What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

Chapter 528: I Want An Exo-Knight

I looked at the numbers displayed on the screen and blinked a few times.

”Iʼm not seeing things am I?” I muttered.

”You are not, Mistress,” Lea assured me.

Right… Because Iʼm seeing a number that I didnʼt really expect to see in front of me.

First was the number one… Then thereʼs a two behind it… Then behind that two were six zeroes.

Seriously? Twelve million Credits just for this?

According to the message that was attached to this… They were paying us around ten thousand Credits per thug killed during that raid with some bonuses according to what Gene mods they had. Plus the base reward itself was five million Credits which was also a substantial amount already.

Which meant the leader was worth at least… Like… Upwards of five million Credits.

Just how big of a target was he to get this amount of Credits slapped on his head?

Lea turned to me, ”I believe they had expected this amount to be shared with everyone involved in the raid. But in the end, we were the only group who managed to kill the leader of the smuggling ring. So we got the full reward here instead of being split with the… Surviving Mercs.”

I frowned a little, ”This wouldnʼt make those other Mercs come after us to get this reward, right?”

Ries peeked over my shoulder, ”Well… I wouldnʼt be surprised if they did. But I think they would only be able to identify us through your Power Armour. So as long as Boss doesnʼt go around walking in that Power Armour, it shouldnʼt matter anyway.”

Right… I guess it was a good thing that the girls also hid their faces and I could just have Ries repaint the power armour if I really needed to.

Well, I wouldnʼt say no to more Credits so weʼll just take it without complaining.

Also, I guess it might be a good idea not to use the Power Armour for a while which suited us just fine because Ries got really fired up after the last job and said that she had more ideas for it and wanted to work on it even more.

I think she was really unsatisfied with the fact that I had to run away from the last giant thug.

She isnʼt thinking about trying to make my power armour as strong as that thing, is she?

I donʼt even know how she might be able to do that anyway…

Anyway, itʼs not like I canʼt do any work without the Power Armour so it doesnʼt really matter. Iʼll probably just hide my face or something if I take more group missions for that guy.

I leaned back in my chair at the dining table of our ship, ”Now Iʼm wondering though… What else could we buy with this money? We have a pretty good ship that can cater to all our needs which suited the number of crew we have perfectly… We arenʼt in debt and we arenʼt looking to purchase anything big either…”

Ries peeked at me, ”Didnʼt Boss want an Exo-Knight?”

I immediately straightened myself and turned to face Ries, ”Ahhh!! Thatʼs right! Thatʼs definitely something I want!! Where can I get one?! Do we have enough money for one?!”

Ries seemed a little surprised by my sudden question but she recovered quickly, ”Umm… Theyʼre actually not that expensive… Depending on the specs of the machine. The cheapest ones are probably even cheaper than A Class fighters. But theyʼre meant for short range missions and probably only useful for hauling cargo or something. But err… The really good ones can cost as much as a Battleship, probably even more. I think Iʼve heard of Exo-Knights that cost more than three battleships combined.”

I blinked, ”That much of a difference?”

She nodded, ”The really good ones could even face off an entire battle fleet on its own but Iʼm pretty sure thereʼs some exaggeration in there. But itʼs true that a really high specced Exo-Knight piloted well could fight off ships while outnumbered pretty easily. There are even legendary Exo-Knight pilots that have faced off against Leviathans on their own!”

I get it, Ries, I was already thinking of getting one, you donʼt need to convince me anymore, hehe~

”Alright, obviously we canʼt afford a battleship so weʼll probably get one thatʼs decent. So where can we get one?!” I asked.

Just saying, our current savings amounted to two hundred million Credits.

”Ah…”

Ah? What was that, Ries?

She scratched her cheek, ”I think now is the time to tell Boss that you need a pilotʼs license to get an Exo-Knight… At least through legitimate channels.”

”A license? What the heck? Are you kidding me?”

”Iʼm afraid not, Boss…”

”Seriously? I didnʼt see a license being required to buy guns or even Power Armour! Heck, I donʼt see a license requirement to buy an entire ship! Yet youʼre telling me you need a license to pilot an Exo-Knight! Wait, you need a license to cook too! What the heck?! Ah, I suppose needing a license to cook actually makes sense so I take that one back. But not the others though!”

Ries shrugged, ”Thatʼs just how it is, Boss…”

Man… This universe has some screwed up priorities…

I sighed, ”So how does one get the license?”

”You will need to attend a course, Boss.”

”Wait, what? Donʼt tell me I have to sign up for some academy and this is some kind of academy arc?”

Lea tilted her head at me, ”Academy arc? What is that, Mistress? Is it a kind of plant?”

”Ah, no, nevermind… That was just a joke. Just checking… How long is the course to get the license?

”Umm… I think the shortest one is about a week. But the main thing is the exam and I heard that depending on the place that you take it… It might be really difficult or really easy…”

”Why is there a difference?”

”Some of these schools use the achievements of the Exo-Knights that graduate from their school as a badge of honour so they only allow pilots of a certain calibre to pass their exams and let them take their school name. Itʼs really just a stupid thing of showmanship and a dick measurement contest.”

I raised an eyebrow, ”Why do they care so much?”

”Because of the stupid Nobles, thatʼs why. They picked it up as a hobby to compete against each other so schools were founded to teach specific ways of piloting Exo-Knights. Now thereʼs an entire industry revolving around not just teaching and competing in piloting Exo-Knights but also in building them. The only thing Iʼm grateful for is that Exo-Knight weapons and parts can sometimes be used on ships as well so thatʼs really cool.”

”They compete with each other?”

”Yes, like the battle royale we fought in that guyʼs station, except they do it with Exo-Knights. Some nobles even use them to settle disputes between families and thereʼs an annual competition in the Inner Colonies for this. Itʼs actually a pretty big event.”

Ok, I get it…

These academies are basically like martial arts schools that teach martial arts and they donʼt let you graduate until they are sure you will not shame their name.

And the reason why they care so much is because of prestige as they are most likely ripping off the nobles to ʼteachʼ them how to pilot Exo-Knights so that they can have their own dick waving contests.

And in order to rip off these nobles, they need the nobles to believe they are the best school around since the nobles would most likely enroll themselves into the best schools available.

Ries wasnʼt kidding when she said thereʼs an entire industry built around this…

”So whereʼs the closest academy for me to get the license?”

Ries took out her own terminal and started tapping away.

”The closest one…” She mumbles away. ”Ah… Well…Seems like thereʼs not any of them near here, Boss,”

I grimaced, ”This is because weʼre in the Outer Colonies?”

Ries nodded, ”In a way… To them, thereʼs no point in accepting any Outer Colonists since they believe we are inferior to the people in the Inner Colonies. So thereʼs really few here and the ones here are either really strict or just donʼt give a crap since they have no prestige to begin with.”

”Great…” I sighed. ”Well, whatever… Itʼs not like we want the license to participate in some fancy competition anyway so whichever school we use to get the license shouldnʼt matter… Weʼll just figure it out after we deal with the problems we have right now, then we can think about it afterwards.”

Not only do I still have the mixing competition, thereʼs still the pirates too so I feel like I have a lot on our plate now.

Ries giggled, ”Eheheh~ You can still see their catalogue, Boss. We can take a look at what they have since thereʼs different companies making them. Thereʼs many different types including ones for combat, mining and even racing~ ”

Oh right, this is like ship shopping again.

Might as well just take a look then~