Chapter 38

Since you pointed out the approach distance of the asteroid, I have added and revised it.

I have revised the setting of the asteroid belt and made it a request unrelated to distance.

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After finishing the communication with Rosweizer, I was about to leave when Arthur called out to me in the lobby. Next to him, as expected, Seira stood calmly.

"Hello, Uzos-san."

"Hey, Lingard. And Seinida, how was the reception?"

The two had been invited to a military reception for their previous job, so I asked them about it casually.

Then,

"I wish I hadn't gone to such a thing!"

Seira suddenly became furious.

"The men were all saying things like 'It was just a fluke,' 'He just got lucky,' 'I'm stronger than him!' to Arthur. And to me, they said things like 'Want to go out with me?' 'Why don't you dump that mercenary guy?' 'Why don't you be my adjutant? I'll take good care of you!'"

She ground her teeth, reigniting her anger at the men who had insulted her lover.

"The women were the opposite! They were all saying things like 'You're just fawning over men,' 'I'm better than you,' 'You're just a low-level mercenary. You're so poor!' with a slimy jealousy and sarcasm! And they were all over Arthur, including Lieutenant Hyratt!"

Her anger at the women who had approached her lover also reignited.

"Come on, Seira! Calm down. Besides, Lieutenant Hyratt was a buffer."

"That's his tactic! It was good that Arthur is serious and has a good reputation, but I won't go to such a thing again!"

Arthur tried to calm her down, but he only added fuel to the fire.

"That was tough... I'm glad I wasn't invited."

It was probably a gathering of nobles, so it was probably full of them.

The two really had a hard time and were pitiful.

However, Arthur didn't approach me just to talk about this.

"So, what's up?"

My one sentence reminded him, and Arthur started to explain his business.

"Yes. Actually, a job to collect an asteroid belt in the vicinity of the planet Kolcos has been posted. It seems that rare metals can be mined from the asteroids, and the lord of Kolcos has ordered the mining to begin. However, because the asteroid belt is vast and theft and asteroid theft are rampant, they have decided to gather the asteroids and melt them all at once to extract the metals..."

As he explained, Arthur sent the request letter to my wrist terminal.

It seems a bit rough, but is it okay?

Is the lord of Kolcos not giving up?

"Your radar can easily detect the approach of asteroids and alert you, so the probability of hitting an asteroid should be reduced, right?"

Seira added to Arthur's explanation.

"I'm sorry, but I just finished overhauling my ship and I'm on vacation now. The deadline seems to be a while away, so I'll decide by then."

From what I heard, it doesn't seem suspicious, but I want to check it out, and I'm on vacation, so I put off my response.

"I understand. It would be nice to work together. See you later."

"Yeah, thanks for coming."

If it were a hero, he would say something like, "Decide whether to take it or not right here."

In that regard, Arthur is a well-rounded person.

He was probably asked by the receptionist to "call out to someone who looks free" because they couldn't gather enough people.

So, I finally left the guild building and headed straight for the black market shopping district.

This place still has an otherworldly atmosphere.

I came here to get rumors from Patterson's Pharmacy, of course.

And sure enough, that very conspicuous sign was up.

And there was a new sign among them.

It read, "The soul's essence dances in the boil, wrapped in dead flesh."

That butcher is at it again with some suspicious new product...

But it seems to be quite popular, as many people who are deeply immersed in the atmosphere here are lined up.

Ignoring the crowd, I arrived at Patterson's Pharmacy.

"Hey."

"Welcome... Oh, it's you."

My friend Gonzalez took his face out of the newspaper and greeted me as usual.

I went to the counter and placed an envelope on it.

"I came to hear some 'rumors.'"

"What kind of rumors?"

Gonzalez checked the contents of the envelope and got ready to listen.

"There's an asteroid belt in the vicinity of the planet Kolcos, right? It seems that rare metals can be mined from the asteroids, but because of the frequent theft and asteroid theft, they want to gather the asteroids and melt them all at once to extract the metals."

This is what was written in the request letter that Arthur brought.

"Got it. Give me an hour."

"Sure thing. I'll wait patiently."

Gonzalez connected a cable to the back of his neck and started his research, so I sat down and started reading a light novel.

Melting asteroids to extract rare metals is not impossible, so there's no problem.

It's probably not all at once, but a certain amount will be melted in sequence.

What I was concerned about in this request was the fact that rare metals can be extracted.

Radiation and radioactive materials are not a problem because ships and spacesuits are already equipped to handle them in space.

However, if the asteroids contain corrosive gases that are released during collection, it could be dangerous.

It's not possible to throw them into the furnace with the gases still inside, so they need to be completely vented.

If it's known that they contain such gases, the appropriate equipment can be used for the job.

If it's encountered unexpectedly, the job can be interrupted immediately and the appropriate equipment can be switched to resume the job.

However, the equipment is quite expensive.

So, there are cases where the job is done without informing the workers that the asteroids contain gases, and when they are released, the workers are told to "continue the job while we prepare the equipment."

I think Arthur thoroughly investigated this before taking the job, but it's just a precaution.

Exactly one hour later, Gonzalez pulled the cable from the back of his neck.

The information he obtained was the same as the request letter, and it didn't seem to be dangerous.

Except for the contents of the lord of Kolcos's mind.

"By the way, I saw Crus Arnoide the other day."

Since the business was done, I tried to have a little conversation as a friend.

"Yeah, he came to the store the other day."

"You guys know where he is. I move around a lot, so it's hard for me."

"But in return, you probably make 3 million a day when you're busy, right?"

"It's a matter of life and death, though."

Regardless of the content, talking like this makes me nostalgic for our student days.

I think we had a lot of good memories, despite the incident in the first year.

While thinking about this,

"I wish we could go to an arcade or something. The three of us."

Gonzalez suddenly said.

Even if we have the same kind of relationship, it won't be the same as our student days.

We each have our own positions and things we have to do.

Thinking about it, I guess I'm a lucky person who can work and take time off freely, even if it's my own responsibility.

"Sure."

I'll try to match my schedule with his.

Recently, I've been using the "I'll do it" tone too much, and it's becoming useless.

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

I have added and revised the approach distance of the asteroid as you pointed out.

I want to study the units of space a bit more.

I have changed the setting of the asteroid.

I have added and revised various things.

Well, the work is the same, so it should be fine, right?