Mob No.16: “I am no longer your servant. I asked your father the Viscount to allow me to quit being your servant.”
The first thing to do upon returning to the gate management colony is refueling and restocking ammo, checking each part of the ship.
At that time, if there is any damage, judge whether to repair it yourself or if it’s better to dock it.
After that is submitting the recorders for checking combat results.
You have to properly report this or you won’t get paid, which is what a good mercenary does.
Thankfully, it seems the 7th fleet will take over security for the remaining approximately 4 hours until the replacement work is finished, so once I finish refueling, checking, and submitting, I can relax.
Or so I thought, but instructions came from the mercenary guild to gather in the hall in the colony for evaluation and reward for this combat.
In the hall were not just the mercenaries who participated this time, but also the management colony staff, the mercenaries who came as reinforcements, the people from [Crystal Weed] who happened to be here, and even a higher up from the 7th fleet with a few subordinates.
As I sat in the arranged chairs, several people including the person in charge of gate management went up on stage and
“Thank you everyone for gathering. First I would like to deeply thank everyone who endeavored in response to the sudden pirate attack this time,”
the person in charge of gate management thanked us first.
Next, a stylish middle-aged man in glasses and a suit went forward.
“Hello. I’m the branch manager of the mercenary guild Cazack branch, Wolveray. For everyone’s work this time, special bonuses will be paid by the mercenary guild overall. And to the person who contributed the most, we will present a special prize and letter of appreciation.”
The moment Guildmaster Wolveray said that, the arrogant guy confidently stood up.
However, Guildmaster Wolveray announced,
“Ms. Skoona Noswile, please come forward.”
And when Ms. Noswile went up on stage,
“Despite not being a mercenary, you sortied and recorded the top number of shoot downs. We present you this special bonus and letter of appreciation for your achievements. Please accept them.”
“Oh, thank you very much.”
When Ms. Noswile accepted the special bonus and letter of appreciation, thunderous applause rang out.
But there was someone dissenting to this scene.
“Hey, wait a minute! Something’s weird here! Why is she the ace?!”
Yes, the arrogant guy.
He seems unable to accept that he wasn’t the ace.
“You there… Why do you think you are the ace?”
In contrast to the furious arrogant guy, Guildmaster Wolveray was calm.
“Because I shot down the most!”
When the arrogant guy insisted that, Guildmaster Wolveray opened a general purpose terminal and announced his shoot down count.
“Your shoot down count is 89 drones and 77 small craft, correct?”
“See! I’m definitely the ace right?!”
The arrogant guy had a smug look.
“In comparison, Ms. Skoona Noswile’s shoot down count was 182 drones, 146 small craft, 2 medium combat ships, and 4 large combat ships.
The drones and small craft are double your shoot downs.
And she even sank 2 medium combat ships and 4 large combat ships. She definitively has more shoot downs than you.”
But Ms. Noswile’s shoot down count announced by Guildmaster Wolveray was on a different scale.
“Lies!”
The arrogant guy denied that fact without pausing.
“I’m afraid it’s the truth. The recorders only record facts.”
“No! You did something shady!”
“Also, there’s the fact that you lured the pirate group here. I’m sure you understand there will be inquiries about that, correct?”
“That’s not my responsibility!”
Unable to do anything but yell in response to Guildmaster Wolveray’s indication,
Guildmaster Wolveray put away the general purpose terminal and looked at the arrogant guy.
“One of the limited rules of the mercenary guild is:
[If large scale and vicious pirates are discovered, don’t randomly attack but tail them or report to find their base. However, this does not apply if attacked or encountering a raid scene.]
The Grimm Reap pirates fall under this.
However, you ignored this and attacked the Grimm Reap pirates.
Claiming you were attacked or it was a raid scene won’t work.
Because the mercenaries who discovered and were tailing the scouting unit recorded your actions.”
Guildmaster Wolveray ignored the arrogant guy’s excuses and bluntly pointed out the facts.
“But we could’ve destroyed them right?!”
“That is result-oriented thinking. If you had lost, the lives of the mercenaries there, people related to the colony, and the people of [Crystal Weed] who happened to be present would have been lost, along with the stability portion of this gate. If disassembled, the parts could be sold to various places. But more than that, the problem is you selfishly abandoned your post and went pirate hunting despite the agreement of not leaving the colony during standby rest periods. Due to the above, heavy penalties will be imposed on you.”
