Vieretha settled into our crew surprisingly easily.

I was even wondering what role she would play on the crew and... Well...

"Hmm... I see your finances here are pretty solid. Have you thought about investing in some stock options? It would be much better than just leaving it in your savings. Also, it seems like you are spending just a bit too much on spare parts. I know where we can get cheaper options for it so that should bring your spending in that area down. As for food... I suppose it is no surprise that you are spending this much on it but I know some contacts that will be able to arrange for better prices for organic ingredients. I’ll make some calls later."

As expected of the person who is managing multiple businesses...

The first thing she did was to bring up our entire finances and started to go through them to better manage them.

Not only that, it seems like she even knows where to get our daily necessities for better prices as well.

I wonder...

"I don’t suppose you also have contacts where we could... Offload some loot? Even those that aren’t that legal?" I asked.

"Oh? Do you also have that, Tera? I’ll have to do an inventory of that but I should know some people for that as well," She told me without hesitation.

As expected of her I guess.

She tapped on her personal terminal which was already projecting several screens that were displaying various different numbers and graphs which I assumed was her recording our finances.

It kind of reminded me of those stock brokers looking at all their screens and watching the stock market or something.

I couldn’t help but smile in amusement at the thought.

She caught me smiling and tilted her head at me, "Is something the matter, Tera?"

"No, I just thought it was good that you found a role you could occupy in the crew. I was worried that you might not be able to fit in or find that there was nothing for you to do here."

She gave me a wry smile, "ISn’t someone’s role decided before they join a crew like yours, Tera?"

"To be fair, I thought you were on the run which was why I decided to take you in first... I thought you could then find out what you can do while you’re on the ship instead."

"Fufufu~ You really are cute, Tera~"

I think she’s cuter but ok?

She steepled her fingers in front of her, "So you were just prepared to take in a freeloader just to help them?"

I shrugged, "It would leave a bad taste in my mouth if I were to leave a beautiful girl like you to suffer after you came to me for help. And besides... I’ve had experience with Nobles through Mara and I know how bad it can get so I thought you really needed help."

"Fufufufu~ I see, I see~ It really is just like you, Tera~ You really are so cute~"

She’s really been just saying I’m cute for a while now...

"So... Out of curiosity... What role did you think you were going to fulfill when you joined the crew? Because I’m pretty sure you only decided to start managing our finances after you saw our cargo bay."

She giggled, "Fufufu~ I suppose you were clearly lacking a logistics officer from how your cargo bay is arranged but I suppose I was more focused on getting on your ship as well instead of figuring out what role I could play~ I was prepared to just buy my way in if I had to~"

Wait... I just realised something...

"Does that mean we... Could use your resources as well? Like... We could just go and buy a bigger ship right now using your money?"

She raised her finger to rest on her lips, "Oh? If Tera wants to, I can certainly arrange that as well."

I sucked in a breath before quickly shaking my head, "I was just curious that’s all. I want to rely on the money I earned instead of someone else’s."

I already know my own sense of money was already quite broken to begin with since we have been earning Credits relatively easily all this time.

But at least I still keep careful management over our spending so I don’t just casually toss out several million Credits for no good reason.

If I were to be told I could have access to Vieretha’s untold amounts of wealth, I think I would spiral out to the point of no return.

Also, for the record, spending the Credits to buy the premium pass for the waterpark was for a very good reason. Can you imagine us queuing up with the others in line to wait for our turn? I would have to deal with idiots trying to hit on my girls all the time so no thanks.

"Ara? What’s mine is yours, Tera~ Ufufufu~ You need just say the word and I will use everything in my power for you~"

"It’s alright... I’m someone who prefers more to earn their place than to have it given to them."

"I understand~ Although right now, I see that you have about a billion Credits saved up right now which should at least afford you a mid to low-high tier D Class ship of your choosing. Probably a frigate or maybe even a small cruiser? But is there a need for such a large ship since we only have this many people on our crew anyway?"

I shook my head, "The number of crew isn’t a problem because... Ah... I suppose I hadn’t told you yet... Renata?"

I only just realised this but on the way here to the dining room with Vieretha, I did not spot any of Renata’s bodies working around the ship which was strange.

A blob appeared on my chest to form into a small head resembling Renata, "Yes, Daddy?"

"Where’s the rest of your clones?"

"Oh! I thought Daddy wouldn’t want her freaking out so I made sure they stayed out of sight~ Should I get them out?"

"Yes please."

Almost instantly, a blob appeared on the ceiling near us and dropped down onto the ground before reforming itself into a figure and transforming into a blue haired Renata wearing a swimsuit maid uniform.

The door then slid open and three more Renatas entered, one was her usual purple haired version and the other two had red and pink hair.

Incidentally, all three were also wearing swimsuit maid outfits of varying designs and different levels of exposure.

Seems like she still likes the swimsuit design... Or maybe she’s still in the beach mood since we had just left the Pleasure Station not too long ago.

To her credit, Vieretha didn’t look that surprised and nodded her head in understanding, "I see... So she’s an organism that is able to split herself to form more bodies? She’s even able to reshape herself to form into different objects as well. Very interesting."

She then eyed my chest where the small Renata had been earlier before reaching her hand towards me, "May I?"

I understood she wanted to try touching my clothes to have a feel of the material so I nodded at her to go ahead.

She then started running her hands over my chest and groping my boobs, going so far as to tweak my nipples when she found them and causing me to let out a moan of surprise.

But despite that, she seemed entirely focused on the clothes I was wearing instead and didn’t look like she was doing this just to grope me.

"Hmm... Hmm... This is interesting... It actually feels like it’s real... So she’s also able to replicate the materials as well? Or is it just the sensation of it? Does each body operate independently?"

Renata didn’t seem interested in answering her question so I had to answer it for her instead, "She operates on a hivemind so she’s controlling all the bodies. She has the ability to replicate the things she consumes and she was formed after consuming an AI core that granted her her intelligence and the ability to control machinery."

Vieretha nodded though she did not stop groping my boobs, "I see... This is certainly interesting."

"You don’t look that surprised..."

"Hmm? She wouldn’t be the first organism that could do something like that, though obviously not to this level or scale or all of what you said combined together. The galaxy is vast after all so there’s bound to be things that we have not discovered yet. I would say that you are the biggest enigma I have encountered so far and you’re more mysterious and interesting than anything else, Tera."

I blinked at her, "Wait... You didn’t join this crew to... Research me, did you?"

She blinked at me, "Ah... I suppose I did not tell you yet. I fell in love with you at first sight. So I decided to follow you." 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦

...

Wait, what?