Mezametara Saikyou Soubi to Uchuusen-mochi datta node, Ikkodate Mezashite Youhei to shite Jiyuu ni Ikitai - Ch. 59

[Morose]

but we're not told of anything like that going on so it's just a plot hole.

Because not everything needs to be mentioned immediately in a story. A lot of stuff are explained over a period of time within the plot.

It's like saying, Rowling needed to explain how Harry Potter had become a Horcrux in the very first volume, rather than in the last volume.

Plus you are basing a lot of stuff based on how Western system work, but not on how Asian system work.

They could issue an APB for him all throughout their territory and that of their allies, like how a real country hauls in people for questioning, when they don't want to come in by themselves. Assuming they don't just want to snatch him up on the down-low and send specialists like that after him, which other states would also be likely to try.

And what would be the benefit of that?

On one hand you say that, not questioning him is potential for allowing other countries to try and entice him and his info, aka., handing him to other countries.

But on the other hand, you are saying that they needed to double down on him and corner him to get the info he has by issuing an APB.
While there is high potential risk of him escaping to an enemy nation, just because they cornered him too much (Hiro had already said to Serena that he would do that exactly if Empire military came after him too hard).

How exactly can they be sure he does not have ties to the Federation, some other hostile state or organization, when they just ignore him? The whole thing could be some false flag operation to hide another invasion or worse, a sign that their enemies have access to knowledge and tech realted to crystal lifeforms and were just testing it there, while also escalating hostilities between the two. Getting to the bottom of this is a pressing issue no matter how you cut it.

Because ignoring what he did doesn't mean the can't observe him.

They don't really need to question him, when they can easily stalk him to check his background and stuff or even send a spy amid his group.

And like I said, pursuing him too much also has the potential risk of him running away to enemy nation.

You are of the notion that, "he has info, so he needed to be grillec to extract that info".

But ignore the fact that, Hiro is a person with piloting skills that allow him to escape hordes of Crystal Beings, which no one else can do. So escaping from military chase is easy for him. And doing so could cause him to instead flee to an enemy nation.

Aka., in pursuit of info and doubt without basis, you risk the potential of losing a powerful ally.

 

[BlackAeronaut]

Wait, this logic is bunk. Yes, it has to be known that messing with the crystals carries the risk of bringing a heap of enemy lifeforms to your location, but who's to say such an event is always accompanied by a "scream"? These occasions might have been the exception and the fleet's reaction even supports that.

Which fleet's reaction? You mean here?

https://mangadex.org/chapter/74f970af-d509-475b-9d4f-57b2557c6059/16

https://mangadex.org/chapter/0ca3b7c3-fe92-4097-950e-28ec6890c875/1

Last and first pages of those links, respectively, if it doesn't automatically take you to the specific pages.

Hiro's reaction on the last page of Chapter 10.1 is particularly telling. He knew it was coming. Granted, his experience is from the games, but the fact that his expectation matches up with what actually happened... yeah.

Also granted, the reactions of Mimi, Elma, and the rest of the radio chatter in Chapter 10.2 indicates this effect isn't as widely known as I thought, that's more of a matter of "I don't think enough people live to tell the tale for it to be anything more than an urban legend."

But I'm pretty sure that, given that messing with these singing crystals is forbidden just about everywhere, and the fact that it's called a "Singing Crystal" in the first place, means this is a known thing. (Yes, I know, "screaming" is not the same as "singing", but these are spacers we're dealing with. Spacers tend to have a warped sense of humor.)

 

[Jayvlad16]

Thank you for this chapter!🤛🏼😃👍🏼

 

[tonie]

You yourself mentioned this ability is related to a wider set of supernatural powers that will matter.

No, I did not. You're mixing me with somebody else. I only once jokingly mentioned "telepathy".

It's reasonable to assume a person who has unexplained knowledge and abilities himself might know something.

He told her not to dig how he has this knowledge. Also at this moment he has no abilities himself, you just read spoilers and try to mix it for argument's sake.

Why are you so adamant that not attempting to learn is the correct thing to do here, at any cost apparently?

Because of the above.

Picture this - what do you think would happen if the rest of the brass learned she had just such a potential source on hand, for an extended amount of time, yet couldn't be bothered to even try to seriously grill him for info for some strange reason? Do you think they'd accept such excuses?

She does not "have" anything. Hiro is a golden rank mercenary affiliated with the mercenary guild, not her subordinate. She can try to grill him as a friend but it's not like she can arrest him and he can just pack his things and leave and only the empire will be at loss here.
He's basically freelancer with protection of the guild.

As for your comment about him potentially refusing to anwser anything no matter what - what of it? If she doesn't even try then the result is the same: they learn nothing.

There are things better left unknown, that's why she decides not to press it. She doesn't fear what she might not learn but what she might learn.

why would it matter for whether the Empire attempts to find out in detail what went on?

Exactly, it doesn't matter whether the Empire finds out what or what hadn't happened, that's why they don't.

They know their officer was somehow able to get her hands on info that was unknown to the rest of the world, as far as they are aware.

Already answered that. Serena sneaked Hiro's info into the scouting fleet's battle data and fooled the higher ups as if it's a result of an extensive analysis (Ch. 56.2 Page 2, 3). The don't suspect anything.

They also can see she's being evasive about her source

That's fine, but they know she has a source that she's unwilling to divulge.

Where did you get that from? She wasn't evasive about her source.
She wasn't truthful about it, but they have no doubts that she was truthful.

if everything went smoothly according to plan, that would mean she got all the intel and made good use of it

Empire believes it was not intel but analysis.

Her being "tired of trying to spin information" might sound cute, but it's doubtful it would fly with the admiralty when you remember that people died in those battles.

Sacrifices had to be made either way. She is not so cute to let some people dying let her bother. Besides she was warned he doesn't know everything.

An as I keep saying, this is exactly why both it and Serena should be primarily concerned with learning more, not whether it's a pain or not to pull on the MC's tounge.

Since crystals are dead, the researchers will take the rest of the work anyway. They aren't as useless as you may think.

this is exactly why both it and Serena should be primarily concerned with learning more

Once again. The Empire will send their researchers. Serena already knows Hiro told her everything she needs to know and it's done already. She's got a new task anyway right now.

They are essentially leaving him for those rival states to scoop up and interrogate themselves - properly, in secret. Or is the notion of an intelligence service holding someone illegaly to get what he knows not something a space-faring civilization would do, in your opinion? Realistically, the Empire would have at least considered doing the same themselves, even if they made a different decision in the end. As it stands, it's just brainless writing...

Mercenaries are no civilian merchants that you can just pull to the side lane and kidnap them under the guise of a control, especially Hiro. He is flying a little fortress and has already made a name for himself. The forces they'd need to gather would bring alert to any imperial patrol fleet there is and if they tried using mercenaries, they'd have to go to some underground ones, assuming they can first locate where in the whole empire he actually is.
It's actually a miracle that Serena managed to find him so many times, but still manageable (She was basically chasing him for a while and this last one was basically a coincidence).

The issue is that they don't know what exactly they missed out on, on account of her being loyal to the MC instead of the nation she was a noble of.

They have no doubts about her loyalty.

