Milanor, munching on a sandwich and carrying a half-empty plate, appeared from behind the door. Miledi followed after him.

"I thought you were resting?" he inquired.

"I'm not tired. I'm asking her to show me around the ship," Naya replied matter-of-factly.

"Hehe, I'm the one who offered!" boasted Fianna for no apparent reason.

"I see. Well, I planned to discuss this with you later, but let's just get this over with now. Follow me," he said while walking to a door on the left side of the corridor, diagonally across from where he came out.

"That's the bridge, you know?" Fianna added before tagging along with him. Naya followed after them.

They entered a large room filled with command consoles. A wide window provided unblocked views of the front of the ship. A conspicuous leather rotating chair was placed on a platform in the center of the room. It was clearly the captain's seat.

This was the bridge and command center of Helios, where the grand crew of three consisting of Captain Milanor, Helmswoman Miledi, and Pseudo-XO Fianna took control of the ship.

"So Naya," Milanor beckoned before he took a seat on one of the command consoles. "Let's get the business side of things done first. Miledi and I discussed this just now, and we came up with the price of this tracking job. Considering you will also be coming with us, we combined the payment with the transport job. So it's gonna be per day, got it?"

"Okay?"

"Mm, so then, we'll use the market price of Runanthor. It's way cheaper than the usual price we set but just think of it as a discount I promised before in the city. For each day you'll be with us, how about 15.000 credits?"

Milanor didn't lie when he said it was way cheaper than the usual price they would set for a job like this. Considering 10.000 credits was the standard fee for a night at a 3-star hotel in a Class B colony, the same price for a day in a pseudo-cruise liner like Helios would be like a robbery. The additional 5.000 was the cost of the tracking job.

"…" Naya deeply thought for a moment, contemplating his offer. She picked up her holotab from the sling bag she was still carrying around.

"I'm not trying to trick you here out of anything, serious. You still saved me from that predicament before, so this is my thanks. You can—"

"How about this?"

Naya cut off Milanor's spiel by showing him her tablet's holographic display. It showed him a prompt about a transfer of 10 million credits.

"Wait, what!? What is this about 10 million!? I didn't say anything about 10 million!"

"The payment in advance, as I said before. This is enough for slightly less than 2 years, right?"

"2 years!?" Milanor was stupefied. "W-What are you trying to say here? That we're gonna take that long to find the professor?

"No," she replied firmly. "This is… just in case after we find her."

"What do you mean…? Wait, 'after?' Do you have some sort of plan with us after we find her?"

"Something… like that."

"…"

Milanor glanced toward Miledi who had been silent this whole time. She nodded, expression unchanging as always, likely telling him to do what he wanted.

"…Well, alright. Truthfully, being paid in advance like this would help a lot. I don't know what sort of things you have intended for us, but just say it whenever you can. We'll help you out."

Milanor manipulated his PAW device to accept the transfer.

He already knew that this amount was only a fraction of Naya's entire fortune, but Milanor never held in his bank account so much money at any one time. After all, he still had not claimed his share of the inheritance from his parent's vast wealth.

Ugh, he inadvertently remembered his former guardian. He briefly glanced at Fianna who was standing beside Miledi. Shaking his head, he forced himself to get back to the matters at hand.

"So… this… professor you said you're looking for, is she the same person as the missing daughter of Professor Newmann, President of Imperial Society?"

"…Yes, she is. You already know her identity?"

"We just looked her up earlier," he answered. "I thought knowing her background would make this easier, but she had been missing for about seven years. Finding her wouldn't be easy."

"I know," Naya affirmed. "I already scoured the Network trying to find any news, but there is none."

"So you finally take the opportunity to hire a freelancer to search for her directly, huh? I get it. Well, I guess we'll have to trace the clue one by one starting from the imperial capital…"

"No need for that. I know the last place she had gone before she went missing," she interrupted.

"Huh? Didn't the professor go missing in the capital?"

