A Deal with Betelgeuse

"...Then what about those ones?"

"Well, I was only told to retrieve the superhumans belonging to members of the Humanity Clan."

Watching Tiara shrug and turn away with those words, I found myself thinking that things must be pretty complicated on their end too.

But after the Humanity Clan side hurriedly left to handle the situation that way, I realized anew that another problem had cropped up right about now.

"Commander. Commander."

"What is it, Jessica?"

"Excluding the superhumans Humanity took away, ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠what do we do about the remaining three belonging to the spy commanders?"

"Ah."

That was right.

Originally, among ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠the superhumans Humanity should have collected on their own, the ones belonging to spy users had no reason to be taken along. So our base had suddenly gained three more of those bastards whose affinity with me was sitting at negative one hundred or worse.

"Isn't that a good thing?"

"Oh! So we get new test subjects for the brain parasites!"

"..."

As for thoroughly using those three for brainwashing and whatever else, the opposing user hadn't surrendered to me system-wise, so—

"Griyanaar. Don't touch them. You won't get anything out of it."

"Tch."

We had suddenly found ourselves stuck with three deadweights who couldn't even be made into allies, just eating up space and superhuman capacity.

The truly fortunate part was that, unlike after the bloody one-versus-five fight with those Unity bastards—when we'd had nowhere to dump them and just had to waste time waiting until they sold on the auction house—

Had they heard the situation straight from the spy?

I soon saw the Loki Clan contact me, wanting to reclaim Mirai, Sherpa, and August, whom we'd left locked up.

Surprisingly, rather than a selected officer like Humanity had sent—

"Ah, Icarus. Icarus."

"Huh."

—the clan leader Betelgeuse herself was calling me directly.

I was curious why she'd bothered with a voice call instead of chat, but since they were reaching out, I picked up.

What I got, though, was less the apology I'd expected and more—

"I figure you already know the whole situation, but this really wasn't something I intended."

"Ah. Is that so."

—a bold, shameless denial in the vein of Nope, wasn't me, which instantly spiked my irritation.

So I was about to hang up just to vent that irritation when—

"I'm serious. Here's proof."

"...Oh."

Betelgeuse casually dropped the chat logs she'd exchanged with the spy Indian Machete, and I stopped the gesture to cut the call, focusing on the conversation instead.

"I roughly get why you called instead of chatting. So since that spy's little terror act has nothing to do with your side, there's no compensation or anything—is that it?"

"As if. A solo player who can become a mercenary anytime is a truly precious existence, you know?"

"Hmm."

"Even if our first meeting was a bit rough, the event was nice, right?"

"...Mmmmm."

"So. Those three superhumans of Indian Machete's that you're holding right now."

"Yeah."

"Could you send those guys over to us?"

Naturally sliding from compensation straight into a give them to me stance.

I was about to nod along with the flow of the conversation, then hurriedly propped my chin on my hand, stopped myself, and raised my other hand toward the end-call button.

Naturally, at that, Betelgeuse waved her hands and scrambled to add ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠more.

"Wait, wait! You have to hear a Korean out to the end!"

"Explain within ten seconds where in that statement there's anything I need to hear to the end."

"Of course we'll give compensation for this incident!"

"It was so obvious I didn't bother saying it, but if you take it that way, what does that make me?"

She kept railing about her own unfairness and my supposed lack of social awareness. I just made a :/ face at her, then quietly slid my finger toward the end button, conveying a clear hurry up and talk will.

Betelgeuse, who'd been dodging around and only gauging my reaction on the compensation talk, finally surrendered and declared it outright.

But true to being a master of schemes, even here she slyly slipped in a negotiation offer for the compensation.

"Fine, I get it! If you release those three, I'll give you one carrier and five thousand Gold!"

"..."

"...How much did Humanity give you as compensation that you're looking at me like that?"

"Jessica. What did we receive as compensation from Humanity this time?"

"Two battleships, fifteen thousand Gold, and resources."

"What."

Apparently she hadn't expected Humanity to go that big. In Betelgeuse's eyes swirled an emotion that looked a lot like Those bastards went that generous?

Then, after a brief silence of thought, she broke it.

"Fine. Then on our side, still one carrier—but a large carrier instead—and twenty thousand Gold!"

"Ooh."

"I'm giving you a really expensive deal. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Frankly speaking, Mirai and the other superhumans are just being taken for punishment purposes."

"Hmm? Punishment?"

Something quite interesting had just come up, so I casually tossed a question about it—

"The details are our internal affairs, so I won't say. Anyway—do you want to or not."

"Um. Hmmmmm."

Perhaps because her planned negotiation had completely fallen apart, Betelgeuse—having discarded all her previous leisure somewhere—instantly responded with a rather prickly attitude.

I nodded at that, then ordered Jessica, waiting behind the comm screen, to run the mental calculator a bit.

And before long, Jessica threw me a quick answer.

Not bad. Those three would just waste our superhuman capacity anyway.

What happens if the owner gets wrecked?

They'd transfer to the ownership of the commander who wrecked Indian Machete. If someone good at schemes like Betelgeuse does that...

I see.

After diligently running mental calculators and eye-speak with Jessica, we decided to accept Betelgeuse's—no, more precisely, the Loki Clan's—proposal.

"Alright. Then I'll take that offer."

"Yeah, yeah. Good thinking."

But right after that, a thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and I spoke to Betelgeuse, who was about to quietly hang up.

"Wait."

"What now?"

"You're not going to send a large carrier so wrecked everywhere that scrapping it would be better, under the guise of compensation, right?"

Giving trash that just ate more resources under the name of compensation was, surprisingly, a long-standing tradition in this game. Wondering if those bastards would pull the same stunt, I casually tossed the question.

At that, Betelgeuse's expression rapidly grew wistful.

"...Ever since some crazy bastard did that and got three of our subordinate clans completely vaporized in return, we don't do that."

"Oh..."

She delivered completely unexpected sad news—and at the same time, immediately requested a trade with me.

At Betelgeuse coolly executing the trade, I nodded and decided to accept the compensation through it.