"Kau benar-benar tidak menyadarinya sampai sekarang?"
"Pasti sudah lewat di kepalanya."
"Hentikan. Kalian menyakiti hati kecilku yang malang ini."
Setidaknya dengarkan dulu alasanku, kawan. Meskipun aku memang dianugerahi kewarganegaraan imperium Kelas 1 sebagai salah satu hadiah dari memenangkan turnamen, akses gerbang tanpa batas lebih menarik perhatianku, dan akhirnya aku lupa sama sekali tentang kewarganegaraan itu sampai sekarang. Faktanya, aku tidak punya banyak kelonggaran untuk memikirkan hal lain karena hal-hal seperti latihan berat dari Mei dan identitas asli Mimi yang mengejutkan, jadi aku belum benar-benar memikirkan untuk membangun rumah terpisah dengan taman di planet hunian, meskipun itu seharusnya menjadi tujuan utamaku. Dan setelah turnamen itu, aku langsung mengambil pekerjaan yang sekarang ini juga.
"Jadi apakah ini berarti kau, penerima Bintang Emas, akan segera pensiun? Bukankah itu terlalu cepat?"
"Yah, entahlah......"
Apa yang dikatakan Zuia tentu saja masuk akal. Aku benar-benar bisa membeli tanah di salah satu koloni planet setelah pekerjaan ini selesai dan membangun rumah impianku dengan taman di sana. Setelah pensiun, aku mungkin akan punya lebih dari cukup uang untuk menjalani kehidupan yang relatif normal dan tanpa khawatir. Pasti tidak terdengar buruk untuk menjalani hidup nyaman di sana bersama Elma, Mimi, dan Mei. Ya. Tidak buruk sama sekali. Namun...
"Hanya saja sepertinya agak membosankan."
"Aku dengar itu."
"Ya. Menurutku terlalu cepat untuk menetap. Aku ingin menjelajahi lebih banyak tempat lagi, dan aku mungkin tidak akan tahu harus berbuat apa jika aku mulai menjalani kehidupan yang tenang dan stabil sekarang."
Itu adalah perasaan yang sebenarnya. Tentu saja tidak buruk untuk menghabiskan sebagian besar waktuku bermesraan dengan para gadis, dan itu akan menjadi hal yang membahagiakan jika aku memiliki anak dengan Mimi dan Elma sebagai hasilnya. Tapi menurutku masih terlalu cepat untuk memulai kehidupan seperti itu tepat setelah selesai dengan pekerjaan kita yang sekarang.
"Yah, aku masih harus berkonsultasi dengan Mimi, Elma, Mei, Tina, dan Whisker tentang itu juga. Dan bahkan jika kita tidak langsung menjalani kehidupan seperti itu, bukan ide buruk untuk setidaknya membereskan hal-hal seperti tempat di mana kita akan membangun rumah impian kita sementara ini."
Tergantung bagaimana kelanjutannya, tidak buruk untuk mengamankan lahan pribadi terlebih dahulu. Setelah membeli tanah, kita bisa membangun rumah impian kita kapan saja kita mau. Dan karena kita punya uang, lebih baik membeli sesuatu yang lebih luas. Oh, tapi semakin luas lahannya, semakin tinggi pajak tanahnya, kan? Kurasa aku perlu konsultasi mengenai hal-hal khusus.
"Dan yang lebih penting–"
"Yang lebih penting?"
"Aku masih belum berhasil menemukan cola...... Bahkan jika aku menetap di suatu planet sekarang, rasanya masih setengah-setengah."
"Ah......"
"Oh, benar. Kau memang cukup terobsesi dengan 'cola' itu ya......"
Mimi dan Elma mengangguk dengan yakin. Uh, yah, kurasa bisa dibilang mereka setengah yakin dan setengah kesal. Kalian para gadis tidak tahu betapa aku mengidamkan cola jadi kalian bereaksi seperti itu...! Benda itu setara dengan air kehidupan bagi orang sepertiku.
"Uh, jadi, apa sebenarnya cola yang kau bicarakan itu?"
"Ooh! Jadi kau tertarik dengan cola ya!? Biarkan aku memberitahumu–"
Saat aku mencoba memutar kursi pilot untuk menghadap Zuia demi menyampaikan injil cola, Elma menendangnya kembali ke posisi semula. Sungguh kejam.
"Tidak ada gunanya membicarakan cola dengan orang ini. Dia akan membuatmu telinga capai. Uh, sederhananya, itu tampaknya minuman 'berkarbonasi' manis dengan rasa yang menyegarkan."
"Berkarbonasi......?"
"Itu minuman misterius yang seharusnya membuatmu merasa segar. Namun, minuman itu cenderung meledak setiap kali kau membuka botolnya di dalam kapal bintang atau koloni......"
