Chapter 180

Chapter 180. We’re Neutral.

Meanwhile, while browsing the gallery, I noticed something unrelated to the current trending topics.

The clan I had fought with had their trust with the Pirate Alliance severely damaged, making it difficult for them to hire mercenaries.

—————————————-

Title: Update on the Clan That Lost 1 vs 5.txt

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A message about the clan’s current situation]

Apparently, their trust with the Pirate Alliance got absolutely wrecked, so not only the clan but also all its members will get ripped off when hiring mercenaries until they restore their trust.

Comments:

– [Wait, why did their trust with the Pirate Alliance drop?]

– [From what I gathered, the 3rd place sent the Pirate Empress and her fleet as reinforcements in the recent Pirate Alliance vs. Earth Federation battle.]

– [Ah, so Loki and Humanity showed up?]

– [Yeah, and then the Alliance backstabbed Icarus, who helped them, so the Unity Clan’s trust got absolutely shredded.]

– [Oh, didn’t know that.] (Author)

– [Hmm, interesting.]

—————————————-

Exactly as I expected, their reputation got shredded. I nodded in satisfaction while browsing the gallery.

But Jessica, who was reading the gallery posts with me, tilted her head in confusion.

“Hmm? Commander, something feels a bit off.”

“What is it?”

“There’s the Monster Princess in this base, so why isn’t the trust with the Monster faction dropping?”

“With the Monsters?”

“Yeah, and we even mobilized Monster forces while fighting Oxianor.”

“…Interesting question, but it’s only natural.”

My calm reaction seemed to confuse Jessica even more, as if dozens of question marks were popping up above her head.

I shifted my gaze from the gallery to Jessica and decided to explain how things worked.

“Oxianor has a contract to help if our ‘base’ is invaded, so it’s handled systematically… but our Princess Luka doesn’t.”

“Huh?”

“Ah, how do I explain this? It’s going to get pretty complicated.”

Even as I tried to explain, it felt like it would be a hassle to simplify.

After organizing my thoughts, I continued.

“You know, fundamentally, each faction remains neutral in disputes between Commanders.”

“Uh… even if their base is under attack?”

“The base is under attack, not them personally, right?”

“Oh.”

I then showed her the base, still under repair due to the relentless attacks on its defenses.

Amidst this, I pointed out the Monster’s ‘neural network,’ untouched by any damage.

“It’s only natural for them to not care if the Commander of the base they’re in is attacked, as long as they’re not personally harmed.”

“Oh…”

“Of course, if the opponent is something like Humanity, which is obsessed with Earth supremacy, things might be different…”

“Might be?”

“But unless Princess Luka, who’s safely inside the nest, takes direct damage instead of the regular Monsters provided for users, like in Oxianor’s case…”

“…”

“They won’t go around destroying trust like our furious Marian did.”

Despite my explanation, Jessica still seemed dissatisfied and continued.

“But if the Commander’s affiliation changes, couldn’t the Monsters suddenly break their secret alliance with the Pirate Alliance or something?”

“Hmm, I guess that’s a valid concern.”

“Right?!”

“But that’s not going to happen.”

“Huh?”

Instead of explaining further, I decided to show her a post from the wiki.

—————————————-

Title: Factions Are Fundamentally Neutral in Personal Commander Disputes.txt

Author: Wiki Officer mk-4

Content: [Faction map image]

Fundamentally, NPC factions remain neutral in disputes between Commanders.

Even if a Commander’s base is captured by another Commander, there’s no harm to them, so why bother?

Besides, even if a Commander loses, the opponent can’t forcibly change their faction affiliation.

Users also don’t drag factions into personal fights unless it’s a faction war, so they leave it alone.

While I was casually watching a siege battle unfold at the base, the ‘envoy’ living there was just munching on popcorn and enjoying the show.

Of course, apart from that, the faction dispatch team is sent as much as the base commander requests, but that’s just the ‘troops’ the user is supposed to use system-wise, so it’s an exception.

And if you really take out one commander, you’re messing with their faction, right?

Then you start harassing the envoy? Like, “Hey, you wanna get wrecked by an angry faction fleet?”

From the factions’ perspective, users fighting among themselves is too small-scale to even care about.

Don’t forget, even the Space Elves, who have the fewest ships among the factions, have a total ship count in the millions.

—

Comments:

– [So they don’t get involved in petty fights, huh?]

– [Yep] (OP)

– [I saw a clan recently lost faction trust, why’s that?]

– [The user who got invaded sent reinforcements for the faction invasion, and when another user invaded them, of course the faction that got helped got pissed] (OP)

– [Ah, I see]

—

“Hooong… As expected, there’s always a complicated backstory.”

“True that.”

Unlike the wiki tab or other users’ analyses, it wasn’t because we sent ‘reinforcements’ that caused the anger.

It was Marian getting super pissed because I got ganged up on by other users… but whatever, it is what it is.

And it’s not just the Unity or whatever clan that invaded me…

—

**Title:** Yo, why the hell is my Space Elf trust dropping out of nowhere?

**OP:** Ggantappiaaat

**Content:** [Image of trust dropping with a “You suck~” vibe]

Why is this happening?

Suddenly, just because I fought a nearby user, my trust is dropping like crazy?

I worked so hard grinding quests to build it up, damn it!

—

Comments:

– [Another one who invaded the Central Zone got caught here]

– [LOLOLOL]

– [Why’s this happening now? They never cared about user fights before]

– [If you beat up someone who sent troops to help the faction, of course the faction’s gonna be mad LOL]

—

**Title:** Why is Earth Federation’s trust suddenly dropping?

**OP:** ㅇㅇ

**Content:** [Message about Earth Federation’s trust dropping]

I didn’t do anything, why is this happening?

—

Comments:

– [You did nothing (not)]

– [LOLOLOL]

– [Invasion force caught LOL]

—

**Title:** The reason why people posting trust drop proofs are actual idiots.txt

**OP:** ㅇㅇ

**Content:** [Collection of cropped trust drop proof screenshots.jpg]

It seems like users from surrounding zones coincidentally or not all rushed to invade the Central Zone, involving at least thousands of people, but they don’t understand why only their trust dropped.

Why would it drop?

The user sent part of their fleet as an expedition fleet to support their faction or another faction, and then they got backstabbed. What faction would like that? LOL

—

Comments:

– [Dumbasses LOL]

– [If they were smart enough to think about that before posting proof, they wouldn’t have invaded the user who sent the expedition fleet]

– [True]

—

Surprisingly, a lot of users were self-destructing by posting proof, so the story about the guys who invaded me getting hit with a ‘Pirate’ trust drop bomb got buried pretty quickly in the gallery.