As Princess Luca entered the command center, she behaved just like a real child.

    She showed curiosity about the commanders’ headquarters, looking around here and there, but that behavior didn’t last long.

    Oxianor, who was behind her, extracted a long tentacle from her bio-suit, grabbed the princess, lifted her up to eye level, and scolded her in a very calm manner.

    “Princess, we are here solely to reestablish our alliance with the Empress.”

    “Uuugh… Th-that’s right! I know that!”

    Despite the difference in their ranks being as vast as heaven and earth according to their hierarchy,

    Princess Luca couldn’t find any words to refute Oxianor’s statement.

    She just nodded her head, gesturing that Oxianor was right.

    And after being scolded by Oxianor ver.TS, Princess Luca finally approached me with a serious attitude.

    For a moment, I noticed an expression of distress crossing her face as she observed the height difference between us.

    ‘Wait, is she troubled about how to greet me because of our height difference?’

    It was a brief moment, but I couldn’t think of any other explanation.

    I thought I should kneel on one knee to match her eye level, but before I could put that thought into action—

    -Creak… Whoosh!

    “Hmm!”

    “…Hmm.”

    Surprisingly, our Princess Luca used the tentacles of her bio-exoskeleton dress along with a tail protruding from her rear to lift herself up into the air.

    Thanks to this, I could properly see the princess’s appearance, which I couldn’t see clearly before due to the poor quality of the communication screen from such a long distance.

    ‘Wow, she really is unique.’

    Surprisingly, what I had perceived as a “crown” was actually a “horn” growing from the princess’s head that had been transformed.

    Her eyes weren’t ordinary like mine or the others’, but had vertical golden pupils reminiscent of reptiles.

    Additionally, her exoskeleton dress was much more elaborate and ornate than I had imagined.

    The intricate patterns that weren’t visible in the poor-quality image were now clear, and what I thought were simple jewels turned out to be scales that had grown perfectly to reflect rainbow colors in the light, which was fascinating.

    But what surprised me most were the large, beautiful “eyeballs” embedded throughout the dress, occasionally blinking.

    If I hadn’t seen Professor Griyanar’s vicious and bizarre biological research facility (containing 75% pirates and wild monsters)…

    I might have not only been surprised but would have let out a girlish scream in front of the princess.

    But regardless of my surprised expression, perhaps because I didn’t show such an unseemly reaction,

    Princess Luca seemed satisfied with my attitude and nodded at me before speaking again.

    “Hmph! Indeed, as Oxianor reported, you seem to have no prejudice against us!”

    “Ah, yes, well… that’s right.”

    It’s not that I have no prejudice; it’s more like I’ve received too much “early education” on such matters.

    But thinking it would be unseemly to explain every little detail, I quietly agreed.

    Seemingly even more pleased with my attitude, Princess Luca made another gesture of satisfaction before extending her hand toward me and directly stating her request.

    “Let me get straight to the point, Icarus!”

    “Yes?”

    “I wish to arrange a meeting with the ‘Pirate Empress,’ the leader of the pirate alliance, and establish proper negotiations for future cooperation between us monsters!”

    And the moment I heard Princess Luca’s words,

    I saw that familiar quest window updating once again before my eyes.

    —————————————-

    <Quest>

    <VIP Escort Mission-3, Negotiation.>

    <Description>

    <The monster VIP, Princess Luca, has come to your base.>

    <The princess has requested that you arrange a meeting with the ‘Pirate Empress’.>

    <Of course, she had no intention of making any further demands of you, thinking that would only ruin the negotiations.>

    <Objective>

    <Arrange a meeting place and facilitate negotiations between ‘Pirate Empress Marian’ and ‘Monster Princess Luca’>

    <Condition: Complete within today.>

    <Clear Reward>

    <One random ship integrated with monster bio-technology>

    <While the VIP stays at the base, trust with monster forces permanently maintained at +10 or higher>

    <Increased probability of ‘positive’ events related to monsters>

    —————————————-

    ‘Hmm, within today.’

    When I confirmed the “condition” in the quest message, I could inwardly breathe a sigh of relief…

    If she had come yesterday or the day before, Marian would have been away managing the pirates.

    The quest would have become complicated, and a disaster would have been inevitable…

    Fortunately, our Marian had been enjoying a leisurely life at our base since yesterday evening.

    So after seeing the quest window, I immediately called Jessica, who was nearby.

    “Jessica, sorry, but could you please go get Marian for me?”

    “Yes, Commander.”

    After bringing Marian, who had been chatting with other pirates somewhere in the command center,

    Marian, hearing that I had called for her, came running with a very cheerful attitude.

    I nodded at Marian’s energetic appearance and naturally pointed to Princess Luca in front of me, summarizing the matter to Marian quickly and simply.

    And in response to my words, Marian said:

    “Hmm, negotiations? Well, that’s fine.”

    “Really?”

    Fortunately, Marian herself seemed to agree with the idea of negotiations.

    We quickly decided to lend them a reception room in the base.

    As a result.

    —————————————-

    <Quest>

    <VIP Escort Mission-3, Negotiation.>

    <Description>

    <Collapsed>

    <Objective>

    <Collapsed>

    <Clear Reward>

    <One random ship integrated with monster bio-technology>

    <While the VIP stays at the base, trust with monster forces permanently maintained at +10 or higher>

    <Increased probability of ‘positive’ events related to monsters>

    —————————————-

    ‘Yes, this is it, exactly what I wanted!’

    Seeing the quest “completion” message appear naturally,

    I felt immense joy and immediately tried to collect the reward, but…

    —————————————-

    <<<Currently preparing reward collection…>>>

    <The reward message will appear only after the ‘discussion’ between Marian and Luca is finished.>

    <Therefore, the longer the negotiation meeting takes, the more your time to develop your base will be delayed.>

    —————————————-

    ‘Oh no.’

    While this was a somewhat unnecessary event,

    Realistically, it wasn’t wrong, so I thought.

    With the timing being awkward, and having successfully brought back about half of the fleet,

    Despite feeling sad about the destroyed ships,

    I decided to focus on restoring the composition and organization of the ships to gain an advantage in future “fleet battles” by using all available resources to preserve repairable ships.

    However, as we all anticipated and as Jessica mentioned to me,

    Since we had many places where we needed to use our “resources,”

    My grand plan to repair less damaged ships and then acquire a “large ship”

    Was frustrated from the start due to the existence of too many resource thieves(?).


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