Chapter 374

Chapter 374. This is the Mercenary Mecca. (2)

As soon as I entered the chat room, I realized what the user I just met meant.

—

**<Icarus Triangle Zone Official Chat Room>**

**<Notice: This is a place for users who have docked in the Icarus Triangle Zone>**

**<Notice: If you want to hire users as mercenaries, do it elsewhere, like through individual users or agents.>**

**<Peshka has joined the chat.>**

**<Armoni has joined the chat.>**

– [Hello, I just docked here for the first time.]

– [Hey hey.]

– [Nice to meet you.]

– [Oh, there’s a notice right above.]

– [Tsk tsk.]

– [LOLOLOLOLOLOL]

– [If you’re looking for mercenaries, go somewhere else. Bye.]

– [Yeah.]

**<Armoni has left the chat.>**

– [We get two or three of those guys every day.]

– [They’re idiots who try to do things cheaply without agents and end up getting kicked out. Not to be mean or anything.]

– [You already said it, LOLOLOLOLOL]

—

‘Hmmmm, interesting.’

I’ve been so busy with various things that I hadn’t paid attention to this before.

Unlike Avalon or Barracuda, where users were content with just “living” after docking, like in a cozy village or rural life.

—

**<Icarus Triangle Zone Official Chat Room>**

**<Notice: This is a place for users who have docked in the Icarus Triangle Zone>**

**<Notice: If you want to hire users as mercenaries, do it elsewhere, like through individual users or agents.>**

– […What is this place?] (Icarus)

– [Our boss is here!]

– [Everyone, greet him!]

– [LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

– [The boss has arrived!]

– [Greeting emoticon]

– [LOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

– [It’s like a gang boss getting greeted by thugs right after being released from prison.]

– [LOLOLOLOL]

– [What the heck?] (Icarus)

– [Why are there so many users here doing mercenary work?] (Icarus)

– [Well, it’s because of the Tanhoizer docking buff, duh?]

– [If you give 10 million total resources, you get a teleport buff. Lucky, right?]

—

The Tanhoizer’s docking buff must be really something.

Unlike the two bases I mentioned earlier, it seems that users who act as mercenaries for other clans or users in exchange for rewards are flocking here.

And through that, I learned one more thing.

—

“Jessica, by the way, aren’t there a lot of Tanhoizer docking points left unused?”

“Yes, contrary to expectations, the response has been lower than we thought.”

“But as of today, I realized why that is.”

“Huh? What is it?”

“Most users docking at Tanhoizer aren’t looking for a rural life. They’re here to fight and brawl with others.”

“Huh.”

—

That’s right.

The users docking at Tanhoizer are the complete opposite of the users who used to dock with me.

—

“So, Commander, does that mean everyone docking at Tanhoizer is a warmonger?”

“Exactly.”

—

Because of that, users hoping for a “rural life” don’t really need Tanhoizer’s buff, so they don’t move in.

Meanwhile, the mercenary-type users who would move into Tanhoizer have already gathered as much as they can.

So, it seems like Tanhoizer’s population isn’t increasing much.

And because of that, fewer users docking = docking costs drop.

Even after taking over this place, the resource acquisition rate hasn’t been as good as expected.

Well, it’s not like it’s not increasing at all.

—

“But I do see 2-3 users trying to dock here every day.”

“Is that so?”

“Some of them dock at Tanhoizer and then move to Avalon or Barracuda if a spot opens up.”

“Huh.”

—

As Jessica said, 2-3 users are steadily coming in every day.

—

“How many users are currently docked at Tanhoizer?”

“Out of 2,500 docking points, about 1,200 are currently in use.”

“Hmm.”

—

Unless something major happens, it’ll probably take a year to a year and a half to fill up.

—

And after realizing the reality of Tanhoizer, I started to think, maybe I should try being a mercenary too?

—

“Jessica, maybe our fleet should try the mercenary business.”

“…What are you trying to do now?”

Of course, upon hearing my story, Jessica, who would have to handle the detailed tasks if anything happened, made an indescribable expression.

But seeing that, my interest in mercenaries was only fleeting.

To gather information, I casually clicked around the gallery to search…

—————————————–

Title: Current Status of Mercenary Business Among Users.txt

Author: Maximus

Content: [Mysterious chart image.jpg]

Damn, it’s getting more complicated as time goes on.

Even if you roughly summarize it, there’s almost no 1:1 match between employers and mercenaries like before.

What’s the deal?

First, nowadays, there’s always a user acting as an agent between the employer and the mercenary.

When that agent user receives a request from the employer, they match the employer with a mercenary user through their network.

But now it’s become even more specialized.

Clans that solely focus on mercenary work have even emerged.

So what happens now?

An employer wants to hire a mercenary?

Then they either find an agent nearby or through the chat window, and the guys watching the chat contact the employer to find out what type they need.

After that, the agent contacts the clan, and the clan either finds another mercenary through their own agents or dispatches their own mercenaries.

And in that process, they add a ton of extra fees, so hiring mercenaries has gotten crazy expensive, lol.

Anyway, networking has become super important.

Damn, if you don’t have connections, no one will hire you even if you want to be a mercenary, lol.

Well, it’s different if you’re a top-ranked player, but that’s only if you’re in the top thousand or so.

If you’re in the top 10,000 or 100,000, who knows?

Comments:

-[Damn, it’s no wonder they’re from Hellbando, they’ve already set up an additional internal distribution structure.]

-[That’s Hellbando for you.]

-[Is there really a need for that much middleman involvement?]

-[If it doesn’t work, make it work, don’t you know?]

-[That’s not something you’re supposed to say here, damn.]

—————————————–

“Ugh, damn.”

The disgusting middleman stages (?) have increased from at least 1 to up to 3.

And because of that, the situation is what it is, and they say networking is absolutely necessary.

—————————————–

<Solo Ranker Room~~~>

<Notice: Just do whatever you want.>

-[Guys, what about taking on mercenary work?] (Icarus)

-[We’ve been doing that from the start, so agents and stuff can’t really interfere.]

-[From what I hear from newcomers, networking and politics are no joke.] (Indypatible)

-[Sometimes idiots try to pull their political crap on us too, lol.] (Menaldu)

-[I think jumping into it now isn’t a good idea.]

-[You’ll probably just get screwed over by politics.] (Laura)

-[Ah, I see.] (Icarus)

-[If you really want to do it, you need a big clan backing you like Laura or Indypatible.]

-[Then those half-baked mercenary clans won’t dare mess with you.] (Königs)

-[Ah, I see.] (Icarus)

—————————————–

I also subtly asked other solo rankers who’ve been active as so-called “external mercenaries” for a while.

But the responses I got weren’t great.

“Jessica, Jessica, Jessica.”

“Yes, yes, yes.”

“Let’s put the idea of jumping into the mercenary business on hold for now.”

“That’s a good decision, Commander.”

After letting go of the thought of diving into the “mercenary business” that I had been considering just moments ago…

“It doesn’t feel right.”

“Exactly, if you really want to do it, you need to think more and observe the situation further.”

With Tanhoizer having nearly 1,000 users involved in the mercenary business, I thought it would be good to watch what those users are doing and gain some experience.