I Woke Up Piloting the Strongest Starship, so I Became a Space Mercenary - Chapter 560

Between flirting with Chris, running a VR rehearsal for the wedding, flirting with Serena, doing final checks on our outfits, flirting with Elma, prepping for descent to the imperial capital, and getting dragged into the bedroom by Mimi and Kugi, the wedding day had finally arrived.

The Antlion remained docked at the Grakkius Secundus Colony, while we began descent to the capital, Grakkius, aboard the Black Lotus, with Krishna moored inside it. The descent route had to follow a strictly defined path under the watchful eye of the capital’s Imperial Guard fleet. Naturally, all weapons had to be sealed in the vicinity of the planet.

If you disobey, you could be branded a traitor and blown out of the sky on the spot. Apparently, a few ships every year get blasted for doing something stupid. Scary stuff.

By the way, our descent point was the Imperial Palace itself. More precisely, the dedicated spaceport inside the Imperial Palace used exclusively by the Imperial Guard fleet. Makes sense, considering the Emperor himself is going to be present at our wedding. The ceremony is taking place in one of the Imperial Palace’s halls, after all.

From a security standpoint, dragging His Majesty out to some venue outside the castle would be reckless. And even if it were safe, summoning the Emperor beyond the castle walls would be called disrespectful. And... yeah, I get that.

「So you are marrying ten brides, huh? Quite the feat.」

「Not really your concern, Your Majesty. Also, what the hell are you doing here?」

As I was getting ready for the ceremony—just two hours away—the Emperor suddenly burst into my waiting room, guards in tow. It’s already unheard of for him to attend the wedding of a mere honorary viscount. But showing up to the prep room too? What is he thinking?

「Mm. I thought it best to clear the air. I had my hopes for how the matter with Lady Holz would unfold, but I assure you—there was no conspiracy. Ah, and you may speak freely. I’m not wearing the crown today, as it were.」

「Thanks, I guess. But that sounds like willful negligence to me. You realize my crew and I nearly died, right?」

「And for that, I offer my apologies. I may be Emperor, but omniscient I am not. I did not expect Earl Ixamal to move so boldly, not at that stage. I expected you and Lady Holz would uncover something useful, but you went far beyond my expectations and completely unrooted the issue. Even I was taken aback.」

The Emperor gave a half-hearted shrug as he said it. You ain’t sounding even a little apologetic. Fucking emperor.

「By way of apology, I’ll see that a vessel is provided for Lady Holz’s use. There’s no need to refuse. I will ask only that you submit operational data.」

「Hold on. Back up. I’m not saying no to a free ship, but what do you mean ‘provide’ instead of funding? Are you saying you’re going to funnel me a military vessel?」

「As much as I’d like to hand over the Restalias, that would be impractical—and frankly, you wouldn’t know what to do with it. This isn’t exactly public knowledge, but the Imperial Family does operate several enterprises. Among them... a shipbuilder.」

「So you’re saying you’re not giving us a ship belonging to the military... but one belonging to you personally? The thing is, the ship Serena’s supposed to use is kind of a specialized model.」

「A drone carrier, yes? One of the manufacturers from whom you requested catalogs happens to fall under Imperial control.」

As he raised his hand, one of the knights handed me a tablet. Displayed on the screen was a ship we’d once considered—then discarded as being way too expensive.

The ship was listed as SDC-021 Morrigan by the manufacturer. It boasted two powerful Class III laser cannons, three plasma cannon drones, and six Class II pulse laser drones. All drones could be fired even while docked to the ship. In other words, even before deployment, it packed the firepower of a medium-class combat vessel.

Naturally, being a drone carrier, it could perform multi-vector attacks when the drones were deployed. This made it particularly effective against lightly armored targets like pirate ships. Dumping the Morrigan’s full firepower on one of those would be overkill.

「A fine vessel, isn’t it? The specs are superb. Shame it’s priced itself out of the market.」

「Then it’s a bust! We looked at this one and passed because it was nearly as pricey as Black Lotus.」

「That is the issue. It’s fast, for a mid-sized ship, but not fast enough to outrun smaller vessels—and not armored enough to stand toe-to-toe with larger ones. Excellent for dispatching pirate craft and the like, but costly, and too complex for anyone without advanced physical augmentation—nobles, in other words. It was meant for them, but sales have been... disappointing. No buyers, no record. No record, no buyers. A vicious cycle. For the same price, one could purchase a frigate or small destroyer with better armor and shielding. This one sells itself on maneuverability, but... well.」

The Emperor let out a sigh laced with regret. You’re really talking my ear off, man. Turns out His Majesty’s a bit of a ship nerd too. Once you get him going, he doesn’t stop.

「You’re really good at publicity, aren’t you? Since that documentary depicting your mercenary life aired, I’ve heard Space Dvergr’s Skidbladnir–class has seen improved sales. I’m told some mercs even started redoing their ship interiors, much to the delight of interior design firms.」

「What? I didn’t know that... Creepy. Well, if you’re giving it to us, I’ll gratefully accept.」

「Please do. I’ll see that one of my people contacts you after the ceremony.」

With that, the Emperor gave me a satisfied smile and left. Maybe he’s just really easygoing when inside the palace?

「Well... guess it’s fine.」

I was planning to give him a piece of my mind, but after a personal apology and getting gifted a ship worth several million Enel, I can’t really complain. Yeah, I’m easy like that. Still, if I tell Serena the ship was a gift from the Emperor, she might get all stiff and formal... Maybe I should keep quiet?

No, she’s definitely going to ask. I guess she’ll just have to deal with it. She’ll get used to it eventually.