Chapter 31

After answering Levin's question, Arthur and the others took turns to get a solid four hours of sleep.

When it was 6:00 AM, I woke up Molly, who had been sound asleep for the past eight hours, with a loud alarm.

After that, the effects of the stun gun on the club leader finally wore off, and by 6:50 AM, we had completed the night report and arrived at the gate to the planet Galif.

Incidentally, just 150 million kilometers from this gate, there was a main-sequence star, in other words, a sun. It felt as if the gate was a giant "sunflower" opening towards the sun.

Arriving earlier than scheduled, the club leader was overjoyed and, with a snort, tried to move the ship forward, saying, "Alright. Let's go through the gate immediately!"

However, the gate management side called a halt, saying, "I'm sorry, but we are currently checking. Please wait for about 10 minutes."

For the club leader, this was an unacceptable statement, and he shouted, "Such a check is irrelevant! Let us through quickly! We are in a hurry! The company's future is at stake!"

At that moment, Nosuto stood behind the club leader. However, before she could intervene, the female communications officer from the gate management colony said, "If an accident occurs, can we hold you fully responsible? I have recorded the conversation and noted the ship's name and the responsible person, so there will be no way to deny it."

The club leader, who was about to lose his temper, was silenced with, "No... that... a little..."

"Then, please wait for about 10 minutes, okay?♪"

That female communications officer was indeed impressive, managing to silence the club leader in one go.

Since we had some free time, Arthur asked the female communications officer about the situation on the other side of the gate.

"Excuse me, what's the situation on the other side of the gate? Traffic, accidents, celestial phenomena, etc.?"

The female communications officer, who initially had a hunter-like expression, then showed a troubled smile and said, "Actually, pirate attacks have increased. It's probably because of the new product announcement by the home appliance manufacturer, but even so, it's a lot. The military and police are working hard to eliminate them."

"That's... strange."

Indeed, it was a strange situation. The increase in cargo transport and the current mission were due to the military and police being busy with pirate hunting. Despite this, the increase in pirate attacks suggested that there was some cause, even with the new product announcement on planet Galif.

While thinking about this, the 10 minutes passed, and the club leader started to get noisy again.

"Alright! 10 minutes have passed! Let's go through the gate quickly!"

No, no, there's a proper order, you know?

Besides, the gate is large enough to accommodate about 10 ships at once, so there's no need to rush.

I think it's time for him to learn.

Look, Nosuto is smiling behind him...

Anyway, we successfully passed through the gate and set off for planet Galif again.

Given that our journey so far had been smooth, a vague sense of unease began to creep in.

However, 5 hours after passing through the gate without incident, it was time for lunch. Just as we were about to have a meal with portable cheese-flavored food and Pravox coffee, the radar detected a reaction.

"Ship detected at 7 o'clock. There are two of them, I think?"

"We have confirmed. Indeed, there are two ships at 7 o'clock. The hull codes are... from Sunshine Tree Electronics."

Seira had also detected them and checked the hull codes.

It seemed they were heading to the same place for the same reason.

"Rival company! Increase speed! We need to arrive at planet Galif before them!"

The club leader immediately reacted and started making demands.

Unfortunately, Nosuto was not on the bridge.

He even pushed the helmsman aside and took the helm, opening the throttle!

"Whoa?! What?!"

This caused Levin, who was in the lead, to be startled by the sudden speed increase of the "Ranoytan" and hastily steered to avoid a collision.

Of course, the other five of us, including me, also took evasive action.

"What the hell are you doing, you damn club leader?!"

"Ugh!"

The "Ranoytan" crew also had a helmsman who knocked out the club leader and immediately regained control, avoiding a collision with us.

Fortunately, we had maintained a safe distance, so no one collided.

Then, a beam shot through the space between the "Ranoytan" and our ship.

If we hadn't taken evasive action, it might have hit us.

The beam came from behind, meaning it was fired by the Sunshine Tree Electronics ship.

To think they would go this far just to win the new product announcement...

What are these corporate executives thinking?

While pondering this, we were turning the bow towards the Sunshine Tree Electronics ship when Arthur's voice rang out.

"Ranoytan, continue to leave this area! Seira, follow and report to the military and police! The rest, turn around and intercept!"

His immediate and accurate judgment and precise instructions to everyone were impressive.

"Understood! Good luck, Arthur!"

"Ranoytan, understood! Full speed ahead!"

Following these instructions, the "Ranoytan" and Seira left the area at full speed.

Now, it's time to start the other task.

Still, it's a bit complicated that we were saved thanks to the club leader's whims.

---

**Sunshine Tree Electronics Side: UNKNOWN**

On the ship's bridge.

"Idiot!" *Crack!*

A handsome, elite businessman in a well-tailored business suit hit a rough-looking man.

"I told you not to fire until I gave the signal, didn't I?"

The handsome businessman grabbed the man by the collar and hit him again.

The bridge crew stood by, not stopping him.

"But, he suddenly increased speed, so I thought he was trying to escape... I couldn't help it."

The man, bleeding from the nose, weakly protested, but the handsome businessman wouldn't listen.

"Because of you, we had to abandon the plan!"

He hit the man again.

"I'm sorry! But I thought it would be bad to let them escape! I didn't think they would dodge!"

The handsome businessman, finally reaching his limit, said, "You didn't think? No, you did it on purpose! You did it to ruin my perfect, super-smart plan!"

"No, I didn't!"

"That's it. You must be a spy. That's it! Otherwise, you wouldn't have interfered with my perfect, super-smart plan!"

The handsome businessman, satisfied with his reasoning, smiled and pulled out a heat ray gun.

*Bang!*

"Take care of it."

Without a second glance at the motionless man, the handsome businessman glared at the prey in front of him.

"Damn! Because of the spy, this is the last one... Alright! You guys! This is the last prey. Don't let them escape!"

"Oooh!"

---

**Sunshine Tree Electronics Side: END**

Finally, trouble!

Thank you for your opinions, comments, and any typo reports.