Ch.617″The era is now calling for an empire.” (2)

‘What are these guys up to?’

While I was laughing at the sight of Arthur’s clinging to Ignis, acting like a baby demanding milk, then realizing there was no “milk” and hitting her chest with a disappointed expression—causing direct mental damage to Ignis—a chat request suddenly came in.

I accepted it out of curiosity, never expecting to find users from another outpost suddenly begging “Please take us in, waah!”

Of course, faced with such requests, I calmly refused and tried to focus on my own business.

Seeing my response, Jessica seemed to accept it but showed slight puzzlement.

“Commander, isn’t a level 5 outpost actually quite decent?”

“Not just decent—by normal standards, it could function as a major base for any mid-tier clan.”

“Then why did you reject them so quickly? It’s even a supply base type, which seems pretty useful…”

“I have my reasons.”

I explained my thinking to Jessica.

“They’re asking me to accept them, but I’m not a clan—how am I supposed to incorporate separate users and their outpost?”

“Hmm.”

“If I were a clan, it would be simple. They could say ‘I want to surrender to you!’ and all users docked at the outpost would join the clan, end of story.”

“Ah, that’s true.”

“But I’m not a clan. At most, we could change our stance toward each other to be friendly, but beyond that, what value would there be?”

That’s right.

If I were to accept this “Shanghai” outpost and the users docked there, the only benefit I’d gain would be “I can be friends with users who captured a level 5 outpost!” Nothing more.

Sure, if I thought about it more, there might be other advantages, but that was the only obvious benefit.

Meanwhile, they could sacrifice a bit of pride and essentially get security protection for free.

From my perspective, it was quite offensive, to say the least.

And besides feeling offended, there were numerous other drawbacks to point out.

“The location isn’t even good. If it were like Tomsk, positioned between the Daidalos and Tannhäuser sectors, that would be different.”

“I see.”

If “Shanghai” had been strategically positioned like Tomsk that I just mentioned, it might have been worth considering.

Unfortunately, Shanghai’s location was far from strategic, and even if I accepted it, it would be in an awkward place to protect.

“Even if I accepted that place, if nearby outpost users banded together and initiated ‘territory overlap,’ it would be cut off without mercy.”

“Hmm… that’s definitely true.”

As I said this while pointing to Shanghai, which was located somewhere in the northeast of Daidalos—between the Xenovia Empire and the Space Monster territories—Jessica nodded in agreement, seeing the awkward position of Shanghai at the end of my gesture.

And beyond those issues, I brought up the most important problem.

“Above all, even if I accepted them and other users helped out…”

“Yes, Commander?”

“My defense fleets couldn’t go there because it’s not my outpost.”

“Oh, right.”

Exactly!

Though pointing this out might make my previous rambling seem pointless, I just realized something important.

Surprisingly, even if they surrendered all their pride and became my slaves or whatever nonsense, there would be limits to how much I could help them.

So while I’ve gone on at length about various issues, the summary is “There’s absolutely no benefit in taking them!”

That’s why, even if the users of the Shanghai outpost came running to me crying, I had no choice but to coldly reject them.

“In the end, those people have no option but to transfer the outpost to you, Commander.”

“Exactly, but if they’re going to do that, why leave the Federation and come to me? They could even end up being evicted from their outpost.”

“I suppose they’d be giving their home to someone else.”

“It’s really hard to understand from any angle.”

==========

Anyway, for those reasons, I firmly rejected them.

“Uuuu… waaaah!”

“Hehehe!”

*Pssshhhhh*

“Oh, golden shower.”

“Commander, if you’re just going to tease, please go do your work.”

While I was watching Arthur’s (Arthur and Mary) performing a golden shower on the nurses despite not even being a week old…

—————————————–

<User ‘ChocoPasta’ has requested to chat with Commander!>

<Accept?>

<Y/N>

—————————————–

‘Who is this again? Ah, that person from before.’

The user called ‘ChocoPasta,’ who had identified himself as the representative of Shanghai, was requesting to chat again. Curious about what he wanted to say this time, I decided to accept.

And right after that…

—————————————–

<Icarus-ChocoPasta Chat Room>

-[Hey]

-[Icarus sir](ChocoPasta)

-[What is it?](Icarus)

-[I’ll transfer the outpost to you, please take us in]

-[We’re all going to die otherwise](ChocoPasta)

-<User ‘ChocoPasta’ is attempting to transfer ownership of ‘Shanghai’ (Level 5 Outpost).>

-<Accept?>

-<Y/N>

-[Whaaaat](Icarus)

—————————————–

Unlike the Central Outpost Federation known for its shady political maneuvers, they were offering their outpost without any scheming.

And without any conditions attached, they were just pushing the outpost transfer rights at me.

It was truly an unexpected approach that left me confused…

But as I mentioned earlier, given Shanghai’s location, I couldn’t accept it even with no strings attached.

I managed to hold onto my reason and pressed N on the confirmation window to express my refusal once again.

The problem was, when I clearly showed my refusal again:

—————————————–

<Icarus-ChocoPasta Chat Room>

<Icarus has rejected the trade!>

-[I’ll say it again, my answer is no](Icarus)

-[Ah]

-[Then wait a moment, just a little longer please](ChocoPasta)

-[?]

—————————————–

Unlike yesterday, ChocoPasta didn’t immediately close the chat but asked me to wait.

He seemed urgent but also like he had some kind of plan. Out of curiosity about what approach he would try next to persuade me, I decided to keep watching.

After watching the chat room for about 5 minutes:

—————————————–

<Icarus-ChocoPasta Chat Room>

-[Hey]

-[I have some people to invite here, is that okay?](ChocoPasta)

-[Sure, go ahead](Icarus)

-[Thanks](ChocoPasta)

<User ‘Murasama’ has entered.>

<User ‘Hasegi’ has entered.>

…(omitted)…

<User ‘PianHwa’ has entered.>

<User ‘PassiveIncomePropertyOwner’ has entered.>

-[What’s this]

-[What’s happening here](Icarus)

-[All the people invited are nearby outpost owners or small clan leaders]

-[They all want to join your faction]

-[So please accept us into your faction right now](ChocoPasta)

-[Yeah](Hasegi)

-[If you don’t accept us, something terrible will happen](Murasama)

-[J-just take us in already!](Hasegi)

-[Hey, talking like that won’t get a good response from Icarus](PianHwa)

-[Oh right, sorry](Hasegi)

-[We’re all planning to be your followers, can you accept us?](PassiveIncomePropertyOwner)

-[What?](Icarus)

—————————————–

Users from about ten different outposts had suddenly gathered, collectively offering to transfer their outpost rights and trying to attach themselves to me.