How exactly can they be sure he does not have ties to the Federation, some other hostile state or organization, when they just ignore him?

He blew up the federation's flagship. Federation would love to kill him for that probably so yeah they're sure he's not with them. Some other state? He's a mercenary, tons of them could have ties to other states and what they can do? Nothing. They can't prosecute every mercenary there is, they're too reliant on them. So far they have no reasons to doubt him.

but it was not a success, because it went wildly off course.

It didn't go exactly as planned, but the operation was a major success. The Mother Crystal was destroyed, crystals stopped moving and thanks to Hiro acting as a distraction, he managed to prevent possible heavy casualties from the Empire's side. And it was Serena who personally (once again) hired Hiro. That he had acted on his own was only thanks to his own intuition and because he's a mercenary, not some military commander bounded by military regulations.
Was it her fault that there was a possibility of casualties? They how about not engaging in any military operation for ever? After all that way they will avoid any casualties at all, right? They're not kids, they're military officers. They know not everything goes according to plan.

Their cooperation is truly excellent and Empire has no reason to complain.

 

[finalm]

Truthfully, the Top Brass of the military would never even consider the possibility that the source of all the Crystal Beings info provided by Serena is a single non-enhanced mercenary who haven't been active for that long either.

They would rather believe the info is from several recon missions, which was analysed by a noble with enhanced processing capabilities.

If they made her fess up, there wouldn't be any reason not to believe her. It's one thing to be evasive, but lying to their faces would not go down well and she knows that. What they wouldn't believe is that the MC has good intentions towards the Empire. They'd suspect him of being an enemy agent whose purpose is to harm them both directly (by crazy stunts like the one with the crystal) and indirectly through manipulated intel (after feeding them some amount of good info, in order to seem legit). All the more reason to grab him.

For example, think that there are two source of info regarding a new creature. One is said to originate from a random person who came and claimed to have info on it, while the other is said to be by someone you know who had consolidated various research and recon info.

Who would you believe more, even if both are true.

I mean, timeline wise, Hiro should technically still be a Rookie Mercenary, as it hasn't even been a year since he became a Mercenary but he is already Gold Rank.

We are talking about a situation in which they already know there's something suspicious going on. It was already said they figured out Hiro was behind the incident and even fear others learning of it. Plus, he made it out alive against all reason, as if he long since planned it out. It's already an implausable narrative so if it were me, I'd certainly have that investigated thouroghly.

The thing is, as long as everyone ignore the issue, no one will find out.

The Federation doesn't know that a Singing Crystal was used against them during their Invasion.
Only the invading force had the full info. Aka., a unknown ship suddenly attacked them, a mysterious scream triggered and Crystal Beings started to gather.

And most of those invading forces are either now dead or captured by the empire. Aka., to the Federation leaders, all they know is that their mission had failed because of an unexpected attack by Crystal being monsters.

You yourself claimed there was a high probability of the intel they'd learn from the MC leaking to enemy nations. That could only happen if the Empire's military was full of spies in high stations. Now you say no one would find out? Make up your mind...

Also it's not about brainless writing.
Yeah, i wouldn't claim that some of the writing isn't bad, as it's clearly is.

But a lot of stuff are clear cut.
Even in real life, military or police doesn't also question every aspect of stuff that happen if there is no negative drawbacks. While i don't know how it's in West, but in East it's quite common. Aka., ignore stuff that are bothersome if there is no negative issue from doing so.

A soldier or policeman might not question a lot of things if their nation is in peace time and it's just another Monday without incident. Try them again when they've already repeled invasions from a hostile country and expect it's agents to be buzzing around. Especially since we're talking about high command, not regular grunts here.

Keep in mind, what most of the Authors (especially Japanese rookie authors) typically write, are always directly or indirectly influenced by their own culture.

Well, Japan is currently gearing up to expect the kind of trouble from Russia (over the Kuril islands escalation) that Europe has been dealing with all those years, so maybe you'll get to see for yourself if it's really a cultural issue.

 

[finalm]

He told her not to dig how he has this knowledge. Also at this moment he has no abilities himself, you just read spoilers and try to mix it for argument's sake.

And she had no reason to oblige him. This is what I mean that she has more loyalty to him than her people. For no reason.

She does not "have" anything. Hiro is a golden rank mercenary affiliated with the mercenary guild, not her subordinate. She can try to grill him as a friend but it's not like she can arrest him and he can just pack his things and leave and only the empire will be at loss here.
He's basically freelancer with protection of the guild.

Are you claiming the guild is powerful enough to simply shelter someone the Empire is determined to interrogate? Because that is the only way this could really be considered out of her hands. If so, maybe they should be dealing with all these problems...

There are things better left unknown, that's why she decides not to press it. She doesn't fear what she might not learn but what she might learn.

No there aren't. That's just magical thinking, in no way can not knowing be better than knowing and thus being able to decide how to deal with it, if at all. We are talking about things of possible strategic interest to the state, not childhood traumas.

Exactly, it doesn't matter whether the Empire finds out what or what hadn't happened, that's why they don't.

Not even remotely what I said.

Already answered that. Serena sneaked Hiro's info into the scouting fleet's battle data and fooled the higher ups as if it's a result of an extensive analysis (Ch. 56.2 Page 2, 3). The don't suspect anything.

They might not have before the battle, now it's just not realistic for that to be the case.

Where did you get that from? She wasn't evasive about her source.
She wasn't truthful about it, but they have no doubts that she was truthful.

Empire believes it was not intel but analysis.

Would you believe someone to be truthful if they came to you with novel, groundbreaking knowledge about alien lifeforms and claimed it was due to some vague "analysis" that they can not elaborate on?

Sacrifices had to be made either way. She is not so cute to let some people dying let her bother. Besides she was warned he doesn't know everything.

Since she agreed not to question him further, she can only guess what else he could provide. The natural question to ask is, what if it was something that would prevent any casualties. It's certainly what her superiors would ask.

Since crystals are dead, the researchers will take the rest of the work anyway. They aren't as useless as you may think.

I never said anything about that and anyway, not the point in this discussion. Whatever they learn in hindsight will not negate the cost they already paid for missing the opportunity to learn before.

Once again. The Empire will send their researchers. Serena already knows Hiro told her everything she needs to know and it's done already. She's got a new task anyway right now.

She doesn't know, it's not like he was forthcoming with explaining why he's being secretive. While I suppose it's possible that she believed he told her everything, that would be far too irrational to ever take her seriously again. She's basically just met him, after all.

Mercenaries are no civilian merchants that you can just pull to the side lane and kidnap them under the guise of a control, especially Hiro. He is flying a little fortress and has already made a name for himself. The forces they'd need to gather would bring alert to any imperial patrol fleet there is and if they tried using mercenaries, they'd have to go to some underground ones, assuming they can first locate where in the whole empire he actually is.
It's actually a miracle that Serena managed to find him so many times, but still manageable (She was basically chasing him for a while and this last one was basically a coincidence).

So you're saying he'd become another fugitive on the run from that nation and it's allies. Sure, I guess. If he's willing to swallow that pill just to avoid anwsering questions he was willing to anwser to a random tourist planet AI when bored, more power to him. And more nonsense for the plot...

They have no doubts about her loyalty.

No source on that.

