Ch.615The Reason They Suddenly Crashed

—————————————–

<EVENT>

<Annihilation of the Anti-Empress Faction!>

<CONTENT>

<Amazing news!>

<The massive invasion fleet of approximately 2 million ships amassed by the anti-Empress factions within the Pirate Alliance has been annihilated by a passing Leviathan Squadron!>

<Naturally, with all their reserve forces gone, the anti-Empress factions were completely dismantled by the Armada and pro-Empress factions who were contacted by Leonard.>

<The ringleaders have all been forcibly converted into new human-pig collection specimens, and most of the remaining forces have been broken down by unit.>

<They have reportedly been distributed as slaves among the pirate groups affiliated with the pro-Empress faction.>

<RESULT>

<90% of anti-Empress forces within the Pirate Alliance eliminated>

<Event chain terminated>

—————————————–

“Hmm, hmm.”

“Commander, it seems the anti-Empress faction’s fleet has been completely annihilated by the Leviathan Squadron.”

How bewildering this is.

After making all possible preparations for what would have been a historic(?) large-scale battle…

The very opponents who should have been crushed by these preparations didn’t come to fight here at all, but instead randomly charged toward Tannhäuser.

And then, “But at that moment, Leviathan appeared” and completely annihilated them.

If there’s one fortunate thing, it’s that the event message explained exactly why those people crashed headlong toward Tannhäuser.

—————————————–

<EVENT>

<Why They Chose the Path of Death>

<CONTENT>

<There has been much speculation about why the anti-Empress faction’s fleet headed toward the Tannhäuser sector rather than the Daidalos Research Fortress where the Commander is located.>

<Surprisingly, according to intelligence from sources within the anti-Empress faction, as well as information extracted through thorough torture of anti-faction members by the pro-Empress faction…>

<The anti-Empress faction’s plan was to avoid directly attacking Daidalos first due to its overwhelming defensive capabilities.>

<Instead, they planned to first conquer Tannhäuser and other outposts that were weaker than Daidalos to augment their forces.>

<They would then use these reinforced forces to launch a full-scale invasion against Daidalos.>

<The problem was that the anti-Empress faction members were unaware that the ‘Leviathan Squadron’ had sworn loyalty to the Commander…>

<Treating them as a separate force that wouldn’t fight them, the invasion fleet of the anti-Empress faction faced sudden battle with the Leviathan Squadron and fell into chaos.>

<Additionally, from the very beginning, they were hit by simultaneous main cannon fire from the Jormungand-class and Ouroboros-class ships led by Leviathan.>

<With tens of thousands of their forces wiped out from the start, the invasion fleet, facing both the Leviathan Squadron’s surprise attack and reinforcements from nearby outposts…>

<Before long, all their forces reportedly turned to cosmic dust.>

—————————————–

“…How pitiful.”

What a tragic story.

If they had just mindlessly charged toward us, they might have had at least a 0.1% chance of victory.

Instead, they unnecessarily overthought things and ended up being annihilated by the Leviathan Squadron.

But while thinking about this, I suddenly realized something strange.

“Hmm… wait, Jessica?”

“What is it?”

“Doesn’t the Leviathan Squadron, including all the Jormungand-class and Ouroboros-class ships, have fewer than 400 vessels? Even counting all other ships, I think there were only about 2,000. How did they completely annihilate a fleet of over 2 million ships?”

Even though defense fleets from my nearby outposts came to support during the battle…

Isn’t the difference in scale too great?

Unlike when I fought against the Earth Federation’s border defense fleet that included Jormungand-class ships, their fleet was mostly composed of large vessels, so qualitatively they should have been far superior to what I faced back then.

Of course, I’m not saying the Leviathan Squadron is weak or incompetent, but even so, I expressed my doubts about how they eliminated the enemy so quickly, and our Jessica replied:

“They’ve rebuilt the shipyards for Jormungand-class and Yggdrasil-class vessels at the outpost serving as the Earth Federation’s interim government headquarters.”

“Oh.”

That’s right.

Surprisingly, those persistent old men of the Earth Federation interim government, under the leadership of “Admiral Lanka” of the Leviathan Squadron who had purged the chairman and risen to become the supreme leader…

Through gritted teeth and effort upon effort, they managed to build shipyards capable of constructing Jormungand-class and Yggdrasil-class vessels at a mere level 7 outpost.

Of course, from what I gathered from various reports, due to size restrictions based on outpost level…

Unlike the massive shipyard that was supposedly at the “Lunar Base” (level 9), this one can only build one Jormungand or Yggdrasil at a time.

But even that alone is a remarkable development compared to the past when losses were completely irreplaceable.

I nodded my head, thinking that’s still impressive, and expressed my admiration for their achievement.

==========

Anyway, after the anti-Empress faction, those jesters of the Pirate Alliance, walked the path of self-destruction…

We no longer needed to maintain our vigilance, so we lifted all security measures and decided to return to our normal routine.

Separately from that, Jessica, Leonard, and I decided to have an important conversation with Marian.

After briefly explaining the situation above…

“…for these reasons.”

“So, Marian, when your body returns to normal, I think it might be best if we take care of those babies here.”

“Hmm… I definitely noticed a strange atmosphere lately, but I didn’t expect them to act so recklessly at a time like this.”

Even though the anti-Empress faction had been thoroughly crushed by the loyalists…

They still had 10% of their forces remaining, and those forces were very likely to be “Superhumans.”

That’s why all three of us—myself, Leonard, and Jessica—unanimously suggested that the babies should be protected at my base.

Of course, while saying this, we were all very carefully watching Marian’s reaction.

‘But in the end, these are babies that Marian gave birth to herself. What if she refuses?’

‘You think I want to do this? Do you realize how serious it is for babies to not have their mother?’

‘Ahem, surely Her Majesty wouldn’t get that upset… well, it could be dangerous if she did.’

Just before coming here, when we were coordinating what to say, the question “What if Marian refuses?” came up.

We just looked at each other awkwardly, not knowing what to say.

But fortunately, Marian took my words seriously, gave it careful thought, and then:

“I think you’re right. Having me give birth or raise children within the Pirate Alliance carries too many risks.”

“Hmm.”

“So, please take good care of our children for a while.”

With this surprisingly cool response, Marian even bowed her head to entrust the children to me.

I nodded to her and patted my chest, telling her to leave them to me.

Of course, I would officially take charge only a week later when Marian would leave.

For now, I decided to let the babies stay in Marian’s arms for their “goo-goo ga-ga feed me” time.

But in a week, I would really have to take those babies and do the whole baby-talk thing…

“Commander, we’ve remodeled part of the base’s lounge to create a space for the babies.”

“Since they’re newborns, they’ll need to stay in the medical ward for at least two months anyway, but I think it’s still a good choice, Commander.”

“Hmm.”

We decided to thoroughly prepare everything in advance, including creating a space for the babies and doing all sorts of things.

Of course, as mentioned above, even after Marian leaves in a week, the babies would need to stay in the medical ward for 2-3 months, so I wondered if we were preparing too early.