"…"

Naya didn't answer for a moment, but she eventually said, "No, I was with her when she left her home."

"Wait, that's seven years ago, isn't it? You should still be…" Milanor stopped himself when Naya started to look at him differently, a look that showed a hint of contempt.

"Uh, I mean…"

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

"…Yeah, I was still a child back then. We left the capital together and came to Runanthor."

"Oh, you were originally from there too? I see." Milanor started to understand some aspects of Naya when he heard that. Her sophisticated bearings, for example. Centurion Empire's capital, Avalon, was a ridiculously developed planet populated by high-class aristocrats. It had since long ago placed in the top ranks of the GDI (Galactic Development Index). Of course, it was categorized at the extreme edge of Class A planet.

Maybe her unnatural wealth also originated from there? Milanor speculated. Don't tell me she's actually the daughter of a billionaire lord or something…

Whatever the case, Milanor didn't want to pry too deeply. Their focus was currently on this missing intellectual, not Naya herself. Although deep down, Milanor was also curious about this enigmatic client of his.

"We lived together in Runanthor for about 3 months. Then, she chartered on a civilian liner to a planet called Qwattor, as she told me before she left."

"Qwattor…" Milanor glanced at Miledi again.

"A Class-D poorly developed border world. Located on the fringe of the Rhine Republic, but did not belong to them," she explained, likely through her connected database.

She then moved toward the command console closest to Milanor and pulled up a projection of a planet on the screen.

[Mean Radius: 4.738 km. Sovereignty: Independent. Population: Around 120.000. Climate: Mostly arid.]

"There's only one big city where the majority of the population lives, Qwattor City."

"A bad neighborhood, huh…"

"Hmm?"

Naya didn't understand what Milanor just muttered. "Oh, you know… A non-affiliated border world, on the fringe of the known galaxy… You can bet it would be borderline lawless. Why would the professor go there of all places?"

"I… don't know," she replied. Milanor didn't miss the hint of hesitation in her tone.

"Hmm… I guess it's my job to find out! Miledi, calculate the route and find the best ETA. We'll depart immediately once you find the shortest route."

"Yes sir. Will we follow the trade lanes or ventures outside of it?"

"Let me see… It's going to be a rough region so it'll be best to stick to established highways… Well, keep following the trade lanes as much as possible but if there's congestion, feel free to find your own route."

"Affirmative. I cannot immediately provide a precise time, but for my estimation using my own knowledge, I roughly calculate around… 9 hours of travel time."

"Huh?" Naya was bewildered. "Isn't that too fast?!"

Naya lived most of her life on solid ground so she didn't have much knowledge of this, but she felt that was way too fast. She had researched much during her own independent search for the professor, and she discovered Qwattor was around 12 light years away.

The space liner that carried Naya to Runanthor only had a maximum speed of around 4 parsecs per day, and it took them around one week and a half to travel from Centurion capital, which was 118 light years away. That was considered fast since they took the express hyper relays that increased the ship's superluminal speed.

These 'hyper relays' worked by creating an artificial 'bubble' of compressed space that traveling ships could use to cross the vast distance of interstellar medium. They functioned much the same way as conventional starships' warp drives, but due to their sheer size, they could provide greater effect and much faster speed.

If this was an ordinary transport ship, it would take them a full day to reach Qwattor even by using those relays. Especially if there were congestion.

"Heh, surprised?" Milanor boasted. "I told you before, this is a Star Cruiser. It's a special kind of ship, I keep telling you. It's designed to travel the immense cosmos. We have an engine as powerful as those capital ships the military use. Our custom-built Neptunian Negative-energy Orbital and Superluminal (NOS) propulsion system is capable of achieving a maximum speed of 10 parsecs per day, around 40% faster than the most advanced hyper relays in the Empire core systems, and 20% faster than most of the fast frigate current navies use. It's a revolutionary technology, a product of the madness of my mom and her demands, a ridiculously expensive—"

"Basically, our ship is very fast, we also do not have to worry about queueing for relay jump," Miledi cut off Milanor's boastful rant which didn't seem to end soon.

