"Ehehehe~ Tera, you're sooooo cuuuute~"

I steadied the drunk girl that was being carried in between Lea and myself, "Alright, I get it… That's the fifty fourth time you've said that…"

"Ehehehe… But that's because it's trueeee~"

"Sorry about this, Lea…"

The Alv girl seemed quite surprised, "What for, Captain?"

"It feels like we've been troubling you quite a bit ever since you joined us. I wasn't exactly expecting a quiet time but your first job ended up being that crazy escort work where we got ourselves involved with those guys…"

She shook her head, "I knew what I was in for, Captain. And quite frankly, it's not even the worst situation that I have found myself involved in."

"Huh… And what kind of thing have you found yourself involved in?"

"Hmm… I shall tell Captain about it when we return to your ship. It was quite interesting and I would prefer that we were comfortable when I tell you about it."

Must be something quite complicated if she were to say something like that.

As we neared the landing pad where I had docked my ship, Lea suddenly came to a halt and I was pulled back from that.

I turned to see what was the problem and found Lea looking straight ahead with furrowed brows.

What was more surprising was the fact that Amber seemed to have also regained her senses and was looking in the same direction as the Alv.

I followed their gaze to see what they were looking at and… My face scrunched up to mirror theirs.

That blonde Merc that we met earlier was standing in front of my ship, clearly waiting for us to return or something.

Look, even Amber sobered up for a moment when she saw him, that's how bad of a news this guy really is…

Really? We were gone for at least several hours you know? Was he really standing over there the entire time to wait for us?

Ugh… I don't want to deal with him… Are we able to sneak past him or something?

Wait, that's not possible… In order to get on my ship, we'll need to lower the ramp… There's no way we would be able to avoid him figuring that out…

Fuck…

I turned to the other two, "Let's just find a place to stay tonight… Hopefully he will be gone tomorrow morning or something."

Both women nodded in agreement and we turned around to head back where we came from, leaving the area before he realised that we were there.

We ended up finding a simple motel near the hangar that was one of the many specifically built hotels designed to serve the many spacefarers visiting the station.

The unfortunate thing was that there was only one room left.

We tried asking around but it seemed like everywhere else was either booked ahead of time or already filled.

It seems like we came at a rather bad time as most Mercs that had gone out had returned at this time.

We were lucky to even get a room it seems.

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We could always go to another floor to find a better place to stay but Amber seemed to be getting rather sick already and I didn't want to risk it so we just took the room.

The guy at the counter gave Amber a pointed look and told me that I better make sure that she didn't throw up on the bed and make her throw up in the bathroom instead.

How rude.

Amber doesn't throw up, only I throw up after eating something as disgusting as those stupid things that you guys call food.

Lea and I carried the blonde Merc to the room we booked for the night and I realised that it was a room that only had one Queen sized bed.

First things first, we dropped the drunk Amber on top of the bed, ignoring the moaning sounds coming from her when we did so.

I then went to check the bathroom and… Err… Let's just say that if Amber throws up in there, it wouldn't look like she's the first one to do so…

I guess we'll have to skip bathing today…

Whatever, at least it's not me who needs to clean the bed so I have no qualms sleeping in my current clothes on this bed.

I returned back to the bedroom to the sound of Amber's soft snoring.

"Mnngg… Teraaaaa… Zzzz…"

Cute.

I looked at Lea who seemed to have made herself comfortable on the couch nearby, the Alv sitting there with her back straight and her face one of serenity.

"I'm surprised she knocked out that quickly," I commented, nodding at the sleeping Merc.

Lea smiled, "She did drink a lot more than the last time."

"Mmm… So you wanted to tell me about the interesting situation you found yourself in?"

"I told you about the colony ship I was in right, Captain?"

I nodded, "You said that your ship was travelling through the stars in search of new, habitable planets and you were part of its crew before it was attacked by pirates."

She nodded, "That was not the first time we were attacked by pirates. There was another time where three pirates tried to sneak aboard our ship to kidnap a few Alvs to take away as slaves but ended up getting caught. Two of them died while we locked up the last man in our brig which we intended to hand over to the authorities at the nearest station."

"That doesn't sound so bad?" I commented.

"That's not the end, Captain. One of our crew ended up falling for the pirate and the pirate fell for him too."

I blinked, "So… They escaped together?"

"No. The Alv tried to petition to the rest of the crew to forgive him and we were basically given the choice of allowing the pirate to join the crew or to let one of our own run off with that pirate eventually."

"Err… Ok… What's the problem with either choice?"

"The pirate was responsible for two of our crew member's deaths and the crew member was one of our doctors. They apparently fell for each other while he was treating the pirate's wounds."

"What kind of soap drama is this?"

Lea chuckled, "Fufufu~ It was indeed quite ridiculous isn't it?"

"So what was the final decision?"

"We ended up forgiving him but only after he allowed himself to be enslaved with an enslavement collar with the owner being the Alv he fell in love with. He did not have a problem with that so that was that."

I raised an eyebrow, "Sounds like things ended well despite all that?"

"The process to get there was not at all easy, in fact. Quite a lot of us wanted nothing to do with the pirate and were in favour of throwing him out of the airlock at that time. There were others who saw their relationship as cute and supported them which made things quite heated on the ship for a period of time."

"How did all of you decide on that solution then?"

She smiled at me, "I was the one to make the slavery suggestion, Captain, which appeased both sides. Isn't it ironic that after suggesting the enslavement of someone else, I've become a slave myself?"

I grimaced, "Ah… If… If you want, I would not mind--"

Lea reached out her hand and grasped mine in hers, "I do not mind, Captain. My current position could be said to be one of envy for many, many people, some of whom might not even be slaves themselves."

Ah… I see what she means.

I guess most slaves would be dumped in worse positions than a crew member on a Merc's ship while the locals scrounging around in places like Denibi station would also much rather be here than be on the streets.

I turned to her, "Still… If you want, I don't mind that I let you earn your freedom back?"

She let out a soft laugh, "Ufufufu~ Amber is right, Captain. You really are too kind. In that case, would you allow me to earn my worth as my slave and let me choose if I could be free of my enslavement to you when that time comes?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Captain. But I suppose we should turn in for the night. I shall take the couch, please take the bed."

I looked at the bed and did a rough mental calculation.

"Nonsense, just sleep with us. The bed is big enough."

The Alv tilted her head at me, "Are you sure, Captain? I would not want to overstep my boundaries."

"If it wasn't clear enough already, I most certainly do not treat you as a slave, Lea. You are one of my crewmates and I won't have you putting yourself down for me. The bed is big enough so come on."

"Fufufu~ If that is what Captain commands. In that case, please excuse me."

Both of us slipped into bed with Lea in between Amber and myself to rest for the night.

I just want to say, nothing happened, ok? We just slept.