9 – Making a deal
Eventually we were granted an audience with the dock master and of course, other security people. After my fun time with all my girls… I literally left them fainted. My stamina is superior. Shiro was the only one that didn’t deplete her batteries, so I cleaned ourselves with PA and now it’s just the 2 of us.
Right now, we were in some sort of interrogation room. And I can understand them being cautious about me. What if a blatantly shady guy suddenly turned up and brought in a large number of gold? Utterly suspicious. It was a matter totally reeking of suspiciousness. The officer in charge of port security strictly interrogating such a guy was definitely within reason.
“……Do you really have no intention of telling me your real identity and where all this gold is from, miss?”
“I’ve already told you about how I got this stuff way earlier man. I’m really starting to get tired of this meaningless back-and-forth conversation, officer.”
It really feels like this guy’s deliberately talking in circles. Is he waiting for me to get pissed off and slip out some useful info or something? Or is he after something else entirely? Like hush money maybe.
The heck? When I made a gesture implying that I’m willing to fork something out under the table, the reaction I got was “Are you trying to drag me down with you by offering that huh? You’re thinking of either threatening me or begging me to let you off by using that as leverage aren’t you?” Seems like trying to make a deal with this kind of straight-laced fellow was just a waste of time.
I get it that they think I am suspicious. And explaining them from which planet I came from is pointless since the area where my base should be hasn’t been mapped out yet. So I tried telling them that I got the gold from the pirates I killed.
But he’s not stupid. Pirates wouldn’t be hauling this much.
So what should I do now…?
“Request: this person is annoying. I wish for permission to terminate his life.”
“No, for the 5th time, we aren’t going to kill him.”
Shiro is throwing her eyes in disgust at this man. “How does he dare address me in such a tone, let me just kill him already” or something like that. That’s what Shiro wants, but I restrained her.
While I was in the middle of mulling over my options, the door of the interrogation room suddenly opened without so much as a knock and someone walked straight in.
It was a man. Long blonde hair and deep blue eyes. What's more, he wore a military uniform similar to a WW2 German Officer uniform.
"Franz-sama!? You arrived earlier than expected.”
“I saw an unfamiliar ship parked on the hangar bay. Is she the shipowner?”
“Uh- Err-“
The port officer, who suddenly became all jittery, handed over something which looked like a tablet terminal to the man named Franz.
“This is quite a large amount of gold. You didn’t happen to procure all of this illegally now, did you?”
“Of course not.”
“Hmm… A self-proclaimed ruler from an inexistent planet. Moreover, unregistered with the Mercenary Guild, who just managed to shoot down some pirates huh.”
.
.
.
“There’s no evidence indicating that his cargo is stolen goods, correct?”
“Y- Yes, that’s right. But still-“
“Well then, it should be fine to let them go. I believe she plans to unload all this cargo on this colony, correct? Considering the difficulty of procuring gold supplies nowadays, I don’t think this poses any issues to be particularly concerned about, right?”
“H- However……”
“However? Do you have any other opinion you wish to share with me, the head authority of the colony?”
“No, but my lord…”
“Speaking of which, I’ve recently received some reports about a port officer who has been making it difficult for ships to unload their cargo inside this colony without handing over some sort of bribe first.”
“I- I would never do such a thing!”
He turned around once again towards me.
"How about this, ladies. You don't have any ID on you. So here's my proposition. I will buy your gold for half the market value. In exchange I will ask the Mercenary Guild to issue ID's for you and your crewmates, no questions asked. I'll throw in a free ship maintenance service."
Interesting. So he'll close his eyes as long as we agree. Well, I would be taking a loss, but giving this scenario it's for the best.
"Sure. I'm okay with that."
"Splendid. You, officer! Have the documents processed asap."
"Yes, my lord!"
"My apologies. He’s a little too serious regarding his job.”
“I'll overlook this."
He gave me a political smile and promptly left. I felt getting involved with him was bad news for some reason.
The port officer came back a little bit later and me and Shiro was finally released from the interrogation room. I’ve gotten quite hungry from the whole ordeal.
“Well then, we will proceed with the exchange. The total price is 5 million Sol. Please confirm.”
“Yep.”
I activated a smartphone shaped information terminal and confirmed that 5 million Sol has been indeed transferred over to my personal account. This miniature information device was usually placed inside Ava’s living quarters and was widely popular all throughout the galaxy.
This baby can function as a portable communicator, space navigator, e-wallet and do much other cool stuff.
There was a lot of other useful stuff inside the living quarters, but what I brought out this time was only this information terminal and a laser gun for self-defense. The laser gun along with its holster was confiscated when I was taken to the interrogation room, so I had them return it earlier.
“There’s nothing else right? I’d like to head to the Mercenary Guild.”
“Yes. There is nothing else. We are sorry for taking up your time.”
“That so? Later then.”
There’s nothing more to gain by dawdling in this place, so I finally left the Port Security Department office behind. Anyway, I got more than enough cash to spend as long as I don’t splurge like crazy. When people manage to get a lot of money, it’s like all their worries just disappear into thin air.
For now it's time to go get those ID's. Maybe I can find a complete map out there. Should I try searching for my planet? Or maybe go with the flow and wander around?