Ch.61Mad Scientist (2)

Anyway, with the girls’ talk and introductions out of the way.

I had everyone take their seats and decided to continue our previous meeting about “which faction to choose.”

Of course, just like before…

Ignis: “The aliens with advanced technology!”

Pashtra: “Tentacles♡”

Berial: “Let’s go with the Earth Federation for safety and trust.”

The legendary trio’s opinions hadn’t changed at all.

I turned to Jessica and made a gesture.

Seeing my action, Jessica likewise asked the two new participants to share their opinions.

“Since you’re here anyway, why don’t you two share your thoughts?”

But hearing Jessica’s words.

Our Marian shook her head firmly, clearly drawing a line on this matter.

“Do I really need to say anything?”

“Well, since you’re here…”

“Given my profession, I only have one thing to say anyway.”

As she clearly established her position (Pirate Empress).

Her statement implied that as the “Pirate Empress,” regardless of what anyone said, she would mindlessly recommend her own faction, the “pirates.”

Jessica stared blankly at Marian’s unchanging expression for a moment.

“If that’s how you feel, Marian, I guess there’s nothing to be done.”

She shook her head and turned to Griyanar sitting beside her.

“Then, Professor Griyanar, what do you think about this matter?”

If it had been someone other than Griyanar who showed up this time, I was planning to use the newly emerged “roulette” feature in the community to choose a faction.

But since Professor Griyanar was officially established as a “genius,” she would likely have a solution to the current situation.

This meeting was actually meant to “publicly” ask for Griyanar’s opinion to silence the opposing views.

While pretending to be nonchalant, I pulled up the command consoles.

I subtly directed my gaze toward Griyanar, eagerly waiting for her tightly closed lips to open as she appeared deep in thought.

After listening to the situation during the meeting, Griyanar pondered deeply.

After a while.

“Hmm, joining the Space Monsters would indeed be most efficient.”

She raised her hand in favor of the Space Monsters.

“That’s too bad, I wanted to try the aliens’ plasma sword.”

“Tentacles are truly amazing♡”

Ignis, who didn’t have strong feelings from the start, and Pashtra, who was pro-Space Monster and a monster enthusiast(?), agreed with Griyanar’s statement.

“Wait, I demand an explanation as to why.”

As evident from her military uniform, Berial was fundamentally a person of principles.

She seemed unable to accept coexistence with Space Monsters, who, with few exceptions, lacked intelligence.

Given her background as an Earth Federation military officer, this was even more understandable.

Based on their character personalities, Berial and Griyanar would normally have difficulty accepting each other’s words at face value.

Fortunately, since the current situation wasn’t about picking a fight but rather thoroughly exchanging opinions.

Griyanar, with her characteristically evil smirk, began explaining to everyone present, including Berial, why they should choose the Space Monsters.

“First of all, now that the Commander has brought the space pirates under his command, we simply cannot choose the aliens.”

“Um… why only the aliens?”

“Good question.”

At Ignis’s question, Griyanar raised her hand from within the wide sleeve of her lab coat, extending one finger as she spoke.

“Space pirates base their strategy on quantity, while aliens take the completely opposite approach with their ‘elite few’ style.”

“Hmm?”

“Since their fleet and troop structures are complete opposites, if we were to acquire both factions… rather than creating synergy, they would just interfere with each other.”

“Ah!”

“Think about it, giving expensive and rare high-end equipment to fleets and troops meant to be used cheaply and in large numbers… that’s just putting the cart before the horse.”

Hearing this, Ignis reacted as if she had realized something important.

After resolving the question about “aliens” with Ignis’s inquiry.

Griyanar immediately turned to Berial, who was watching her, and began pouring out her answers about the Earth Federation and why she chose the Space Monsters.

“Regarding the Earth Federation… the problem is that except for their ‘super-large ships,’ the rest of their fleet isn’t much different from the Commander’s.”

“…”

“But unlike the Earth Federation, the fleet that commanders can produce and command is limited in number.”

“Well, that’s true, but…”

“Moreover, the Earth Federation’s pride and joy, like ‘Super Dreadnoughts’ and ‘Super Carriers,’ aren’t even available for production to mere base commanders.”

‘Oh right, that’s true.’

I nodded inwardly at Griyanar’s words, recalling one of the problems with the Earth Federation.

As Griyanar pointed out the issues with aliens and the Earth Federation while advocating for Space Monsters.

Pashtra wore a somewhat lewd smile, showing her agreement with Griyanar’s opinion.

But our Berial, apparently unwilling to back down.

Eventually pointed out problems with the Space Monsters to the pro-monster faction(?) of Griyanar and Pashtra.

“But if we join the Space Monster faction, won’t it significantly harm our relationships with other factions?”

“Oh my.”

“If we’re not careful, fleets from other factions might form an alliance and attack us.”

This was quite an interesting point, so I wondered how Griyanar would respond.

With such curiosity, I put down the console and started focusing on the meeting.

Griyanar waved the sleeve of her lab coat in the air, showing a negative reaction to Berial’s words.

“When you say other factions, you’re basically talking about aliens or the Earth Federation, right?”

“Well, yes.”

“Unlike pirates or monsters, those two often form friendly relationships with each other because they feel some kind of kinship.”

“Hmmmm.”

“Yet after forming such relationships, they’re constantly backstabbing or trying to backstab each other.”

“Hmmmmmm.”

“And they don’t just betray other factions; they frequently betray commanders too.”

“…Ugh.”

After speaking at length, Griyanar thrust out her modest chest with overflowing confidence.

“Compared to that, what about Space Monsters? At the very least, they won’t backstab the Commander.”

“…That’s true.”

“Assuming the pirate faction is friendly to us because the Pirate Empress is friendly to the Commander, wouldn’t combining with Space Monsters, who also use quantity-based strategies, create more synergy?”

“…”

Seeing Griyanar’s confident attitude that had completely silenced Berial, I quietly opened the community.

I checked the comments on a question I had posted, slightly modified from our meeting topic.

—————————————-

Comments

-[Faction synergy combinations? If I had to choose, it would be Pirates-Monsters or Pirates-Earth]

-[If you really want to go all-in on quantity, choose the former; if you want something more sophisticated, choose the latter]

-[Or maybe Monsters-Earth?]

-[What about aliens?]

-[Gold aliens don’t synergize well with Earth and Monsters, or with Pirates]

-[The Monster-Pirate combo is just a quantity strategy, so in the late game, users just have to keep drawing large ships lol]

-[But does this even matter?]

-˪[You can recruit pirates as mercenaries, so that’s what they’re talking about. Then it’s worth considering synergy effects]

-˪[Ah, I see]

—————————————-

After confirming through the comments that our professor was right.

I stood up from my seat and decided to conclude this meeting topic.

“Everyone has heard well. Then from now on, our base will join the monster faction.”

“Good idea. You won’t be disappointed, Commander.”

==========

But after the meeting ended.

As soon as I had a one-on-one meeting with Griyanar, who had suddenly become the base’s greatest intellect…

“Hehehehe, the truth is? I pushed for Space Monsters because I wanted to research them this time.”

“…”

“Of course, what I said wasn’t wrong, but ultimately, my curiosity took precedence… that’s not incorrect.”

“Oh, I see.”

“Later, when everyone has a third arm or tentacle tail, they’ll probably boast about how convenient it is to live with them!”

Hearing this natural confession of “It was all because of my preferences!”

I felt a small sadness creeping in at the reality that I couldn’t fully trust our greatest intellect.