At that moment, I glanced sideways and saw Hime staring at her smartphone with an expression I had never seen before, so serious.
“Do you have any more questions? Well then, everyone from Kawashima General Trading, continue your good business. Oh, Tonbo-sama, the peaches from Fukushima were delicious. Please consider expanding their distribution.”
After saying whatever they wanted to say, the call was cut off. I collapsed onto the floor, and with my head on the ground, I looked up at the ceiling.
I let out a deep sigh, looking at the peeling ivory-colored wallpaper of the shabby 1LDK apartment. There were two similar sighs coming from the room, following mine.
“Let’s solve each problem one by one.”
“Agreed.”
“I, I don’t even know what’s going on anymore…”
Turning off my smartphone, Mars and I sat back at the kotatsu table. Hime cleaned up the dishes, brought in a balance ball from the room, and sat on it.
“Anyway, are we done with the golden dragon Trading Company? They’re the best merchants in the universe, but also the worst scoundrels. Literally, anything goes there.”
“Well, that’s why organizations from all over the galaxy pay them protection fees, which results in endless wars if you have enough money.”
Are they really that dangerous… I swallowed hard as I looked at the black envelope tossed on the table.
“Speaking of which, what was in this envelope?”
“Open it; it’s probably nothing good.”
Mars said with a grimace, so I hesitantly opened the envelope.
“Huh?”
I turned the envelope upside down, but there was nothing inside.
“Did they forget to put something in?”
“I think something was in there, probably.”
“Does that mean…”
“It disappeared now that the deal’s done; the contents disappeared.”
“If they can do that, then anything goes.”
“That’s why anything goes. The only thing that binds them is the contract.”
As Hime, with her legs crossed on the balance ball, stared at the floor with cold eyes, she said so.
“I feel like we’ve been targeted by something really dangerous…”
“Well, they’re dangerous, but they’re still better than pirates.”
“What do you mean?”
While stroking his whiskers with his paw, Mars, with an indescribable expression, began to speak slowly.
“Ah, how should I put it… they never break a contract, whether it’s written or verbal. In that sense, they’re the most trustworthy company in the galaxy… more so than my former employer.”
“Wow, Magia was pretty reputable too, right? They’ve been in business for over five hundred years and had a delivery failure rate of only twenty percent.”
“Oh, really? In Japan, they’re like Nekoneko Shipping, right?”
“Well, in space, the delivery business is the front line against pirates, like the A-Team of delivery guys. So, being a sergeant at Magia is pretty impressive.”
“But unlike Magia, golden dragon has never broken a contract from their end…”
Shrugging, Mars, curled up like a cat.
“So, if golden dragon Trading Company offers to give us a spaceship in exchange for a monster like that dragon, does that mean they’re pretty reliable?”
“It’s not about trust, I think they’re seriously going to do it. About that…”
“In that sense, I trust them more than some royal family from another star. But, even though I trust them, I can’t completely rely on them. There’s definitely something shady about this incident…”
Hime deftly changed her posture on the balance ball and lay back, arms crossed, looking up at the ceiling. I also followed her gaze to the ceiling. Ah, I see… If she knows where I am, she knows where in the universe this is.
“Um, a suggestion. How about just asking the Golden Dragon for the coordinates of this planet?”
“…Do you think they’d just tell us something like that?”
“Absolutely impossible. They usually set traps for anything outside of their contracts. If we ask them for something, they’ll likely exploit it to their advantage.”
“Well, yeah…”
Hmm… If two seasoned veterans are this cautious about the opponent, it would be child’s play for them to deceive me. I must absolutely avoid getting close.
“So, should we just ignore that trading company for now?”
“No, on the contrary, wouldn’t it be better to quickly acquire a dragon and a spaceship?”
“It would increase the danger, but it might be better for Tonbo and Hime.”
“Ah… It’s okay! Because it’s a huge opportunity to return home!”
To Mars, who seemed somewhat apologetic, I hurriedly provided a follow-up. It’s like asking him to fight that dragon again; even if I were in Mars’s shoes, it would be hard to say. But I had resolved in my heart to definitely send the cat-like alien in front of me back to his homeland, as he wished.
This was not out of sympathy for Mars… it was something I had decided for myself. As I nodded alone, determined, Mars replied with a somewhat complicated expression, “That’s not it.”
