The training direction for Mimi and Kugi has been finalized, Elmaâs starship has been procured, and the overhaul and upgrade of Black Lotus have been completed. I havenât had the opportunity to fly around freely out in space for a good while now, so I would have liked to do just that. But unfortunately, the imperial military, or rather, Col. Serenaâs Independent Mobile Anti-pirate Fleet has given us a designated request, so we were ordered to stay on stand-by inside the colony until the fleet is ready for sortie. It wasnât worth it to disobey orders and willfully leave the Windas Tertius colony without permission, so, unfortunately, I had no choice but to wait around while being bored out of my mind.
Well, this system was one of the key star systems of the empire anyway and right under the home turf of the imperial military. So, you have to head at least three systems away to get a chance to encounter space pirates. And if you want a tidy profit, youâd have to move at least five or six times away via hyperlane. If so, even a one-way trip will already take days. It wasnât a distance that you can just dismiss as a little far away.
Or rather, something like that would probably get treated as deserting during an official military mission.
âSo, thatâs why you came to watch us work.â
âYa really have a lot of free time, Boss.â
âItâs fun to relax while watching people hard at work you know.â
âNice guts ya have there, Boss. It makes me really wanna pick a fight with ya.â
âSorry.â
I immediately surrendered the moment Tina held up a plasma cutting tool that could even easily dismantle space monster bodies. Isnât it dangerous to point that thing toward a person, missy?
âBut your work sure is plain.â
âCourse it is. The Krishna, Black Lotus, and Antlionâs maintenance are all practically perfect already.â
âSo, right now, weâre only stockpiling easily exhaustible items or components that would take some time to replicate. Next would be performing maintenance on the maintenance bots and the combat bots, sorting out the tools, or maintaining the maintenance facility itself.â
âI see.â
Right now, maintenance bots of various shapes and sizes were gathered around the two sisters. There were only a few humanoids, and most were multi-legged, one-armed, or multiple-armed work bots. There were also drone-like bots that were in charge of working on elevated spots. They seem to be floating around by using anti-gravity technology. It was basically the same device used by those spherical anti-gravity drink holders.
âWell, maintenance bots are actually capable of performing maintenance on each other, and the military combat bots can make use of their dedicated maintenance systems to conduct automatic maintenance, so these kids donât really need much attention anyway.â
âYeah. Honestly, maintaininâ our tools is a lot more of a handful than them.â
âUh, is there something you guys need to manually work on yourselves though?â
If there were this many maintenance bots, I canât imagine the two of them having enough chances to swing their tools around themselves.
âItâs not necessary for performing maintenance on Krishna, Black Lotus, and Antlion. But we do have to get our hands dirty when it comes to strippinâ equipment from captured pirate ships or puttinâ usable ones together into a workinâ ship that we can sell. Anyway, ainât that our main job around here, Boss?â
âOh, right. Thatâs true.â
âWe did need to perform some manual maintenance on Krishna at first. But thatâs just because we had no available manual to base on.
âAh, yeah. I suppose there really isnât one available.â
Black Lotus was manufactured by Space Dwerg, and Antlion was manufactured by Ideal Starway, but Krishna appeared together with me when I got thrown into this world. Its manufacturing details were completely unknown, and some of its components were mysterious black boxes.
Fortunately, it had a certain degree of compatibility with the ship components of this world, and although we havenât encountered any problems maintaining it yet, thereâs a high risk of it being unrepairable if any of those black boxes were to be damaged. In truth, Krishna was the most problematic ship I owned.
âWell, weâve been gradually getting some headway on the analysis. Weâve created a working template for basic maintenance, so unless the Krishna gets seriously damaged, maintaining it is manageable.â
âFer now, weâve prioritized the maintenance of the components that get worn out easily like the thrusters and the arm-type weapon mounts. Weâve also analyzed the other parts and can already perform maintenance on a lot of them, but the generatorâs still one big puzzle.â
âIâm sure youâll be fine Big Brother, but still, try your best not to let the generator take a hit or itâll be really bad.â
âYeah. Once the power generator gets hit, itâll be checkmate.â
Obviously, the power generator was the most notable weakness of a starship. Well, the only time it would get directly damaged would be when the energy shields and armor have been completely penetrated and a shipâs vital part gets a hole punched through it, so the lives of the crew inside probably canât be guaranteed anyway. The best outcome in that situation would be to successfully escape in the cockpit block before the rest of the ship explodes.
âWell, letâs leave the matter of Krishna aside first, Boss. When are we gonna sortie outta this colony anyway? Weâre already about to run outta topics fer small talk to kill time.â
âWhat are you guys gonna do once we run out of topics then?â
âMm. Studying, maybe? Weâve already been doing that every day though.â
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âStudying?â
I wasnât expecting Whisker to bring up studying, so it made me curious.
âWe have to keep studyinâ about the latest state-of-the-art materials, ship components, and engineering techniques. A ship mechanic who canât keep up with the latest and greatest ainât a qualified mechanic at all.â
âI see. So, you guys are constantly updating your knowledge and skills huh.â
âThatâs how it is.â
âIf you declare the cost of studying that stuff under our expenses, Iâll properly shoulder it all, so make sure you do that. But you canât spend money on things that are simply your hobby, alright?â
âReally? Thanks a bunch, Boss!â
âThank you very much.â
Tina and Whisker displayed overjoyed smiles.
âIâm gonna let Mei scrutinize every expense, alright?â
âUuâŚâŚ T-Thatâll be fine.â
I had to give them a bit of a warning just in case. Itâs because a non-expert on that stuff like me wouldnât be able to judge if the expenses were justified. It would be better to leave that to Mei. Iâm gonna end up burdening her again, but it was a necessary measure.
âBy the way, are you really that free right now, Big Brother?â
âVery.â
Elma was completely busy with adjusting Antlion, and Mimi and Kugi were studying under Mei regarding their new professions. So, right now, I have no choice but to wait for the designated request to officially go underway, and thatâs why I went over and ended up bothering Tina and Whisker. Well, I could watch a movie or work out a bit in the training room, but it would just feel empty to watch a movie or work out alone.
âYa actually have a tendency to easily get lonely huh, Boss. Thatâs pretty cute.â
âHuhâŚâŚ? Well, maybe.â
When I first came here, I spent my days alone. But after I picked Mimi and Elma up, that wasnât the case anymore. And so, I found myself always spending time with Mimi and Elma. And then, Mei joined us as well. Tina and Whisker came too. So, more often than not, I was always spending time with someone. Though I did spend a lot of time alone back when I was still on Earth.
âWell, itâs not like we have anythinâ urgent to do, right?â
âThatâs right, Big Sis. What do you want to do, Big Brother?â
The two of them were giving me gentle smiles. Can you stop that, you two? Stop emitting that natural aura of motherhood. It makes me feel really embarrassed.
After that, I spent a nice time watching holo-movies with the two of them.