Chapter 32
Translator: SFBaka
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“Fuwaaa〜h… It’s so huge!”
“It sure is… Just how much larger is this place compared to Termaine Prime?”
“Um, I think its population is about five times more than Termaine Prime . I’m not too sure about the colony’s exact size though . ”
What came before our eyes was a huge octahedron-shaped space colony . It seems to be slowly spinning about at a distance . But, judging from its size, I think the speed of its revolution is actually quite fast . I guess the constant rotation is needed for producing artificially induced gravity . Anyway, it was an unbelievably huge colony .
This gigantic structure is called the Alein Tertius colony . This is our first stop in our trip to the Alein star system and is one of the three active colonies situated here .
“Please send out a docking request, Mimi . ”
“Ah, yes! I’ll send one out right away . ”
Mimi fiddled with the Operator console in front of her and sent a docking request to the port administration of Aleintertius . The request contained our personal details; particularly, our ship’s name, my name as the ship’s captain, and our group’s reason for visiting . It didn’t take long for an approval to be sent back .
“We have received permission to dock! We’re assigned to hangar bay number 72!”
“Gotcha . ”
We followed the guide beacons displayed on the cockpit’s main screen and proceeded towards our designated hangar . As expected of a large colony . There’s quite a lot of ship traffic . It would result in a great, big mess should an accidental collision occur . But I didn’t want to trouble myself with that point so I just left it to the ship’s auto-pilot .
“Using something like auto-docking is cheating……”
“I just wanna take it easy, alright . ”
Elma seemed to have a bit of a complaint about my way of handling things, but I just ignored it and carried on . Even though making a perfect landing the manual way does sound kinda fun in a way, I still prefer doing it the easy way . I needed to install a dedicated docking computer module personally in order to obtain the auto-docking function, but it worked like a charm and allowed the ship to land safely inside the hangar bay . I guess she just felt antsy due to her experience riding an out-of-control starship .
After docking successfully, the ship’s generator output gradually transitioned to standby mode . There wasn’t a need to raise it to battle mode while inside a colony, and cruising mode also used up quite a bit of power as well .
“We’re finally here . Alrighty then . What should we do first guys? Do you wanna have a meal first?”
“Isn’t it kinda early for a meal? I think it would be better to finish all our other tasks first . ”
“So, those will be selling off loot, paying a visit to Inagawa Technology’s office and claiming bounty rewards at the local military outpost huh . ”
“Ah, please leave selling the loot to me . ”
Mimi made a guts pose by raising both hands and making fists with them while letting out an excited grunt . Since she could just use the terminal to sell the loot instead of going to the shops personally, I think it should be alright to leave it to Mimi . There’s still a need to be wary of merchants possibly shortchanging us, but Mimi was particularly attentive to details regarding money, so she should be fine .
“I’ll leave selling the loot to you then, Mimi . So next is the visit to Inagawa Technology, but…”
“It would be better to wait for Inagawa Technology to send out a formal invitation first . It’s not like we’re in a hurry either . ”
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I nodded in agreement to Elma’s suggestion . We’ve already exchanged contact info with the company representative anyway . They should still be busy discussing the remuneration details with the company’s higher-ups, so it would be better not to go there yet .
“Okay then . Let’s just get the bounty rewards from the military . ”
“Should I go?”
“Nah, I should go instead . I’m the captain after all . ”
I didn’t have a problem with having Elma go instead, but I think it’ll go more smoothly if I went over personally instead . I’m the ship captain after all .
“I’ll come with you then . It would be dangerous for you to walk there alone . ”
“I’m not a kid, y’know……”
But, well, I guess Elma does have a point . I’m unfamiliar with the place, so having her with me would help a lot . They do say two heads are better than one, right? I’ll have her come along then .
“Well, I guess two people does sound safer . Let’s check out downtown while we’re at it as well . Please watch over the ship in the meantime, Mimi . You’ll be safer staying here . ”
“Is this really that dangerous of a place? This colony, I mean . ”
“No, I don’t think so . The level of public order seems comparatively high . But we won’t know for sure until we take a look for ourselves . But, well, judging from the ship traffic earlier, I think this place is frequented by a lot of outsiders like us, so it doesn’t hurt to be more careful . ”
“Yes, you’re right . The hangar bay we’re assigned to has a lot of foreign ships docked inside as well . It does seem a little unruly . Let’s prioritize gathering info then . ”
“I see…”
Mimi nodded in understanding . I and Elma can take care of ourselves just fine to a certain extent, but Mimi’s just a frail young girl, so she doesn’t have sufficient abilities to keep herself safe out there yet . She does have a laser gun with her, but, honestly speaking, she kinda sucks at using it .
