Chapter 254

Chapter 254. Checking the Status After a Long Time! (2)

After marveling (?) at Tiamat’s goofiness, I watched as Tiamat, aboard the light aircraft carrier, casually parked the Kraken next to the base and returned. Now, I decided to take a look at the fleet’s status.

After all, this time, even the “battleships” had been added.

With no ships lost during the event and the fleet steadily growing through the shipyard, it was time to organize and review everything in detail.

And since the fleet status was linked to the status window, I could check it right away…

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**Fleet Status**

Total Points: 650/650

– Aircraft Carriers: 2 ships, 70 points each = 140 points

– Special Battleships: 1 ship, 65 points each = 65 points

– Battleships: 2 ships, 40 points each = 80 points

– Aetheric Submarines: 1 ship, 50 points each = 50 points

– Light Aircraft Carriers: 1 ship, 40 points each = 40 points

– Cruiser Battleships: 5 ships, 30 points each = 150 points

– Heavy Cruisers: 3 ships, 10 points each = 30 points

– Light Cruisers: 1 ship, 6 points each = 6 points

– Destroyers: 14 ships, 3 points each = 42 points

– Escort Ships: 0 ships, 1.5 points each = 0 points

– Patrol Ships: 5 ships, 1 point each = 5 points

– Resource Mining Ships: 28 ships, 1.5 points each = 42 points

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“Nicely collected.”

Seeing that I had successfully filled exactly 650 points, I erased the memory of the heavy cruisers, light cruisers, and destroyers I had scrapped earlier due to the newly acquired battleships and felt a sense of satisfaction.

Although the battleships weren’t being used particularly well by their owners and their leveling wasn’t in great shape, they could fully benefit from Belial and Gryanarr’s buffs.

Unlike the aircraft carriers, which were extremely difficult to level early on and wasted a lot of resources, the battleships were leveling up smoothly.

And apart from the “main fleet,” the status of the “mercenary groups,” which was a significant reason why other rankers treated me like a one-person clan, was also quite impressive.

“Let’s see… where’s the mercenary group menu? Ah, here it is.”

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**<Mercenary Group Employment Status>**

**<Currently Employing 5 Mercenary Groups>**

**<Total Ship Types>**

– Cruiser Battleships: 3 ships

– Light Cruisers: 2 ships

– Destroyers: 9 ships

– Escort Ships: 8 ships

– Patrol Ships: 11 ships

**<Daily Resource Consumption: 6,119 Minerals, 570 Rare Resources>**

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Perhaps it was because I had hired a mercenary group with 3 cruiser battleships just before participating in the event. Despite reducing the number of mercenary groups compared to before, their strength was even more impressive than mine, who had just entered base level 6.

Of course, the other 4 mercenary groups were considerably weaker compared to the one with 3 cruiser battleships…

But as you can see from the <Fleet Status> I opened earlier, these guys were essentially filling the role of small ships, which were inevitably weaker due to point limitations, while the main fleet transitioned to a large ship-centered system.

In other words… sorry to say, but they were essentially cannon fodder, so I didn’t need to worry too much about them.

Of course, if I rolled the mercenary group gacha (?) more, I might get some more useful ones…

But once you hire a mercenary group, they keep draining resources daily as “employment fees” until you terminate the contract.

And if I hired more, I might end up declaring default (?) since I wasn’t part of a clan and had limited resource income.

So I decided to keep it at a level where the daily resource consumption was about 1/4 to 1/5 of my daily income.

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Moreover, there was another reason why I wasn’t hiring more mercenary groups.

And that reason was…

“Jessica, Jessica.”

“Yes, Commander.”

“Why does it seem like the monster fleet has grown so much?”

“Yes, after the event and even afterward, they seemed to grow on their own.”

Initially, the monster fleet was just a mix of light cruisers and destroyers, with a few small to medium-sized monsters.

But due to the event and various incidents, my…

While I wasn’t paying attention, they must have been wandering around the area, picking up stuff to eat.

They evolved among themselves and popped out something new, a heavy cruiser-class… so instead of a “small to medium monster,” a “medium monster” is running around, huh?

“Hmm, interesting.”

Of course, if you actually dig into it, they’ve just gotten a bit bigger.

System-wise, they’d probably be divided into weird categories like “large light cruiser,” “medium destroyer,” or “leading destroyer.”

But to figure out those details, I’d have to dig into it myself…

So, out of laziness, I decided to let go of thinking about those little guys.

But right at that moment.

A thought suddenly popped into my head.

“Originally, the monster fleet was managed by Oxianor, but Oxianor was actually wandering around with me during the event period and even after.”

Well, strictly speaking, it was only during the event period, and after that, it was more like a commute (?).

Anyway, the important thing is, unlike before, Oxianor isn’t stuck in the “Nest of Life”… so who’s managing and raising the monster fleet like that?

I wanted to clear up that doubt right away, so I called Oxianor through Jessica and asked.

And to my question, Oxianor, dressed in his usual bio-suit, acted like it was no big deal.

With a very calm attitude and expression, he nodded and opened his mouth.

“Well, of course, Princess Luka took charge herself.”

“Oh?”

“With the knowledge she received from the Queen, along with the inspiration and wisdom she gained from observing your fleet, she tinkered with our ships here and there.”

“Ooooh…”

After asking a few more questions, I finally understood the situation.

“Oxianor, so you’re saying Princess Luka has developed a hobby for fleet management?”

“You’ve summarized and cut down my words quite a bit, but you’re not wrong.”

“Hmm.”

Facing Oxianor’s attitude, I felt a very peculiar emotion inside.

‘Wait, she’s a princess, right? Why is your princess personally messing around with the fleet?’

If I had actually said that, Oxianor might have grabbed me by the collar and smacked me for being disrespectful, so I kept quiet.

But still, unlike what you’d expect from “space monsters,” there’s a strangely strong British Empire vibe radiating from them.

The princess is boldly acting like her real name might be “Elizabeth” or something.

I couldn’t help but feel a very, very peculiar thought.

And maybe they’re trying to solidify that concept now.

Right after I heard that story from Oxianor.

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<Quest>

<This princess's fleet needs a bit of resources.>

<Content>

<Recently, apart from a secret alliance with the Pirate Alliance, Princess Luka felt she needed her own pastime and tried everything she could.>

<And out of all those things, the one that suited her taste the most was none other than "fleet management"... it was just luck, really.>

<Anyway, while diligently nurturing the fleet and learning your fleet operation doctrines and the might of the "Kraken"...>

<At first, she only used the resources provided by your base, but later she started scavenging small amounts from nearby resource zones and shipwrecks.>

<Working hard on her own, she finally succeeded in raising a "heavy cruiser"-class monster.>

<But Princess Luka, feeling that this wasn't enough, upon realizing that you knew about her hobby...>

<She hopes to receive official resource support from you for her hobby.>

<Objective>

<Tell Princess Luka in the "Nest of Life" that you'll provide 1000 minerals and 100 rare resources each time.>

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Seeing the quest boldly asking for resources, “give me,” my complex, peculiar feelings were reaching their peak at this point.