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Chapter 477: Beyond the Orbit (3)
—Hmph.
Maon clicked his tongue.
It all felt like a dream.
Even with the major noble houses of the lower galaxy gathered in one place, weren’t they being extorted by a re lowly creature?
Well, they had co to visit the planet of a band of thieves.
Still, to think that less than a day after arriving, they’d be squeezed for money by a fledgling house...
—It’s true, then… what he said is actually happening.
He was referring to Yeongwoo’s claim of “growing a hundred million years’ worth every day.”
They’d only just gotten acquainted a few hours ago, yet this boy was already picking the pockets of noble lords.
That kind of growth was truly astounding.
And all the lords present, including Maon, had just witnessed an extraordinary sight — celestial bodies rearranging themselves for the sake of this planetary vessel.
How often in one’s life does one witness sothing so rare?
So Maon could have offered a token of gratitude or congratulations, if Yeongwoo had simply asked for it.
But giving money voluntarily and having it taken by force were completely different matters.
—You rascal, Jeong Yeongwoo!
“...?”
—Your arrogance could scrape the heavens. How can you be so insolent?
Even Maon, who had allied with Yeongwoo, couldn’t condone this level of rudeness.
—Yes, you’ve acquired trendous power. If we tried to pursue you, we’d suffer massive losses.
“What...?”
Yeongwoo couldn’t help but flinch.
If what Maon said was true, it ant there was a way to track the planetary vessel.
And Maon’s angry words continued.
—You’re not just a head of house now — you’re soone responsible for the survival of this entire planetary system. Yet I see not a speck of dignity in you.
“...”
He was the leader of a band of space bandits, so that was to be expected, but even Yeongwoo couldn’t find words to counter it.
Because if we were to speak of propriety, Maon wasn’t wrong.
—Taking others’ property by force — perhaps that is the way of this strength-worshipping universe. But even power must have grace.
Maon clenched his fist and held it out toward Yeongwoo.
—Is your power a blade that swings wildly, without knowing friend from foe? Yes, there were so unfortunate incidents, but those matters have been settled. We assud we were now here as guests.
He was referring to the earlier conflicts Yeongwoo had with Bioto and El.
The dispute with Bioto had been resolved through negotiation, and El’s issue had quieted down thanks to Maon’s intervention.
To demand money now, after all that, was crossing a line.
-......
At this, Jiseon, who had been quietly observing, quickly stepped forward in front of Maon.
—My lord, my son acted without thinking. It seems he’s not yet fit to command a planetary vessel. But I believe his mindset has changed now.
Then she cast a piercing glare at her son.
A look that said: Clean up this ss — now.
Yeongwoo glanced over the lords, then slowly trudged forward with an expression that looked on the verge of tears.
THUD!
He threw the Aratubank to the ground.
Though, even in that mont, he kept Bastard firmly in his right hand.
“I was truly thoughtless, my lords! Please, strike this fool across the face!”
Yeongwoo said this while nearly throwing himself to the floor in a deep bow — but no one stepped forward to actually hit him.
Unless they intended to kill him, what good would slapping the owner of a planetary vessel do?
No one wanted to make an enemy of the one pulling an entire planetary system through space.
More importantly…
—......
They were all wary of Chairman Dogo, silently observing the situation from afar.
“...Hic!”
Eventually, Yeongwoo stopped his exaggerated crying, slowly stood, and scanned the lords.
He was confirming that even the vice-lord of Shirach hadn’t dared slap him.
Then—
“I’m sincere. I deeply apologize for attempting to extort money from my guests.”
He bowed to the gathered nobles, including Maon.
“But.”
—...But?
Maon wore a look that said: Of course there’s a “but.”
“There’s one person here. No — exactly one person — who is not my guest.”
At this, Maon massaged his aching temple and asked:
—And who might that be?
“El. Vice-lord of Shirach.”
El bared his teeth as if he’d been waiting for this mont.
—You’re truly insane, you wretch. You plan to see this through to the end?
“You bastard, even if I think it over three tis, you’re no guest of mine. You actually tried to kill .”
—You lowly cur...!
Provoked by Yeongwoo’s vulgar tone, El reached for his waist.
But he couldn’t quite draw his weapon.
He couldn’t ignore Chairman Dogo’s presence in this room.
—A despicable fool who has nothing but absurd luck.
“That’s the essence of a main character.”
Then Yeongwoo turned his gaze to Earth.
“So, how much money do we need?”
『...What?』
“There’s nothing on our ship but cannons. How much would it cost to get so basic living supplies in order?”