"Apa-apaan itu? Menakutkan."
"Tidak. Pasti tidak. Sebenarnya itu bukan sesuatu yang berbahaya."
Kuh. Jadi cola, dan minuman berkarbonasi pada umumnya, benar-benar hanya jenis minuman kecil di dimensi ini ya.
Selain itu, kemampuan untuk memasak sendiri hal-hal seperti daging, sayuran, dan makanan laut juga dianggap sebagai keterampilan langka dan khusus. Secara keseluruhan, budaya makanan di dimensi ini rumit dan aneh. Menurutku itu adalah produk dari pergeseran bertahap menuju kehidupan di luar angkasa. Mereka terlalu fokus pada menyiapkan makanan dengan efisiensi ekstrem sehingga akhirnya mengembangkan hal-hal seperti kartrid makanan dan sebagian besar meninggalkan hal-hal seperti memasak dan minuman berkarbonasi.
Saat aku mengatakan itu padanya, Zuia menundukkan kepalanya dan berpikir sejenak sebelum membuka mulutnya untuk berbicara lagi.
"Jika begitu, mungkin kau bisa menemukan apa yang kapten cari jika kau pergi ke sistem ras yang masih mempertahankan budaya kunonya, atau ke planet terpencil yang baru saja dimasukkan ke dalam kekaisaran."
"Ceritakan lebih lanjut."
Aku buru-buru memutar kursiku untuk menghadap Zuia lagi. Mungkin dia sudah menduga reaksiku kali ini. Zuia menyeringai lebar memperlihatkan taring tajamnya tanpa kejutan sedikit pun di ekspresinya.
"Aku tidak keberatan memberimu detail lebih lanjut, tapi aku butuh kau memberiku semacam kompensasi juga."
"Kompensasi ya."
"Ya...... Kau tampak sangat dekat dengan komandan wanita dari Militer Kekaisaran itu. Jika kau menceritakan detail tentang bagaimana kau bisa mengenalnya, aku tidak keberatan berbagi info lebih banyak denganmu."
"Oke."
Jika aku bisa mendapatkan info tentang cola sebagai imbalan atas hal-hal tentang Komandan Serena, itu sangat sepadan. Aku tidak akan merasa bersalah sama sekali, jadi aku akan menceritakan apa pun yang dia ingin tahu.
Eh? Bagaimana dengan janjiku pada Komandan Serena? Itu tidak ada artinya di hadapan cola! Yah, kurasa tidak apa-apa selama aku tidak menceritakan bagian tentang dia bersikap ceroboh. Aku hanya akan memberi tahu Zuia tentang bagaimana aku bertemu dengannya dan hal-hal apa yang telah kita lalui bersama.
"Ceritakan dulu info tentang cola milikmu."
"Oke. Singkatnya, ada cukup banyak hidangan tradisional dan produk khas yang masih ditawarkan di planet asal ras tertentu. Koki pribadi para bangsawan dan selebriti pada dasarnya berasal dari atau telah belajar dan berlatih memasak di planet-planet itu sebelumnya."
"Begitu. Ya. Barang yang aku cari mungkin saja salah satu produk khas yang mereka tawarkan ya."
"Begitulah. Ada beberapa sistem bintang seperti itu di wilayah Kekaisaran Graccan, dan mungkin masih ada banyak produk dan makanan lezat yang tidak diketahui di sektor paling terpencil yang baru saja dimasukkan ke dalam Kekaisaran. Aku merujuk pada apa yang disebut 'Dunia Tepi'."
"Dunia Tepi ya......"
Yang disebut Dunia Tepi berbeda dari sektor terpencil biasa seperti sistem Termaine. Itu bukan hanya sektor di pelosok yang terletak di dekat perbatasan dengan kekaisaran antariksa lain. Bahkan aku tidak tahu apa yang ada di sana. Itu berada di ujung paling luar dari ruang angkasa yang telah dijelajahi, dan garis terdepan dari wilayah Kekaisaran yang terus meluas.
"Menurutku kita tidak akan punya masalah menemukan pekerjaan yang cocok bahkan jika kita pergi jauh ke Dunia Tepi."
"Kehadiran Militer Kekaisaran tipis di Dunia Tepi, jadi ada banyak bajak laut di sana......"
"Tapi bukankah itu semacam buruk?"
Mimi memiringkan kepalanya menanggapi pernyataan Elma dan aku.
"Ada sangat sedikit pasukan Militer Kekaisaran yang ditempatkan di Dunia Tepi. Itulah sebabnya setiap kali bajak laut menemukan target yang sulit, mereka akan segera memanggil bala bantuan."
