"Don't think you've already won with this, kid..."
"I think I already have though."
The next day, we finished cleaning up the mess caused by last night's party after seeing off Granny, who left while spouting such cliché parting words, and her crew.
After that, we decided to discuss about our next destination.
"We don't really have any particular objective right now, so you guys can freely suggest where you want us to go next."
"You don't have any particular goal in mind?"
I responded with a nod to Dr. Shouko's inquiry.
"Nothing specific. That being said, we're a mercenary group, so you could say our usual course of action is to chase after pirates and hunt them down for money. We did earn quite a sum from our recent job, but I kinda want to earn a bit more, personally."
That's cuz we spent quite a sum for renovating the Black Lotus. We almost blew all our earnings from our time at the Edge World. We're barely managing to keep ourselves from being in the red. Though it's not to the extent of having trouble putting food on the table.
"It's also an option to hunt down pirates along the way while flying around different places in search of a lucrative job offer."
"That's fine and all, but I personally would prefer a more concrete plan."
"But y'know Boss, I'm almost sure we'd end up encounterin' somethin' or other even if we just wandered around here and there. I mean, it's you we're talkin' about here."
"Oh come on, that's... actually plausible, come to think of it."
Stop it, you two. That always deals super-effective damage to me. Stop implying that I'd get into trouble even if I didn't intend to. It's a harsh, harsh truth.
"I'm not sure if you can call this a plan, but I do have a suggestion, Hiro-sama!"
Mimi enthusiastically raised her hand. It was pretty rare for Mimi to take the lead in our discussions regarding our money making plans.
"Okay. Go ahead and give it to us, Mimi."
"Yes! It's about the loot we got from the pirate base raid. I feel it's a bit of a waste to dispose of them here in the Alein system."
"Oh, I see. You do have a point."
Elma agreed with Mimi's words. I see. I also agreed with Mimi. Judging from their expressions, not only Tina and Wiska, but even Dr. Shouko was convinced. It looked like only Kugi didn't get it.
"It's the basics of trading, Kugi. The items we've plundered from the pirate base this time around are all products made from this colony. In other words, despite their value, we wouldn't be able to earn much from them if we sold them here on Alein. They're all practically local products after all. They have plenty of that stuff here already."
"I see... In other words, you would not earn much if you sold meat to a butcher, so it would be better to sell it to a meat shop or restaurant instead."
"Well, yeah, basically."
But why did you specifically use meat as a metaphor? You really like meat, don't you, Kugi? Oh, by the way, I ended up visiting that cultured meat factory together with Kugi anyway, but she didn't seem to mind the grotesque sights at all. She sure had quite the mental fortitude... I was still utterly disgusted though.
Also, I failed to bring any additional victims with me as well. Dammit.
"Do you have a prospect in mind?"
"Yup! I heard it from Grandma!"
After saying so, Mimi activated the table's built-in holo-display and projected a galaxy map.
"It's a bit far away from here, but there seems to be signs of a pandemic outbreak on a star system around this area. If we headed for it now, maybe the pandemic has already started to spread."
Mimi pointed to a star system more than ten hyperlane nodes away from the Alein system. From the looks of it, there wasn't even a usable gateway nearby, so we'd have no choice but to steadily move along the hyperlanes if we do choose to go there.
"Pandemic huh...? Isn't that dangerous though?"
It would be reckless to head to an area experiencing a pandemic outbreak without even knowing what the pandemic exactly was. Contracting stuff similar to the flu wouldn't pose a threat to one's life if one was relatively young and healthy, but a potentially very dangerous unknown virus or bacteria was a different story altogether.
"Including me, all the crew members on this ship have already been vaccinated against most infectious diseases, so I think we'll be fine. And even if we do encounter a new pathogen that the vaccines aren't effective against, the danger of us catching a disease would be reduced to the minimum as long as we take proper infection prevention measures."
"That might be the case, but still."
Since starship interiors were closed environments, they're equipped with various mechanisms to prevent such viruses and bacteria from infiltrating them in the first place. It could be an airlock or sterilization module, and the air conditioner system itself should be equipped with a high-performance sensor that's able to detect an increase in virus and bacteria levels. If someone from among the crew were to contract an infectious disease, the sensors would react even before they showed any visible symptoms.
