Chapter 461

Episode 461. Bounty Hunting ON.

The problem was that when I actually tried to take on Marian’s request(?), it turned out to be way tougher than expected.

“Commander, Marian has sent the expected route of the target fleet.”

“…Why is it so all over the place?”

“Well, the person who took the Gigantia and ran away is taking a rather unconventional route.”

Maybe it’s because it’s a user running away with it, not an NPC.

Despite Marian’s direct Imperial Guard chasing them.

They’re escaping so skillfully that it’s hard to even figure out where to start.

And of course, users aren’t just going to sit back and watch a situation like “a guy running away with the Pirate Alliance’s main ship and the Pirate Alliance’s elite fleet chasing them” without getting involved.

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Title: Current status of the guy filming a real-time chase.txt

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A fleet led by a Gigantia-class Cruiser Battleship desperately fleeing, with the chasing fleet a few hundred light-seconds behind.jpg]

So intense.

Dude’s out there filming Mad Max in space.

So fun.

Comments:

– [What’s going on?]

– [It’s a live broadcast of some dude who stole the Pirate Alliance’s main ship and is now running away.]

– [So fun, agreed.]

– [lololol]

– [Watching this makes me think, “If you want to live, run.”]

– [-Wrong-]

– [This brat who can’t even wean off milk is dissing the god-tier games of our era.]

—————————————–

Title: The Pirate Alliance threw an event at the Central Zone users.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Pirate Alliance’s chase cooperation event.jpg]

We didn’t have this kind of thing during Xenobia’s time.

Did they update or something?

Comments:

– [No idea.]

– [It’s probably just the difference in personality between Xenobia and the Pirate Alliance.]

– [Xenobia is the type to show off and do things on their own.]

– [The Pirate Alliance, on the other hand, has become more user-friendly(?), so they’re throwing quests and asking for cooperation.]

– [Pirates asking for cooperation? Something’s fishy.] (Author)

—————————————–

With separate broadcast users popping up like this, the attention has become incredibly intense.

On the flip side, using the chatter from users, some users who took quests from me or Marian have been able to track the fleet’s location and are moving around like eels.

-Beep beep!

“Commander, we can’t see the target fleet.”

“Wow, they’re slipping away.”

At this point, I finally understood why real-life cops tell reporters to scram when they’re trying to make an arrest.

Of course, realizing that didn’t mean I could do anything about it.

Moreover, while that user was in a state of desperation, with their base and everything destroyed, we users were just trying to manage our favor with the Pirate Alliance and get discounts on mercenary contracts.

Lacking that sense of desperation, things weren’t looking too good.

If this keeps up, we’ll lose the user, and we won’t get any rewards either.

I realized we needed a new approach.

Of course, using the “Unlimited Mercenary Corps” was out of the question.

“Commander, why don’t we just hire a ton of mercenaries and surround them with sheer numbers?”

“If we spend hundreds of thousands to millions of resources on the Unlimited Mercenary Corps just to stop one user from escaping, how am I supposed to defend when someone else attacks while we’re recharging?”

“Ah.”

Frankly, the Unlimited Mercenary Corps is like a “nuclear weapon” to me.

Using it recklessly for something like this would be extremely dangerous.

So, we couldn’t use that method, and we had to come up with something else.

And that something else was…

“Jessica, call Marian again.”

“What should I say is the reason for contacting her?”

“Let’s put a bounty on that user. In the meantime, I’ll contact mercenary users through the chat.”

We decided to use the “Bounty System,” a plan based on reassurance and trust.

Of course, Marian responded with the very reasonable concern, “Won’t it seem strange for pirates to put up a bounty?”

But I just said, “As long as you give the okay, it’s fine. Just promise appropriate rewards!”

Alright, I pressed OK.

A moment later.

—————————————–

[Tanhoizer Mercenary Market Chat Room]

[Notice: Don’t drag neutral zone talk here, and don’t drag chat talk there.]

-[Guys](Icarus)

-[The King of the Central Zone]

-[Ooh, Central Zone Chad, ooh]

-[What’s up, what’s up, what’s up?]

-[You know the Pirate Alliance quest this time? The extra rewards are out, wanna hear?](Icarus)

-[Oh right, that guy surrendered to the Pirate Empress]

-[What is it then?]

-[Empress’s words: The one who captures them directly gets a Tiger-class Cruiser Battleship, a ton of resources, and gold from the Pirate Alliance](Icarus)

-[And those who help in the capture also get slightly less resources and gold, separate from the favor points](Icarus)

-[Oh]

-[Wow, really?]

-[Yeah, for real](Icarus)

—————————————–

I spread the rewards I heard from Marian (a Pirate Cruiser Battleship, a ton of resources, gold, and the rest are resources and gold!) in the Tanhoizer Mercenary user chat.

In an instant, they started crunching numbers among themselves, saying, “Yeah, that’s worth it,” and showed positive reactions to chasing down that user.

Not just reacting, but since I threw out facts based on facts like that.

Naturally, the agents and mercenary users there started spreading that info to their “contacts” like crazy…

And the result.

—————————————–

Title: Today’s News) Pirate Alliance puts a bounty on a user who stole their ship

Author: News Boy

Content: [Bounty info spreading through the Tanhoizer Mercenary Network.jpg]

It’s real.

The person who captured the Gigantia-class Cruiser Battleship gets a Tiger-class Cruiser Battleship, a ton of resources, and gold from the Pirate Alliance.

Users who helped in the capture get resources and gold.

People with nothing to do should just join and grab some resources and gold.

Comments:

-[Wow, events are popping off non-stop these days]

-[Mmm, the sweet scent of gold]

-[This is it~]

-[Do you just get it for participating?]

-˪[Nah, you gotta join the battle to capture the user, as mentioned above]

-˪[Ah, got it]

-[I’ve been short on gold lately because of those darn hoarders, but it looks like gold supply methods are increasing]

-[Let’s gooooooo]

—————————————–

In an instant, news of a treasure goblin (?) appearing spread, and not just Central Zone users.

Even users who had nothing to do after the event rushed in and formed a big, beautiful encirclement…

Just 3 days after the rumor spread.

—————————————–

Title: Breaking News) Bounty user caught lololololol

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A user’s fleet, including a Gigantia-class Cruiser Battleship, surrounded by about 270 user fleets, screaming “Ah, damn!!!”.jpg]

Treasure goblin lololololol

Comments:

-[Lolololol they really got caught lololol]

-[Look at how the Gigantia is perfectly fine while the other ships are a mess]

-[How’d you catch them?]

-˪[We even hired mercenaries from our clan to catch them, so worth it](Author)

-[Dang, I should’ve hired mercenaries too]

-[Aren’t you guys defending your base?]

-˪[We have an allied clan, bye](Author)

—————————————–

While wrecking the captured user’s fleet, the Gigantia-class was retrieved without a single scratch.

And then, our Mari Mari, happy to get the Gigantia-class back unscathed, handed out additional rewards and even a “participation fee” to all the users who joined.

Not just me, but all the users who participated enjoyed the fun event and got sweet rewards, leading to a happy ending.

Of course, the captured user was dragged away by the Pirate Alliance’s pursuit team, crying their eyes out.

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