『Are you actually insane?』
Discussing expenses right in front of the people who’d end up footing the bill?
Still, apart from that, it was true that operating a planetary vessel required a lot of money.
The current Earthship was, frankly, a hunk of tal — a total “empty can.”
『We can launch as-is, but the propulsion isn’t strong. If we need to accelerate quickly, we’d have to reinforce it. And then there’s…』
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Earth started listing one expensive requirent after another.
『The ship already has a planetary-scale warp function installed. So, we don’t need to buy transit rights for interdiary sectors. But if we want to move on a stellar system scale, that’s a different story.』
In simpler terms: even in its default state, the planetary vessel far outclassed normal ships in terms of interstellar travel capabilities — but if they wanted even more than that, they’d need to invest serious money.
“Then, what else?”
“Well, there are plenty of things that will need funding…”
As Earth said this, it glanced at El.
Not out of fear, but because—on a human, no, planetary level—its conscience felt guilty.
But just then, a space opened up between the stars and the lords, and Administrator Kubu appeared, placing another item into the shopping cart.
—My Lord, if I may speak, we will need a connection room.
“A connection room?”
Yeongwoo tilted his head at the unfamiliar term, and Kubu blinked its large eyes.
—Planetary ships have no publicly available fixed coordinates, making them hard to trace.
“…Right?”
—Which ans we will have considerable difficulty receiving ssages.
“Ah.”
That made sense.
Since the current location of the planetary ship couldn’t be pinpointed, it would be impossible for others to send ssages here from the outside.
“If it’s hard to receive ssages, we wouldn’t be able to get investnt proposals or business requests either.”
—Correct. Of course, if we activate the space communicator we own, we can temporarily connect to the nearby communication network.
However, Kubu explained, this would indirectly reveal the planetary ship’s location, and communication would only be possible while the communicator was active.
In short, if they wanted to know who in the universe was trying to contact Earthship, they needed to install sothing called a connection room.
“Alright. Sounds like sothing we should definitely have. So, how much will it cost to buy everything ntioned so far?”
At this, Kubu rolled its eyes and looked at Earth.
—That’s sothing the party involved would know best.
Soon, Earth glanced sideways at the lords, looking troubled.
“10.3 billion.”
“What? We barely bought anything, and it costs that much?”
Of course, Yeongwoo’s current cash assets amounted to a whopping 13 billion.
So he could easily afford the expense himself…
“But that ans I’ll have to tell the vice-lord to cough up 10 billion?!”
Yeongwoo yelled, and El’s expression twisted.
But since the mood among the other lords was tense, he couldn’t say much more.
That’s because Bioto, the lord of Satral, had already taken the lead to calm things down.
—Is there really any benefit to escalating things here? That 10 billion… it's probably not even that much for Shirach. Let’s just pay and be done with it.
Having once been squeezed for 5 billion by Yeongwoo, he was essentially dragging soone else down with him now.
And in the end, soone had to be stuck with that damn “celebration fee.”
—…Hmm.
—This isn’t an easy matter.
The rest of the lords, too, didn’t want to be in the sa space as the intimidating celestial beings or Chairman Dogo, so they subtly pressured El to make the sacrifice.
And Dogo was just as much of a burden for El.
The problem was that, just to leave this place, he’d now have to pay 10 billion.
“We should probably relocate soon.”
Eventually, Proxima spoke quietly while staring at a point in the air.
It seed that Moro also sensed sothing, as she urgently spoke to Yeongwoo.
『Hurry.』
“What?”
『Whether you're collecting the money or whatever—just hurry. We need to get going.』
As a star, she wouldn’t have said “depart” so lightly—aning they needed to leave orbit urgently.
So Yeongwoo had to ask.
“Why? Is soone coming?”
At that mont, the Centauri brothers, who had been silent until now, slowly lifted their heads one after the other.
『The galactic core has detected a celestial transformation.』
『If we stay here, we don’t know what could happen. It’s best we leave. We’ll be going now.』
The Centauri brothers quickly cut ties with Earthship.
Since they didn’t need Dogo’s permission, and there was no risk of their vessels being damaged by the gravitational field of the planetary ship, they imdiately lit up white and teleported back to their own star systems.
Now, the lower galaxy lords, frightened, looked at El.
—L-Lord!
—They said they’re departing now! You’re not planning to stay aboard this, are you?
—Please…!
Eventually, they ended up pleading with El to just pay the money, and to make matters worse, Yeongwoo delivered the final warning.
“Departing in 5 seconds! If you still want to go ho, now’s the ti to make a decision!”
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