Chapter 136

Posted by Kuze, ? Views, Released on January 2, 2025

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Chapter 136. Our Princess, the Princess. (3)

Upon entering the command center, Princess Luka acted just like a real child.

She marveled at the commanders’ headquarters, wandering around and looking at everything with curiosity.

But that behavior didn’t last long.

Oxianor, who was standing behind her, pulled out a long tentacle from their bio-suit, grabbed the princess, and lifted her up to eye level.

Then, in a very calm tone, they scolded her.

“Princess, we are here solely to reestablish our alliance with the Empress.”

“Ugh… Y-yes! I am well aware of that!”

Despite the fact that, in terms of “rank,” there was a sky-and-earth difference between them, Princess Luka couldn’t find anything to retort.

She just nodded her head, gesturing that Oxianor was right.

After being scolded by Oxianor ver.TS, Princess Luka finally approached me with a serious demeanor.

For a moment, she seemed to agonize over the height difference between us, as if unsure how to handle it.

‘Is she really struggling because the height difference makes it awkward to greet me?’

In that short moment, I couldn’t think of any other reason, so I considered kneeling on one knee to match her eye level.

But before I could act on that thought…

-*Kkuddeudeuk… Paat!*

“Hmm!”

“…Hm.”

Surprisingly, our Princess Luka, along with a tail that popped out from her rear, used the tentacles of her bio-armor dress to float herself into the air.

Thanks to this, I got a proper look at the princess, whom I hadn’t been able to see clearly due to the poor quality of the long-distance communication screen.

‘Wow, she’s really unique.’

What I had thought was a “crown” turned out to be horns growing from her head, transformed into a crown-like shape.

Her eyes weren’t normal like mine or others’ but had golden vertical pupils reminiscent of reptiles.

Her bio-armor dress was also far more intricate and elaborate than I had imagined.

The patterns that hadn’t been visible on the low-quality screen were stunning, and what I thought were simple gemstones turned out to be scales that shimmered in rainbow colors when hit by light.

But what surprised me the most were the large, blinking “eyeballs” embedded throughout her dress.

If I hadn’t seen Professor Gryanarr’s terrifying and grotesque bio-research facility (75% pirate and wild monster content)…

I might have screamed like a little girl in front of the princess.

But despite my shocked expression, Princess Luka seemed satisfied that I didn’t show any disgust.

She nodded at me and spoke again.

“Hmm! Just as Oxianor said, it seems you hold no prejudice against us!”

“Ah, well… yeah, sure.”

It wasn’t that I had no prejudice—it was more that I’d been subjected to too much “early education.”

But thinking it would be tacky to explain that, I quietly agreed.

Seemingly even more pleased with my attitude, Princess Luka made another satisfied gesture and then extended her hand toward me, laying out her demands.

“Let’s cut to the chase, Icarus!”

“Yes?”

“I want you to arrange a meeting with the leader of the Pirate Alliance, the ‘Pirate Empress,’ and establish a proper framework for future negotiations with our monsters!”

And the moment I heard Princess Luka’s words…

That familiar quest window popped up in front of me again.

—————————————-

<Quest>

<VIP Escort Mission-3: Negotiation>

‘Hmm, by today.’

After checking the ‘conditions’ in the quest message, I could finally let out a sigh of relief…

If it had come yesterday or the day before, Marian would have been away managing the pirates.

The quest could have gone haywire, leading to a total disaster…

But thankfully, our Marian has been living a relaxed life at our base since last night.

Right after seeing that quest window, I immediately called Jessica, who was nearby.

“Jessica, sorry, but could you go and get Marian for me?”

“Sure, Commander.”

Marian, who was chatting with other pirates somewhere in the command center, came over with a big smile.

I nodded at Marian’s lively demeanor and naturally pointed to Princess Luka in front of me, briefly summarizing the matter to Marian.

And Marian’s response?

“Hmm, negotiations? Sure, why not?”

“Really?”

Thankfully, Marian seemed somewhat agreeable to the idea of negotiations.

We quickly decided to lend them the reception room in the base.

And as a result…

‘Yes, this is it.’

Seeing the ‘complete’ message for the quest naturally pop up.

I felt immense joy and immediately tried to claim the rewards, but…

<<<Currently preparing to receive rewards...>>>

<The reward message will appear only after Marian and Luka's 'talk' is over.>

<The longer the negotiation meeting takes, the more your base decoration time will be delayed.>

‘Oh, come on.’

Although it’s a somewhat trivial event.

Realistically, it wasn’t wrong to think that way.

With time being tight and only half the fleet making it back alive.

Since things have turned out this way, apart from the heartache over the destroyed ships.

I decided to fully restore the ship composition and organization to gain an advantage in future ‘fleet battles.’

Using all the resources I had, I worked hard to figure out ways to preserve the repairable ships.

But as we all guessed and Jessica mentioned to me.

With so many places needing our ‘resources.’

My grand plan to repair moderately damaged ships and then produce ‘large ships.’

Was thwarted from the start due to the presence of too many resource-draining thieves(?).