I Got a Monster Spaceship from the Tutorial Tower - Chapter 15

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 15
15
To the other crew members—everyone except Yeon-u—she seemed a bit prickly by nature.
Still, the mechanic’s arrival was the one person Yeon-u had said he needed most before conducting these six summons.
Urelka nodded in greeting as well.
“I’m Urelka, sub-captain of this vessel. It’s a pleasure to work with you.”
“Yes, hello to you.”
Her manner toward Urelka was more cordial than it had been toward Marcos, though not quite as warm as when she addressed Yeon-u.
Still, Urelka seemed satisfied with the greeting.
Next came Gudru.
“A Nine-tailed Fox—I’ve never seen one before. You’re lovely.”
‘The harpy complained that he was just a mass of germs and wanted nothing to do with him. And now a troll…’
Yeon-u watched their first encounter with some concern.
He couldn’t help her nature, but if she became too cold to the other crew members, he’d step in and put a stop to it himself.
The last thing he needed was a fight breaking out on a battleship with nowhere to escape.
Hwa-ryeon, who had been looking straight up at Gudru,
“Oh, what an adorable troll you are.”
smiled brightly and waved her hand at him with a graceful flutter.
An entrancing eye-smile came with it.
‘…Where, exactly?’
A truly peculiar exchange between monsters.
Urelka had mentioned that trolls were gentlemen of their kind.
“Troll, I greet you.”
Gudru extended a single finger toward Hwa-ryeon.
Hwa-ryeon accepted the troll-style handshake with good cheer.
“That’s right—I’m counting on you too.”
Truly harmonious.
So, to sum up this meeting:
“…Why do they only do this to me…”
Only Marcos stood there, having endured harsh words and sunk into gloom.
Could the monsters sense the strange, eccentric aura emanating from Marcos?
‘Well, monsters probably have sharper instincts than most.’
As Yeon-u nodded to himself, Urelka provided further explanation.
“The Nine-tailed Fox is an inscrutable race, and when angered, quite terrifying indeed. But generally speaking, they’re an affectionate sort.”
“Hmm.”
“However… maintenance crew tend to dislike harpies, so those feelings may have compounded.”
“The maintenance crew dislikes harpies?”
That caught him off guard.
Harpies were a naturally gifted flying race.
Shouldn’t they have a good relationship?
“Well, I suspect you’ll understand in time.”
Urelka shrugged his shoulders, as though the explanation would take too long to give now.
Meanwhile, Hwa-ryeon glanced around the space before speaking to Yeon-u.
“Captain, is there a Hangar or Maintenance Room somewhere? I’ll be spending most of my time there, so I’d like to have a look around~”
“Ah, I’m not entirely sure myself. The sub-captain would know.”
“Yes, I’ll be happy to show you. For now, we’re using the same space since we still have only a small number of Carrier Aircraft.”
Yeon-u wanted to see the Hangar for himself as well.
Except for that first summon, he’d only ever seen them launching into sortie.
Urelka took the lead, and the rest began to follow him out of the Summoning Chamber when
Marcos, apparently eager to grow closer to Hwa-ryeon, tried once more.
“My, I’ve never seen a Nine-tailed Fox mechanic before!”
It seemed like a textbook tactic—praising her to try to get on better terms.
“Is it that you think Nine-tailed Foxes belittle technology? Or is it that you find it distasteful for a Nine-tailed Fox to lay hands on a fighter at all?”
…He didn’t even break even.
“Ugh, c-cough… that’s not what I meant at all…”
Marcos stumbled backward, his words failing him.
“Tsk, you’re nothing but a hireling of that old social order.”
Hwa-ryeon lifted her chin disdainfully and turned away.
A deflated Marcos turned to Yeon-u.
“Captain, it seems the Nine-tailed Fox, Hwa-ryeon, really does hate me. And I haven’t even done anything…”
“Given time, you two will get along. Wait—hold on.”
Yeon-u had started to console Marcos when he paused, tilting his head.
“What did you just say?”
“That she dislikes me.”
“Who does?”
“That Nine-tailed Fox, Hwa-ryeon….”
Oh.
Yeon-u’s eyes widened in alarm, and he quickly cautioned Marcos.
“Never call her that.”
“Why not? She is a Nine-tailed Fox named Hwa-ryeon.”
“It just sounds wrong, that’s all.”
“What about ‘mechanic Hwa-ryeon’?”
“That won’t work either!”
“This is getting complicated….”
If he left things as they were, it felt like disaster was looming.
Yeon-u called out to Hwa-ryeon.
“Hwa-ryeon? Hwa-ryeon?”