"Eh, tapi itu...... Ah, sekarang aku mengerti. Itu karena mereka tidak khawatir Angkatan Laut Antariksa Kekaisaran akan menghalangi mereka, kan?"
"Begitulah."
Di sistem yang memiliki Militer Kekaisaran dan patroli garnisun sistem yang layak, jika bajak laut memanggil kawan-kawan mereka untuk bala bantuan, militer akan bisa memasang respons segera untuk melawan mereka. Tapi di Dunia Tepi, mereka sudah kewalahan mempertahankan koloni dan stasiun, jadi mereka tidak akan bisa melakukan itu. Oleh karena itu, setiap kali bajak laut menemui mangsa yang sulit di sana, mereka tanpa ragu akan memanggil bala bantuan untuk menundukkan mangsa tersebut dengan jumlah yang luar biasa.
"Kedengarannya menguntungkan, tapi juga cukup berisiko.""Lagipula ada batasnya sekuat apa pun Krishna dan Hiro."
Tetapi karena tempat
“You really didn’t realize it until now?”
“I bet it just completely went over his head.”
“Stop that. You’re hurting my poor little heart.”
At least hear out my excuse first, guys. Even though I did indeed get granted first-class Imperial Citizenship as one of the rewards from winning the tournament, the unrestricted gateway access drew my attention way more, and I ended up forgetting all about the citizenship until now. In fact, I didn’t have much leeway to think about other stuff due to things like Mei’s training from hell and Mimi’s shocking true identity, so I haven’t really dwelled on building a detached house with a garden on a residential planet, even though it’s supposed to be my ultimate goal. And after that tournament, I immediately took this current job too.
“So does this mean you, a Gold Star recipient, will be retiring soon? Isn’t it a bit too early?”
“Well, I wonder……”
What Zuia’s saying is certainly feasible. I can absolutely go ahead and buy some land on some planetary colony after this job is over and build my dream house with a garden there. After retiring, I’d probably have more than enough money to live out a relatively normal and worry-free life. It certainly doesn’t sound bad to live a comfortable life there together with Elma, Mimi, and Mei. Yep. Not bad at all. However…
“It just seems kinda boring though.”
“I heard it is.”
“Yeah. I think it’s a little too early to settle down. I want to explore even more places, and I probably wouldn’t know what to do with myself if I start living a calm and stable life right now.”
These are my true thoughts. It’s certainly not bad to spend most of my time flirting around with the girls, and it would be a happy thing if I had children with Mimi and Elma as a result. But I still think it’s too early to start such a life right after being done with our current job.
“Well, I still have to consult with Mimi, Elma, Mei, Tina, and Whisker about it too. And even if we don’t go for that kind of life right away, it’s not a bad idea to at least settle things like the place where we’ll build our dream home in the meantime.”
Depending on how it goes, it won’t be bad to secure a private lot first. After purchasing the land, we can build our dream home any time we’d like. And since we have the money, it’s better to buy something more spacious. Oh, but the more spacious the lot, the higher the land tax, right? I guess I’ll need consultation regarding the particulars.
“And more importantly–”
“More importantly?”
“I still haven’t managed to find cola…… Even if I settled down on a planet somewhere right now, it would still feel half-baked.”
“Ah……”
“Oh, right. You certainly were quite fixated on that ‘cola’ stuff huh……”
Mimi and Elma were convinced and nodded. Uh, well, I guess you could say they were half-convinced and half-exasperated. You girls just don’t know how much I crave cola so you’re reacting like that…! That stuff is equal to the water of life for someone like me.
“Uh, so, just what is this cola you’re talking about?”
“Ooh! So you’re interested in cola huh!? Let me tell ya–”
When I tried to turn the pilot seat around to face Zuia in order to preach cola gospel, Elma kicked it right back into its previous position. How cruel.
“It’s no good to talk about cola with this guy. He’ll just talk your ears off. Uh, simply put, it seems to be a sweetened ‘carbonated’ drink with a refreshing flavor.”
“Carbonated……?”
“It’s a mysterious drink that’s supposed to make you feel all refreshed. However, it has a tendency to blow up whenever you open a bottle of it inside a starship or colony……”
“What the heck? That’s scary.”
“It’s not. Definitely not. It’s actually not something dangerous.”
Kuh. So cola, and carbonated drinks in general, are really just minor types of drinks in this dimension huh.
Aside from that, the ability to personally cook stuff like meat, vegetables, and seafood is also treated as a rare and specialized skill. Overall, the food culture in this dimension is complicated and strange. I think it’s the product of the gradual shift into living in outer space. They focused too much on preparing food with extreme efficiency that they ended up developing things like food cartridges and mostly abandoned things like cooking and carbonated drinks.
