Mob #37 “I’d like to go to the arcade or something if we have time. With three people.”
After finishing communication with Mr. Rossweisse, I headed towards the lobby to leave, and that’s when Arthur approached me.
Next to him, as usual, was Miss Seira, looking composed.
“Hello, Uzoss-san.”
“Hey, Lingard-kun. And Seira too. How was the reception?”
The two of them had been invited to a military reception for the previous job, so I casually asked about it.
And then,
“It would have been better not to attend such a thing!”
Miss Seira suddenly turned furious.
“Those guys towards Arthur-sama,
–It was just luck. He was just lucky–.
–I’m stronger than him. Don’t get cocky–.
–Not bad for a small fry. I’ll give you praise–.
Insults like that! And then, when it comes to me,
–Won’t you date me? I’m definitely better than that mercenary bastard–.
–If you become a crew member on my ship, I’ll treat you well–.
–A cute girl like you being a mercenary, huh? Well, I’ll hire you, come right now–.
They say crap like that, you know? What kind of stupid game characters are they!”
She gritted her teeth, reigniting her anger towards the men who belittled her lover.
“And the women are the opposite! To me, it’s like,
–You’re too fawning over men. I’m better than her–.
–I’m superior to someone like that–.
–Just a low-level mercenary. How poor–.
Petty jealousy and sarcasm! And even Captain Hyliat, the organizer, was all over Arthur-sama!”
She rekindled her anger towards the women who approached her lover.
“Come on, Seira! Calm down. And besides, Captain Hyliat was just being a barrier.”
“That’s the trick! It was fortunate that Arthur-sama is serious and has a strong mentality! I won’t go to such a thing again!”
While Arthur tried to calm her down, he unintentionally dropped a fuel bomb.
“That must have been tough…”
I’m glad I wasn’t invited.
Probably, they solidified it with acquaintances of Captain Hyliat, so it must have been all nobles.
The two of them really worked hard and looked pitiful.
However, Arthur didn’t start talking to me about such things.
“So, what’s your business?”
With my one word, Arthur remembered and began to explain his business.
“Yes. Actually, a job has been commissioned for the collection of an asteroid belt in the vicinity of Planet Colcos. It seems that rare metals can be mined from the asteroids, and mining has started under the orders of Lord Colcos. However, due to the wide range of the asteroid belt, thefts and asteroid robberies are constant. Therefore, they plan to collect the asteroid belt and melt it down at once for extraction…”
While Arthur explained, he transmitted the request document to my bracelet-type terminal.
It feels oddly rough, but is it okay?
Lord Colcos hasn’t gone off the deep end, right?
“With your radar, it should be easy to maintain vigilance around and detect the approach of asteroids. So, the probability of colliding with an asteroid can be reduced, right?”
Seira adds further clarification.
“Sorry, but I just finished overhauling the ship, and I’m on vacation now. There’s still time until the deadline, so I’ll decide by then.”
As I listen, it seems there’s nothing suspicious, but I want to investigate just in case. Also, being on vacation is another reason to postpone my response.
“Understood. It would be great if we could work together. Until then.”
“Oh, thanks for going out of your way.”
If he were hero kun, he’d probably say something like “Decide whether to accept or not right here.”
Arthur is considerate of human emotions.
Probably, they couldn’t gather enough people, and maybe they even asked the receptionist for a favor, although she seemed free.
READ THE ORIGINAL TRANSLATION AT GADGETIZEDPANDA.COM
After that, I finally left the guild building and headed straight to the black market shopping district.
This place still looks like something out of another world.
I came here, of course, to get information from the Paterson Dispensary.
And sure enough, that eye-catching flag was still standing there.
And among them, a new flag was also standing.
It read, “Dancing in Boiling Broth, the Origin of Souls Clad in Dead Flesh.”
That shady butcher and their questionable new products…
But it seemed quite popular, as there were many people immersed in the atmosphere here.
Ignoring the crowd, I arrived at the Paterson Pharmacy.
“Hey,” I greeted.
“Oh, it’s you… What do you want?”
