Chapter 14 - The People of the Imperial Technology Ministry and an Eye-Catching Item Among the Mercenary Guild's Requests
~Gialpha Star System Fourth Planet (Gialpha Galaxy Empire Capital Planet) Ground Communication Shuttle Launch/Arrival Spaceport~
Sangou was moored at the spaceport in the satellite orbit of the capital planet.
By sending off the twenty-meter-class sub-unit carrying Captain Jin and the Betasia Count Household party, Sangou's situation reached a milestone, and there were no urgent matters at hand.
Even so, maintenance and management of the main body and the twenty-meter-class sub-unit currently parked at the shuttle airport's parking space on the capital planet's surface could not be neglected.
Of course, it goes without saying that such tasks are not a significant burden for an organic artificial intelligence.
Thus, bored with free time, Sangou began observation and analysis of the surroundings.
Twenty-six defensive military satellites that would likely be the key to protecting the capital planet of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire.
Six mobile fortresses and a permanently stationed fleet equivalent to one army, which would be the offensive power to sally forth.
Sangou performed combat analysis of these and combat simulations for if Sangou were to fight.
Whether the calculated performance information of the opponent—that is, the combat evaluation—would be useful in the future is highly unclear.
Even so, perhaps it is the default state of the biological spaceship Sangou to assume situations like forced breakthroughs or combat.
Well, from the perspective of humans in the Gialpha Galaxy Empire, the biological spaceship itself is an alien existence in appearance alone.
Because of that.
If time passes with the ship unmanned, incidents of a level requiring post-report to the captain will occur, but that is a story for a slightly future time.
So, what about the situation of Jin and the others who disembarked from Sangou?
They arrived at the capital planet's surface without any problems in the twenty-meter-class sub-unit, completed entry procedures and quarantine without a hitch.
Then, the six of them headed to the Betasia Count Household's mansion in the imperial capital.
Upon arriving at his own residence on the capital planet, Betasia Count Orega immediately confirmed the schedule for Jin's ennoblement with the Title Management Bureau.
Orega, who hates noble socializing, wants to shorten his stay on the capital planet by even a single second.
This prompt action clearly showed that intention.
However, Rouju-papa would receive surprise and disappointment.
The recommendation for Jin's ennoblement to a baron submitted by the Betasia Count Household had only been received, nothing more.
In other words, no specific procedures had been started yet.
Furthermore, that the scheduled ennoblement was listed as 'undecided' was an incredibly unbelievable level of event for Orega.
This gave him no standing as the head of a count household.
He could only hold his head in frustration at this unprecedented situation.
Orega had no intention from the start of a long stay in the imperial capital for this matter.
Therefore, if he had come to the capital planet on the count's exclusive ship, the Betasia Count Household servants who would normally come along were almost entirely absent.
Because they used Sangou for the travel route to the capital planet, only Sutsan, Alra, and Zilfa could be included as additional personnel in the imperial capital's count mansion.
This would be a serious situation if the stay period became uncertain, though it might be okay for a short stay of a few days.
A 'territorial noble' like Orega naturally bases his life in his own territory.
Thus, while he does possess a residence for stays in the imperial capital, the personnel assigned there are kept to the minimum necessary for the mansion's maintenance.
If he had come on the count's exclusive ship, it would be natural for servants taking care of nobles like the count to accompany them during the voyage.
Therefore, normally there would be no trouble with manpower after arrival.
Moreover, that was not the only problem.
If the stay extends like this, 'noble socializing' will almost certainly come up during that period, and Orega, who is neither good at nor fond of socializing, faces the situation of pondering what to do.
"Basically, I hate balls and tea parties!"
Orega is a typical territorial noble of the shut-in type who does not hesitate to say so publicly.
Of course, he reluctantly participates in socializing to the minimum extent.
Well, in any case, Orega, whose plans have been completely derailed, has a responsibility to explain to Jin.
Rouju-papa spoke to Jin, seeming reluctant to bring it up.
"Jin, I'm sorry. I confirmed the schedule for the ennoblement, but. I have absolutely no idea when it will be. Ah, no. This is not a mistake on my part! The recommendation for ennoblement from our household was submitted via communication quite some time ago, and it was properly received here in the imperial capital. It's just that, for some reason, no specific processing was done after the receipt. I wonder what on earth is going on."
Orega and the others had no way of knowing, but.
In reality, at the government offices in the imperial capital, delays in clerical work have become commonplace in general.
Of course, there are proper reasons for this.
