After I arrived in front of the reception counter, I found myself facing a guy sporting numerous old battle scars on his body . His left arm also seemed like a mechanical prosthetic . How should I put this? It felt like I finally encountered something mercenary guild-like .

“Ahn? The h.e.l.l do you guys want?”

“He’s a newbie . This guy’s going around Underground without registering with the Guild . ”

“Huh? Underground? I sometimes hear about guys like that, but it’s my first time seeing one in person . C’mon over and take a seat bro . ”

“Ah, yes . ”

I sat down in front of the counter like I was told . This guy was pretty intense man . If I met someone like him back home in j.a.pan, I’d never want to get involved with the guy at all . He really looks like someone from a rather “dangerous and illegal” profession .

“Even if you’re unregistered, you do own a ship right? Tell me your ship name and I . D . It’s parked in the hangar bay right?”

“Yes . ”

“Pfft . You seem like a frightened little kitten you know . So interesting . ”

“Shut up . ”

I glared at Elma, who had one hand over her mouth while trying to stifle her laughter, but didn’t seem to be able to . Dammit! I can’t help it okay! This uncle’s just h.e.l.la scary man!

The receptionist uncle with a terrifying face inputted the ship name and I . D . I gave him on a tablet terminal and fiddled with it for some moments .

“The h.e.l.l? What’s up with your ship kid? I’ve never seen a model like this before . ”

“Although I can’t exactly disclose the source, I guarantee I didn’t get her illegally . ”

“Nah, y’know… Well, it’s a breach of manners to ask about a mercenary’s past . It says here you engaged three pirate ships in battle four days ago and managed to win, but that’s about it . Rather, you don’t have any other activity records kid . ”

“I seem to have gotten involved in an accident while my ship was on Hyperdrive and got thrown out somewhere near this colony . Because of that accident, I seem to have lost most of my memories, and I currently have absolutely no idea where I am . ”

“You serious? Ah… Well, that’s fine . You don’t have a bounty on your head anyway . Oh yeah, could you stop it with that polite language thing? If the other guys hear you talkin like that, you’d get looked down on y’know . ”

“Y- Yeah . ”

Man, it sure takes some serious b.a.l.l.s to talk in a casual manner with this grim faced uncle…

“That’s true . It’s more or less over for a merc who’s underestimated, so watch how you act from now on . However, you’re still as lax as ever, aren’t you?”

“You’re also aware of the rules, right missy? There’s no merit for probing about a merc’s past . If they’ve got no bounty on their heads and properly earn their keep, then there’s absolutely no problem . ”

A question suddenly popped into my head while the two were having their conversation . So I decided to just blurt it out right away .

“Um, a starship’s not exactly cheap right? So I’m sure there aren’t that many guys who go like [I got myself one, so I’ll be a mercenary starting today!] just like that yeah? How do you even manage to recruit enough members then?”

I think my question does have some merit . I’ve investigated about the general market prices in this world these past few days, and in order to purchase a properly armed ship, you’d need to fork out at least 50,000 Enel . If you convert that to j.a.panese Yen, you’d end up with 5,000,000 . I haven’t managed to investigate the average income of people in this world, but I’m sure that’s still an astronomical amount of money for the average joe .

“Well, there’s actually lots of guys who’re formerly from the military active in this business y’see . They’re pretty high levelled and have great skills . There are also some who just plain love fighting and chose to become mercenaries as a result . There’s also them extremely greedy, money-obsessed types . ”

“There are also those who graduated from the Mercenary Training Inst.i.tute right?”

“Yeah . But there’s none of those types in this particular star system . ”

“Those still seems to be a bit lacking as sources of ‘fresh blood’ though . ”

“Guess so . But the galaxy’s a friggin huge place kid . We’ve managed to get enough members to fulfill most of the requests sent to us . ”

Hm . In other words, there are lots of prerequisites, so they’ve managed to gather up only the folks who fulfill those conditions . Or maybe there just isn’t a lot of mercenary work in this world? Hm . I don’t get it . I don’t get it, but I’ll just go with the flow anyway .

“I’ve finished setting up your registration . The only thing left is the test . ”

“Test?”

“Yeah . If we don’t know how skilled you are, won’t we have no idea what type of jobs you’d be able to take up?”

“That’s reasonable . But how are you gonna test me?”

“Training course . There’s a simulator here for that purpose . I’ll have you undergo that . ”

“OK . ”

The receptionist uncle stood up from his seat, called out towards the back of the office and guided Elma and me to another room . Why’d Elma follow me anyway? Elma grinned mischievously at me when she noticed my gaze .

