Chapter 271

Chapter 271. Just because the siege is over doesn’t mean the work is done. (1)

Meanwhile, in the gallery, all sorts of bizarre rumors and proof shots were circulating at that time.

To be precise, it was before I posted the fleet acquisition proof shot in the gallery.

What was I doing?

Well, obviously…

“Ohohoho, nice~.”

“It feels a bit more refreshing now, Commander.”

—————————————–

<‘Avalon Fortress’ and Astral Base docking complete!>

<As the fortress command has been transferred to the Commander’s base, the following effects have been acquired!>

<The fortress’s defense power is now included in the base’s defense power!>

<The base’s daily resource acquisition has increased!>

<The fortress’s shipyard and resource warehouse have been acquired!>

<Parts of the fortress’s internal structure can now be modified!>

—————————————–

We were in the process of docking our entire base to the Avalon Fortress we had taken over, merging them into one.

Sure, because of this, the precious base emergency escape feature became unusable for at least a month.

But hey, the fortress is now my base!!

Unlike before when the base was just sitting there all alone, now we have a solid base defense fleet and plenty of firepower.

Even though I’ve been living in this world for almost two years now and have grown attached to the area…

It wasn’t such a charming place that I’d give up a fortress for it, so there was no other choice.

By the way, about the forward bases I set up near the resource zones to gather resources—what happened to them?

—————————————–

<Forward Base 1 warp complete>

<Time until full operation: 1 day, 4 hours, 55 minutes, 3 seconds>

—————————————–

<Forward Base 2 warp preparation in progress...>

<Time until warp initiation: 14 hours, 17 minutes, 36 seconds>

—————————————–

<Forward Base 3 warp preparation in progress...>

<Time until warp initiation: 1 day, 18 minutes, 59 seconds>

—————————————–

Of course, I couldn’t just leave them there, so I spent some resources to move them to resource zones near the fortress.

And once the mining operations were done, I recalled all the resource mining ships and transport destroyers back to the base.

Then, using the fortress command’s database, I sent them to nearby mineral-rich areas.

Anyway, even though I managed to solve the urgent resource and base relocation issues like that…

“Commander, Commander, Commander.”

“…”

“You can’t rest yet.”

“Ughhh!”

There was still a ton of work left for me to do.

Just from the day spent on the docking process, I naturally had to terminate contracts with mercenary groups that had gathered an additional 800,000 minerals and 99,000 rare resources.

I also had to repair the various defense systems of the fortress I wrecked and the gates of the spaceport.

Not to mention reorganizing the resource fleets I mentioned earlier.

Repairing ships damaged by stray shots.

And dealing with the combat fleet that got trapped and surrendered due to the gate collapse.

Basically, everything under the sun.

==========

Well, first, I decided to start by terminating the mercenary contracts.

You might ask, “Shouldn’t you reorganize the resource fleets first?” but there’s a reason for this too.

When hiring, the Mercenary Dispatch Center handled everything, so I just had to click confirm.

But when terminating contracts, I had to go through each one individually.

And with over 500 mercenary groups to terminate, it took way more time than I expected.

After spending almost the entire day grinding through the mercenary contract terminations…

“Jessica, there are 5 mercenary groups left, right?”

“Yes, they’re the ones with a total of 5 battleships and 8 cruiser battleships.”

Except for these 5 groups that made me think, “I should keep these guys,” I terminated contracts with the remaining 507 mercenary groups…

I managed to terminate the contract in just one day.

Even while canceling the contract like that…

When I tried to terminate contracts with mercenary groups that had aircraft carriers… Our Tiamat screamed “Puuueeeeng!” telling me not to abandon the carriers, but that was just a minor thing.

No way.

Right before that, I saw exactly how active those so-called aircraft… no, interceptors were. Do you really trust the carriers?

It was such an absurd idea, so I decided to focus on strengthening the fleet by keeping only the mercenary groups with battleships and cruiser battleships, as mentioned earlier.

You might ask, “What about the small ships you mentioned earlier?”

Well, there’s a solution for that too, so I won’t bother mentioning it here.

—————————————-

<Mercenary Group Employment Status>

<Currently Employing 5 Mercenary Groups>

<Total Ship Types>

<Battleships: 5>

<Cruiser Battleships: 8>

<Daily Resource Consumption: Minerals 2,569, Rare Resources 150>

—————————————-

Because after keeping only those 5 mercenary groups and terminating the rest…

“Huh? What?”

“What’s wrong, Jessica?”

“Ah, Commander, you see… there are 5 mercenary groups left, right?”

“Yeah, but why are you bringing that up suddenly?”

“Well, they suddenly merged into one mercenary group called the ‘Rhodes Mercenary Group’ and want to make an exclusive contract with us.”

“…Exclusive contract? Are they asking to be completely absorbed as subordinates?”

“That’s not entirely wrong.”

Hearing such an unexpected story from Jessica, I was baffled by this unheard-of event.

But only for a moment.

The idea of them becoming subordinates = completely joining my fleet made me instinctively frown.

“5 battleships and 8 cruiser battleships are a great force, but… can our fleet points handle that?”

“Impossible.”

Since battleships cost 40 points each and cruiser battleships cost 30 points each…

If this unified mercenary group joined our fleet, it would require a whopping 440 points…

‘Ugh, what a waste.’

Since it was realistically impossible, I was about to tell Jessica to reject the mercenary group’s contract offer.

But…

—————————————-

<Event>

<Exclusive Contract with a Mercenary Group!>

<Content>

<The 5 mercenary groups chosen by you, Commander, happen to have similar fleet compositions.>

<They’ve decided to unite into one massive mercenary group called the 'Rhodes Mercenary Group' and want to make an exclusive contract with you.>

<Of course, it’s called an exclusive contract, but in reality, since you have the Pirate Empress behind you...>

<And considering your outstanding performance in the recent fortress siege...>

<They just want to become your subordinates, that’s all.>

<Effects>

<This mercenary group is treated as 'mercenaries' despite being called 'exclusive contract' and 'subordinates.'>

<Due to the exclusive contract effect, the daily contract fee is discounted by 5%!>

<You cannot arbitrarily terminate the contract, and you must notify them at least 1 month in advance to cancel.>

<A new contract menu for the 'Rhodes Mercenary Group' will be created!>

<The 'Rhodes Mercenary Group' will have a separate loyalty check, and the contract fee and performance will vary based on loyalty!>

<Will you agree to the exclusive contract with the 'Rhodes Mercenary Group'?>

<Y/N>

—————————————-

Seeing the naturally appearing event message with its perfectly crafted content…

I threw all the worries I had earlier into Gryanarr’s chimera production factory.

‘Can’t resist a discount.’

I quickly pressed Y and decided to sign the exclusive contract with the mercenary group buddies.