After I arrived in front of the reception counter, I found myself facing a guy sporting numerous old battle scars on his body. His left arm also seemed like a mechanical prosthetic. How should I put this? It felt like I finally encountered something mercenary guild-like.

“Ahn? The hell do you guys want?”

“He’s a newbie. This guy’s going around Underground without registering with the Guild.”

“Huh? Underground? I sometimes hear about guys like that, but it’s my first time seeing one in person. C’mon over and take a seat, bro.”

“Ah, yes.”

I sat down in front of the counter like I was told. This guy was pretty intense, man. If I met someone like him back home in Japan, I’d never want to get involved with the guy at all. He really looks like someone from a rather “dangerous and illegal” profession.

“Even if you’re unregistered, you do own a ship, right? Tell me your ship name and I.D. It’s parked in the hangar bay, right?”

“Yes.”

“Pfft. You really seem like a frightened little kitten. So interesting.”

“Shut up.”

I glared at Elma, who had one hand over her mouth while trying to stifle her laughter but didn’t seem to be able to. Dammit! I can’t help it, okay! This uncle’s just hella scary, man!

The receptionist uncle with a terrifying face inputted the ship name and I.D. I gave him on a tablet terminal and fiddled with it for some moments.

“The hell? What’s up with your ship, kid? I’ve never seen a model like this before.”

“Although I can’t exactly disclose the source, I guarantee I didn’t get her illegally.”

“Nah, y’know… Well, it’s a breach of manners to ask about a mercenary’s past. It says here you engaged three pirate ships in battle four days ago and managed to win, but that’s about it. Rather, you don’t have any other activity records, kid.”

“I seem to have gotten involved in an accident while my ship was on Hyperdrive and got thrown out somewhere near this colony. Because of that accident, I seem to have lost most of my memories, and I currently have absolutely no idea where I am.”

“You serious? Ah… Well, that’s fine. You don’t have a bounty on your head, anyway. Oh yeah, could you stop it with that polite language thing? If the other guys hear you talkin like that, you’d get looked down on, y’know.”

“Y- Yeah.”

Man, it sure takes some serious balls to talk in a casual manner with this grim-faced uncle…

“That’s true. It’s more or less over for a merc who’s underestimated, so watch how you act from now on. However, you’re still as lax as ever, aren’t you?”

“You’re also aware of the rules, right, missy? There’s no merit for probing about a merc’s past. If they’ve got no bounty on their heads and properly earn their keep, then there’s absolutely no problem.”

A question suddenly popped into my head while the two were having their conversation. So I decided to just blurt it out right away.

“Um, a starship’s not exactly cheap, right? So I’m sure there aren’t that many guys who go like [I got myself one, so I’ll be a mercenary starting today!] just like that, yeah? How do you even manage to recruit enough members then?”

I think my question does have some merit. I’ve investigated the general market prices in this world these past few days, and in order to purchase a properly armed ship, you’d need to fork out at least 50,000 Enel. If you convert that to Japanese Yen, you’d end up with 5,000,000. I haven’t managed to investigate the average income of people in this world, but I’m sure that’s still an astronomical amount of money for the average joe.

“Well, there are actually lots of guys who’re formerly from the military active in this business, y’see. They’re pretty high leveled and have great skills. There are also some who just plain love fighting and chose to become mercenaries as a result. There’s also them extremely greedy, money-obsessed types.”

“There are also those who graduated from the Mercenary Training Institute, right?”

“Yeah. But there’s none of those types in this particular star system.”

“Those still seems to be a bit lacking as sources of ‘fresh blood’, though.”

“Guess so. But the galaxy’s a friggin huge place, kid. We’ve managed to get enough members to fulfill most of the requests sent to us.”

Hm. In other words, there are lots of prerequisites, so they’ve managed to gather up only the folks who fulfill those conditions. Or maybe there just isn’t a lot of mercenary work in this world? Hm. I don’t get it. I don’t get it, but I’ll just go with the flow anyway.

“I’ve finished setting up your registration. The only thing left is the test.”

“Test?”

“Yeah. If we don’t know how skilled you are, won’t we have no idea what type of jobs you’d be able to take up?”

“That’s reasonable. But how are you gonna test me?”

“Training course. There’s a simulator here for that purpose. I’ll have you undergo that.”

“OK.”

The receptionist uncle stood up from his seat, called out towards the back of the office and guided Elma and me to another room. Why’d Elma follow me, anyway? Elma grinned mischievously at me when she noticed my gaze.

