Chapter 71

Chapter 71. Ordinary Daily Life. (2)

And after checking the facts related to the ‘Neutral Force’ in the gallery.

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Title: Where did all those guys who were spouting neutral country nonsense go?

Author: Zack Supero

Content: [Images of users who were shouting about forming a Neutral Alliance], [A few bases floating in space]

Where the hell did these guys go?

They were all hyped up about creating a fifth column, but on the day of formation, except for me and a few others, no one showed up at the spot where they were supposed to form the Neutral Force.

Am I being pranked? For real?

Comments:

– [What’s this?]

– [You believed that?]

– [Dude, check the numbers of Earth Federation sign-ups that were just posted]

– [Neutral Force or whatever, those who didn’t join anywhere are just being pranked]

– [Wait, what the hell?] (Author)

– [Newbies got fooled again today ㅠㅠ]

– [Those guys all went to the pirates, why aren’t you living up to your nickname?]

– [LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL]

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“…Oh.”

Surprisingly, I found out that most of the users who were shouting about a neutral country had gone to the pirates. I immediately went to find Marian, who was lounging around at the base.

“Marian, do you know roughly how many commanders have joined the pirates now?”

“Umm… Sorry, Oppa, I don’t keep track of that kind of thing.”

“Ah.”

Thinking about it, Marian isn’t really my ‘subordinate’ like Jessica or the others.

She’s just staying at this base as a kind of ‘guest’ under the pretext of needing some mysterious energy source called ‘Icarosnium’ or whatever.

Moreover, Marian is the head of that huge ‘faction’ that Jessica and I were just marveling at.

It would be strange if she knew all those details.

Realizing my mistake, I was about to apologize.

“Just wait a moment, I have a way to find out quickly.”

“Huh?”

Marian, as if it were nothing, snapped her fingers.

Of course, Jessica, who didn’t know what that meant, just stared blankly at Marian.

Exactly 15 seconds after Marian snapped her fingers.

“What’s the matter, Empress!!!! Did those bastards finally lay a hand on you?!”

A man dressed in typical pirate attire burst into the reception room like a gust of wind, smashing the door.

Even though the room was designed to be convertible into an emergency bunker, with doors made of the same armor material used in cruisers or battleships…

Despite Jessica maintaining a blank expression, her large rabbit ears shot straight up, clearly showing she was shocked.

Unlike Jessica, I knew who this pirate was.

“You idiot! Why the hell did you smash Oppa’s base door?!”

“Guhuk?!”

Marian then kicked the man in the side, causing him to bend like a bow.

Watching this, I felt indescribable.

The man, whose waist was bent like the letter ‘ㄱ’, was none other than Leonard, one of the most powerful forces under the Pirate Empress, the admiral of her guard fleet, and one of the top executives of the pirate faction unofficially nicknamed ‘Golden Sun’.

‘Hmm, is his name Leonard? Or was it Leonid?’

Anyway, that wasn’t important right now.

Leonard, who had his waist broken and was being stomped on by Marian, might die if this continued.

Shaking my head, I decided to calm Marian down first.

—————————————-

After barely managing to calm Marian down (though it was more like she stopped functioning after I hugged her from behind and she seemed to get electrocuted).

“Cough, cough.”

Looking at Leonard, whose once glorious golden hair was now half blood-red from being stomped on, I asked Marian why she had called him.

To this, Marian nodded as if it were obvious.

“Of course, to answer the question you wanted, Oppa.”

“…”

But that’s something you could just ask your subordinates, like how I ask Jessica.

Why go through the trouble of summoning this guy and making him smash the door?

While I was flustered, Marian, sitting with her legs crossed, wiggled her foot and spoke again.

“Leo, how many commanders have joined our faction now?”

“Co-commanders, you mean?”

“So, um… that’s… it.”

From Leonard’s perspective, who used to have his ‘subordinates’ handle everything while he only needed to focus on battles and important matters, this was like a bolt from the blue.

But the sharp bend in his spine kept stimulating his brain, preventing it from short-circuiting.

A moment later.

Whether it was a desperate struggle to survive or something he had remembered all along, Leonard began to answer Marian’s question with a face that looked like he was squeezing his brain dry.

“So, until yesterday, it was about 15,000? That’s how many came in.”

“Until yesterday?”

“Yes, but this morning, I heard that about 2,000 more people arrived all at once.”

“That’s what they say, bro.”

“Ah, I see.”

So, the ‘neutral faction pirates switching sides’ I saw this morning was this.

I must have confirmed the number of ‘commanders’ belonging to the pirate faction as well.

I decided to head straight to the Biological Research Institute to meet Oxianor, the envoy of the Space Monster, while also checking on Gryanarr, who should be leveling up by now.

Of course, the main reason for this urgent movement was the look in Leonard’s eyes, filled with the sentiment, ‘You’re the one who put me in this mess,’ shooting at me from behind Marian.

But before I could avoid that reason, Marian suddenly blocked my path.

Literally appearing in an instant with the physical abilities of a ‘superhuman,’ she blocked the way out.

Seeing Marian like this, Jessica, who had been startled, asked with a puzzled expression.

“Why are you doing this, Marian?”

“Well, it’s just… um… ugh…”

And Marian, who had been asked by Jessica, showed an attitude of not knowing what to say while still blocking the entrance.

A moment later.

After letting out a deep sigh, she cautiously opened her mouth to me.

“Hey, bro, I think I need to go back to the den now…”

“Ah… is it already that time?”

Marian, who had the setting that if she stayed away too long, the pirates’ control would weaken, nodded at my response, showing that we would meet again soon.

But at my reaction, Marian shook her head and continued.

“But this time, it’s going to be quite a while… no, a really long time before I can come back.”

And then she suddenly hugged me tightly.

The sensation of her soft chest pressing against my body made me involuntarily hold my breath for a moment.

But somehow, I managed to keep my sanity and felt suspicious of Marian’s unusually clingy and sticky behavior.

‘This isn’t the first or second time… no, it’s the third time now.’

Of course, it might just be because she hasn’t adjusted yet, so I held Marian’s hand, who still looked like a teenager, and said.

“But Marian, you’re an adult now and the leader of a faction… shouldn’t you show some responsibility?”

“That’s true, but…”

Even though it made sense, Marian couldn’t shake off her sullen expression.

Seeing Marian like this, I decided to ask what the problem was.

“Is there something else going on?”

“Well… this time, a lot of commanders like you have joined our faction, right?”

“Yeah, I heard about that.”

“Because of that, I’ll have to manage the base and the faction with the executives for a while, so I probably won’t be able to come here for at least a month.”

“Ah, I see.”

A month.

For Marian, who used to come every 2-3 days to recharge ‘Icarosium,’ that’s a really long time.

So, even while explaining and clinging to me, she kept sniffing and inhaling my clothes.

I started to wonder if I should try to calm Marian’s unstable behavior.

But that was short-lived.

Marian, who had finished inhaling ‘Icarosium,’ looked disappointed but detached from me and then delivered quite a shocking statement.

“And since I can’t come here directly, I can’t just leave one pirate group here, right?”

“…Right?”

“So, I’ll take the existing ones with me, and instead, I’ll leave Leonard and the Imperial Guard here.”

“…”

And the moment I heard that.

I slowly turned my head and felt my eyes meet Leonard’s, who looked like he was hearing this for the ‘first time.’