He blew up the federation's flagship. Federation would love to kill him for that probably so yeah they're sure he's not with them. Some other state? He's a mercenary, tons of them could have ties to other states and what they can do? Nothing. They can't prosecute every mercenary there is, they're too reliant on them. So far they have no reasons to doubt him.

Again, you pain being a mercenary as some sort of super diplomatic immmunity, for all countries at once, no less. Pure video game logic.

It didn't go exactly as planned, but the operation was a major success. The Mother Crystal was destroyed, crystals stopped moving and thanks to Hiro acting as a distraction, he managed to prevent possible heavy casualties from the Empire's side. And it was Serena who personally (once again) hired Hiro. That he had acted on his own was only thanks to his own intuition and because he's a mercenary, not some military commander bounded by military regulations.
Was it her fault that there was a possibility of casualties? They how about not engaging in any military operation for ever? After all that way they will avoid any casualties at all, right? They're not kids, they're military officers. They know not everything goes according to plan.

He disobeyed orders, broke formation and destroyed a massive object with a small ship, even after the whole fleet's bombardment could not. This is beyond the definition of "not according to plan". It's ridiculous and no amount of poining out how nice things turned out would stop the higher ups from descending on both his and Serena's asses, demanding explanations. In a sensibily written story that is. This seems to be a theme here...

Their cooperation is truly excellent and Empire has no reason to complain.

Being left out of the loop on things that could affect their future prospects both against crystals and other enemies would certainly make a country complain. Likely with extreme prejudice.

 

[finalm]

Because not everything needs to be mentioned immediately in a story. A lot of stuff are explained over a period of time within the plot.

It's like saying, Rowling needed to explain how Harry Potter had become a Horcrux in the very first volume, rather than in the last volume.

Plus you are basing a lot of stuff based on how Western system work, but not on how Asian system work.

Are you saying that this is addressed in the future? Or just going for the classic excuse that it could be, maybe? Also, what does that have to do with the "Asian system", whatever that even means?

And what would be the benefit of that?

On one hand you say that, not questioning him is potential for allowing other countries to try and entice him and his info, aka., handing him to other countries.

But on the other hand, you are saying that they needed to double down on him and corner him to get the info he has by issuing an APB.
While there is high potential risk of him escaping to an enemy nation, just because they cornered him too much (Hiro had already said to Serena that he would do that exactly if Empire military came after him too hard).

My mentioning of an APB was in response to your insinuation that the couldn't get him to sit for an interrogation even if they wanted to. But the real point was, they had him right there and then. There would be no escaping if they decided to press him. Not doing so and letting him leave was on the other hand, inviting others to do it instead. The worst scenario possible, since they learn nothing, while the enemy still does.

Because ignoring what he did doesn't mean the can't observe him.

They don't really need to question him, when they can easily stalk him to check his background and stuff or even send a spy amid his group.

So perpetually assign resources to stalk him, in the slim hope that they somehow intercept what they want to know when he slips up. Also risking that personel in possible confrontations with enemy agents or just the typical ridiculously dangerous stuff he gets up o regularily. All this instead of just leaning on him when he was within their reach... I'd like to see you pitch this plan to an intelligence agency.

And like I said, pursuing him too much also has the potential risk of him running away to enemy nation.

You are of the notion that, "he has info, so he needed to be grillec to extract that info".

But ignore the fact that, Hiro is a person with piloting skills that allow him to escape hordes of Crystal Beings, which no one else can do. So escaping from military chase is easy for him. And doing so could cause him to instead flee to an enemy nation.

Aka., in pursuit of info and doubt without basis, you risk the potential of losing a powerful ally.

Bro, he was physically on their command ships, with perhaps a sidearm to his name. If he can escape from there, he doesn't even need a ship, just let him zoom through space in his skivvies...

 

[finalm]

Which fleet's reaction? You mean here?

https://mangadex.org/chapter/74f970af-d509-475b-9d4f-57b2557c6059/16

https://mangadex.org/chapter/0ca3b7c3-fe92-4097-950e-28ec6890c875/1

Last and first pages of those links, respectively, if it doesn't automatically take you to the specific pages.

Hiro's reaction on the last page of Chapter 10.1 is particularly telling. He knew it was coming. Granted, his experience is from the games, but the fact that his expectation matches up with what actually happened... yeah.

Also granted, the reactions of Mimi, Elma, and the rest of the radio chatter in Chapter 10.2 indicates this effect isn't as widely known as I thought, that's more of a matter of "I don't think enough people live to tell the tale for it to be anything more than an urban legend."

But I'm pretty sure that, given that messing with these singing crystals is forbidden just about everywhere, and the fact that it's called a "Singing Crystal" in the first place, means this is a known thing. (Yes, I know, "screaming" is not the same as "singing", but these are spacers we're dealing with. Spacers tend to have a warped sense of humor.)

Yes, I meant the first page of the second link.

I assumed "singing crystal" was just a reference to it being a beacon for calling those things on top of your head. Like the myth of sirens calling sailors to them with supernaturally alluring songs.

 

[tonie]

And she had no reason to oblige him

OHOHOHOHO. This is where you are wrong. She has EVERY REASON (Ch.56.2, P.12) to oblige him.
Remember those times she got drunk at his ship? Well, Hiro's ship has cameras that monitor what happens inside.
Those drinking events were recorded as well. If she wants to have a single chance at a good marriage in the future (she does) she will oblige to him.

Are you claiming the guild is powerful enough to simply shelter someone the Empire is determined to interrogate?

In short, yes. It's their job to protect mercenaries from unreasonable nobles in the first place. If he didn't commit any crime and they can't prove he did, it's their right to cover for him. Besides he can just skip the guild, avoid any patrols and just try to escape the empire on his own. That's why he always got 6 months worth of rations on his ship.

Again, you pain being a mercenary as some sort of super diplomatic immmunity, for all countries at once, no less. Pure video game logic.

I recommend you reading this chapter, specifically Serena's meeting with her higher ups (Ch.52, P.10).
They are being careful with the mercenaries that are very capable because if they want to leave and they aren't bound by a contract, they cannot force them to stay unless they outright broke some imperial laws or attacked their fleets.
Mercenary guild's role is to gather the mercenaries, mediate between them and the request givers and in case of unreasonable requests are being made, they're going to protect their mercenaries. No matter if it's a noble or what.
But what I'm talkin

He's a mercenary, tons of them could have ties to other states and what they can do? Nothing. They can't prosecute every mercenary there is, they're too reliant on them. So far they have no reasons to doubt him.

I mean here that there are tons of mercenaries that and it might be impossible to track every mercenary tied to some hostile states, or maybe they can track them and that's why they aren't suspecting him because they have no reason. Who knows since the story is written from Hiro's perspective mainly. Besides it was Serena who believed him saying he's not a Federation's spy in the chapter 2. So if they have no reason to suspect he is a spy they won't arrest him and if you have any, try to make a list of them.

We are talking about things of possible strategic interest to the state, not childhood traumas.

She's a noble's daughter, not the emperor's. BTW What's strategic in there? I have no idea what you're talking about.

Not even remotely what I said.

Let's see.

That's all well and good, but why would it matter for whether the Empire attempts to find out in detail what went on? You are talking as if them remaining ignorant will somehow make all their rivals do the same as well.

