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

Chapter EX-003 - Terror! Space Tuna!

Translator: SFBaka

“This colony seems especially lively huh.”

Mimi exclaimed as soon as we landed inside the colony.

This was…… Uh, what was the name of this colony again? It was somewhere we stopped by on the way to our next destination. We didn’t really need to resupply, but we just thought we’d be able to find some unusual food or rare trade goods here.

“Yup. Is there some sort of event going on?”

There were lots of stores and buildings with conspicuous decorations. Every store was decorated in similar colors, so it’s probably some kind of event or festival. Every store had flags or banners depicting gold or silver fish-like marks.

“It’s probably a New Year’s festival or something.”

“Un, probably.”

“Hee? A New Year’s festival huh……”

I turned my gaze toward Elma for confirmation, but Elma shook her head in reply. It looks like this event or custom wasn’t something familiar to Elma.

“Maybe it’s something derived from dwarven culture.”

“Nn? I wonder? We’ve only ever stayed inside a predominantly dwarven colony before coming with you, Boss.”

“The golden and silver markings do kind of resemble new year decorations, right, sis?”

“I see. But what’s the meaning of those fish-shaped symbols then?”

Tina and Whisker both tilted their heads at my question.

“No idea. In the new year’s festival we’re familiar with, we only put up gold and silver decorations while celebrating the coming of the new year with food and alcohol.”

“The marks really do look like fish, don’t they? All the decorations have the same marks, so maybe it’s a bit different from the new year festival we’re familiar with, sis.”

“I see…… Well, I guess we’ll just have to ask the locals to find… out?”

A new year’s event and fish. These two terms finally made something click inside my head. I…… I’m actually familiar with this event!

“Wai-! Where are you going all of a sudden!?”

“Let’s get back to the ship! Pronto!”

As Elma and the others rushed to follow me as I ran back to the ship, I called up Mei who remained on Black Lotus to keep watch.

『Hello, Master. Is something the matter?』

“Prepare the ship for launch! And hurry!”

『Please calm yourself, Master. Did you encounter some sort of trouble?』

“No, it’s not like that, but hurry anyway! At least make it so Krishna will be ready for launch by the time we get back!”

『I still don’t understand, but alright. I shall prepare immediately.』

That’s my Mei. She’ll comply even with my lack of explanation.

The sight of me dashing as fast as I could in the colony port and Mimi and the others hurriedly following behind was attracting lots of attention from the surrounding people, but I ignored them completely. I have bigger fish to fry.

“Hey! Give us an explanation, will you!?”

“It’s tuna!”

“Tuna?”

We finally reached the Black Lotus. Elma caught up to me while I was operating the terminal to open the hatch. Mimi was nearing us as well, but Tina and Whisker’s figures were still far behind. It can’t be helped since we were taller than them and had wider strides.

“It’s this new year’s event. Space tuna will be attacking us……!”

“Space tuna?”

‘What the heck is this guy saying?’ was written all over Elma’s expression. I get it. Really, I do. Space tuna does sound absurd. I know. But we had this type of event in SOL you see. Yep, this event was implemented there.

And it was a damn nightmare. I was given trauma by those damn space tuna swarms that would come at you from all directions with speed surpassing seeker missiles. The fear of those tuna with pitch-black gaping mouths and vacant eyes charging at me from everywhere was already seared into my brain.

“I-I caught up…… Haa, haa…”

“Anyway, let’s just get inside first. Hurry to the hangar.”

Since the mechanic sisters were still far from catching up, the three of us entered Black Lotus ahead of them. Mimi was still panting in exhaustion but, unfortunately, we had to escape to another colony as soon as possible so I was forced to ignore her.

“So what’s up with those space tuna anyway? Why do we need to hurry and launch the ships?”

“If we left them alone, they’ll attack the colony. It would be a nightmare. The colony would be pierced by innumerable tunas and the sight of their fish tails peppering the colony walls would make you squeamish.”

“Tunas are large fish, aren’t they? If the tuna coming are space-sized, then…… wouldn’t that mean they would be at least the size of your average starship?”

“They would be about a fourth of Krishna’s size. And thousands or possibly tens of thousands of those guys will be attacking us.”

“But aren’t they just your average space monsters then……? Or rather, I haven’t seen or heard about anything like them? Are you sure they’re coming? It’s not a sham, is it?”

“……You’re putting a dent on my confidence if you say that you know.”

“Eh……”

After seeing me deflate, Mimi looked at me with a pitying gaze. Stop! Don’t look at me with such eyes. Elma was looking at me like I was some sort of deplorable guy who was beyond saving. I feel like running away in shame.

“I thought it couldn’t be anything but that event when I saw the gold and silver decorations and the fish markings…… Uh, c’mon guys. It’s that, you know. It’s the experience from my homeworld.”

“……Ah, I see.”

“Well, it does make sense if you put it that way, I guess.”

The two expressed their understanding. Mimi and Elma both knew that I played a game called SOL back on Earth and that elements of that game were present in this dimension as well. They also knew that about half of the knowledge and experiences I managed to gain from playing SOL were applicable to this dimension as well.

“In any case, there’s nothing wrong with launching the ships and staying alert, but we can’t do anything about those tens of thousands of space monsters with just Krishna, right?”

“Yeah, about that… Most of the space tuna are golden in color, but there would always be a silver-colored tuna among the swarms that serves as their leader. And if we get that leader, the golden-colored tuna would become powerless. The powerless tuna can be sold for a nice price, so we can make quite a bit of money from that. Also, they’re absolutely delicious! Or so I’ve heard.”

“Yosh, let’s hunt them down.”

“I’ll do my best to support you both!”

Well, that was a quick change of attitude.

“Alright then! Let’s set off! To the sea of stars!”

“Let’s aim for a big haul!”

I shook my head after seeing the two’s sudden enthusiasm. I get Mimi’s reaction, but why is Elma also being all gung-ho about it? Hm.

Well, I guess it can’t be helped since the two of them are already raring to go. I was the one who instigated them anyway, so I’ll have to take responsibility here and sortie with Krishna. As I mulled such thoughts, I hurried for the hangar with the two ladies in tow.

“That’s the gist of the dream I saw.”

“That sounds so stupid.”

“It sounds like quite a unique dream. I kinda want to try it. Space tuna, I mean.”

“We were just relegated to secondary roles fer commentary though. I propose a revision in the script!”

“I-I’m not that slow when running…… probably.”

I told everyone about the contents of the dream I saw during breakfast, but apart from Mimi, everyone else’s reactions were on the negative side. How cruel. I just wanted to share the wonder I felt after seeing my first dream in this world.

“But why did you dream about tuna anyway?”

“I have no idea.”

We did actually have a space tuna raid event in SOL, but something that silly shouldn’t happen over here anyway. Right. There’s no way space monsters that weird exist.

“We’ll be exiting the hyperlane in thirty minutes. Should we pay a visit to the colony along the way?”

Mei made an announcement as we downed our after-meal coffees and teas, and I nodded in consent.

“Yeah. We don’t really need to resupply yet, but we might find some specialty products and trading goods worth getting, so why not? By the way, what’s the name of the star system we’ll be entering?”

“It’s ****.”

“Eh?”

“It’s ****, Master.”

The name of the star system that Mei gave was the same as the one we visited in my dream……

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