We went to the counter to cash out our winnings.

Four hundred thousand Credits for me and one point two million Credits for Ries.

Damn… I still can't believe we won.

I mean, what were the chances that this was Bob's turning point match where he would overcome his losing streak and we just happened to bet on it? That's pretty wild.

Also… Kind of ironic how Ries actually recouped her losses from this and even profited from it as compared to yesterday.

When I pointed that out, the cat girl giggled, "Ehehe~ Of course! Because boss is here isn't it?"

Great… I can't even say anything because we still ended up winning this bet despite all odds anyway…

"We're just lucky."

"Exactly!"

I guess I'll just shut up now.

Ries then turned to me, "What do you think of Battlebots though, boss?"

I scratched my cheek, "Well… I guess they're pretty cool?"

Ries immediately held my arm, "I know right?! It's pretty amazing that we use them for entertainment now!"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "What were they used for before that then?"

She grinned, "Do you want to make a guess?"

"Instruments of war?" I guessed, since that's the only thing I can think of that something like that would be used.

Ries clapped her hands, "You got it, Boss! Humans made them basically as cannon fodder during the big war with The Confederation which later paved the way for Exo-Knights too!"

Ok, now I'm really interested.

"Speaking of Exo-Knights," I muttered, the both of us making our way out of the area. "Where would you recommend that we get one?"

"Oh, that's right. Boss was talking about getting one, weren't you? Umm… That would depend on what you are planning to use them for."

"I mean… What could they be used for?"

"A lot of things, actually. There's Knights that are made specifically for deep space mining, some that are meant for construction and others that may even be designed for anomaly surveys. And of course, you have the combat models and those have their own variations as well, whether it be ones that are specialised for space combat, atmospheric combat or even ground combat."

I scratched my head, "Isn't there like a general purpose one or something? One that we can put on our ship that can serve us for any occasion that we might encounter?"

"Oh~ You want those kinds? They do exist too. But even those have different designs and classes of their own as well, Boss."

I grimaced, "This sounds like I'm opening myself up to a whole new different can of worms…"

"If Boss wants to know about them, I'd be happy to tell you about them! I'll even help you figure out which one is the best one for us!"

"I… Don't really know what to expect from it… I guess since we'll still be operating as Mercenaries…"

She snapped her fingers, "Ah! So that means we would be facing space combat, escort missions and maybe even derelict investigation missions!"

Sounds about right so I just nodded.

She pulled out her personal terminal while we walked towards the train terminal, which we both seemed to have unconsciously decided that we would be heading back already.

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"Let's see, let's see… We have a couple of choices for that. If we want the cheaper option, we can just get the Pawn model series. One of them would probably be only about a million Credits to buy but they do the job well enough. Don't expect them to do well in a fight against other Knights though."

"Sounds like those are just mass produced crap…" I pointed out, stepping onto the monorail that would drop us in front of the apartment we were staying in.

She grinned as the train began to move, "You'd be right about that, boss! But for Mercs, it's quite popular because they can be used to navigate and interact with spaces that a ship can't go to. So if a Merc can afford it, they would generally get one of these. Plus, if you're just fighting against Class A and B ships, this would be able to handle most of them in a one on one or even a three on one fight pretty handily for a skilled pilot."

"The heck? Why would anyone buy ships then?"

She giggled, "Hehe~ You wouldn't want to just be cooped up in a cockpit for several days just to travel right?"

Touche…

She continued, "Anyway, most Exo-Knights aren't designed for long range missions in the first place so they need to be transported in ships. Not to mention the fact that ships have more armament and amenities than Exo-Knights and are more economical."

"What about the other options?"

"Hmm… There's one that is more… How do I say it… Modular? Yeah. Its base cost price is only around two hundred thousand Credits more than the Pawn series but the main cost comes from purchasing the modular systems that can be attached to it. The selling point of it is that you could attach various modules to adapt it to any kind of situation including an aquatic module that allows it to operate in flooded planets. But well… Those are pretty expensive on their own with some costing more than the Exo-Knight itself."

I frowned, "Not gonna lie… That sounds like what I would prefer but we don't have the space to store the modular systems nor are we that well off in the Credits department after we spent so much on the new ship…"

She nodded, "I agree too. Aside from that… There's another one which is kind of similar to the second one but it's more combat focused and with less modular systems. That one would perform better in combat situations than any other situation though."

"Anything else then?"

"Mmm… If you want the better models, you'd be looking at a price tag of over twenty to fifty million Credits at the very least and that price doesn't include the equipment and the other stuff… You might be forking over more than a hundred million Credits if you want a really good one."

That's basically buying another one of our ships already… And we don't have that kind of money right now.

I shrugged, "Oh well… After we get our new ship and officially form our Mercenary company, we should be able to get better paying jobs after that and we can think about it afterwards."

Ries raised a finger, "Actually… If you don't mind, Boss… Would you like me to build one for you instead?"

I raised an eyebrow, "You can build one?"

"Umm… In theory, yes?"

"In theory?"

"Ok… Maybe saying that I would build it would be a stretch, but I can probably design one and have someone else build it. That I definitely could do. I also believe that whatever I design would definitely be better than whatever we can find in the market!"

"I don't doubt that… But wouldn't your designs be stolen by whoever you ask to help build it if they are a corporation? And why would they even help you build something like this unless we're waving fat chunks of Credits at them?"

"Nnghh… That is true…"

I went to pat her on the head, "Well, I don't mind though? You can just do it first and we'll figure out what to do with it later."

"Purrrrr~ Yes Bossssss~"

I realised that she was purring because I was stroking her head instinctively after I started patting her and she was most definitely enjoying it as she leaned into my hand.

So cute…

I tried to pull back my hand and she actually let out a disappointed mewl before quickly catching herself and clearing her throat to try and hide it.

"Ahem… Umm… That was… Ahh… I mean that sounds like a good idea, Boss."

I grinned, "No, no… You ain't escaping from that. Did that feel nice?"

"... Yes?"

"Do you want more?"

"Yes!"

I reached out my hand and slipped under her hood to pat her head directly, causing her to let out a mewl of pleasure while she squirmed around with her hands pawing at my chest.

Oh damn… She's seriously cute…

I really want to just keep doing this… I can, can't I? She gave me permission already, didn't she?

Right then, I noticed that we had just reached our stop so I quite literally picked up the catgirl in my arms and started running back to our apartment.

She let out a surprised squeak when I did so but I didn't care and simply concentrated on reaching my destination.

It only took us a minute or two to reach our apartment but it still felt like an eternity to me before we were through the door and I sat down on the couch with the catgirl still in my arms.

At this point, her face was blushing bright red but I only had one thing on my mind.

I pulled the cloak off of her, revealing her feline features completely and… I started scratching her head and playing with her ears.

Ahhhh~ They're so soft!! So fluffy! So silky!! And so nice to touch too!!

"Puuurrrrrr~ Bosssss~" Ries purred, her hands curling up to act like paws while she curled up in my lap.

She was practically begging for it so I started scratching her tummy too which only made her purr even louder.

So engrossed we were in this that I didn't even notice someone had entered the room until a voice called out.

"What do we have here?"

Looking up, I found Amber and Lea looking at us.

Oh… Err… I can explain?