Prologue
SENSING SOMEONE ENTER THE ROOM roused me to wakefulness. Whoever it was approached me slowly and quietly, which was alarming—but since I didn’t detect any malicious intentions, I decided to go back to sleep.
Then the intruder crouched to stare at me.
The weight of the stare was too heavy to bear, so I cracked my eyes open and looked over.
“Oh… Good morning.” It was a cute girl with a gentle smile—a cute girl I knew well.
I ran my hand through her slightly wavy light-brown hair and patted her warm, soft cheek. “Good morning, Mimi.”
Smiling, Mimi placed her hand atop mine and squeezed. “Morning, Master Hiro.”
✦ ✦ ✦
“Oh—morning. You’re early today.”
Mimi had come to wake me up, so I headed to the cafeteria alongside her. There, I found Elma already eating breakfast. As usual, she was having an artificial steak and a large serving of something that looked like mashed potatoes. Although she was a thin, delicate elf, she always ate a massive breakfast.
“I haven’t showered yet,” I said. “But I felt hungry, so I decided to eat something first.”
“You did show off quite a bit in yesterday’s battle,” Elma replied with a wry smile.
I “showed off,” eh? She’s not wrong. I had opened a huge hole in the rear entrance to the space pirates’ base, then charged in on my own. Inside, I’d massacred the pirates with my swords. Now that I thought about it, I’d turned their base into a scene of carnage. Not that it bothered me.
“It’ll be a bit of a deviation from my usual routine, but first I’ll eat, then do some basic exercise, then take a shower,” I said.
“I’ll accompany you!” Mimi said enthusiastically. Although she still basically looked the same, her previously squishy belly had definitely achieved a perfect, delicate balance between softness and muscle. She was now much healthier than those who lost weight simply by reducing their caloric intake, though personally, I wouldn’t have minded if some of that muscle turned back into flab.
“The first order of business is some food,” I declared. “Let’s get to it.”
“Okay! Let’s fill up!”
A proper breakfast was vital to efficient work or exercise.
✦ ✦ ✦
After enjoying breakfast with Elma, Mimi and I headed to the training room, only to find the facilities already in use.
“Oh—you two are here,” I said. “Morning.”
“Ah, mornin’, hon. Here to work out with Mimi?”
“Good morning, Hiro. We’ll be done soon.”
The one who spoke in a Kansai-esque accent was Tina, while the one who spoke in a much more refined manner was Wiska. The pair were both really short, which made them look like children, but both were adults. They were dwarves, and the small frames of members of that race boasted great strength.
At the moment, Tina was doing squats with a barbell. She was holding a load I would have struggled to handle, but she wasn’t even breaking a sweat. Although the pair were small and cute, looking down on them would be unwise. If you upset them, they could use their strength and dangerous engineering tools to do unspeakable things to you.
“Yep,” I answered Tina. “Once we’re done, we’ll shower.”
“How ’bout a bath instead?” Tina suggested. “We can all get in together.”
“That’s a good suggestion,” Wiska joined in. “How about it, Hiro?”
“Huh? Hm…what do you think, Mimi?”
“A group bath…? I like the idea!” Mimi was into it.
I doubt we’ll just wash during this bath…but I guess that’s fine. I was exhausted yesterday, so I got a good night’s sleep by myself. I’ve already eaten breakfast, and after I exercise and bathe with three cute girls, I’m sure my little friend will be raring to go. “Well, if I turned down the invitation, I wouldn’t be a man. Let’s work up a sweat worthy of bathing.”
“Heh heh. You do like this sort of thing, don’t you, hon?” Chuckling, Tina put down her barbell with a clang.
All right… That’s that. Tina’s up first. I’ll make sure to wash her scrupulously from head to toe.
✦ ✦ ✦
“Morning, Mei.”
“Good morning, Master.”
After enjoying a bath with Mimi, Tina, and Wiska, I visited the Black Lotus’s cockpit and exchanged morning greetings with Mei. Hm? What happened to Tina? I’d taken very, very good care of her—I believed she was fully satisfied. Anyway, enough of that for now.
“Has the Imperial Fleet contacted us?” I asked.
“No, Master. They haven’t sent any transmissions,” Mei replied, shaking her head. A long cable connected to her waist. A Maidroid with long black hair standing in a cockpit lit by the glow of a holo-display made for quite a picturesque scene. It was futuristic, yet fantastical… A scene that didn’t seem quite real, despite occurring in real life.
“Chances are they’re still busy with the mission. Since they haven’t asked us for help, things are probably proceeding smoothly.”
We were—or, at least, the Black Lotus was—currently in low orbit above the third planet of the Riche System. It would’ve been easier to maintain our position if we’d relocated to a geostationary orbit, but that would’ve meant moving tens of thousands of kilometers away. It would also have required us to activate our FTL drives, if only for a moment. Then, if we’d had to return to the planet for some reason, we’d have to figure out how to land, which would’ve made it difficult to react immediately if the need arose. Landing from low orbit wouldn’t be that easy either; still, it was easier than working out an approach from tens of thousands of kilometers away. I’d left Mei in charge of maintaining our altitude.
“Thanks for your help yesterday,” I told her. “Controlling all those combat bots probably wasn’t easy.”
“No, Master, controlling the bots burdened me little. Miss Serena and her marines were in charge of the frontal assault, and our initial attack destroyed the majority of the enemy’s threatening defensive systems.”
“Ah…you mean our assault pods. Yeah, those things sure packed a punch.”
Launched from low orbit, assault pods turned into powerful kinetic energy weapons, destroying the spot where they landed—or rather, their point of impact. To make matters worse for the enemy, a heavily armed combat bot would emerge from each pod as a bonus. I was sure they’d been a very unwelcome surprise from those pirates’ point of view.
“Oh, right… I’m changing the topic, but do you know where Kugi and Konoha are? I haven’t seen them all morning.”
“I believe the two of them have confined themselves to Miss Kugi’s room.”
“I see. Did they not eat breakfast?”
“No, I do not believe they have eaten. However, their vital signs show no cause for concern.”
Huh? Those two usually stick to a healthy daily regimen, so them not coming out for breakfast is definitely suspicious. Is something wrong? “I’ll go check on them. Something might’ve happened.”
“Understood. Have a safe trip, Master.” Mei saw me off with a courteous bow.
I need to find a way to pay Mei back for everything she does for me. I really do rely on her constantly.