After spending quite a lot of time talking with the girls, Tina and Wiska's mother Sheila-san eventually seemed to have become satisfied.
"I'm looking forward to seeing my grandchildren. You'll wholeheartedly devote yourself, right?"
"Uh, yes... Um, as long as we're prepared enough."
"You're planning on buying land and a house on some planet somewhere, correct? Something like that's like a faraway dream for most folks born and raised in colonies, but I'm sure you'll be able to do it. I'll be expecting good results then, alright?"
"Yes..."
Seemingly satisfied with my answers, Sheila-san nodded and left with a smile.
"Once you're set, please get in touch with us again, nephew-in-law."
"Right, you have to. And thanks for the souvenirs. I'm gonna make them our family heirlooms."
Bargan-san and Gatram-san each brought several liquor bottles that I've autographed with them as souvenirs. Said liquors were all looted from pirates. All of them were naturally unbranded. They were brewed by the pirates themselves and stuffed inside poor-quality bottles. In other words, they were moonshine. But the two dwarven uncles actually found that appealing.
They each got one bottle for safekeeping and another one for display. I then gave them an additional four bottles each for actual consumption, for a total of six bottles for each uncle. Six bottles was quite a bit of luggage, but it's dwarves we're talking about here. Although they were small in stature, they had really strong bodies, so carrying a large amount of liquor bottles on their backs didn't seem to bother them at all.
By the way, Sheila-san received high-quality liquors manufactured by a proper brewery from her daughters and Elma as souvenirs. She was also a dwarf after all.
After Sheila-san and the others left, we all gathered inside the break area and spaced out for a while.
"...I'm exhausted."
"...Me too."
"...Me three."
Mimi and the others displayed bitter smiles when they saw me, Tina, and Wiska act all exhausted. Those guys really came and went like a storm. Seriously.
Our planetary descent application was finally approved, so we proceeded to descend to the capital in the Black Lotus and Antlion, whose weapons had been sealed. Naturally, Krishna, which was parked inside the Lotus, also had its weapons sealed. Since our accomplishments in the recent conflict at the border will be part of the topics to be discussed this time around, it was decided that all three ships that participated in that conflict should make their way to the capital together.
Normally, the Antlion would dock with the Lotus whenever we moved around as a group, but since we were gonna descend onto the imperial capital, that wasn't allowed. And so, the Antlion undocked itself from the Lotus and descended separately.
"So, you're coming with us huh, Chris?"
As I gazed at the imperial capital that gradually revealed its majesty, I called out to Chris who was quietly sitting beside me. Most of us were currently gathered within the break space of the Lotus and were looking at the footage of the imperial capital projected on the holo-display as we made our descent.
Naturally, Elma was making her descent alone in the Antlion, and Mei was on the bridge of the Black Lotus. Dr. Shouko and Neve, who was formerly known as Unit 104, were both in the med bay, so not all of us were present in the break space.
"Although Elma-san is technically a noble, she has long left aristocratic society after all. That's why I believe it would be better if I was present when you engage in talks with the members of House Holz."
"I suppose it must be true if you say so, Chris. I'll be counting on you then."
Chris smiled happily when she heard my reply. Before, I would have regarded relying on Chris for situations like this to be far too risky. That's because she hadn't given up on trying to get into a relationship with me for some reason.
However, there's no longer any need to be so wary of that now. I've made up my mind after all. And besides, it looked like Chris would respect my way of life as a mercenary even if we do get into a relationship. I'm not sure if Earl Dareinwald was of the same mind regarding that matter, but at least that's what Chris thought, and since he approved of her coming to the capital, I suppose he's given her his blessing.
So, that's how it is. Chris was now completely on my side. Chris's goal was to welcome me as her spouse, and in order to achieve said goal, she would want to minimize any interference and attempts to influence me by House Holz. Since that's the case, there should be no reason for her to take the side of House Holz during our meeting. In other words, she was someone I could completely trust to have my back.
"In any case, we still need to visit the imperial castle first."
