“……Good morning.”
“Ou. How about you wash your face and freshen up first?”
“Okay.”
Elma went out of the break room while yawning. Major Serena was as persistent as ever, but since I’ve already been taken for a ride once, I didn’t bite the bait carelessly this time. I kept dodging the issue and told her I had other business to attend to before dropping the call.
And I contacted Mimi, May, and the mechanic sisters while making sure not to disturb Elma and told them to gather at the break room for a meeting.
In any case, we finally completed the transport request and earned a total of 1,500,000 Enels. We got that much probably due to the fact that this was a pretty dangerous sector as well as our fast delivery speed. However, we did get scolded by the guild staff for engaging in combat while still carrying the cargo we’re supposed to deliver.
Mm. But it can’t be helped y’know! I think we weren’t really in any danger for the most part because we warped out to somewhere well within the range of the imperial fleet’s support fire, but I’ll try to be more careful next time. If the situation allows it, that is.
I feel bad for the Commerce Guild, but in the end, my main affiliation is with the Mercenary Guild. I definitely won’t miss out on battles that’ll net me lots of rewards. If they find that disagreeable, then I’ll just have to continue with the trading side-gig without their support.
The good thing about delivery jobs is that they’re fairly simple. You just carry the cargo and deliver it to somewhere to make a tidy profit while performing some interstellar trading on the side. You can definitely amass a fortune if you do it long enough. Or rather, why are they still complaining in the first place? I mean, I did deliver the goods safely and made it way earlier than the specified deadline to boot.
I sent a reply to the Commerce Guild with those sentiments.
『It’s not that we don’t trust your capabilities. We just made a suggestion with the usual business practices in mind. We will still count on you to fulfill jobs from us in the future. We’re looking forward to a healthy working relationship with you.』
That was the reply that they sent back. Hm? Why the sudden change in tune? Did they underestimate Mimi when they saw that she was a young girl and thought they could get away with a little intimidation? Man, there sure are a lot of troublesome characters out there.
『You sure are scary, boss.』
A message popped up on the app from an account with an avatar of an anthropomorphic cartoon character that looked like a red spanner. It should be from Tina.
『Well, we can’t have them underestimating us mercenaries after all. If we just turned tail from that battle and insisted on just delivering the goods, we’ll be looked down upon by other mercenaries as well.』
An avatar of a cartoon one-eyed alien nodding repeatedly while crossing its arms popped out next. I told her to freshen up, but she actually joined the convo from the bathroom? Was she brushing her teeth as well or something?
『The mercenary business is also quite complicated, isn’t it?』
This time, the message was from an account with a blue hammer cartoon character avatar. This one should be Whisker. But the avatar characters of the sisters looked like super-deformed macho uncles, so it felt quite awkward. Why the heck are they using such avatars anyway?
『Uu…… I slipped up on my first assignment, Hiro-sama.』
An avatar resembling a cartoon rendition of a squirrel-creature mixed with a cat slumped down in dejection. Well, lots of folks judge other people by looks alone, so it really can’t be helped. Maybe her atmosphere would change if she wore glasses. How about I get a pair of non-prescription glasses for Mimi next time. Then she’ll change into a reliable-looking secretary…… Nah, it wouldn’t work. Mimi looked like your cute girl-next-door type no matter what she wore after all.
“It’s fine. Don’t let it get to you. Just face everything with a smile next time. It’ll be alright.”
“Yes……”
“And you did manage to make a tidy profit from selling the goods we brought, right? You don’t have to feel ashamed about anything.”
“……Yes!”
The goods we brought sold like hotcakes, it seems. Customers came in droves as soon as they put up the goods for sale, and they emptied our entire stock pretty quickly. Our total profits from trading this time were 330,000 Enels. After discussing with her, it was decided that Mimi’s bonus will be 3% of the total profits, so she’ll have a cut of 9,900 Enels this time. My share will be 320,100 Enels.
And as for the 1.5 million Enel payment we got for completing the delivery request, we decided to base everyone’s cut on the usual percentages, so Mimi will get 15,000 Enels. Elma will get 45,000 Enels. My share will be 1,440,000 Enels.
So my total share this time will be 1,760,000 Enels, all in all. A part of it will go to the maintenance costs of the ships, port fees, as well as everyone’s daily living expenses. The port fees aren’t a joke y’know. The Lotus was a fairly large ship, so the fee for it is significantly higher than Krishna’s.
By the way, the mechanic sisters won’t be getting a cut this time. They would only receive a bonus if they played an active part in fulfilling a job, so most of the time, they’ll only get a cut from the money earned from selling the salvaged parts of defeated pirate ships or the pirate ships themselves.
“So, um, there’s a request from the major… or rather, from the imperial military.”
“Well, it depends on how much they’re offering, I guess.”
“Yeah, that’s how it is after all huh. They still haven’t contacted us again, right?”
“Yes. The imperial military still hasn’t reached out to us as of now.”
I checked with May, who was now standing right behind me, but it looks like the accounting department of the imperial military still hasn’t contacted us yet.
“Does it usually take this long?”
“Perhaps they are having a hard time deciding the final amount since there is no precedent.”
“No precedent? But isn’t it common for mercenaries to intervene in military battles and ask for rewards after?”
It was common for mercenary players to plunge right into active battlefields and fish for profits. That’s how I earned most of the money for equipment and ship upgrades back when I was just starting out in SOL.
“I believe the problem is that the weight of the merits you raised is far too valuable, Master. You did manage to almost singlehandedly tip the battle in the imperial military’s favor after all.”
“You basically went for a crazy kamikaze charge and came out laughing, after all, you dolt.”
I don’t think I did anything that reckless though. I left enough of a safety margin y’know. And it’s all backed by solid experience. I did get shot down a lot before I managed to get the hang of it back when I was playing SOL though…… But, yeah. I guess people from this dimension wouldn’t normally get the hang of the maneuvers I employed like I did since one miss would lead to their deaths for real. If you get struck down in the middle of a crystal lifeform swarm here, you’ll just end up being consumed.
“Master destroyed four large-type crystal lifeforms, thereby greatly undermining their capability to rapidly field units in battle, and attracted a large number of small and medium-types in order to herd them to the imperial defense fleet’s bombardment range. Although I believe the imperial military still suffered losses, they were greatly mitigated due to your actions. Those achievements are enough for you to be conferred full military honors and an honorary noble peerage, I believe.”
“Eeeeh!?”
“Yep. You might be awarded a medal of honor and granted the title of an honorary knight.”
“……Can I actually refuse?”
Getting some monetary compensation and a medal isn’t much of a problem. But getting an honorary title totally smells like trouble. Geh. Somehow, I got a vision of a black-haired young noble girl waving at me with a suggestive smile.
I didn’t really hate being with Chris, but becoming a noble will just cause me some major hassles, so I’d rather not have anything to do with it at all. Ugh. Now I’m getting a vision of Chris and Major Serena forcefully pulling each of my hands.
When it comes to power and influence, it seems that House Holz, which was headed by a marquis, had an edge over the Daleinwald House, which was only headed by an earl. But there’s also the fact that Chris and I once shared the same bed. Of course, I didn’t lay a hand on Chris at all, but I kinda feel like if that terrifying granpa earl ever got wind of it, he’ll come chasing after me with swords in hand and force me to take responsibility.
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