Ch.137″Since I’ve completed the mission, I should receive my reward, right?” (1)

It’s a sad story, but to proceed with the quest, half of the expedition fleet—

One-third of my entire fleet had experienced eternal separation, which was truly a sad story.

‘Anyway,’ at least I didn’t have to deal with the ‘hassle’ of dismantling ships, redistributing them, and all that troublesome stuff.

‘At least that’s good…’

Trying my best to live a positive life, I held onto my shaking mental state.

With Jessica’s help here and there, I was somehow trying to proceed with my work, but—

“Oppa! We’ve finished our discussion!”

“Huh.”

While I was going “hoeeee” with my unstable mental state for quite some time,

Separately, it seemed that Marian and the Princess’s negotiations had ended much faster than expected.

Before I could do anything, Marian appeared with the same energetic face she had before heading to the reception room.

Along with Princess Luca, who was floating in the air with what seemed to be either tentacles or legs from her dress, looking strangely satisfied.

I stopped what I was doing and calmly tried to start a conversation with the two.

“Ah, um, that ended faster than I expected?”

“Yes, the Monster Princess here came with quite a detailed negotiation proposal, and we didn’t waste time with unnecessary mind games!”

Seeing Marian boldly use the expression “unnecessary” in front of the Princess while smiling,

I noticed a faint red glow emanating from the eyes of Oxianor, who was attending to the Princess from behind.

From the perspective of Oxianor, who was probably a gentleman(?) who valued etiquette, anger was rising toward Marian, who had completely disregarded proper respect for the Princess.

However, since Marian was the Pirate Empress and simultaneously stronger than Oxianor himself, who had been strengthened as a “guardian and attendant,”

The glow in his eyes quickly subsided.

I could see Oxianor immediately suppressing his anger and prioritizing his duty to attend to the Princess, entering a well-controlled state.

‘Is this what being an adult means…!’

Separately from that, I wondered what on earth had happened.

How did what was essentially international diplomacy between powers get resolved in barely ten minutes?

Weren’t these things supposed to take at least several hours, with working-level officials talking intensely?

From what I and other users had seen in our previous lives, when politicians or diplomat uncles talked,

“Oh, our discussions take an extremely long time^^”

“Diplomacy naturally involves speaking in roundabout ways, so even if you don’t like it, it takes a tremendous amount of time^^”

Such statements were extremely common,

So I was increasingly curious about how this was possible.

Perhaps my thoughts showed on my face.

Marian smiled at me and began to explain briefly, saying she could guess what I was curious about.

“I know what you might be wondering, Oppa, but it’s nothing special.”

“Hmm?”

“Oh, is it okay if I explain this? Since you need to be between us anyway.”

“Uh… ah, of course!”

“Since Commander Icarus has built a bridge between us, there shouldn’t be a problem.”

Despite her previous behavior, she was now asking for permission and showing respect to the other party.

True to her pirate nature, she was quite free-spirited.

I was able to listen to Marian’s concise explanation of the negotiation content.

And shortly after,

An event message popped up in front of me, summarizing exactly what the explanation had been about.

—————————————-

<Event>

<The secret alliance between the ‘Space Monsters’ and the ‘Pirate Union’ has so far been an alliance in name only.>

<Of course, the leaders of both factions, the Monster Queen and the Pirate Empress, understood the situation and controlled their direct forces to prevent problems.>

<However, the commanders and independent units belonging to both factions, without proper directives,>

<Frequently caused conflicts and problems.>

<Judging that this would only accumulate mutual damage despite being a secret alliance,>

<The Monster Queen sent out her ‘Princess,’ who could directly present opinions to the Empress, with the following negotiation proposal:>

<The Pirate Empress Marian, also satisfied with the cleanness of the proposal,>

<Added some supplementary items and was able to cleanly conclude the negotiation.>

<Result>

<Due to the successful ‘negotiation,’ dismantling and redeployment of forces and forward bases located in the border areas between the two powers>

<Creation of ‘shared space’ between the two powers>

<Prohibition of preemptive attacks against each other>

<For future negotiations and exchange of opinions, Monster Princess ‘Luca’ will remain at Commander ‘Icarus’s’ base>

<Restraint from interfering with the actions of ‘Commanders’ on both sides>

—————————————-

‘Heh.’

In summary, things that had been vaguely handled with just ‘words’ until now were finally documented.

And as could be seen from the content, the monster side hadn’t made any additional demands to Marian.

Marian, seeing the monster side’s full willingness to negotiate without playing games,

Had responded in kind, showing her own goodwill.

However, I was still curious about what exactly Marian had added to the negotiation proposal…

Fortunately or unfortunately, before I could express my curiosity through my expression,

Marian proudly revealed to me what she had added, so I didn’t need to ask.

“Oh, and what I added to the negotiation was that Princess Luca would stay here!”

“…Well, I guess that makes sense.”

Since Princess Luca was sent as a ‘position’ to negotiate with Marian,

If Marian needed to discuss something with the monsters in the future, having Princess Luca around would be necessary, like it or not.

It wouldn’t be practical to bring her all the way from the monster headquarters every time they needed to talk.

As if confirming my thoughts,

“The Empress speaks the truth. I cannot travel back and forth between here and my mother’s nest just for a single conversation!”

Princess Luca also nodded and gave a genuine smile.

Behind her, Oxianor also made an affirmative gesture, so it was indeed a reasonable arrangement.

But contrary to my wholesome and pure thoughts, Marian took the opportunity when Princess Luca and Oxianor turned their heads to discuss something among themselves.

She turned to me and whispered something shocking in my ear.

“Oppa, just for reference, while I said that publicly…”

“…?”

“The truth is, don’t you think everyone around you has a similar style?”

Then Marian, wrapping her arm around mine with a slightly reddened face,

Made a strange gesture with both hands and told me something that she thought would interest me.

“Even though Ignis is small, her body type is similar to the others…”

“What.”

“I thought you might need a more diverse taste…♡”

The moment I heard that,

I carefully removed Marian’s arm from mine,

Took “Partia’s scripture” that Jessica handed me from beside me,

And naturally brought it down on Marian’s head—she who had tried to socially assassinate me and even destroy this world.

“You blasphemer!!!!”

Of course, this action of mine startled the monster friends who were talking among themselves.

“It’s nothing, don’t worry.”

“Ugh… I was just trying to do something for Oppa’s sake…”

“That wasn’t for my sake, but an act of political assassination.”

Nevertheless, as we continued this conversation,

We had to watch Marian’s hat bulge slightly for quite some time.