Chapter 72

Chapter 72. An Ordinary Day (3)

“Marion, so you’re saying you’ll station Leonard here and some of your elite fleet here?”

“Yes, of course.”

Maybe it was because the first meeting went so awkwardly.

I trusted Leonard’s abilities as a character, of course.

And I also trusted the strength of the fleet he led, but I couldn’t help but wonder if it was okay to just station the existing pirate fleet here long-term.

But as if she could read my thoughts or something,

Marion added more to her explanation.

“Among the pirate groups that can be stationed here right now, Leonard is the only male commander.”

“Hmm… Did it have to be a man? I don’t really mind if it’s a woman.”

In response to Marion’s words, I subtly raised an objection.

“No, a few days or a week might be fine, but absolutely not for more than a month.”

“I see.”

“If we station those b*tches here, there’s a high chance they’ll try to steal Oppa’s chastity.”

“Ah… Hmm… I see.”

“So, we’ll station the reliable Leonard here to protect Oppa’s chastity.”

“…”

I, one of the top executives of the pirates and a superhuman who is treated like sh*t by users,

had to make a very complicated expression, as did Leonard, who was suddenly being treated as my chastity guard.

And whether we felt that way or not, Marion had already finished her goal of inhaling ‘Icarosium.’

“Well then, see you next time! Oppa!”

“Uh-huh.”

She left without taking any responsibility for her bombshell announcement.

At the same time, as her lord(?) and Ma’am left,

our chastity guard… no, Leonard also said he had no more business here and returned to his fleet’s flagship.

And I, too, tried to steady my shaken mental state in this chaotic situation.

After giving orders to repair the reception room door,

I decided to find out how many commanders there were in the ‘Monster’ faction.

To meet with Oxianor, who was here as an envoy from the ‘Monster’ faction, and also to check on Gryanarr, who had been holed up for a while leveling up and conducting research.

I immediately left the reception room and headed to the ‘Biological Research Institute and Neural Network’ area for the first time in a while.

==========

And on the way, after passing through a bizarre passage that seemed like a fusion of machinery and biology, reminiscent of Conxra,

I dragged Jessica, who was shuddering in discomfort at the surroundings, straight to the door of the ‘former’ biological research institute.

Touching the ‘current’ living door, I stepped inside.

“The lights are all off.”

“…I see.”

For some reason, most of the lights were off,

and the floor was covered in a slimy mucus, some kind of flesh, and what looked like blood vessels.

Some of them were pipes or wires instead of blood vessels,

but the boundary between those and blood vessels was unclear, making it hard to distinguish in the dim lighting.

And in that grotesque mess, Jessica and I were looking around with heightened tension.

“Oh my, Commander? What brings you here~?”

Turning my head at the familiar voice,

I saw Gryanarr sitting on what seemed like a sofa(?) that gave off a wriggling sensation, surrounded by decorations that seemed to have blood vessels bulging out.

In the center, where ‘pipes’ extended from those bizarre things,

Gryanarr was sitting, kicking her feet and smiling playfully at me, her shoes nowhere to be seen.

I shrugged as if it was nothing and casually opened the status window to check Gryanarr’s condition first.

Of course, the reason was obviously because of the insane visuals around her.

Just in case Gryanarr wasn’t doing the leveling she was supposed to,

and was instead in a state of, “The Monster’s tentacles are amazingggg! I’ve lost half my lifeeeeee!”

—————————————-

<Gryanarr>

<Level 43>

<Type: Support Mid-Range>

<Traits: Research, Enhancement, Mad Scientist, Bio-Experiments, Modification>

<Stats>

Health: C+

Attack Power: S-

Physical Defense: SSS+

Magic Power: SSS-

Magic Defense: SSS+

Mobility: C-

—————————————-

‘What the?’

As soon as I checked Gryanarr’s status window, I noticed something. Not only were there more ‘features’ embedded than I remembered, but while all the stats had increased overall, ‘Mobility’ alone had dropped by two levels (C+ ⇒ C-).

I couldn’t help but feel dumbfounded, wondering what kind of leveling mess this was. Still, I decided to assess the situation and opened my mouth to speak to Gryanarr.

“Gryanarr, it hasn’t even been a week since I last saw you… When did you turn the Biological Research Institute into something like this?”

“Hehe, why? Curious?”

Wiggling their toes and grinning at my words, Gryanarr began stroking the surface of a nearby test tube with a nostalgic expression before continuing.

“It’s nothing much. I just got a taste of how far biotechnology can go… and used it to upgrade myself and this research institute a bit further.”

“…”

Seeing Gryanarr’s ecstatic expression, I felt Jessica, who was behind me, flinch. Honestly, anyone could see that Gryanarr looked like they were about to turn into a mad scientist at any moment, ready to scream, ‘MAKE EARTH WHOLEEEEEE!’ and charge at us.

I was already prepared to call Ignis and Belial, who were taking a break instead of doing daily quests today, but…

Right at that moment.

<<“That’s enough of your games, Gryanarr.”>>

“Oh my, were you watching the whole time? Oxianor.”

“…?”

As the telepathic voice of Oxianor, the envoy of the monsters, echoed, the dark interior of the Biological Research Institute, which looked like a nest of an alien bio-virus that could consume anything, suddenly lit up.

Except for a part of the wall that had been assimilated by the monster’s ‘neural network,’ the institute returned to its usual white laboratory form.

And finally, seeing the ‘research team’ of the Biological Research Institute glancing at Gryanarr and giving me sympathetic looks, I couldn’t help but feel a mix of emotions.

“Ahahahaha! Commander? What did you think I was going to do to make you so tense?!”

Gryanarr, finding mine and Jessica’s flustered expressions hilarious, was genuinely laughing their heart out, clutching their stomach.

While Gryanarr was busy laughing, Oxianor, who had turned on the lights in the institute, apologized to us instead.

<<“She didn’t have any ill intentions. She just got carried away with her research and wanted to prank you a bit.”>>

“…”

<<“By the way, I did tell her not to do it.”>>

Even though Oxianor was apologizing, Gryanarr, still with tears of laughter in their eyes, approached me with their signature mischievous smile.

“What, Commander? Did you really think this genius would go rogue or something?”

“…”

“Huhuhu, don’t worry, that’ll never happen♡ There’s no way I’d do something crazy like you’re thinking…”

-Snap!

And before Gryanarr could finish their sentence, I pulled them into a hug.

“Thank goodness, seriously, thank goodness!”

“Whaaaat?!”

More than being angry at Gryanarr’s prank, I was genuinely relieved that my precious SSS-tier noble support hadn’t been wasted. I let out a sigh of relief and hugged Gryanarr tightly.