Satisfied with touring almost the entire ship apart from the most sensitive areas such as the cockpit, Princess Luciada finally left along with Captain Serena and the imperial guard oneesamas. In the end, she did manage to mediate between Serena and Chris, or rather, put out the fire before it got worse, didn’t she? She might have wanted to come check on Neve in person as well.

“So, um…… Chris……”

After seeing Princess Luciada and her retinue off the gangway, I turned my attention to Chris who was still standing next to me.

I trained my gaze toward Chris who remained on the ship instead of leaving with Princess Luciada and the others. Come to think of it, she had boarded the Black Lotus by herself without anyone accompanying her. That’s why there was no reason for her to leave together with Princess Luciada.

“Am I being a bother……?”

“No, of course not. Did you really come here by yourself? You did say you came to the colony together with some escorts, right?”

“I went to this ship alone. I gave my retinue time off until tomorrow before coming here.”

“Did you book a hotel somewhere nearby? Or rather, are you gonna stay at a hotel alone?”

“I am already a fine adult and a qualified noble, Hiro-sama. I can take care of myself just fine.”

After saying so, Chris placed her hand on the hilt of the thin sword that was hanging on her waist and puffed her chest out proudly. Chris’s sword was on the small and slender side. However, it was too long to be regarded as a dagger. It was also too short to be regarded as a small-sword. If compared to Japanese blades, it probably corresponds to a kodachi.

“Hiro-sama, that look you’re giving me seems to be saying『Can she even use a sword properly?』you know?”

“Sorry. I haven’t seen you in a good while, so you must have already undergone body reinforcement and combat training, but my previous image of you was a total non-combatant y’see.”

I do concede that Chris has grown a lot, but I held a stronger impression of the cute and petite her when we were living together in the Sierra system.

“Naturally, I will not be able to hold a candle to Hiro-sama or Serena-san who is serving as an active-duty soldier, but my grandfather has acknowledged my prowess.”

“I see. Well, I suppose there aren’t that many folks who’d mess with you as long as you’re walking around with a noble’s sword in the first place.”

If there were, it would either be folks from outside the Graccan Empire or out-and-out idiots who don’t cherish their lives. Basically, the nobles in this country typically don’t tend to flaunt their authority and privileged status to others, but if a commoner were to mess around with them maliciously, they’d be quickly cut down with no questions asked.

“By the way, Hiro-sama.”

“What is it?”

“Can you please introduce me to Kugi-san and Shouko-san?”

“Hmm…… Well, this is the first time you’ve met them in person after all.”

They’ve already exchanged info with each other a couple of times via messages, but I suppose wanting to meet them in person must have some special meaning to Chris.

When I turned to Kugi, I saw that she was looking at me and Chris as her tails gently swung to and fro. The fox ears on her head were also standing straight up, so it didn’t seem like she was intimidated by Chris.

By the way, Dr. Shouko remained in the medical bay. It was so she could check up on Unit 104, or rather, Neve. It doesn’t appear that Neve’s condition would suddenly worsen without warning or anything of the sort, but her body was still in the process of recovery after all, so Dr. Shouko tried to stay by Neve’s side as much as possible.

“There’s no point in standing around and talking in a place like this, so let’s sit and chat in the break space instead. I have no intention of getting a room at a hotel right now anyway.”

“Everything’s a bit more expensive after all. In this colony, that is.”

Chris displayed a troubled smile as we headed to the break space.

The Grakkius Secundus colony functioned akin to the imperial capital’s castle gate. In order to apply for a planetary descent permit to the capital, you basically needed to come here first, and your identity would be thoroughly investigated during the screening process.

And so, people and goods inevitably gather up at the Grakkius Secundus colony. Naturally, there were many accommodations and restaurants for travelers and tourists, but just as Chris said, they were quite pricey. More specifically, they were about 20 to 30% more expensive compared to regular prices. Apparently, there were regulations in place to prevent prices from getting too high though.

And so, guys like us with starships that were equipped with high-quality living spaces typically don’t tend to book rooms at hotels in Grakkius Secundus. If it were a genuine noble, then spending money on such occasions wouldn’t be considered that big of a deal, but that isn’t the case here. After all, I was just an honorary noble. There’s no need for me to go out of my way to spend.

“So, uh, introductions, right? Alright then. Chris, this girl is Kugi. She’s a priestess from the Holy Vuelzarus Empire and a gutsy girl who traveled all the way to this country in order to serve me. She’s also my psionic power instructor. Currently, she’s training to serve as the Krishna’s sub-pilot in Elma’s place.”

After we settled ourselves inside the break space, I formally introduced Kugi, and she gave Chris a polite bow.

“Kugi, this is Chris. Her full name is Christina Dareinwald. She’s the next family head of House Dareinwald and is currently serving as the Comatt system’s governess. As you can see from the sword strapped to her waist, she’s a bona fide imperial noble. I believe I’ve talked about it before, but we befriended her after coincidentally helping her fend off space pirates in the Sierra system, which is a popular vacation resort system in the empire. I can’t really talk about the exact details, but we’ve overcome various dangers together and…… Well, I guess you can consider us really close friends. Please get along well with each other, you two.”

“It’s nice to make your acquaintance, Kugi-san.”

“Yes, Christina-sama. I’m delighted to meet you as well.”

Chis and Kugi exchanged gentle smiles. Well, I suppose they were treating this as some sort of formal ceremony or something.

