And so, I spent the entire day happily flirting with Elma. The next day, I went out together with Mimi on a food trip all over the colony.
We began with grilled skewer stalls, then went on to takoyaki-looking stuff filled with mysterious ingredients, live seafood restaurants, meat restaurants serving artificial, cultured, and even natural meat, and so on. We thoroughly enjoyed the local dwarven cuisine. In any case, we resolved to stop visiting live seafood restaurants after trying it once.
Cuz it was plainly unappetizing, y’see. They served things that looked like those parasitic alien creatures in games and movies y’see. And to think we were supposed to eat something that looked like a huge alien spiny lobster fresh. It was still twitching y’know. I had Mimi take a video, but it turned out to be something right out of an SF horror flick. Well, if you ask me whether or not it was tasty… Uh, I guess it was… Yeah…
And afterward, I sent my proposal for the refurbishment of the mothership’s interior to Space Dwerg. We planned to spend most of our time inside Krishna, but there might be times when we need to entertain guests and the like, and we also needed a place to stay if Krishna is sent for an overhaul again.
And so, I made several upgrade requests to the facilities that will be installed inside the mothership. It turned out quite expensive, but Space Dwerg suggested something to cover the costs.
“Test pilot huh.”
『Yes. We are in great need for test pilots who’ll fly our latest prototypes, obtain data, and give us first-hand impressions regarding our products.』
We received a notice from the Mercenary Guild that Space Dwerg applied for a request addressed specifically to us in the morning, so we went and contacted Sara for the specifics. We were, of course, still inside the hotel room. Since we were renting a high-class suite room, it came equipped with a large holo-display with a telecommunications function for video calls.
“I’m aware that it’s a rare opportunity, but… what’s up with the 1,500,000 Enel reward just for serving as a test pilot?”
“I also think it’s a bit too much. A Gold ranker’s hiring price is usually 80,000 Enels per day, so this is quite a large sum in comparison. Why is that?”
Under the contract, we were supposed to serve as test pilots for five days, and in doing so, the 1,500,000 Enel price for refurbishing the interior of the mothership will be waived entirely. It was a great offer, but it seemed just a bit too generous, so we suspected a catch.
『I hope you can think of this as part of our sincere apology for all the trouble we’ve caused this far. And of course, that price includes the hush money in order to compel you from talking about our latest technological advances to unrelated parties. It’s really not such an absurd amount.』
“I see. So it includes a hush fee. That makes sense, right?”
Mimi, who was beside me, nodded her head and was seemingly convinced. So this much is appropriate for hush money huh. Well, I’m sure the apology for their blunders factored in a lot as well.
“I’m more or less okay with the reward. Then, can you give me some detailed specifics regarding the job?”
『Yes, of course. Then–』
To sum up Sara’s explanation, we were going to serve as test pilots for one of Space Dwerg’s experimental prototype ships, gather data, and provide our objective impressions. Several safety measures have been implemented beforehand, but in the off chance that something did happen, she told us what to watch out for and what to do in case of emergencies.
“It won’t suddenly explode on our faces or something, I hope.”
『We pride ourselves on the reliability and safety of our products, so please rest assured.』
Sara’s image on the other side of the screen displayed a confident smile. Even if you say that, I can’t say I can muster the same level of confidence given what I saw the other day with those swarming dwarven mechanics with crazy looks in their eyes. I remember hearing about Whisker developing some problematic thruster systems as well.
“I’ll just pray that’s the case then. So, how should we prepare for it and where do we report for the job?”
After about an hour, I found myself wearing a skin-tight pilot suit inside a hangar where several of Space Dwerg’s prototype ships were parked. I was currently receiving a lecture about the ship we were supposed to test.
“This ship is Space Dwerg’s attempt at developing a next-gen high-speed combat starship. We incorporated our expertise in making tough, reliable ships into the design and made sure it had the best mobility as well. …Uh, that’s what we’re aiming for anyway.”
“That’s a roundabout way of describing it.”
“Well, it’s because our in-house test pilots can’t even make use of this baby’s full potential…… At best, they can bring out 50% of the theoretical specs.”
“50% huh.”
That’s interesting. If they could only bring out half of what the ship was capable of based on its specs, it’s either the pilots just plain suck, the ship’s setting are problematic in the first place, or there was a mistake in the overall design. Or maybe it was just that hard to pilot.
“Well… just try riding it first.”
“Guess so.”
I received a helmet with a built-in HUD from an engineer and started heading for the prototype ship we’ll be piloting for today. When I got in front of the ship, I found Mimi and Elma, who had also finished their preparations, standing nearby. They were also wearing skin-tight pilot suits.
“Mm. Now that’s amazing.”
“It is, isn’t it?”
“S-Stop it, you two. It’s a bit embarrassing if you stare at me like that.”
Elma nodded at my words while Mimi’s face reddened as she attempted to cover her bountiful chest with her arms. The skin-tight pilot suit enhanced Mimi’s bombshell figure even further and emphasized her amazing chest assets. It looks like a lot of the dwarven engineers (mainly the men) were also attracted to the overwhelming sight presented by the pilot-suit wearing Mimi. Hey, guys, she’s my girl, so don’t stare too much, okay.
“L-Let’s hurry up and board already!”
“Fine, fine.”
We got pushed by Mimi and boarded the ship. Since it was a prototype, the interior looked pretty bare. There’s practically nothing that enhances the livability installed. Well, I expected as much anyway.
“It would be bad if we get into some sort of accident and get stranded huh.”
“It seems the cargo hold was loaded with at least a week’s worth of water and food. Since this ship is a prototype, it’s also loaded with powerful beacons, so don’t worry too much.”
Well, we were conducting the test on a site near the colony, so I guess we would be rescued immediately if an accident occurred.
“Let’s start with the set-up then. There’s a lot that’s different from Krishna, so pay attention, alright.”
“Understood.”
“Yes.”
We wore our helmets and started prepping the aircraft for launch. I mainly focused on the OS, while Elma checked the control systems, and Mimi checked the radar and comm equipment.
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