Chapter 487

Chapter 487. Show me your bargaining power.

Anyway, after grasping the situation, I did my best to look into various things.

But from the auction house within the trading market to bartering between users, I even checked out a few people and naturally stumbled upon the black market (?) that popped up around the “Icarus Kingdom something or other.”

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[Central Neutral Zone Black Market]

[Notice: Welcome to my black market.]

-[What is this, isn’t this a black market?](Icarus)

-[We are the ones who break the neutrality of the center.]

-[The Middle Breaker]

-[Wait, that’s Icarus himself.]

-[Ah]

-[Oops, we’re screwed]

—————————————–

Not to mention, I ended up catching some weirdos lurking inside.

Finally, even after digging through the barter-related posts in the gallery and putting in all the effort I could,

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Title: The prices for bartering seem ridiculously inflated.

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [A chat asking for a more expensive ship in exchange for an SS-class mobile destroyer.jpg]

I poked around five or six people, and they all came out like that.

Are they colluding on prices or something?

Comments:

-[“That’s just how business is done!!”]

-[Lol, dude, why is it so expensive?]

-[Are they all like that?]

-˪[At least from the people I’ve seen, yeah.](Author)

-[Honestly, the whole trading scene is just too inflated right now, it’s not the time to trade but to shut up and stay put.]

-˪[Hmm, I guess so.](Author)

-˪[I agree with that, prices are just too high right now.]

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All I got from that was, “The whole market is way too inflated right now!”

“The commanders in the gallery are right, honestly, the prices are just too strong right now, aren’t they?”

“Hmm.”

“Jumping into the trading market in this situation doesn’t seem like a good idea.”

Hearing Jessica, who also serves as my sub-brain and advisor, say this, I felt truly regretful and quietly closed the trading market window, entering a moment of silence.

==========

Of course, just because I stopped exploring the trading market didn’t mean I didn’t need anything right now.

‘Whether I like it or not, I need a tanking ship, a really sturdy and neat one.’

As I’ve pointed out several times, trying to tank with a normal-grade ship at this point?

It’s literally a waste of resources and the time needed for leveling, so I’m in desperate need of a new method.

The problem is, no matter how anxious I am, there’s no suitable method.

Even lowering my standards to cover the lack of performance with quantity isn’t an option because either the quantity isn’t there or it’s too expensive to create.

“···No matter how I look at it, there’s no suitable solution.”

I couldn’t help but shake my head in frustration.

Seeing me like this, Jessica pondered for a moment and then…

“But Commander, if it really doesn’t work out, why not ask Marian to lend us a decent ship or get a ship through Princess Luka?”

“Huh? Lending a ship?”

“Yes, come to think of it, Commander Mona Lisa also receives ships from the Xenobia Empire in that way.”

“···Hmm.”

It sounded very plausible, so I felt momentarily tempted, thinking, “Oh, that’s not bad.”

But with that thought, I first went to Princess Luka to ask for her opinion…

“A ship, you say?”

“Yes.”

“I’ve already let you use my hobby fleet and even gave you a Kraken-class. What more do you want?”

“Moreover, Commander Icarus, didn’t you lose the two destroyers we gave you last time?”

“···Hmm, that did happen.”

“That’s true.”

As Princess Luka said, the monster force detachment at our base boasts a fairly formidable fleet with over 20 battleships stationed.

Not to mention, thanks to random probabilities or whatever, “anyway,” my base had been granted as many as two Kraken-class ships.

Though now, since they’ve either exploded or been sold for gold, there’s no trace left…

‘Ah, the Hafling-class,’

‘Almost never used a halfling-class ship.’

Anyway, it was true that they gave me as many as 2 S-class destroyers.

Although, in building that hobby fleet, I did provide some of the necessary resources.

But most of the resources were, in any case, scavenged by the monsters—no, by Princess Luka—from various resource zones, allowing for self-sustained growth.

Thinking that there was no way I could get more from the monster forces here, I nodded my head and showed an understanding response.

==========

And then, I tried to contact our hope, Marian A.K.A. Yuryunjjangkeojejenimyu, everyone’s little sister, to seek a ray of hope…

-“Ship donation? Hmm… I think it might be a bit difficult.”

“Tsk.”

-“It’s impossible, Commander Icarus.”

-“If it were up to me, I’d just give Oppaya the Eclipse or Ironblood…”

-“Your Majesty, if you do that, the other commanders, including the Loki Clan, will rise up.”

Seeing Marian and Leonard next to her subtly rejecting the idea, it was clear.

If they took care of me, who isn’t even part of their faction, any more than this, the users who are part of their faction would likely rise up, so it’s a no-go…

‘Well, there’s nothing I can do about that, hmm.’

Seeing them draw the line, saying it’s impossible in a different sense than with Princess Luka’s monsters, I nodded my head but felt very disappointed.

But maybe my thoughts were showing on my face.

-“Oh, wait a minute, Oppaya.”

“Huh?”

-“It’s not that there’s no way at all, just wait a moment…”

Through the communication screen, Mari Mari, who was looking at me, said it’s not that there’s no way at all, and then suddenly made a call somewhere.

The problem was, what was that way…

-“Ah, Loki Clan Leader? It’s me.”

-“If you’re thinking of doing something to help that husband of yours, I’ll rise up without question.”

-“Oh my, how cute.”

-Beep!

-“The Loki Clan Leader has cut off the communication.”

-“Hmm, it seems even etiquette training won’t fix some things… Oh well!”

“…Alright.”

‘Poor Betelgeuse Geigeiya… no, Teutnya…’

This was about Betelgeuse, who got pushed around between factions and internal chaos during the ‘Counterattack of the Factions’ event.

Unlike Antares of Humanity, Betelgeuse, as a middle manager, was getting pushed around in various ways.

At first, due to a somewhat twisted first impression, I had a lot of negative feelings towards Betelgeuse.

But now, seeing them suffer in ways similar to me, I started feeling an inexplicable pity.

And through that, I realized that being a clan leader doesn’t always mean you can suck honey like Antares or Arcadia of Justice over there.

-End of communication.

As soon as I ended the fun and pleasant(?) communication with Marian, I decided to reaffirm my will to Jessica beside me.

“Jessica, Jessica, I absolutely have no intention of becoming a clan leader.”

“Oh, really… but why suddenly…?”

“Just to engrave it in my heart once more.”

==========

And even after mobilizing all possible means available to me.

As a mere user, there was no way I could do anything, so at this point, I decided to temporarily set aside the goal of securing a ‘tanking ship.’

But right at that moment.

“Oh, wait.”

“Yes?”

“Suddenly, I thought, didn’t Gryanarr heavily modify the Overseer and other ships last time?”

“Uh… yes? But it was so heavily modified that it became overly unstable, and Gryanarr had to stick to it like glue.”

As the memory of using the Overseer, the former flagship of my fleet, to the bone flashed through my mind.

In my head, I started to think that it might be a very neat solution for our current fleet.