I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary-Chapter 548 「I Love Them. Namunamu」

I woke up to the faint sound of someone’s breathing. Warm, soft skin pressed against me on both sides. And the breath wasn’t from just one person. Glancing to the right, I saw light brown hair. To the left, lustrous silver hair and ears as sharp as bamboo leaves.

「Ah…」

Right, we’d slept as a trio last night. Every now and then, this kind of thing happens. The rotation of who sleeps with me and when is handled surprisingly well by the girls—well, mostly by Mei, she is the one who manages the whole schedule. But sometimes they disregard the rotation, and I end up sleeping with more than one person.

I don’t have a single complaint, though.

But looking at this situation with a calm and clear head, it really is a wild situation. I can’t help but wonder how I ended up here. Then again, it’s probably the natural result of my words and actions.

The least I can do now is take responsibility. In all sorts of ways. For the moment, I guess that means waking them up as gently as possible.

Alright, rise and shine, my ladies. Myon myon myon myon.

「…Nnh?」

「…Wuh?」

The effect was immediate. Just a beat behind Elma, Mimi’s eyes also fluttered open.

「Geez, Hiro. Don’t wake us up with telepathy like that. You startled me.」

「It’s a refreshing way to wake up, though…」

「I even mixed in a little healing-like energy across your whole body to help you recover from fatigue.」

「‘Healing-like’? What’s with that shady phrasing?」

Elma sat up as she grumbled, raising her arms high over her head in a stretch. Since the three of us had fallen asleep right after an intimate evening, she was completely naked. Truly a blessed sight for early morning eyes. Namunamu.

「Why are you praying…? You had your fill of seeing everything last night.」

Still blushing, Elma yanked up the sheet to cover her chest.

「That was then, this is now. I was just offering morning thanks for a beautiful sight.」

「You really love boobs, don’t you, Hiro-sama?」

「I absolutely do. Namunamu.」

Mimi, face flushed, made no attempt to hide her impressive chest as she sat up. I stared respectfully before offering my gratitude again. Yeah! Today is going to be a great day. I’m filled with energy

☆★☆

After wrapping up our stay in the Holy Vuelzarus Empire, we were en route home. That said, it wasn’t a particularly long journey—just traveling from the core system of the Holy Vuelzarus Empire to the nearby star system where the gateway was located. From there, the Vuelzarus gateway could connect directly to the one in the Grakkan Empire’s capital, Grakkius.

Still, the path between the core system and the gateway-equipped system wasn’t exactly safe. The Holy Vuelzarus Empire had unstable dimensional boundaries, and space monsters frequently emerged from the other side. That’s why the Black Lotus had to move under heavy escort.

If we were on a Vuelzarus ship equipped with a psionic jump drive, we could’ve just skipped straight to the gateway system. But the Black Lotus didn’t have that kind of drive. Krishna apparently gained the ability after its evolution, but we haven’t tested it over long distances between star systems yet—only short jumps within visual range.

「Mornin’, Boss. Mornin’ to you too, Mimi, Elma-neesan.」

「Good morning.」

After the three of us took a leisurely shower and headed to the mess hall, we found Tina and Wiska already having breakfast.

「Morning. You’re both taking it slow today, huh?」

「We stayed up late organizing all the psionic tech we learned—takin’ notes, sortin’ it by field, that kind of thing.」 freewēbnoveℓ.com

「Ended up oversleeping a bit.」

「Makes sense.」

The twin dwarven engineers, Tina and Wiska, had learned a lot during this trip to the Holy Vuelzarus Empire and were still in the process of making that knowledge their own. Apparently, they also managed to bring back a ton of technical documents and data. With any luck, they’ll surprise us with some cool results soon.

「What about Kugi and the Doctor?」

「Dunno, we just woke up ourselves. Looks like someone’s been using the mess, though, so I bet Kugi’s up.」

「As for Shouko-sensei, I’m sure she’s holed up in the lab as usual. Probably with Neve-chan too.」

「Those two… if left alone, I bet they wouldn’t come out even if mushrooms started growing on them.」

「Hiro-sama, wouldn’t that basically be a biohazard at that point?」

「Mushrooms… pandemic… Ugh, my head…」

Tina suddenly clutched her head in agony—probably because our conversation had dredged up some traumatic memories. Back then, she’d been such a crybaby. She must be cringing at the memory.