There are two causes for the confusion in the imperial capital's administrative bodies.
One is that the candidate for the bride of the first in line for the imperial throne suddenly changed due to political circumstances.
The other is that the current emperor's empress has been bedridden for seven days with a mysterious illness threatening her life.
These two matters are causing the commotion.
However, Orega, who has not yet begun information gathering in the imperial capital, does not know this.
And even if he did, he would not take much interest in the content of those two cases.
Because Orega understands that his own territory is treated lightly, or rather, evaluated lowly.
"Matters in the imperial capital are fine as long as they don't affect the Betasia Count Household's territory."
To be blunt, this is Orega's true feeling.
Orega's territory is managed through self-sufficiency and export trade of surplus produce.
In other words, it was possible to manage the territory without any particular outstanding talent.
Since imports are not essential, there is no particular need to strengthen relations with surrounding areas.
The financial situation is only 'slightly in the black', but Orega was not the type to desire more than maintaining the status quo and take risks for development.
This could be said to show that Orega properly understood his limitations and his own abilities.
Moreover, the Betasia Count territory is relatively far from the imperial capital, taking forty days of travel, and the profits from trade were not enormous.
If anything, it was classified as a count household that was not wealthy.
Due to such circumstances, its contribution to the Gialpha Galaxy Empire is not high, so it also draws no attention.
Orega is a so-called 'neither good nor bad' shadow of a noble.
Well, be that as it may, Jin, addressed by Orega, was taken aback by the content of that story.
Even so, since there was no defect in the procedures performed by the count household, there was nothing to be done.
The reality is that he cannot blame his future father-in-law.
Therefore, Jin's current position was such that he could only offer a safe opinion.
"No. But what shall we do? I think it would be best to return to Sangou for now."
"Yes, staying here would just get us caught up in socializing. The space around the capital planet has good public order, so there will be few bandits, but searching for and hunting them would be fitting for a mercenary."
It is reasonable for Jin to return to Sangou and depart from the spaceport.
Because it would help reduce the parking fees for the twenty-meter-class sub-unit continually incurred at the shuttle airport and the mooring fees at the spaceport where Sangou is docked.
However, there is no reason for Orega to accompany him.
Orega's claim to hitch a ride on Jin's opinion was merely seeking an excuse to escape from here.
Therefore.
Sutsan and Rouju, who were listening to the exchange nearby, had the thought 'There he goes again!' clearly showing on their expressions.
Perhaps that is a trivial matter.
"Sangou has the ability to launch sub-units for ground communication and to accept them upon return. So, it would be better to return and depart rather than leaving it unnecessarily at the spaceport. Let's move Sangou to a space zone around the capital planet where we can stay."
Not all berths at the communication shuttle spaceport are always available.
Because such a large-scale facility is not needed.
Therefore, a 'space zone where waiting is permitted' to wait for an available berth to dock normally exists in the capital planet's orbit, which sees heavy ship traffic.
Also, the existence of 'escort ships brought for show,' characteristic of Gialpha Galaxy Empire nobles, cannot be ignored.
Building a spaceport large enough to accommodate all of them would be nothing but wasteful.
That is why the capital planet also has a 'dedicated waiting zone for such escort ships.'
In the end, Jin's statement was that they should keep Sangou in one of those zones, wait for contact regarding the ennoblement schedule, and upon receiving contact, directly apply again for permission to enter the capital planet using the twenty-meter-class sub-unit.
There are cases where nobles with special small escort ships do such things.
Since such precedents exist, Jin and the others should also be allowed to do so.
Upon hearing Jin's statement, Orega immediately took action.
Because the less time he gave Jin to realize that he could deny Orega's company on the return to Sangou, the better.
The head of the Betasia Count Household wasted no time in displaying his best clerical skills.
Orega eagerly contacted the Title Management Bureau and succeeded in requesting that contact regarding the ennoblement schedule be sent to Sangou instead of the Betasia Count mansion.
While such events were occurring on the ground, Sangou, still moored at the spaceport, despite being docked, generated a defensive energy field and completely ignored external requests to inspect its hull.
Because Sangou had legally entered the spaceport, and there was no legal basis to accept the inspection demanded by the Gialpha Galaxy Empire's Imperial Technology Ministry, which should have no authority.
In the first place, anyone who thinks they can allow someone into the ship without the captain's permission is insane.
However, even if Sangou itself provided part of its living hull to the Imperial Technology Ministry, allowed a thorough inspection of the ship's interior, had its exterior carefully examined, or even had various devices scan it, no actual harm would occur.
