Chapter 408: Chapter 403: Meeting

403 – Meeting

I left Tina in Wiska’s care and moved to the mess hall where everyone else was gathered. We were gonna have a meeting about our upcoming activities in the Reemay star system. The first thing to be concerned about was probably…… this one.

“Is our anti-epidemic equipment all good?”

“They’re all good! There are no problems!”

Mimi answered my question with an assertive nod. I wonder. This exchange kinda made me feel uneasy for some reason. Just in case, I turned toward Dr. Shouko.

“It’s just as Mimi-kun said. There are no problems. We’ve secured medical supplies for our personal use in addition to the ones we’ll sell, and it appears this ship is equipped with solid epidemic prevention equipment.”

『There will be no problems within the ship’s interior. However, please make sure to take the appropriate infection control and prevention measures while acting inside the colony.』

In addition to Dr. Shouko, Mei also provided her input through the mess hall’s speakers. Mimi snorted a bit as a show of complaint because it seemed that I didn’t place enough trust in her words, but I apologized while poking her puffed-up cheeks, and she quickly forgave me.

“By the way, is Tina alright now?”

“Probably. I have no idea what happened to her on Reemay in the past, but we’ll deal with it somehow…… No, we’ll definitely deal with it.”

“Is that so? That’s fine then.”

We had enough money, influence, and personal power at our disposal, so we can probably handle whatever happens over there. Of course, I had no intention of letting my guard down either.

When it comes to it, it’s hard to imagine any sort of trouble occurring because of Tina if she doesn’t leave the ship in the first place, and we’ll also have Wiska stay inside the ship as well, just in case. Tina and Wiska had different hair colors, but because they were twins, their faces looked pretty similar. If we brought Wiska with us, others might mistake her for Tina while thinking that she simply dyed her hair blue. Due to that, it seemed better just to have them both stay on the Lotus this time around.

“My Lord, with all due respect, if avoiding trouble is the priority, then wouldn’t it be better not to come to the Reemay system in the first place? Can we not sell the supplies somewhere else instead, just to be safe?”

“You do have a point, but as a doctor, I’d like to deliver the supplies to those who need them the most, especially people who are suffering from a pandemic.”

Dr. Shouko smiled wryly after hearing Kugi’s words but countered them from the point of view of a doctor’s professional ethics. What Kugi said was true. However, from an ethical viewpoint, Dr. Shouko’s words also had merit.

For earning profit, ethical considerations, and increasing our favorable reputation, it would be best to sell medical supplies to the Reemay system. We’ll make money, the people of the Reemay system would be saved, and word of how we brought medical supplies to a star system plagued by a pandemic and saved the lives of many people would spread. The fact that a Platinum ranker would do such a thing would go over favorably with the Mercenary Guild as well.

So, it’ll be good for the seller, good for the buyers, good for publicity, and would ultimately be a win-win-win situation.

“Well, the trouble we’d face will probably just amount to fighting with a local gang or criminal ring. If they pick a fight with us, then all we have to do is respond in kind and solve everything with force.”

“……That logic does seem a lot more mercenary-like.”

“Of course. I’m a professional after all.”

“I think that’s not something to be particularly proud about though.”

When I responded confidently to Dr. Shouko, Elma scowled at me for some reason. If a criminal offends me, then I’ll just kill them. Isn’t that how mercenaries were? Was it a bit unclear if local gangs and criminals should be treated the same as space pirates? Would there be legal complications if they were treated as imperial citizens……? No, I’m technically an imperial noble, and they would probably be treated as commoners, so I guess there shouldn’t be any problems huh?

“Hey, Mei. Assuming that the other party was a subject of the empire, and if they attacked us with weapons, there would be no issues with using my right as a noble to execute them at my discretion, right?”

『Judging by prior cases, there should be no problems. As a matter of fact, within the Graccan empire, there have been occasional cases of noble swordsmen getting rid of gangs and criminal organizations that are difficult to crack down on legally.』

“That’s fine then. In that case, would it be better to get in touch with the local nobles who are in charge of the Reemay star system? Mei, if necessary, you can go ahead and use what’s inside the safe, so please make arrangements accordingly. Mimi, go with Mei and learn how to properly deal with nobles from here.”