In the worst case, everyone could wear protective suits or the like, and in the first place, I already considered such an incident and included countermeasures for it when we had Black Lotus renovated this time around.
"Hmm... Well, it wouldn't be bad to field-test the results of this time's upgrades."
"Right. At least, this will confirm if we're able to operate in such star systems without suffering any problems in the future. I also think it wouldn't be a bad way to increase our rep in the Mercenary Guild."
"I believe that we will also be able to increase our merit if we provided aid to those who are suffering from disease."
Elma's words were given from the point of view of a mercenary, and Kugi... Actually, I wasn't exactly sure where Kugi was coming from. I wasn't some saint. Well, it would be good to help people out though. I'll still properly charge them for our services, of course.
"Okay, let's go with that plan then. Let's cancel the sale arrangements for the loot, talk to Granny about revising the details of the loot split and prioritize medical supplies and equipment, and while we're at it, buy as many additional medical supplies and equipment we can. The demand for medical supplies and equipment is fairly high everywhere anyway, so we wouldn't be losing out even if there's no pandemic."
"That's true. Medical supplies do sell out really quickly. Leave the selection of the supplies and materials to Mimi and me."
"I'll leave it to you guys then. Tina, Wiska. Seek advise from Dr. Shouko and proceed with making preparations related to infection control. Prepare the airlocks, decontamination rooms, sealed environmental suits and the like."
"Gotcha Boss!"
"Understood."
Tina and Wiska replied snappily. Now then, that left only me, Kugi and Elma.
"We'll discuss the details regarding the loot with Granny, and then go to the Mercenary Guild and star system garrison base to receive the subjugation reward and bounty money. After that, we'll consult them about the salary distribution rate for Dr. Shouko and Mimi."
"Oh... Yes."
"I'll be in your care."
In contrast with Mimi who displayed a complicated look, Dr. Shouko, who was smiling while waving her hand nonchalantly, was pretty amazing in a way. Actually, I wasn't really sure about the correct rates if we considered Mimi and my status as a married couple. I definitely had to ask about it later.
"Alright then. That's the plan. Everyone, go ahead and begin preparations."
"""Aye, aye, sir!"""
The negotiations with Granny went rather smoothly.
"The one who told that girl about that stuff is me after all. I was already expecting this to happen."
"That's true."
"Well, it's not like we'll lose out on profits anyway."
Granny and her crew will be taking all the non-medical supplies and equipment, sell some off at Alein Tertius, and then bring what they can to another star system and sell them off there to make some more profits. We decided to go with what we discussed in advance regarding the distribution of the subjugation prize money and bounty rewards, so there were no problems with that either. We've already confirmed the conditions with one another and sent them to the guild for approval. They should be already in the middle of processing it.
Eh? I was leaving a lot of stuff to others, you say? Of course, I was. It made sense to leave all that stuff to pros, right? I'm just a guy who's a bit skilled in piloting starships. What were you guys expecting from me regarding that stuff anyway?
"Alright then. We'll go ahead and head to the Mercenary Guild. Stay well."
"You guys too. I'll be sure to inform you again if we find another big target."
"Please go easy on me."
Just how big was the target Granny was gonna aim for anyway? Please gimme a break, Granny. I'm afraid she'd suggest bringing down the main base of a major pirate organization with just us next. How terrifying.
When I dropped the transmission, I found Elma and Kugi, who had already finished preparations to go out, staring at me.
"What?"
"Oh, nothing. You really are pretty diligent when it comes to work."
"I think it is a wonderful attitude to have, My Lord."
"What are you guys suddenly praising me for...? It's kinda scary, actually. All I did was assign most of the work to others y'know?"
"But didn't you take on the work you're capable of taking on anyway? Even though you could have left that stuff to Mei or me."
"But ain't that just normal?"
"Yes, yes, of course. Now then, let's go to the Mercenary Guild."
"Eh... What's with that reaction?"
My arms were grabbed by Elma and Kugi, and I was dragged away. I do believe I wasn't particularly thickheaded, but I seriously didn't get what they were going on about. Just how lazy were the mercenaries of this dimension that stuff like this was already considered being diligent or serious when it comes to work...? Y'know what? I'm actually afraid to ask. I better just let sleeping dogs lie.