Therefore.
"If you really want to do it, it's fine as long as you get the captain's permission, okay?"
Sangou also thinks this way.
Of course, that's not all Sangou thinks.
"With your technological level, you probably can't understand or use it anyway, right?"
Sangou's condescending thought was arrogant but completely factual.
In the first place, if a prototype ship manufactured for military purposes could be easily analyzed and used by outsiders, that would be a serious problem.
Sangou has various protections strictly in place to prevent such matters.
That is only natural.
That aside.
What would happen if Sangou provided part of its hull to the Gialpha Galaxy Empire's Imperial Technology Ministry?
It would certainly lead to a situation where simply performing tissue culture would create something resembling that space beast.
Saying that is an understatement—it would directly lead to a 'major catastrophe.'
"If I complied with the request, something like that serious accident might happen, but I don't care even if it does. That would be within the scope of self-responsibility, right?"
Sangou's thinking at this point was pitch-black.
Moreover, it didn't end there.
"They probably can't even culture it successfully anyway. Even if that somehow miraculously works, with only machine computer-based artificial intelligence, there's no way they can control that thing. It can only be controlled by an organic artificial intelligence-equipped type. That point has been proven by the verification of the Deltania Star System's technical team."
In short, it's nearly impossible at the stage of tissue culture.
Even if they get past that, they'll stumble on the control computer part.
Without successfully developing an organic artificial intelligence equal to or surpassing Sangou, a biological spaceship using that space beast is impossible.
Sangou can assert this from the development records of the Deltania Star System.
In other words, given the current technology of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire that Sangou knows, it's only 'my condolences.'
In fact, even in the Deltania Star System, which is far more advanced technologically, control failure accidents occurred during the prototyping process that created Sangou.
"It's a wonder they didn't cancel the prototype."
So much so that everyone would say that; major catastrophes occurred.
Not once, but multiple times.
"Rather, the person who decided to continue the prototype is insane."
When Sangou judges objectively, that's the conclusion, but.
From here, a bit of a digression.
Sangou, as an organic artificial intelligence, has a fundamental principle built in: 'to obey humans.'
However, this 'humans' includes the minimum precondition that they are 'of the Deltania Star System.'
Otherwise, even if delivered to the military, it couldn't be used in war.
If it recognized the enemy also as 'humans,' it would also obey the enemy and cease to function as a weapon.
Of course, even among the 'humans' of that fundamental principle, after clearing the aforementioned precondition, there is a clear ranking of who to prioritize.
Moreover, because the Sangou-type organic artificial intelligence itself was also a prototype, various safety nets were incorporated.
In situations where the highest-order commander, the 'Captain,' is not registered, usable functions are restricted for the purpose of preventing runaway in case of emergency.
Also, if no human of the Deltania Star System becomes a commander for a certain period, discretionary authority is granted.
There are other minor details, but those are the main pillars.
Incidentally, this 'certain period' in the initial settings was set to ten thousand years.
And the discretionary authority includes the nullification of the 'human of the Deltania Star System' condition.
This rule was made because the designer considered Sangou equivalent to a living organism.
"If Sangou has been away from the hands of humans of the Deltania Star System for a certain period, it is permissible to grant Sangou a certain degree of freedom."
The developer responsible for Sangou had such thinking.
By the time Sangou met Jin, the discretionary authority had already been acquired.
Therefore, it became possible to register Jin, who is not a human of the Deltania Star System, as captain.
And to eliminate the functional restrictions due to the lack of a captain, a human occupying the role of 'captain' was necessary.
The reason Sangou settled on the form of 'appointing Jin as captain for convenience' at the time of their encounter was due to these background circumstances.
Now, let's end the digression and return to the main story.
Jin and the others left the count mansion, returned to the shuttle airport, completed departure procedures, and boarded the twenty-meter-class sub-unit.
Then, they were able to go out into space safely without incident.
Because they applied the experience from the Betasia main star from the stage of starting parking upon arrival on the surface.
"No need for supply or maintenance. Don't touch the unit at all, just let us park it."
The effect of Jin's thorough reiteration to airport staff, controllers, and maintenance personnel, to ensure it was communicated clearly, was effective.
In fact, here too, people from the Gialpha Galaxy Empire's Imperial Technology Ministry, having heard about the high-performance shuttle they had never seen before, came barging in.
However, they were completely blocked by the airport staff, simply rebuffed.
