Chapter 120
Chapter 120
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Translator: uly
Chapter: 120
Chapter Title: Reunion and Energy Breakthrough
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"You're here."
After docking the transport ship at Terra Planet's space station and stepping out, Sia greeted us.
"You didn't have to come all the way out here to wait."
"It's only natural as your secretary."
"...Secretary?"
Merdi, who had followed behind, tilted her head at Sia.
"You're keeping a secretary now too?"
"She's my aide. She was officially appointed as a superhuman not long ago."
Only then did understanding dawn on her face.
Sia didn't seem fazed by Merdi's prickly attitude.
Just then, Roze, who came out after, waved at Sia.
"Hey, Sia!"
"Hello."
The sight looked so familiar that I couldn't help but ask.
"...When did you two get so close?"
"Hmm? It's been a while. We decided to be friends."
"We exchanged a few messages about Leonard-nim and ended up agreeing to chat as friends." Sia answered, looking a bit awkward at the word "friends."
It seemed Roze had unilaterally closed the distance, and Sia hadn't quite adjusted yet.
'Well, it's good if they get along.' Sia would naturally board the ship once we returned.
I'd been mulling over her role and settled on calling her my aide.
She'd handle personnel management, administration, supplies, and the like from now on.
If anything, it was closest to an administrative supply officer.
Since she'd also manage my personal schedule, her workload would be even heavier.
"Preparations?"
"Already done. We can finish everything in two days."
Sia had been handling various tasks on Terra Planet.
This included interviews to vet the researchers we'd agreed on with Fontana last time, and preparing upgrades for the mechanical parts most Metal Gear mercenaries had.
Thanks to the sudden mess on Qubilion Planet delaying the schedule, the preparations seemed even more thorough.
"Good. Lead the crew there. I'll go meet Fontana."
"Leave it to me."
Sia smiled and headed toward the fleet commander.
Wheek-!
Shefin whistled as Sia passed by him.
"Wow, she's a real beauty."
"Sia?"
"Sia's her name? Pretty name too."
From his tone, I could guess what he was thinking.
But Rodrigo slapped Shefin's shoulder hard, grinning foolishly.
"Don't even think about it."
"...Ow! Think about what?"
"You hitting on every girl you see—is that new? Don't cause trouble inside."
"Well, that's..."
Shefin, who had bristled to retort, trailed off guiltily.
Then he snapped his head up and asked me.
"Right! Vacation! How long do we have off?"
"Five days starting today. I'll let you know the exact time, so enjoy yourselves."
"Awesome! Let's go, Rodrigo. Youth is for living it up!" "Got it, so take it slow."
Shefin, his mood instantly revived, dragged Rodrigo off like the wind.
"You come with us."
"...Huh?"
Roze had unconsciously started to follow, only snapping out of it when Merdi grabbed her.
"You'd just get bored tagging along."
I told Roze, who was gazing at them with longing eyes.
Those two were definitely the type to prowl the streets picking up girls.
Sending Roze with them risked her getting dumped somewhere, so no matter how much she whined, I had to stop her.
Because of that, Merdi and I spent a while trailing after Roze as she roamed the space station—indulging her mood and cleaning up after her—before finally heading to our original destination: the Salmon Research Institute.
"Oh yeah, did I mention I got paid?"
Roze suddenly brought up money as we entered the institute lobby.
Not sure what she meant, I just stared, and she continued with an exasperated look.
"The account Lemon set up for me. I counted, and there were a ton of zeros."
"Oh, you mean the dividends?"
Come to think of it, the quarterly dividends had been paid out recently.
Since I'd reduced retained earnings to boost dividends—given how much I was spending—the amount would be substantial.
"Yeah. But... can I really spend this however I want?"
Roze looked tense, suddenly flush with cash.
Merdi, on the other hand, was nonchalant.
She was already handling big money as a model for Monarch Family cosmetics ads.
"It's your money, of course. You'll get that much every quarter, so spend freely without worry."
"...Ugh, what do I even do with it?"
Roze groaned in agony.
Told she could spend it freely, she only grew more anxious.
Maybe that was the typical reaction for someone holding big money for the first time.
There's no right answer to spending.
I started to advise her but clammed up, short on words.
"What a dumb worry. Who frets over spending money?"
"...Y-Yeah?"
"If you can't think of anything, just buy some clothes. Don't you get tired wearing the same stuff every day?"
"I even find buying clothes hard..."
Irritated by Roze's mumbling, Merdi strode forward and raised her voice.
"Come on!"
With those two gone, I was left alone.
I was planning to meet Fontana solo anyway, so I'd been wondering whether to let them test combat mechs at the proving grounds. This was actually more convenient.
I took the same transport as last time straight to Fontana's lab.
'Huh, the institute's gotten even bigger.' The Salmon Research Institute was still expanding.
It had been built with scalability in mind from the start, and now a full research complex was forming around it.