What happened: Somebody probably used a singing crystal and destroyed Federation's fleet. Who cares?
Federation knows they didn't have singing crystal. Empire suspects Hiro did have it, but cannot prove it.
Federation lost their fleet, Empire won the battle. What's there more to investigate and why?

They might not have before the battle, now it's just not realistic for that to be the case.

And why would the her superiors be suspicious of her? She completed the task. Minor mishaps happened but overall it was a victory.

Would you believe someone to be truthful if they came to you with novel, groundbreaking knowledge about alien lifeforms and claimed it was due to some vague "analysis" that they can not elaborate on?

Well, would you come up with a better plan when their outpost which was reinforced with fleets from neighboring sectors and even some independent pirate suppressing fleet that was hauled from the middle of the empire and even then they nearly lost the battle or at least suffered major casualties?
They had to work something out if they didn't want to be overwhelmed by the next massive attack.
The world is not so beautiful that they can just sit idly and ignore apparently completely legit looking analysis that came from the sacrifice of one of the scouting fleet that somehow managed to get to the heart of the enemy's forces and barely returned to share their findings.

The natural question to ask is, what if it was something that would prevent any casualties. It's certainly what her superiors would ask.

She is not delusional. She talked with a mercenary not a god. And what her superiors would ask doesn't matter if he refused to talk at all with them.

Whatever they learn in hindsight will not negate the cost they already paid for missing the opportunity to learn before.

Whatever they learn will also not bring back their losses. Since they already won, they can take their time to learn.

She doesn't know, it's not like he was forthcoming with explaining why he's being secretive. While I suppose it's possible that she believed he told her everything, that would be far too irrational to ever take her seriously again. She's basically just met him, after all.

I don't know what you mean

So you're saying he'd become another fugitive on the run from that nation and it's allies. Sure, I guess.

Actually he mentions that he'd escape the empire more than once in the manga and the light novel and he certainly is prepared and has the means to do so, so I don't see a reason to doubt him. It's not like he's rooted in there and there aren't only Empire's allies around.

just to avoid anwsering questions he was willing to anwser to a random tourist planet AI when bored, more power to him. And more nonsense for the plot...

Not just to avoid answering question, but to avoid being dragged into Empire's conflicts. He really feared they will use him as some sort of suicidal hero who will win every battle for them.

No source on that.

The fact that she keeps getting promoted is self explanatory. You wouldn't promote a suspected traitor, would you?
And there's no source that they're doubting her at all either.

He disobeyed orders, broke formation and destroyed a massive object with a small ship, even after the whole fleet's bombardment could not. This is beyond the definition of "not according to plan".

Well, Serena admits it herself (Ch. 59, P.24) .

Your conduct as you performed actions without consulting anyone was hard to overlook. However I would not call a mercenary because of that alone. You are not proper military.

Basically she is not responsible for his actions. He's a mercenary and at worst they can give him some penalty fees or cut his pay. But because his actions proved to be essential to the overall victory, he's being rewarded instead.

It's ridiculous and no amount of poining out how nice things turned out would stop the higher ups from descending on both his and Serena's asses, demanding explanations.

Actually, now that I'm looking at the chapters... it was the higher ups who wanted Hiro (Ch.52, P.12), not Serena herself. It'd be ridiculous to expect them try to make him scapegoat when they were the ones who were responsible for his stay.

 

[Morose]

If they made her fess up, there wouldn't be any reason not to believe her. It's one thing to be evasive, but lying to their faces would not go down well and she knows that. What they wouldn't believe is that the MC has good intentions towards the Empire. They'd suspect him of being an enemy agent whose purpose is to harm them both directly (by crazy stunts like the one with the crystal) and indirectly through manipulated intel (after feeding them some amount of good info, in order to seem legit). All the more reason to grab him.

You are still stuck on the notion circle of "the Top Brass definitely know that Serena is lying to them" point.

Which is odd. I mean Serena didn't outright lie to them to begin with. All she did is hide the source of her info and diverted it to something else more logical.

Why would the Top Brass even waste their time on something hypothetical like "doubt the info source" to begin with, when one of their own claims something else. All they know is that Serena had collected the info and consolidated it and came up with the counter plan to attack the Crystal Beings.

Also, keep in mind, none of the Top Brass are actually at the outpost where the Battle was going on. All info is being shared and decisions being made through online meeting. So, why would they bother with trying to over-analyses something that's happening multiple Star Systems away from them (like millions or even billions of miles away).

Plus, why the heck would the Top Brass even doubt Hiro being some enemy agent, when everything he has done had been helpful for them to begin with?
I mean, he had helped them by,

• kill hundreds & thousands of pirates, helping in managing public order
• eradicating the Federation invading force
• help catch Nobles & Military officials who were acting against the Empire's interest
• emergency transport prototype weapon to an outpost region
• provide critical self-life endangering backup to rescue the collapsing army barricade line at the outpost
• provide critical support to finish of the Mother Crystal

There is also another factor as to why the Top Brass of the military won't doubt Hiro for being an enemy agent.

And that being, Hiro buying and including a Machine Intelligence like Mei in his group.

No enemy agent would ever include an Empire's MI in their group, if they want to be secretive about what they are doing.
Especially considering what was hinted back in Ch.27.

We are talking about a situation in which they already know there's something suspicious going on. You yourself said they already figured out Hiro was behind the incident and even fear others learning of it. Plus, he made it out alive against all reason, as if he long since planned it out. It's already an implausable narrative so if it were me, I'd certainly have that investigated thouroghly.

That was regarding just the usage of Singing Crystal back in Ch.10 plot, not the current Outpost situation.

As for analysis and investigation, they have already done it during the current Outpost plot, through battle data that was collected by their system, and they have deduced that what Hiro had done is basically impossible for any Human to do, even enhanced ones like Nobles. It might only be possibly for MI's to achieve something similar, but as Crystal Beings are also dangerous to them as they are to Humans, even MI's would avoid trying it.

Which is why Hiro received the nickname "Captain Psycho", because they believe only someone who isn't right in their head would do something like that. And someone who isn't right in their head would never be a spy or agent, as its too risky.

You yourself claimed there was a high probability of the intel they'd learn from the MC leaking to enemy nations. That could only happen if the Empire's military was full of spies in high stations. Now you say no one would find out? Make up your mind...

Yeah, things could leak, only if "info is gathered".
If there is no info gathered, how would it leak?

Aka., the military don't investigate or implicate Hiro for using a Singing Crystal, so nothing gets recorded.
The Info from the Invading force is just that a sudden attack from a Crystal Being horde destroyed them, so there is not much info to leak here, as Federation would also know that.

Basically, Hiro's direct involvement won't be known to enemy nation immediately. They might learn about it later, but by then it would be too late to use as political point. So all they could do is target Hiro as their enemy as he had interfered with their plans, so he is a thorn to them.

As for spy stuff. Which country or nation realistically doesn't have foreign spies at some major position?
I mean, there is a specific term as well called "Sleeper Agent", aka., specific people or their family who had integrated themselves in another nation and have no questionable background afters years or decade turn out to be working for enemy nation in secret, just as they strike when needed.

