Wrapping Up the Event (1)
But right after that—
"Instead, I'm feeling a little… no, a lot irritated right now."
"Euk…!"
Marianne lifted the hand tangled in Betelgeuse's hair even higher. Betelgeuse, whose frame was far smaller than Marianne's, found herself dangling with her feet kicking uselessly in midair, thrashing in pain—but Marianne paid it no mind. Her expression never changed from the start. She looked down at the struggling Betelgeuse and opened her mouth in a calm, measured tone, as if delivering a judge's sentence.
"So until my irritation goes away, you'd better start thinking about how you're going to pay for it with that body of yours."
"…!!"
"You might want to take care of yourself."
"Wh… what."
"Ah, but once I'm done being annoyed, I'll deliver you back to your base myself, so don't worry too much about that part."
Naturally, the moment Betelgeuse heard those words, her eyes—squeezed shut from the pain—flew wide open.
No. Am I actually completely fucked?!
Faced with a reality where she couldn't predict even an inch of what was about to happen to her, she felt cold sweat pour down her entire body from pure tension.
Wh-what happens to me now…?
Four days had passed since the private "duel" with the leader of the Loki Clan.
"Oppa! I'm back!"
"Where on earth have you been?"
Marianne, who had vanished without warning, returned looking thoroughly refreshed. I felt a vague sense of suspicion, but decided to start with a welcome for the fact that she'd come back in one piece.
At my question, Marianne just grinned, then slipped a hand into the pocket of her clothes and spoke with a deeply satisfied tone.
"Ah, right! Oppa? I have a present for you."
"Huh? A present?"
"Just a second, it's in here somewhere… wait? Wait?"
I had no idea what she intended to give me, but the moment she realized nothing was in her pocket, she started frantically patting herself down in a panic. I wondered what the fuss was about and was about to tell her to calm down when—
"Ah, right! I put it here!"
"Oh."
Having finally remembered where she'd stashed "something," Marianne plunged her hand straight into the cleavage of her increasingly large chest—the very same chest that had lately been earning her Ignis's murderous glares—and pulled out a portable memory stick, which she then pressed firmly into my hand.
"Here you go, Oppa!"
"…What is this?"
Perhaps because it had been nestled in Marianne's cleavage, a residual warmth clung to it that made me feel like I was committing a crime just by holding it. I couldn't quite close my fist all the way around it, gripping it awkwardly instead. Marianne just shrugged, completely unbothered, and declared with total confidence:
"You remember that woman who picked a fight with you last time?"
"Who… ah. Commander Betelgeuse."
"It's a video I made while thoroughly working her over for four whole days! Watch it whenever you have free time… or, if she ever tries any more funny business, you can use it as blackmail!"
"…"
And with that, the realization hit me that this was that—the thing I'd only ever heard about in rumors. I felt a truly profound sense of dismay.
What the hell has this insane game even created.
Wrapping Up the Event. (1)
I had obtained Betelgeuse's home(?) video, but it was so genuinely dangerous that I judged it unfit for anyone else's eyes. I sealed the thing deep inside the safe in my room, then decided to just finish the event.
Of course, with only three days left at best, no amount of grinding was going to make up the points I was short on. So, effort aside, I found myself wondering what I should even do once the event ended.
But as I sat there thinking, I suddenly realized I'd overlooked something important.
"…Wait a second. Marianne?"
"What is it, Oppa?"
"If you completely wrecked the clan leader of the Loki Clan like th… that, did you also wipe out the rest of the clan's players?"
"Ah, them?"
It was a fair question. Marianne hadn't said a single word about how she'd handled the clan itself. Even if individual players' fleets rarely exceeded a thousand ships, a clan with over ten thousand members would field a combined fleet of—no joke—ten million ships.
Facing an enemy of that scale, even a major power like the Pirate Union would have to commit the bulk of its available forces and most of its member players. And yet I hadn't heard a single word about any of that. So what exactly had happened?
Seeing the worry on my face, Marianne waved her hands and told me there was no need to stress that much, then continued.
"Don't worry so much, Oppa."
"Hmm."
"Think about it. We grabbed the weakness of the leader who runs that entire clan, right?"
At Marianne's words, I pictured "that video," still sealed inside the safe in my room.
"…Right."
"And besides, I only targeted that one woman—pinpoint precision. I didn't touch a single other commander or clan member."
"…"
She looked so proudly unbothered, practically declaring I am innocent!, that I couldn't help thinking this might cause serious problems for my future playthrough…
But Marianne was so confident about it, and Jessica and the others standing nearby all reacted positively as well.
"Commander, I agree with Marianne's assessment… I don't think Clan Leader Betelgeuse will try to pressure us at the clan level."
"Hmm."
"I think so too, Commander."
"She already lost, and on top of that she went through that kind of humiliation… it'd be pretty hard to rally people around that topic, wouldn't it?"
"I suppose so."
With everyone reacting that way, I nodded and decided that for the time being, I'd just keep quiet about the Loki Clan rather than do anything further.
And as if to prove them right—while I sent our superhuman companions out on quests and spent the time alone digging through the gallery—I never once found a post from the Loki Clan side, or from Betelgeuse herself, about what had happened.
Huh. So it really is fine, then.
After burning about a day combing through the gallery and confirming the results, I resolved to spend the remaining time focused on the event, farming points and resources.
And now, two days later—
"Shame we couldn't quite hit seven hundred thousand."
"It really is a little disappointing, Commander."
Looking at the score window floating in front of me, I felt a faint bitterness settle in.
Ah, if I'd just pushed a little harder, I probably could've hit it no problem.
If I'd cleared just one or two more high-tier quests a day, I might have reached seven or eight hundred thousand. Or maybe if I hadn't bought those light cruisers that got blown up so pointlessly, and just toughed it out instead…
"That is absolutely not the case, Commander."
"Hm?"
"Because you purchased those ships from the shop and deployed them, we were able to fight that battle on roughly even footing thanks to the firepower and defensive strength of those light cruisers."
"Ah… yeah. That's true."
The moment those thoughts slipped out of my mouth, Belial stepped in close and answered with complete seriousness, leaving me no choice but to nod along.
And, looking on the bright side—or maybe this was just a slightly mean-spirited thought—I wasn't the only one fretting over the points.