“Alright then . Elma and I are going out for a bit . I plan to contact you just in case we take longer than expected, but go ahead and eat your meal if we do come back late, okay . ”
“Yes, understood . Please take care out there, Hiro-san and Elmsan . ”
“Yeah . ”
“Un, we’ll see you later . ”
Elma and I quickly prepared ourselves and got off the ship .
“Whoah, how do I say this? The atmosphere’s kinda different here . ”
“Well, this is like the big city compared to places like Termaine Prime . ”
Elma told me matter-of-factly as we continued walking around the place . The interior of the Alein Tertius colony can be described as an iron jungle filled with towering skyscrapers .
Countless high-rise buildings stood within the central living district of the colony . There was a great number of alleyways and side-streets as well . The colony didn’t rely upon a singular lighting module that could simulate daytime within its walls, and instead made use of street lights to illuminate the surroundings . In other words, it was a city of perpetual night .
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“But wouldn’t living in such an environment affect the citizen’s health or something?”
“It seems they have a way to artificially simulate sunbathing within the comfort of their own homes . ”
“That sounds tedious though– Uh, do we have to do that as well during our stay here?”
“We can just use the med-pods . ”
Hm, so the med-pods have that function available as well . Come to think of it, mercenaries like us spend a considerable amount of time in outer space, so I think the med-pods are configured with that function with that in mind . I don’t know how it exactly works though . Same old, same old . They said you needed a healthy dose of sunlight to maintain your health back in my old world as well .
“Walking on foot inside a colony this huge is tiring, not to mention troublesome . Do they have some sort of public transport we can use here?”
“Of course . ”
I looked towards where Elma’s gaze pointed and saw something resembling a sub-way entrance .
“There’s an active sub-way system connected all throughout the colony, so we can use it to travel between places here . Termaine Prime also made use of it to some extent remember? They used it on the colony’s logistics system . This here is like the enhanced version . ”
“I see . ”
I don’t know how that worked either, but it ensured speedy trading and delivery of goods within the colony without you having to attend to in person . I wonder what kind of vehicle they’re using?
“So, can we take sub-way……”
“No need . The military’s base is already just around the corner anyway . ”
“I see . Oh well . I’ll get another opportunity to try it out later . ”
That’ll be when we finally pay a visit to Inagawa Technology . We also need to restock our foodstuffs, so I’ll get another opportunity to take the sub-way then . We’re planning to spend quite a bit of time in this colony anyway .
“There it is . ”
Elma pointed toward a building that had both the empire and the imperial military’s flags hoisted out front . It kinda didn’t seem like a proper military garrison though . It looked more like an office building .
“It doesn’t really feel like a military base huh . ”
“It depends on the area they’re located in . There’s also some which function as military training schools in places with ample space . ”
There wasn’t even a single guard watching over the entrance . However, they’re using a surveillance system coupled with a battery of sentry laser turrets instead . So the imperial military is also a fan of automation huh .
We entered the military building and encountered a secondary security gate within . This time, there was a guard in place . It was a macho guy with bulging muscles that gave quite an impact . But apart from this guy, everything else was automated . They also had laser turrets installed in here .
“Personal weapons aren’t permitted inside the building . Please leave them over here . ”
“Yes . ”
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“Understood . ”
I and Elma handed over our laser guns and spare energy packs . The guard also checked if we were hiding anything else . He also checked out our data terminals .
“The check’s finished . If you want to cash-out your bounty rewards, please head over to that window . If you have any other business, please inquire on the window right next to it . ”
“Thank you . ”
We said our thanks to the muscle-bound macho guard and went over to the bounty reward counter . I’ve also done this back on Termaine Prime, so I’m already familiar with the process . But the atmosphere here is quite different though .
Back on Termaine Prime, the front entrance of the military base had laser-rifle toting soldiers manning it . When I reached the inner security gate, I encountered even more soldiers . Sure is a big difference compared to here .
“Welcome to the Alein Tertius colony . You’re a new face, aren’t you?”
The clerk manning the counter was a guy with a gentle atmosphere about him . He looked older than me . He’s probably well past his thirties . More specifically, I think he’s in the middle of his forties .
