CH 373

373 – It Kinda Feels like Something Similar Happened Before

So far, the trip was pretty smooth.

We arrived at the nearest gateway without getting into any sort of trouble, and we didn’t have to wait long to pass through the gateway itself. We didn’t get ourselves involved with other mercenaries, thugs, or local gangsters in the colonies we stopped by along the way, and trading and resupplying also went without a hitch. It was truly smooth sailing.

“I think things are going well so far, but why do you guys look so tense every day?”

While we were having our dinner, Dr. Shouko couldn’t hold back her curiosity anymore and inquired. So, she already noticed huh? The change in our behavior, I mean.

“Y’see Doc, Boss has this unfortunate tendency ta attract all sorts of trouble ta himself.”

Tina began explaining the situation while sporting a wry grin. Yeah, I’ll just leave it to her.

“I believe I’m already aware of that though…… Ah, in other words, this is something like the calm before a storm, right?”

“As expected of ya, Doc. Yer pretty sharp. We already experienced somethin’ like this before…… Oh yeah. It was back when we were in the Refill system.”

“Please stop. I really don’t wanna remember.”

It was truly terrible back then. It wasn’t that rare to encounter a pirate ship as soon as you enter a star system, and the elves did give us a relatively warm welcome. But after that, I ended up getting involved in stuff like a vehicle crashing down onto an unexplored forest, the planet we were staying in getting raided by pirates, getting found by Capt. Serena, getting roped into a large-scale pirate subjugation operation and getting targeted by a snake-like woman who was likely related to the pirates whose local base we just subjugated. Anyway, it was really awful.

Having a large-scale pirate group set their sights on us was especially dangerous. I wouldn’t have felt as uneasy if I was their only target, but I was worried that they’d also target my crew members. It was at that time that I felt truly powerless ever since I found myself in this dimension.

“Us getting so tense can’t be helped…… Well, whatever happens, happens, I guess.”

“It’s not like we can plan out countermeasures ahead of time either. We have no idea about what would actually happen after all.”

Elma shrugged her shoulders and Mimi smiled wryly.

Yeah, that’s right. Since we can’t predict what would happen, we can’t really do anything about it right now. It’s just that the longer this smooth sailing period lasted, it felt like the bigger the trouble we’d encounter would be.

“Kugi, is there something I can do to make things go in a better direction by using my powers? I think this is the right time to use my power to manipulate fate or something.”

“My Lord, it would be best if you could do so. But I think it would be quite difficult.”

“Why?”

“Basically, the question now is whether or not you can consciously perceive the flow of fate, My Lord. Right now, you are using your ability to manipulate fate unconsciously, so……”

“In other words, even if Captain has the power to manipulate the flow of fate, he himself can’t perceive that flow, so he has no way of actually using that power. Un, how interesting. I wonder what principle drives this power to manipulate fate. Can we quantify it scientifically?”

Dr. Shouko was quite receptive to such topics. Maybe the recent incident sparked her interest in psionic technology. She was simply just interested in researching something that she currently couldn’t understand. She was a researcher through and through after all.

“I do not know much about fate manipulation abilities. There were only a handful of people who seemed to have manifested such abilities in the past, so our research on the matter has not progressed much…… I can only relate what little I heard about the topic.”

“Sounds good. It’s worthy of getting researched. I’d like to hear about the topic more later.”

“Of course. I’ll tell you what I know.”

Dr. Shouko was gradually building good relationships with the other crew members in this manner. She talked about our lives as mercenaries with Mimi and Elma, discussed about matters related to technology with Tina and Wiska, and discussed about psionic matters with Kugi…… I wonder what sort of topics she talks about with Mei though? Come to think of it, I don’t see the two of them hanging out with each other much.

“I know there’s no point in worrying about it since there’s nothing much I can do, but it still bothers me a lot……”

“The feeling of helplessness at least until we finally get to our destination is really unpleasant, isn’t it?”

“The only thing we can do is make sure our supply stockpile isn’t lacking and keep our equipment in tip-top shape.”

I, Elma, and Mimi – the three crew members who served the longest in our group – all let out a resigned sigh. Because the three of us were like this, the atmosphere around the ship became a little heavy, and we ended up worrying Dr. Shouko as a result. But judging from past events, we really couldn’t help but sigh repeatedly. But I do understand that nothing good will come out of worrying like this.

“Yosh, let’s just switch gears. We’ll keep our guards up, but we can’t keep sighing like this.”

“That’s easy to say, but…… do you have a good suggestion?”

“There are many advanced food manufacturing companies in the Alein Tertius colony, right? When we arrive there, let’s buy some alcohol, other beverages, and all sorts of food. We’ll have a party. Since Dr. Shouko will become an official member of our crew, let’s treat it as her welcome party as well.”

The color of Elma’s eyes changed. By the way, the color of Tina and Wiska’s eyes also changed. Ah, Mimi’s eyes were shining brightly as well…… Well, I suppose it’s fine.

“How much will we buy? What’s our budget? It’s gonna come out of your own pocket, right, Hiro?”

“Alcohol.”

“Liquor.”

“Hiro-sama! I want to try the Kobe beef we saw last time we were at Alein Tertius!”

“Scary, scary, scary! This pressure is no joke.”

The three drunkards and one glutton immediately jumped on me. It’s not like you guys are lacking when it comes to food or alcohol, right? Why are you acting all desperate?!

“””Because nothing tastes better than free alcohol bought with someone else’s money!”””

“Oh, okay.”

I don’t feel like responding anymore. Well, even if they end up buying stuff that’ll cost tens of thousands of Enels, it’s still gonna be cheap if it boosts their morale…… Well, not exactly cheap, but it’ll be nothing mercenaries like us can’t afford. Mm.