Ch.116Educational Reckoning ON. (1)

After seeing the peace negotiation offer from that opponent whose gender I couldn’t determine, I took a moment to consider.

To be frank, since that person happened to be a perfect counter to my fleet, causing too much damage.

I decided to skip unnecessary talk and accept their peace negotiation request.

And through that, I was able to learn three surprising facts.

First, the identity of the opponent I fought.

It was none other than not just some ordinary clan with several dozen or hundred users, but…

—————————————-

<Loki Clan>

<Members: 11,098>

<Affiliated Factions: Pirate Union, Space Monster, Earth Federation, Xenovia Empire>

<Alignment: Neutral>

—————————————-

‘Holy fucking shit.’

Because they accept members regardless of faction or alignment, they boast over 10,000 registered users.

The “Loki Clan,” currently considered the undisputed largest single clan.

And the first surprising fact was that it wasn’t just some executive, but the “Clan Leader” who was rumored to be so reclusive that they were rarely seen.

The second was…

“Wait… what did you just say?”

“Commander, the enemy commander is heading here right now.”

“Hold on, the clan leader is coming personally?”

“Yes.”

Given the Loki Clan’s nature, most of its members were just trolls created to cause chaos for their respective factions.

While other large clans might criticize the Loki Clan for having poor cohesion and cooperation.

That’s something only clans of “similar size” to the Loki Clan could say.

For individuals like me who operate alone, this person was in quite an intimidating position.

And the fact that such a person wasn’t safely stationed at Loki Clan’s headquarters.

But had personally led an expeditionary force all this way in their own ship was the second thing I learned.

Thanks to this, I desperately wanted to cancel the peace agreement and send Leonard after them.

Unfortunately, once a peace agreement was established in the game system, it blocked “all” conflict between users for a full month.

And to deploy Leonard, I would definitely need Marian’s help, but…

“Jessica, where did Marian go?”

“I don’t know? I haven’t seen her for a while.”

For some reason, Marian had disappeared somewhere without telling us.

So while I continued grumbling, I decided to meet with this clan leader person at our base’s docking facility along with Berial’s team who had returned from battle.

Of course, if this Loki Clan leader was just coming here to spout nonsense.

I was burning with determination to give their clan a big “screw you” in a month’s time, no matter what price I had to pay.

But when the clan leader arrived at the docking facility and revealed themselves…

“Hey, you must be Icarus? I can tell just by looking!”

“…???”

“Oh, I should introduce myself first! Nice to meet you! I’m Betelgeuse, the leader of the Loki Clan!”

“…”

The third and final surprise.

The Loki Clan leader’s appearance was that of a small girl with pink curly long hair.

==========

While I was caught off guard by this unexpected appearance.

The pink-haired—no, pink-headed Betelgeuse showered me with all kinds of praise.

“You were really amazing! How did you manage to hold out with just regular ships except for your Overseer, not counting what you bought from the event shop?”

“Ahem.”

“I’ve faced all sorts of opponents on my tour, including clan leaders with hundreds of members, but you fought the best out of all of them!”

Judging by her appearance, I thought she might be a little devil type like Griyanar.

But the way she kept giving pure compliments made me wonder.

If she might be one of those cases where the character’s appearance got distorted during the possession process that supposedly happened in this world.

Of course, right after I had such innocent thoughts.

“Despite having such a pathetic fleet composition, you managed to resist my fleet… truly impressive!”

“…”

“As expected of someone ranked 3rd!”

Seeing how she subtly tried to slip in insults between her compliments, I shook my head and decided to respond casually.

“That was just because I got lucky and received the Pirate Empress’s surrender, as you well know, right?”

“Luck is also a skill, that’s my motto.”

Betelgeuse, who had casually perched on a nearby box with her feet dangling in the air.

After repeating more ambiguous statements that could be either praise or mockery… finally asked me a genuine question with a puzzled expression.

“Hmm, by the way, I’m asking this seriously.”

“What is it?”

“You received the Pirate Empress’s surrender, so why didn’t you use her in this battle?”

“…”

“If the Pirate Empress had joined you, you would have gained an additional pirate fleet that wouldn’t cost you any points.”

“…Hmm.”

“That was the ‘secret weapon’ I was expecting from you, but I don’t see either the fleet or the Pirate Empress here?”

