Ch.151″Commander, have you done your work?” (3)

“Of course, I’m not proceeding without a plan.”

“Well, that’s obvious.”

“I can guarantee that the Commander wouldn’t do otherwise.”

Despite their verbal assurances, the two women’s eyes seemed to suggest otherwise.

I gestured to Jessica beside me, and with a ping, she brought up the holograms I had mentioned earlier.

“Hmm… what’s this?”

“It’s a new mercenary group I’ve hired for 1,500 minerals per day.”

Before me floated the hologram of an utterly ordinary mercenary fleet composed of 1 destroyer, 2 frigates, and 5 patrol ships.

The two women, proving they weren’t smarter than me for nothing, immediately understood what I was getting at just by looking at my confident expression and the mercenary fleet.

“Commander, are you planning to fill all your small ships exclusively with mercenaries?”

“Yeeeees.”

“Hmm… won’t that rapidly deplete your resources? Even if you’re hiring them cheaply, considering your existing scale, you’d need at least 3-4 small pirate groups.”

Somehow, they were giving me looks as if I were Rome entrusting border defense to Germanic tribes.

‘Why are they looking at me like that?’

For a moment, I felt a bit perplexed, not understanding why they were reacting this way.

But that didn’t last long.

—————————————-

<Event>

<Hearing your statement that suggests you’ll dismantle almost all small ships—with minimal exceptions—and replace them exclusively with mercenaries.>

<Berial is suspecting whether the mercenary-pirates have somehow brainwashed you.>

<Marian is wondering if someone dares to force additional sales on her “brother,” and is planning to destroy the mercenary business office as soon as this meeting ends.>

—————————————-

‘…’

Seeing the event message showing what the two were thinking, I hurriedly began explaining my detailed plan.

“No, wait, I’m not planning to handle everything with mercenaries!”

“…?”

“Then what?”

As they questioned me, seemingly asking what the hologram was for, I shook my head and had Jessica bring up a new hologram.

I then continued my explanation while showing the hologram of a small fleet of Space Monsters.

“My plan is this! I’m going to fill the lower squadrons, including small ships, with just mercenaries and medium-small monsters from the monster faction!”

“Hmm…”

“Of course, I’ll still maintain 5 Azkran-class destroyers and 5 patrol ships at all times for contingencies!”

“Ah, I see.”

Understanding my plan, the two nodded, showing they found it reasonably sensible.

“Then, Commander, are you planning to fill the remaining fleet capacity exclusively with cruisers and above?”

“Well, that would certainly create a strong intimidation factor…”

Though they were still giving me the impression that they thought it might be too risky.

In response to their reaction, I snapped my fingers and confirmed their assumption.

“That’s exactly it! To be frank, later on I’m planning to dismantle all cruisers too, except for the Overseer and Kanhel-class ones I currently have.”

“Wow…”

“Commander, wouldn’t that be too dangerous? It seems like you’re reducing destroyers too much…”

Despite my explanation, they still seemed unconvinced.

I decided to reveal the plan I had been formulating in my head.

“Mm, I understand why you’re reacting that way.”

“Thank you for understanding.”

“But there’s a reason why we absolutely need to reduce the scale of cruisers and below.”

After saying that, I added that the plan wasn’t 100% perfectly organized yet.

Thinking that I might seem to be beating around the bush, I decided to just go for it.

“What is it, Commander?”

“To put it simply, I’ll organize my fleet with only large ships like battlecruisers or light carriers and above.”

“And then?”

“Then, like me, I’ll live by receiving payment as a mercenary from other solo players who lack large ships because they had to invest in small ships without having a separate clan!”

*Boom!*

As I finished speaking, Jessica set off fireworks from somewhere, showing her support.

“Indeed, that seems like a decent approach.”

“Right?”

“Although it will cost more resources, the hiring cost of mercenaries will normalize over time and even decrease further.”

“Exactly, you’ve hit the nail on the head.”

Berial, who was in front of us, applauded and showed a positive reaction to our display.

However, Marian beside her tilted her head, still looking doubtful.

“Brother, I think the idea itself is fine.”

“I see.”

“But, wouldn’t other commanders have the same idea?”

“…Hmm.”

“Other commanders would think the same way, so I don’t think it will be as successful as you imagine.”

Receiving Marian’s sharp observation, I thought it was quite reasonable.

However, there was a reason why I was pushing this plan forward.

The “Mercenary Business Office” and “Monster Ship Production Facility” that were the catalysts for this plan—

While the ones at our base had no limits on “hiring” and production,

For other users, there was a limit to hiring from the Mercenary Business Office.

Originally, while they didn’t consume the user’s points,

They had their own allocated points, and if they exceeded that, they would determine that the user could no longer afford to hire more.

This would result in additional hiring being blocked.

And this didn’t just apply to the Mercenary Business Office, but also to the “offices” of each faction dispatched to their bases, just like those monsters for us.

Each base had different allocated points based on its level, and even with maximum points and level, it was around 200-300 points.

Moreover, the “number of ships” that could be hired was limited to about 30 at most.

From other users’ perspective, “mercenaries” and “faction fleets” were truly like a chicken rib—something not worth keeping but too good to throw away.

But such concerns didn’t apply to me at all.

While other commanders had mere envoys from respective factions stationed at their bases,

I had the Pirate Empress Marian, the “leader” of the pirate alliance,

And Princess Luca, who was from the highest echelon of the monster faction.

Surprisingly, for me, there were no points required for hiring “mercenaries” and breeding “monster” fleets.

Of course, as evident from my mentions so far, this was something I hadn’t known originally…

==========

One night, after just laying the groundwork for this plan and racking my brain over the small ship issue,

I was browsing through the gallery to clear my head when…

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Title: Not to state the obvious, but the 3rd rank seems to fight quite honorably

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Battle verification shot with Icarus Fleet]

After consuming the Pirate Empress, he doesn’t even spam mercenaries using minerals.

He strictly brings only his own fleet to fight.

It’s kind of like a villain fighting with sealed powers, which is a bit arousing.

Comments:

-[What? What does that mean?]

-[Mercenaries have number limits anyway and they’re expensive because they consume minerals]

-[Isn’t he talking about the Pirate Empress’s own fleet?]

-[You guys don’t know, if the Pirate Empress is at your base, there’s no limit to hiring pirates from the Mercenary Business Office]

-˪[Really?]

-˪[Yeah, that’s why you sometimes see lots of pirates popping up near his base, right? That’s probably them popping out using that advantage] (Author)

-˪[Wow, damn, no wonder he only uses basic ships, he’s actually a power-leveler]

-[Holy shit…]

—————————————-

‘What.’

Through a post written by someone who claimed to have fought me,

I discovered that I was, in fact, a power-leveler without even knowing it.