"Uh, yeah, so… We'll get there soon, don't worry. I want to get away from this place sooner than later, too… Oh but, Naya, are you sure you don't have anything to pick up and bring with you? All you took was that bag and that strange box you carried around…"

"No, really. All my valuables are with me. If I need anything more I could just buy them later."

"…Well, fair enough, I guess," Milanor shrugged his shoulders. Having around 60 million credits sure relieved you from any concern about traveling. "In that case, I suppose we should stop at a reputable colony city on the way and do some shopping. I'm not into going straight to a Class D planet without any preparation. Miledi?"

"Agreed, Master."

"Then I demand to go shopping as well! And I mean like, together, Milanor, in exchange for this morning," Fianna, who hadn't said much since earlier chimed in.

"Alright, fine, I'll do what you want."

"Yes!"

"Then I will start the ship's launch." Miledi moved into the Navigation console and sat on the chair.

"Guess we'll strike while the engine's hot. Then Naya, you can continue your tour or…?"

"Can I stay here for a while?"

"Hoh, curious aren't you? Sure, make yourself at home."

Milanor moved to the captain seat. He manipulated the command console fixed on the chair.

"Open the channel, ahem," he cleared his throat. "Port Authority Twelve, Port Authority Twelve. This is FIS-1245, Star Cruiser Helios, Terminal 7. Requesting permission to launch, repeat, permission to launch."

A short while later, a reply came into the intercom. "Affirmative, FIS-1245. Check for parameters, please hold."

Had Naya not transferred that ten million into his account, Milanor would have no idea how to pay for the exorbitant port fee courtesy of his big-ass Category C starship. Worst came to worst, Helios could get impounded. It was truly a close call.

Hm? Something doesn't seem right... A disconcerting feeling surfaced in his mind. How did Miledi manage to move the ship when their coffer was empty? It shouldn't be possible.

...

Must be her maid magic, Milanor deduced. Mulling over such a meaningless mystery was a patent example of wasted effort. He had far better things to ponder about.

"Hehe, doesn't he look cool when he does captain stuff?" Fianna whispered to Naya who was staring at Milanor from the side.

"…He does look more reliable than when he was at his wit's end earlier in the cafe."

"Huh? Café? W-What are two doing in a place like that?"

Naya wondered whether to explain to this oblivious girl. Those pair of master and servant seemed intent on hiding it from her.

"He was running out of credits due to gambling debt," she eventually decided to just tell her. Naya didn't have any obligation to hide it. "I simply helped him."

"I-I don't understand…"

"Why not ask him later?" She threw Milanor under the proverbial land bus to avoid having to explain anything troublesome.

"Guiding lines received, thank you PA 12." Milanor closed the channel temporarily. "What are you hushing about there? I don't like hearing the sound of it."

"Nothing," Naya nonchalantly replied.

"Uh, y-yes! B-But, I totally have something to ask you later, Mil."

"Hmm? Okay."

Milanor ignorantly agreed, blissfully unaware of the next ordeal of the day that would soon come upon him.

Finishing up launch preparation, Helmswoman Miledi released the ship from the terminal docking gears. Just like when she came here earlier, Miledi again skillfully navigated the large ship through the port's airspace, without even relying on the traffic controller's guidance.

They set the ship's acceleron warp drive to Koilingen, a man-made satellite colony city 5 hours away. Halfway between Runanthor and Qwattor, it was a convenient stopping place for them to shop and prepare. They planned to reach it before midnight (GST) and then rest up before going into the city in the morning.

Miledi piloted the ship to a safe distance for engaging the hyperjump. They didn't need to worry about straying from the trade lane as Koilingen was still well within a highly patrolled region.

"Master, permission to engage?"

"Right, floor it."

Once Milanor's approval was given, Miledi strongly pushed a lever into full throttle, activating Helios' massive accel core.