“Don’t you think I have the right to see just how skilled the rookie I brought with me is?”

“You do?”

Well, I did manage to smoothly proceed with my mercenary registration thanks to Elma, so I don’t really mind if she observes my moves. Moreover, the opinions of a veteran merc with five years of experience under her belt would be valuable. If I have her evaluate me, I’ll be able to more properly judge my overall skill level.

“It’s right here.”

The room with the simulator was surprisingly bigger than I expected. Lined up within it were simulator machines that looked a bit like small-sized trucks. Or rather, they seem to be mimicking just the cockpit block of a ship.

“Chose something which resembles the cockpit model of your ship and get in.”

“Gocha.”

The overall look of a ship’s cockpit is largely influenced by its manufacturer. That also goes for the cockpit controls. So most ships are made to be compatible with most cockpit blocks available on the market. This essentially means that it’s possible to detach a cockpit block and install it onto another ship. This function was also available on Stella Online, so I’m quite used to it.

“Guess it’s this one.”

“Hoh. Ain’t that a high-end military model? Alright. I’ll have it prepped straight away.”

The uncle, who seemed somehow impressed when I chose my cockpit block, went away somewhere. I’m sure he’s going to the control room for the simulators. Elma’s figure was also gone. Guess she’s spectating from somewhere else.

“Well then, let’s start the evaluation test.”

“Roger that. What about the operating data of this test unit?”

“I’ll upload your ship’s data on it. You should be able to control it like you usually do after…… Oi, oi. What the heck is this?”

“What’s up?”

“You really askin me? This unit’s data… Can you really use this thing?”

“I think I’ll be okay if it’s Krishna’s data.”

Was there something strange about the data. Well, I don’t really know how Krishna would be evaluated in this world. It was a pretty strong unit back in Stella Online though.

“Oh well. This is a test to evaluate your skills, after all. The objective of the test is pretty basic. Destroy all enemy units. All ships except for you are enemies. They’ll be few in number at first, but they’ll be coming at you in waves. The difficulty will increase as their numbers go up.”

“Got it.”

“Then let’s start the test. Activating the unit.”

The cockpit interior dimmed; only a minimal amount of illumination remained. So it accurately simulates even a ship’s dormant state. I fired up the main generator with practiced motions and brought it up to battle level. In response to that, the simulated Krishna activated, and a space environment gradually unveiled itself before me. It was a pretty realistic view. This simulator’s extremely detailed.

[Unidentified ship detected. Its weapon systems are online.]

I also activated my weapon systems and quickly set course for the location of the enemy ship displayed on the radar. I accelerated all at once. I felt my body being strongly pressed down onto the seat.

“Whoah. This thing even simulates the Gs.”

What kind of tech did they use to make this thing? Well, if this world really was the same as Stella Online, then a gravity generating device should have been developed. This machine must be using something like that.

A figure that seemed to be the enemy ship was cruising in the distance and carefully approaching me in order to mount a surprise attack. I’ve already managed to get a lock on the slowpoke. The four manipulator arms deployed from the hull and immediately aimed at the enemy ship. The moment I pulled the control stick’s trigger, four beams of light fired straight at the enemy and tore it open. I managed to shoot down the enemy in one attack.

“How fragile.”

Not to mention slow as heck. Judging from its appearance, it was a small transport ship with a high carrying capacity. Just this, huh?

More enemy ships appeared after that, but all of them were pretty weak. Slow. Fragile. They’re no different from live targets. I don’t think they would be able to properly gauge my abilities with these.

“Ah, looks like the evaluation program for new recruits just won’t cut it.”

“Hey. Isn’t the difference in unit specs too lopsided?”

“Well, you’re right but… Let me change to a different test program.”

“Roger.”

I tried out the new program. It was definitely better than the first, but the enemies were still quite slow. Damn weak. They’re no different from those suckers I shot down a few days ago.

“They’re so weak. I can’t feel any sort of pressure.”

“The hell, kid… This is an evaluation program for veterans, y’know.”

“Wha— You’re joking right? Isn’t there anything more difficult?”

“There is… But I think this one’s a bit of an overkill.”

I finally felt some pressure this time. More than ten pirate ships attacked all at once, and their weapons were also quite powerful. But if I keep a close eye and take timely evasive actions whenever they fired their high-powered ballistic weaponry, I’d be fine. Their laser cannons can’t even penetrate my shield, so they’re practically no threat. The light cruiser model that came out at the end was pretty tough. But once I managed to get to its blind spot, it became a done deal.

