The Number One Star in the Interstellar Era

ASTRID checked his Terminal after he finished his night shower. There's some messages from his friends but there was none from Ellis. He had been waiting for the other to contact him since he knew that she would be meeting Olivia tonight. Ellis even said that she could contact him after her meeting with the other. But looking at his Terminal now, it seemed that their meeting probably extended for too long.

Or they were simply reminiscing about the past.

Well, they could reminisce all they liked, he just hoped that it wouldn't lead to anything. Like a hotel, for example.

It's not that he's saying that Ellis would jump to a chance of having an affair with a married woman, but one just couldn't forget that the two had a pretty long and deep history. Unless Ellis was totally over Olivia, he couldn't really just ignore that possibility.

He went to the kitchen and decided to make tea. As he did, he couldn't help but glance at his Terminal again. But this time, he wasn't looking for Ellis' message but someone else's.

Yes, it was Wulfric.

It had been four days since he last received a message from the other. Even his usual video call was also stopped. If Astrid was being honest, he kind of missed it. The conversations they would have at night with no particular topic and was just about how their day went. Before he knew it, their talks had now become a, well, routine for him.

He chuckled. It hadn't even been a week and he was already feeling this way. It seemed that Wulfric really managed to worm his way in Astrid's life without him even noticing it. Not that he's complaining though. He's a very welcome addition to his life.

If someone told him a few months ago that he would freely admit this, he would tell them that they're crazy. But look at him now. He's not only freely admitting to himself that Wulfric was already a part of his life, he could even admit now that he missed the other.

After his tea finished steeping, he took a sip and then decided to send a message to Wulfric.

----------

"Is that one of the new recruits?" a man with a huge body asked another man smoking on the side. He was pointing at someone sitting at a table and drinking beer.

They were at a bar in a Lawless Den just outside of Palioxis Galaxy. Their mercenary crew stopped by here on their way to Tertius Galaxy. And it was also here that they had recruited a number of freelance mercenaries – they were those who didn't belong to any groups or organizations.

"Yeah," said the man smoking.

The big man frowned, clearly showing his dislike. "Is the boss in his right mind? Why would he suddenly recruit new members when we're in the middle of an important commission?"

"It's because of that that he did. Have you already forgotten that seven of our members were suddenly arrested by the army? We're sorely lacking people right now. So, the boss have no choice but to hire mercenaries from the outside."

The man remembered that. For some reason, a few of their members who were tasked to do some scouting was arrested by the army for illegal possession of firearms. And they just really had to be arrested by those from the Fenris Squad.

If it was any other army, there might suspect that they were onto them. But since it was the Fenris Squad, then it's safe to say that those members were simply unlucky. It was widely known that people from that army were crazy. If one just looked at them in a wrong way, they would be immediately arrested.

So, the members of their mercenary group who were arrested could only blame what happened to them to their luck. Or simply, the lack of it.

But because of what happened, they had to hire additional mercenaries. But with the kind of commission they had been taking, the only ones they could hire without worrying that they would suddenly be turned to the authorities were mercenaries from Lawless Dens.

And that guy over there was one of the freelance mercenaries the boss hired just this morning.

"Do we even know if they can handle the job?"

The smoking man shrugged. "Since the boss was the one who hired them, they'd probably be fine."

"I think we should see that for ourselves," the man said as he strode towards the table where the guy sitting alone and drinking beer.

At a distance, a man standing near the bar counter saw this scene. He drank the glass of gin tonic he's holding in one shot and readied himself to watch a good show.

[Slade, try not to show how excited you are.] – said Leland's voice from the earpiece he's wearing.

The other was monitoring everything from Beowulf via the cameras attached to Slade and Wulfric. Of course, the cameras, as well as the earpiece they're wearing were all the highest class military grade equipment that wouldn't be easily detected.

Slade and Wulfric were now doing undercover work as freelance mercenaries. It was not only them but all the newly hired mercenaries were from the Fenris Squad. All of them were in disguised. To give the illusion that none of them were close, they weren't interacting with one another aside from the occasional nod.

That's why he was standing here alone and the captain was sitting over there. Now, it seemed like trouble was walking towards the captain. He shook his head. The captain was already in a disguise that made him look ordinary and yet he's still the one that big guy noticed.

"Don't worry, I'm not really grinning from ear to ear right now," Slade responded to Leland in a low tone that only he could hear.

He heard the other side. [Just stop his highness if you think he was about to beat that man to death.]