3 bar menu

520 – 「Haha, I’ll Head Over There Too.」

Rice, miso soup, tamagoyaki, grilled salmon, and what looked like a dish of boiled greens—there was no natto, but it was pretty much a traditional Japanese-style breakfast.

I had to listen to some heavy stuff this morning, but my body still needs food. Besides, I have to take Krishna to that holy relic research facility today. I have mixed feelings about Kugi’s past, but there’s no changing it. Dwelling on it alone won’t help, either. So, I quietly continued eating, trying not to let anyone notice my thoughts.

「Isn’t something off with him?」

「Hiro’s not the type to get mopey or depressed, so he’ll be fine.」

Mimi and Elma immediately saw right through me. How?

Well, it’s not like I was trying that hard to hide my thoughts. And honestly, what I’m thinking about is more along the lines of how I should spoil Kugi from now on. Nothing too serious. Also, the food is delicious.

「Come to think of it, you mentioned you wanted to meet some of your fellow trainees and the people who took care of you, right?」

「Oh… yes, my Lord. But I think it would be better to prioritize transporting Krishna to the holy relic research facility.」

「…You think so?」

「Yes, while I appreciate your concern, they’re already in the middle of mobilizing people and resources on that side.」

「I see…」

Maybe I’m overthinking things. Hmm, it’s tough to get it right. Kugi’s right, after all—the investigation into Krishna was something I asked for in the first place. It wouldn’t be good to suddenly change plans and abandon that now. Yeah, that makes sense.

「Once the investigation on Krishna settles down, we’ll go greet them, is that good with you?」

「Yes!」

It’d be weird to drastically change my attitude just because I learned about her past now. I’ll just try to treat her a bit more gently—nothing too extreme. Yeah, that should work.

Mimi and Elma are giving me more of those ‘something happened, didn’t it?’ looks, but I’ll just ignore them for now. If it becomes too much to handle, I’ll open up to them.

☆★☆

After finishing breakfast and taking a short break, we set off for the so-called holy relic research facility. We somehow managed to squeeze everyone onto Krishna. Six in the cockpit, and six more in the dining and rest area. It’s pretty tight, but this ship wasn’t designed to carry so many people in the first place.

In the cockpit, were me, Elma, Mimi, Kugi, and Tina and Wiska who were seated in their specialized twin seat. Meanwhile, in the dining and rest area, were Mei, Dr. Shouko, Neve, and our guides from the Holy Empire: Moegi, Konoha, and Inaba. If we really wanted to, we could cram more people into my room, Mimi’s room, Kugi’s room, or even the cargo hold, but doing that would risk overloading the life support system, so I wouldn’t recommend it.

Oh, by the way, Elma’s room on Krishna has been moved to the Antlion. The personal rooms on Krishna and Antlion are only for when we can’t return to the Black Lotus, where our main quarters are, so they see very little use.

「Navigation data set. We’re ready to go anytime!」

「Roger that. We’re launching now. There shouldn’t be much turbulence, but just in case, make sure you’re seated to avoid falling over.」

I announced our departure over the ship’s intercom, ensuring it could be heard in both the cockpit and the rest area. Then, I initiated Krishna’s launch and switched to automatic navigation using the provided data. After all, if I can take it easy, I will.

「You’ve got incredible piloting skills, yet you never hesitate to use autopilot or autodocking, huh?」

「That’s not the issue. If I can make things easier, why not? Even when I use autopilot, it’s not like I just relax completely.」

While autopilot usually heads straight for the designated coordinates, there’s always a chance of running into obstacles or other ships along the way. Letting the autopilot handle everything without supervision often leads to accidents. It’s happened to me a few times in SOL. I’d set it to autopilot, get up to grab a drink, and bam—accident the moment I take my eyes off it.

With that in mind, I kept my eyes on the sensor data as Krishna flew on autopilot for a few dozen minutes. Eventually, we arrived near our destination.

「This is Krishna. Requesting guidance to the landing zone.」

「Ah!? That is the one we’ve been expecting, right!? Hurry up! Land it! Wow, it’s huge! And it’s flying!?」

「Well yeah, it’s a spaceship, of course it’s flying… Just give me the guide beacon already.」

「Got it!」

The operator—if you could call them that—was strangely enthusiastic. Something about their voice didn’t seem all that professional, but whatever. The operator activated the guide beacon, so I followed it down to the landing spot prepared right next to a building that looked like a weird fusion of traditional Japanese and modern concrete architecture.

「Landing complete. Let’s disembark.」

「Aye aye, sir!」

☆★☆

「We’ve been waiting! Oh yes, we’ve been waiting! What immense size! What an incredible holy relic reaction! We’ve been detecting the signal from this spacecraft-type relic ever since it descended onto the planet!」

As soon as we disembarked from Krishna, We were greeted by a man who seemed overly excited. He had small wings on his head that flapped restlessly. What is he? Some kind of bird-like humanoid, perhaps? He reminds me of the shady fleet commander we encountered before, who had large wings sprouting from his back.

「Thanks for the warm welcome. I’m Captain Hiro, the owner of this ship.」

「Ah, welcome, welcome! My name is Buubo, and I’m considered the leading expert in holy relic research! I know, it might sound a bit self-important to say it myself, but it’s simply the truth! Oh, and I also extend a warm welcome to these lovely young ladies as well!」

Buubo introduced himself with a wide grin, clearly in a great mood. Honestly, calling yourself the leading expert is a bit questionable, but since no one around him seemed to be denying it, I guess it’s probably true.

「Besides experts in holy relics like myself, we have reunited specialists in our country’s ship technology, Spiritual engineering, Spiritual mechanics, and even researchers specialized in the ‘visitors’ themselves! I’m sure most of them would love to hear from you all, so if it’s not too much trouble, I hope you’ll engage with them! Oh, and speaking of, I heard there’s a pair of Dwarf engineers who maintain this ship, right? It’s you two, isn’t it!? Could you please, please come share your insights with us?」

Buubo eagerly pressed the mechanic sisters, Tina and Wiska, to join him. So I gave him a go-ahead sign.

「Uh, Boss, this guy’s kinda freakin’ me out…」

「Don’t worry. You’ll fit in just fine with their tech crew in no time.」

「Eek…」

「Haha, I’ll head over there too.」

Following Buubo, who was practically dragging the mechanic sisters along, Dr. Shouko also joined them. As long as Dr. Shouko is with them, it should be fine. The local engineers seem to be gathering over there too, so it’ll probably be a good experience for them. Probably.