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

「Something like this, done automatically…?」

「Putting aside the appearance, the taste is exceptionally good…」

「Wouldn’t this require adjustments to the priestess training program?」

「I kind of want one… I wonder if we have any leftover budget for procurement?」

After serving the researchers the dishes prepared by Tetsujin, their reactions were generally favorable, or rather, they praised everything except the appearance. The appearance—or to be precise, the color—is a little…no, let’s be frank, the color is very weird. If you don’t specify the color the food should have, it usually ends up as some shade of green or brownish color.

The so-called ‘Color Mode,’ improves the look to some extent with tasteless, odorless, and completely harmless food coloring. However, depending on the dish, the cooking time can triple, so I almost never use it… For example, that sweet porridge-like dish that Mimi often eats for breakfast doesn’t take much time to prepare. But when it’s a plate meal with a combination of rice and side dishes, like what I usually eat, it takes a ridiculously long time.

「How’s the progress on the Krishna investigation?」

While handing over additional drinks—something resembling tea—to Tina and the others, who were munching on scone-like baked goods made by Tetsujin, I asked them about the progress. Tina swallowed what was in her mouth properly before she responded.

「Well, it’s hard to say we’ve got much, since we ain’t found anything clear yet… We’re pretty much guessin’ here, but lookin’ at the total energy Krishna’s got, we figure it’s only runnin’ at ‘bout ten to maybe twenty percent of its potential right now.」

「Seriously. But right now, Krishna’s energy output’s only goin’ to the four heavy laser cannons, the thrusters, and the shield generator, right? Its performance and max output in those areas are already maxed out, so they’re sayin’ we either gotta add more output destinations or evolvin’ the ones we’ve got.」

「Increasing is one thing, but what do you mean by evolving?」

Krishna isn’t some kind of Po◯émon! Am I going to hear a voice in my head one of these days saying: ‘Congratulations! Krishna has evolved into Vishnu!’ or something like that?

「According to Buubo-san, holy relics like Krishna are capable of altering their form or exhibiting more powerful abilities in response to the owner’s will. In other words, it seems that Krishna has a mechanism that allows it to transform in accordance with your intentions, Big Brother.」

「That’s hard to believe…」

Transforming, really? Are they suggesting that Krishna could turn into a humanoid robot like some kind of Tr◯nsformer? That might be cool and all, but I’d rather not deal with the mess it’d make in the living quarters.

「But hasn’t Krishna’s functionality already expanded once? I heard it deployed some kind of shield or barrier that could deflect laser weapons.」

Dr. Shouko, taking a sip of the tea I brought, looked at me as she said this. It’s true that something like that did happen, but I’m not entirely sure whether it was due to my immense psionic energy or because that curse-grade item—the seed of the world tree—that I was carrying at the time, did something. Maybe Krishna really did warp the laser beams according to my will…

「But the thing is, I haven’t been able to use that shield ever since.」

「That’s exactly what we are trying to do! Our main focus right now is to deploy that shield once more, and make it usable anytime!」

「Whoa!?」

I knew someone was approaching, but I didn’t expect them to start shouting. When I turned around, Buubo, the source of the voice, was grinning and apologizing insincerely while scratching his head.

「But considering the hidden power of Krishna and Hiro-dono’s potential, its capabilities shouldn’t be limited to merely ‘outstanding performance for a small combat ship’! It wouldn’t be surprising if it could surpass even the power of our nation’s most advanced fleet!」

「Isn’t that a bit of an exaggeration…?」

「No, no! Not at all! According to our measurements, that ship is only utilizing about ten percent of its original output!」

I glanced over at Tina and Wiska, but they both shook their heads at the same time.

「Even if it’s a black box, if it was really only runnin’ at ten percent capacity, we’d be able to tell. But…」

「Krishna’s generator has a unique design, with some parts whose functions are completely unknown, and sections that appear inactive. That’s what we mean when we call it a black box. It’s impossible for us to calculate its real output due to those parts, so it’s not completely out of the question. 」

「I’m no engineer, but I always wondered how that small generator could produce such massive output.」

It seemed like our techies were still skeptical.

「If you could actually power up the generator for us, it would greatly advance our research! What do you say?」

「Well, I don’t mind doing that.」

Buubo broke into a wide smile at my response. He seems genuinely delighted… but I hope he doesn’t start any strange experiments. If a serious accident involving the generator were to happen here, it could lead to a massive disaster, so I’d really prefer to avoid any dangerous experiments.

☆★☆

「Fantastic! There’s a significant difference in the output depending on whether Hiro-dono is sitting in the cockpit or not! This ship is undoubtedly a holy relic!」

Buubo’s excited voice echoed from beyond the main screen. The output displayed on Krishna’s main screen remained stable, just as usual, with no noticeable changes. Yet, on Buubo’s end, he seemed to be observing some significant fluctuations in energy output.

「Is the energy output really changing?」

「At least on this monitor, the output has increased considerably.」

「「…」」

The mechanic sisters were visibly frowning, as if they couldn’t accept what they were seeing. To be honest, I feel the same way, but according to the Holy Vuelzarus Empire’s technology, there is indeed a measurable difference.

「In other words, Krishna’s holy relic generator… let’s call it Relic Generator, is a hybrid generator that combines a psionic generator with a standard generator! The energy output we usually see is just a small part of its original output. The output produced by the standard generator plus a little excess energy produced by the psionic generator operating at a very low output!」

「I think you are exaggerating a bit… but if only half of the generator is putting out cruiser-level power, then its original output must be closer to a battleship’s level or maybe even beyond that, into a capital-ship class.」

A battleship’s generator output is roughly three times that of a cruiser. If Krishna’s is indeed able to output the level of energy that Buubo is claiming, it would be equivalent to more than three battleships combined. That’s the kind of generator you can only find in capital ships or strategic vessels. Just thinking about cramming that level of output into a ship of this size makes me worry that it might explode into pieces.

「And with Hiro-dono in the cockpit, the output increased even more, so it might be beyond that! Holy relics have the effect of amplifying the psychic power of their user, so the synergy is making it go even further!」

「It’s impressive, but I can’t say I’m too thrilled about it…」

If I, along with Krishna, were to blow up, the resulting explosion might just take the entire star system with us. Can we not bring these hypothetical situations so close to reality?

「So, how exactly are we supposed to utilize this immense power?」

「That’s the next challenge! Based on our current research, the ship tends to manifest new abilities when its user is in danger, but that’s too risky! We need to think of alternative approaches!」

「Please do.」

Luckily, he didn’t suggest something extreme like engaging in a full-on battle with the Holy Vuelzarus Empire’s warships or fighting against photon lifeforms just to trigger a sense of danger in Krishna. For now, it looks like I can breathe easy.