104 Lord Edition 16 Mercenary

Two chapters posted today. Before we get into it—random ramble.

I'm Michael. Mercenary based out of some backwater A-country.

Got hooked on a space battleship simulator game called SFC, joined the pro league—SFO—as a pro gamer.

Turns out the SFO wasn’t a game. It was a real-life space warzone.

Kids are playing in their neural nets, pretending to fight. Me? I’m out here, risking my neck, making a fortune in the actual battlefield.

Guess I’m just a man who can’t do anything but walk through warzones, even on Earth.

SFO was literally my home turf.

Even when our launch and supply station got hit and we evacuated to the Anoi Fortress light-years away, nothing changed.

Still go out to kill enemies. Still earn credits. Now just with the added bonus of “reclaim Earth” on the mission log.

But it was all a cover-up by the SFO representative—the alien Prince—hijacking Earth-born humans.

When it came to light, war broke out with the Prince’s enforcers.

I marched across battlefields, following Earth-born Prince Akira, the only one who could stand against the Imperial 13th Prince.

Even in this fight, Akira still pays out station-standard bounties.

In that regard, my life hadn’t changed at all.

But lately… things are shifting.

Akira’s gotten so strong, enemies don’t even show up anymore.

Akira himself is focused on reclaiming Earth and managing internal affairs—he no longer starts wars.

Peace. The kind that leaves mercenaries with nothing to do.

"Akira… I’m bored out of my skull. Got any good battlefields?"

"Mercenary, huh. War’s still a ways off, I’d reckon. There’s gotta be allies or bosses on Prince and Cain’s route—so fighting them’s inevitable, really."

"When’s the fight gonna happen?"

I pressed against Akira, that familiar itch of withdrawal clawing at me.

"Right now, we’re just waiting for Earth people to voluntarily hand back their hostages. After that, it’ll be negotiations—military force backing the demands. That’s when mercenaries like you come in."

"Can’t wait. The Earth-born mercenaries are already itching for a fight, no battlefield in sight."

"Hmm. Tough one. Right now, the only jobs are asteroid mining or intercepting stray space vessels. Guess you’ll just have to work on upgrading your Personal Ship and keep your spirits up."

Mercs keep their weapons in working condition at all times. No long dock stays allowed.

You can rent a ship during docking, you know? Latest-model unmanned vessels still take manual control.

Cutting-edge ship? Sure, I'm curious. But there's no replacing a weapon you've used your whole life.

You think I’m worried, Akira? He’s pushing the latest warship on me.

"The newest battleships? The factory mothership built their armaments from my DNA, so they can fire G-bullets. There are a thousand of them—want to try them out together?"

I absolutely insist!

If it's got that G-bullet rig, I’ve got no choice but to ride it.

I didn’t hesitate—signed up for the latest model warship on the spot.

Specifications of the cutting-edge vessel are as follows.

[Akira 0001]

Ship Class: Heavy Cruiser

Ship hull: 250 meters long, high-speed cruiser class, two arms

Main Unit: Thermonuclear Reactor Model C, High-Speed Propulsion Unit Model C

Armament: Main Gun, Long Barrel 5cm Railgun, Single Mount, 1 Unit, 1 Barrel Standard Ammo: 100 (Ammo Remaining) / 100 (Maximum) Special Ammo (G-Bullet): 20 (Ammo Remaining) / 20 (Maximum)

One Long Barrel 20cm Railgun, single mount, one gun. Standard rounds: 300 (remaining) / 300 (maximum)

Secondary Gun 20cm Particle Beam Cannon Twin Mount x2, 4 total

Anti-Space Cannon, 10cm Laser Single Mount, 4 units, 4 barrels

Missile Launcher Pod: None

Defense Beam-Resistant Coating Special Steel Armor Plate

Type E Beam Shield, Radiation-Resistant, Model 1

Stasis Field (Barrier) Type D

Electronic Equipment Anti-Ship Radar C Model (with Firing Correction Device) Wide-Area Communication Device D Model

Empty Energy Slot 1

Status Good

Equipped with the famous Long Barrel 5cm Railgun, formerly aboard Akira's Personal Ship, as is typical for a standard heavy cruiser.

Capable of carrying and firing twenty G-bullets. However, lacks the ability to manufacture specialized rounds; resupply is possible only through transfer from Akira's Personal Ship.

Erosion Bullets and Leap Bullets can only be fired from Akira’s Personal Ship due to system constraints—and even then, only under his direct control.

The Empire’s long-standing restriction on Railgun projectile capacity aboard lordship construction vessels has been lifted—capacity has increased significantly.