There is also the possibility of military officials or nobles being bribed to do work for them, aka., corruption is everywhere.

I mean, Chris arc already showcased how easy it was for a noble to bribe military officials.

And prior to that, it showed how easy it was for officials to blame someone for someone else's fault and destroy someone's life.
Aka., how Mimi was basically forced to go bankrupt after her parents death, as the official blamed Mimi's parents for the accident which took their life.
Or even Elma, who was unfairly fined with unrealistic deadline and almost got sent to a prison planet, just because the noble in-charge of handling her "damaging military equipment" case, hated mercenaries.

Even during when Hiro was teaching Serena and her Anti-Pirate fleet, about tactics to hunt pirates. He clearly said that there are many normal people in space colonies who help pirates by selling info to them. And these same pirates also trade info with other nations as well to gather tech and materials. There are also cases of illegal goods trading as well, many of which originate from outside the Empire. Aka., its not easy to manage every corner or aspect of an Empire, which is billions of miles in area.

A soldier or policeman might not question a lot of things if their nation is in peace time and it's just another Monday without incident. Try them again when they've already repeled invasions from a hostile country and expect it's agents to be buzzing around. Especially since we're talking about high command, not regular grunts here.

True, but they won't target the one who had helped them solve the issue.

They might investigate that person, and even keep an eye on them in secret, but won't openly interact with them unless needed.
Because if what that person is doing in directly or indirectly beneficial to them, then why even bother and let them do what they are doing while keeping an eye. And just wait to take action until that said person does something which is negative.

 

[finalm]

OHOHOHOHO. This is where you are wrong. She has EVERY REASON (Ch.56.2, P.12) to oblige him.
Remember those times she got drunk at his ship? Well, Hiro's ship has cameras that monitor what happens inside.
Those drinking events were recorded as well. If she wants to have a single chance at a good marriage in the future (she does) she will oblige to him.

Please tell me this is a joke, after reading further down, I can't tell with you anymore.

In short, yes. It's their job to protect mercenaries from unreasonable nobles in the first place. If he didn't commit any crime and they can't prove he did, it's their right to cover for him. Besides he can just skip the guild, avoid any patrols and just try to escape the empire on his own. That's why he always got 6 months worth of rations on his ship.

You keep coming back to "well, the law is that..." and I keep telling you that all it takes is to look around what's going on IRL to see that the law is malleable, subject to disagreement or even being ignored when a country feels it's worth it. I didn't ask whether the guild is supposed to have it's autonomy respected. I asked if it was able and willing to go into real conflict with the nation over a merc none of their members have any ties too (since he just joined).

I recommend you reading this chapter, specifically Serena's meeting with her higher ups (Ch.52, P.10).
They are being careful with the mercenaries that are very capable because if they want to leave and they aren't bound by a contract, they cannot force them to stay unless they outright broke some imperial laws or attacked their fleets.
Mercenary guild's role is to gather the mercenaries, mediate between them and the request givers and in case of unreasonable requests are being made, they're going to protect their mercenaries. No matter if it's a noble or what.
But what I'm talkin

Yes, I know that they are currently the middle man in supplying mercs, but do you truly think this is a strong card? Right now the Empire works with them, because why not? It's likely convenient and someone would have to take on the role anyway. What if they stop being convenient? For example, what if they try to deny service over a certain disagreement? The Empire can simply abolish them in their territory, set up their own equivalent (with better conditions for the contractors, so that few would complain) and be done with it. Is the guild going to take that risk, again, over one merc that they themselves know is hiding something and has no friends within it?

I mean here that there are tons of mercenaries that and it might be impossible to track every mercenary tied to some hostile states, or maybe they can track them and that's why they aren't suspecting him because they have no reason. Who knows since the story is written from Hiro's perspective mainly. Besides it was Serena who believed him saying he's not a Federation's spy in the chapter 2. So if they have no reason to suspect he is a spy they won't arrest him and if you have any, try to make a list of them.

They have all the reason in the world, especially after the mother crystal battle.

She's a noble's daughter, not the emperor's. BTW What's strategic in there? I have no idea what you're talking about.

You're saying the info he supplied so far is not of strategic value to the country? And what does her status have to do with it?

Let's see.

What happened: Somebody probably used a singing crystal and destroyed Federation's fleet. Who cares?
Federation knows they didn't have singing crystal. Empire suspects Hiro did have it, but cannot prove it.
Federation lost their fleet, Empire won the battle. What's there more to investigate and why?

And you saw... what exactly? Again, not even remotely addressing what I said. I was talking about the nonsense notion you proposed about their enemies remaining ignorant if they themselves do.

And why would the her superiors be suspicious of her? She completed the task. Minor mishaps happened but overall it was a victory.

That's like saying the whole Straight of Hormuz situation was a "minor mishap".

Well, would you come up with a better plan when their outpost which was reinforced with fleets from neighboring sectors and even some independent pirate suppressing fleet that was hauled from the middle of the empire and even then they nearly lost the battle or at least suffered major casualties?
They had to work something out if they didn't want to be overwhelmed by the next massive attack.
The world is not so beautiful that they can just sit idly and ignore apparently completely legit looking analysis that came from the sacrifice of one of the scouting fleet that somehow managed to get to the heart of the enemy's forces and barely returned to share their findings.

You ignored the question and went of on a tangent that has nothing to do with the issue. We were discussing whether she could realistically be considered trustworthy in the eyes of her superiors after those incidents, not whether they have other options.

She is not delusional. She talked with a mercenary not a god. And what her superiors would ask doesn't matter if he refused to talk at all with them.

Whatever they learn will also not bring back their losses. Since they already won, they can take their time to learn.

Again, you talking as if the higher ups were the readers of the manga. For the last time: they do not know what they are missing by not getting to the bottom of it, just like Serena does not know what the MC is still witholding from her, and we know he is - the origin of his knowledge at the very least. Since they do not know, it could be anything, including something that would make the casualties avoidable. Refusing to consider this is simply illogical.

Actually he mentions that he'd escape the empire more than once in the manga and the light novel and he certainly is prepared and has the means to do so, so I don't see a reason to doubt him. It's not like he's rooted in there and there aren't only Empire's allies around.

Oh, I didn't suggest he's bluffing. I'm just saying that he's a moron for being serious about it then. He's willing to be a perpetual fugitive with all the difficulty that brings, for nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the guild tried to cut ties with him after such a move, at the very least. If not haul him in themselves.

Not just to avoid answering question, but to avoid being dragged into Empire's conflicts. He really feared they will use him as some sort of suicidal hero who will win every battle for them.

I have a hard time believing the Empire would allow the mercs to opt out of it's conflicts, if they seriously needed the manpower. Can you name a real state that ever has? Feel free to use either contemporary or historical examples.

The fact that she keeps getting promoted is self explanatory. You wouldn't promote a suspected traitor, would you?
And there's no source that they're doubting her at all either.

I never said she was a suspected traitor. I said her superiors have to know that she isn't being truthful with them. That by itself might not be grounds to deny her promotion, especially if their nobility works anything like the historical aristocracy. Far too many factors to it to consider it "self explanatory".

Well, Serena admits it herself (Ch. 59, P.24) .

