Chapter 137

Episode 137. Since I completed the mission, I should get my reward, right? (1)

It’s a sad story, but half of the expedition fleet had to bid an eternal farewell to proceed with the quest.

Losing a third of my entire fleet was truly heartbreaking, but hey, at least I don’t have to deal with the *annoying* task of dismantling and redistributing ships anymore.

“Anyway, it’s fine…”

Trying to stay positive, I steadied my shaky mental state.

With Jessica’s help, I managed to push through the work somehow, but…

“Oppa! We’re done talking!”

“Got it.”

While I was over here mentally crumbling, it seems Marian and the princess wrapped up their negotiations way faster than expected.

Before I could even do anything, Marian reappeared with Princess Luka, who was floating in the air using some kind of tentacle-leg hybrid from her dress, looking oddly satisfied.

I stopped what I was doing and decided to casually steer the conversation.

“Uh, that was faster than I thought?”

“Yeah, the Princess of Monsters came with a pretty detailed proposal, and we skipped all the pointless mind games!”

Marian boldly used the phrase “pointless” in front of the princess, laughing.

Behind the princess, Oxianor’s eyes faintly glowed red with anger.

From Oxianor’s perspective, Marian’s lack of etiquette toward the princess was infuriating, but since Marian is the Pirate Empress and stronger than Oxianor, who’s been heavily reinforced as a guard-attendant hybrid, the glow faded quickly.

Oxianor suppressed his anger and returned to his duty of assisting the princess.

*”Is this what being an adult is like…?!”*

Meanwhile, I was left wondering how something as complex as inter-faction diplomacy, which should’ve taken hours, was resolved in under 10 minutes.

In my past life as a user, politicians and diplomats always said stuff like,

*”Oh, these things take forever^^”*

*”Diplomacy is all about beating around the bush, so it naturally takes a lot of time^^”*

So how the heck did this happen so fast?

Maybe my confusion showed on my face because Marian chuckled and started explaining.

“Oppa, it’s not a big deal.”

“Huh?”

“Well, can I explain? Since you’re part of our circle now.”

“Uh… sure!”

“Commander Icarus bridged the gap between us, so it’s fine.”

Despite her usual free-spirited pirate demeanor, Marian politely asked for permission before explaining, which was oddly considerate.

She then gave me a crash course on the negotiation details.

Soon after, an event message popped up summarizing everything:

—————————————-

**[Event]**

The secret alliance between the “Space Monsters” and the “Pirate Alliance” had been more of a verbal agreement until now.

While the leaders—the Queen of Monsters and the Pirate Empress—controlled their direct forces to prevent issues, the independent units and commanders under them often clashed due to a lack of clear directives.

Realizing that the secret alliance would only lead to accumulated damage, the Queen of Monsters sent her “Princess” to propose a negotiation.

The Pirate Empress, Marian, was satisfied with the proposal and added some supplementary terms, finalizing the deal.

—————————————-

We were able to neatly wrap up the negotiations.

[Result]

– Due to the agreement on the ‘negotiation terms,’ the troops and forward bases located in the border areas of both factions were dismantled and relocated to the rear.

– A ‘neutral zone’ was created between the two factions.

– Both sides agreed to refrain from preemptive attacks on each other.

– For future negotiations and exchanges of opinions, the monster princess ‘Luka’ will remain at Commander Icarus’s base.

– Both sides agreed to refrain from interfering with the actions of each other’s ‘commanders.’

—————————————-

‘Heh.’

In summary, all the things that had been vaguely glossed over with words were now officially documented.

And as you can see from the contents, the monster side didn’t demand anything additional from Marian.

Marian, too, showed full commitment to the negotiations without playing any tricks.

It seemed she responded to that goodwill in her own way and acted amicably.

However, apart from all that, I couldn’t help but feel a growing curiosity about what Marian had actually added to the negotiation terms…

Whether it was unfortunate or fortunate, before I could even show that curiosity on my face,

Marian, with a proud expression, confidently revealed what she had added, so I didn’t even have to ask.

“Oh, and by the way, what I added to the negotiation was that Princess Luka would be stationed here!”

“…Hmm, well, that makes sense.”

After all, Princess Luka was sent as a representative to negotiate with Marian.

If Marian ever needed to discuss anything with the monsters in the future, having Princess Luka around would be necessary, whether she liked it or not.

It’s not like she could bring half the fleet every time just to have a conversation, traveling all the way from the distant monster stronghold.

As if confirming my thoughts,

“The Empress is right. I can’t just shuttle back and forth between here and my mother’s nest just for a single conversation!”

Princess Luka nodded with a pure smile, while Oxianor behind her also showed a gesture of agreement. It was indeed a reasonable point.

But unlike my wholesome and pure thoughts, Marian, who had been chatting with her own group,

While Princess Luka and Oxianor were momentarily distracted,

Turned to me and whispered something shocking in my ear.

“Oppa, by the way, even though I mentioned it like that earlier…”

“…?”

“Actually, I think the people around you all have similar styles, don’t they?”

Marian, who had wrapped her arm around mine, blushed slightly.

She made a strange gesture with both hands, hinting at something she thought I might find interesting.

“Mr. Ignis is small, but his build is similar to the others…”

“What.”

“I thought you might need a different taste…♡”

And the moment I heard that,

I carefully pulled my arm away from Marian’s grasp,

Took the ‘Partia’s Scripture’ handed to me by Jessica,

And naturally, without hesitation, brought it down on Marian’s head, who had just attempted to socially assassinate me, if not end the world.

“You insolent creature!!!!”

Of course, my action caused the monster friends, who had been chatting among themselves, to look over in surprise.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“Ugh… I was just trying to do something for you, Oppa…”

“That wasn’t for me, that was a politically motivated assassination attempt.”

Nevertheless, as we continued with the conversation,

We had to watch as Marian’s hat slightly puffed up for a while.