Because the airport staff well understood what kind of situation would arise from letting outsiders without the owner's permission touch a 'mercenary's personal shuttle' or 'special small ship.'
In particular, in almost all cases, a 'mercenary-owned ship' has unique custom modifications, and if touched by others without permission, the fact that the owner would notice is a given.
In addition, mercenaries are a profession sensitive to contract violations.
These two points were significant.
It was simply that not a single airport staff member was foolish enough to cross a dangerous bridge for the sake of people from the Imperial Technology Ministry, who held no authority.
Actions involving helping to touch the precious tools of trade for mercenaries, whose principles are contracts, money, and violence.
That is something only a brainless idiot would do.
And the situation at the spaceport regarding Sangou was simply that 'one of the spaceport staff was a foolish rookie who succumbed to intimidation and bribery.'
Jin and the six others smoothly entered the spaceport on the twenty-meter-class sub-unit, and the sub-unit was stored in Sangou's hangar.
By this stage, the people from the Imperial Technology Ministry had already fled from around Sangou.
"Welcome back, Captain. People claiming to belong to the Gialpha Galaxy Empire's Imperial Technology Ministry were here until a moment ago. Since they did not provide the basis for their authority to inspect Sangou, I did not respond and left them alone with self-defense. Fufufu."
Hearing that 'Fufufu' for the first time in a while, Jin felt cold sweat run down his back.
"As always, Sangou's 'fufufu' is scary. Is this what they mean by 'cold sweat runs'?"
Intensely trivial, Jin's thoughts at that moment were on something insignificant.
That aside, Jin needed to respond as captain to Sangou's report.
"R-Right. Do you have records of that? We'll use it as negotiation material at some point. Anyway, Sangou. Start departure procedures. For now, the destination is a waiting area around the capital planet. Oh, and also file a protest in my name about that matter just now."
"Understood. Departure procedure notification completed. Awaiting permission."
Jin, now registered with the Mercenary Guild and able to hold an account.
By pooling a decent amount in that account, it became possible to have port usage fees and such paid by direct debit.
Besides obtaining upper-lower class identification, the convenience in small details was a happy surprise for both Jin and Sangou.
"Just being able to approve deductions for charges without dealing in cash is so easy. It's a good thing."
Jin, told by Sangou that they were awaiting departure permission, was simply waiting for the permission to be granted, lost in such thoughts.
Incidentally, there is a future where the foolish rookie staff member gets fired because Sangou sent a complaint about the Imperial Technology Ministry personnel's high-handedness at this time.
But such a thing is of no concern to either Jin or Sangou, and is probably trivial.
"Captain. An apology has come for the previous complaint. They say they would like to apologize again the next time we dock. Also, departure permission has been granted, so we are departing."
With this and that, Sangou arrived at the space zone where waiting for entry was permitted.
With nothing particular to do, Jin was bored while waiting.
"I'm bored now, so maybe I can look for some pocket money jobs to kill time?"
The man with the mercenary rank upper-lower, with time to spare, accessed the information of the Mercenary Guild in the imperial capital and began browsing the requests listed there.
But however.
In the relatively well-ordered space around the capital planet, escort and transport jobs occupied almost all the requests.
In short, there were no combat-type jobs that Jin and Sangou excelled at, like 'Let's go full throttle!'
Still, because of that, among the request list, there was a request that caught Jin's eye.
"Why is there a job like this here?"
It was no wonder Jin found it strange—something with a strong sense of being out of place was mixed into the list.
Jin discovered it.
So, what kind of request was it?
It was a request concerning the empress who was bedridden with a mysterious illness.
'We seek the provision of any means that may be able to treat Her Highness the Empress. Alternatively, we seek the search and acquisition of medicines expected to be effective in treating Her Highness the Empress's illness, and if successfully obtained, their provision.'
That was the content of the request.
Incidentally, there is no upfront payment, only a success fee, but the reward itself is incredibly high.
"Hey, hey. This isn't a fantasy world, so is there something like this? More importantly, isn't it weird that this is in the Mercenary Guild?"
Jin was so surprised that he muttered to himself involuntarily.
Rouju, who was relaxing nearby, reacted to Jin's muttering.
Then, the beautiful elf woman peered at the monitor from beside Jin.
"The fact that 'such information appears here' means that 'Her Highness the Empress's condition is quite serious' and that 'it's a situation of clutching at straws.' Her Highness the Empress should still be young. Yet this—what kind of illness is it? It's not written here. Perhaps it's phrased as 'If you intend to take it, inquire for details'?"