Basically she is not responsible for his actions. He's a mercenary and at worst they can give him some penalty fees or cut his pay. But because his actions proved to be essential to the overall victory, he's being rewarded instead.

Yes, I noticed that. This is also brainless writing to the point that I pitty the agency whose editors let it slide. A mercenary hired by the army is not some video game protagonist that can do whatever he wants on the battlefield. He has a commanding officer, like all other soldiers and will be held responsible for disobaying orders. Otherwise why even give him orders, or are they suggestions?

Actually, now that I'm looking at the chapters... it was the higher ups who wanted Hiro (Ch.52, P.12), not Serena herself. It'd be ridiculous to expect them try to make him scapegoat when they were the ones who were responsible for his stay.

As stated above, they hired him with the expectation that he'll join their forces under their command. Also, this only strengthens the thesis that they know he's behind all these incidents and thus must know Serena's been leading them on.

 

[finalm]

You are still stuck on the notion circle of "the Top Brass definitely know that Serena is lying to them" point.

Which is odd. I mean Serena didn't outright lie to them to begin with. All she did is hide the source of her info and diverted it to something else more logical.

She said her outstanding knowledge about the crystals was a result of some vague "analysis" and scouting, whic is a blatant lie.

Why would the Top Brass even waste their time on something hypothetical like "doubt the info source" to begin with, when one of their own claims something else. All they know is that Serena had collected the info and consolidated it and came up with the counter plan to attack the Crystal Beings.

Because things constantly go haywire when she pitches a plan to them. Hardcore, as the last battle shows. While it's true no plan survives confrontation with reality, that refers to the details, not something like winning entirely due to one merc ship, when they send a sector's army.

Also, keep in mind, none of the Top Brass are actually at the outpost where the Battle was going on. All info is being shared and decisions being made through online meeting. So, why would they bother with trying to over-analyses something that's happening multiple Star Systems away from them (like millions or even billions of miles away).

Because that's their job and the first operation of it's like ever? Are you serious, dude?

Plus, why the heck would the Top Brass even doubt Hiro being some enemy agent, when everything he has done had been helpful for them to begin with?
I mean, he had helped them by,

• kill hundreds & thousands of pirates, helping in managing public order
• eradicating the Federation invading force
• help catch Nobles & Military officials who were acting against the Empire's interest
• emergency transport prototype weapon to an outpost region
• provide critical self-life endangering backup to rescue the collapsing army barricade line at the outpost
• provide critical support to finish of the Mother Crystal

Because that's what infiltrators do, they show themselves as helpful to the cause. Why would anyone let them in otherwise? Not to even mention that some of that might not have even been his intention. The singing crystal fiasco in particular could have worked in their favour by accident.

There is also another factor as to why the Top Brass of the military won't doubt Hiro for being an enemy agent.

And that being, Hiro buying and including a Machine Intelligence like Mei in his group.

No enemy agent would ever include an Empire's MI in their group, if they want to be secretive about what they are doing.
Especially considering what was hinted back in Ch.27.

It was already established that MI do not owe real allegiance to the Empire and probably no other human nation. If anything it only suggests he's working on their behalf, for goals unknown. Maybe not as bad as working with enemy humans (though who knows?), but certainly not a reason to consider him an anything but a spy.

That was regarding just the usage of Singing Crystal back in Ch.10 plot, not the current Outpost situation.

As for analysis and investigation, they have already done it during the current Outpost plot, through battle data that was collected by their system, and they have deduced that what Hiro had done is basically impossible for any Human to do, even enhanced ones like Nobles. It might only be possibly for MI's to achieve something similar, but as Crystal Beings are also dangerous to them as they are to Humans, even MI's would avoid trying it.

Which is why Hiro received the nickname "Captain Psycho", because they believe only someone who isn't right in their head would do something like that. And someone who isn't right in their head would never be a spy or agent, as its too risky.

So he does the impossible multiple times, lives through it and seems to show up everytime things get ridiculous - yet it's not worth getting anwsers out of him? Even if not a spy, there's clearly something going on. Something their intelligence service should be all over by then.

Yeah, things could leak, only if "info is gathered".
If there is no info gathered, how would it leak?

I already explained - leaks are not even the main way their enemies would gather intel. They'd simply ask him themselves, which not only gets them the info but denies it to the Empire.

Aka., the military don't investigate or implicate Hiro for using a Singing Crystal, so nothing gets recorded.
The Info from the Invading force is just that a sudden attack from a Crystal Being horde destroyed them, so there is not much info to leak here, as Federation would also know that.

Basically, Hiro's direct involvement won't be known to enemy nation immediately. They might learn about it later, but by then it would be too late to use as political point. So all they could do is target Hiro as their enemy as he had interfered with their plans, so he is a thorn to them.

I already addressed this, we're going in circles here... since you ackonwledged the Empire knows what was up with that, so do their enemies, because the spies who relate it know at the same time as the rest of the brass. Also, what political point? Whad do politics have to do with it? We're talking purely military matters.

As for spy stuff. Which country or nation realistically doesn't have foreign spies at some major position?
I mean, there is a specific term as well called "Sleeper Agent", aka., specific people or their family who had integrated themselves in another nation and have no questionable background afters years or decade turn out to be working for enemy nation in secret, just as they strike when needed.

There is also the possibility of military officials or nobles being bribed to do work for them, aka., corruption is everywhere.

I mean, Chris arc already showcased how easy it was for a noble to bribe military officials.

There is also the possibility of military officials or nobles being bribed to do work for them, aka., corruption is everywhere.

I mean, Chris arc already showcased how easy it was for a noble to bribe military officials.

And prior to that, it showed how easy it was for officials to blame someone for someone else's fault and destroy someone's life.
Aka., how Mimi was basically forced to go bankrupt after her parents death, as the official blamed Mimi's parents for the accident which took their life.
Or even Elma, who was unfairly fined with unrealistic deadline and almost got sent to a prison planet, just because the noble in-charge of handling her "damaging military equipment" case, hated mercenaries.

Even during when Hiro was teaching Serena and her Anti-Pirate fleet, about tactics to hunt pirates. He clearly said that there are many normal people in space colonies who help pirates by selling info to them. And these same pirates also trade info with other nations as well to gather tech and materials. There are also cases of illegal goods trading as well, many of which originate from outside the Empire. Aka., its not easy to manage every corner or aspect of an Empire, which is billions of miles in area.

Yeah, that doesn't help your case. It only means I'm right to assume that everything the brass knows/suspects gets promptly funneled to other states.

True, but they won't target the one who had helped them solve the issue.

They might investigate that person, and even keep an eye on them in secret, but won't openly interact with them unless needed.
Because if what that person is doing in directly or indirectly beneficial to them, then why even bother and let them do what they are doing while keeping an eye. And just wait to take action until that said person does something which is negative.

Who? The nations hostile to the Empire? To them he is just as suspect. They don't have any better bearing of the situation, after all. Until they get their hands on him, at least. No intelligence service could affort to "wait for something negative", because that something would likely be far more than they can afford, after letting a suspected foreign agent run around for so long. What would they even write in the raport? "We thought we'd wait and see how bad it could get"?

 

[tonie]

Please tell me this is a joke, after reading further down, I can't tell with you anymore.