The three of us—Mimi, Elma, and I—collected our usual breakfast orders from the automatic cooker, Tetsujin V, and sat down to eat with the mechanic sisters. I had a typical Japanese-style set meal. Mimi got something like a sweet porridge. Elma had steak made from synthetic meat, plus a mountain of mashed-potato-like substance. I always wonder how she manages to wolf down that much meat and starch first thing in the morning. That must be the source of her gorilla-like strength.

「Look, Doctor. Everyone’s eating breakfast.」

「Fuaaah… Still can’t eat anything solid yet…」

While we were chatting over breakfast, a disheveled, beautiful woman was led in by a pale-skinned girl. Long, unkempt black hair, a wrinkled shirt, and a rumpled lab coat… What a waste. She would be gorgeous if she actually tried.

「Good morning, Neve. You too, Shouko-sensei.」

「Morning, Captain.」

「Mornfuaaaahhh…」

「That’s one hell of a yawn.」

Shouko-sensei plopped into a seat with an enormous yawn that was halfway between a greeting and a yawn. Neve, after making sure she was settled, tottered over to Tetsujin V. Compared to when she first came aboard, Neve looks so much healthier now.Back then, she could barely survive without being hooked up to life support. Now she can walk around on her own. That’s Grakkan Empire biotech for you. No wonder they can produce crazy sword-wielding nobles who can deflect death beams with ease.

「Here you go, Doctor.」

「Thanks, sweetie~」

Neve returned carrying a tray with two oversized cups, each with a thick straw sticking out—about the size of a Mc◯nald’s large drink.

「Wait, that’s your breakfast?」

「Sure is. Same liquid food as Neve-kun. I just can’t handle solids right after waking up.」

「This is normal for me, Captain. Though I think I’m almost ready for solid food now.」

The two of them sat side by side, slurping away at their oversized cups. Watching them brought back memories of the time I ate the paste inside food cartridges in a colony… That was terrible. Mimi must’ve remembered too—she had that thousand-yard stare.

「Oh yeah, Hiro-kun. Aren’t we about to arrive soon?」

「Hm? Ah, yeah. We’ll be exiting the hyperlane soon. The gateway’s on the far side of the star system though, so it’ll still take a while even after we get there.」

Hyperlane entry points—or rather, exit points—were usually located at the star system’s outer edge. Because placing a spacetime-warping gateway too close could interfere with the hyperlane itself, gateways were built far from the entry points, on the opposite edge of the system.

Depending on the star system, it could take several hours to cross from one outer edge to the other, even with FTL drives. On average, it was over ten hours. In the worst cases, nearly a full day. So yeah, we would still be in transit for a while even after arrival.

「I see… That means you’ll be marrying those noble princesses soon, huh? I wonder what I should do.」

「What do you mean?」

「Well, I have to think about my own future. Hiro-kun, you’re marrying into nobility. There’s no way someone like me—with my origins, even if my credentials are solid—can stay around. I’m a first-gen artificial human, after all.」

「Nope. Not happening. I’m not letting you go, Shouko-sensei.」

「Eh? But…」

「No buts. Yeah, I’ll be marrying Chris and Serena once we’re back in the Empire, like you said. But that doesn’t mean I’m throwing anyone away. I believe Chris and Serena already understand this. And if Earl Dareinwald or Marquis Holz —or anyone in their factions—tries to force me otherwise, I’ll flat-out refuse. If it comes to it, I’ll duel, kill, or do whatever it takes. And if nothing works, I’ll abandon everything and take everyone somewhere else.」

When I said that, Shouko-sensei’s eyes went wide for a moment before she broke into a smile.

「Alright. Got it. Then I won’t worry about a thing.」

「Please don’t. And sorry for making you feel uncertain. That goes for the rest of you too—there’s no need to worry. I’ll compromise where I must, but I won’t bend on this.」

Everyone nodded at my declaration. Elma gave me a wry smile, though. Yeah, I know, it isn’t going to be easy. But hey, if there’s one thing I’m overflowing with, it’s raw firepower. In the worst-case scenario, I’ll brute-force my way through.

And if that doesn’t work, we’ll just run for it!