The railgun's load limit was imposed by the Empire itself—afraid of rebellion, they forced restrictions on the ultimate weapon.

A universal restriction across the imperial fleet—lifted only for Akira, the prince, under his sole dominion.

The first newly built ship, being this Akira-only escort vessel (the most advanced vessel) constructed by the factory flagship, meant no one but Akira could benefit from it.

The reactor’s also high-performance, leaving one energy slot spare.

That means there’s still room for customization.

“Twenty G-bullets. Could take down a battleship. And with one energy slot, we can add extra armament.

Either a 20cm long barrel railgun, or twin 20cm particle beam cannons—both options work.

If we sacrifice speed, we could even fit missiles. The expansion potential is insane.”

I was already head-over-heels for the specs of this cutting-edge vessel.

“Do I even need my personal ship anymore?”

If my own ship’s AI—loaded with all my know-how—could be installed here, this thing would be unbeatable.

Right. Neural integration. Might be worth trying.

"Akira. If, hypothetically, I could install my personal ship’s AI onto this cutting-edge vessel... that’d make it my personal ship, right?"

"Maybe. But you’ll be billed for the full cost of an entire ship’s worth of components, though."

"You're not gonna go full prince on us and drown us in debt, are you?"

"Business, you know? Hey—how about I give it to you if you become a Terran officer?"

"Akira, you’re sharp... "

I actually started to worry seriously.

The temptation of this cutting-edge ship becoming my personal ship was hard to resist.

"Fine. I’ll become an officer. But only if the fusion works, okay?"

"Already confirmed by Ai. It’s guaranteed to succeed."

And the perfect integration was complete.

Customization: one additional Long Barrel 20cm Railgun.

Mercs are supposed to keep their weapons prepped and ready, yet here I am, waiting two days.

My Personal Ship, the cutting-edge model, had already been loaded with battle data accumulated from past missions.

Four other mercenaries, same as me, joined the same damn scheme.

Guess they couldn’t resist the siren song of G-Bullets and the new flagship either.

＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊＊

Right now, I’m in the void before the Dimensional Jump Gate at Anoi Fortress, doing familiar navigation.

Same four colleagues are here with me.

Their customizations: one went for a twin 20cm Beam Cannon setup, adding two more; another swapped their Long Barrel 20cm Railgun for a Long Barrel 30cm Railgun.

Two had added missile launchers and mounted Sub-Computers for intercept missile control.

Everyone seemed to have stuck with their Personal Ship’s style.

They released targets and began live-fire drills.

G-Bullets were issued rations—too precious to waste—but there were plenty of standard 5cm Railgun rounds.

All of us finished our initial weapon trials.

That’s when an emergency call came in from Anoi Fortress.

“Enemy intrusion alert—fast. Ships still launching, engage at will!”

By the time I looked toward the Dimensional Jump Gate, the enemy fleet was already emerging from the Gate’s face.

Identification signal: red (enemy)—five ships.

“Long time no taste of prey! Let’s hunt!”

““““Hell yeah!””””

We charged the enemy fleet like starving wolves.

The enemy fleet, aware of our approach, turned broadside and went into Railgun firing stance.

Seeing their Railgun, I shouted.

"Enemy, Railgun, G-Bullet possibility!"

Yeah, they had Long Barrels—five centimeters, just like ours.

The enemy fleet fired their Railgun.

We returned fire with our Railgun, intercepting their projectile.

Naturally, our projectile was a G-Bullet.

Midway between the two fleets, our G-Bullet’s gravity intensified.

Pulled by that gravity, their G-Bullet and projectile collided—energy erupted from the impact.

The enemy hadn’t expected to be intercepted by a G-Bullet—our subweapon flared to life.

Twenty-centimeter Railgun, thirty-centimeter Railgun, twenty-centimeter Particle Beam Cannon, missile.

And another G-Bullet. The gravity anomaly near the Dimensional Jump Gate—combined with the one we’d already experienced—twisted the Railgun’s projectile path. It closed in on the enemy fleet. Hit.

We’d intercepted their counterattack.

Fifty-centimeter Railgun—stripped their warships of combat capability.

We’re mercenaries. We capture enemy ships, not sink them. Turn them into cash.

Sinking them? Pointless.

So we got the thrill of the hunt again—something we hadn’t felt in a while.

“Huh? Prisoners?”

Oh great. Trouble just showed up.

Not our job.

Added the gravitational distortion from the Dimensional Jump Gate.

Thanks for the review and bookmark. Really fuels the writing.