You keep coming back to "well, the law is that..." and I keep telling you that all it takes is to look around what's going on IRL to see that the law is malleable, subject to disagreement or even being ignored when a country feels it's worth it. I didn't ask whether the guild is supposed to have it's autonomy respected. I asked if it was able and willing to go into real conflict with the nation over a merc none of their members have any ties too (since he just joined).


Yes, I know that they are currently the middle man in supplying mercs, but do you truly think this is a strong card? Right now the Empire works with them, because why not? It's likely convenient and someone would have to take on the role anyway. What if they stop being convenient? For example, what if they try to deny service over a certain disagreement? The Empire can simply abolish them in their territory, set up their own equivalent (with better conditions for the contractors, so that few would complain) and be done with it. Is the guild going to take that risk, again, over one merc that they themselves know is hiding something and has no friends within it?


They have all the reason in the world, especially after the mother crystal battle.


You're saying the info he supplied so far is not of strategic value to the country? And what does her status have to do with it?


And you saw... what exactly? Again, not even remotely addressing what I said. I was talking about the nonsense notion you proposed about their enemies remaining ignorant if they themselves do.


That's like saying the whole Straight of Hormuz situation was a "minor mishap".


You ignored the question and went of on a tangent that has nothing to do with the issue. We were discussing whether she could realistically be considered trustworthy in the eyes of her superiors after those incidents, not whether they have other options.


Again, you talking as if the higher ups were the readers of the manga. For the last time: they do not know what they are missing by not getting to the bottom of it, just like Serena does not know what the MC is still witholding from her, and we know he is - the origin of his knowledge at the very least. Since they do not know, it could be anything, including something that would make the casualties avoidable. Refusing to consider this is simply illogical.


Oh, I didn't suggest he's bluffing. I'm just saying that he's a moron for being serious about it then. He's willing to be a perpetual fugitive with all the difficulty that brings, for nothing. I wouldn't be surprised if the guild tried to cut ties with him after such a move, at the very least. If not haul him in themselves.


I have a hard time believing the Empire would allow the mercs to opt out of it's conflicts, if they seriously needed the manpower. Can you name a real state that ever has? Feel free to use either contemporary or historical examples.


I never said she was a suspected traitor. I said her superiors have to know that she isn't being truthful with them. That by itself might not be grounds to deny her promotion, especially if their nobility works anything like the historical aristocracy. Far too many factors to it to consider it "self explanatory".


Yes, I noticed that. This is also brainless writing to the point that I pitty the agency whose editors let it slide. A mercenary hired by the army is not some video game protagonist that can do whatever he wants on the battlefield. He has a commanding officer, like all other soldiers and will be held responsible for disobaying orders. Otherwise why even give him orders, or are they suggestions?


As stated above, they hired him with the expectation that he'll join their forces under their command. Also, this only strengthens the thesis that they know he's behind all these incidents and thus must know Serena's been leading them on.

Dude, just tell straight what you think is wrong? I think you have some misunderstanding about that situation so it'd be easier this way to solve it.

 

[Snuffy.Flicks]

I'm a potato!

 

[tonie]

I'm a potato!

It's fine to be a potato, as long as you don't complain about the story being bad just because you don't understand how the politics and economic system in the story works and think that the authorities can ignore the law at any moment to, for some delusional reason, go against people owning enough firepower to take down an entire colony within seconds.

 

[andrake]

Looks like the comments section has gotten messy.
I ended up re-reading the manga after going through the LNs and I will say I think the manga's portraying a lot of things better because the original author likes to reiterate things a lot and seems to really enjoy the worldbuilding more than the character-side of things (not necessarily a bad thing, just a matter of priority)

 

[finalm]

Dude, just tell straight what you think is wrong? I think you have some misunderstanding about that situation so it'd be easier this way to solve it.

After that wall of text I produced, you're going to have to be more specific as to which part you're referring to.

 

[tonie]

After that wall of text I produced, you're going to have to be more specific as to which part you're referring to.

Yeah, well, alright nevermind.
Those walls of text probably would get everyone confused.
I'd recommend reading it from beginning though. The story is written from the perspective of one person which is usually Hiro but if not present then Serena, Mimi, Elma etc. So if the person the story follows currently doesn't know something, such as an investigation being conducted, the story won't mention it, won't even foreshadow by putting some shadowed figures talking to each other in secret.
So yeah if you don't know or understand something just ask and I'll try explain to using as least spoilers as possible though.

Next arc will try to explain some things and after that we may or may not meet the best cat girl in the entire galaxy so I'd stay tuned!

 

[finalm]

Yeah, well, alright nevermind.
Those walls of text probably would get everyone confused.
I'd recommend reading it from beginning though. The story is written from the perspective of one person which is usually Hiro but if not present then Serena, Mimi, Elma etc. So if the person the story follows currently doesn't know something, such as an investigation being conducted, the story won't mention it, won't even foreshadow by putting some shadowed figures talking to each other in secret.
So yeah if you don't know or understand something just ask and I'll try explain to using as least spoilers as possible though.

Next arc will try to explain some things and after that we may or may not meet the best cat girl in the entire galaxy so I'd stay tuned!

It's not that I don't know. Well, okay I don't since I'm not a novel reader, but I only reference the events that already happened in the manga anyway. My point in all of this is and was from the beggining: it's mediocre writing, at least as far as worldbuilding goes, for the reasons I stated in those walls of text. If it were thought through better in the novel (for example, by at least mentioning that an investigation is quietly ongoing, nations are observing the MC and other things that logically follow), then I'd just put it down as destructive minimalism for the sake of adaptation. However, from what you've been responding (and the other person too) it does not seem like it at all. I still enjoy the series, mainly due to the characters. I just don't think the author is a very proficient storyteller.

 

[tonie]

It's not that I don't know. Well, okay I don't since I'm not a novel reader, but I only reference the events that already happened in the manga anyway. My point in all of this is and was from the beggining: it's mediocre writing, at least as far as worldbuilding goes, for the reasons I stated in those walls of text. If it were thought through better in the novel (for example, by at least mentioning that an investigation is quietly ongoing, nations are observing the MC and other things that logically follow), then I'd just put it down as destructive minimalism for the sake of adaptation. However, from what you've been responding (and the other person too) it does not seem like it at all. I still enjoy the series, mainly due to the characters. I just don't think the author is a very proficient storyteller.

I tried to cover all the points that you've raised up until now and here's the possibly final text wall of doom.

The novel starts with

Spoiler: Cold jolted me awake

"Cold jolted me awake.
Dark, freezing cold.
Where was I? A sea of magnificent stars swirled before me, vast and incomprehensible. I’d never witnessed such a sight in all my life."

immediately giving first person narrative. Almost every scene from that point forward is filtered through Hiro’s eyes and his limited knowledge (unless it showcases some other events but ones happening right now, like in Ch.29.2). By adhering to Hiro's first-person limited perspective, the narrative naturally restricts worldbuilding to what he personally experiences and discovers. This means readers only learn about political shifts, military movements, and galactic events as Hiro does, avoiding omniscient info-dumps and enhancing immersion. I think that is more welcoming than having to read the history of the galaxy in just the prologue alone... (Looking at you Mahouka... still I fairly enjoy it). And while indeed the author doesn't include any investigation foreshadowing, I never claimed there is or is not any. Only that if there is any, Hiro will have no knowledge of it until it is revealed.

