Chapter 251

Chapter 251. Let’s Make a Deal!

The good news is, unlike before when we had to wait around aimlessly after that intense 1:5 battle with the Unity guys, with nothing to do but wait until the auction house sold our stuff…

This time, it seems the Loki Clan got wind of the situation from a spy and immediately reached out to me to retrieve ‘Mirai,’ ‘Sherpa,’ and ‘August,’ who are currently in captivity.

But surprisingly, it wasn’t some appointed representative like Humanity…

– “Hey, Icarus, Icarus.”

“Huh.”

It was none other than Betelgeuse, the Clan Leader himself, who personally contacted me.

I was curious why he chose to call instead of just messaging, but hey, he reached out, so I picked up.

However, instead of the apology I expected…

– “I assume you know the situation, but honestly, this wasn’t my intention.”

“Oh, really?”

‘Yeah, not me.’

He shamelessly played the “it wasn’t me” card, which instantly made me feel a surge of irritation.

So, I was about to hang up to vent my frustration, but…

– “Seriously, here’s proof.”

“…Oh.”

Betelgeuse casually dropped the chat logs with the spy, an Indian machete, which made me pause my hand from ending the call and focus on the conversation.

“So, I get why you called now, but are you saying there’s no compensation since the spy’s terrorism has nothing to do with you?”

– “Of course not, a solo player who can always act as a mercenary is a truly valuable asset.”

“Hmm.”

– “Even though our first meeting was a bit rough, we had a good time during the event, right?”

“…Ughhh.”

– “So, you’ve got those three superhumans from the Indian machete guy detained, right?”

“Yeah.”

– “Could you send them over to us?”

Naturally, instead of offering compensation, he’s asking me to *give* them to him.

I was about to nod along with the flow, but I quickly stopped myself, propped my chin on my hand, and raised my other hand to the end call button.

Of course, seeing this, Betelgeuse waved his hands frantically and blurted out more.

– “Wait, wait! You gotta hear me out till the end!”

“Explain in 10 seconds why I should ‘hear you out till the end.'”

– “Of course, I’ll give you compensation for this incident!”

– “It’s so obvious I didn’t even mention it, but if you take it that way, what does that make me?”

He kept lamenting his unfairness (?) and my lack of awareness (?), but I just gave him a :/ look and quietly slid my finger toward the end call button, silently urging him to hurry up.

Betelgeuse, who had been subtly dodging the compensation topic, finally surrendered and boldly declared.

Though, true to his crafty nature, he still slyly proposed a negotiation.

– “Fine! If you release those three, I’ll give you one aircraft carrier and 5,000 gold.”

“…”

– “…How much did Humanity give you as compensation to make you look at me like that?”

“Jessica, what did we get from Humanity as compensation this time?”

“Two battleships, 15,000 gold, and some resources.”

– “What.”

It seems Betelgeuse didn’t expect Humanity to be so generous.

His eyes swirled with emotions like, “Did those bastards really go that big?”

After a brief silence, Betelgeuse finally broke it.

– “Alright, then I’ll keep the one aircraft carrier, but make it a *large aircraft carrier*, and 20,000 gold!”

“Oho.”

– “I’m really giving you a good deal here. Let’s be honest, ‘Mirai’ and the other superhumans are just for punishment purposes anyway.”

“Hmm? Punishment purposes?”

Something quite interesting came up, so I casually threw out a question, but…

– “That’s internal business, so I won’t say more. Anyway, deal or not?”

“Hmm, hmmmm.”

Perhaps because his negotiation plan completely fell apart, Betelgeuse, who had been so composed earlier, suddenly became quite prickly.

They showed a response on the road.

I nodded at that sight and gave Jessica, who was waiting behind the communication screen, a quick order to run some mental calculations.

And not long after, Jessica threw a quick answer back at me.

“Not bad. Those three would just waste our superhuman forces anyway.”

“What happens if the owner gets wrecked?”

“It would transfer to the Commander who wrecked that Indian machete. If it’s someone like Betelgeuse who’s got a sharp mind…”

“I see.”

After diligently running mental calculations and exchanging meaningful glances with Jessica, we decided to accept the proposal from Betelgeuse… no, more accurately, from the Loki Clan.

“Alright, let’s accept that proposal.”

“Yeah, yeah, good idea.”

But right after that, a sudden thought crossed my mind, and I stopped Betelgeuse, who was about to cut off the communication.

“Wait.”

“What now?”

“You’re not planning to send us some half-wrecked aircraft carrier that’s better off scrapped as compensation, are you?”

It turns out that giving out trash disguised as compensation is a long-standing tradition in this game.

I casually threw out the question, wondering if those guys would pull the same stunt.

But at my question, Betelgeuse’s expression suddenly turned distant…

“After some lunatic did that and ended up getting three of our sub-clans completely annihilated, we stopped doing that.”

“Oh…”

While delivering this unexpected sad news, they suddenly sent me a trade request.

—————————————-

<Betelgeuse has requested a trade with you!>

<Betelgeuse (Large Aircraft Carrier x1, Gold 20,000) ⇒ Icarus>

<Do you accept the trade?>

<(Y)/N>

—————————————-

Seeing Betelgeuse’s cool trade offer, I nodded and decided to accept the compensation through the trade.

And just like that, I ended up receiving compensation from both clans simultaneously.

Thanks to this, I got ship types I couldn’t build yet because I hadn’t constructed the <Air Command> or <Fleet Association>, and I felt like my mood was about to explode.

But at this point, neither I, Jessica, nor the people around me, nor even Humanity and Loki, who sent the compensation, had anticipated one problem…

==========

What was it, you ask?

Well, even though they transferred the ships to me, the ownership wouldn’t officially transfer to me until the ships docked at my base according to the system.

Before docking, the ships were still considered under the command of their respective factions, which was the first issue.

The other problem was…

“Commander, the ships we’re getting as compensation are on their way to the base.”

“Are they teleporting in?”

“Yes, since you have the teleporter at your base, they got permission to come… but, Commander?”

“What?”

“Both the Loki Clan and Humanity Clan are sending ships at the same time… won’t their ships start fighting as soon as they come out of the teleporter?”

“…Huh?”

Right after Jessica pointed this out, I watched in real-time as the ships we were supposed to receive started tearing each other apart the moment they exited the teleporter.

A large aircraft carrier and two battleships immediately started brawling with their close-range defense weapons.

I felt my brain short-circuiting as I watched the ships we were supposed to receive destroy themselves during delivery.

“What the hell…”

I quickly deployed the Kraken to separate the ships, but by then, the external structures, anti-air systems, and radars were all wrecked from the 250mm CIWS barrage, leaving me with a deep sense of sorrow.