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As Guildmaster Wolveray spoke, the arrogant guy was grinding his teeth, but noticed his partner beside him staying silent.
So he tried to get her to defend him, but
“Damnit! Don’t mess with me, Fino! Say something back!”
“No way. Why do I have to cover for someone unrelated like you?”
The response was a cold gaze and words spat out like rejection.
“Huh? What’re you saying? You’re my servant aren’t you?!”
The arrogant guy clearly stated it.
He probably wants her to remember her status.
“I am no longer your servant. I asked your father the Viscount to allow me to quit being your servant.”
However, Ms. Fino didn’t change her attitude, bluntly stating the facts in an extremely rude manner.
“A servant defying their master?!”
“To be precise, my master is your father the Viscount, not you. I have been reporting your conduct in detail, so the Viscount graciously granted my request.”
“Even so, you’re a mercenary too! You’ll get penalties right? Do something about it instead of me!”
“Since I’m no longer a mercenary, I have no such obligation. Besides, I didn’t violate any regulations.”
“Huh? I partnered with you! So penalties will go to you too right?!”
Trying to push all the penalties onto Ms. Fino no matter what, anger began smoldering in the eyes of the mercenaries around the arrogant guy, especially the women.
Right before that anger exploded, Guildmaster Wolveray cut into the conversation.
“That is correct. However, the only one getting penalties is you.”
“What?”
Everyone was confused by Guildmaster Wolveray’s words.
“First, breaking regulations and leaving the colony was your unilateral decision, she was left behind.
And by the time you were searching for pirates, the time for the next shift had come.
With no spaceship, she couldn’t perform the security work.
But on the first shift, she properly boarded the ship registered to her as the owner.
You probably registered her as the owner for her to deal with various troublesome procedures.
So her situation became that her ship was stolen by someone else despite her being the registered owner.
However, since the one who stole it was you, her work partner, penalties would be imposed.
Therefore, she went around asking mercenaries on different shifts to lend her a ship so she could carry out the security work she took on.
But unfortunately she could not get one lent to her.
So she decided to voluntarily engage in debris removal work without pay.
Debris removal is nerve-wracking work.
It’s dangerous work that requires going out in spacesuits into space.
The hourly is 10,000 credits. Double the 5,000 credits for security work. She did this work without pay.
Taking all that into consideration, the Cazack branch of the mercenary guild judged that the penalties imposed on Ms. Fino Fordeth have been carried out.”
Guildmaster Wolveray looked at Ms. Fino and faintly smiled.
“On the other hand, you selfishly abandoned your workplace, stole a spaceship registered to someone else even if they were your colleague, and endangered many people. You will properly receive penalties.”
The moment Guildmaster Wolveray said that, the arrogant guy was restrained by guild staff.
But more than that, the arrogant guy’s anger was directed at Ms. Fino leaving him.
“Don’t mess with me Fino! What can you do leaving me?!”
“I was scouted as a mechanic by [Crystal Weed].”
Ms. Fino moved to stand with the [Crystal Weed] members.
Her expression truly looked happy.
“Huh? Then I’ll come too!”
The arrogant guy uttered mysterious words again.
Ms. Fino was scouted, not you, right?
Then Ms. Noswile stood in front of the arrogant guy and
“Unfortunately, we don’t need people like you who are arrogant and can’t work in a team in [Crystal Weed].”
flatly rejected him.
Of course, not convinced by that, the arrogant guy brought up his father’s title.
“Don’t mess with me! I’m the son of a Viscount.” “Yes yes, we have received permission from your esteemed father saying [he is no longer one of us so please ignore him even if he uses our family name].”
But that was already invalid.
“That’s… a lie… a lie!”
What seemed to be the arrogant guy’s first despair floated on his face as he was dragged away by the staff.
“I deeply apologize for the disturbance. Now then, I’m sure you all know, but the 7th Imperial Fleet will be taking over security including debris removal for the remaining approximately 4 hours until the replacement work is finished. Please rest your bodies until the request is finished.”
While saying that with a smile, Guildmaster Wolveray closed out the scene.
In any case, the eventful gate escort work was drawing to a close like this.
Translator note : I recently started translating a WN called ‘Bastard Swordsman‘ that has a similar vibe to this novel. Give it a look!
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