EX-001 – The Story of How I was Picked Up

“Haah!? W-Wait a sec! The penalty I can understand, but what the heck do you mean by the grace period being only one week!?”

“I don’t understand what you’re complaining about, miss. You made a mess of a military operation, destroyed an important military asset, and even injured many of our men. Originally, these crimes are tantamount to immediate imprisonment you know?”

To think this guy was an imperial officer. This damn fat pig was even eyeing me disgustingly like a pervert.

“Well, you’ll be acquitted as long as you pay 37,000,000 Enels before the one week grace period ends. That’s already quite lenient, don’t you think? Don’t you mercenaries earn a lot of money?”

“Of course I can earn 37 million. But earning that amount in one week is impossible! And my ship’s seriously damaged too, remember? There’s no way I can get that kind of money right now!”

“Honestly speaking, I do not care one bit about your circumstances. I will also not permit installment payments. Please pay the full amount on the due date before 15:00 hours. If not, we will abide by Imperial Military Codex Article 4, Paragraph 7, and formally charge you for your crimes. You will then be imprisoned immediately.”

The fat pig wearing an imperial military uniform laughed gloatingly and left while ignoring all my appeals.

“That damn f*****g s****y bastard! I’ll definitely murder that pig one of these days!”

I repeatedly punched one side of the composite material walls of the Termaine Prime military barracks, where I was dropped off, and screamed in frustration. The eyes of the soldier who was in charge of guarding the entrance gate widened in surprise after hearing me spout profanities, but I honestly didn’t care about my image right now. I really have to think of a way to pay the reparations or it’ll turn out really bad for me.

Especially since the Termaine system had a dedicated prison colony – Termaine Tertius. A majority of the felons housed there are former pirates. I was a mercenary and they were former pirates. There’s no way we would be able to get along. The main reason for their capture was mercenaries like me after all.

“Anyway, I have to do something.”

I can’t even imagine what kind of horrible fate awaits me if I were to be thrown in there. It’s not like all pirates were men, but there were definitely more male pirates than women. If I was thrown into such a place…… Ah, it’s no good. I can’t help but think of the worst outcome. In order to avoid that kind of outcome, I’ll have to do my best and use everything at my disposal.

“In the worst case, I might really have to contact father…… No, it won’t work.”

No matter how I think about it, there’s just not enough time. Even if I made use of both hyperspace and gateway comms, it would still take about ten days for my message to reach father from this star system. Even if I message them straight away, by the time the news gets to them, I would have already been thrown in prison.

“But it’s still a form of insurance……”

They might not be able to make it in time to prevent my imprisonment, but they would be able to help me get out of prison. I’ll have to take note of it as one of my options.

“I’m not sure how exactly I’d face them after everything that’s happened though.”

Before I knew it, I was already sporting a bitter smile.

Five years ago, I stole my big brother’s small-class combat starship and ran away from home. There are lots of reasons why it ended up that way. There’s the arranged marriage with a person I didn’t like, my distaste for the life of a typical noble lady which I thought was disgustingly pretentious and vain, my yearning for a free and easy lifestyle, my curiosity toward the lives led by the mercenaries I watched on holovision, and so on.

Anyway, I was utterly fed up with my life as the daughter of an aristocratic family back then, so I abandoned everything and ran away. I turned my back on the people who raised me and ran away.

I spent most of my first year out in space avoiding the pursuit of my father and brother.

Now that I’m looking back on those times, I feel like my brother actually went easy on me when he was chasing me around the galaxy. Maybe he even got in our father’s way. Maybe it’s because my brother seems to have hated the idea of me having a fiancée even more than me.

After a year and a half passed, I found myself on a star system relatively far from the imperial capital, and finally, brother and father stopped their pursuit. I was finally able to work as a mercenary in earnest. I piled up successes and failures along the way and did pretty well for myself, all things considered.

There were times that almost made me want to give up of course, but I overcame all of them and have made it this far.

“……There’s no way I’m gonna give up now.”

I’m now living the free life I obtained by leaving my family and status behind. I won’t let something like this rob me of it. I forcefully cheered myself up and started running around to find ways to get out of my predicament.

“……Haa.”

For the past week, I used everything at my disposal to gather funds. I sold the Swan, which was currently being repaired, along with practically all of my belongings apart from my premium alcohol stash in order to rake in some cash. I made repeated visits to the Mercenary Guild and got as much assistance as I possibly could from them.

However, it still wasn’t enough. To make things worse, I just recently switched to the Swan, so it’s not like I had enough money stashed around after purchasing it.

“There are still 3 million Enels to go……”

In the eyes of mercenaries and nobles, it wasn’t a small amount, but it wasn’t that large of a sum either. But generally speaking, 3 million Enels is an enormous sum of money for the common citizen.

Aside from elves like me, normal humans would find that kind of amount to be more than enough to live their entire lives in comfort without ever having to work again. In other words, it’s not an amount I can produce from scratch in just half a day.

