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518 – 「I Feel Like I’ve Become a Royal or Something」

 

I was shaken awake. The heat that had been warming my body had disappeared without me noticing, and I could feel the blood flowing more smoothly than ever through my veins. My body feels light.

「Hmm… You must have dozed off without realizing it.」

I heard a familiar voice from not too far away. Usually, she was constantly monitoring the crew’s health, myself included, but at this moment, it seemed like she had taken a break from that responsibility.

I rubbed my face against the pillow I had half-buried my head in and twisted my neck to face the direction of the voice. There, I saw our ship’s doctor, smiling in a rather mischievous and amused way as she looked at me.

「Good morning, Hiro-kun. Did you sleep well?」

「Good morning, Doc. I feel like I’ve become a royal or something.」

Hearing our conversation, the masseurs—a man and a woman—laughed with a light, cheerful tone. After completing the rituals at the Great Shrine, we had been receiving luxurious services at a resort on the same planet.

「Aren’t you a noble, Hiro-kun?」

「Oh yeah, I guess I am. But since I didn’t exactly become one by choice, I tend to forget.」

I replied to the laughing Dr. Shouko, and with the help of one of the masseurs, I slowly got up from the massage table. Wow, my body really does feel light. It’s as if some weight has been lifted off me. To be honest, this spa and massage feel like they’ve done a better job cleansing me of all the bad stuff than all the rituals we did at the Great Shrine.

☆★☆

「Ah, Hiro-sama! How was the massage?」

「Oh, Mimi. It was amazing.」

When I returned to the hotel room that had been prepared for us—though it looks more like a traditional Japanese inn than a hotel—I was greeted by a girl in a yukata, her face lit up with a friendly smile. Her light brown hair looked just a bit damp, as if she’d just come back from the hot springs again.

「I don’t really get what’s so nice about massages…」

Sitting next to Mimi, with an amused look on her face and holding a small sake cup, was a beautiful woman with silver hair that extended just to her shoulders. From between her silver strands, her pointy, bamboo leaf-like ears poked out, making it clear she wasn’t exactly human.

「Elma-kun, your body has received enhancements, so of course you don’t get muscle stiffness or anything like that.」

As Dr. Shouko said that, she plopped down next to Elma, who then poured sake into a cup and placed it in front of her. Well, even without the enhancements, Elma probably won’t suffer from stiff shoulders, unlike Shouko or Mimi. Just as that thought crossed my mind, Elma shot me a sharp glare. She’s as perceptive as ever.

As I started thinking about how I was getting hungry, the room’s sliding door suddenly burst open with a loud slam!

「You’re back, ain’t ya? Boss, let’s go eat! C’mon, eat!」

The one who flung open the sliding door with such force—a small figure with red hair—charged at me at full speed. If she keeps going like that, not only she will crash into me, but Mimi will be sent flying as well.

「Nnngh!」

「Oof!?」

I quickly created a ‘soft space’ between us, cushioning the impact and stopping her momentum. Though nothing was visible to the eye, she must’ve felt like she had run into an invisible pillow or something.

「Captured!」

「I got caught! Wait, what was that? It felt all soft and weird.」

「It’s a new ability I picked up recently, something like a shock absorption field.」

「What the heck, that’s creepy… You’re turnin’ into a walkin’ shield generator. You’re gettin’ less human by the day.」

The petite girl—though she’s actually a grown woman about my age—gazed up at me with a cute expression, while saying something rather rude. Her name was Tina, the elder of the dwarf mechanic sisters. Despite her small frame, she was incredibly strong and, due to her high bone and muscle density, much heavier than she looked. I’ll never say that out loud though—if I do, she’ll probably crush me with her vice-like strength.

「Sis, you’re not a kid anymore, so you should stop charging at him like that…」

Following Tina into the room was her twin sister, Wiska. Though their faces were nearly identical, Wiska’s hair was a striking blue, the opposite of Tina’s red. Where her sister was energetic, Wiska was more calm and composed. However, she has a tendency to get more reckless than Tina when it comes to technology.

「Isn’t this room a bit too cramped for so many people?」

A frail, almost ghostly-looking girl entered the room, her steps unsteady. She was so thin it was worrying to look at her. Her name was Neve, a girl who lived most of her life confined inside a small capsule aboard a military starship, used as a ‘biological control unit’—essentially treated as a component. Despite her appearance, she was actually a fully grown adult. Due to the extensive biotechnological modifications made to her, and the large amount of drugs she had been administered with, her body had been prevented from growing properly.

