Ch.582Alcazar’s Austria. (3)

The next day.

Seeing how Austria was blending in well with my superhumans and other mercenary commanders through her exhibitionism and beastkin form.

I decided to test how well the “Alcazar Defense Fleet” led by Austria could actually fight.

To be precise, this wasn’t simply a performance test of the Alcazar Defense Fleet, but rather a test to see if proper “teamwork” could be achieved between my various mercenary units and the main force.

“Let’s proceed right away. Conveniently, a level-scaled large unaffiliated pirate fleet has appeared as this week’s quest.”

“The style is Earth Federation, with heavy cruisers as the main force. The fleet points should be around 1,400 to 1,500.”

“Not bad.”

With a pirate fleet appearing at just the right timing, scaled to our base level.

I decided to observe in real-time as my main force led by Berial and Decarabia, along with each mercenary unit.

And Austria’s Alcazar fleet all deployed together.

Of course, logically speaking, when comparing a pirate fleet with a maximum of 1,500 points against our combined forces that were 3-4 times larger, the result was predictable.

—————————————-

<Battle Results with ‘Pretty Lady’ Pirate Group>

<Remaining Pirate Ships: 0>

<Enemy Annihilated>

<Total Allied Ship Losses>

˪<Avalonia Security Fleet: 1 Medium Cruiser, 2 Destroyers>

˪<Ramings Assault Team: 15 Assault Ships>

˪<Mekarschetentakel Assault Team: 32 Infested Assault Ships>

˪<Alcazar Defense Fleet: 3 Medium Cruisers>

—————————————-

The pirate group, which had a well-balanced composition from dreadnought flagship to patrol ships, was completely annihilated.

But what mattered was the evaluation of the commanders’ teamwork.

So while Austria was reorganizing her fleet, I casually asked the participants for their assessment.

-“Quite satisfactory.”

-“Not baaad at all, speaking as a mercenary commander.”

-“It was appropriate, and the timing of fighter deployment was decent too.”

The evaluation from Berial, Decarabia, and Tiamat, who served as commanders of the main force, was passing for a first-time teamwork exercise.

And the other mercenary commanders also gave passing marks, saying everything was well-balanced without any major issues.

The most important evaluation came from Aquarius, who commanded the ‘Avalonia Security Fleet’ which had the most similar fleet structure.

“Aquarius, what do you think?”

-“It was perfect. Good enough to fight against other Commanders, not just pirates.”

“Hmm.”

Given that Aquarius, whose fleet structure and role in large fleet formations was similar, gave such high praise.

“This should be fine then.”

“Indeed. Their fleet composition is adequate to serve as our backbone.”

“Hmm.”

With that, I could sincerely welcome Austria and her fleet from the bottom of my heart.

==========

However, as no fleet in the world could have only strengths, Austria’s Alcazar also had clear weaknesses.

“Commander, Alcazar has quite obvious weaknesses.”

“Yes, unlike Avalonia, they’re quite vulnerable to small ships’ charges.”

The weakness was that, due to the Alcazar fleet’s composition.

They had a hard time dealing with destroyer-class and smaller ships that rushed in with a “charge at all costs” approach.

Of course, if they could maintain sufficient distance, things would be different, but when do things in life ever happen only in favorable situations?

While the Alcazar fleet’s ship classes weren’t completely helpless against ordinary small ships charging recklessly.

“If they were to face assault fleets like those led by Bendalof or Nero, they’d likely suffer significant damage.”

“That’s true. There’s no good answer when assault ships or small ships with heavy torpedoes rush in at close range.”

With a structure primarily consisting of super dreadnoughts and other capital ships, where even the escort role was handled by “medium cruisers”.

They would inevitably struggle when hundreds or thousands of significantly smaller ships charged at them.

But aside from that weakness, the Alcazar Defense Fleet had a very impressive level compared to other mercenary units so far, which gave me great satisfaction.

And honestly speaking, they only lacked ‘small ships’.

The arrival of Alcazar was like a lifeline in a situation where Aquarius’s Avalonia Security Fleet had been solely bridging the gap between ‘high-grade capital ships’ and ‘mass-produced small ships’.

“With this, the structure of my direct fleet finally has a solid composition from top to bottom.”

“It’s still slightly lacking, but compared to before, it’s a tremendous improvement.”

As Jessica said, honestly, it was still about 2% short of perfect.

But that small deficiency could be covered by the destroyers I had already recruited, so it wouldn’t be a major issue.

I decided to celebrate creating this perfect(?) fleet composition while waiting for Austria to return.

==========

However, while enjoying this self-congratulatory moment and participating in the welcoming ceremony that Lephan and Aquarius had organized.

Austria suddenly realized something and wanted to ask me a question.

“By the way, Commander? There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Ask away. I’ll answer as best I can within my limits.”

Of course, I accepted the question with a fairly casual attitude, not expecting anything problematic.

“Are all the people here commanders of outpost mercenary units?”

“Oh, is that what you’re curious about?”

Since Austria’s question was very normal and ordinary, I nodded.

Then calmly gestured around the room, confirming that Austria’s statement was correct.

“That’s right, from there to there, all of them.”

“I see.”

But the problem was that what came next made me and the other superhumans and commanders remember something we had forgotten…

“Then Commander Lephan is also from an outpost mercenary unit? I’m having trouble figuring out which outpost.”

“Huh? No, no, Lephan is my direct mercenary unit, not from an outpost.”

“Direct… you say?”

“Yes, to be precise, he was ‘originally’ direct, while Aquarius was from Avalon before becoming a direct mercenary unit.”

“I see, I understand… Then Commander, I have one last question if I may.”

“One more question? Well, alright, ask away.”

Right after that.

“I heard you have 5 outposts at level 5 or higher, Commander.”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Then why are there only 4 outpost mercenary units, including my fleet?”

“…Huh?”

‘Huh?’

While Austria probably asked without much thought.

A realization struck like lightning in my mind, as well as Jessica’s and the other commanders who were pouring drinks nearby.

“…We haven’t hired a mercenary unit from Barracuda all this time?”

“…That’s right.”

Indeed.

Despite all our complaints about lacking fleet power, having a weak backbone, and so on.

We had neglected something right beside us that could strengthen that ‘backbone’.

“Heheh, this is crazy.”

I couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of the situation.

But I couldn’t waste time just chuckling awkwardly.

Since we still had plenty of resources to spare, I immediately decided to hire an outpost mercenary unit from Barracuda as well.