When I told him that, Zuia dropped his head and thought for a while before opening his mouth to talk again.
“If that’s the case, then you might be able to find what the captain wants if you go to a system of a race that still retains its ancient culture, or to a remote planet that’s just recently been incorporated to the empire.”
“Tell me more.”
I hurriedly turned my seat around to face Zuia again. Perhaps he expected my reaction this time. Zuia made a toothy grin that showed off his sharp fangs without any surprise evident on his expression.
“I don’t mind giving you more details, but I need you to give me some form of compensation as well.”
“Compensation huh.”
“Yeah…… You seemed really close with that lady Commander from the Imperial Military. If you tell me the details about how you came to know her, I won’t mind sharing more info with you.”
“OK.”
If I can get info on cola in exchange for stuff about Commander Serena, then it’s well worth it. I wouldn’t feel guilty at all, so I’ll tell him whatever he wants to know.
Eh? What about my promise with Commander Serena? That’s nothing in the face of cola! Well, I think it’s fine as long as I leave out the stuff about her acting all sloppy. I’ll just tell Zuia about how I met her and what things we’ve been through together.
“Tell me about your info regarding cola first.”
“Ok. In short, there are quite a few traditional dishes and specialty products still being offered in the mother planets of certain races. The personal chefs of Nobles and celebrities basically come from or have studied and practiced cooking on those planets before.”
“I see. Yeah. The item I’m seeking might just be one of those specialty products they’re offering huh.”
“That’s how it is. There are several such star systems in Graccan Imperial territory, and there might yet be many unknown products and delicacies in the most remote sectors that have only been incorporated into the Empire just recently. I’m referring to the so-called ‘Edge World’.”
“Edge World huh……”
The so-called Edge World is different from normal remote sectors like Termaine system. They aren’t just sectors out in the boonies that are located near the borders next to other space empires. Even I have no idea about what’s there. It’s at the very edge of explored space, and the forefront of the ever-expanding Imperial territory.
“I don’t think we’ll have problems finding suitable jobs even if we go all the way to Edge World.”
“The Imperial Military’s presence is thin on Edge World, so there are a lot of pirates over there……”
“But isn’t that kind of bad?”
Mimi tilted her head in response to Elma and my statements.
“There are very few Imperial Military forces deployed on Edge World. That’s why whenever pirates find tough targets, they’d immediately call for reinforcements.”
“Eh, but that’s…… Ah, now I understand. It’s because they aren’t worried that the Imperial Space Navy will get in their way, right?”
“That’s how it is.”
In systems where there are proper Imperial Military and system garrison patrols, if pirates call their comrades for reinforcements, the military would be able to mount a response immediately to go against them. But on Edge World, they already have their hands full defending the colonies and stations, so they wouldn’t be able to do that. Therefore, whenever pirates encounter tough prey over there, they would unreservedly call for reinforcements to subdue said prey with overwhelming numbers.
“It does sound profitable, but it’s also quite risky.”
“There’s a limit no matter how strong Krishna and Hiro are after all.”
But because it was both very profitable and dangerous, merchants were also getting in on the action over there.
Basically, there are a lot of merchants active over there, and they operate exclusively in large fleets. Moreover, those active on Edge World aren’t your normal mercantile fleets but are the so-called armed commercial fleets instead. In order to counter the large-scale assaults of pirates, they arm their ships to the teeth and employ quite a lot of escorts.
“It’s definitely risky to move around there on our own, but there are plenty of escort jobs related to the place, so we might be able to get a job as part of a fleet’s armed convoy. And if we appeal to them using Black Lotus’ armaments and carrying capacity, it might even land a job as a supply ship.”
“That’s right…… We might be able to land a job as part of an armed commercial fleet’s escort ships if we go to a system close to Edge World.”
“That all sounds well and good, but don’t you think it’s better to go around the mother systems of ethnic races in safe Imperial territory first before anything else?”
“Yeah.”
It might sound interesting to go to Edge World as part of an armed commercial fleet, but it would be better for us to go around imperial territory first. We also need to choose a suitable planet to build our home on as well.
“So it looks like we will still be seeing more of your exploits huh, Captain Hiro?”
“That’s how it is. Well, I’m certainly far too young for retirement.”
I shrugged my shoulders after saying so.
First, we’ll need to finish the last ten days of our current contract here on the Comatt system. Given the current situation, our contract probably won’t get extended, so it’s good to decide on our next course of action early.
First, we’ll search for a suitable planet to build a home on. Then we’ll search for cola that’s akin to the water of life for me. And after that, we’ll continue going all around the empire. Our future activities would be roughly like that, I suppose.
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