“That did make me sweat a little.”

“You can’t be serious, kid!?” the uncle cried out in exasperation. Huh? Was that actually the highest difficulty?

“Uh… Well. Damn. The test’s over, kid.”

“Roger that.”

That was easier than I thought. I wonder how they’ll evaluate me…? Well, judging from that uncle’s reaction, it’ll probably be alright. I cut the power flow from the generator, stopped the simulator and stepped out of the cockpit. When I went out of the simulator hatch, I found the receptionist uncle and Elma staring at me with hard to describe looks on their faces. They could probably be described as disbelieving expressions.

“Um, what’s my evaluation results?”

“Ah, let’s get back to the counter and talk there.”

They sure are acting strange. I think it would’ve been fine even if they told me the result here. For some reason, Elma also kept staring at my face. Just what’s with all this, man?

I followed the two of them back to the lobby with my head tilted in puzzlement.

“Uh… First, about the exam result.”

“Yeah.”

“You passed.”

“That’s great. But what’s with those strange expressions?”

“Well, y’see, we mercenaries have a ranking system in place.”

“Hm?”

Was it something similar to that adventurer ranking thing used in a lot of those isekai themed webnovels? Would this lead to a development where I suddenly get promoted to A or S rank?

“It’s called a Combat Rank, and it serves to objectively represent a merc’s combat capabilities. The five ranks are as follows: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Iron’s the lowest and Platinum’s the highest.”

“I see. So?”

“The last test you tackled was the one for promotion to Gold Rank.”

“Okay?”

“But, y’see, even though you did pass the Gold Rank promotion exam, I can’t just suddenly promote you to Gold right from the start.”

“I understand.”

I’m not too hot on the idea of getting promoted to the second-highest rank just like that either, anyway. This was something not present in Stella Online after all. I want to savor the pleasure of ranking up step by step.

“You don’t have a solid track record yet. You understand, right?”

“Yeah, I do.”

“So for now, you’ll be ranked Bronze. Temporarily, of course. I’ll pass the data from the simulation you took earlier to the higher-ups and have them confirm your ranking.”

“Spare me from suddenly ranking up to Gold, will you? I’d miss out on the fun of steadily raising my rank.”

“I— Is that so?”

It somehow felt like I’m drawing too much attention. Elma kept painfully staring at me from the side while sporting a especially grumpy expression. What? Please stop that. I’m just a newbie here, y’know. Please cut me a little slack, ma’am.

“For now, the rank’s tentative, but you’re already officially registered as a mercenary. You’ll have the backing of the Mercenary Guild from now on. And at the same time, you’ll also be carrying the name and reputation of the Mercenary Guild with you. Please try not to forget this fact.”

“Aren’t you supposed to explain the rules and regulations for new members or something?”

“It’s a pain, so just read the manual yourself. I’ll send it to you via e-mail.”

“Now that’s just plain lazy.”

“It’s not like you need to read it right away. Just run through it slowly tonight or something.”

“Now then, why is my great Elma-senpai so upset, I wonder?”

“Silver.”

“Eh?”

“I’ve just managed to reach Silver after five years worth of effort, y’know.”

“Ah. Eh. Um…”

When I looked towards the receptionist uncle for help, he quickly turned his gaze away from mine.

“You’ll probably shortly make it to Silver yourself, kid.”

“Ah… Mmm.”

“Grrr…”

“No matter what my rank turns out to be, Elma-senpai will always be my senpai! Look, if I didn’t meet Elma-senpai, I’d probably remain unregistered for now. I still don’t know left from right and need your help. I’m the pathetic scrub who doesn’t even know where the convenience store is. I’ll always be counting on Elma-senpai. It’s true!”

“I— Is that so? T— That’s fine then. Let’s go to the convenience store next. This ‘senpai’ will properly guide you.”

This disappointing space elf quickly regained her mood after my unrestrained bootlicking spree. How easy.

“Amazing~ How admirable~”

“As for this colony’s map……”

“We’ll be going ahead then!”

The receptionist uncle looked like he kinda wanted to say something but I stopped him with my gaze. Just stop uncle. It’ll be troublesome if her mood drops again, okay?

Hold on? Y’know, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble going around this place if I managed to obtain a map. But let’s just stop that train of thought, shall we? Yeah.