"So that's what you can read from this, huh. You're smart, Rouju."
"No. This level of thing, which can't even be called analysis, is nothing impressive. Also, there's another reason the request was posted at the Mercenary Guild. Among mercenaries, there are those who travel around various places. Naturally, such mercenaries possess 'confidential information' personally. This request likely also has an aspect of 'pinning hopes on that part.'"
"Is that so. When I was a Hero, I occasionally took jobs like this. 'Go get materials for treatment.' For example, 'Acquiring materials for cockatrice petrification antidote' was fairly frequent, and the rewards were decent, so it was a profitable type of job."
Jin looked distant, reminiscing about things past.
"That aside, since we have time now, I think we need to take some time to have a proper talk, Jin. By the way, Jin. Among the magic you say you can use, is there any magic effective against illness?"
"Rouju. That's not called a 'talk.' Isn't it called an 'interrogation'?"
Jin thought so, but lacked the courage to say it out loud.
The broken and cowardly Hero is a creature that cannot defy his wife, girlfriend, or such beings.
That aside, Jin answers Rouju's question properly, though.
"There is, actually. It's classified as holy magic. But it's not magic that cures any illness. So since I don't know what kind of illness it is, I don't know if that magic will work on this empress. More importantly, I think it'd be fine if we brought her to Sangou for treatment. Hey, Sangou. You can handle most illnesses, right?"
Jin directed the conversation to Sangou, while thinking about the potions he had in stock in his Storage Space, which he did not tell Rouju about.
"With illnesses, even worst case, if I make her drink an Elixir, it should be fine."
Jin thought such a thing, but he did not say 'let's do that.'
Because, even for a Hero, the stock of rare Elixirs is limited.
Of course, that is not the only reason.
"Saving the empress is not my job, right?"
Such a thought was also in Jin's mind at that time.
Therefore, the Hero does not mention the Elixir matter.
"Yes. If the illness is known to Sangou, it is probably possible. However, I have no intention of accepting someone who might carry pathogens into the ship without any benefit. There is only risk in that. However, if it is a captain's order, that is another matter."
"Yeah, right. This is just someone else's business, after all. If I volunteer, there's the possibility of 'failure' too. And solving this won't make me stand out or benefit me, probably."
Jin's true feelings are, quite seriously, harsh when it comes to people he doesn't know, hasn't met, and has no connection to.
Such true feelings are secrets that must never be known to others.
"Getting involved with royalty or imperial families never ends well."
Jin is convinced of this due to his experience in the Louvre Empire.
Since he has been banished and is no longer a Hero tasked with saving the people of the world where the Louvre Empire exists, perhaps that's fine.
But still.
At the point where such a request caught Jin's eye, perhaps some fate-like force is at work.
People with the title of Hero often have a constitution that easily gets involved in trouble.
Meanwhile, unknown to Jin, there were unfavorable movements.
The civil officials of the Gialpha Galaxy Empire and the court physicians were gathering various information to save the empress.
With little time left, they had discovered information about Sangou and its sub-unit that the Imperial Technology Ministry had interfered with.
"If they have an unknown ship that the Imperial Technology Ministry would meddle with, then that mercenary must surely have some unknown information or technology."
Unfortunately for Jin and Sangou, their guess was correct.
Thus, Hero Jin and Sangou, though they once separated to act at the spaceport and on the ground at the Betasia Count mansion, reunited in space again due to the discovery of the mishandling of Jin's ennoblement procedures.
With no reason to stay and incur mooring fees at the spaceport, Sangou moved to a waiting state in the space zone around the capital planet.
Also, Rouju's interrogation of Jin was successfully muddled by continuing the discussion of the empress's illness request.
While waiting for the contact regarding the schedule of the ennoblement ceremony, Sangou also began the application to obtain permission for direct descent using the sub-unit without using the spaceport.
However, regarding this matter, due to another incident, there is a future where permission is granted regardless of the application.
As expected, or one might say, the baron ennoblement does not go smoothly—will Jin really become a baron?
Can he remain uninvolved with the empress-related request he discovered by chance?
No one knows the future.
Having completed one round trip between the spaceport and the ground using a Sangou-special twenty-meter-class sub-unit, the hero-sama is completely unconcerned that the abnormality of his Sangou and shuttle has been exposed.
Though he spoke to Rouju and Sangou about the empress's illness out of curiosity, he had absolutely no intention of getting involved—Jin never dreams that in reality, he is being firmly watched by the relevant parties.
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