Events Are Meant to Be Enjoyed Equally (1)

Of course, while I took it in stride without much fuss, Griyanaar — who clashed with Belial more than anyone on a regular basis — was right there beside her, needling away.

"Hmm~? That's not it. You're just not going because you're in a bad mood, right?"

"…"

"Heh. Heh. Heh."

But that only lasted a moment. At the sight ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠of Griyanaar's teasing, Belial quietly picked up the baton she'd left on the table, gripping it reverse-handed.

"An excellent choice, Commander. There are times when a person must, by necessity, refrain from certain things."

She switched expressions as if nothing had ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠happened and tossed that line straight at me. Through the comm screen, I could see something flash across Belial's face — the thought of exactly how she was going to tear Griyanaar apart and kill her.

Anyway, after cutting Pashtura and Belial that way, the remaining personnel were Partia, Oxianor, Ignis, and Smeragi. Those four were all similar close-combat Superhumans, so it didn't make much difference who I picked. I decided to choose the remaining two from among them.

But when it came time to actually choose, the deliberation got intense. Still, dragging it out any longer didn't feel like something a real man would do, so a moment later—

"Alright. I've decided."

"Who do you intend to send, Commander?"

"Griyanaar, Oxianor, Smeragi."

"Yes, Commander?"

"I'm honored that you've chosen me."

"Heard that, nya."

"You three will infiltrate that asteroid base and bring back the research lab and research materials inside."

"An Ancient Empire research lab… that's quite an exciting phrase, isn't it?"

"Mm. Then I'll leave the Princess in your care while I'm gone."

"Got it, nya! We'll sweep everything clean, nya!"

I organized those three into a team and sent them charging toward the asteroid dungeon that was supposedly packed with biological signatures.

A short while later, after watching the small shuttle carrying the three of them head for the asteroid, I ordered most of the nearby fleet to return to base, then closed the comm screen. Jessica, who'd been waiting behind me, turned with a puzzled look.

"By the way, Commander — Griyanaar I understand, but is there any particular reason you chose the other two?"

"A reason?"

"Yes."

I shrugged at Jessica's question as if it were nothing special.

"Well… they said there were a lot of biological signatures inside the asteroid, right?"

"Yes, Ignis reported as much."

"Those aren't just biological signatures. The asteroid research base itself has turned into a kind of living dungeon."

"…What?"

It's a pretty common story in sci-fi, isn't it? You board a ghost ship drifting through space, only to find the interior in a horrific state — infected by some unidentified alien biovirus, and so on.

"That place is probably a research facility where the Ancient Empire — the one that's supposedly extinct — tried to create biological weapons using kaiju cells."

"…Oh."

"But during the experiments, a test subject escaped… and after that, most of the researchers, security forces, and various specimens inside got infected and consumed, the whole lab got locked down, et cetera."

"Ooh…"

As I recited the lore I remembered, Jessica — whose IQ occasionally spiked as high as 250 — seemed to grasp why I'd specifically sent those two besides Griyanaar.

"Ah, so that's why you sent those two? Oxianor is a kaiju anyway, and Smeragi's been modified by Griyanaar so she's basically half-kaiju herself?"

"Excellent deduction. Full marks."

Jessica's words had a perfect one-hundred-percent hit rate. As I'd said, according to the lore we were essentially sending them into a kaiju bio-nest. And there was no need to deliberately send non-kaiju types just to trigger debuffs or negative events.

Of course, after being separated for quite a long time, they might feel rather different from the same species… but it was still clearly better than sending Ignis or Partia, who were basically ordinary people by comparison. Convinced my choice was absolutely correct, I left the internal exploration to those three, then went back to gathering resources for daily quests, producing ships, leveling, and browsing the gallery for information.

For reference, the total time I'd spent finding the dungeon, selecting the exploration team, and so on came to roughly three or four days. But for the players who hadn't been suffering like me, this was an event they'd waited a very long time for. The gallery was exploding with enthusiastic reactions to this event.

No — beyond mere enthusiasm, it felt more like an answer to the question: what happens when you give the rabbit tryhards and the veterans enough time to prepare for an event?

While I was still dragging my feet, clear users were already starting to pop up one after another.

Those damn rabbit tryhards at it again.

Of course, separate from those rabbit tryhards' ultra-speed dungeon clears, the guaranteed gacha ticket reviews were pure entertainment gold.