A Loli’s Space Odyssey

“This is a joke, right?”

“No. This is the target practice test. Just pick any gun displayed, although, given your size, I would stay away from the heavy rifles.”

A typical indoor firing range with moving targets. But the reason I was so no into it is because the weapons displayed… they were toys. Literally. They barely are level 10 beginner weapons in the game.

“This is enough. I can’t be bothered with this shit.”

“Huh? But this isn’t…”

“Shiro, take care of them for me.”

“Understood. Deploying minimum armaments.”

“Hey wait you two, this isn’t how…”

But before the octopus uncle managed to finish his sentence, Shiro already fired laser beams which were no different from Iron Man’s and destroyed all the targets simultaneously. 

 

“What the!? I heard about androids… but the hell? What kind of model are you, miss?”

“Classified.”

“Anyway, mister, like I said I am a Queen. I have humored you long enough. Can we get this over with?”

“Uh… yeah. the exam results…”

“Yeah?”

“You passed.”

 

“That’s great. But what’s with that strange expression?”

 

“Well y’see, we mercenaries have a ranking system in place.”

 

“Hm?”

 

Was it something similar to that adventurer ranking thing used in a lot of those isekai themed webnovels? Would this lead to a development where I suddenly get promoted to A or S rank?

 

“It’s called a Combat Rank, and it serves to objectively represent a merc’s combat capabilities. The five ranks are as follows: Iron, Bronze, Silver, Gold, and Platinum. Iron’s the lowest and Platinum’s the highest.”

 

“I see. So?”

 

“Technically we threw our hardest stuff at you… so your rank should be Gold.”

 

“Okay?”

 

“But y’see, even though you did pass the Gold Rank promotion exam, I can’t just suddenly promote you to Gold right from the start.”

 

“I understand.”

 

People should recognize my might, but I agree, since we aren’t on my own turf, I would rather avoid dealing with all the commotion.

 

“You don’t have a solid track record yet. You understand, right? So for now, you’ll be ranked Bronze. Temporarily, of course. I’ll pass the data from the simulation you took earlier to the higher-ups and have them confirm your ranking.”

 

“Spare me from suddenly ranking up to Gold, will you? Ranks mean nothing to me. I am ultimately the best there is.”

 

“I— Is that so? What a funny attitude. For now, the rank’s tentative, but you’re already officially registered as a mercenary. You’ll have the backing of the Mercenary Guild from now on.  I’ll send all the ID’s for your crew members later today.”

 

“Aren’t you supposed to explain the rules and regulations for new members or something?”

 

“It’s a pain, so just read the manual yourself. I’ll send it to you via e-mail.”

 

“Now that’s just plain lazy.”

 

“It’s not like you need to read it right away. Just run through it slowly tonight or something.”

 

“Tsk. So be it. Shiro. Our business here is concluded. Let’s go.”

“Understood.”

 

.

.

.

 

For the time being we wanted to return to the ship. Now normally I would like to explore more and satisfy the experience of new cultures, but I didn't have that luxury.

 

I stepped into an alley where nobody was around.

 

"Well, how long do you guys plan to keep following us?"

 

4 bulky men all wearing tight plugsuit, blasters and proton swords. Why are they called proton swords? Let's just say Star Wars made a copyright claim on the game. Hence, melee weapons look no different than metal ones, except a beam of pulsing energy flowing around the edge.

 

"So you noticed us, huh? You look like a cat, so you probably got eyes just as sharp."

 

"Do you have some business with me?"

 

"Yeah. We couldn't help not hear about your record in the Mercenary Guild. Why not tell us what cheat or hack you used? We're dying here to get promoted."

 

So that's it. Eavesdropping on the conversation with the octopus uncle. These guys must think that a kid like me cheated. 

 

"I'm sorry, but those were real scores."

 

"Don't get cocky, kid. You really think we would buy that? How about you tell the truth? Give up the secret and we won't hurt you or that giant breasted android."

 

Shiro was once again prepared to bring up her armaments, but I signaled her to stop.

 

"You plebs sure act high and mighty. This is annoying. The fact that you guys are ignorant of just how powerful I am ticks me off. 

 

So, I won't tolerate any more of it. Scums like you probably bring the guild bad reputation so I'll do society a favor. I'll kill you all."

 

"Huh? You serious? Guess we really should teach a brat like you manners."

 

The first bulky guy had a chicken head and came swinging his proton mace at me. However the level is so low and his movements are so slow… I didn't even bother looking at him. He slammed it sideways into my torso and although sparks did generate, I didn't flinch one bit.

 

"What the!?"

 

I always wanted to see just how strong I am. In the game, PA's were labeled on 10 tier. From the lowest 1, to the Super Magic tier level 10. However, there was one more tier. World tier, however only game bosses had access to them. It would be bad nuking the city, so let's keep it as simple as possible.

 

"Know your place, you buffoon. Shall I teach you basic math?"

 

Chicken guy openly shows his anger.

 

“What are you trying to say?”

 

“One multiplied tenfold will still only be ten. That's your total value rating. Can you really hope to beat something a million times stronger?”

 

“Bitch!”

 

Fuwaa. I suppress a yawn. He pummels me over and over but nothing changes. If I had a sword, I could have slashed him 100 times already giving all his openings. Dodging is pointless.

 

"You're someone not worthy of my time."

 

I make a forehead flick gesture.

 

“Gah…….”

 

Chicken dude's whole body disappears.

 

“Oops? I thought I’d reduced the power enough. Did he die?…….I see.”

 

The shockwave alone was more than enough to vaporize his body and splatter his comrades with his blood.

 

"Anyway, I guess I'll end you guys as well."

 

I put just a little more force in my next flick. This time a visible gust of wind passed through and disintegrated them in a similar manner.

 

"And that's that."

 

I still felt no remorse or guilt from killing. Maybe it's because of how I scripted Kizuna? Regardless, I don't care. Now that I took care of the trash, let's get back to the ship. Hopefully the girls have recovered by now.