‘This is trickier than I thought.’
“Yes, Captain? You called for me?”
Hwa-ryeon answered with a bright smile.
“Do you have a family name? You don’t have to go by just Hwa-ryeon, you know.”
“A family name? Well… up until now, people have only called me Hwa-ryeon.”
She pondered for a moment, then clapped her hands together with a small laugh.
“Since our clan is the Fire Clan, wouldn’t it work if you called me Hwa-ryeon?”
“Phew, that’s much better.”
The space warship seemed to have narrowly escaped a crisis.
Thank goodness her clan was the Fire Clan.
‘If it had been the Water Clan or Earth Clan, I’d really be…. Ugh!’
Yeon-u exhaled a deep sigh of relief.
“Right, from now on we’ll call her Hwa-ryeon.”
“I don’t really mind either way~.”
Lost in this serious discussion, Yeon-u had arrived at the Hangar before he knew it.
It was located just behind the Runway.
“This is the Hangar.”
Click.
As Urelka spoke, a heavy door leading into the Hangar swung open.
Beyond it stretched a space incomparably vast compared to the Summoning Chamber.
“Wow….”
Urelka had mentioned that since there weren’t many Carrier Aircraft yet, the Hangar doubled as the Maintenance Room.
But this scale made him wonder if it would even be possible to fill it with Carrier Aircraft.
Thunder Hound. Fullmail.
And the Gauntlet they’d just summoned, along with various kits and consumables, were arranged neatly in one corner.
Though they still looked absurdly small compared to the space, Yeon-u felt a quiet sense of accomplishment swell in his chest.
“I was going to ask about maintenance anyway—will you take a look? Use any reinforcement kits you can.”
“Well, I’m not sure how well it’ll go with limited tools, but I’ll give it my best shot~.”
Hwa-ryeon checked the simple tools dangling from her belt, then picked up a Monkey Wrench and walked slowly toward the Carrier Aircraft.
The atmosphere had shifted—she seemed far more serious now.
‘Does she work differently when it’s her specialty?’
That stance certainly did inspire confidence.
“Hmm….”
She appeared to be starting with the Fullmail.
Tap. Tap.
With intense focus, Hwa-ryeon gently tapped the Fullmail’s wing with the Monkey Wrench.
Yeon-u, Urelka, and Marcos watched quietly, exchanging low voices.
“Will it need a lot of repairs?”
“We have enough Scrap, so it should be fine.”
“We’ve only cleared up to the tenth floor, Captain. The Fullmail hasn’t even been used much.”
Then Hwa-ryeon nodded and spoke.
“Solid scrap.”
“….”
At the same time, the atmosphere around the captain, the vice-captain, and the pilots grew tense.
Hwa-ryeon moved slowly forward and approached the Gauntlet.
Tap. Tap.
She rapped the wing a few times before speaking.
“Not quite sturdy enough. Scrap.”
……
Last came the Thunder Hound.
Tap. Tap.
“Yellow and fast. Scrap.”
All three aircraft escaped her harsh judgment.
‘But we’ve flown them well enough until now, haven’t we?’
The pilots who had handled the machines themselves seemed to feel the injustice more keenly.
Marcos, and Gudru as well, both stepped forward toward Hwa-ryeon and spoke.
“Th-that’s not quite scrap, is it!”
“That’s right. The captain gave them to us.”
Hwa-ryeon let her words trail off, tapping the Monkey Wrench against her palm with sharp, deliberate sounds.
“Of course, the captain’s generosity in bestowing such a gift surely reaches toward the heavens, but…….”
With that, she pointed the wrench sharply at Gudru and Marcos, her voice turning ice-cold.
“Those who pilot such precious machines into this state have no right to speak, it seems?”
……
The two pilots could mount no rebuttal, and awkwardly pointed at each other instead.
“He’s the one who flew it.”
“No, it’s Hapi’s reckless piloting. Gudru saw it all.”
“What? Don’t blame me! You’re the one who keeps cramming everything in and calling it flying!”
As Marcos and Gudru raised their voices, Hwa-ryeon shut them down at once.
“Silence.”
……Yes, ma’am.
……Understood.
Urelka nodded as he watched the scene unfold.
“Pilots generally can’t stand up to maintenance technicians. In a sense, they’re the ones entrusted with their own lives. A technician needs that kind of authority.”
“I see…….”
Yeon-u bobbed his head uncertainly.
Watching her like this, she truly was terrifying.
Nine tails fanned out like a spray of arrows, her expression turning stern—it looked as though she might pluck the liver right from your body.
Hwa-ryeon turned her head sharply toward Urelka as well and spoke.