“Don’t you think I have the right to see just how skilled the rookie I brought with me is?”

“You do?”

Well, I did manage to smoothly proceed with my mercenary registration thanks to Elma, so I don’t really mind if she observes my moves . Moreover, the opinions of a veteran merc with five years of experience under her belt would be valuable . If I have her evaluate me, I’ll be able to more properly judge my overall skill level .

“It’s right here . ”

The room with the simulator was surprisingly bigger than I expected . Lined up within it were simulator machines which looked a bit like small sized trucks . Or rather, they seem to be mimicking just the c.o.c.kpit block of a ship .

“Chose something which resembles the c.o.c.kpit model of your ship and get in . ”

“Gocha . ”

The overall look of a ship’s c.o.c.kpit is largely influenced by its manufacturer . That also goes for the c.o.c.kpit controls . So most ships are made to be compatible with most c.o.c.kpit blocks available on the market . This essentially means that it’s possible to detach a c.o.c.kpit block and install it onto another ship . This function was also available on Stella Online, so I’m quite used to it .

“Guess it’s this one . ”

“Hoh . Ain’t that a high-end military model? Alright . I’ll have it prepped straight away . ”

The uncle, who seemed a somehow impressed when I chose my c.o.c.kpit block, went away somewhere . I’m sure he’s going to the control room for the simulators . Elma’s figure was also gone . Guess she’s spectating from somewhere else .

“Well then, let’s start the evaluation test . ”

“Roger that . What about the operating data of this test unit?”

“I’ll upload your ship’s data on it . You should be able to control it like you usually do after…… Oi, oi . What the heck is this?”

“What’s up?”

“You really askin me? This unit’s data… Can you really use this thing?”

“I think I’ll be okay if it’s Krishna’s data . ”

Was there something strange about the data . Well, I don’t really know how Krishna would be evaluated in this world . It was a pretty strong unit back in Stella Online though .

“Oh well . This is a test to evaluate your skills after all . The objective of the test is pretty basic . Destroy all enemy units . All ships except for you are enemies . They’ll be few in number at first, but they’ll be coming at you in waves . The difficulty will increase as their numbers go up . ”

“Got it . ”

“Then let’s start the test . Activating the unit . ”

The c.o.c.kpit interior dimmed; only a minimal amount of illumination remained . So it accurately simulates even a ship’s dormant state . I fired up the main generator with practiced motions and brought it up to battle level . In response to that, the simulated Krishna activated, and a s.p.a.ce environment gradually unveiled itself before me . It was a pretty realistic view . This simulator’s extremely detailed .

[Unidentified ship detected . Its weapon systems are online]

I also activated my weapon systems and quickly set course for the location of the enemy ship displayed on the radar . I accelerated all at once . I felt my body being strongly pressed down onto the seat .

“Whoah . This thing even simulates the Gs . ”

What kind of tech did they use to make this thing? Well, if this world really was the same as Stella Online, then a gravity generating device should have been developed . This machine must be using something like that .

A figure that seemed to be the enemy ship was cruising in the distance and carefully approaching me in order to mount a surprise attack . I’ve already managed to get a lock on the slowpoke . The four manipulator arms deployed from the hull and immediately aimed at the enemy ship . The moment I pulled the control stick’s trigger, four beams of light fired straight at the enemy and tore it open . I managed to shoot down the enemy in one attack .

“How fragile . ”

Not to mention slow as heck . Judging from its appearance, it was a small transport ship with a high carrying capacity . Just this huh?

More enemy ships appeared after that, but all of them were pretty weak . Slow . Fragile . They’re no different from live targets . I don’t think they would be able to properly gauge my abilities with these .

“Ah, looks like the evaluation program for new recruits just won’t cut it . ”

“Hey . Isn’t the difference in unit specs too lopsided?”

“Well, you’re right but… Let me change to a different test program . ”

“Roger . ”

I tried out the new program . It was definitely better than the first, but the enemies were still quite slow . d.a.m.n weak . They’re no different from those suckers I shot down a few days ago .

“They’re so weak . I can’t feel any sort of pressure . ”

“The h.e.l.l kid… This is an evaluation program for veterans y’know . ”

“Wha— You’re joking right? Isn’t there anything more difficult?”

“There is… But I think this one’s a bit of an overkill . ”

I finally felt some pressure this time . More than ten pirate ships attacked all at once, and their weapons were also quite powerful . But if I keep a close eye and take timely evasive actions whenever they fired their high-powered ballistic weaponry, I’d be fine . Their laser cannons can’t even penetrate my shield, so they’re practically no threat . The light cruiser model that came out at the end was pretty tough . But once I managed to get to its blind spot, it became a done deal .