Thanks to Dr. Shouko’s care and the advanced biotechnology of the Grakkan Empire, she gradually regained enough physical ability to walk without aid, although that was only as recent as yesterday.

「Yes, it might be a little tight… My Lord, shall I request a different room?」

The one who entered the room, supporting the unsteady Neve, was a stunning girl with pointed beast-like ears on the top of her head, and three fluffy fox tails swaying behind her. Her name was Kugi.

「No, it’s fine. A bigger room would feel a bit too empty anyway. Thanks, though, Kugi.」

「No problem, my Lord. If you change your mind, just let me know anytime.」

Kugi smiled softly. How beautiful. The yukata fits her perfectly, she really knows how to wear it elegantly. Definitely much more elegant than a certain drunken elf who has already messed up her yukata, though to be honest, that has its own appeal too.

「So, about food. If it’s ready, let’s go.」

「Yeah, let’s do that. I’m starvin’!」

「I can’t wait! Real Holy Vuelzarus Empire cuisine!」

Tina, sitting on my lap, and Mimi, sitting beside me, were practically radiating pressure with their excitement. Both of their eyes sparkled with anticipation. But seriously, cut out the drooling, girls. Even if it’s from cute girls, drool is still a no-go for me.

☆★☆

「This kinda reminds me of the food from the elves of Refill IV, doesn’t it?」

「Yeah, it does.」

「It’s somewhat similar to the cuisine of the Grado Clan.」

The Holy Empire cuisine here feels more refined, like high-quality Japanese food. The Grado Clan’s cooking, which I’d had the pleasure of tasting on Refill IV, was more like hearty local fare, with a lot of stews that had a rustic feel. The food at this inn, on the other hand, has a variety of small dishes, fresh seafood sashimi, and grilled meats you can cook right at the table. It’s basically what I imagine when I think of ‘traditional Japanese inn food’.

「Are we really s’posed to eat raw meat…?」

「This is some adventurous cooking…」

The dwarf sisters were clearly taken aback by the sight of the sashimi. Come to think of it, dwarf cuisine has a lot of dough-based foods and richly flavored stir-fries, stuff that pairs well with alcohol. Dishes like sashimi probably don’t exist in their cuisine. Still, calling it raw meat isn’t entirely wrong… Sashimi is thin slices of raw seafood. If you put it that way, I guess it does sound a bit intimidating.

「It’s got a nice crunchy texture. Delicious!」

「This one’s softer…」

Dr. Shouko and Neve were calmly eating the sashimi, showing no signs of hesitation. Dr. Shouko had never been one to care much about food—or really anything—and Neve, who never ate solid food until just recently—and as such she found any real food delicious—didn’t seem to mind eating raw meat at all. By the way, the only ones in our group who didn’t show any reticence towards the sashimi were Dr. Shouko, Neve, Kugi, who was a local, and of course, me. The only other one who wasn’t weirded out by it was Elma.

「I’ve had the chance to eat all sorts of things in the past.」

Elma said, shrugging her shoulders. As a former noble daughter, or rather as an actual daughter of a viscount of the Grakkan Empire—she hasn’t been officially disowned or anything like that—she probably had plenty of opportunities to eat sashimi and similar dishes back when she was still living as a noble before becoming a mercenary.

「A woman’s gotta be brave… Oh, it’s delicious!」

「Compared to the weird stuff Mimi buys sometimes, this is nothing, right?」

Yeah, I mean, it’s a far cry from the vacuum-sealed monstrosities that look like facehuggers, or those mysterious worm-like creatures, or the eggs that resemble eyeballs, or the pancake-looking things with squirming tentacles coming out of them. Sashimi is downright tame by comparison. At least, that’s my opinion.

「My Lord, we just received word that they’ve finished preparing to receive the Krishna.」

「Oh, really? Then tomorrow, let’s take Krishna over to the relic research facility.」

「Finally! I’m really lookin’ forward to this.」

「Maybe we’ll get a chance to delve into psionic technology!」

「We can let them handle the analysis while we study the psionic technology itself.」

The excitement of our techies is getting a little too high. I’m glad to see them so enthusiastic, but I’m starting to worry they might get a little too carried away and cause trouble for our hosts. I’ll have to call the three of them to my room tonight, just for a ‘little conversation’, I have to make sure they don’t get too wild.