My friend Gonzalez replied, turning away from the newspaper and giving me his usual response.
I approached the counter and placed an envelope on it.
“I came to hear some [gossip],” I said.
“What kind of gossip?”
Gonzalez asked, checking the contents of the envelope and getting ready to listen.
“There’s a group near the Colcos planet’s neighboring space region that’s mining asteroids for rare metals. They’re melting them down to extract the metals because there’s a lot of looting and theft. They want us to collect them all,”
I explained, referring to the request Arthur brought.
“Got it. Give me about an hour,” Gonzalez replied.
“Sure thing. I’ll wait quietly,” I said.
As Gonzalez began to research with a cord connected to his neck, I sat down and started reading a light novel.
Melting asteroids to extract rare metals itself isn’t impossible, so there shouldn’t be any problems.
It’s probably just a matter of melting a certain amount at a time, not all at once.
What caught my attention in this request was the mention of rare metals being mined.
Most likely, they’re talking about ores like Leoei, which are used for outer hulls and armor plating of ships, or Ziratas, which are used for the heat-resistant and heat-dissipating barrels of laser guns and heat guns.
Things like radiation aren’t an issue because spaceships and spacesuits are already designed to deal with such things in the space environment where such things are flying around.
But if that asteroid contains corrosive gas, it could be dangerous if it’s released during the collection process.
Since you can’t just throw gas-containing rocks into the furnace, you need to completely vent the gas.
If you know there’s a risk, you can equip yourself accordingly and work without any issues.
Even if you accidentally stumble upon it unknowingly, you can immediately halt your work and switch to appropriate gear to resume.
However, such equipment is quite expensive, and even with standard gear, it’s still somewhat vulnerable.
In other words, there are cases where you’re intentionally not informed about the risk and made to work, then told to continue working as if nothing happened until the equipment is prepared.
Arthur probably researched this thoroughly before taking the job, so there shouldn’t be any problems, but it’s better to be safe than sorry.
Exactly one hour later, Gonzalez pulled the cord from the back of his neck.
The information he provided was no different from the request form, and there didn’t seem to be anything dangerous.
Except for what was inside the head of Lord Colcos, who had made the request.
“By the way, I saw Mr. Cruz-Arnoid the other day.”
With that matter concluded, I tried to steer the conversation towards something more casual, as friends.
“Yeah, he came to the shop the other day.”
“You guys know where to find me. I move around a lot, so it’s not easy.”
“But in return, you probably make 3 million in a day sometimes, right?”
“It’s a risky business, though.”
Ignoring the content, having conversations like this somehow reminded me of our student days.
Apart from the incident in our first year, I think we had many enjoyable memories.
As I was pondering these thoughts,
“I’d like to go to the arcade if we have time. The three of us. And [Anime Member], too. I’ve been so busy lately that I haven’t had time to go to the store, just doing online shopping.”
Gonzalez suddenly muttered something like that.
Even if we had a similar relationship as before, it wouldn’t be the same as our student days.
Each of us has our own responsibilities and things we need to do.
Thinking about it, I realize that despite being responsible for my own actions, I’m fortunate to be able to take breaks and work as I please.
“Yeah, that sounds good.”
I’ll make sure to coordinate the timing then.
Also check out my friend Localizermeerkat for more LN translations!
BUY THE SOURCE MATERIAL TO SUPPORT THE AUTHOR !!!
Kindly click on the green button above and contribute to filling the green bar if you’re interested in having another LN from the request page translated.
Also, every donation is being used to purchase the source material and to fund more English translations.
Please consider joining my Ko-Fi membership. By becoming a member, you’ll also gain access to 2-10 additional chapters of all of the novels from this site translated into English. Last but not least your support will also assist me in upholding the translation quality and speed. For more information, please follow the link.
Donation for faster release is always welcome
Additionally, I am now accepting translation requests.
good to see there some other decent mercs out there
Thanks for the chapters.
A typo?
> “That’s the trick! It was fortunate that Arthur-sama is serious and has a strong /mental/! I won’t go to such a thing again!”
mentality
fixed, thanks