After I arrived in front of the reception counter, I found myself facing a guy sporting numerous old battle scars on his body. His left arm also seemed like a mechanical prosthetic. How should I put this? It felt like I finally encountered something mercenary guild-like.
“Ahn? The hell do you guys want?”
“He’s a newbie. This guy’s going around Underground without registering with the Guild.”
“Huh? Underground? I sometimes hear about guys like that, but it’s my first time seeing one in person. C’mon over and take a seat bro.”
“Ah, yes.”
I sat down in front of the counter like I was told. This guy was pretty intense man. If I met someone like him back home in Japan, I’d never want to get involved with the guy at all. He really looks like someone from a rather “dangerous and illegal” profession.
“Even if you’re unregistered, you do own a ship right? Tell me your ship name and I.D. It’s parked in the hangar bay right?”
“Yes.”
“Pfft. You really seem like a frightened little kitten. So interesting.”
“Shut up.”
I glared at Elma, who had one hand over her mouth while trying to stifle her laughter but didn’t seem to be able to. Dammit! I can’t help it okay! This uncle’s just hella scary man!
The receptionist uncle with a terrifying face inputted the ship name and I.D. I gave him on a tablet terminal and fiddled with it for some moments.
“The hell? What’s up with your ship kid? I’ve never seen a model like this before.”
“Although I can’t exactly disclose the source, I guarantee I didn’t get her illegally.”
“Nah, y’know… Well, it’s a breach of manners to ask about a mercenary’s past. It says here you engaged three pirate ships in battle four days ago and managed to win, but that’s about it. Rather, you don’t have any other activity records kid.”
“I seem to have gotten involved in an accident while my ship was on Hyperdrive and got thrown out somewhere near this colony. Because of that accident, I seem to have lost most of my memories, and I currently have absolutely no idea where I am.”
“You serious? Ah… Well, that’s fine. You don’t have a bounty on your head anyway. Oh yeah, could you stop it with that polite language thing? If the other guys hear you talkin like that, you’d get looked down on y’know.”
“Y- Yeah.”
Man, it sure takes some serious balls to talk in a casual manner with this grim-faced uncle…
“That’s true. It’s more or less over for a merc who’s underestimated, so watch how you act from now on. However, you’re still as lax as ever, aren’t you?”
“You’re also aware of the rules, right missy? There’s no merit for probing about a merc’s past. If they’ve got no bounty on their heads and properly earn their keep, then there’s absolutely no problem.”
A question suddenly popped into my head while the two were having their conversation. So I decided to just blurt it out right away.
“Um, a starship’s not exactly cheap, right? So I’m sure there aren’t that many guys who go like [I got myself one, so I’ll be a mercenary starting today!] just like that yeah? How do you even manage to recruit enough members then?”
I think my question does have some merit. I’ve investigated the general market prices in this world these past few days, and in order to purchase a properly armed ship, you’d need to fork out at least 50,000 Enel. If you convert that to Japanese Yen, you’d end up with 5,000,000. I haven’t managed to investigate the average income of people in this world, but I’m sure that’s still an astronomical amount of money for the average joe.
“Well, there are actually lots of guys who’re formerly from the military active in this business y’see. They’re pretty high leveled and have great skills. There are also some who just plain love fighting and chose to become mercenaries as a result. There’s also them extremely greedy, money-obsessed types.”
“There are also those who graduated from the Mercenary Training Institute right?”
“Yeah. But there’s none of those types in this particular star system.”
“Those still seems to be a bit lacking as sources of ‘fresh blood’ though.”
“Guess so. But the galaxy’s a friggin huge place kid. We’ve managed to get enough members to fulfill most of the requests sent to us.”
Hm. In other words, there are lots of prerequisites, so they’ve managed to gather up only the folks who fulfill those conditions. Or maybe there just isn’t a lot of mercenary work in this world? Hm. I don’t get it. I don’t get it, but I’ll just go with the flow anyway.
“I’ve finished setting up your registration. The only thing left is the test.”
“Test?”
“Yeah. If we don’t know how skilled you are, won’t we have no idea what type of jobs you’d be able to take up?”
“That’s reasonable. But how are you gonna test me?”
“Training course. There’s a simulator here for that purpose. I’ll have you undergo that.”
“OK.”
The receptionist uncle stood up from his seat, called out towards the back of the office and guided Elma and me to another room. Why’d Elma follow me anyway? Elma grinned mischievously at me when she noticed my gaze.
“Don’t you think I have the right to see just how skilled the rookie I brought with me is?”
“You do?”
Well, I did manage to smoothly proceed with my mercenary registration thanks to Elma, so I don’t really mind if she observes my moves. Moreover, the opinions of a veteran merc with five years of experience under her belt would be valuable. If I have her evaluate me, I’ll be able to more properly judge my overall skill level.
“It’s right here.”
The room with the simulator was surprisingly bigger than I expected. Lined up within it were simulator machines that looked a bit like small-sized trucks. Or rather, they seem to be mimicking just the cockpit block of a ship.
“Chose something which resembles the cockpit model of your ship and get in.”
“Gocha.”
The overall look of a ship’s cockpit is largely influenced by its manufacturer. That also goes for the cockpit controls. So most ships are made to be compatible with most cockpit blocks available on the market. This essentially means that it’s possible to detach a cockpit block and install it onto another ship. This function was also available on Stella Online, so I’m quite used to it.
“Guess it’s this one.”
“Hoh. Ain’t that a high-end military model? Alright. I’ll have it prepped straight away.”
The uncle, who seemed somehow impressed when I chose my cockpit block, went away somewhere. I’m sure he’s going to the control room for the simulators. Elma’s figure was also gone. Guess she’s spectating from somewhere else.
“Well then, let’s start the evaluation test.”
“Roger that. What about the operating data of this test unit?”
“I’ll upload your ship’s data on it. You should be able to control it like you usually do after…… Oi, oi. What the heck is this?”
“What’s up?”
“You really askin me? This unit’s data… Can you really use this thing?”
“I think I’ll be okay if it’s Krishna’s data.”
Was there something strange about the data. Well, I don’t really know how Krishna would be evaluated in this world. It was a pretty strong unit back in Stella Online though.
“Oh well. This is a test to evaluate your skills after all. The objective of the test is pretty basic. Destroy all enemy units. All ships except for you are enemies. They’ll be few in number at first, but they’ll be coming at you in waves. The difficulty will increase as their numbers go up.”
“Got it.”
“Then let’s start the test. Activating the unit.”
The cockpit interior dimmed; only a minimal amount of illumination remained. So it accurately simulates even a ship’s dormant state. I fired up the main generator with practiced motions and brought it up to battle level. In response to that, the simulated Krishna activated, and a space environment gradually unveiled itself before me. It was a pretty realistic view. This simulator’s extremely detailed.
I also activated my weapon systems and quickly set course for the location of the enemy ship displayed on the radar. I accelerated all at once. I felt my body being strongly pressed down onto the seat.
“Whoah. This thing even simulates the Gs.”
What kind of tech did they use to make this thing? Well, if this world really was the same as Stella Online, then a gravity generating device should have been developed. This machine must be using something like that.
A figure that seemed to be the enemy ship was cruising in the distance and carefully approaching me in order to mount a surprise attack. I’ve already managed to get a lock on the slowpoke. The four manipulator arms deployed from the hull and immediately aimed at the enemy ship. The moment I pulled the control stick’s trigger, four beams of light fired straight at the enemy and tore it open. I managed to shoot down the enemy in one attack.
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