“…”

Hearing those words, I internally hurled every curse I knew at the system.

‘Damn system saying the Empress isn’t part of our faction and not giving us a fleet.’

Of course, if I revealed this, the opponent might use it against me in the future.

And since there’s nothing more foolish than broadcasting your weaknesses to everyone.

I decided to be casual about it, especially since Marian wasn’t present.

“Is that important? The way you talk… it feels like you’re pretending to praise me while trying to extract all my information.”

“Ahaha, no way!”

“Besides, we’re here because you proposed a peace agreement to me first, aren’t we?”

“Hmm… so you want to clarify responsibilities and such?”

I nodded in response to Betelgeuse’s words and answered again.

“Yes, and I hope there won’t be another incident like this where you launch a preemptive attack and then initiate a preemptive peace negotiation.”

“Ahaha, does that bother you so much?”

“Only a sucker wouldn’t be bothered.”

“Oh my.”

Since Betelgeuse seemed to accept my blunt statement with a relaxed attitude and a smile.

I decided to leave one final remark, annoyed by her demeanor.

“If you pull something like this again, I won’t let it slide so easily next time.”

“Oh of course, of course, but since I was in the wrong this time, please accept this as compensation~”

—————————————-

<Betelgeuse wants to trade with you!>

<50,000 Minerals, 10,000 Rare Resources ⇒ Icarus>

<Y/N>

—————————————-

Since the opponent was apologizing and offering appropriate compensation.

I shook my head at her consistently carefree attitude and decided to add some salt to the wound.

“Get out, or let me put it politely, fuck off.”

“Oh my, how scary! Don’t be like that, okay? This definitely won’t happen again.”

…Of course, separate from all that, I quickly accepted the compensation she offered.

I could see momentary bewilderment flash across Betelgeuse’s smiling face as she left.

‘This is the perfect timing.’

==========

A little while later.

Betelgeuse, who had been (?) chased away by Icarus’s salty remarks, was having a pleasant conversation with her adjutant inside her ship as they traveled through space.

“Hey, did you see how Icarus was acting earlier, Aran?”

-“…Yes, I saw.”

“Isn’t it amazing? Since we’re at a disadvantage as an expeditionary force, he also came out with only regular ships.”

-“It was certainly surprising, and he didn’t even use his pirate fleet?”

“I guess rumors are just rumors, but it wasn’t completely false that he reached 3rd rank with mostly regular ships except for a very few gacha ships.”

-“You seem to like him, Commander.”

“Of course! In my opinion, that Icarus person… will probably rank high in this event too.”

The adjutant on the communication screen looked very concerned as Betelgeuse giggled while speaking.

-“Commander, I understand, so please return to the base now.”

“Hmm?”

-“The loss rate of your fleet has exceeded 40%, it’s dangerous to continue like this.”

“I guess you’re right, I did play with Icarus a bit too much.”

Since the adjutant’s words were very correct.

Betelgeuse twirled a strand of her long pink curly hair—which she had forcibly acquired when possessed—with her finger and said:

“Well then, we’ll return to base immediately via warp, so prepare a welcome for me, okay?”

-“I’ll prepare the best welcome, Commander.”

As Betelgeuse stood up, she smiled mischievously while watching her entire fleet, including her own ship, prepare to enter warp.

‘It’s worth keeping an eye on this Icarus user for a while.’

Additionally, judging that she needed to monitor Icarus.

Betelgeuse was thinking about assigning someone to keep tabs on Icarus when she returned.

But just as the entire fleet was about to enter warp:

-Beep beep beep beep!!!

“Huh?”

-“Commander! The fleet’s warp has been forcibly canceled!”

-“C-Commander! Large-scale fleets detected in front… no, in all directions!”

-“Warp jamming field confirmed! Fleet warp is impossible!”

“Eh.”

Right after the warp was forcibly canceled.

As a massive “pirate” fleet of over 50,000 ships appeared around Betelgeuse’s fleet, which had fewer than 100 ships remaining.

A cruiser battleship of the Pirate Union appeared right in front of the Hamburg-class light cruiser that Betelgeuse had designated as her flagship.

“…Oh, this doesn’t feel good.”

Betelgeuse instinctively realized that she was fucked… well, since she no longer had male parts.

She realized she was utterly screwed.