Ch.321I, Who Am I? “The King of Neutrality.” (2)

The next morning after suddenly taking in about 30 refugee(?) users.

After waking up on a soft, squishy jelly mattress.

As I was starting my day with the warm morning coffee Jessica brought me, a thought suddenly occurred to me.

‘Wait, how did they plan to stage a rebellion without a fleet?’

Even with Superhumans, without a fleet, commander-type Superhumans would be useless.

Close-combat Superhumans would face the same problem since they couldn’t even “approach” their targets, so they’d need plenty of long-range firepower types like Pashtra.

Were they planning to counter fleets with the base’s defense systems while recklessly deploying Superhumans?

With these thoughts in mind, I casually asked the users about it.

In response to my question, the representative of the settlement said:

-“That? Well, we each had two or three SSS-rank Superhumans, so we thought we could manage.”

“Oh.”

-“Of course, given the circumstances, they weren’t properly leveled, so they’d be… lacking in many ways.”

As he answered my communication and naturally showed me their Superhumans stationed at the bases.

Surprisingly, they had no less than three of our Pashtra, considered the pinnacle of firepower-type Superhumans.

‘Pa-Pa-Pash-Pash-Pashtra.’

Of course, Pashtra wasn’t the only one; there were plenty of other Superhumans too.

Unlike Pashtra who generates and fires particles from thin air, there was one who shot powerful beams from their mouth like a kind of “Dragonian.”

There were also Superhumans who fired beam-like charged particle cannons from their hands or chest.

And as mentioned earlier, Superhumans weren’t just limited to beam-firing types.

-“Leila, come and say hello.”

-“Pleased to meet you, Commander Icarus.”

“Oh… you have a rare one with you.”

-“Thanks to her, we were able to hold out for quite a long time.”

Apart from self-projecting firepower types like Pashtra.

There were also Superhumans like “Leila” who just appeared, who unleash firepower by operating their own super-weapons.

-“May we introduce ourselves too?”

-“By all means.”

“…”

There were also Superhumans who could use powerful telekinesis to turn small ships into crushed cans in just seconds.

In terms of pure firepower, they seemed capable of exchanging fire with even well-developed ranker fleets.

And according to the explanation I heard earlier, if you factor in the “close-combat” Superhumans or “command-type” Superhumans somewhere in the base.

I realized why users who plundered these folks were so determined to cut their fleet power by any means necessary.

‘The power-hiders were right here.’

Anyway, after ending the communication.

I lamented to Jessica who was standing beside me.

“Seriously, if we’re talking about power-hiding, isn’t this the definition of it?”

“Is that so…?”

“Does it make sense that 30 users… no, exactly 32 users have nearly 50 SSS-rank Superhumans?”

“If you put it that way, Commander, you alone have 7 or 8 of those SSS-ranks yourself.”

“…When you put it like that, you’re right.”

Of course, Jessica responded to my complaints with merciless facts.

Feeling speechless, I quietly decided to continue with my daily quests.

==========

While Icarus was busy with various tasks.

His Superhumans and the settlement’s Superhumans were having brief meetings with each other…

Superhumans like Berial and Pashtra were having conversations praising their own commanders while complimenting the others’ commanders.

The Ignis “group,” perhaps because they numbered over 10.

They were having their own sports competition(?) among themselves.

But unlike the rest of the Superhumans, in Griyanar’s case…

“Hmm, your ‘me’ focuses primarily on Earth Federation technology?”

“Then it seems you’ve delved deeply into Space Monsters.”

“We also have one each from the Xenovia Empire and the Pirate Alliance.”

“Will we ever have another opportunity like this? A chance to share knowledge and increase our intelligence.”

“Of course, it would be rare.”

“Then let’s begin right away.”

By some strange coincidence, among the 32 users, there were 3 Griyanars.

And with each having researched different factions, combined with Icarus’s Griyanar.

“Your IQ 400, my IQ 400.”

“With our combined IQ of 1600, it’s time to create the perfect invention.”

-“Kids, what exactly are you making?”

“Nothing!”

-“If it’s nothing, why are you building a Space Mecha Fortress Dragon with elf ears?”

“Ah.”

“We’ve been caught.”

Caught in the act of creating a “Space Confucian Elf Mecha Fortress Dragon” using the combined technology of the four major factions.

They were dragged away by their respective commanders, and their Space whatever Dragon was dismantled for being “useless.”

==========

Anyway, while Superhumans mingled with Superhumans.

And users with users.

I had posted “proof” about this incident on the gallery, as those folks had mentioned.

—————————————–

Title: Refugees swarming next to my base;;

Author: Icarus

Content: [Settlement refugees’ base proof.jpg], [Refugees’ base condition, completely devastated images.jpg], [Image of docking facilities with not a single ship remaining.jpg]

Their condition was too miserable, and they said they’d leave on their own if given time

So I decided to leave them alone for up to a month, as long as base warping is possible

Feeling somewhat mixed about this

Comments:

-[???]

-[Why are the settlement old guys there?]

-[The settlement got raided too heavily recently, so angry people rebelled]

-[Are they idiots?]

-[Yes, they’re idiots. The gold farmers grew using resources and ships from raiding there, so they’ll starve without it]

-˪[Where the hell do you live?]

-˪[Don’t know where I am, do you? Frustrating, isn’t it?]

-˪[Why are these bastards fighting here?]

—————————————–

Most reactions to my post were puzzled.

Some expressed concerns about what would happen if these users seized my base and formed a clan.

Of course, such reactions themselves were evidence of being “newbies,” so the rotten oil veterans immediately jumped in with answers to their questions.

—————————————–

Title: What if those so-called refugee users take over the base?

Author: Anonymous

Content: [Enlarged screenshot of confirmed Superhumans.jpg]

Looking at this, the refugees seem to have at least 100 Superhumans

If these guys infiltrate the base, aren’t we just screwed?

Comments:

-[Fresh newbie we have here]

-[That’s not an invasion but a ‘neutral friendly’ status, so Superhumans can’t infiltrate and take over the base]

-˪[Why not? Can’t they just barge in and declare war?](Author)

-˪[Then the system forcibly ejects the Superhumans outside and automatically undocks the base and outpost]

-˪[But can’t Superhumans enter the outpost without using assault pods, like climbing walls?](Author)

-˪[Our gay friend has quite the imagination]

-˪[When war is declared, all entrances are automatically sealed with external armor plating, and even Pashtra’s maximum output beam cannon can’t scratch it]

-˪[Oh I see](Author)

—————————————–

Apart from that, there was talk about whether I was trying to form a clan.

Unlike me who wasn’t interested, it seemed the existence of the settlement itself was quite famous.

When it was revealed that the users I accepted into my base were the “real settlement,” public opinion in the gallery shifted more positively than I expected.

But in the midst of all this…

—————————————–

<Penicillin requests to chat with you, Commander!>

<Accept?>

<Y/N>

—————————————–

This time, a user who wasn’t from the settlement unexpectedly sent me a chat request.

Though puzzled, I decided to accept the chat, thinking there wouldn’t be any major issues.

But right after that.

—————————————–

-[Heyheyheyheyhey]

-[Can I possibly dock at your base too?]

-[???](Icarus)

—————————————–

‘What the hell is this guy doing?’

Hearing something so completely out of the blue, I felt my sense of reason ascending to heaven.