Ch.356″Please let us move in.”

However, the incident of about 10 users rushing in wasn’t something I needed to worry about.

“All defense fleets, launch and intercept enemy fleets that enter our range.”

“Hoeeeee.”

As I mentioned before, after grinding down the mercenary corps, I had managed to preserve a portion of Tannhäuser’s defense fleet strength.

When those users who came rushing in saw the defense fleet (not even Tannhäuser’s main fleet) appear, despite being at only about 50% of full strength due to incomplete power supply…

“Commander, the enemy fleet is retreating rapidly.”

“Without even exchanging fire?”

“Yes, they’re fleeing as soon as our defense fleet appeared.”

“Hmm.”

Seeing them perform an instant reverse charge and run away, I nodded.

—————————————-

Title: Super Cowards Who Rushed In As Soon As We Took The Base.jpg

Author: Icarus

Content: [gif of user fleets making a 180-degree turn and fleeing as soon as the defense fleet appears]

Pathetic♡

Super cowards♡

Running away immediately♡

Comments:

-[That mod is so annoying]

-[WTF why is the title jpg when the image is a gif?]

-[What’s with the fake image, you attention seeker]

-˪[LOLOLOLOL]

-[Fake content and a mesu-gaki mod, this is quite the rare find]

-˪[NGL it’s kind of hot]

-˪[Dude…]

—————————————-

I preserved these guys in the gallery to prevent any possible additional small-scale attacks in advance.

==========

Anyway, after all that happened…

“Somehow today’s daily quests are finished, and we’ve settled with the pirate fleets by giving them some of our resources.”

“Is that so?”

“Yes, and regarding the monster fleet, there were no major issues except for three patrol ship-class monsters being hit, so Princess Luca says she’s pleased.”

“I see.”

After handling various miscellaneous matters, including the escort fleet for Marian and the aftermath of Princess Luca’s fleet, I proceeded to deal with the post-battle matters of my exclusive mercenary corps, the Lodos Mercenary Corps.

But in the midst of that, I heard an unexpected story…

“The mercenary members who crashed in with Captain Lephan are all under treatment, and the Lodos Mercenary Corps ships have entered the shipyard for repairs.”

“Hmm.”

“And Commander, this might seem out of the blue…”

“Yes?”

“Since we’re moving our base, we need to terminate our contract with Avalon’s base mercenary corps, right?”

“Ah right, you’re talking about Avalonia.”

At Jessica’s words, I nodded and gave her a look that seemed to ask what the problem was.

In response to my expression, Jessica said:

“Well, that Avalonia Security Fleet has contacted us saying they want to sign an exclusive employment contract with us.”

“…Like with Lodos?”

“Yep.”

As soon as I heard Jessica’s words, with her rabbit ears twitching sideways in confirmation, an event message I hadn’t seen in a while appeared before my eyes.

—————————————-

<Event>

<Exclusive Contract with a Mercenary Corps!>

<Content>

<Aquerias, the commander of the ‘Avalonia Security Fleet’ employed at Avalon Fortress, wants to establish a proper employment relationship with you on this occasion.>

<Of course, the main reason is that the affinity between you and Aquerias has exceeded +200.>

<It seems that even within the Avalonia Security Fleet, they’ve decided it’s better to follow Aquerias’s thinking.>

<Effects>

<This mercenary corps is called an ‘exclusive contract’ and ‘subordinate,’ but they are still treated as ‘mercenaries’ in every respect.>

<Due to the exclusive contract effect, the daily contract fee is discounted by 5%!>

<This mercenary corps cannot arbitrarily terminate the contract, and you must notify them at least 1 month before terminating the contract.>

<A new contract menu with the ‘Avalonia Security Fleet’ will be created!>

<The ‘Avalonia Security Fleet’ has a separate loyalty check, and the contract fee and performance will vary depending on loyalty!>

<Would you like to enter into an exclusive contract with the ‘Avalonia Security Fleet’?>

<Y/N>

—————————————-

‘Hmm.’

It seemed that after Aquerias caused trouble and got “itcha-utcha-ngit” from Griyanar last time, maxing out the friendliness level had influenced this situation.

But well… there was no reason for us to refuse people who were so eager to join us.

So I immediately pressed Y to conclude the employment of the Avalonia Security Fleet, deciding to call them to Tannhäuser and accept them as new comrades.

=========

And after resolving the Avalonia employment issue, well…

‘Now that this is done too, there aren’t any urgent problems to solve anymore.’

There were no pressing issues at the moment, and I had already completed all the daily quests I needed to do.

“Commander, here you go.”

“Thanks.”

I took the hot iced Americano(?) that Jessica brought and sipped it while watching the giant screen in the command center, where massive heavy equipment was moving across Tannhäuser’s vast surface, carrying out restoration work.

…Of course, one might wonder what’s so interesting about this.

But normally, after a person goes through an intense battle, they tend to experience burnout in various ways.

Sometimes, it’s necessary to recover mentally by calmly observing the situation, unlike usual.

However, in the midst of that peaceful time…

-Beep beep beep, beep beep beep!

“Oh, Commander.”

“Please don’t tell me it’s more users coming to beat me up.”

“No, it’s not that… the ships of people who were docked at Avalon and Barracuda have arrived?”

“…For what reason?”

“Well… they’re asking if they can dock at Tannhäuser?”

“Ah.”

When I heard that some users whose base warp cooldown had finished were dreaming of moving to Tannhäuser, I found myself shaking my head, wondering why issues kept arising one after another.

But I couldn’t just ignore this either.

You might wonder, ‘Why can’t you ignore it? Aren’t you the landlord?’

—————————————-

<Avalon-Barracuda-Tannhäuser Residents Chat Room>

<Notice: Let’s all get along harmoniously>

-[Hoeeeeeeeng]

-[Who are we?]

-[The guardians of Avalon and Barracuda☆]

-[We killed those damn rebel instigators, so let’s keep going like this!]

-[When did we kill anyone?]

-[To be precise, they weren’t instigators but people who were instigated]

-[Rebellion must be purged…!]

-[Congratulations on Icarus’s conquest of Tannhäuser]

-[Congrats!]

-[Congrats congrats congrats!]

-[This is starting to feel like a cult]

—————————————-

‘Why are they all like this?’

It seems they’re already drinking the Kool-Aid like crazy, even changing the chat room title.

If I were to continuously ignore them, when other users come after me in the future, unlike before, there’s a veeeeeery high possibility that these people would stab me in the back.

But that was still an unknown variable in a future that hadn’t happened yet.

In contrast, these people had currently played a role in protecting my back, so…

“Jessica, how many total docking points does Tannhäuser have?”

“We’re still checking, but… it’s estimated to be around 2,500.”

“Hmm.”

If possible, I wanted to allow those who wished to move to Tannhäuser.

Of course, this was only if circumstances permitted.

“It will take some time until the Tannhäuser defense fleet is fully reinforced, right?”

“Yes, it will take at least another week.”

Since we currently lacked fortress main guns and had insufficient defense fleet numbers, I decided to reject users’ docking requests until the defense fleet’s strength was 100% restored.