Chapter 156

Chapter 156. Things in the world don’t always go smoothly. (1)

Meanwhile, amidst the chaotic state of the gallery and various other trivial matters.

“Oppa, I came because I have something to tell you.”

“What is it, Marian?”

Lately, Marian, who had been unusually chatting a lot with Belial, came to me with another female pirate, wanting to talk.

Wondering what it was about, I closed the gallery window I was looking at and prepared to listen.

But shortly after.

“…So, you’re saying a large fleet from the Earth Federation is heading near the Pirate Alliance’s territory?”

“Yes, according to internal sources, it’s a ‘clan’ led by an Earth Federation commander, aiming to attack our commander’s ‘clan’…”

According to the female pirate who came with Marian, a war is about to break out in a place far from here, where only pirates and Earth forces will clash.

I nodded but couldn’t hide my puzzled expression.

“But what’s the big deal? It’s just a clan battle, right?”

Considering that most users’ base levels are around level 7 at this point, even if they filled their fleets with point-1 patrol ships, a clan battle would involve at most 200,000 to 300,000 ships from both sides.

Of course, in reality, no one just uses patrol ships, so the fleets would be bustling with cruiser battleships, light aircraft carriers, or cruisers.

The actual number of ships combined wouldn’t even reach 100,000…

Even though it was just an ‘event,’ the Pirate Alliance once had a fleet exceeding hundreds of millions, and even now, they possess tens of millions of ships.

The Earth Federation, which once deployed hundreds of thousands of ships, including dreadnoughts and battleships, to invade the monsters.

Or the Space Monsters, who overwhelmed the Earth Federation with over a million monsters using sheer numbers.

For such ‘factions,’ this would be a small-scale fight, like a neighborhood brawl between strong kids.

So why were Marian and the pirate officer so concerned? It was hard for me to understand.

Of course, when I voiced my doubts, the female pirate, who seemed to be Marian’s aide, gave a clear answer.

“The problem is that the Earth Federation’s main force seems to be involved in this clan battle.”

“Oh…”

“Moreover, according to internal sources, hardliners within the Earth Federation are trying to use this clan war as a proxy battle.”

“Ah.”

After that, she gave more detailed explanations, but to summarize, what should have been a simple fight between two mid-tier clans escalated when the Humanity Clan, representing the Earth Federation, intervened to expand their influence.

Then the Loki Clan, the top clan of the Pirate Alliance, also got involved, rapidly escalating the situation.

“It’s not easy, Commander.”

“Indeed, of all things, the two biggest clans had to jump in at the same time.”

Because of this, I had to revise my earlier estimate of the ‘scale of clan battles.’

Both sides have over 10,000 users, and at this point, no one has a base below level 5.

If both sides really go all out, they could easily mobilize over a million ships.

And if, as the female pirate mentioned, the Earth Federation’s ‘main force’ gets involved?

With the risk of losing territory, it’s only natural that Marian’s Pirate Alliance is taking this seriously.

Anyway, after organizing my thoughts, I realized why Marian had come.

“So, you need to go to the alliance now and take full command, right?”

“Yes…”

Seeing Marian’s sullen expression, I thought it was unavoidable and was about to pat her shoulder and send her off as usual, but then…

‘Wait, there’s no way she came just for that.’

As soon as I felt that doubt, Marian apologized again and brought up the real issue.

“So, Oppa, I’m really sorry, but… to deal with this, I need Leonard’s fleet, which was assigned to protect you!”

“Leonard? Ah.”

With the Earth Federation’s main force moving, there’s a risk that even the strongest border defense fleets could collapse, potentially leading to the collapse of the entire faction.

So, Marian needed at least one more reliable elite fleet to prepare for any contingency.

But I felt quite conflicted about Marian’s request.

After all, Leonard and his fleet were not my subordinates but Marian’s.

They didn’t take my orders and only focused on base defense, so taking them away was entirely Marian’s call.

So, I told Marian…

Don’t worry about every little thing.

Now that I’ve prepared myself for self-defense to some extent, I assured them that they can take it with confidence.

“Oppa…!”

As soon as I said this, Marian immediately rushed into my arms.

It felt like she had grown even more, with her soft yet firm chest pressing against me.

The elasticity was so full that it boldly revealed there was no need for a bra, and I accidentally felt the bumpy texture of something, but that’s just a minor incident.

==========

Of course, apart from Marian taking Leonard and the elite fleet with her.

“Since my Oppa might be in danger, I’ll send a separate fleet to protect the base until the crisis is over!”

With those words, she left, saying she would move one of the pirate groups from her faction’s rear to our side.

—————————————-

<Event>

<Fleet Handover Ceremony>

<Content>

<Due to the rapidly escalating situation, Marian urgently needed a reserve elite fleet.>

<Leonard, who had been guarding you, will be replaced by a pirate fleet from the rear.>

<However, it will take some time for that fleet to arrive at the base.>

<Time remaining until the arrival of the base defense pirate fleet: 3 hours 33 minutes 51 seconds>

—————————————-

While waiting for the pirate group that would replace Leonard, I decided to continue inspecting and managing the base.

For example…

—————————————-

<Graviton Detection Radar under construction...>

<Time remaining until completion: 12 days 8 hours 4 minutes 59 seconds>

—————————————-

<Large Ship Dedicated Shipyard Construction List>

–<Dock 1>

<Cruiser Battleship under construction...>

<Time remaining: 2 days 23 hours 50 minutes 12 seconds>

<Resources consumed: 15,500 minerals, 3,700 rare resources>

—————————————-

“Wow, still a long way to go.”

I leisurely watched the construction of the second cruiser battleship with the base construction tycoon.

With Leonard’s fleet, which had been responsible for our base’s security, now gone…

—————————————-

<Shipyard Status>

–<Dock 1>

<Light Cruiser being dismantled...>

<Time remaining: 23 hours 29 minutes 31 seconds>

–<Dock 2>

<Destroyer being dismantled...>

<Time remaining: 8 hours 1 minute 12 seconds>

–<Dock 3>

<Destroyer being dismantled...>

<Time remaining: 1 hour 5 minutes 32 seconds>

–<Dock 4>

<Escort Ship being dismantled...>

<Time remaining: 5 hours 9 minutes 1 second>

—————————————-

To implement the fleet normalization plan, we were dismantling old or obsolete small ships to free up fleet points and gather additional resources.

In case of emergencies, I decided to use the resources from the dismantling to hire two mercenary groups through a mercenary office that offered a 10% discount thanks to my connections with the Empress, temporarily entrusting them with the base’s defense.

After making these preparations, I thought about the guests who would soon arrive and stay at our base until Marian returned, so I decided to prepare a simple welcome ceremony.

But just at that moment…

“Commander! We’re in big trouble!”

“Huh?”

“The pirate alliance fleet heading to our base clashed with other commanders’ clans and suffered too much damage, so they retreated!”

“…Oh.”

I had a strong预感 that things were not going to go well from here on out.