Thanks to the Black Lotus’s bombardment, holes now literally riddled the pirate base. We’d pretty much subjugated the base—or at least cleaned it out. The only two locations we hadn’t bombarded were the storage area and the generators. A few smarter pirates might’ve gathered in those spots, realizing that we probably wouldn’t bombard them—after all, if we’d happened to hit the generator, it could’ve blown up the entire base. After escaping there, though, they were trapped like rats with nowhere to go. Left with no other options, those pirates could be planning to turn the tables through close combat. They could indeed do so if they successfully took out whoever was assaulting their base that way.
“Assault pod launched.”
“Okay. Now we just have to wait.”
Knowing that, there was no reason for us to head there in person and fall into their trap. We had plenty of excellent combat bots, so all we had to do was launch an assault pod that could crash through the base’s outer wall and deliver them. Rather than a careful breach by humans, any surviving pirates would instead have to deal with a swarm of combat bots charging them while their refuge depressurized. A true nightmare for them.
“You don’t look too happy, Kugi.”
“No…It’s just… Was there no other way to go about this?”
“Well, they were space pirates, in the end. I guess there might be some good pirates among them, but…”
Although there could be individuals among our enemies whom we could communicate with, they were ultimately still space pirates. I had no interest in befriending guys who processed and sold other humans. You tended to lose sympathy for them when you came across victims who’d been drugged and shipped with their limbs cut off. That was just some of the lighter stuff; I hesitated to put their more serious crimes into words.
When you looted spoils of war from pirates, though, it was best not to eat any food that wasn’t properly labeled. And if someone asked you to try something, it was best to refuse. Pirates didn’t shy away from a certain taboo.
“It’s better to think of pirates as a different species who happen to be human-shaped,” I advised.
“Is that so…?”
Kugi really was a sheltered girl. If she was going to stick with me, a mercenary, she’d have to get used to this. Pirates were evil, and evildoers didn’t deserve her pity. I supposed that was just an excuse I made so that I wouldn’t think about this, but if there was a problem with that, it was up to the emperor to solve—not me. It wasn’t an issue a single mercenary could fix.
“Master,” Mei reported, “the combat bots have finished sweeping the storage area.”
“Got it. The Krishna will stay on guard, so work with our allies to start choosing and collecting our spoils from this battle.”
“Yes, Master. Should I contact the military?”
“Yeah. It’ll probably take some effort, but make sure to do that.”
“Leave it to me, Master.”
Mei’s transmission ended. She was as capable as ever, making life a lot easier for me.
“Let’s send out our recovery drones and give the Black Lotus permission to control them.”
“Got it!”
“Yes, my lord.”
✦ ✦ ✦
As we stood ready on the Krishna, logs detailing spoils the Black Lotus and the Antlion had recovered streamed in one after another. The most conspicuous loot was definitely the cutting-edge technology.
“Cutting-edge technology” was a pretty broad category, but to be more precise, we recovered materials used to produce nanomachines, chemical goods used to make drugs, laser-resistant plating material, specialized alloys used to create specific fibers, and small positron brains like Mei’s. All those products fetched high prices, so we could definitely look forward to the profits from selling them.
“Oh, right—Mimi, I’m bumping up your share of the profits. You’re getting a raise.”
“Huh?! N-no, you really don’t have to… I can’t even spend the money you already pay me.”
“Based on the work you’re doing, I need to increase your pay,” I insisted. “When we return to the colony and start selling this stuff, let’s go over to the mercenary guild and revise your rate. It’s about time, I think.”
Every system’s calendar was different, and there was no daytime or nighttime in space. Also, since we traveled between systems using hyperdrive, tracking the passage of time was difficult. But a year had passed since I’d accepted Mimi aboard my ship. Probably. At least, I think it has…
“Really…? But…Master Hiro…we’re…husband and wife, right? Technically?”
“That’s not something I usually think about. But now that you mention it, yeah, we are.”
“Grr…” Mimi puffed up her cheeks.
No, don’t misunderstand. You look cute like that, but please don’t get mad! “I mean, we’ve always gotten along really well, even before we technically got married, right? Look, we’re getting sidetracked. What were you trying to say?”
“Grr… I was just wondering…whether our marriage would affect how dividing the spoils worked.”
“I see. That makes sense. Is it normal for a married couple to have a joint account in the Empire?”
“Hm? I’m not sure. I never heard my mom or dad mention anything like that. Do you know anything about it, Kugi?”
“I’m not familiar with such customs in the Empire. Actually, I’m not even sure how it’s done back home.”
So Kugi also hadn’t heard of such practices. It seemed like it would be best to get that matter clarified when possible. When it comes to common-sense questions like this, who should I ask? Elma, as usual? Maybe Dr. Shouko? Hmm… Neither of those options feels right.
In times of trouble, I decided, I should rely on the mercenary guild. Once we got back to Arein Tertius, it would be time to pay them a visit.