The main building had doubled in size through repeated expansions, and the underground facilities had too.
Naturally, Fontana's personal lab in the heart of it had grown as well.
The space he lived in was still just like his old isolated-planet setup, but the attached areas kept growing.
"Boss! Come on in."
"I wasn't planning to stop by, so why'd you call me again?"
"You come to the institute and don't see me? Come on."
Fontana grinned and offered me a seat.
"You look good."
"More hands these days. I don't have to handle everything from A to Z like before."
Sia seemed to be benefiting Fontana the most.
Several researchers had already gotten security clearance bumps after interviews.
A few were even involved in studying the crimson arms and wings, so he had reason to relax.
"The people okay?"
"They all have solid basics. I can teach them whatever's missing."
"Good to hear. But that part..."
The interviews hadn't been entirely smooth.
Most who'd entered via prior connections to Fontana were fine, but many of the later additions hid major issues.
I recalled being shocked by Sia's report.
"Our boss was pretty surprised, huh."
"...It was bad enough I had no idea how the place was being run."
"Well, new institutes are like that. Gotta tighten up from now on."
"Aren't you worried, Director?"
"I'm shocked we have this many reliable people, honestly."
Unlike me, Fontana was taking the interview results positively.
Maybe I'd been too optimistic about the world, or underestimated it.
I was freshly reminded just how useful Sia's ability was.
"Anyway, that's that. Come here."
Wanting to show me something again, he led me inside.
As I followed, I recalled the key projects underway at the institute.
'The biggest now is the bio-armor suit upgrades.'
Those were nearly done.
In one or two months, they'd be mass-producing and deploying to the front lines.
That would mark another leap for the Salmon Research Institute.
But compared to upcoming tech, this would seem minor.
Starting with the energy amplification tech—expected to have the biggest impact—then radar that pierced Bug Flower signals, inertia-defying flight devices like the crimson one showed, new materials development, and more.
Innovative research was progressing in parallel. "Ta-da!"
"...Huh? You advanced this far already?"
"Applied your idea. What do you think?"
He showed a miniaturized version of the energy amplifier from last time.
Size: about an adult fist.
"It's smaller, so max amplified output per shot is lower too. Higher precision might boost it more, but this is the limit for now."
"You made this in just 20 days?"
"Impressive, right?"
"Of course. What about scaling up?"
"Not yet. Fine up to a point, but efficiency tanks beyond that."
Current optimal amplification: 36%.
Apply to engines, and usable power jumps that much instantly.
The tech's only downside was needing charge time for amplification—but the merits far outweighed it.
"Too early to be disappointed. This size has its uses."
"...A gun?"
I widened my eyes at the new item Fontana pulled out.
It was a union military standard energy rifle.
The attachment looked like the energy amplifier.
"Don't tell me..."
"Small enough to fit here, right?"
Fontana grinned and loaded the energy rifle.
After about 3 seconds of charging, an energy bolt fired from the muzzle, hitting the prepared target dead-on.
"Charge shot. Can adjust with trigger pressure too. Thoughts?"
"It's awesome!"
I shouted in excitement.
This was already practical. "Unit cost?"
"Not bad for this size. Mass production makes it economical." What to do with this.
Miniaturization made it even better.
We'd only tried an energy rifle now, but applications were endless depending on use.
Even civilian products could use it.
Announcing this would flip the world upside down.
"...Hold on, hold on."
"We need to mature the tech first."
"Right. Sorry, got too excited."
"I get it, Boss. I was the same at first. Heh." I hadn't expected my offhand suggestion to yield this.
My initial thought on energy amplification was simple: Stick it on ships.
One attachment, and ships punch above their weight. Dreamy.
But my imagination had been too narrow. 'Was I too focused on aliens?'
Probably.
Ever since coming here, that's all I'd seen and dealt with, and with everything urgent, no time to look elsewhere.
But this tech wouldn't just aid war—it'd transform daily life.
"Worried? Not scared, are you?"
I couldn't answer Fontana lightly.
Should we release it?
The future would change completely again.
Hiding it was an option, given the impact.
"No. Once we release products, the tech'll leak anyway, right?"
"...Yeah, might take time, but eventually. It's not that hard once you know."
"Any way to block it?"
Unlike neural parasite countermeasures.
Any decent research group could reverse-engineer the amplification.
"It's temporary. But I'm confident I can upgrade performance. We've got your database and my brain."
Fontana answered with conviction.
Even he, with the most data and materials, struggled with better rates.
Ground-up efforts would be grimmer.
'Can't share everything.'
Energy amplification could be humanity's new hope.
It would be.
But if some group misused boosted power, new problems could arise.
After agonizing, I spoke.
"Limit released products to 30% amplification."
"30%? We could go higher."
"That's plenty. Adjust later based on situation."
"Oh, right!"
Fontana clapped and nodded.