Chapter 106

Episode 106. The Oil Flows. (2)

When Marian’s reaction turned out to be more intense than expected, I couldn’t help but wonder what the problem was. I had to take a moment to agonize over it, but that didn’t last long.

“Marian, if we keep going like this, we’re really going to dry up and die.”

“Huh? What do you mean by that?”

Jessica, who had suddenly popped up behind me, handed over some extremely thick-looking documents and a tablet. Marian, who had been growling like a puppy that sensed it was about to be abandoned, accepted them with a puzzled look.

Her face, which had been filled with anger, quickly transformed into that of a purebred Golden Retriever as she read through the documents Jessica had given her.

“Bro, was the base in such bad shape?”

I felt a sense of gratitude that she understood the situation so well.

==========

After that, a lot of complicated things happened, but to cut to the chase, the nearly 100,000 pirates who had come at my request all decided to go back home amicably.

Although, during the process, apart from the repair costs…

“Bro, no matter what, we’re pirates. We can’t just leave like this, right?”

“Yeah, right.”

As a token of appreciation for the Pirate Alliance’s hard work, we ended up being extorted for a large amount of minerals.

Of course, there was no way the pirate uncles would accept a 36-month interest-free installment plan.

—————————————-

<Opened 3 Luxurious Resource Chests!>

<Obtained a total of 79,520 minerals and 2,750 rare resources!>

<Opened 9 Rare Resource Chests!>

<Obtained a total of 62,339 minerals and 1,311 rare resources!>

<Opened 11 Ordinary Resource Chests!>

<Obtained a total of 25,894 minerals!>

—————————————-

<Provided 183,257 minerals and 4,533 rare resources to the 'Pirate Alliance'!>

—————————————-

‘Sob.’

After emptying most of the remaining resource chests and even the resources we had on hand to pay the reward (?) in one go…

—————————————-

<The 'Pirate Alliance' fleet is returning.>

<No longer providing repair costs to the 'Pirate Alliance' fleet.>

<Various reconnaissance zones provided by the 'Pirate Alliance' have been lifted.>

… … … … … …

—————————————-

Well, a bunch of trivial status messages popped up, but that wasn’t important right now.

-“Bro! If Marian noona says so, we’ll come anytime, just call us!”

-“The repair costs were sweet!”

-“You’re a pushover, so next time we’ll do it cheap!”

“Ah, those bastards.”

After naturally flipping off the Pirate Fleet, which had clearly taken advantage of us under the guise of repair costs, I watched them leave, grinding my teeth with a smile, thinking I’d have to crush them soon.

I turned to Jessica, who was waiting beside Marian, and asked how much resources we had left.

In response to my question, Jessica took back her tablet from Marian, fiddled with it for a while, and then paused.

She looked up at me with a slightly, no, quite trembling voice.

“Commander, for some reason, we have fewer minerals left than expected…”

“What do you mean, Jessica?”

“Normally, we should have at least 10,000 left, but we have less than half…”

At such an unexpected statement, I thought Jessica might be joking.

I tried to calmly tell her not to joke, but…

“Right now, we only have about 2,000 minerals left… and exactly 100 rare resources.”

“Je, Jessica, what on earth are you talking about?”

I hadn’t expected things to be this dire, and I couldn’t hide the trembling in my voice.

But fortunately, I was able to find out the reason right away…

—

**<Event>**

**<Thieves!>**

**<Content: It's truly an unbelievable fact.>**

Most of the newly built Resource Warehouses were constructed outside the base due to a lack of space inside. However, some returning pirates have reportedly looted those Resource Warehouses. Of course, the guards protecting your Resource Warehouse tried their best to stop it, but… These weren’t the elite pirates summoned by Marian, just a bunch of lowlifes hoping for scraps. They took down your guards and looted everything from the external Resource Warehouses.

**<External Resource Warehouse resources have been destroyed.>**

—

“What the hell?”

“What kind of nonsense is this?!”

I called for help, and instead, some trashy pirates stole my resources?!

Honestly, it’s a dogshit event, but it’s not entirely impossible. In fact, there’s a very low chance—about 0.1%—that pirates recruited through the Mercenary Dispatch Center might randomly loot your Resource Warehouses and flee. Aside from being utterly dumbfounded, I couldn’t help but lament how ridiculously unlucky I was.

—

“Oppa? Jessica? What’s going on?”

Marian, who was next to us, looked completely bewildered by our sudden change in demeanor. I tried to reassure her, saying it was nothing, but then… I noticed the pirate coat she was wearing as part of her “Pirate Empress Full Set.”

“Wait, why am I just letting this slide when the Pirate Empress herself is right next to me?”

In the game, it’s just an event that happens whether you like it or not, but here, the Pirate Empress—who’s practically clinging to me as her brother—is right here. And it seemed Jessica was thinking the same thing. After glaring at Marian for a moment, she met my eyes and gave me a meaningful smile, nodding. I nodded back in agreement and quickly started explaining the situation to Marian, who still looked confused.

—

“Actually… I feel bad saying this to you, Marian.”

“What’s going on that you’re acting like this?”

Of course, Marian was still puzzled by our sudden shift in attitude, but…

—

After roughly explaining the situation…

—

“Oppa! I’ll go catch them and be right back!!!”

“Ooh.”

While maintaining a smile, I watched as Marian, without even deploying one of her standby fleets, led a massive fleet—including Leonard—to crush the pirate group that had looted our Resource Warehouses. It was a truly satisfying sight.

—

“It’s such a relief, Commander.”

“Indeed, it’s a blessing that she’s going to kill those bastards and retrieve our resources.”

Of course, for the pirates who mindlessly looted, this was nothing short of a sudden disaster…

“Haha, they’ll just have to pay the price. Why bother adding extra taxes and being so greedy?”

If they’re so upset, maybe they should try adopting the Pirate Empress as their sister too.

Anyway, after sending Marian off like that, I looked at the now strangely spacious base interior, with 100,000 ships and the pirates gone. While Marian was away, I decided to leisurely continue with the event.