『Understood.』

“Y-Yes. I got it.”

Mimi nodded with a surprised expression. Hm? Why was she acting so surprised though?

“Did you suddenly decide to change your policy, Hiro?”

“Hm? I don’t think so. Or rather, what do you mean by that anyway?”

“Until now, you’ve tried really hard not to get involved in anything related to the nobles. And now, you’ve decided to lay the groundwork by dealing with the local lord first, so I was simply wondering if you’ve changed your policy.”

“Is that so? I didn’t really intend to change anything about how I do things, but…… my motto is to take what I can get and use what I can use. It’s simply a matter of making use of my right to cut commoners down as an imperial noble. I just didn’t have to do so until now.”

I’m not stupid, so if there’s an opportunity to make use of such a right in order to avoid any potential complications, then I’ll go ahead and do so.

“I see…… By the way, what was that about the thing inside the safe?”

“Oh, that. It’s something like a trick to be used in closing troublesome deals. Whenever we defeat pirates, we can not only get their bounties but also various types of loot as well. And among that loot are quite a few valuable and rare items that are pretty hard to get normally. Rare metals, for example.”

The currency used in this world was Enel, and whenever you transacted with it, a detailed transaction record remains in the system database. In other words, you had to use other means to complete transactions that were, shall we say, under the table. Rare metals and other high-value items were pretty useful in such cases.

As the name suggests, rare metals were really precious metal ores with low production volume but extremely high market value. Specifically, an ingot weighing 1 kg was worth about 100,000 Enels. When converted to Japanese Yen, that’s about ten million. When I first arrived in this dimension, I didn’t have much trouble securing initial funds thanks to my having a large amount of them stashed away inside Krishna.

Other rare items included jewelry, works of art, and depending on the rarity of the item in question, alcohol. Spirit silver, which can be sourced only in the Refill star system, the mother system of the elves, was also considered a rare item. It seemed that there weren’t that many people in the Graccan empire who were interested in it though.

“I’ve saved up quite a few of those items just in case we needed them in the future. They’re basically my secret stash.”

“In other words, they are an emergency source of funds as well as items that can be used for bribes and such. Is that even allowed?”

“Of course. We’re mercenaries, not heroes of justice.”

“Fumu, I see.”

Dr. Shouko nodded in understanding and fell silent as if mulling over something.

“My Lord, what do you plan to do exactly after we arrive at the Reemay system?”

“First of all, we’ll go to the main colony of the star system, the Reemay Prime colony, and gather info. Well, in most cases, the main colony of a star system also functions as the main trading hub, so we’ll probably sell our cargo there as well.”

“That’s probably the case. The problem is who to sell them to, but I think the surest way to go about it is to go through the local Mercenary Guild branch. There are probably going to be requests related to procuring medical supplies in the guild.”

“It would be easy if there really was a request. Going through the Mercenary Guild will decrease our profits a bit, but that would be the least troublesome route.”

“I think it would be more profitable to sell them in the market normally, but it would be good to try the Mercenary Guild first.”

“It’s best to stick to the proper channels.”

The Mercenary Guild placed profits above all, so ignoring them wouldn’t reflect well on our reputation. We can’t afford to overlook the guild. And we’re also somewhat indebted to them, so we had to give them some face at least.

“Mercenaries have a lot more obligations than I expected.”

“Putting aside the small fry, I’m a Platinum ranker after all. Hence, I have to serve as a role model to my fellows of the same trade.”

“Hiro’s just too serious for his own good sometimes.”

“I think that way of thinking is wonderful. As expected of you, My Lord.”

Hahaha, Kugi really was such a good girl. Compared to her, Elma was too uncooperative sometimes. Why couldn’t she just praise me honestly as well? I had no idea.

“Anyway, the plan is to head for Reemay Prime, collect info, and pay a visit to the Mercenary Guild once we arrive at the Reemay system. Depending on the info we get, we might need to get in touch with the ruling lord as well. Got that, everyone?”

“””Aye, aye, sir!”””

My crew members readily responded.

Now then, I wonder how the Reemay system was doing. I do hope the casualties haven’t reached an alarming number yet.