Chapter 415

Chapter 415. Solo? Solo Alliance?

But the news about ‘solo rankers’ getting hired (?) by big corporations didn’t end there.

Just as I was in shock (?) over the news of Indypatible and Menaldu getting hired (???), the gallery media kept posting more headhunting updates.

—————————————–

Title: Breaking News) Rank 6 Laura and Rank 9 Königs Announce Clan Membership

Author: News Boy

Content: [Laura verifying in the chatroom.jpg], [Königs giving an interview with a mosaic face.jpg]

Laura and Königs, solo players ranked 6th and 9th respectively, just announced they’re joining a clan.

Laura personally verified it in the chatroom, while Königs mentioned they had planned to join a clan from the start and even gave us an interview.

By the way, the fact that all four rankers, including the other two, are joining clans wasn’t intentional.

They just did it without much thought, and the timing happened to align perfectly.

Comments:

-[The timing is ridiculously artistic.]

-[But isn’t it obvious they’d have a reason? The clans are getting too big for solo players to handle.]

-[What are you even talking about, floating guy?]

-[It’s about time they got jobs.]

-[Are you saying all 100,000 central users are unemployed?]

-[Ah.]

-[Look at the floating guy getting roasted and going brain-dead.]

—————————————–

“How could this be? Everyone’s leaving me behind.”

“···Huh?”

How could this happen?

On this very day, they’ve all abandoned their vow to live and die as solos.

‘Ugh.’

I trusted everyone, but they’ve all betrayed me.

As this indescribable sadness enveloped my mind, I felt my entire body sinking into a deep depression.

Of course, seeing me like this, Jessica, who was watching from the side, shook her head and spoke up.

“Commander, you never made such a strange vow.”

“True.”

“And think about it, maybe the reason the other commanders joined clans is because of you.”

“···Me?”

“Yes.”

Of course, right after hearing that, as my immediate reaction shows, it felt hard to understand.

But after calming my mind with an iced Americano, I realized her words made a lot of sense.

After all, I’m technically a solo player too.

When you think about it, what’s the difference between me and a clan?

“You’re just not using the clan system, but practically, there’s not much difference, right?”

“Hmm.”

“You collect tribute, and if you get invaded, you can get help from other commanders.”

“···That’s true.”

Facing Jessica, who kept hitting me with these facts, I decided to stop my pointless outburst and instead send congratulatory messages to the former solo rankers.

—————————————–

And after all that.

Title: Are the former solo rankers all done?

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A picture of the level 1 base ‘Hauniv’ that Indypatible owned being transferred to another user.jpg]

The bases owned by Indypatible, Menaldu, and Laura have been transferred to other users.

I don’t know about Königs since I’m not there.

Comments:

-[They probably just handed it over to their friends.]

-[Menaldu put it up for auction, and someone bought it for 150,000 gold.]

-[A level 2 base for 150,000 gold? Not bad.]

—————————————–

After seeing the former solo rankers leave for their new homes, I got back to handling daily and weekly quests, taking care of various small tasks.

And while Jessica diligently assisted me with my work…

“Oh, right, Commander?”

“Yeah, what?”

“Shouldn’t you be receiving additional rewards from the Humanity Clan?”

“Rewards?”

“Yes.”

When a sudden question popped up, I couldn’t help but tilt my head in confusion.

But that was only for a moment.

In response to Jessica’s question, I shrugged my shoulders and calmly opened my mouth.

“What additional reward could there be? The cost of hiring the mercenaries was entirely covered by Humanity.”

“Hmm… well, that’s true.”

“Of course, I also fought by deploying the main force, but still, getting over 10 million in resources isn’t something that happens every day, right?”

“Yes, that’s true.”

In the end, it all boiled down to just receiving the pure hiring fee.

For me, that alone was more than enough.

Of course, when I shared this thought, Jessica seemed regretful, thinking we could have squeezed out more.

To Jessica, I showed her a gallery post I had seen earlier titled, ‘Humanity’s reward payments have slowed down!’

“Besides, Humanity isn’t exactly in a comfortable position right now. If we get too greedy in this situation, wouldn’t it just lead to disaster?”

“Hmm… I didn’t realize the situation was like this.”

Of course, Jessica had no way of knowing that Humanity’s reward payments were being delayed and all that.

So her reaction was perfectly understandable, and I nodded in agreement, showing my understanding.

==========

Meanwhile, at the same time, our protagonist Icarus was living a peaceful, idyllic life, blissfully unaware.

Because Icarus wasn’t particularly interested, he only glanced at it briefly, but…

In reality, posts about the ‘Xenobia Empire’s North-South Civil War,’ which was far more intense and involved more people than the battles between the Loki Clan and the Biomass Clan, started appearing on the gallery.

The problem was that this situation hinted at a truly fierce change…

—————————————–

Title: Real Breaking News) Humanity Clan has announced they will no longer provide financial support to the Xenobia factions.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Screenshot of Humanity’s official spokesperson’s chat response.jpg]

It’s real.

Apparently, they’re struggling with reward issues due to the recent revolutionary victory, so they’re trying to resolve the reward payment problem as quickly as possible.

They said they’ll support only one side and cut off the other.

But they haven’t decided which side to cut off yet.

Comments:

– [They’re testing the waters.]

– [They’re probably seeing which side will be most loyal to ‘us.’]

– [Oh, that makes sense.]

– [But honestly, from Humanity’s perspective, supporting both factions was originally to prevent Justice from moving south.]

– [With this situation, they no longer need to worry about Justice even if they stop supporting both factions lol.]

– [Huh? Why is that?]

– [Think about it.]

– [The former Earth Federation’s border defense fleets are now under Humanity’s control, and they’re restoring normal border defense operations.]

– [Plus, even though the user fleets are in bad shape, they’re still around, so there’s no reason to invest more resources in Xenobia.]

– [Ah, I see.]

—————————————–

With Humanity’s so-called ‘New Deal’ policy coming to a halt, the Northern and Southern alliances, each desperate to gain more support, are now engaging in full-scale war.

Meanwhile, they’re trying every trick in the book to get Humanity to turn the tap back on, and it’s all unfolding in real-time.

Of course, seeing this spectacle, the reaction from the gallery and users is overwhelmingly one of ‘disgust.’

But in reality, among the users, Mona Lisa’s Magellan Clan = Northern Alliance is treated like the prince of the Xenobia Empire.

And for Raksha and the Southern Clan Alliance, who got massively screwed over by Magellan and are burning with revenge, they have to do whatever it takes to ensure they get the resources and their opponents don’t.

So they’re pulling out all the stops.

They’re engaging in a diplomacy war filled with slander and schemes, desperately searching for valuable allies to help them.