The pirate base became literally riddled with holes due to the bombardment of the Black Lotus and was completely suppressed. The only areas that remained unscathed were the warehouse block and the power generation block.
It's possible that people in the base with even a little bit of cleverness realized that the warehouse block and power generation block wouldn't get attacked and took shelter inside those places. Well, even if that's the case, they're already like rats trapped in a bag though.
However, those who managed to take shelter in those places might be aiming to turn things around by engaging us in close-quarters combat. They would certainly have a chance to turn things around if they manage to defeat us in CQC and commandeer our ships.
『Assault pod has been launched.』
"Okay. Now we just have to wait for things to finish up."
This goes without saying, of course, but there was no need for us to go along with that scenario. We had excellent combat bots on hand, so all we had to do was to let the bots rush inside the base through an assault pod.
Us not caring about carefully breaching the walls and just directly breaking through them with the combat bots, resulting in rapid pressure loss, would be a literal nightmare for those surviving pirates.
"You're not looking well, Kuu-chan."
"Yes, well... I was merely wondering if there was no other way."
"Those are pirates after all... Well, I won't discount the possibility that there might be some 'good' pirates among them."
Sure, there might be some relatively decent individuals among their ranks. But even so, they're still pirates... I don't think I'd want to get along with people who engage in trafficking other people. If their victims were simply drugged or had their limbs maimed before getting shipped, then fine. But their victims would often actually end up in far worse states, so yeah.
That's why no one eats any food items looted from pirates that didn't have any labels on them. And even if someone offered them to me, I'd just refuse. Those guys would commit atrocities like that without batting an eye after all.
"It would be easier to think of them as different creatures from us that only resemble us in appearance."
"Is that so...?"
Kugi was a sheltered maiden after all. Since she's now tagging along with me, she would have no choice but to get exposed to stuff like this whenever we take on mercenary jobs. Pirates were wicked and villainous, so there's no need to grant them any mercy might seem like overgeneralizing, but I believe it's the job of someone like the emperor to do something about the more nuanced stuff. It's a problem that's beyond the scope of mere mercenaries like us.
『Master, the warehouse block has been cleared.』
"Got it. Krishna will continue to stay on guard, so please begin sorting out and collecting the loot together with our allies."
『Yes, Master. Shall I get in touch with the military?』
"Yeah. It'll take up time, but please do."
『Yes, please leave it to me. Well then, if you'll excuse me, Master.』
Mei terminated the transmission. She's as competent and downright helpful as always.
"Send out a recovery drone and transfer the control authority to Black Lotus."
"Understood!"
"Yes, My Lord."
While Krishna was keeping watch on the surrounding area, loot collection logs were constantly being sent by Black Lotus and Antlion. The ones that stood out the most were the various listed high-tech goods.
They were all called high-tech materials, but there were various kinds. For example, nanomaterials that were the building materials for manufacturing nanomachines, substances that were used to manufacture various chemicals, specialized armor materials that were resistant to various kinds of attacks such as lasers, and even compact positron brains that were used to manufacture androids like Mei.
All of them were quite expensive and in demand. The loot this time seemed to be quite promising.
"Oh, that's right. I'll be upping your share of the reward money from now on, Mimi. In other words, you'll be getting a salary raise."
"Eh!? N-No, I'm fine even if you don't raise it though? I already have more than enough money, Hiro-sama."
"No, we can't have that, Mimi. This is only right, considering the quality of the work you provide. Anyway, once we're back at the colony and finish preparations for selling off the loot, we'll go to the Mercenary Guild and renew the distribution rates for all of you. I think it's about time."
In this dimension, the calendar system used was different from system to system, there's no day and night cycle while out in space, and on top of that, we also often navigated hyperspace using the hyperdrive, so it was hard to keep a sense of time. But I believe it's already been about a year since Mimi came to board my ship... right? I'm sure it has. Probably.
"Is that so? But, well, aren't we… h-husband and wife, Hiro-sama?"
"I'm not usually all that conscious about it, but yeah, we are."
"Muu..."
Mimi puffed her cheeks up in complaint. No, that's not it. She's cute, but that's not it.
"I'm just saying that whether we're married or not, I'll always treasure you, okay...? We went off-topic there. So?"
"Muu... I'm just wondering how people usually deal with reward distribution if they're married."
"I see. Good point. In the empire, is it common for married couples to jointly take care of their finances and share a common budget?"
"Un? I wonder. I don't remember hearing about that stuff from papa and mama. Are you familiar with it, Kuu-chan?"
"I am not familiar with the customs of this empire. Though I am also not that familiar with the situation in my country."
Kugi, who was addressed by Mimi, tilted her head to the side in response. Yeah, it looks like we really need to discuss this matter with the others. Who should we ask about this topic though? Elma? Or maybe Dr. Shouko? Tina and Wiska... I wonder? Hmm. All of them seemed a bit off, to be honest.
After all, we should just consult the Mercenary Guild. Let's pay them a visit once we get back to Alein Tertius.
The loot collection was completed without a hitch, and the patrol unit of the system garrison soon arrived.
Their purpose was to investigate the site and secure various materials from the pirate base. After all, if you recycled the materials that made up the pirate base such as the power generator, stations and colonies could make pretty good use of them. As expected, we wouldn't lay our hands on that sort of work. Dismantling a base or station required the use of special equipment after all. So we'll just leave dealing with this base to the authorities.
"Today's on me, kids. Cheers!"
"""Cheers!"""
And as soon as we got back to Alein Tertius, we ended up partying with Granny and her crew in a local bar. Why?