The True Purpose at Garra

Kelberos and Orion arrived at the control airspace of the Garra Stellar Province's central colony.

Seira, responsible for communications, sent her final message to Orion.

"Kelberos to Orion, we are concluding your escort mission at this point."

『Orion to Kelberos, thank you for the escort up to this point. Thanks to you, we've reached our destination safely. Truly, thank you.』

When she heard Orion's reply, Celia felt a warm tingle deep in her heart.

(I couldn't do much on my own, but I managed to complete this mission alongside Shinosuke and the others.)

A pleasant sense of accomplishment wrapped around Celia.

After parting ways with Orion, Kerberos docked at the central colony of the Garra Stellar Province, marking the true end of Celia's first assignment.

After docking Kerberos at the spaceport, Shinnosuke looked at Celia once more.

"First mission, well done."

Celia lowered her head, flustered by Shinnosuke's words of praise.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't really help at all."

Seeing Celia's apology, Shinnosuke smiled—smiling in his own mind, though in reality he was giving a rather sinister grin.

"Since it's your first time, it's only natural you couldn't do it. Honestly, I hate people who're too perfect from the start—no charm at all."

Though said with a smile, it was truly Shinnosuke's genuine opinion.

Hearing those words, Celia blinked in surprise for just a moment, then couldn't help but burst out laughing.

"Pfft... hahaha. Thank you. Um, I'll try my hardest from now on, I promise."

Shinnosuke nodded, smiling.

"Alright, since this task is successfully completed, let's head out right away."

Seira tilted her head in response to Shinnosuke's sudden statement.

"Head out? Where are we going?"

"Yeah. I've got a little plan. We're all going somewhere together, so get ready, Seira."

"Um, going where exactly?"

"Ah, it's about improving our workplace environment and benefits....To put it simply, it's just a short trip for some shopping and eating out."

Seyla returned to her room, changed clothes as Shinosuke urged her, and prepared to go out.

After a string of difficult days, she felt downhearted, so Shinosuke’s invitation was genuinely welcome.

Since it was her first time in the Galla Stellar Province, she was also looking forward to exploring the city.

The three of them quickly finished preparing and headed out into town.

"Let's just get the original plan done first."

With that, Shinosuke led Seira to a building located in the heart of the city.

Staring up at the building, which housed shops on the first and second floors, Seira was speechless.

"Ahh... Isn't this the headquarters building of the famous high-end brand, Psycho Designers? What are we doing at a place like this?"

Waiting inside the store for Shinosuke, who had just brought the astonished Seira in, was a single female shop assistant.

"Ms. Kashimura, we've been expecting you."

It seemed the shop assistant had been expecting their arrival, as Shinosuke had likely contacted them beforehand.

"Uh... please take care of me."

Shinosuke looked pale upon seeing the shop assistant, but managed to compose himself with effort.

"Mr. Shinosuke, are you shopping at such a high-end store?"

"I came to order a uniform for Seira to wear during work."

"Eh? M-My... uniform?"

"Yeah, you can't keep wearing workout clothes forever, can you?"

In truth, Seira had lost most of her fortune and owned very few clothes, especially nothing suitable to wear during work.

On her first day, she had no other option but to wear her workout clothes because they were the most comfortable to move in.

Seeing this, Shinosuke decided to have a uniform made for Seira and came here to place the order.

"B-But, Psychoj Designers is a high-end brand! And an custom order... I don't think I can afford something like that..."

"It's no problem. In fact, my captain's uniform is also by Psychoj Designers—perfect fit."

Seira was once again stunned.

"Eh? I thought Shinosuke's captain's uniform looked great, but it's by Psychoj Designers?"

"Well, I don't really care about brands, but there's a bit of a connection with them..."

The shop assistant, having listened to Shinnosuke and Seira's conversation, could no longer hold back and burst out laughing.

"Please don't worry, miss. We've been greatly honored by Mr. Kashimura's patronage for a long time. We've already received payment, so there's no need to fret."

Even after hearing the assistant's words, Seira couldn't bring herself to accept it mentally.

She just couldn't reconcile the popular high-end brand Psychoj Designers with Shinnosuke.

"But... it's too extravagant for me..."

Seira's hesitant response was understandable, given the circumstances.

Psychoj Designers was an elite brand, renowned to the point of being legendary.

"It's fine, Seira. Honestly, I don't know any other place where we could get uniforms made. If you're going to be overly cautious, it'll just cause trouble and take more time."

"That's right. There's no need to hold back at all. What's the point in hiding it? Our Psychoji Designers is under the Psychoji Company, and the Psychoji Company is actually Mr. Kashimura's family estate."

The shop assistant said with a smile.

"Wait... the Psychoji Company is his family estate?...Eh...?!"

While Seira was stunned, Shinnosuke rubbed his head.

He hadn’t intended to hide it, but he also hadn’t planned to bring it up out of nowhere.

Still, given the circumstances, there was no helping it.

Shinnosuke explained his situation to Seira.

Though Seira was naturally shocked upon hearing Shinnosuke’s explanation, she also found it made sense once she understood that he personally owned a genuine military vessel—after all, the details fit together, and in the end, she managed to accept it.

"Hah... So that's how it is."

"Well, calling it my family home is a bit of a stretch—I'm an adopted son, and I've already renounced my inheritance rights to Sai Kou Ji, so I don't really have much to do with the company. I'm just a paid business partner providing实战 data for the Cerberus."

The shopkeeper, who had been smiling warmly until then, frowned slightly upon hearing Shinnosuke's words.

"Oh, how cold you're being, Shinnosuke."

"Wha—?"

Ciel was bewildered by the shopkeeper's sudden change of attitude.

Shinnosuke let out a deep sigh.

"Anyway, the shopkeeper over there is the chairman who runs Psychoj Company—Emilia Psychoj, my older sister."

Ciel stared back and forth between Shinnosuke and the shopkeeper disguised as Emilia, stunned by Shinnosuke's words.

"....Eh?"

Eventually, Ciel's cognitive processing capacity could no longer keep up, and Ciel's neural circuitry shorted out.

When Shinnosuke became a free merchant, Emilia sent him off with a farewell gift: Marks and a full set of captain's uniform.

The clothing was custom-made by Psychoj Designers, a subsidiary of Psychoj Company, based on size data Emilia had somehow obtained improperly.

As Shinnosuke had neither knowledge nor interest in fashion, there was no choice but to place an order with Psychoj Designers when creating Seira's uniform. That was why he had traveled all the way to Garra Stellar Province, where Psychoj Designers' headquarters were located. However, Shinnosuke had decided he didn't need to inform Emilia specifically, since he intended to place the order through proper channels.

Yet, Shinno's every move was completely transparent to Emilia.

"You know, I decided to wait here just to surprise you, since you were sneaking around behind my back again."

Seeing Emilia smirking triumphantly, Shinno vowed in his heart that he would never pull such tricks again.