Ch.96We Need More Friends (2)
by fnovelpia
But no matter how much I pondered, I simply couldn’t find an answer.
‘Man, I really can’t figure this out.’
I brought Jessica along to help me think through various options, but she didn’t have any brilliant solutions either.
Unlike me, Jessica was quite knowledgeable about information in general.
She tried to present some methods with basic reasoning, but…
“Commander, couldn’t we ask Marian to step in?”
“…That’s probably impossible.”
“Why not?”
Unfortunately, our Jessica didn’t have much common sense in this area.
I briefly explained to the puzzled Jessica why that wouldn’t work.
“Think about it. Why can’t we earn points right now?”
“Well, obviously… because surrounding forces are attacking our pirates?”
“Right. Now let’s say Marian steps in personally.”
“Okay.”
“She wouldn’t go alone, so she’d take her pirate officers and tour around other commanders’ territories and even the strongholds of surrounding forces, right?”
“I… guess so?”
Imagining Marian and her crew’s cheerful plundering spree must have crossed her mind.
Jessica’s expression momentarily twisted.
But then, remembering I was sitting right in front of her, she quickly fixed her expression.
Her rabbit ears perked up in that characteristic way as she refocused on what I was saying.
I fought the urge to touch those rabbit ears and continued speaking.
“But what happens when none other than the ‘Pirate Empress’ herself leads a massive force to conquer border outposts and plunders commanders from other factions?”
“…Ah.”
“Would the Xenovia Empire and Earth Federation just sit back and watch? The monsters might not care, but…”
“The Earth Federation might try a diplomatic approach, but the Xenovia Empire would definitely attack.”
“…I think the Earth Federation would take physical action too.”
The two powers, driven to extremes, might form a united front against the pirates.
The Earth Federation would deploy their main fleet including their pride and joy—super battleships like the ‘Jormungand-class’ or ‘Yggdrasil-class.’
And the Xenovia Empire would clearly send in their elite fleet, known in the community as the ‘Annihilation Fleet.’
Even though Jessica didn’t know much about ‘combat’ specifically,
She did understand the big picture.
When I explained this far, Jessica seemed to grasp the reality of the situation.
Her perked-up rabbit ears drooped, showing her dejection.
———-
After facing reality,
We realized we couldn’t rely solely on the pirates forever, so we decided to carefully rethink our future plans.
“Now, what’s our goal from here on out?”
“What is it, Commander?”
“First, let’s avoid unnecessary distractions and focus on earning points.”
“Ohhh.”
“Then we use those points for gacha.”
“Ooooh… wait, what?”
Of course, Jessica reacted as if she’d misheard my grand plan…
—————————————-
<Favor Points: 298,337 points>
—————————————-
“To be precise, we’ll gather tons of points and use them on the superhuman-exclusive gacha to increase our fleet’s personnel.”
“…So you want to use the additional personnel to earn more reward points, Commander?”
“Yes!”
Even one more person from the gacha would increase our fleet’s point acquisition rate by at least 20% (4 people → 5 people), excluding pirates.
It was a fairly decent plan.
Of course, if it were the regular gacha with its terrible odds, I would have just kept accumulating points without looking back.
But remember what they said in the gallery?
“The event-exclusive superhuman gacha has better odds… I believe in our tip board veterans…!”
“Commander…”
Since the odds were supposedly better than the regular gacha, I was planning to spend those 450,000 points on a 10-pull to recruit new comrades.
My entire body was burning with enthusiasm.
Seeing me like this, Jessica pondered for a moment.
Then she shook her head and tried to persuade me with a frank expression.
“Commander, didn’t you say last time that you’d never use dimensional causality fixation again?”
“…”
“You said it was meaningless even with causality fixation because you’re unlucky?”
“Let’s gooo!!!”
Seeing Jessica smiling while brutally attacking her superior with facts,
I immediately scolded Jessica for not understanding romance…
But my logic was just as weak.
“My teacher… gacha, I must roll the gacha to recruit people…!”
Like some long-haired man wailing about wanting to play basketball,
All I could do was collapse on the spot and wail.
But seeing me like this, Jessica sighed deeply.
“I understand, Commander. I know we’re short on manpower.”
“Jessica, I knew you’d understand!”
“Honestly, what choice do we have? Realistically, our point acquisition rate needs to be at least comparable to other rankers.”
“*sob*”
Witnessing such a kind heart,
I could feel my crumbling mental state gradually mending itself.
———-
Exactly three days later…
“The time has finally come.”
“Indeed, Commander.”
With everyone else out completing quests,
Only Jessica and I remained, entering the gacha room labeled <Multi-Dimensional Fixed Causality Generation Device>.
—————————————-
<Favor Points: 557,240 points>
—————————————-
… … … … … …
-<Random Causality Fixation Ticket (Superhuman Only) 1 use: 45,000>
… … … … … …
—————————————-
With the accumulated ‘Favor Points’ and a large amount of points,
I had the event-exclusive shop window open beside me and was taking a moment to breathe deeply.
But only for a moment.
“Here goes nothing!”
—————————————-
<You have purchased 10 ‘Random Causality Fixation Tickets (Superhuman Only)’ from the event-exclusive shop.>
<Points deducted: -450,000>
—————————————-
‘I did it… I rolled it…!’
After spending the hefty sum of 450,000 points in one go,
Looking at the 10-pull ticket in my hand, I felt my heart racing for the first time in a while.
Maintaining this excitement, I immediately used the 10-pull ticket…
The dimensional whatever-it-was… anyway, the gacha machine in front of us did what it always does.
It began emitting intense light and vibrations, spinning madly like a gyroscope.
The scene was like a small storm, with our hair and clothes fluttering wildly.
“This is truly an exciting sight, isn’t it?”
“It certainly is, Commander.”
The spectacular display only heightened our expectations.
We grabbed onto nearby structures to steady ourselves.
Soon, the light and wind from the gacha machine began to subside… and shortly after,
When the storm and light completely disappeared, the tightly closed center of the now-inactive gacha machine opened.
Before my eyes appeared a notification that the gacha was successful, injecting about 200% more dopamine into my brain.
But that was just the beginning.
As I dismissed the alert, parting the steam or fog flowing from the wide-open gacha machine,
With clicking footsteps, a character dressed in nun’s clothing revealed herself.
“Hello there. You must be the ‘Savior’ known to our order.”
“…Huh?”
The problem was, the moment I saw her…
“Who…?”
I couldn’t hide my bewilderment at seeing a completely new character I’d never encountered during my gaming days.
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