"So you're telling me you sat on the second floor of the café at Lumina Square watching that tiny Public Security officer play chess with a bunch of old men until it got dark?"
Billy stared in disbelief. This giant had actually spent the entire evening watching something like that, even forgetting that four hungry people were waiting at home for their chef to return.
"Sorry, sorry. I'll come back earlier next time." Ignis sat down on the floor and stretched.
"It's fine. The burgers were good too," Anby shook the empty burger wrapper in her hand. "Though it would've been better if you were the one cooking."
"My apologies, I'll make it up to you all next time."
"Speaking of which—did you already eat?" Nicole lay sprawled across the sofa, looking exhausted.
"I did. Someone treated me to hotpot at Simmer Hot Pot Restaurant." Ignis glanced around but did not see Nekomata. "Nekomata's feeding her underlings again?"
"Yeah. She left right after dinner. Brought a whole bag of cat food and several cans." Nicole switched channels on the TV. "But you even have friends who treat you to meals now? Guess you're fitting in quickly."
Jane Doe's identity had to be kept secret, so Ignis naturally could not tell Nicole the truth. He merely smiled to brush it off.
"Is chess really that interesting? Enough to keep you that absorbed?"
"Everyone has their own hobbies. Just like how Billy likes the Starlight Knight—you all don't, but he does." Ignis shrugged.
"Why did that sound like watching Starlight Knight is a bad habit?" Billy pretended to be offended.
"If you didn't imitate the lines and bring it up every five minutes, people would think much better of it," Nicole said mercilessly.
Truthfully, during his years of service to the Emperor, the battle-brothers played something similar to Western chess called Regicide. But as someone from Earth, Ignis always felt distant from Western chess. So seeing people play traditional Xiangqi here felt like a touch of familiarity. He didn't really know how to play—only the general rules—but it didn't stop him from watching for half a day.
As for whether Qingyi discreetly connected to the network to check chess manuals or ran a Xiangqi AI program while playing with the elderly… well, that was unknown.
But as a Public Security Officer, she shouldn't need to rely on something like that—and she herself was an AI. Her own computational power should be more than enough.
"I didn't only watch chess. Picked up some intel too." Ignis turned toward Nicole. "Qingyi and Zhu Yuan have been temporarily assigned to the Public Security sub-bureau at Lumina Square. We'll likely see them a lot more often."
"That's the biggest shopping center anywhere near us." Nicole frowned. "Make sure you keep things friendly with them. We don't want our business disrupted."
"Right, the profit split from the latest job." Ignis took out his phone and transferred the money to Nicole—but she declined the payment and sent it back.
"You're saving up for that motorcycle, right? Keep it. When you need to hand over a portion, I'll tell you."
"A motorcycle? You're buying one?" Billy suddenly perked up. "What about the Starlight Knight collaboration model? The new one just dropped! Comes with exclusive merch!"
"That won't really work…" Ignis recalled the tokusatsu motorcycle—admittedly cool, but… "It won't handle the load. I need something that supports wearing power armor, and those models are built for standard-size humans and Thirens."
Considering his future needs—riding in power armor—those normal models definitely wouldn't hold the weight. The best options were to build one himself or have Markus commission a factory to manufacture it from his design.
Space Marines did have bike units. As a member of the Sixth Company, Ignis had trained in using assault bikes. Those bikes were fast, heavily armed, perfect for flanking maneuvers, and some even came with sidecars to carry two people.
But such machines were unrealistic here. Without promethium-based fuel, he had to rely on local engine tech. Materials would have to be adapted to local metal strength. Some ether alloys were as strong as adamantium used for Imperial machine frames—but far too expensive for Ignis's current means.
His preliminary concept involved reinforced ether-alloy steel beams, a truck-tier high-power engine, and massive heavy-duty tires. In short: take truck-grade components and assemble them into a motorcycle. Ideally with weapons mounted for pursuit operations.
It would undoubtedly be some oversized brute of a machine—but that was fine. For Ignis, bigger was better.
He wanted to return to his room immediately and start drafting the blueprint, but that would be rude. Everyone was gathered here, chatting. So he shifted the topic back to today's job.
"How did your job go today?"
"I was amazing!" Billy cut in immediately. "When the gang attacked, I drew my twin pistols and went—bang bang bang bang!"
The robot produced odd mouth-made gunshot noises, pointing his finger-guns like an overexcited child.
"Only one volley, and I took down half of them."
He blew on his raised index finger like it was the smoking barrel of a pistol.
"Yeah, and the whole fight wouldn't have happened if you didn't start it." Nicole rolled her eyes.
"Oh? There's more to it?"
"The contract allowed for up to twenty percent cargo loss," Anby continued where Nicole left off. "Nicole planned to give them ten percent as a toll, but…"
"As a champion of justice, how could I bow to criminals—much less give them our goods?" Billy struck a dramatic tokusatsu pose. "Following the teachings of the Starlight Knight, I refuse to yield to evil!"
Nicole stared at him tiredly, unwilling to comment. So Anby continued the explanation.
"Then Billy suddenly fired, shooting the weapons out of their hands. Then he struck a new Starlight Knight pose and shouted, 'I shall grant you a chance to repent!' And then…"
"And then they had hidden shooters in the nearby building who opened fire on us. Shameful and cowardly. Luckily my aim is exceptional—I picked off a few slow movers, suppressed their fire quickly."
"He got so carried away that the disarmed guys rushed him. That Nekomata and I had to bail him out."
Billy looked embarrassed as his boasting was dismantled, but he quickly recovered and carried on.
"With Nicole's brilliant command, my fire support, and Anby and Nekomata's efforts, we wiped them out and delivered the goods safely. Cunning Hares earned top marks this time."
"If your stray round hadn't hit a Karg transport's control panel and disabled it, it would have been perfect." Nicole's words extinguished Billy's pride instantly. "Thankfully the drop-off site had a technician who fixed it. Otherwise, the job would've been wasted."
"It was a chaotic fight! They were going after you! I meant to cover you, but the bullet hit armor, ricocheted—"
Yup. Classic Cunning Hares: turn a small issue into a big one, then barely salvage it.
"That's why I said we should've just given them the toll. They even expected losses and gave us the passcode…" Nicole massaged her temples. These problem children were a handful.
"What you lack is firepower." Ignis stood up and patted Billy's shoulder. "Little brother, want to upgrade your gear? I can make guns. I can match local ammo types."
Before Billy could reply, Ignis continued:
"What style do you prefer? Large-caliber? High rate of fire? Or both? I could design something with triple rotating barrels. How's your weight capacity—can you carry an ammo drum? How about a rotary cannon? If your recoil compensation is high enough, maybe even an autocannon!"
"Wait!" Nicole cut in before Ignis could escalate any further. "One of you carrying oversized weaponry is troublesome enough. If Billy also starts running around with an autocannon…"
She imagined it: Billy with a giant ammo backpack, wielding a triple-barrelled rotary cannon, shouting about justice and honor while spraying fire everywhere.
No. Absolutely not. The ammo cost alone would bankrupt them.
Billy, to his credit, did not immediately agree. He paused, then answered seriously:
"I appreciate the offer, but I don't need over-spec weapons right now. I love my pistols. I'm not replacing them."
Hearing that, Nicole relaxed. If Billy got inspired by Ignis's madness, Cunning Hares would probably get wiped out by the Defense Forces tomorrow.
"Ignis, there's a job tomorrow." Nicole quickly redirected him before he offered Billy a tank next. "Head to Sixth Street. Phaethon's looking for us."