Chapter 31

Episode 31. You gotta start prepping hard from the get-go.

Meanwhile, at the very moment our Icarus was building three cruisers at once…

There was a so-called “Veteran Alliance,” though no one really knew exactly how many members it had or who they were.

…Or so it seemed.

In reality, it was a massive alliance of over 100 users, a “Guild.”

And inside the command center of Arcadia, who had suddenly been appointed as the guild leader after proposing the creation of this guild alliance…

“Shouldn’t we send an invite to this guy to join our side?”

“Hmmteresting.”

“Hmmteresting.”

“Yo, can you speak properly for once?”

A meeting of the guild’s main fleet commanders was underway, discussing the chaos that had erupted in the “Community.”

Of course, the age range of the user base was all over the place.

“Alpano, I’m cool with this, ya know.”

…And with everyone’s character customization being so different.

There was a commander who looked like a 70-80-year-old admiral but spoke like a middle schooler.

“Hey, even for you, that’s a bit much…”

“Sigh… I wonder when he’ll finally snap out of it.”

A muscle-bound commander who looked like he could punch through anything but spoke like a high school girl.

And a 140cm-tall demon-horned girl commander who used Busan-style old man slang.

“Everyone, calm down.”

“We didn’t gather here to fight, right?”

A commander who looked and sounded like a beauty… but was actually a man.

And even an Argonian maid commander who kept wagging her tail.

It was a gathering that transcended all races (?) and would have left Icarus, who had never seen other commanders before, utterly shocked.

Of course, they too were initially stunned by each other’s appearances.

But since it had already been a month since they first saw each other…

They had all come to accept it and were now meeting regularly as part of their routine.

And amidst their lively chatter, seated at the commander’s seat in the base…

Was a woman with long, silvery straight hair, intently checking the command console with her head bowed.

Formerly ranked 4th, now unranked.

And the guild leader of this massive alliance, Arcadia, who cleared her throat and smiled, drawing everyone’s attention.

Naturally, their chatter died down, and all eyes turned to Arcadia.

“Ahem, ahem… First of all, thanks for coming. How’s everyone been?”

“Well, not much to do, so…”

“And we’re all living right next to each other anyway, so no big issues.”

“Leahru, I agree with that.”

Nodding in agreement with Arcadia, they suddenly began to wonder why they had been summoned in the first place.

“By the way, Guild Leader, why did you call us here?”

“Right, actually… Do you know why the gallery was shut down?”

“Huh? Isn’t it because of that Melon guy or whatever, that loser?”

Hearing the question from a commander with snow-white hair and an equally long beard…

Arcadia raised a finger, wagged it, and shook her head.

“That little punk has nothing to do with it. What’s important is the opponent who defeated him.”

“Ah… you mean that veteran!”

At Arcadia’s words, the commanders in the command center recalled a post by a user who had uploaded a screenshot of acquiring a cruiser.

“But why are you asking about that?”

“Sure, it’s impressive to take down a ship with an SSS-Class Cruiser without any high-tier ships… but isn’t that something anyone with enough experience could do?”

“I think so too.”

Of course, if Icarus had known they were aware of this, he would have freaked out, wondering if his base was bugged.

Unfortunately, the person in question wasn’t here.

And besides, they had only learned about it from the info in Melon’s whiny post, right before his insane spamming began.

“That idiot pushed a bombardment cruiser and got it stolen by SSS-Class characters in a boarding battle.”

“Well, he wasn’t completely stupid. Just a fool.”

“…?”

And while I left it alone for a moment, the conversation topic seemed to be heading off track again.

Arcadia put down the command console she was holding and spoke in the calmest and most composed tone possible.

“Everyone, let’s listen to what I have to say first.”

Though her face was still smiling.

Upon seeing a vein pop up on one side of Arcadia’s pretty face, the commanders, who had been chattering among themselves just moments ago, suddenly fell silent as if they had been caught red-handed.

Seeing this, Arcadia nodded her head and let out a deep sigh.

She quietly placed a console on the table where the commanders were seated and began to speak.

“There’s just one thing I want to say. In order to survive the battles with the so-called ‘Villain Alliance’ and the Pirate Empress event, we need to expand our forces.”

At Arcadia’s words, all the commanders at the table nodded in agreement.

Of course, it was only a theoretical agreement.

“So, are you inviting that person to the guild to add them as a new force, Guild Master?”

“Yes, the more members we have, the better.”

“But all we know about them is that they took down a newbie who picked a fight with them. That’s about it.”

“That’s true. And according to that corrupted newbie, it seems like they haven’t even built a cruiser yet.”

“Honestly, aside from being somewhat impressive, I don’t think it’s worth discussing this much.”

In response to Arcadia’s opinion, everyone shook their heads, showing a negative reaction.

At best, there were some positive aspects, but they were few and far between.

“Maybe we should just wait and see? Like others said, it’s a bit too early to judge now.”

“Leahru.”

Even that was more of a “let’s wait and see” kind of feeling.

Arcadia sighed inwardly at the commanders’ reactions but nodded and decided to accept their opinions.

“Alright, then for now, we’ll just keep an eye on this user named Icarus…”

“Yep.”

“Oh, by the way, since we’re all here, I heard the Villain Alliance is planning to raid one of our resource zones this time?”

“Huh?”

“Again? Should we just go and tear them apart…”

But unlike the other commanders, who immediately dove into the next agenda, Arcadia, who had been semi-forced into the role of guild master, began to feel a small resolve rising within her.

‘If it’s Icarus, it must be that person who helped me before.’

Although they hadn’t contacted her at all so far.

From what she saw in some idiot’s post about a melon or something, they must be really busy with life right now.

So while Arcadia responded appropriately to the other commanders’ comments, she began to think about how she could help Icarus.

Or how she could bring them into the guild she had created and keep them there, like farming in a fish pen.

‘Wait for me, Mr. Icarus… I’ll definitely help you.’

==========

At the same time.

-Parururuk!

“Huh? What’s wrong, Commander?”

“Ah, nothing… I just suddenly felt a chill down my spine.”

I had to feel a shiver run down my back from the sudden cold.

Naturally, Jessica looked at me with a worried expression.

“Commander, no matter how versatile the nanomachines in the base’s medical room are… you still need to take care of your health.”

“Ugh.”

I nodded at Jessica’s words and asked her to brew me some herbal tea, just in case.

I thought it might be a precursor to a cold, so it wouldn’t hurt to be prepared.

At the same time, I wondered if you could even catch a cold in a game.