What Do You Mean I'm The Captain Of A Yandere Mercenary Company?

Yumiko looked around the kitchen with a look of awe on her face.

"So this is where you make your food? This place is amazing…" She gasped.

Yeah, despite the fact that she has eaten so much of my food, this was her first time stepping into the dining room since she was stuck in her Power Armour the entire time while she was travelling with us before.

"These appliances… They must have cost a lot right? No… How are you even able to get your hands on all this? They wouldn't have sold this to just anyone…"

"I had connections," I explained vaguely.

She simply nodded at my answer and I think she thought this was me admitting to being a noble but I didn't bother explaining further.

It was almost time for dinner so I was preparing to cook for everyone again. But since it wasn't ready yet, the others were doing their own things for now and would come here once it was prepared.

Since Yumiko doesn't actually have a role on the ship yet, she's the only one with me now and she was curious on how I cook anyway so she didn't mind accompanying me.

On that note, I was still wondering what I could make since this would be the first time Renata was eating with us and also Yumiko's first time watching me cook.

My first idea was to go for the shared dining style where I would make several main dishes that we would share at the table instead of everyone having their own plates.

But I don't think that's a good idea for their first time since my girls are all veterans at this point.

What do I mean by that?

Well, let's just say that in that sort of scenario, the table basically becomes a warzone where food can disappear in the blink of an eye.

Even if they won't snatch food off your plate, anything in the communal plates is free for the taking so if you don't grab fast, it's going to be gone in an instant.

And if I do that… Renata and Yuminko might end up not having anything to eat…

I guess the best choice was to make a dish for everyone so they can each enjoy their individual dishes without worrying too much.

"So what are you making?" Yumiko asked, turning back to face me.

I tapped the side of my cheek, "I'm still thinking… Is there anything you prefer to eat?"

"Honestly, everything you've made for me when I was travelling with you was absolutely perfect so I have no preferences."

I thought that she might say that…

Well, let me think then… Maybe I can… Oh! I know! Let's make some curry rice!

I can cook the curry sauce and the rice and then add the individual toppings for each plate separately. That should be perfect for everyone since I can also give Ries more fish on her plate too~

Alright, let's get to work!

I started gathering all the ingredients I needed while Yumiko watched.

Once I've pulled out all the things I need, I started preparing them by washing and cutting them.

"What are you doing now?" She asked, genuine curiosity on her face.

"First time seeing someone cook?" I chuckled, not slowing down my movements.

"In the way you are doing it? Yes. Usually the ones I'm used to seeing are just people pressing buttons and that's the extent of what they do."

"Hmm? Haven't you eaten organic food before?"

"I have, but as far as I know, it's the same for those cases as well. The chefs have this conveyor belt with machines attached to them and they just go to each step of the conveyor belt to make the food. I've never actually seen a person handle food directly with their hands like that…"

"That honestly sounds depressing."

She gave me a weird look, "That's just what is considered normal here. Forgive me, Tera… But I really must know… Are you actually a Noble?"

"Could I ask why you need to know?"

"In case it wasn't clear enough, I do have a bad history with them."

"What? Was your commanding officer a Noble or something?"

"More of the entire Noble society in general."

Hmm… Fine. I guess we might as well just rip off the band aid now.

Since we're alone, this should be fine, right?

"I will need you to swear on your honour that whatever I'm about to tell you stays within this group."

She must have heard the seriousness in my voice and straightened herself, "On my honour, I will keep your secret with my life."

Knowing that she was someone that was serious about the honour stuff, I nodded at her, "I am not from this universe."

She stared at me and I just let what I said sink in while I busied with preparing the hamburg meat I was planning to put on top of their rice.

"I'm waiting for you to say that you're joking," She finally reacted.

"It's not a joke," I told her seriously.

"Do the others know about this?"

"Yes. It's a long story so are you prepared?"

She nodded, "Since I will be a member of this group, I would like to know."

I took a deep breath before I started to tell her about my origins, something that I have grown used to doing after needing to explain it to my girls before.

I told her about how I had thought this was a game, how I woke up in my ship and how I was originally from Earth.

Throughout my whole explanation, she listened without interrupting while I continued to prepare the ingredients for dinner.

"And yeah… That's why my end goal is basically to look for Earth because I want to know for sure that this isn't the universe that I know," I finished, just as the timer for the rice cooker started to chime.

I gave her a moment to digest everything I told her while I shut off the rice cooker, returning in front of her to send a message to my girls to tell them that dinner was almost ready.

"So… You're really from another universe?" She finally muttered.

"Seems like it. Unless I've been hallucinating and had false memories implanted in me the entire time."

"I see… This certainly changed my views on you."

"What? Are you going to say I'm delusional or something? That I'm off my meds?"

"No… It's just… Hmm… I guess if I think back on it, it does explain some things about you. You don't really act like someone who belongs here and your thinking obviously is outside of what the people here would think is common sense."

I shrugged while I started scooping out the rice onto the plates for each of the girls, "Pretty much. You probably realised that when I don't even know about the dwarves, right? In my universe, humanity's space technology wasn't even that advanced."

She then went deep into thought as if she was considering something before she looked up again.

"Tera… Could I… Ask something?"

I raised an eyebrow at her, "If you're going to ask if you can reconsider joining this Mercenary company, I would say it's too late. You're either one of us now or I'm shooting you out the airlock."

She shuddered and I thought it was from fear of the threat I gave her but then I saw her tail wagging behind her quite noticeably.

I didn't get to ask her about it before she decided to go ahead to ask her question.

"What role should I occupy here?"

Ah, that's a good question.

She quickly added, "I mean, I know I will take part in combat situations and I guess I could be a guard for the ship… But you have Renata to do that anyway. And it's not like you need me to patrol the ship as well. So I'd feel like I was redundant if I took that role."

I poured the curry on the side of the plate, "Hmm… Now that I think about it… Have you operated a communications console before?"

"You mean if I have the qualifications to be a communications officer? Yes, I do."

"Perfect then. Right now Mara is doing that and she's supposed to be the ship's doctor so you can take over her in that place. I always felt bad that I had to pull her away from her medical room when we're flying."

"Ah, in that case, I would be happy to do that."

Perfect! Then our positions are all properly filled now!

I finished plating the first dish and set it aside, the smell of curry and meat wafting through the kitchen which made Yumiko take a deep breath.

"Oh… That smells so good… Just for the food alone, Tera, I would have chosen to join your group even if I had no other reason to do so."

Before I could respond to that, the door slid open and my girls all rushed in with Amber literally flying in ahead of them to crowd in front of me.

"Tera!! We're here!!!"

Ok, ok, geez… Calm down girls…