Ch.227″You’ve been used.”

And with that impressive display from Betelgeuse, the communication ended.

Maybe it’s because I suddenly found myself being bossed around by Betelgeuse.

Jessica, who had been watching from behind, approached me with a worried expression.

“Commander, are you alright?”

“Of course, I’m perfectly fine.”

In response to Jessica’s concern, not only did I shrug it off, but Arcadia, who was still connected, also shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

For good reason—what situation were we in right now?

While it might have looked like Betelgeuse’s practical crash course in political maneuvering, we were actually in the middle of intense combat.

Thanks to that, Betelgeuse had to deal with my excessive praise and flattery while also keeping an eye on me.

For some reason, she also had to be mindful of Marian’s reactions.

On top of that, she had to respond to Arcadia’s constant provocations while simultaneously engaging in combat and containment with the enemy.

As a result, she inevitably had to cycle through her ships to battle the enemy fleet, essentially tanking all the damage for us by herself.

And that was exactly our plan.

“Judging by Betelgeuse’s usual reactions, she probably cut the communication because she realized she’d been baited.”

“Oh.”

Arcadia and I gave each other a thumbs-up through the communication screen, indicating that everything had gone according to plan.

However, Jessica’s concern was heading in a slightly different direction than I had anticipated…

“Commander, what if that Betelgeuse commander tries to get revenge on you after the event ends?”

“…Hmm.”

Hearing Jessica’s words, I couldn’t help but think she might have a point.

Who knows, if things go wrong, we might face a massive invasion from Betelgeuse’s Loki Clan as soon as the event ends, fueled by her extreme anger.

Of course, logically speaking, an entire clan wouldn’t come after just one person. Moreover, if that happened, Marian…

Our Pirate Empress would probably fly into an extreme rage and launch a full-scale war against the Loki Clan.

But after thinking about it more deeply, I realized I probably didn’t need to worry about Betelgeuse’s retaliation for this incident.

After all, anyone could see that the losses suffered by Betelgeuse’s fleet were ultimately the result of her own showing off.

After proudly declaring “I’m a genius!” and putting on a grand display, then enthusiastically fighting the enemy and naturally losing ships in the process—how could she possibly blame us?

That would be crushing her own pride, so that pink-obsessed narcissist would never be able to say anything against us, even if it killed her.

Of course, being the leader of the “Trolls’ Headquarters” Loki Clan, she might set aside her pride and brazenly come at us anyway.

But that would only be a concern if I had no backing.

At least in the current situation, I had the “Justice” clan—a massive organization rivaling the Loki Clan—behind me.

After fighting a war against the Humanity Clan & Earth Federation main force alongside the Southern Clans and Pirate Alliance, bringing in a third force like Justice…

It would be completely nonsensical, so that pink princess wouldn’t choose that option.

When I explained this to Jessica, she nodded in agreement.

“So you had it all figured out, Commander. I thought you were just mindlessly letting Betelgeuse boss you around.”

“…What.”

As we continued our casual conversation, the ninth battle was finally coming to an end.

However, contrary to what Betelgeuse, Arcadia, and some users had expected—that the opponent would surrender quickly once their initial attack was broken—

After one user’s fleet was completely shredded by Betelgeuse’s fleet’s performance, the enemy changed tactics.

Their two most skilled players engaged me, Betelgeuse, Arcadia, and one unnamed user to buy time.

Meanwhile, the remaining seven users attempted to pick off our allied fleets one by one, as our allies had let their guard down after witnessing our slaughter of the enemy.

Suddenly, we had to go against the flow of fleeing users and confront the enemy’s main force head-on to survive being picked off individually.

Of course, when we tried to engage the enemy’s main force, most of the fleeing users returned to join the battle line, resulting in a massive fleet confrontation…

And the result:

—————————————-

<‘Ancient Empire Capital’ 9th Battle Result>

<Victory>

<Player’s Lost Ships>

<Cruiser Battleship 1, Destroyers 4, Resource Mining Ship 1>

—————————————-

“Nyaaaa, we almost died there.”

“Glad we survived♡”

We managed to secure victory, but at a heavy cost.

Not only my fleet, but also Arcadia’s, Betelgeuse’s, and other users’ fleets lost at least one capital ship each.

Of course, that cruiser might have barely survived under normal circumstances.

But as the losses included a “resource mining ship=repair ship,” it was clear what happened.

Three despicable users struck us from behind just as the fleet battle was ending, landing a critical hit.

Now I only had five combat ships remaining: the Kraken, Hresvelgr, light aircraft carrier, cruiser, and Naranjara.

Additionally, transport destroyers with only a single anti-ship beam cannon and completely unarmed resource mining/repair ships got caught in the fleet battle and were blown up one after another.

“Commander, we only have 2 repair ships left.”

“Hmm… we managed to survive somehow.”

Realizing that we had fewer than 10 ships total, including both combat and non-combat vessels, I breathed a sigh of relief that the next battle would be the last.

But the real problem wasn’t that…

“Actually, Commander, our problem isn’t just that we only have 2 repair ships left.”

“Hmm?”

As Jessica said this in the waiting area we were transferred to after the battle, I raised a question mark above my head.

Seeing my reaction, Jessica sighed deeply, then pointed to the “destroyers” in the results report that had been blown up.

“With all these transport destroyers destroyed, we don’t have enough resources to replenish our carrier aircraft or repair our ships.”

“…Wh-wha-what-what-what-WHAT?!”

I couldn’t even say “What do you mean, Jessica?” as I felt my language abilities completely collapse.

Eventually regaining my composure, I decided to question Jessica about our resource situation.

“Jessica, didn’t each large ship store hundreds to thousands of units of resources besides what was in the destroyers?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then why are we short on resources?”

“We’re currently using those resources, but all the resources that were in the transport destroyers turned to space dust along with the ships.”

“…”

Hearing her sincere confirmation to my question, I nodded and decided to check exactly how much we had left.

But…

“Once we repair Marian’s cruiser and replenish the aircraft carrier’s fighters, we’ll be completely out.”

“…”

“We can’t even fully replenish the fighters due to resource shortages. We’ll struggle to complete even one attack squadron.”

“Oh dear.”

According to Jessica, due to resource shortages in the final battle, we wouldn’t be able to replenish not only “fighter aircraft” but also “heavy torpedoes” and “strategic missiles” used by the Hresvelgr and other ships.

“Wait… so the carrier attack squadrons and Hresvelgr’s strategic missile bombardments are all one-time use now?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“…”

I felt an immense sadness wash over me as I realized my fleet had become prematurely depleted for the final battle.