“There’s no chance it could actually explode, right?”
“It’ll be fine. The Dwarven civilization has reached Level D, so it’s trustworthy.”
Sario went first. After entering various information, he stripped his upper body and entered the medical machine. Once the capsule door closed, the machine began scanning. After the scan finished, surgery commenced to remove the terminal implanted at the back of Sario’s neck. Inside the machine, robotic arms moved, operating on the anesthetized Sario to extract the terminal. Sario emerged successfully after the procedure. Since I’d heard about this medical machine, I didn’t include having the terminals removed among my wishes to the Celestial Zorophiene.
“Next is your turn, Zen.”
I too stripped my upper body and entered the medical machine. After about 15 minutes of scanning, I quickly lost consciousness – seemingly administered anesthesia. When I regained awareness, the surgery was complete, and I crawled out of the machine. Feeling my neck, there was some kind of bandage patch adhered, but the bulge of the terminal was gone. Relieved, I glanced at Sario, his serious expression studying the examination data.
“What’s wrong?”
“The antibody nanomachines and internal regulation nanomachines the Goblins used seem to have had quite low performance.”
I didn’t really follow.
“How low-performing were they?”
“They’ll need replacing within three years, or they may start adversely affecting your body.”
“That’s not good. Can’t we get new ones swapped in here?”
“Joel only seems to have Dwarven models. It’d be better to get replacements in a more medically advanced civilization.”
Though uneasy, if Sario said so, I believed him.
“Next, Zen needs to obtain Space Alliance citizenship.”
“Is there an issue without citizenship?”
According to Sario, without citizenship, I can’t open an interstellar bank account, which is very inconvenient. Accounts limited to just that planet can be opened without an ID on some worlds, but if left inactive, the funds get seized. Apparently various certifications also can’t be obtained. Like the Class 2 Spacecraft Pilot’s License needed to operate a small spacecraft.
“So how does one acquire citizenship?”
There seem to be several ways to obtain citizenship. The first method involves being formally employed by a corporate entity belonging to a nation within the Space Alliance. If you work diligently for six months, you can receive provisional citizenship. After that, you become eligible to take an exam to obtain full Space Alliance citizenship. The second method involves working for a certain period on a frontier planet or space colony that is actively recruiting new citizens. If you meet the requirements, you can acquire citizenship through this system.
“Otherwise, by registering with the Dragon Hunter Guild and monster hunting on Chiratia, you can earn citizenship.”
Chiratia is a planet where bioweapon “monsters” run rampant. There’s a system where demonstrating ability through monster hunting can earn citizenship. The Dragon Hunter Guild does this to acquire talented individuals and monster materials.
“Wait, to join the Dragon Hunter Guild, you don’t need an ID?”
“If you pass their ability test, no ID is required. But you do need a guarantor.”
Just joining the Dragon Hunter Guild doesn’t allow you to get an official planetary ID to open interstellar accounts and such.
“If we could defeat a Space Jellyfish, I should be fine, right? What should we do first?”
“Let’s go to Chiratia.”
“Not to your homeworld first?”
Sario sighed.
“I’d like to, but this ship can’t make that long a voyage.”
To reach Sario’s homeworld would require traveling 270 light-years. This small spacecraft needs an overhaul after just 60 light-years of travel. Being designed just for interplanetary use, using it for interstellar voyages is inadvisable.
“So we’d need to either acquire a proper interstellar spacecraft, or buy travel company tickets. How many krebits would an interstellar ship cost?”
“Even a used small one with a spacetime Spacetime Jump Field Generator would be in the trillions of krebits. Without that, you could get a beat-up one for tens of billions.”
“That’s orders of magnitude different!”
“The spacetime Spacetime Jump Field Generator is extremely expensive.”
I wondered how much the one we’d brought aboard this small craft would be worth. When I asked Sario, he estimated around 6 trillion if repairable.
“Selling it is starting to seem wise.”
“No way. We may never get another spacetime Spacetime Jump Field Generator.”
Apparently even with money, acquiring one may not be possible, so selling it would be an absolute last resort. We decided to go to Chiratia first. Before that, I’ll register with the Dragon Hunter Guild as well, since Sario already had. The Guild has a branch inside this space station where Sario registered.