Also I think you are missing some key points. Because of this perspective, the conflict such as Military vs Guild doesn't get explained much since he doesn't get in much conflicts. However his inner thoughts on receiving the award this time does give a bit of information.

"No matter how much I bragged about being a free mercenary, in reality, we were more like military sub-contractors. Especially people like me, who made most of our money killing space pirates. The mercenary guild could protect us from being abused by the military, but they wouldn’t protect me just because I wanted to spit in their faces by avoiding an award ceremony."

However even without this, basing on manga alone: How Serena and her Top Brass officers are careful about Hiro - a Gold Rank mercenary; How he trusts the guild will protect him most of the time; How many the pirates there are in the Empire (basically everywhere they go).
You can infer from those facts alone the following: The military does not have the upper hand over the guild and the guild needs the military. That is because:

• The guild receives most of their contracts from the military and military also pays out the bounties.
• The military basically outsources/supplements the internal safety of their trade routes to the guild and depending on their needs bolster their own numbers by hiring mercenaries' small ships.

Meaning that if there's a conflict between them, the Guild being unable to guarantee the mercenary's rights against the military will have no other choice but stop taking military's contracts and the mercenaries will move somewhere else to earn their keep. Had the Guild stopped taking escort jobs at just a single trade route, the military would have to use their slow, oversized ships to chase after small pirate speed boats which could flee right before the military appeared.
Hiro explains it plentifully in Ch. 16 (from page 11 onward).

That's why there's no need for an armed conflict between them. Both (Military and Guild / Serena and Hiro) are trying to keep up good relationships because they are relying on each other and especially Serena. Her fleet heavily relies on hiring small merc ships to chase after pirate ships and also on their expertise. If she forces Hiro into anything the guild calls unfair, her credibility with the guild will drop and mercenaries will be less likely to work for her.
In fact she very aggressively tries to scout Hiro from the beginning, but that is cut short when he repeatedly refuses her and in the end the guild intervenes (Ch. 15, P.15) so the only thing she can do is give him an offer he can't refuse.
She also cannot really force him to tell her how to defeat anyone (It'd be like forcing a small cola company to reveal their recipe for free to be copied). That's why instead she here scouts him as an advisor paying him just for his knowledge alone. The reason why he tells her all that info in Ch.56.2 is because he calculated the risks and it's better to have her owe him (or at least to upkeep good relations) rather than – knowing her character – let her probe him endlessly.

And as Hiro previously noticed, it isn't that difficult for mercenaries to earn their keep (Ch.2, P.17).
Here only in the novel it goes into more details:

Spoiler: Vol. 1, Ch. 2

I got to ask the police about commodity prices around the colony. Basic meals were about five Ener, going up to ten to fifteen if you wanted to get fancy. A liter of clean drinking water would cost you three Ener; anchorage fees for spaceships were 150 Ener for twenty-four hours. I guess you could say one Ener was roughly equivalent to one hundred yen or so, which meant that water was pretty pricey. Same with the anchorage fees; 15,000 yen a day was rough. But such were the costs of being in a colony. Air was included in those prices.
(...)
Assuming I slept in my ship, a day’s stay at this colony would mean three meals for fifteen Ener, four liters of water for twelve Ener, and anchoring for 150 Ener, for a total of 177 Ener."

Meaning a single combat with pirates can give even 15k Ener that can keep small sized mercenary fed for one or two months depending on his spending and assuming his ship doesn't require any immediate repairs or refilling any of the costly ammo (lasers are almost free, missiles more costly).

Moreover You mentioned earlier that a real state would never let armed mercenaries just 'opt out' or ignore military orders. But historically that's how it went before modern conscription.

https://www.britannica.com/topic/mercenary

Spoiler: Employment of mercenaries could be politically dangerous

Employment of mercenaries could be politically dangerous as well as expensive, as in the case of the early 14th-century almogaváres, Spanish frontiersmen hired by the Byzantine Empire to fight the Turks. After helping defeat the enemy, the almogaváres turned on their patrons and attacked the Byzantine town of Magnesia (modern Alaşehir, Tur.). After the assassination of their leader they spent two years ravaging Thrace and then moved on to Macedonia.

Following the Hundred Years’ War (1337–1453), Europe was overrun with thousands of men who had been trained for nothing but fighting. During the 15th century “free companies” of Swiss, Italian, and German soldiers sold their services to various princes and dukes. These hired soldiers, often greedy, brutal, and undisciplined, were capable of deserting on the eve of battle, betraying their patrons, and plundering civilians. Much of their mutinous behaviour was the result of their employer’s unwillingness or inability to pay for their services. When rigid discipline, sustained by prompt payment, was enforced (as in the army of Maurice of Nassau), mercenaries could prove to be effective soldiers.

That's why they'd rather let them go than risk them willing to take a chance and upset the result of any key battle as a revenge for forcing upon them what they could call an unfair treatment. And that's why they're willing to pay extra to keep capable mercenaries like Hiro on their side. Also not every mercenary is imperial citizen, so those who aren't won't even have any attachment to the Empire at all.

On top of all that there's the matter of Serena's analysis. If they cannot trust their senior officer's analysis based on their scouting data in which they suffered casualties, they cannot trust anyone in the field. And she values Hiro's skills and knowledge greatly so she determines he's keeper rather than a one-time-use mercenary. Had she betrayed him, he'd cut the ties with her. So she monologues (Ch.58, P.3) or in the novel:

I wasn’t so foolish as to claim I’d heard a rumor, or that I’d gotten information from a mercenary. Either of those tactics would run the risk of blowing his cover.

And later she goes on (Ch.59, P25) or in the novel:

In order to conceal my source and his unverified information, I fabricated a data analysis and exploited my connections to the fullest, walking the thinnest of tightropes to gather this fleet to destroy the crystals.

So just saying that

She said her outstanding knowledge about the crystals was a result of some vague "analysis" and scouting, whic is a blatant lie.

does not change the fact they have no proof to discredit her analysis nor you and I have any right to judge it. They judged it and believed it themselves. And if they have no proof it's all bogus, taking into account her standing, she is not someone who should be interrogated so willy-nilly even if they have some suspicions. After all, you can assume her family is quite influential in noble society (due to high rank) and in the military as even her uncle is a military man (Ch.10.2, P.18). And that is why saying

If they made her fess up, there wouldn't be any reason not to believe her

is quite ridiculous. Even if they suspected she works with the space pirates they wouldn't be able to do anything just out of respect for her noble rank alone.

And that's what I mean that you can't ignore how politics or the economic system works. Because even if it is possible to frame some colonists that basically have no influence, no connections and no relatives it is not the same as with an extremely capable mercenary with a high rank being under protection of possibly galactic wide mercenary guild spanning across multiple stellar nations. A mercenary that is viewed as an person of interest by at least one, possibly even two noble houses.

So in the end, while I can see why the lack of typical foreshadowing bothers you, I don't view it as a flaw - it's just the author staying completely true to what Hiro can actually observe and learn for the sake of better immersion over omniscience which also leaves more room for discussion about what will happen next.