“If I only had enough time……”

If I had enough time, I could have waited for the Swan to get repaired and earn that amount of money in one, no, two months. I can’t help but resent that inflexible pig bastard. Should I just use the money I have right now to purchase a laser rifle, plasma grenades, and other weapons so I can take that pig down with me? Such thoughts crossed my mind more than a few times.

After all, if it went on like this, I’ll be sent to a prison filled with convicted criminals and have my pride and dignity torn to shreds. If that’s the case, it might feel a little better if I was able to kill that damn pig first.

Such dangerous thoughts kept spinning around inside my head as I walked aimlessly until I found myself in front of a convenience store. This was the store I took that strange newbie to a while back.

“Alcohol……”

Come to think of it, I haven’t had a drop of alcohol or ate any decent food this past week. Whenever I was about to collapse, I settled with scarfing down tasteless nutrient paste straight from the tube and drank plain water. I suddenly thought it wouldn’t be bad to drink a couple of bottles of alcohol before I died.

I entered the store and bought some random alcohol brands. They were all cheap alcohol that would burn the throat and easily get you drunk. Speaking of which, I didn’t manage to enjoy the alcohol I got from that newbie as a reward and ended up selling them as well. Maybe some of these alcohol bottles are even from the batch I sold.

“……Haa.”

In any case, I did send a message to my father in the end. At the earliest, my father will be able to receive my message three days from now. I would be arrested today and will be put in prison by tomorrow, but my father would only be able to receive my message on the third day. There’s no telling what would happen to me during that time. I don’t think I’d die at least, but I can’t imagine I’d be in one piece either.

Well, that won’t even matter if I went ahead with my plan to die along with that pig bastard though.

It would be a hundred times better to kill myself than get sent to prison and treated as a plaything by those convicted pirates. I’ll make that pig thoroughly regret picking a fight with me.

I sat near one side of the convenience store’s walls and drank several bottles of alcohol that wasn’t particularly good. After a while, I noticed someone coming toward me. I wore a hooded mantle in order to avoid trouble, but I guess I still stood out quite a bit after drinking alcohol in a place like this.

I moved my hand to the laser gun strapped to my hip while thinking about how troublesome everything was.

“”—-!””

I was shocked. I should have hidden my actions well, but the opponent still reacted and pointed a laser gun at me.

I may not look like it now, but I was still a noble after all. Some of my physical abilities have been strengthened, though it wasn’t as much as the enhancements received by my father who was the head of the house, or my brother. It wasn’t just once or twice that I’ve managed to escape danger thanks to those body enhancements and the self-defense methods drilled into me as part of an aristocratic lady’s education. To think someone was able to keep up with me despite those advantages.

I was wondering who it was but was surprised that the one pointing his gun at me was actually Hiro. There was a girl behind him. It was the girl from back then. I think her name was Mimi.

It looks like they were doing quite well.

“Fufu. What? Did you guys come to make fun of me or something?”

After being hit by the dazzling ‘cheerful aura’ emanated by the two, I found myself putting down my laser gun and uttering negative-sounding words in spite. I wasn’t able to stop myself and regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. They actually weren’t at fault at all. I shouldn’t take my frustration out on them.

“That’s not it, idiot! You did take care of me a while back, so I just wanted to see how you were holding up… And, well, Mimi insisted y’see.”

“Elma-san……”

Mimi knelt down in front of me and took my hand in hers. So warm. Her pure feelings of concern for me was transmitted directly from her hand and warmed my chilled heart.

“Looks like our positions have been flipped in just the span of half a month huh.”

As I uttered such words in a self-depreciating tone, Mimi wordlessly hugged me tightly. Ah, how truly warm. She really was such a good girl. She was truly worried about me right now.

“So, how are you?”

Hiro asked me about my circumstances without beating around the bush. I don’t think there’s any point even if they knew, but after being enveloped in Mimi’s warm hug, all that stubbornness and useless pride just melted away. And so, I told them everything in the end.

“The compensation and penalty fees filed by the system military… I already sold my entire assets and bled my savings dry, but I still couldn’t manage to get enough.”

“How much is left?”

“About 3,000,000 Enels more…”

“3,000,000……”

“I can’t earn money right now either since repairing my ship would take more than two weeks, and even the reward money I made during the mission was canceled out by the fines due to the accident I caused… I did try to consult the Mercenary Guild about it though.”

I actually didn’t have to tell them all of this, but things just kept pouring out of my mouth one after another. I really couldn’t stop myself anymore after I started talking to them.

“What’s the payment deadline? What’ll happen if you can’t pay?”

“Today… In about two more hours… If I can’t pay, they’ll send me to forced labor in the orbital prison on Termaine III. There are a lot of former pirates imprisoned in there. Once they learn that I’m a former merc……”

It would be the end for me in about two hours. When I remembered that, I couldn’t help but tear up.

“I was prepared for the possibility of dying while out in space when I first got my ship. But this… This is just…!”

I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t scared of dying. Of course, I was scared. But if I fell in battle, it would just mean I wasn’t good enough. However, I just can’t accept this kind of ending. It’s really too much.

But maybe this was my just desserts? Maybe this was my punishment for turning my back on my family and dishonoring them.