Sario and I went to the Dragon Hunter Guild branch. For those without IDs registering, a guarantor is required, so Sario would vouch for me. At the branch reception were only a robot and a scruffy-bearded Dwarf slouched in a chair. The robot handled our case.
“How may I assist you today?”
“I’d like to register as a dragon hunter.”
“Do you have identification to present?”
“No, so Sario will vouch for me.”
“Understood. Then let’s test if you possess the skill to qualify as a dragon hunter. Do you have preferred equipment or ships?”
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I explained defeating the monsters using powered armor and a space machinegun. They would check my ability in a simulator suited for those. I was led to the simulator machine and entered it. Similar to the training simulator on the Goblin ship but more advanced. In this simulator, after taking down space krions and krakens, the reception robot acknowledged my ability.
“Then let’s have you learn the Dragon Hunter Guild’s rules. What method would you prefer?”
Not sure, I glanced at Sario.
“Information transcription nanomachines, please.”
“That will be 10,000 krebits, is that acceptable?”
Once Sario gave his consent, information-transcribing nanomachines containing the rules of the Dragon Hunter Mercenary Guild and general knowledge of the Space Alliance were injected into my body. Immediately, my head began to spin, but after about five minutes, the sensation subsided. I could then confirm that the rules of the Dragon Hunter Mercenary Guild and the general knowledge of the Space Alliance had been successfully recorded in my memory.
The Dragon Hunter Guild branch in this space station has two facilities – the reception counter area for administration, and a commercial area like a supermarket. After receiving my new dragon hunter ID card, Sario and I headed to the commercial area, as I really craved a delicious meal.
“Can everything sold here be eaten?”
“No, the food items are categorized, and we must choose what’s edible from among them.”
It seems that what’s edible differs even between Sario and me. Of course, there appear to be more foods we can both eat in common, but we need to be careful. I knew my genetic classification code from checking it on a rental medical machine. Foods printed with that genetic classification code should be safe. I went around the store putting seemingly edible items in the cart. The most common items were preserved food tubes with added taste and smell. I wanted to sample them, but there didn’t seem to be such a system. When I looked for other preserved foods, I found there were many types of frozen foods. I processed the paperwork to purchase and have large quantities of frozen food delivered to the ship.
“Ah, we don’t have a refrigerator.”
Until now, we only had food tubes, so we didn’t need a refrigerator. We also had to purchase cooking appliances like a microwave, dishes, and spoons since we didn’t have those either. By the way, chopsticks weren’t available for sale. We returned to the small spaceship after purchasing various necessities for living. Then we waited for the purchased items to be delivered. Since we only had food tubes until delivery, we spent the time hoping for the items to arrive as quickly as possible. Although we wished there were restaurants in the space station where we could eat proper meals, there weren’t any inside. After the purchases arrived and we installed the refrigerator and other items, we had our first proper meal in a long time.
“I can taste it. But it’s been so long, I can’t tell if it’s good or not.”
Actually, the taste was rather strange. Given how high our expectations were, it was a bit disappointing.
We decided to head to the planet Chiratia. Naturally, the discussion turned to how to handle the spacetime jump field, but apparently in these civilized regions, there’s a device called a spacetime jump field generation ring. If you pay money to these jump rings, officially called “jump rings,” which are installed away from stars, they generate a spacetime jump field for you. We headed toward the jump ring in our small spaceship. As we approached the ring-shaped structure, which appeared to be about three kilometers in diameter, we received a communication.
“Will you be using the jump ring?”
When Sario replied “yes” through the communicator, we were instructed to transfer money to a designated account. Sario used his interstellar financial account function to make the transfer.
“Payment confirmed. Please accelerate to beyond Barch 1 and proceed on a course through the ring.”
Sario adjusted our course slightly and flew on a path to pass through the jump ring. Just as we were about to pass under the ring, a spacetime jump field appeared on the inside of the donut-shaped structure. Our small spaceship transitioned into jump space. I felt that sensation of my internal organs being twisted again. It seems I’m still not used to it.
“Sario, how much did it cost?”
“The fee for generating the spacetime jump field was about three million krebits.”
I let out a sigh.
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