“Surely it’s the vice-captain’s duty to oversee that pilots don’t attempt reckless flying?”
“Th-that’s right…….”
Regardless of rank or grade, Urelka found himself equally unable to move against Hwa-ryeon.
But she wasn’t wrong.
From a maintenance technician’s perspective, needing to keep the Carrier Aircraft in continuous working order meant it was something that had to be said, without hesitation.
Yeon-u felt the prick of conscience and offered an apology of his own.
“I should have been more vigilant myself. I’m sorry.”
“My! How could a captain who has only just boarded a battleship concern himself with such trivial matters? The captain bears no fault whatsoever—not even this much! Please, think nothing of it!”
Uu……
Hwa-ryeon’s manner toward Yeon-u had shifted a complete one-eighty, speaking to him in honeyed tones—a sight that prompted Marcos to let out a low, quiet snicker, though he didn’t dare point it out openly.
In the end, three creatures stood before Hwa-ryeon, utterly unable to move.
Sigh.
After regarding them with keen, piercing eyes for a moment, Hwa-ryeon breathed out a small sigh and turned to Yeon-u.
“Captain, would it be possible for me to receive Scrap Usage Authority?”
“Scrap Usage Authority?”
Before he could finish repeating her question, a window materialized before Yeon-u’s eyes.
「Maintenance Technician Hwa-ryeon requests Scrap Usage Authority.
Do you approve?」
Hwa-ryeon smiled widely and nodded.
“Yes, indeed—seeing is better than a hundred tellings! These creatures, these monsters who don’t have a shred of regard for machinery, will only come to their senses once they’ve witnessed what I can truly do.”
Thack! Thack!
With that, Hwa-ryeon began tapping the Monkey Wrench against her opposite palm with sharp, measured strikes.
“Um…… I beg your pardon, but Maintenance Technician Hwa-ryeon, perhaps if you put down the wrench, it would be less, ah, frightening to listen…….”
“What did you just say? Are you telling me to abandon the very instrument of a technician’s livelihood?”
“N-no, not at all. Yes.”
Marcos’s complaint was swiftly suppressed.
‘Besides, Scrap has to be used for maintenance anyway…….’
Once the Clearing was complete, Yeon-u would disembark from the Carrier Aircraft.
It was impractical to return every time Scrap was needed just to grant permission, so Yeon-u had transferred his Scrap Usage Authority to Hwa-ryeon.
“Thank you so much, Captain~.”
Hwa-ryeon offered a respectful bow, then narrowed her eyes and addressed Marcos and Gudru.
“The foundation of maintenance begins with operating a machine without putting unnecessary strain on it. From today on, you pilots will learn the basics of maintenance from me, so pay close attention.”
“Huh?!”
“Troll’s an idiot. Doesn’t know maintenance.”
At Hwa-ryeon’s words, both pilots jumped in protest.
Yeon-u silently agreed.
‘Come to think of it, they said he couldn’t even fuel the thing himself.’
He’d grant that combat aircraft were complicated and temperamental machines, but surely they ought to know the basics of maintenance.
Yeon-u quietly stepped back and turned to Urelka, who stood beside him.
“What do you think, Vice-Captain?”
“Well, it seems like a sound idea.”
“Vice-Captain, why are you saying that too? Wait—when did you even get over to her side?”
“Oh, poor Troll.”
Even Urelka, the one he’d trusted, had been won over to Hwa-ryeon’s camp.
But regardless of whose side anyone took, there was nothing wrong with learning a skill.
Yeon-u offered Hwa-ryeon a word of caution.
“Still, don’t be too harsh about it. No fighting aboard my ship.”
Hwa-ryeon smiled reassuringly and nodded.
“Of course, Captain~. You needn’t worry at all. We Nine-tailed Fox are incapable of saying unkind things to others—it’s simply not in our nature.”
‘That’s what she says…….’
But hadn’t she already done it far too many times?
And done it so very naturally too.
Yeon-u still remembered how Hwa-ryeon had greeted Marcos when they first met.
“All right, then. I’ll leave it to you.”
The moment Yeon-u finished speaking.
Thud!
A large piece of Scrap, resembling a mass of corroded metal, appeared in the Hangar.
“Then I’ll briefly demonstrate my skills for you, Captain.”
With Gudru’s help, Hwa-ryeon moved the Barrier and Plasma Gun kit toward the Carrier Aircraft.
‘Is she saying she’ll swap those in right now?’
Yeon-u had once watched a documentary about aircraft maintenance crews at a fighter base.
It was grueling work—the kind that deserved to be called an extreme profession.