“Yeah . We just arrived earlier . My name’s Captain Hiro . This is Elma, one of my crew . There’s also another girl named Mimi left on our ship . She’s also a part of the crew . ”
“So it’s Hiro-kun and Elmkun . I’m Sergeant Daniel . I’m from a family of mercenaries, so you don’t need to act all formal with me . You can just call me Daniel or Danny . I’m fine with either . ”
“No, please allow me to call you Sergeant Daniel . I’ll just tone down my formal speech a little instead . ”
“I insist as well . I’ll also be addressing you as Sergeant Daniel . ”
I shook my head and refused his offer to call him without using honorifics . Elma also agreed with me on that point .
“Is that so? If you’re fine with that, then I am as well . So, I guess you’re here to cash-out your bounty rewards, correct? You’ve already hunted pirates even though you’ve just arrived . You’re quite passionate about your job, aren’t you?”
“We managed to pick up a distress signal on the way to this colony . When we rushed over, we encountered a ship of Inagawa Technology being attacked by pirates . We couldn’t just abandon them . ”
“Inagawa Technology? Were the passengers safe?”
“We somehow made it in time . We couldn’t tow them back using our ship, so we waited for the military patrol to have them towed instead . We went ahead of them, but I’m sure they’ll be arriving soon as well . ”
“I see . They’re probably safe now that our guys are escorting them . You’ve done a great job, Hiro-kun . ”
Sergeant Daniel had a worried expression on him as he listened to my story . He then made a good-natured smile afterward . This sergeant really had a way of making people feel at ease while talking to him .
“Yeah . We’re glad we were able to rescue them . So, about the bounty money…”
“Ah, yes . Please wait a moment…… You shot down two ships . Your total reward is 15,000 Enels . ”
“…That’s quite a lot, isn’t it?”
“Well, a lot of civilian ships have already been attacked by those four pirate ships you encountered lately . They worked fast and escaped even faster, so we’re having trouble bringing them down . You managed to bring down two of them this time, so I think they’ll lay low for a while . ”
“I see…”
I nodded in acknowledgment after hearing about the circumstances . But they had little cargo on them even though they’ve attacked a number of ships already . They only had some supplies and booze on them . Do they have a hidden base around here somewhere?
“Here you go . There’s all your rewards . Are you planning to stay in this colony for a while?”
“Yeah, that’s the plan . I think we’ll have plenty to see in a colony this bustling . ”
“I guess so . There’s a lot of tech companies that have their offices here, so there’s also a lot of employees coming and going . There is quite the number of recreational facilities in the colony to cater to them . ”
“Is that so? I look forward to it then . Alright, we’ll be taking our leave now, sir . ”
“Ah, do take care . ”
We bid farewell to Sergeant Daniel, went over to the security gate to retrieve our weapons and equipment, and left the military office .
“That man was quite easy to talk with, wasn’t he?”
“He really didn’t seem like a soldier . He seems like someone more suited to a teaching profession than being a part of the military, I think . ”
“So the imperial military also had guys like him in it huh . ”
Since I’m not familiar with the imperial military, it was a surprise for me to find someone like him in it . An organization like the military does kinda seem complicated and sort of mysterious to civilians like me .
And this world has space forces as military mainstays apart from the usual air, ground and naval forces . So I can’t imagine just what sort of developments happened to the structure of the military at the advent of a full-fledged space age . I could try to read up on the subject, but I don’t really feel like it anyway .
“At any rate, that sergeant told us something curious earlier, didn’t he?”
“Yeah . About those pirates we shot down, right? I thought they had surprisingly few cargo after the sergeant said they’d already attacked a number of civilian ships . ”
“I thought so as well . Chances are, they’re stashing their loot away somewhere else . ”
“Yeah, most likely . But they’re only composed of four ships……”
“The group is small in scale, so looking for them will be troublesome . ”
Elma shrugged her shoulders while sporting a wry grin . It’ll be easier if they went and made a base out of an asteroid, but it’ll be comparatively more troublesome if they just stashed away all their loot inside a sturdy container and were keeping an eye on them somewhere in space . If it’s the latter, it’ll be next to impossible to find them without knowing the exact coordinates .
“Oh well . Let’s just leave it at that . We’ll just leave it to chance . ”
“I won’t let them get away next time . ”
“That’s the spirit . Now let’s go back and have our meal . Mimi’s waiting for us . ”
“Yeah, let’s go then . ”
We nodded to each other and walked back to the ship . We’ll eat our fill once we come back and take the opportunity to relax a bit after . We still have enough funds so we didn’t have to find work straight away . We’ll take this chance to rest for the entire day and start our activities tomorrow instead .