“Eh? Somethin’ like that happened!?”

“Aah–!?”

After Airia and the other two returned to the orphanage facility, we exchanged info about what happened during the day while having dinner, and Tina ended up raising her voice in concern. Yeah, this was only natural, right? I mean, anyone would be surprised if they learned that a bigshot noble fell in love at first sight with their best friend.

By the way, was it really alright to ignore your little sister like that? You knocked down her mug and spilled all her beer, and she’s teary-eyed already y’know?

“W-What’re we gonna do, Boss!? Is it bad if we contact Airia and tell her about it!?”

“No, just leave them be…… Both of them are proper adults anyway, and I’m sure they’ll be able to work things out among themselves.”

“That’s no good, Boss! A commoner woman can’t hope to refuse if she gets eyed by a noble!”

“Huh–!?”

“Aah–!?”

Tina slammed her hands on top of the dining table and bellowed. Uh, could you please ease up a bit, Tina? This huge table just got bent for an instant just like in an over-the-top gag anime. Even the plates jumped around comically. Kugi’s pseudo-inarizushi ended up diving on top of Mimi’s dinner. Even my meal was now an absolute mess.

“Calm down. That may be true, but wouldn’t it be wrong for us to intervene in the matter? Well, if Hartmut’s just being reckless and is simply toying around with Airia, I wouldn’t hesitate to intervene y’know? But no matter how you look at it, he wasn’t like that at all. He even mentioned having her get adopted by House Radius. They apparently owe him a favor or something, and Hartmut’s willing to use it for Airia instead of something else, so…… It’s a bit hard for me to say anything since he’s that serious about it.”

Hartmut and I were already working partners after all. He’s a pretty honest guy, and since he’s the eldest son of a nobleman and the governor of a colony, he’s got plenty of status and power. He’s also good-looking. Their difference in social status might pose a problem, but since he’s made up his mind, I think it’s better to allow him to do whatever he wants.

But even if Airia were to be adopted by Baronet Radius, there were still plenty of concerning bits, such as whether or not Airia would be able to act the part of a noblewoman in the first place.

Or rather, does Hartmut not have a fiancée? If he’s a viscount’s eldest son, there’s a good chance he’s gotten saddled with a fiancée at a young age, so I wonder what he’s planning to do regarding Airia? Was he going to make her his concubine? Or maybe a mistress? Like a local wife or something like that? It’s unclear what he thinks about the matter himself, but I don’t think it’s something we need to concern ourselves with.

“Boss……”

“Huh?”

“Are ya really okay with Airia bein’ used as a plaything by that damn noble!?”

“Weren’t you listening earlier!? Are you actually drunk!?”

She should have only had one or two sips of alcohol earlier, so what’s wrong with Tina?

“You really become no-good when it comes to Airia huh? I understand that Airia’s really important to you, Tina. However, like I said, isn’t she already a proper adult? Even if Hartmut does ask Airia to go out with him, the one who should decide whether to accept or decline is Airia herself, and not the worrywart Tina-chan, right?”

“And like I said, ya won’t be able to refuse even if ya wanted to if the one askin’ ya out was a noble. If things go bad, you’d only lose face in public and get done in.”

“It’s true that getting publicly shamed is bad, but ain’t going off on the other party from the get-go even more of a disgrace……? And I don’t think he’s that kind of guy in the first place.”

“Gununu…… You always have a retort, don’t ya!?”

“That goes for the both of us……”

It looks like Tina really gets unreasonable when it comes to matters regarding Airia. Her mentality seems to be unstable, or rather…… her distrust of imperial nobility was even greater than usual. I believe Baronet Radius was serving as this colony’s governor when Tina was still living here, but did something happen to her in connection to him during that time?

“Okay, okay. It’s my bad. You’re fine with me simply warning Hartmut, right? Airia’s a modest and exemplary imperial subject, so if the eldest son of a viscount like him were to pursue her, there’s a good chance she’d agree even if she didn’t really want to. So, I’ll tell him to consider that when dealing with her. All good?”

“……But that won’t stop that bastard noble from sticking around her.”

“You should allow that much, at least…… I can’t say I’m all that familiar with Hartmut, but one can’t simply suppress their feelings of love and admiration for someone regardless of what others say, right? I believe this is what most onlookers like us can do. Rather, if we tried to forcefully intervene, I have a feeling things will become even more of a mess.”

“……”

Did she get persuaded by my words? Tina looked down and stopped talking back. Before I knew it, the rest of the crew members except for us two had taken shelter at the other tables and were looking over at us. You guys. Don’t put me in the spotlight and run away on your own…… Well, I’d do the same if I were in their shoes, so I guess I couldn’t blame them too much.

“Uu……”

“Huh?”

“Fugu…… Uu…… Ueeeee……”

“Why are you crying……?”

I got troubled when Tina suddenly started bawling. I tried to look at Elma and the others for help, but they shook their heads, displayed X signs with their arms, and looked down. They’re leaving it to me, huh? I see…… Well, I was the one who made her cry after all…… Right……?

