Ch.8″Rewards are always welcome.”

And right after the clear message appeared.

The pirate flagship… though it was a bit too low-grade to be called that.

Anyway, after the ship carrying the pirate captain was completely destroyed in an explosion.

I set aside my enjoyment of that big, beautiful explosion and was grinning at the notification window blinking before my eyes, thinking about collecting my rewards.

<Critical Hit on Pirate Ship!>

<Sunk!>

<Patrol Ship Level Up>

<Acquired Reward: 0>

‘What’s that supposed to mean, status window?’

Despite successfully slaughtering them all.

I felt irritation rising at the fact that the damn pirate ship gave me nothing but a patrol ship level-up.

But perhaps this irritation showed on my face without me realizing it.

“I’m truly sorry, Commander.”

“Huh?”

“Because of my incompetence, you were put in danger.”

After the pirate attack ended, Ignis, who had brought back the captured pirate ships, was showing an extremely apologetic reaction toward me.

But her reaction only left me perplexed.

It made sense—right now there’s no issue since the only personnel at the base are me, Jessica, and Ignis.

But later, when there are many more permanent staff and we’re engaged in large-scale battles… should the person who actually performed well apologize to me like this?

‘Ugh, a loyalty decrease event.’

Since it could lead to a disaster where everyone’s trust and loyalty would decrease for no reason, causing debuffs during future attacks or defenses.

I immediately stopped Ignis’s attitude and decided to praise her as the MVP of this battle.

“No, my life wasn’t really in danger, so don’t worry about it.”

“…I see.”

“Besides, thanks to your performance, both I and this base were handled without any problems, so isn’t that fortunate?”

“C-Commander, I’m speechless that you feel that way…!”

Hearing my words, Ignis immediately turned her cheeks as red as her hair and seemed completely flustered.

—————————————-

And after subduing(?) Ignis like that, and confining her to the base’s lounge to keep her from thinking too much.

I set aside my feelings about the lost flagship defeat reward and decided to check the rewards obtained from the pirate attack.

But at this point, I realized that my planned expectations had been twisted.

“Hmm…”

“What’s wrong, Commander?”

“Jessica, was capturing pirate ships originally the reward for repelling pirate attacks?”

Originally, when preventing pirate raids like this.

Instead of a pirate ship capture event, you would completely destroy all the raiders.

And then use the resources gained to upgrade the base or draw new ships.

But this time, instead of resources, they’re giving me ships—pirate ships full of dismembered pirates?

What am I supposed to do with these?

Experiencing such an unheard-of event left me completely bewildered.

But that bewilderment didn’t last long.

‘Wait, I can just ask about this.’

Unlike in the original game, here I could just ask through the chat window.

So I immediately pressed the status window blinking in the corner of my vision and opened the chat to ask a question.

-[Guys, I stopped a pirate attack and got pirate ships as rewards. Why is this happening?]

-[Weren’t you supposed to get resources?]

And as soon as I asked, answers to my question started pouring in.

-[Yeah, you get resources.]

-[How did you get pirate ships?]

-[Starting with 2 additional ships from the beginning, this game is so broken;;]

“What the…”

At first, most responses suggested I was the odd one out, so I wondered if this was some kind of game glitch.

Or maybe it was a typical “I’m the only one starting with a cheat of 3 ships” mode, which gave me a momentary feeling of excitement.

-[Oh, I think that changed with the recent update to be random]

-[Huh.]

-[This guy’s right, it’s random rewards now.]

-[No, more specifically, you get one of several possible rewards]

“Well, that’s disappointing.”

Sadly, I wasn’t living in cheat mode after all. Feeling a bit let down, I decided to satisfy my additional curiosity.

-[What do you mean by several rewards? What are they?]

-[Not much different really]

-[Some people get resources as before, but others get pirate ships like you.]

-[Besides that, some get pirate characters to recruit instead of ships, or you might recruit characters who were captured by pirates.]

-[Oh I think I’ve seen that too]

-[Me too]

-[222222222222]

-[33333333]

-[But with the last one, if you’re unlucky, they just leave after saying they’ll pay their ransom lol]

-[Ah that bastard.]

-[Meerkat got tricked again, lmao]

“Hmm, I see.”

Thinking there was no need to see more, I closed the chat window that kept showing notifications.

Then I called Jessica, who had been looking at the pirate ships, and said:

“Jessica, is there any way we can dismantle these pirate ships for resources?”

“What? You want to just dismantle them?”

At Jessica’s response, I wiggled one finger to indicate denial.

“No, not right away… I just thought we should know whether we can dismantle them ourselves later.”

“I see, Commander.”

Hearing my words, Jessica appeared to gather her thoughts for a moment… and then:

“There’s no problem, Commander. We can begin the dismantling process right away if you wish.”

“I see.”

Seeing Jessica make such a confident statement, I nodded and accepted her words.

And right after this conversation, Jessica said she had forgotten something and began to make an additional “report” to me.

“Oh! Commander? Don’t you think it’s about time to repair and upgrade the base?”

“Hmm.”

“Once you complete the base upgrade, one of the superhumans inside the base will awaken from their long hibernation to assist you!”

And as soon as Jessica finished speaking, a quest appeared before my eyes.

—————————————-

<Base Repair and Upgrade>

<Due to the long hibernation period and various space debris collisions that occurred without notice.>

<All systems and external armor of your space base have suffered considerable damage.>

<As a result, all base systems are currently operating at less than 30% capacity…>

<But if you, the returned Commander, properly repair and upgrade the base.>

<The base’s condition will certainly normalize in no time.>

<Objective 1: Base repair at least 70% or higher (Current durability 54%, 10 minerals needed per 1% repair)>

<Objective 2: Base upgrade (Required mineral resources: 500)>

<Reward: Unlocking various additional facilities and systems in the base, resource supply>

—————————————-

‘Ugh.’

After carefully examining the quest details, I operated the console I was sitting at to check resources.

<Current minerals stockpiled in base: 857>

“Hmm… Jessica.”

“What is it, Commander?”

“How much does it cost to produce one patrol ship? Was it 100 minerals?”

“Yes, it will vary with future upgrades… but initially it’s 100.”

Right after Jessica’s confirmation.

<Patrol Ship Construction Complete!>

“Ah, a new patrol ship has been built! Now the base’s defense can be a bit safer!”

Hearing that the patrol ship I had ordered three days ago was complete, I immediately decided to give Jessica orders.

“Jessica.”

“Yes, yes! Commander!”

“From now on, produce one more patrol ship, and use the remaining resources to simultaneously repair and upgrade the base.”

“…Yes sir!”

==========

And about a week later.

<Base Repair and Upgrade Complete!>

<As a reward, additional facilities and systems in the base are now available, and we’ve supplied you with additional resources!>

“Yes, that’s it.”

Looking at the results achieved by spending all the resources I had been saving instead of building patrol ships, I felt intense satisfaction.