“I’m gonna give it to you straight. You’re gonna have to do her.”

When I arrived at the medical bay and entered Dr. Shouko’s lab, the quack doctor…… err, Dr. Shouko suddenly placed her fist in front of me and started thrusting her thumb between her index and middle fingers. What she meant couldn’t be more obvious.

“Stop that. Or rather, this is just too sudden. Give me a proper explanation first.”

“Eh? That’s too troublesome, and you’re still gonna have to do her anyway, so ain’t this fine?”

“Absolutely not.”

Sporting a scowl, I patted Dr. Shouko’s fig sign away and resolutely asked for an explanation. As for Captain Serena…… Her breathing was still rather shallow and labored. Her face was bright red, and she seemed to have a fever. Her gaze was vacant, and her eyes weren’t focused.

“Well, I guess there’s still a bit of time till the sedative wears off…… Anyway, first of all, according to my findings, what’s eating away at Captain Serena is a special nanomachine formulation. I’ve already neutralized it for the meantime and took care of the other drugs in her system as well. The rest can be left to her metabolic activity and the foreign body purging implant.”

“Since that’s the case, then it seems there’s no need for me to do anything, right? Or rather, can’t it be completely purged by the foreign body purging implant coupled with her enhanced metabolism?”

“Let me correct your misconception first. No matter how high a body’s metabolic rate is, and even if it were equipped with a foreign body purging implant, it still can’t completely deal with a nanomachine formulation. If even one nanomachine unit with the ability to self-replicate manages to enter a target’s body, it will unceasingly increase in number until the cluster fulfills its objective. Even if a foreign body purging implant is working at full capacity, the nanomachines will still continue to replicate as long as they aren’t completely neutralized, until the implant is eventually overwhelmed. Well, the reason why she was able to hold out so long was all thanks to her high-performance implant though.”

“I see. But why does that lead to me needing to have intercourse with her? I can’t see the connection at all.”

“Don’t direct your complaints to me. Go complain to the bastard who injected Captain Serena with such a tasteless nanomachine formulation instead. Judging from the nanomachine’s code, there’s a good chance it’s made by pirates. It’s pretty nasty stuff, y’know?”

“……Can’t we make do with tranquilizers or something?”

“Simply put, the Captain won’t be able to endure. Like I said, it’s pretty nasty stuff. Once it spreads to both the body and brain, it’s all over. I’ve started creating counter-nanomachines, but no matter how much I speed the manufacturing process up, it’ll still take an entire day. We can continue to keep the Captain sedated via tranquilizer until it’s finished, but I’m afraid that by that time, she would have started ascending to heaven already. Or perhaps she’d already be in heaven huh?”

“T-There’s gotta be a limit to how nasty that kind of stuff can be…… And besides, an entire day? It doesn’t look like we can afford to wait that long. Isn’t there any other way?”

“If there was one, I would have done it already.”

Dr. Shouko responded with a resigned shrug. Yeah. I’m sure that she would have already done it if there was really another way. There’s no point in purposefully setting me up…… or trying to set me up in this situation, is there?

“In any case, what a joke of a drug…… Is there really a demand for this stuff?”

“I’m sure there is. I think it’s quite suited to completely destroying the sense of dignity of women similar to the Captain.”

“My head hurts…… If she just needs to, uh, get off, then why not have the Captain do it by herself?”

“If that was the case, then I wouldn’t have called you here, Hiro-kun. I would have taken some medical measures instead. Frankly speaking, it won’t settle down unless she does it with a man.”

“That’s something that only happens in ero-manga, right? Seriously?”

“Like I said, don’t complain to me, okay? It’s not like you’re unfamiliar with just how depraved pirates can be.”

“Well…… That’s true.”

Compared to removing someone’s limbs and turning them into an ‘amusement product’, or getting bored with that and modifying their victim’s internal body structure to the point that it’s oozing out drugs, I suppose making someone end up dead if they didn’t satisfy their carnal desire sounded better…… Or was it? Was it really?

“The sedatives will wear off soon, so hurry up and decide whether you’d save her or leave her to die.”

“Don’t say it so directly, Doc. Uh, is there really no other way?”

“At the very least, there’s nothing I can think of that’ll work. Oh, I could try extracting a sample of Hiro-kun’s stuff and then administer it to the Captain via syringe.

“Fine, I get it. I get it already, so just let me process things for a bit.”

For a moment, I thought that the syringe thing would probably be fine, but considered against it because I bet the Captain would rather slit her throat rather than undergo something like that. It would be pretty easy if she used her sword.

Anyway, I’ve always avoided getting into that kind of relationship with the Captain until now. That’s because she was a bona fide noble daughter and a high-ranking military officer serving in the Imperial Space Force. I wanted to continue living life as a free mercenary, and if I entered into that sort of relationship with her, my relationship with Mimi and the others would be affected. At worst, there was a worry that I might end up going separate ways with the rest of the girls.

Is that still the case now? Well, considering my current position, I don’t think things would go in such a one-sided fashion. The Mercenary Guild wouldn’t want to let go of me since I’ve been happily hunting loads of pirates and made major contributions to the Imperial military and the Empire itself, so they’d probably cover for me.

And even though it was just an honorary title, I was still considered an Imperial noble, so it was unlikely that Captain Serena’s father, mother, grandpa, grandma, brother, or sister would try to cut me down…… Well, it was still possible, but if they challenged me to a duel, I’d be more than happy to oblige. Right, a duel. In the end, wouldn’t it be better to settle our disagreements through swords and plain violence? I couldn’t help but shudder a bit when I realized that I was thinking like those Drawn Sword advocates, but I suppose a duel was good as a last resort.

Or rather, that’s actually not the main point. In the first place, would I be able to abandon Captain Serena?