“You’ve been emotionally unstable ever since coming to this colony, Tina. Geez. Really.”

I scratched my head, got up from my seat, and sat next to Tina instead. I then started patting her back.

“I’m sorry fer actin’ all willful, Boss…… Uee–……”

“Yes, yes…… It’s fine.”

Tina clung to me and continued crying. Due to her looks, the sense of guilt I felt when seeing the crying Tina was…… She’s like this now, but she was usually a big drinker who guzzled highly flammable alcohol like there was no tomorrow. This girl.

“Don’t cry. I’m not really angry, okay?”

When I said that, she cried even more. I think the best thing to do was to stay silent and keep patting her back until she finished crying her heart out.

“Good work.”

“Mm.”

She ended up tiring herself out after crying and went straight to sleep…… Well, not really. Tina’s eyes were a bit swollen after all that crying, so I left her to Wiska and went back to the dining hall, where Elma and the rest welcomed me.

“I guess even a lady-killer like you also has it hard huh?”

“Oh c’mon. I ain’t some lady-killer…… Man, I’m hungry.”

I shrugged my shoulders in response to Linda’s quip and brought the already cold dinner to my mouth. As expected, even Tetsujin’s food won’t taste good when cold. I’ll still eat the meal though. It’s a waste not to.

“Anyway, is it actually possible for Ms. Airia to be the wife of a noble young master?”

“Young master? He’s more than a bit older than you, y’know…… I don’t mind it personally, but what do you think, Miss Viscount’s daughter Elma-san?”

“You’re asking me? I ran away from my house to become a mercenary you know?”

“Eh…… Ms. Elma is…… Eh? Seriously?”

“It’s true. They have a huge mansion in the capital.”

Mimi spread her arms wide to emphasize how big the mansion was. Well, it was truly quite big though.

“Come on, it’s not that big…… The Black Lotus is way bigger. So, you wanted my opinion, right? Well, there’s basically no problem. Some people will complain about her lineage, of course. But if she becomes the illegitimate daughter of Baronet Radius, she’d have no trouble with being a concubine. It might cause some trouble for House Radius, but since that will allow them to repay their debt to Hartmut, I believe they’d be willing to suffer that much disgrace in exchange for some sort of favor.”

“Illegitimate?”

“Meaning she’d become someone born between a noble and someone who’s not that noble’s legal spouse.”

“In other words, you’re saying Ms. Airia will end up being the former governor’s child?”

“That’s right. Isn’t that better than simply getting adopted? The reputation of Baronet Radius will probably plummet though.”

Since Airia would only be acknowledged when she’s already an adult, Baronet Radius’ reputation will probably be in tatters both from within and outside of his family. Well, by the time he was removed from the position of colony governor, his reputation was probably lower than trash already anyway. So, in a sense, he’d take no damage from Airia’s case.

“Hee–…… So, what’s this ‘konkyubayn’ thing?”

“It’s pretty much the idea of nobles having second and third wives in addition to their official spouse. In our case, Mimi is the legal wife, and I, Kugi, Tina, Wiska, Dr. Shouko, as well as Mei are all concubines.”

“……”

I decided to remain silent. Nothing good will come out of me commenting about something like that. I do believe I love everyone equally though. Everyone is unique, and they’re all good women.

“Hmmm……”

Linda’s gaze hurts. Yes, I’m indeed a damn scumbag. But I won’t apologize. Now that it’s come to this, I’ll continue working happily as a mercenary so everyone can be happy as well.

“I don’t know much about the etiquette of imperial nobles, but will Airia-sama be able to adapt to them properly?”

“I’m sure it’ll work out one way or another. If push comes to shove, there are ways to pound that knowledge directly into one’s brain after all.”

Since there was tech to extract info from the brain, I’m sure there’s also tech to cram knowledge in. I’ve already heard of enhancement surgery that improves the brain’s processing ability.

“Hiro’s words are a bit extreme, but that’s more or less true. The empire isn’t lacking in that sort of technology, so given a little time, anything’s possible. In any case, if they take those measures, it’s not difficult for those two to get together. The rest is up to them, right?”

“Up to them, huh……? I wonder what Ms. Airia is going to do?”

“That’s the question, isn’t it? But it’s common to see a commoner woman falling in love with a noble prince in holo novels and dramas!”

“That’s true. Falling for a slightly bad-boy type mercenary is a common trope too.”

After saying so, Linda turned toward me. C’mon, I’m not some bad boy either. I’m an upstanding mercenary with great manners and conduct. Eh? Would an upstanding mercenary with great manners and conduct misuse a Singing Crystal to destroy a Federation fleet, you ask? No idea.

“No matter how passionate Hartmut is about Airia, he’s not going to make his move straight away. The drug warehouse and manufacturing facility still needs to be dealt with, and the pandemic hasn’t ended yet.”

“Hiro…… You……”

“Eh? Ah…… No, no, it’s gonna be fine. I’m sure it’s gonna be just fine!”

After all, I should be freed from the jinx of the words I blurt out suddenly coming true!