After hearing the amount, Hiro took out a portable data terminal, checked it out, and furrowed his brows in thought. 3,000,000 Enels wasn’t a particularly big amount for mercenaries, but it wasn’t small either. I did have some ties to him, but in the end, I only merely acted as a guide, showed him around the colony a bit, and helped out a little in Mimi’s matters. There wasn’t any reason for him to help me out.

And when I thought so–

“Hey, Elma.”

“…What!?”

“Come aboard my ship and become one of my crew.”

“……Eh?”

I started from the unexpected words and peered up at his face in total surprise.

“I’ll pay that three million. So be my crew member in exchange. I’ll have you teach Mimi the ins and outs of being a mercenary from scratch. And you’ll have to act as her support in combat as well.”

“Wha– Wait, are you serious!?”

I couldn’t help but doubt the guy’s sanity. Sure, it might really be possible for him to bring out such an amount, but to spend 3 million like it was nothing just seemed too whimsical.

“We don’t have much time. Go and make your decision already. It’s either you become one of my crew, or get thrown into a prison filled with former pirate inmates to serve as their plaything.”

No, wait, hold on. Between those two options, it’s obvious which would be the better pick. Actually, there wasn’t even a need to choose.

It would be better to take down that pig bastard with me instead of becoming a plaything for pirates. That’s why I was thinking of gathering as many weapons as I could before launching a suicide attack after drinking my booze.

“But, but why…?”

Aside from acting as a tutor for an amateur like Mimi, judging from this guy’s abilities, he actually didn’t need my support. I don’t think someone who had such skills to pass the Gold-rank promotion test and say it only made him break a sweat a bit would even need a sub-pilot of my caliber.

“If I don’t help you out, Mimi would grieve. And furthermore, it’ll leave a bad taste in my mouth if I left you alone to face such a cruel fate. And well, I kinda want you with me as well.”

“Whu– Y– You w- want me…!?”

“So?”

My head was in a mess after hearing such a straightforward confession. I want you, he says! Things like my anxiety after being unable to scrape up enough money and my determination to die along with the pig bastard who put me in my current predicament were completely blown away from my mind.

Um, in other words, it’s like ‘that’, right? U-Um, I’m actually pretty confident in my looks, but to think he’d come after me so straightforwardly like this. Of course, I’d panic.

“Eh!? Ah, um… I– Is that right? So you were looking at me like that huh?”

“Well, yeah, that’s how it is.”

Hiro seriously nodded after hearing my words. And this guy even called me names like ‘disappointing elf’, or ‘flat-chest’. But, really? I see. It must be that. He must be the type of guy who just can’t say how he feels honestly.

“Oh, um… but don’t you have Mimi already?”

They looked really happy with each other. They must have really hit it off. Of course, I’d feel some apprehension for barging in between such a pair.

“It’s not like it’ll be any different if we add one more person. Right, Mimi?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“I– I see. So just one isn’t enough huh…?”

U-Um, in other words, that’s what this means, right? Uwaa! Uwaaa! H-He’s quite amazing, isn’t he?

“So what’ll it be? Are you gonna board my ship or not?”

I felt blood rushing to my ears as Hiro continued to stare intently at me. M-Mm. Now that I’ve gotten a good look at him, his face doesn’t seem too bad. His body was pretty built as well, but it didn’t feel excessive. Un, it looked exquisite.

Ah, what am I thinking? So embarrassing. I’m sure my ears are really red right now. I want to hide them.

“I… I’ll get on board.”

I answered as such while desperately suppressing the urge to cover my bright red ears with my hands.

“I see. Then welcome aboard. Do your job properly, okay?”

D-Do my j-job–? T-That means we’re gonna do ‘that’ straight away? L-Like, tonight? M-My heart isn’t ready yet!

“I, I know! Please be gentle with me……”

“Hm? I’ll probably be hard on you though.”

H-Hard!? In other words, he’s going all the way right from the start!? B-But since I agreed to board his ship, I’ll have to resolve myself…… Uu……

“A-Alright… Understood. I’ll prepare myself then. It’ll be far better than doing it with pirate inmates at least.”

Hiro had a strange look on his face after hearing my answer, but it wasn’t until after that night that I got to know why.

W-Well, I admit it was entirely just my misunderstanding, but……! I can’t dismiss it just like that! Mou! Now that this happened, I’m just gonna go along with it all the way! Prepare yourself, Hiro!

After that, I got to know Hiro’s distaste for getting involved with noble ladies during our stint at the Alein system. As a result, I got worried and decided to keep my background a secret. Well, it’s not like someone like me would be more troublesome than the daughter of a marquis like Major Serena…… Ugh. Nope, my brother is a great heap of trouble, right?

But, mm, when I finally decided to tell him about my circumstances, Hiro declared he would take responsibility, so I guess it’ll be okay. It’s partly Hiro’s fault anyway. He knew it was a misunderstanding but did this and that to me anyway. So we’re even, right?

It’ll be alright. When it comes down to it, I’ll do everything in my power to stop my dear brother before he causes too much trouble.