Chapter 41

Episode 41. Raising the Empress (4)

Title: But isn’t the Pirate Empress supposed to show up soon?

Author: Setting Enthusiast

Content: [Close-up shot of the Pirate Empress’s chest]

But what exactly does the Pirate Empress character do?

Even if you try to search in the gallery, all you find are weird images posted by perverts or discussions about how powerful she is.

There’s literally no mention of what kind of character she actually is.

As a setting nerd, it’s genuinely frustrating that there’s no wiki right now.

Can someone please explain it to me?

If you give me a proper explanation, I’ll give you 5,000 minerals later.

Comments:

– [Here comes a hardcore setting nerd]

– [You’re saying if I explain the setting, I get 5,000 minerals?]

– [I love you as much as 5,000 minerals]

– [Honestly, the game never properly released a setting guide, so everyone’s just guessing lol]

– [The comment above is nonsense. According to the setting guide, she’s just a typical “once she sets a goal, she charges straight for it” kind of character.]

– [It’s never revealed why she wants to be a pirate, but her goal is to become the “Pirate Boss,” and she works super hard for it.]

– [To achieve that, she does everything she can. Even in the temporary endings 1 and 2, she thanks the player for helping her reach her goal.]

– [The comment above is right. It’s framed as her showing gratitude.]

– [If you get ending 1 or 2 and talk to the Pirate Empress, she thanks the player for helping her become the Pirate Empress.]

– [Wait, that was a thing?]

– [Why don’t you know? Aren’t you supposed to be a veteran?]

—

I’m screwed.

After a long period of contemplation, I’ve come to a realization.

After stumbling upon a post in the gallery, I realized something is seriously twisted right now.

For the Pirate Empress event chain to progress, she first needs to either escape from my base or not.

—

<Event: She’s Way Too Satisfied>

<Your proper care and training have drastically accelerated Mary Ann’s growth.>

<At the same time, it’s made her feel like this fleet and your side are her home.>

<The problem is, this has made her question whether she really needs to pursue her goal of “becoming the Pirate Boss!”>

<She once had the grand ambition of making all pirates kneel under her feet after suffering at their hands.>

<But the warm hospitality and care she’s experiencing for the first time are enough to shake her immature resolve.>

—

The appearance of this event message confirmed my suspicions, and I felt a headache coming on.

“No, my Empress!”

And this situation isn’t just about me not getting the Empress.

It was briefly mentioned in the gallery before, but everyone thought this event would last a month or two at most.

In-game time, it’s been progressing similarly, so everyone assumed it would be the same this time.

The problem is, the Empress (real) who’s supposed to progress this event is stuck here.

—

Title: Why isn’t the Pirate Empress or whatever showing up?

Author: RedChicken

Content: [Proof that the event has been going on for 3 months]

Is it normal for this event, where pirates keep attacking irregularly, to last for 3 months?

When is the next event stage happening lololololololol

Comments:

– [True]

– [They said it would come in a month…!]

– [For real, it’s like my mom saying it’ll come if I sleep for 100 days]

– [Ouch]

– [Ouch ouch]

—

Title: The next stage of the event is here!

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Staring toad]

Actually, this is just bait.

But what are you gonna do about it?

What can you even do?

You idiots lololololololol

You’re stuck in the game, can’t even log out, and all you can do is get mad or curse at me, you morons lololololololol

LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Comments:

-[Came running all out of breath and got mad, so here’s a thumbs up]

-[So true, I’m so triggered lol]

-[Where’s Ssuni?]

-[Drop Ssuni’s coordinates, damn it]

—————————————-

Title: Holding my breath until the Empress opens her eyes! Hup!

Author: EmpressBootsSniffSniffSniffSniff

Content: [Image of a skeleton in a coffin]

It says this, right?

Comments:

-[Rest in peace with an action beam]

-[She’s dead…!]

—————————————-

Title: Acting all high and mighty over just a 3-month Empress event LOLOLOLOLOL

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Personified image of a Resource Mining Ship crying]

Compared to the 20 years since then…!

The pain our mining ships had to endure…!!

Comments:

-[Hey dude, stop talking nonsense and go mine some resources]

-[A worker… talking back?]

—————————————-

If this wasn’t actually a case of being kidnapped and trapped in a game.

By now, there would have been a massive wave of refunds and a serious drop in public sentiment.

And since I was feeling the same way, I was seriously wondering why this was happening.

As I pondered this, Jessica, who was browsing the gallery with me, looked at me quietly and said.

“Commander, now that I think about it.”

“Hmm?”

“About why Marian isn’t running away now, I’ve realized something new.”

She twitched her big rabbit ears and then gave me a sly look before dropping the answer.

“In the original world, no matter what happened, you had to handle everything yourself, right?”

“Well… yeah?”

“Which meant that whenever Marian faced stressful situations like training or actual combat… you had to take all the aggro, right?”

“Mhm.”

“But that’s not the case now.”

“…!”

With that, Jessica went on to explain her interpretation of the current situation.

In summary, in the original game, the ‘player’ had to handle everything.

So all of Marian’s aggro was directed at the protagonist, and no matter how much you pampered her, the stress from training and combat would balance out to zero.

As the gallery users said, managing ‘affection levels’ was tough.

But now, since Jessica and others are sharing the aggro, the stress Marian feels towards me has significantly decreased.

Normally, the aggro would spike, and my affection levels would drop sharply, but now I’m the one supporting her as a fan.

The other superhumans—Ignis, Belial, and Pashtira—are each handling their own training directly.

So instead of feeling jealous because of my affection, it feels like they’ve gained a younger sibling.

Unlike the original, the drop in affection due to aggro is split among me, Jessica, and the three superhumans—so about 1/5th.

Actually, since I’m barely taking any, it’s more like 1/4th.

Meanwhile, the increase in affection is being multiplied by 5(!).

As a result, our Empress (real) has become so comfortable here.

That her original principle, or goal, of ‘becoming a pirate master’ has lost its spark.

The problem is, no matter how much I push her growth now, in her ‘Mary Ann’ state, even if she grows well, she’ll barely reach S-rank.

Whether I like it or not, unless I induce her to run away to grow, not only will the event progress stall.

But our Empress will also stop growing, turning her from the Empress (real) to something like a ‘Colonel who gave up on being a General.’

At this point, I realized I had to do something about it.