I Became a Commander in a Crappy SF Game.

Ch.320I, Who Am I? “The King of Neutrality.” (1)

by fnovelpia

The story was truly heartbreaking.

‘This is why emotional manipulation is such a scam.’

At first, I wanted to take a step back and just observe these users staging their rebellion.

But after hearing the whole story, I found myself leaning toward accepting their side.

However, that feeling didn’t last long.

“Commander, Commander.”

“Hmm… what?”

“I think I understand what you’re contemplating, but there’s a major issue if you proceed that way.”

“Hmm.”

As Jessica spoke with her gleaming red eyes, I adopted a listening posture to hear her opinion.

And right after that.

“Think about it. If you accept those people… won’t other commanders think you’re forming a clan?”

“…Ah.”

Jessica’s natural observation made me realize there was indeed a critical problem with this situation.

“So I could potentially face a massive invasion like Walpurgis did.”

“Exactly, and it would be even more thorough than the Walpurgis Alliance—incomparably more invasive.”

After hearing Jessica’s words, I realized how genuinely dangerous this could be.

While Walpurgis didn’t have a stronghold, they still had over 500 users.

I’m essentially alone except for my strongholds.

And now I have two strongholds—if I suddenly accept a group of other users?

Anyone would think I’m trying to build a massive clan by taking strongholds and gathering users around me.

Plus, in that situation, opportunists would try to attach themselves to me…

Then I’d have to deal with the annoyingly complicated “betrayal upon betrayal upon betrayal” clan defense battles.

‘Ugh, how dreadful.’

It made me shudder just thinking about it.

Besides, I never intended to form a clan in the first place.

I had no desire to risk being misunderstood and dealing with unnecessary troubles.

“I barely managed to fend off just 500 people last time while shitting bricks. I can’t repeat the same mistake in this situation, can I?”

“Of course not.”

If I nearly died against 500 people, could I withstand around 6,000 users brought by Menaldo and other rankers who claimed to have realized the truth about Walpurgis?

‘That’s completely impossible.’

After careful consideration, I decided to decline this request.

“I’m sorry, but I’d rather not get involved with people who’ve had nothing to do with me until now.”

-“I see…”

Of course, the user on the communication screen visibly showed disappointment at my words.

But realistically, it was only natural for me to reject them, so they nodded in understanding.

-“It can’t be helped then. I’ll relay this to our people.”

“Yeah, yeah, good luck with that.”

Just as we were about to end the communication after exchanging minimal courtesies…

-Ziiing… BABABABANG!

“Huh?”

“C-Commander! Dozens of ‘bases’ just warped near our Avalon Fortress stronghold!”

“W-what?”

When dozens of user bases suddenly appeared in clusters around Avalon Fortress where I was stationed.

I thought they were forcefully pushing in despite my clear refusal.

“I’ll dispatch our security fleet and our main fleet right away!”

As Jessica immediately gave deployment orders to my main force and security fleets, I nodded.

Then I turned to the person still connected on the communication line, intending to demand an explanation.

But when I turned my head and met their gaze…

-“Wh-what??”

“…”

-“W-why did they come here?”

Seeing their eyes trembling uncontrollably and cold sweat dripping down their face in apparent shock.

I realized that unless this user was a professional actor, this situation wasn’t intentional at all.

Moreover, according to the security fleet and our fleet that had hurriedly deployed…

-“…Commander? The condition of these bases is concerning.”

“What do you mean?”

Intrigued by this statement that piqued my curiosity, I immediately asked for clarification.

In response, Berial and Tiamat, leading the fleet, sent me photos taken from their ships and reconnaissance aircraft.

-<Image of ‘bases’ with most defensive facilities destroyed and black smoke billowing from various places.jpg>

-<Close-up reconnaissance image showing all CIWS destroyed with emergency repairs underway.jpg>

-“This is roughly the situation.”

-“There are hardly any ships either. Ships should warp together with the base during base warping.”

“Oh…”

From the explanation I’d heard earlier, these bases apparently belonged to the users who were trying to stage that ‘rebellion’.

Judging by how thoroughly destroyed they were, the rebellion must have failed.

And when their bases were about to explode, they apparently performed an emergency teleport to Avalon Fortress where their team(?) was located.

The problem was, as Jessica and I had discussed earlier, if left like this, surrounding users might suspect clan formation.

While they might not fight me directly due to my neutral status, if they start mining resources and producing fleets here under the pretext of revenge?

That would undeniably make it look like I’d accepted these people…

I was about to deploy my fleet to drive away these unexpected refugees(?), painful as it might be.

But seeing my fleet’s movement, these self-proclaimed collective settlement users urgently contacted me through both communication and chat.

-“Wait, wait!”

-“We won’t build any fleets or anything here, just please let us stay until we can leave on our own!”

-“Please.”

—————————————-

<‘Pegasus’ has invited you to ‘Collective Settlement Chat Room’!>

<Y/N>

—————————————-

Seeing how extremely desperate they appeared, I set aside my plan to use the fleet as a demolition team.

I accepted their chat room invitation and immediately entered with a bold message questioning why I should trust them.

—————————————-

<Notice: XXXXXXXXXX>

-[What reason do I have to trust you all?](Icarus)

-[Ah]

-[Well, that’s…]

-[Do we need to show you some secret ass show?]

-[Couldn’t we just have you take us to the gallery for verification?]

-[?]

-[To prove we’re not a clan, we’ll let you take authentication shots of our bases]

-[And then with the help of your security fleet, once we get coordinates for an escape point…]

-[…you’ll just leave?](Icarus)

-[Yes, exactly]

—————————————-

Impressed by their surprisingly reasonable proposal, I thought for a moment.

“What do you think about this, Jessica?”

“Well… if you verify it in the gallery, others probably won’t attack recklessly.”

“Right?”

“Of course, we should give them a firm deadline and kick them out mercilessly if they exceed it.”

Nodding as I thought there wouldn’t be any major issues, I left a message in the chat saying they could stay for about a month.

—————————————-

<Notice: XXXXXXXXXX>

-[You can stay here]

-[But finding coordinates shouldn’t take more than a month, so if you can’t find them by then, look elsewhere](Icarus)

-[A month is plenty]

-[Thanks, that’s more than enough]

—————————————-

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