The Queen's Message
"…"
"The jinx is broken, so don't go thinking anything weird."
Sniffle…
Between Jessica stopping me every time I tried to dump money into gacha pulls and all the other odds and ends that kept cropping up, time just kept flowing and flowing and flowing…
And so several days passed…
About a week later — more precisely, eight days and twelve hours later —
"Oh?"
Because she had been required to report directly to the Queen, Oxianor had been unable to come in person all this time, contacting us only through telepathy via the neural network. Now, at last, we were about to reunite with her.
Not that we were face-to-face just yet. While Oxianor's "mind," which had returned to the nest through the neural network, made its way back, we were simply exchanging telepathic messages in the meantime…
Still, of the few "masculine" characters left on this base, Oxianor was one of them — and I found myself genuinely glad to have her returning.
You're back, Ox-taesik.
Of course, Oxianor wasn't the only man around. Marianne had stuck Leonard on me as a bodyguard, and plenty of the pirate captains were guys too. But Leonard and I had gotten off on the wrong foot from day one, so we barely had anything to talk about — the whole relationship was just awkward. As for the rest of the pirate captains, they were only helping me because Marianne ordered them to. We weren't exactly swapping stories over drinks. So Oxianor's return was all the more welcome.
Riding that wave of goodwill, I kept the conversation going.
"It's been a real long time since we last talked… So, did things go well with Her Majesty?"
"Ohhh?"
"Ohhhhh."
I had no idea how that even worked, but the important part was clear: once Oxianor got here, I'd receive the Space Kaiju Queen's genuine decision.
Hearing the absolute confidence in her voice, a new event message popped up in front of me with a cheerful little chime.
They're really spelling it out for me, huh.
Anyone could see how friendly the content was, so I got up from my seat right away, headed to the biology lab with Jessica, and prepared to welcome Oxianor alongside Griyanaar, who was already there.
But about thirty minutes later…
Contrary to my expectation that a familiar eye-gentleman would emerge from the undulating biotech tissue, something else happened entirely. Like a Queen Alien's water breaking, a sac-like membrane burst open with a wet splorch — and what stepped out from inside was…
"…Huh?"
"Commander, that is…"
"My, my. Has a new test subject arrived at our base?"
As our reactions made clear, it was not the familiar eye-gentleman who appeared. Instead, a woman emerged — her entire body covered in scales and carapace, massive horns crowning her head, and a thick, long, thoroughly grotesque tail sprouting from the base of her spine. She had a full, rounded chest, long and shapely limbs, a narrow waist, and wide hips. Against her white hair and skin — both slick and glistening with mucus — her eyes burned a vivid red.
What the hell is this?
There was something oddly familiar about the look in those eyes, but the exterior… at least in this game, I'd never seen anything like it before. Which meant that not only Jessica and I, but even Griyanaar — who normally maintained her little-devil poker face — were visibly thrown off, each in their own way.
And that confusion only intensified the moment the kaiju woman (?) before us opened her mouth.
"Hmm? Icarus, why do you look upon me so?"
"…Th-that way of speaking is…?"
"And Jessica and Griyanaar as well — somehow you all appear from a rather different vantage than usual… Have you grown, perchance?"
"Oxianor? Don't tell me you're Oxianor?"
At my question, the woman with horns the size of her own head nodded as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"You would still say such a thing even after seeing this familiar countenance? Icarus."
"…"
"Truly a disappointing reaction. And here I had considered you a friend."
She pouted and muttered about how disappointed she was, and I found myself wondering if this could possibly be real. While Jessica and I stood there completely blank, Griyanaar used one of the bio-mechanical arms installed in the lab to fetch a full-length mirror, set it down in front of Oxianor, and said flatly:
"Looking like that, who would ever take you for the old Oxianor? Take a look at yourself first."
"What on earth do you mean? My body is… is…?"
Despite bristling at Griyanaar's complete lack of manners, Oxianor obediently peered into the mirror. The moment she saw her current appearance, she stammered, visibly flustered — then turned her head toward me, who had been watching the whole thing, and fixed me with a gaze full of indescribable bewilderment and confusion… and, for some reason, embarrassment as well.
Fortunately, the reason for the embarrassment became clear soon enough.
"W-what is the meaning of this! Why am I standing here completely naked!!"
"…Ah. Right."
The carapace and scales had grown in just the right places to cover everything important, so I wasn't sure what she was complaining about — but if that was how she felt, nobody else really had a right to argue.
And more importantly, while the woman presumed to be Oxianor — no, the genuine Oxianor (TS) — was still reeling in confusion, a brand-new event message appeared before my eyes and began explaining the entire situation with ruthless thoroughness.
So rather than dwell on the self-proclaimed — no, the real — Oxianor (TS), I decided to read the event message in front of me first.
The Queen's message.
And that event message went as follows:
The Queen of the Kaiju has at last sent word that she will accept your proposal.
Of course, given the nature of the kaiju, no formal council was held the way other factions might convene one.
What matters is this: the Kaiju Queen has decided to form a secret alliance with the Pirate Coalition, in accordance with your proposal.
That said, because it remains a "secret" alliance for now, she has drawn a clear line — she has no intention of providing direct assistance should either the Pirate Coalition or the kaiju launch a preemptive invasion against another faction.
Separately from that, however, it would appear she has judged that you, as Commander, may be granted a greater measure of trust.
And so she has enhanced the body of your assigned intellect terminal, Oxianor, and made additional arrangements so that greater support may be provided.
WHOOOOOA.
Our Kaiju Queen was a bigger spender than I expected. I never imagined she'd just hand over a flat +30 to trust like that. All I'd really been aiming for was using the alliance with Marianne and the Pirate Coalition to make clearing pirate quests a little easier.
Of course, in the middle of all this, taking one of the few remaining male characters — Oxianor — and turning her into a naked TS bishoujo… I genuinely wanted to know what the hell that was about.
Oh for fuck's sake, my gentleman uncle!
But no amount of wailing on my part was going to change the world. So I shook my head and decided to focus less on complaining and more on the "reward" that had just landed in my lap.
And right around then, I suddenly remembered something: once trust climbed past 50, the game started handing out some pretty sweet bonuses to the player.
Human memory being the unreliable thing it is, I figured I'd better check the trust function table before I forgot.