“Although she’s not here, I’d like to introduce you to Dr. Shouko as well, Chris. She’s a former researcher and medical doctor under Inagawa Technology, and she took good care of us in the Alein star system before we met Chris. Back then, the ship she was on was attacked by space pirates, and we ended up saving her by coincidence. Then, all sorts of stuff happened such as mysterious biological weapons causing trouble within the Alein Tertius colony…… For some reason, we ended up reuniting with her at the Edge World. Various other stuff happened after that, and I ended up inviting her to serve as our group’s ship doctor.”

“Various stuff eh……? I’m guessing all sorts of stuff happened when you met Kugi as well, correct?”

After saying so, Chris turned her gaze toward me. Uh, yeah, that’s right. A lot of stuff went down. Yeah.

“I wish you would have done various stuff to me as well back then though.”

“I mean, there’s timing and all sorts of other stuff to consider, right?”

In my head, Chris was in the category of someone in need of protection as well as a girl I shouldn’t lay my hands on, so it’s rather troublesome when she says something like this.

“Judging from this, him coming on to me without hesitation seems to be a rare case.”

“He practically didn’t hesitate when he laid his hands on Dr. Shouko and you, Elma-san. Mei-san too.”

“So, the common point between all of em’ seems ta be bein’ all mature an’ stuff, right?”

“I suppose we didn’t look mature enough in Big Brother’s eyes, so he dawdled when it came to us, Sis. But he laid his hands on you really quickly, didn’t he, Mimi-chan?”

“In my case, that particular custom played a factor…… And back then, I was desperately trying my best not to be abandoned by Hiro-sama.”

“But mine took quite some time as well though……”

“Perhaps he just didn’t want to make it seem like he was pressuring you using his authority over you, Kugi.”

Uh, could you guys quit talking about that sort of stuff out loud while pretending to be discussing it in secret? It’s kinda painful to hear. And Chris was really coming on to me now. Nothing’s gonna happen even if you keep rubbing the area below my navel, so cut it out, okay? It’s kinda risqué as far as skinship goes.

Afterward, we continued talking about the various things that happened while working in the Commatt system as I tried my best to fend off Chris’s racy skinship attempts. We then spent some time inside the training room, and I engaged in a light training session with Chris using mock swords. Then, Chris finally went back to the hotel she was staying at, though reluctantly.

I had Mei accompany her as an escort, but I honestly thought she didn’t need one after that sparring session we had. At the very least, your average thugs wouldn’t be a match for her. Even Elma would probably have a hard time if she didn’t have her laser gun and fought Chris unarmed. You’d get done in if you let your guard down while fighting her.

“Chris-chan sure has grown into an adult before we knew it.”

I took a bath with Mimi earlier, and she whispered those words to me while we were relaxing on the bed together.

“Yeah. Girls sure grow up real fast.”

I felt deeply moved as I pictured Chris’s appearance when we first met and compared it to her current appearance. Chris, who was shorter, more petite, and thinner than Mimi when we first met her, was now taller than Mimi. Her previously short bobbed hair had also grown enough to be considered semi-long.

“But I don’t feel like I’ve grown at all in comparison…… Mmmph.”

As she said so, Mimi straightened her back while she sat on the bed, and raised her hands as if doing a banzai pose. Was that some sort of exercise to make her taller or something? In any case, the buttons of her pajama were hanging on for dear life. It appeared like it was about to burst. How wonderful.

“I think you’ve properly built up your muscles though.”

“But I just can’t lose weight at all. Or rather, it’s actually been going up……!”

“Muscles do have quite a bit of weight after all. That’s why you’d definitely get heavier if you increase your muscle mass while maintaining your body shape, but…… I still prefer your current build. In fact, I strongly prefer it.”

“Is that so? But I wanna be a bit more slender though…… Just like Elma-san.”

“Elma’s probably gonna snap if she heard you.”

The ‘haves’ just can’t relate to the feelings of the ‘have-nots’. I could easily imagine Elma saying something like that with a smile on her face while veins were popping up on her forehead. And somehow, I could also picture her being flanked by Tina and Wiska.

Well, Elma does regularly down a lot of alcohol, but she showed no signs of gaining any weight at all, so I suppose Mimi wanted to be like that as well.

“Hiro-sama, are you going to marry Chris-chan?”

“Uh…… About that. I’m honestly hesitating. I do like Chris, and I’m happy that she likes me as well. But marriage is a whole ‘nother matter. I’m already married to you anyway, Mimi.”

“You don’t really have to mind me…… Um, I’ll be happy if we stay the same as always.”

Even though she said so, Mimi still looked a bit disappointed, or rather, sad. Neither of us has ever consciously done anything married couple-like after all. I mean, it somehow felt like our firm bond with each other would get cheapened if we did that.

“The thing with Serena was definitely my fault…… But I just couldn’t abandon her in that situation.”

It was such an absurd situation, but I was left with no other choice back then. I don’t even feel like thinking about the other possible options we could have taken now. In any case, all choices except for the one we took would have led to extremely bitter outcomes anyway.

“I know this sounds like I’ve given up on thinking, but whatever happens, happens. So, there’s no point in being hung up about those things at this point. I’ll just have to do my utmost to ensure that whatever results from this will satisfy all of us as much as possible. Anyway, I already swore in my heart that……”

“That……?”

“I’m gonna flirt like crazy with you today, Mimi. Come on then. I’ll spoil you as much as you want, alright?”

As I said so, I spread my arms out in front of Mimi while sitting cross-legged on the bed. Mimi looked like she was smitten by my actions a bit, and then she leaped into my arms with a smile.

Oh, there, there. You sure are cute, Mimi.