Chapter 81

Chapter 81. Feel the Weight of the Armband (4)

“Commander, am I going to live as a miner again today?”

“No, today everyone is on standby at the base.”

“…Huh? Wait, seriously?”

Ignis, who was naturally holding two pickaxes with dead eyes, looked momentarily flustered upon hearing my words. Soon after, they put the pickaxes down, did five consecutive backflips in the air, and then ran off toward the break room, clearly overjoyed. It was almost painful to watch how happy they were.

“Commander, you really should level them up more moderately.”

“…Yeah, this is definitely my fault.”

Given that it was a ‘return reward’ and the first gacha, the friendship bonus was so high that they managed to endure until now. If it were any other character, they would have deserted long ago. I realized I should probably reduce Ignis’s training schedule a bit next time.

Anyway, dealing with Ignis and the others in that manner…

“Standby today…?”

“Yes, there are some things planned for today, so as a precaution, all superhumans are to remain on standby at the base.”

“Understood. Since it’s an emergency standby, I’ll deploy the dolls for combat readiness.”

“Alright, thanks.”

I also called Belial, who was in the training room as usual, and had her standby at the base.

“Oh my♡ Oh my♡ Commander♡ It’s been a while since you came to see me♡”

“Hmm, Commander? What brings you here?”

Pashtira and Gryanarr, who seemed oddly close, were also instructed to standby at the base. While Pashtira headed to the break room, Gryanarr remained seated on their custom ‘bio-sofa,’ shrugging their shoulders.

“While it’s regrettable that I cannot follow the Commander’s orders…”

“Hmm.”

“I still have a lot of experiments to do, so sorry, but call me next time.”

Watching Gryanarr wiggle their toes while claiming they couldn’t leave the bio-sofa due to experiments, I nodded and left a message hoping they’d focus on their tech development.

With all my superhumans taken care of, I double-checked the fleet just in case, as I wasn’t entirely sure how the event would unfold. I also prepared by building a cruiser for daily quests, ensuring all possible preparations were made.

“Jessica, the gallery should be back to normal by now, right?”

“Ah… probably? Those armband community managers must have done something by now.”

With nothing left to do and no users likely to ambush us before the event, I opened the gallery window to check the users’ opinions. But just as I was about to open it…

—————————————-

<Global Notice>

<Urgent Notice>

<We have confirmed some issues with the current update.>

<We apologize for any inconvenience caused to the Commanders.>

<We will ensure the update is completed as soon as possible.>

—————————————-

‘What?’

Seeing the third of the Four Great Swords, the ‘Emergency Maintenance,’ appear before my eyes, I couldn’t help but feel shocked.

—————————————-

Title: LOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOL

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Proof of Emergency Maintenance Notice]

So they finally pulled out the third sword, huh?

Now we’re a three-sword swordsman.

Comments:

– [This is a bit much]

– [Wow, regular maintenance, extended maintenance, and now emergency maintenance? They’ve pulled them all out]

– [Devs, S.S.S.T.C.]

– [Jo*—ot!]

– [Sounds like they’re cursing]

—————————————-

The notorious Four Great Swords had three of them drawn by the devs, and the gallery veterans and some users were reacting with outrage. But just before the flood…

Unlike the bustling activity before, now it feels… different.

—————————————-

··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ···

-[The gallery is quiet](54)

-[Three-Sword Style Ultimate Technique!](161)

-[Shipbuilding is too damn hard](63)

-[What the hell are these guys barging in right before the event starts?](193)

-[I brought the update, why can’t you do it?](35)

-[I was sharpening my sword for the event](237)

-[People who are gonna be pissed now that the event update is delayed.jpg]

··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ···

—————————————-

—————————————-

Title: I was sharpening my sword for the event

Author: MuraSAMA

Content: [Image of a toad sharpening a sword.gif]

At this rate, the sword’s gonna be completely worn down.

Just tell us the event details already, damn it!!

Comments:

-[Seriously, shouldn’t they at least give us a heads-up about the event details?]

-[Exactly, normally they announce update details in advance, right?]

-[Don’t expect too much from the god-tier game Astral Lagrange]

-[Ah, I guess I lacked enlightenment]

··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ···

—————————————-

—————————————-

Title: People who are gonna be pissed now that the event update is delayed.jpg

Author: ㅇㅇ

Content: [Clan emblem image from the clan system update]

That’s right, it’s us, the clan, damn it.

The Clan Leader is whipping the clan members into shape for the event.

We can’t do anything, just gathering resources and holding out, nothing to do but cheer on the characters.

[Image of muscular black guys.jpg]

All my characters are like these buff black dudes, so all I can do is hit the gym.

Hurry up with the update, damn it.

I wanna do some gacha and get some cute girls, you bastards.

Comments:

-[Isn’t it just you who’s mad, not the whole clan?]

-[LOL for real]

-[2222222]

-[333333]

-[Only chasing after cute girls, how shallow]

-[What the hell, what’s the demographic of this game’s players?] (Author)

-[You’re the one who gathered all these weirdos, you’re the strange one]

··· ··· ··· ··· ··· ···

—————————————-

There’s some reaction, but…

Unlike what I expected, it’s quite smooth and uneventful.

At the same time, it feels very mundane.

Seeing this, I thought maybe most users aren’t really into events or clan wars.

Maybe they just have the simple goal of surviving in this world, living a long and thin life.

==========

Thinking like that, I casually gathered resources and ran daily quests to pass the time.

Before I knew it, 30 minutes had passed.

-Ding♪

‘Oh, finally.’

The pre-set message alert went off, and I immediately opened the status window to check the new message.

Matching my frantic gestures, the semi-transparent status window soon displayed a new message in front of me.

But what appeared was something that completely dashed my expectations.

—————————————-

<General Notice>

<We have discovered that some updates are not being applied and are currently taking temporary measures.>

<If Commanders are interacting with factions or accepting new quests, please pause those actions and wait.>

—————————————-

‘Oh.’

Finally pulling out the last demon sword, ‘Temporary Maintenance.’

Not just me, but the entire gallery’s morale was flipped upside down.