topic.'
It was correct of him to bring Miledi along. Milanor had a suspicion that if it was Fianna who was here the conversation train would probably be even way more off-course on this supposedly linear topic track.
"Wha…" The mechanic looked surprised at the mention of the name. No doubt he knew who they were asking about.
"The inspector seemed to say that you know him. Do you?" Milanor added.
"…What do you want with him? I don't think he ever told me about people like you."
"Well, I'm sure that's the case. We never met before. There's something we wanna ask him. That's all."
The young man, Wilfred as the inspector called him, scrutinized them with suspicion. It was wildly different than the wondrous curiosity he displayed just earlier.
"Yeah, I knew him," he finally said.
There was something in the tone of his voice. "Really? Ah, finally. Where can we meet him? Can we find him in this city?"
"No, that's impossible. You won't be able to meet him anywhere close to here," he declared.
"Huh? You mean, he's not on this planet?"
"Haha, I suppose that can be said as true," he smiled wryly.
"I am sorry, Sir Wilfred, but when was the last he is in the area?" Miledi pitched in.
"S-Sir Wilfred…? That's the first time someone called me that formally… Just call me Wil, okay? Everybody called me that." Wilfred was taken aback by Miledi's overly polite manner of speaking.
But unfortunately for him, that personality was hardwired into her programming. Milanor had long given up on doing anything about it.
"I see… Excuse me." Miledi bowed her head.
"The last time he was here, huh… That's 2 years ago then, technically."
"Technically…?" That was a strange thing to say about someone's whereabouts.
"My father was a surveyor. There are still a lot of unexplored territories in this sector, especially closer to the Wilderness," Wilfred explained.
"Huh… Your father… You're Captain Karl's son?" He quickly nodded to Milanor's question.
He supposed this was what the inspector meant when he referred Wilfred to them.
'A surveyor, huh?'
Milanor was quite familiar with that profession. Sometimes there were requests for freelancers that were similar to what surveyors do, so their jobs could be said as overlapping a bit.
Freelancers could be part-time surveyors depending on their jobs, was what he meant to say.
"Are you saying your father is currently working far away from home? Surveying the wilderness or something?"
Wilfred looked down, his expression looking somber. "Heh, I wish that was the case. No, maybe that's what he's doing now. Father always loved his job. He looked so happy whenever I saw him working."
"…Wilfred?"
"You cannot meet with him anymore," he said. "He died during a pirate raid two years ago, defending Qwattor with his ship."