Ch.208Failure Means War, Success Means…. (2)

# Chapter 208: Failure Means War, Success Means… (2)

*GRRRRRRRRRRRRR*

With their bizarre posture and even more bizarre sound effects making for a powerful entrance scene, the Prosnack Marines nodded their heads after hearing our concerns and said:

“So this is what Minister Arto was worried about?”

“…Mm.”

“Now that I’ve heard your explanation, we too have much to consider.”

However, I couldn’t help but feel an indescribable, strange emotion watching these Prosnack Marines displaying such intellectual and rational attitudes and speech.

And for good reason, because the Prosnack Marine speaking to me right now…

*Thump-thump.*

*Slick-slick.*

Had removed all clothing except for underwear, and for some reason was glistening with oil all over his body as if he’d just had a tanning session.

‘Why on earth…?’

With a marine over 2 meters tall presenting his gleaming, oiled muscles while nearly naked, I truly felt a complex mix of emotions.

The Purge Unit members with me seemed to share these feelings—the female members naturally moved to surround and protect me, while the male members subtly positioned themselves between me and the marine, each placing an arm or leg in between us.

Meanwhile, the gentlemanly marine(?) continued deeply pondering our discussion…

After a moment, when the Prosnack Marine emerged from his contemplation, he appeared startled by the scene that had formed before him.

This brief, awkward collision pushed us into a whirlpool of confusion.

But since none of us were amateurs, we quickly regained our composure and got the conversation flowing again.

The Prosnack Marine declared:

“Nothing in this world is impossible with fighting spirit! Only weaklings say something can’t be done.”

“…”

As he spoke with such confidence while flexing his biceps, triceps, and pectoral muscles for emphasis, I gently turned my head away and said:

“Right… well, everyone should share their opinions, and once you’ve put together something proper, report back to me.”

“Yes, Minister!”

“Leave it to us.”

—————————————-

About 30 minutes after I had dumped everything on the working-level staff and returned to my office.

Riel opened the door to my office again and placed a planning document on my desk.

“…?”

“Minister, the Prosnack Marines and Purge Unit were making a fuss about needing to give this to you, so I brought it.”

“Ah.”

With Riel’s explanation, I recalled what had happened 30 minutes ago and opened the document.

And then.

*Ding-a-ling~*

[Time Pause]

‘An event notification now?’

With a strangely weak notification sound.

In the paused world, I decided to check the event message window that appeared before my eyes.

[Event: You Are Now a Human Rocket!]

[The result of the marathon meeting between the Prosnack Marines, Purge Unit, and frontline mechanics could only be described as a product of madness.]

But the moment I read just the first paragraph.

I unconsciously closed the event message and needed to take a moment to contemplate.

‘A product of madness? What now?’

My mental state was already torn from dealing with the Holy Emperor not long ago, so I was trying to avoid anything that might further shake my stability.

I hadn’t expected something like this to come at me so suddenly, leaving me with complicated feelings.

However, ignoring this event message would also be foolish.

‘Haaaah… okay, I’m ready.’

After mentally preparing myself, I brought the event message back up before my eyes.

[Event: You Are Now a Human Rocket!]

[The result of the marathon meeting between the Prosnack Marines, Purge Unit, and frontline mechanics could only be described as a product of madness.]

[Their method was to acquire small high-speed boats capable of carrying two or three superhumans like the Purge Unit or Prosnack Marines.]

[Then attach radio jammers to these boats and race throughout Prosnack territory, continuously broadcasting chip-disrupting radio waves.]

[However, in practical terms, there were numerous problems with implementing this tactic.]

‘Problems…’

Wondering what bizarre issues might exist, I continued reading the message.

But contrary to my expectations, the problems pointed out in the message—or rather, the report—were surprisingly practical.

[…Setting aside various minor issues, the biggest problem was that if they used the high-speed boats selected by the marines… the boat’s power source couldn’t handle the output required by the radio jammers.]

‘Yes, the power source would definitely be a problem.’

[But to solve this power source issue, the marines, Purge Unit, and mechanics somehow managed to devise a method.]

[The resulting prototype involved heavily modifying the boat’s power source so that most of the hull itself served as the power source.]

‘…What?’

Despite my bewilderment, the event message continued to display.

As a result, I was forced to witness the real-time account of the Prosnack-Sevelli alliance’s chaotic high-speed boat story, which I hadn’t particularly wanted to know about.

[As a result, while it was called a high-speed boat, it was essentially no different from a missile.]

[But the problems didn’t end there.]

[In a situation where the boat had already become so unstable that only superhumans like the Purge Unit or marines could possibly control it.]

[Once the radio jammer was activated, interference waves would spread in all directions making stealth impossible, but if the jammer was turned off mid-operation, it would be impossible to restart it.]

‘…’

It was obvious what the problem was here.

Just maintaining the radio jammer already required an enlarged power source plus additional batteries to barely keep it running.

And they wanted to turn it off and on again?

Considering how electronic devices consume massive amounts of power during reboots, and how engines use substantial fuel during startup…

In a strange way, this was actually a realistic problem.

But the important thing was that what had been submitted to me as a plan looked like nothing more than an insane suicide weapon…

‘I’m more surprised they seriously submitted this as an actual plan.’

I thought there was no need to read any more of the event message and was about to close the window.

But just as I was about to do so.

[Option 1: Then why not add additional measures? (-100 credits, initiate “Electronic Warfare Assault Boat” research for 1 month, linked event progression)]

[Option 2: There is no other way, let them solve it with “fighting spirit” as they suggested. (Linked event progression, increased probability of negative events)]

‘…This is giving me options?’

My brain momentarily refused to accept the situation as the choices naturally appeared.

It was clearly an insane method, yet the system and event message were emphasizing to me that there were no other options.

‘First the Holy Emperor pulls this crap, and now even the event messages are gaslighting me.’

However, once a choice event appeared, I had no other options.

‘I hope this kind of gaslighting stops…’

After considerable deliberation.

‘Resource window, galactic credits only.’

[Galactic Credits: Current amount: 10641 + 57]

‘Ah, that should be plenty.’

Unlike before, I now thoroughly checked my available resources before making a decision.

I decided to choose option 1, thinking that if I was going to invest in this anyway, it would be better to prepare more thoroughly and carefully.

[Option 1: Then why not add additional measures? (-100 credits, initiate “Electronic Warfare Assault Boat” research for 1 month, linked event progression)] <Selected>

And immediately after.

*Ding!*

[Event: Explosive Preparations]

[Since all operation preparations will be completed in one month, you must use the remaining month efficiently to achieve maximum effect with minimum cost.]

[One important thing to note is that your troops have learned that you invested the substantial sum of 100 galactic credits into developing the necessary high-speed boats for this operation.]

[As a result, their loyalty toward you has increased, helping to strengthen their unity for the operation.]

[They will do their utmost, using all efforts to meet your expectations for this operation.]

[Applied “Internal Traitor” trait to Prosnack Alliance (Counter-intelligence -50), slight increase in success rate of various intelligence operations conducted by the Holy Sevelli Empire against the Prosnack Alliance]

Seeing the cleanly displayed event message and the sweet rewards it contained.

I could feel that my choice had not been wrong.