"The formal inquiry, right? Unfortunately, I won't be able to accompany you during it..."
Chris displayed a disappointed look.
Basically, our main priority was to reveal the full details of what went down in the Creon star system to prove that my and Serena's subsequent actions were justified. Depending on how one viewed the events, it might seem that I assassinated Vincent Ixamal after being invited for dinner by his father, and I staged a diversion by going on a rampage against House Ixamal's private troops. Afterward, Serena took the opportunity to kill Daybit Ixamal. As a result, we succeeded in usurping control of the entire Creon system supply base and the position of the base commander, then stole Daybit Ixamal's merits... Anyway, something like that wouldn't be that farfetched of an idea.
Even so, we held evidence that House Ixamal drugged us during the dinner party with the intention of sending us to the Vereverem Federation as gifts to pave the way for their defection and that Serena was administered with space pirate-manufactured illegal drugs. All that paired with Daybit Ixamal's own recorded confession formed a solid evidence chain. Even if Daybit denies the confession later, it would be useless as long as his head gets probed at the imperial castle. Hence, the fall of House Ixamal was all but guaranteed.
And with that, recognition of our merits would also be guaranteed. In any case, the situation needed to be clarified to the higher-ups first. We needed to go through the so-called formalities first.
After finally arriving at the imperial capital, we parted ways with Chris and her retinue (three maids and a female knight) and then headed toward the imperial castle. We were greeted with a grand reception by members of the Imperial Space Force military police.
Naturally, Neve was also accompanying us. However, she still wasn't strong enough to move around outside the med pod, so she was quickly transferred to a transport pod.
Her current position was quite tricky after all. She was currently being treated as a Vereverem Federation POW, but she apparently wasn't a formal member of the Federation military.
She had no dog tag–apparently, it was something akin to an IC chip implanted under one's skin in this world–and consequently, no military ID number. She actually wasn't registered as a Federation citizen to begin with. Well, she didn't even have a proper name, so I suppose this wasn't all that surprising.
In other words, she's now a rootless and nameless nobody. Therefore, the Imperial Space Force found handling her case a bit troublesome. However, judging from her testimony, the coordinates from where she was recovered, and the parts of the tin can-looking pod she previously occupied, it was evident that she was from the Federation. As for the question of whether or not the Federation would admit to that fact; they likely wouldn't. They would instead claim that everything was fabricated by the Graccan Empire to slander them.
If the Vereverem Federation made such a claim, it would be difficult for the Graccan Empire to prepare sufficient evidence to refute it. That's because of the lack of solid, irrefutable evidence.
"Just leave her to me. I have nothing to do with Earl Ixamal's case, and I'm also that girl's attending physician after all."
"I'll leave it to you then, Doc. As for what's gonna happen to Neve–"
"Basically, we'll go with whatever she wants to do, right? I get it. As far as I'm concerned, it would be best for us to take her in ourselves."
It wouldn't be impossible for a government agency or the Imperial Space Force to take custody of her, but that might lead to the Federation engaging in a smear campaign against the Graccan Empire using Neve's complicated identity... If a government agency took up the task of looking after her, the Federation might claim that she's truly a fake employed by the Empire to ruin the Federation's reputation, or something to that effect.
However, it would also be troublesome to leave her to her own devices without any support, leading to her eventual death. In that case, it would be more convenient for the Empire to have me–a supposedly neutral mercenary who just happened to pick Neve up from the battlefield–take care of her.
A kind-hearted mercenary picked up an unfortunate girl who was created as a weapon of war by the Vereverem Federation and decided to look after her. Depending on how it was packaged, it would become a rather heartwarming tale. The Empire would increase its positive reputation a fair bit if it provided at least some support to the said mercenary. Events would most likely move in that direction.
"We'll be counting on you. We'll also do our best on our end."
"Yeah. Good luck. Though I'm sure there's nothing to worry about."
"I sure hope so."
It was a bit of a hassle, but it would be best if this all led to a 'good ending'.