“That did make me sweat a little . ”

“You can’t be serious kid!?” the uncle cried out in exasperation . Huh? Was that actually the highest difficulty?

“Uh… Well . d.a.m.n . Test’s over kid . ”

“Roger that . ”

That was easier than I thought . I wonder how they’ll evaluate me…? Well, judging from that uncle’s reaction, it’ll probably be alright . I cut the power flow from the generator, stopped the simulator and stepped out of the c.o.c.kpit . When I went out of the simulator hatch, I found the receptionist uncle and Elma staring at me with hard to describe looks on their faces . They could probably be described as  disbelieving expressions .

“Um, what’s my evaluation results?”

“Ah, let’s get back to the counter and talk there . ”

They sure are acting strange . I think it would’ve been fine even if they told me the result here . For some reason, Elma also kept staring at my face . Just what’s with all this man?

I followed the two of them back to the lobby with my head tilted in puzzlement .

“Uh… First, about the exam result . ”

“Yeah . ”

“You pa.s.sed . ”

“That’s great . But what’s with those strange expressions?”

“Well y’see, we mercenaries have a ranking system in place . ”

“Hm?”

Was it something similar to that adventurer ranking thing used in a lot of those isekai themed webnovels? Would this lead to a development where I suddenly get promoted to A or S rank?

“It’s called a Combat Rank, and it serves to objectively represent a merc’s combat capabilities . The five ranks are as follows: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold and Platinum . Iron’s the lowest and Platinum’s the highest . ”

“I see . So?”

“The last test you tackled was the one for promotion to Gold Rank . ”

“Okay?”

“But y’see, even though you did pa.s.s the Gold Rank promotion exam, I can’t just suddenly promote you to Gold right from the start . ”

“I understand . ”

I’m not too hot on the idea of getting promoted to the second highest rank just like that either anyway . This was something not present in Stella Online after all . I want to savor the pleasure of ranking up step by step .

“You don’t have a solid track record yet . You understand, right?”

“Yeah, I do . ”

“So for now, you’ll be ranked Bronze . Temporarily, of course . I’ll pa.s.s the data from the simulation you took earlier to the higher-ups and have them confirm your ranking . ”

“Spare me from suddenly ranking up to Gold, will you? I’d miss out on the fun of steadily raising my rank . ”

“I— Is that so?”

It somehow felt like I’m drawing too much attention . Elma kept painfully staring at me from the side while sporting a specially grumpy expression . What? Please stop that . I’m just a newbie here, y’know . Please cut me a little slack ma’am .

“For now, the rank’s tentative, but you’re already officially registered as a mercenary . You’ll have the backing of the Mercenary Guild from now on . And at the same time, you’ll also be carrying the name and reputation of the Mercenary Guild with you . Please try not to forget this fact . ”

“Aren’t you supposed to explain the rules and regulations for new members or something?”

“It’s a pain, so just read the manual yourself . I’ll send it you via e-mail . ”

“Now that’s just plain lazy . ”

“It’s not like you need to read it right away . Just run through it slowly tonight or something . ”

“Now then, why is my great Elmsenpai so upset, I wonder?”

“Silver . ”

“Eh?”

“I’ve just managed to reach Silver after five years worth of effort y’know . ”

“Ah . Eh . Um…”

When I looked towards the receptionist uncle for help, he quickly turned his gaze away from mine .

“You’ll probably make it to Silver yourself soon kid . ”

“Ah… Mmm . ”

“Grrr…”

“No matter what my rank turns out to be, Elmsenpai will always be my senpai! Look, if I didn’t meet Elmsenpai, I’d probably remain unregistered until now . I still don’t know left from right and need your help . I’m the pathetic scrub who doesn’t even know where the convenience store is . I’ll always be counting on Elmsenpai . It’s true!”

“I— Is that so? T— That’s fine then . Let’s go to the convenience store next . This ‘senpai’ will properly guide you . ”

This disappointing s.p.a.ce elf quickly regained her mood after my unrestrained bootlicking spree . How easy .

“Amazing~ How admirable~”

“As for this colony’s map……”

“We’ll be going ahead then!”

The receptionist uncle looked like he kinda wanted to say something but I stopped him with my gaze . Just stop uncle . It’ll be troublesome if her mood drops again okay .

Hold on? Y’know, I probably wouldn’t have any trouble going around this place if I managed to obtain a map . But let’s just stop that train of thought, shall we? Yeah .