“I ended up showing you all something unsightly.”
“There’s no use trying to gloss things over now you know.”
“……”
“Ow, oow! I’m sorry, okay.”
The red-faced Chris started hitting me repeatedly with her cute balled fists. Okay, okay. It’s my fault for saying something insensitive. So calm down, milady.
“Well, what can I say, Boss? Since that’s how it is, why don’t you just spoil her all the way?”
“But you can’t take him home, okay?”
The two drunkards started teasing Chris with big grins on their faces. Could you stop that? Chris is still a minor, so that’s a no-go. So stop teasing her.
“Sho delishioush.”
“Mumu, the chef’s control of the fire is also quite exquisite……”
Since Chris was back to her normal self, Mimi and Whisker started helping themselves to the food. The dish both of them were sampling was some kind of meat steak. The meat used resembled beef, and it seems the animal it’s from was imported by Comatt III from another planet. Plans for raising them as livestock are already underway. I see. So instead of constantly importing from that other planet, they plan on raising the animals locally instead. Natural meat is considered a pretty high-class good after all. At the end of the day, it’s all about the money, huh.
“It seems you’ve been driven to a corner earlier. Are you sure you’re okay now?”
“Yes. Once we manage to get past the initial stages of the colonization project, I’m sure my work will gradually become easier to manage. And this will serve as good training to raise my and my staff’s skills as well.”
“But isn’t that just you guys getting used to all the work being dumped at you……?”
“Hahaha……”
Light began disappearing from Chris’s pupils once more. Ok, ok. I’m sorry for saying something insensitive again. Here you go. I’m not sure what kind of egg they used, but this tamagoyaki looks tasty enough.
“It’s not like we can directly help out with your work, Chris…… But, well, you can always come to us to complain afterward and get yourself spoiled.”
Or rather, I think there are no other people who would fawn on her like this except for us. Yeah, there are none. Her parents have already passed away, and her grandfather, Earl Dareinwald, needs to govern the rest of their territory and is staying at the neighboring star system. I think she has maids who’ve been serving her since she was young, but it’s not like they’re in a position to spoil her. They are more like her subordinates after all.
“That’s more than enough for me.”
Chris then leaned back against my chest and relaxed. Even if they got along pretty well, since she’s doing something like this without minding Mimi and the other’s reactions, she really must have tired herself out huh.
“By the way, what are your plans for the following days, Hiro-sama?”
“Oh, just the usual stuff. We’ll be ambushing, cornering, and crushing pirates like we always do. We’ve actually crushed about fifty or so pirates these past few days.”
“That’s an amazing result! Actually, the number of pirate subjugations has been steadily increasing lately.”
“Hee? So it’s on an upward trend?”
“Right now, it seems that’s the case.”
“I see. If that’s the case, then I suppose they really are flocking in from the outside.”
Pirates are a big nuisance for civilian ships anywhere, but this isn’t a game, so it’s not like pirates will keep spawning automatically. If we keep hunting them down, their numbers are bound to decrease. If it keeps increasing instead, then that just means the influx of pirates from outside of the system trumps the current subjugation rate, at least for now.
“Maybe a pretty big pirate organization managed to slip themselves inside this system. I think it would be better if you guys paid closer attention to this matter.”
“Pay more attention to it, huh. Practically speaking, what kind of actions can we take?”
Chris peered up at me and asked. Fumu. What kind of actions huh.
“First, I think it’s better to make preparations so you can mobilize a large force on short notice. Large pirate groups tend to collect their loot and kidnapped slaves inside a well-hidden base. As soon as a base is found, you should immediately organize a large-scale raid to get rid of it.”
“I see. In other words, it would be better to always have a portion of the mercenaries and imperial navy ready for mass deployment in short notice in anticipation of a large-scale operation, correct?”
“That’s basically it. It won’t do if the planet’s defense gets overly thinned out as a result of a mass deployment though, so you’ll also have to take the distribution of available forces into account before authorizing a large-scale raid.”
“I see……”
“It would be best if you talked about this with the earl as well. I gave out advice from a mercenary’s standpoint, but a lord like him might have some differing opinions as well.”
“Consult with Grandfather…… Yes, you’re right. I will talk to him tomorrow.”
Chris seemed to pause and think for a few moments, but she nodded in agreement soon afterward. Although her being put in charge of the planetary colonization project might be a test for her so she can become a more qualified lord and heir to the earl, there’s no reason for her to insist on accomplishing everything all on her own. After all, Earl Dareinwald and Chris are shouldering the lives of all of the citizens under them.
“I think it isn’t good to keep talking about work at a time like this, you know?”
“But I can’t really talk to Chris about stuff other than this.”
Chris will become a countess in the future after all. Even though I’m a Gold Star awardee and a Platinum-rank mercenary, it’s not like I can talk to her in a brazen manner, especially when we’re out in public.
“Hm? Well, perhaps you’re right. But at least try to talk about topics other than work-related things, okay.”
“What kind of topics? It’s not like we’ve done anything worth talking about lately.”
Basically, we just patrolled around the star system and hunted pirates as usual.
“Come to think of it, how are you getting along with the media staff on board your ship, Hiro-sama?”
“Oh, those guys. They–”
Afterward, we talked to Chris about the media people as we ate our fill and laughed at her stories about weird petitions she’s been getting for the past few days. The most interesting one was from a single guy who got assigned to a residential area for dating and married couples by mistake…… The contents of his petition were ‘It’s too painful seeing all these couples around me… Please help. I beg you.’ or something like that.
–The next day. When we finished having dinner, Chris was taken home by her private guards from House Dareinwald who came to pick her up. When we got back to the Black Lotus ourselves, she messaged me saying she made it back home safely as well and thanked all of us for the wonderful dinner, which made us feel relieved.
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