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

「Oh, I see I see. So, if ya wish hard enough, Boss, the deflection shield system, the secondary thrusters, and the large-caliber laser cannons will just magically power up, righ? Gotcha.」

Tina, who had been listening to Fushin’s theory about Krishna’s superweapon abilities, nodded seriously with a grave expression, then immediately her expression became deadpan.

「No matter how ya slice it, that’s plain ridiculous. Sure, we couldn’t crack the black box, but do ya even get how much tinkerin’ we’ve done on Krishna? Yeah, there’s some unknown stuff, but Krishna’s a combat ship! A machine! Ain’t no way new features just pop up outta nowhere like that.」

「Yeah, no, you’re right. It’s hard to believe. Honestly, even I’m half-doubting it.」

I couldn’t help but nod in agreement to Tina’s serious comment. I get it. It’s a common enough trope, right? Like a hero emerging from another world, wielding a powerful holy sword. You see it all the time in novels for entertainment back in my original world, and there’s plenty of similar stuff in the entertainment of this world too. It’s strange, isn’t it? Even though it’s supposed to be an entirely different world, that kind of theme also exists here.

Well, let’s put that aside for now. The real issue here is that in my case, the equivalent of that holy sword is Krishna, my combat ship. Sure, in stories, there’s often a plot where the hidden powers of the holy sword are unlocked through some trigger, and it even gets a new look! Yeah, that happens a lot. But Krishna’s a combat ship, a technological marvel made of precision instruments. There’s no way it’s going to suddenly reveal hidden powers or undergo a cosmetic transformation like some fairy tale sword.

「But, what if Fushin-san’s theory it’s right? Isn’t that common sense you are talking about Sis, limiting Krishna’s potential?」

「That’s right.」

At Wiska’s words, Fushin nodded in agreement. However, Tina wasn’t convinced.

「But listen, Wee, Krishna’s got loads of tech that’s a perfect fit with what we’ve got. Just look at the weapons—like the ammo for the shard cannons, the anti-ship torpedo warheads, and even the power circuits for the thrusters and shield generator. There’s tons of examples. Especially the thrusters, they wear out fast, and we’ve swapped parts we made ourselves more times than I can count. If Krishna was some kinda holy relic from when Boss showed up in this universe, ain’t it weird that parts we made fit and work just fine?」

Tina laid out a well-grounded argument that made sense, even to me. However, Wiska tilted her head, considering her response.

「Well, that might be true, but maybe that’s because Big Brother believes that’s how it should be. I mean, before we ever touched Krishna, Big Brother was already using the maintenance services provided by several colony’s docks, right? I think that at the time, he must have believed that ‘if Krishna is docked at the colony, it should receive proper maintenance services.’ So, Krishna might have ‘adapted’ in response to that belief.」

「No way… Ya make it sound like Krishna’s got a mind of its own or somethin’.」

Tina, her face twitching slightly, looked up at Krishna, which sat majestically in the hangar, as she tried to process Wiska’s seemingly outlandish theory.

「Honestly, I think that that’s not too far from the truth. I mean, it doesn’t make sense otherwise. Most likely, Krishna has been adapting alongside Big Brother to fit into this world. The engineers of this world have been observing and maintaining every part of it, and at the same time, Krishna has been progressing through self-modification to adapt to this world’s technology. So, in other words—」

「In other words?」

「Krishna might be mimicking this world’s ships, to make sure that no engineer from this world, like me or Sis, would find anything suspicious. Maybe Krishna is a complete black box, just like the area around the generator, and it’s simply showing us something our current technological understanding can comprehend.」

「No way… Wee, your thinkin’s way too out there… I can’t keep up with ya no more.」

It seemed like Tina’s spirit had finally been broken, as she covered her face with both hands and slumped over in defeat.

「Wiska, stop tormenting your sister so much.」

「I’m not tormenting her. If anything, the ones doing the tormenting are you and Krishna, Big Brother.」

Wiska shot me a side glance filled with quiet frustration. Even if you say that, I didn’t know until just now that Krishna was some kind of sentient superweapon.

「So, as the expert, what do you think of Wiska’s theory, Fushin-dono?」

「I’m hardly an expert. My knowledge of ‘visitors’ and their relics is just hearsay at best, so it’s a bit presumptuous to call me one. However, I have heard that the relics created and carried by ‘visitors’ can change their form and capabilities to some extent, reflecting the will of their master. I believe Wiska-dono’s hypothesis may be quite accurate.」

「So, are you saying that Krishna is some kind of living entity, disguised as a warship?」

「No, I believe it has been concluded that relics are not living beings. I’ve also heard that they don’t possess a will of their own. However, they do seem to have the characteristic of responding to their master’s will.」

「Hmmm…」

So Krishna is like a powerful weapon that can adapt to some extent based on my desires? Well, no one aboard the ship, including me, needs to be told that Krishna is an incredibly powerful ship but…

「However, I must say that a relic of this size, and in the form of a space combat ship, is likely unprecedented… so I can’t fully grasp just how much power it holds. But what I can tell you is that it’s probably an immensely powerful relic, far beyond anything we have known.」

After saying this in a tone tinged with awe, Fushin turned a reverent gaze toward Krishna and shivered. The round beast ears atop his head were twitching restlessly, perhaps sensing some overwhelming presence emanating from Krishna. I can’t feel anything like that thought.

「Alright, I’ve got a question. How d’ya even know Krishna’s some kinda super-powerful, one-of-a-kind relic?」

「That’s an easy one, relics are materialized astral bodies—perhaps that doesn’t make sense. Hmm… in simpler terms, they are higher-dimensional energy entities that have taken physical form. Think of them as stabilized antimatter in physical form.」

「Stabilized antimatter in physical form?」

「The laws of space… The laws of space are…」

Upon hearing Fushin’s explanation, the light vanished from the eyes of the mechanic sisters, leaving them with blank expressions. Is that the galaxy and the face of a cat flashing behind them? Nah, it’s probably probably just my imagination.

By the way, antimatter is something that generates insane amounts of energy even in tiny quantities. It’s used in starship generators and reaction warheads—or so I’ve heard. They apparently create it using massive amounts of energy from things like orbital solar power generation. I don’t know the details.

「It seems you now understand just how extraordinary this relic is. Simply put, the larger it is, the more energy it contains.」

「Boss, I’m startin’ to feel scared just touchin’ Krishna.」

「Is there hazard pay for this kind of thing?」

「No hazard pay, Krishna’s just an unusual small combat ship. Manufacturer unknown, sure, but it’s still just a unique small ship. It’s not some dangerous object where a tiny fragment of it would blow everything to smithereens, alright? Got it?」

「Lies! Now I get why Fushin-han’s been holdin’ his stomach this whole time!」

「We demand an improvement in our work conditions, Big Brother!」

The mechanic sisters started hopping up and down, loudly protesting.

「It’s fine, it’s fine! We’ve been fine up until now, so we’ll continue to be fine! All good!」

「What part of this is ‘all good’?! If antimatter this big set off an annihilation reaction, it’d blow up a whole star system!」

「Well, it’s not like we can stop using Krishna now! We knew from the start that it was a high-risk ship with black-box technology and an unknown origin! It’s too late to turn back now!」

「That’s…! That’s true, but…!」

It took an absurd amount of effort to calm the sisters down. In the end, Fushin’s words, ‘It was just a hypothetical example. There’s no real danger. Probably’, and the promise to have the Holy Verzalus Empire conduct a thorough safety check on Krishna finally settled them down.

Phew… this is going to be rough.

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