Isn’t that impossible for me? Yeah, it’s totally impossible. I’ve known Captain Serena for quite some time, and I don’t exactly hate her. Or rather, I actually do like her. The cunning Imperial soldier Captain Serena who didn’t show any openings, and the lonely and somewhat awkward Captain Serena during private moments. If her social position wasn’t so troublesome, I probably would have made a move on her already.

Mm, alright. I’ve resolved myself.

“I told you already. You’re gonna end up doing her anyway.”

“I gotta say this first though. This will probably result in something pretty troublesome. Once that happens, I’m gonna have you pick up some slack as well, Doc.”

“Fufun, bring it o– Whoah!?”

Seeing Dr. Shouko confidently throwing out her chest kinda annoyed me a bit, so I ended up grabbing and fondling her breasts. Fufun, you have a lot of openings, Doc.

“Right. I’ll be taking the Captain with me then. For now, just announce that she’s undergoing emergency medical treatment and that visitors aren’t allowed.”

“Gununu…… It can’t be helped. Let this big sis take care of things for you.”

“Please do.”

Afterward, I picked Captain Serena up in a princess carry and took her to my room.

Eh? I should have done it in the med bay? Uh, that’s a bit…… The mood’s not right, and I’m afraid Captain Serena will get mad at me later when she comes to her senses.

Naturally, I wasn’t so crazy that I’d get my hands on a sedated and unconscious Captain Serena. That’s just wrong, so I laid her down on the bed and loosened her shirt. I also prepared a bottle of water for her just in case she was thirsty when she came to. Anyway, I made sure to take good care of her.

As the sedatives began to wear off, Captain Serena’s consciousness gradually returned. She was just so cute and loveable, so I patted her head and hugged her as she wished. Then we moved on to kissing and touching each other’s bodies. Things escalated more and more, and in the end, Captain Serena pushed me down.

She was rather passionate. And because her body was enhanced, her stamina was amazing. Well, perhaps due to the effects of that shady formulation, or perhaps Captain Serena was simply quite sensitive to begin with, even though her physical strength and stamina were pretty high, her defense was surprisingly low. That’s why I was able to quickly gain the upper hand due to the difference in practical experience.

And as a result of our lovemaking, she was finally able to completely regain her senses.

“Please just kill me…… I’d rather die.”

“I did all this so you wouldn’t have to die, so just leave it at that, okay?”

Captain Serena, who had completely regained her senses, buried her face on a pillow in an attempt to withdraw into her shell. I was lying next to her while resting my head on one elbow as I stroked her back with a bitter grin on my lips.

“Uuu…… W-Why did it have to be like this……? I am definitely going to kill that man.”

“Well, the way it happened may not be that ideal, but considering the result, it ain’t all that bad, right? I have no regrets, and you were pretty cute, Captain. I’m very satisfied.”

“……Please call me Serena. Also, please pat my head.”

“Yes, yes. You really are cute, Serena.”

I stroked Serena’s head as she whined while still burying her face on her pillow. She seemed to have regained some of her composure, rolled over sideways, and pressed her back against me.

“Wouldn’t it be better if we talked face to face?”

“……It’s embarrassing.”

“Can’t be helped then.”

We silently felt each other’s warmth for a while. Hm. Should I consider this my reward after all that trouble? However, considering the misfortune that would probably follow after this, it didn’t feel like I made a profit at all.

“Are you happy now? You ended up laying your hands on a troublesome woman like me.”

“You sure like to hold a grudge. Well, I don’t have any regrets. Since Serena would die if I didn’t do this, I’m willing to take on whatever trouble comes my way.”

“Eh? What do you mean by me dying?”

“Apparently, if I left you in that state without doing anything and kept you sedated, you’d ascend to heaven eventually no matter how mentally and physically strong you are.”

“J-Just what kind of filthy thing did that man inject into me……!? So, I’m fine now, right?”

“No, not yet. You’ve just calmed down for now.”

“Hah?”

“Apparently, as a result of that shady nanomachine formulation injected into you by Daybit, you would suffer in agony and eventually die unless you do it regularly, Serena. That’s why you’d probably get tormented by those unbearable urges again later. But our ship doctor is currently manufacturing a counter-nanomachine formulation. You’ll get completely cured once you get injected with it. However, it won’t be ready for at least 20 more hours.”

“We don’t have that much time on our hands in our current situation.”

Serena’s expression turned back into that of a professional soldier. Of course, she’ll turn out like this after hearing that sort of stuff.

“Since you currently can’t leave the Lotus while undergoing treatment, you have no choice but to issue commands from here. We should be in full control of this supply base soon, but it’ll take more time to analyze the information we’ve gathered and deploy to the battlefield, right? You’ll have to return eventually, but for now, you have to stay on this ship.”

“Is there nothing we can do about it?”

“It’s apparently impossible to speed up the cure manufacturing process. I’m not sure how often those urges would flare up, but to deal with them, you’ll need a partner. And I have no intention of handing you over to someone else. That’s why just give up and stay.”

“T-That’s…… Muu.”

After realizing the meaning of needing a partner, Serena groaned and fell silent.

“I…… I’m a troublesome woman, okay?”

“Yeah. I know.”

I couldn’t help but chuckle while gazing at the ruby-red pupils looking up at me. It’s already too late for any regrets at this point.

“Are you really fine with this?”

“I wouldn’t have done this if I wasn’t.”

“I’m going to want to keep you to myself, you know?”

“If you think you can, then go right ahead. But don’t try to lay your hand on Mimi and the others, okay? If that happens, there’s gonna be a lot more people who’ll end up like Daybit and Vincent.”

“I’ll keep that in mind…… I’m going to be more persistent than ever, okay? So, please prepare yourself.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I responded to Serena’s declaration and lightly kissed her forehead.