Even if Hwa-ryeon was a monster, her frame was delicate, and without proper equipment, could she really perform a modification?
As such thoughts crossed his mind.
Hwaaaaahhh!!!!
Hwa-ryeon’s crimson hair blazed with light as she closed her eyes in concentration.
Pap-pap-pap-pap!
Then, around her, flames the size of baseballs blossomed into being.
“These are Fox-fire—what I use when I perform maintenance.”
The moment Hwa-ryeon named her flames.
Fwoom-fwoom-fwoom!
The Fox-fire melted away the box’s packaging with surgical precision, revealing its contents.
Whoosh! Clang!
At the same time, she disassembled the existing Laser Gun mounted on the Thunder Hound with ghostly dexterity.
Using Fox-fire, she’d melted away only the connecting components with perfect cleanliness.
“They were consumables whose durability was already exhausted anyway. Thanks to certain someones.”
Flinch!
At Hwa-ryeon’s words, wrapped in her brilliant Fox-fire, those “someones” shuddered visibly.
“Then, Gudru?”
“Y-yes, Troll, I’ll help.”
Gudru scrambled over and positioned the Plasma Gun in place of the old Laser Gun.
Whirrrr! Whoosh!
‘Wait, when did she…?’
Before Yeon-u could even process what was happening, Hwa-ryeon had already secured the Plasma Gun and reinforced it further with Fox-fire.
The materials that went into the connection were melted from Scrap using Fox-fire as well.
Even if F+ Grade mecha are relatively small, that’s a given.
Still, watching weapons weighing hundreds of kilograms per unit get swapped out in the blink of an eye felt like witnessing a miracle.
Whoooosh!
And that wasn’t all—the Fox-fire continued melting Scrap and spreading it across the mecha’s surface.
While I didn’t know much about fighter maintenance, the way visible scratches and damage became smooth as new in an instant was genuinely wondrous.
Urelka pushed his glasses up with a soft sound, admiring the sight.
“Using Fox-fire like that is quite innovative. For maintenance work, it’s truly an exceptional application.”
“Well…….”
Just as Marcos had corrected their impression of him through sheer skill.
Hwa-ryeon, too, had worried at first whether she could truly adapt to life aboard a space warship, but now things were entirely different.
Snap.
Yeon-u, Urelka, and Marcos all gave her a thumbs-up in unison.
“That’s, that’s amazing!”
“Truly excellent work.”
“I, I’ll keep learning!”
Hwa-ryeon waved her hand lightly, scattering the Fox-fires, then smiled and spoke with a chuckle.
“What’s the fuss over something like this? I’ll have it all spick-and-span, so Captain, you can stop worrying and head back whenever~.”
Yeon-u felt the same way.
“Then Marcos, Gudru—help Hwa-ryeon with whatever she needs for a while. I’ll come back tomorrow.”
“Yes, Captain!”
“Captain, rest easy. Gudru works well.”
He promptly left the space warship.
Even after Yeon-u returned home that day.
「1 Scrap consumed.」
「1 Scrap consumed.」
「1 Scrap consumed.」
The work continued without pause, and such notifications kept appearing for quite some time.
And the next day.
Gleaming bright!
“……are these really the Carrier Aircraft I summoned?”
“Hehe, since it was my first time, I put some effort into it. The performance should have improved quite a bit from before, Captain!”
Yeon-u stared open-mouthed at the Thunder Hound and Fullmail—shining as if brand new, no, far more radiant than brand new.
Of course, behind that brightness lay.
“Captain, please just have me fly instead…… bawk-bawk.”
“Gudru, exhausted.”
Hwa-ryeon’s hidden toil was evident in how grimy and worn Marcos and Gudru had become overnight.
“You think we can clear Floor 10 with these?”
“Oh my, they’re just complaining~ I haven’t held tools in so long, it’s actually energizing me?”
That actually seemed true.
Hwa-ryeon’s face was all the more radiant for it.
And Hwa-ryeon leaned close to Yeon-u’s ear and whispered softly.
“There’s a technique I’ve taught them, so it should be even more helpful.”
“What kind of technique?”
Yeon-u felt a little curious about the technique the Nine-tailed Fox had taught them, but he didn’t hear the answer.
— Captain, you should come up to the Bridge right now.
On the Bridge where he’d gone in response to Urelka’s summons.
Yeon-u looked at the ship floating right in front of the Bridge viewscreen and the communication request display, then asked sourly.
“Why is he here?”
“I’m not entirely sure myself…… but it seemed like something you should hear, so I asked you to come up.”
Just when I thought things had quieted down, suddenly this?

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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