“The fact that that trading company came all the way here to promote something with seemingly no losses means there’s definitely a huge catch. At that time, being pinned down on the ground could be really bad.”
“Ah, yeah…”
“So, getting a spaceship now would be better for both Tonbo and the princess.”
“That might be true…”
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I suddenly felt embarrassed, as if I had been the only one overly enthusiastic.
“Hime agrees. There’s definitely something fishy going on. They have a keen sense for their own interests. It bothers me the most that they didn’t try to acquire Tonbo, despite praising him as Level Four.”
Hime, her arms still crossed, slid off the balance ball as if melting to the floor, and looked at me with her mesmerizing golden eyes.
“Tonbo, you should seriously make robots.”
“Huh? Is that okay? I’m still in the middle of gathering magic stones.”
“I’ll help too. It’s too dangerous to rely solely on powered suits for monster hunting. Having laser cannon-equipped main battle weapons can reduce the risk of death, right?”
I’m happy to be able to make robots, but the previous dragon hunting was mostly done without them…
“Anyway, the situation has changed a bit because the Golden Dragon Trading Company has appeared. For now, we need to build our strength and gather information.”
“It might be better not to rely too much on Tonbo’s abilities.”
“We should put that on hold. Honestly, we’ll need plenty of stabilized Magic stone as raw materials for emergencies.”
Space gold ingots, stabilized Magic stone can also be used for material manufacturing… Ah, I need to ask about skills.
“Hey, what about my skills? What exactly is a skill level?”
“Oh, come to think of it, hasn’t the study of such things not advanced at all on this planet?”
As I nodded, the princess sat cross-legged, pulling up her jersey, and pointed her finger at my forehead, asking me this.
“So, what do you think an ability like Tonbo’s is?”
“Huh? Well, isn’t it something useful?”
Before I awakened to it, it seemed like a story from a distant world. It wasn’t just me who talked with school friends about what skills we’d want if we had them.
For me, I wanted the power to heal anything. I had a horizontally growing wisdom tooth, and I was scared to go to the dentist.
“Why do you think humans can use something like that?”
Hime asked me again, nodding along to my somewhat hesitant explanation.
“I heard there were countries that dissected skill holders in foreign lands, but they were no different from ordinary people. So maybe it’s something magical or mystical?”
Hime nodded in agreement with my somewhat disjointed words.
“That’s partly correct and partly incorrect. Abilities are linked to the soul. So even if people are reincarnated, they always awaken to the same abilities.”
“Huh? Is that so? So, I’ve been using this skill since my past life?”
“Yes. So, probably, golden dragon also has his eye on Tonbo’s past life. If you’re a level four ability user, you must have been a big success in your past life too.”
I didn’t really want to know about past lives, but suddenly I felt like I had been grabbed by the ankles. If it’s not something impressive, then it’s okay, but what if I was a big villain who incurred people’s resentment… As I pondered this, the princess continued her explanation, holding up her left hand with her middle finger, index finger, and thumb raised.
“Normally, the market-based ability who can buy and sell is level three.”
With that, Hime folded her thumb, forming a scissors with her hand.
“But even at level two, there are people who can do similar things as level three, and I thought Tonbo was one of them.”
“My junkyard, it’s level four, right? What does a level four market skill feel like?”
Hime held up her right hand in the same shape as her left hand, showing the number four with a double peace sign.
“Um, level four or higher ability users all have special abilities of their own. So only Tonbo knows what kind of ability his junkyard is.”
“Huh? Is that so?”
I felt disappointed. I thought I’d finally understand how to use this skill properly…
“Somehow, my skill, it’s not very clear how to use it, it feels like I’m groping in the dark…”
“From an outsider’s perspective, a box that can hold anything around you is super useful.”
“Yeah, and thanks to that, I met Hime.”
“And me too.”
“Well, that’s true.”
Certainly, meeting these two was thanks to this junkyard. And though I don’t quite understand it, it’s probably better to be impressive than not. I put the envelope from golden dragon Corporation in the junkyard and put a KEEP on it.
Suddenly feeling exhausted, I lay down on the floor and closed my eyes. Before I could even think about it, I fell asleep, feeling a ticklish sensation on my forehead as if something like a paw pad touched it.
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