Chapter 93

Chapter 93. Trust Me, I Got This (3)

About an hour and a half after we superhumans entered.

While I was busy smashing the “Complete” button on the quest list with the help of Marian’s “Automatic (Not Really) Quest Collection System.”

“Commander, the meeting room door is opening.”

“Oh, it seems like it’s finally over.”

Hearing that the tightly shut door was opening and my pretty superhumans, who had been holed up inside, were about to reveal themselves.

No matter what plan they came up with.

And no matter how quickly they brought it, I, who had no thoughts at all…

I couldn’t help but think that there was quite a conflict of opinions about how these supposedly highly intelligent beings took so long to bring something.

With a strangely pleased expression, I greeted Belial, who was approaching as the representative.

“Oh?”

“Commander, would you like to hear the plan we came up with?”

Of course, the quest I received was to just listen to whatever they brought, no matter what.

With the thought that these crazy operators wouldn’t force some completely absurd and idiotic plan on me.

I nodded while looking at Belial’s confident demeanor.

And then, what came out of Belial’s mouth.

The suggestion to just outright tell the monster about the current situation.

‘Ah, so I have to tell the monster now, huh.’

Having not played the game for three years and lived in the real world, I accepted that I had completely forgotten the finer details.

—————————————-

<Quest>

<They're People Too, People!>

<Content Folded>

<Objective: Accept the meeting results>

<Quest Complete!>

<Event Reward Points: 1,500 points added>

—————————————-

After checking and pressing the quest completion window that popped up in front of me.

I resolved that among the things I thought I remembered, I shouldn’t trust these microscopic and minute details and just ask around to get things done.

==========

And the next morning.

As they say, strike while the iron is hot, right after waking up.

I rushed to the Biological Research Institute to meet with Oxianor.

<<"What on earth is going on that you're causing such a ruckus early in the morning, Commander Icarus.">>

Of course, due to the heavy suspicion debuff, Oxianor’s initial response was somewhat grumpy.

But that didn’t last long.

“I’ve come to impose an unavoidable restriction, Oxianor.”

<<"Hmm?">>

As I calmly presented our current situation.

Namely, that Marian, the Pirate Empress, is my subordinate.

And thanks to that, the Pirate Alliance is practically under my command.

<<"Are you... perhaps suffering from some mental issues due to the large number of requests you've been handling lately?">>

“…”

<<"Although we don't know much about the 'fatigue' of ordinary sentient beings, your current state doesn't look good at all.">>

I was genuinely concerned by our dear Oxianor’s sincere worry.

With a look that seemed to say, ‘Is this guy going crazy from overwork?’…

—————————————-

<The monster's envoy, 'Oxianor,' is concerned about your mental health.>

<Concern about your leadership: -1>

<Current trust relationship with 'Space Monster': +19>

—————————————-

‘Ah.’

Being treated like a mentally unstable person, I quickly contacted Jessica, who was nearby.

I decided to bring Marian, who was still lounging around somewhere in the base, and put on a show of how close we were.

But there was one thing I hadn’t considered…

“Hmm, so you dared to doubt the strong bond between me and my brother?”

<<"The Pirate Empress?! How are you in our faction's commander base?!">>

“Rude, aren’t you? To say something like that, you should at least bring your so-called ‘super-evolved beings’…”

<<"This can't be! So that's it! Icarus, you were urgently requesting support because you were being invaded by the Pirate Empress!!">>

“What.”

<<"Vile Pirate Empress! If you think you can defeat me right here...">>

“Anyway, since you attacked us first… the Queen will definitely make you pay for this!”

“Hee hee, hee hee.”

Contrary to our expectations that bringing Marian would solve everything, Oxianor freaked out upon seeing her and instead assumed we were under attack by the Pirate Empress. Then, out of nowhere, they tried to call for reinforcements from the Monster main force…

Jessica and I desperately tried to explain that wasn’t the case, doing our best to stop Oxianor’s misunderstanding from spiraling out of control.

Of course, no matter how much we tried, the opponent was a Space Monster with over-the-top biotech, so they didn’t even need separate tools to send a request for reinforcements. They could just report directly to the Queen of Monsters through their neural network.

All we could do was anxiously try to persuade them with words, but the problem was the debuffs currently affecting me were seriously messing with my “credibility.”

<<"Don't worry, Icarus. I will report this situation to the Queen.">>

“Ahhh, no!”

Seeing that they had no intention of listening to me, I was plunged into agony, wondering how to handle this mess. But right at that moment…

“…Stop making unnecessary noise, eyeball monster.”

<<"What?">>

“I’ve been tolerating you denying my relationship with Oppa, but I’m reaching my limit.”

Marian, who had been watching the situation, stared into Oxianor’s eyes—several times larger than hers—and spat out those words. Then, she pointed at me and took a firm stance.

“Watch closely and see just how strong and beautiful my relationship with Oppa is!”

<<"What are you...?">>

And right after taking that firm stance, Marian approached me, wrapped one of my arms around her body, and started stroking my body with her thin but calloused fingers, flirting shamelessly. Then, she looked up at me with sparkling eyes and boldly declared:

“Oppa, let’s do it again today… *squeeze squeeze*.”

“…”

Hearing that, I slowly raised my head and turned to look to the side. There, among the superhumans who came with me, Pashtira and Gryanarr were giving me—or rather, Marian—thumbs up or nodding in approval.

Realizing how this situation was unfolding, I confidently shouted at Oxianor, whose large eyes were filled with confusion.

“Oxianor, I’ll prove to you through this situation that I’m not crazy!”

==========

And a short while later…

<<"This is truly astonishing. Who would have thought you were the Pirate Empress's... Oppa?">>

“Finally, you’ve seen the truth, eyeball monster.”

“Marian, can you step aside for a moment?”

“Okay, Oppa~♡”

Once the chaotic situation was cleared up, I asked Marian and the others to step aside for a moment.

—————————————-

<All credibility-related debuffs have been removed.>

<Current trust level with "Space Monster": +25>

—————————————-

‘Ah, this is it.’

Feeling satisfied with the clean state of the trust meter, I tried to steer the conversation back to Oxianor, who was still confused.

“So, Oxianor, don’t you think we’ve built enough trust by now?”

<<"...Indeed. Treating someone like you as just another commander of our faction would be unfair compared to others.">>

“Oh?”

<<"First, I’ll do my best to provide you with the assistance I can within my authority.">>

And with their clearly “friendly” response, I felt satisfied once again.