Supporting Mary Ann's Escape

Ah. So that's how it is.

The event message floating right in front of my eyes was doing double duty — strong-arming me into releasing Marianne and turning her into the Pirate Empress, while simultaneously laying bare every last detail of her current condition.

I shook my head inwardly at the quest window's appearance, yet still set about persuading her so that her release — her release into the wild, if you will — would let the event chain proceed as intended.

And so, for roughly two hours, in an atmosphere of perfect calm and composure, I hammered away at persuasion checks with everything I had.

"So it seems the time has come for you to leave the mountain, so to speak."

"Oppa…!"

"I support your goal."

"Nngh… okay…!"

"But whenever things get hard, come back here anytime. This place will always be a home you can return to."

"…Uuuuh… WAAAAAH!"

The carefully calibrated emotional appeal paid off.

"I swear — I swear I'll follow you for the rest of my life, Commandew! Just wait a little for me!"

"Mm, sure, sure."

I nodded as our Empress-to-be steeled herself for what amounted to her promotion exam.

And as the saying goes — strike while the iron is hot. Judging that if Marianne stayed any longer she might genuinely become unable to move, I made the call.

"Commander, I'm sorry, but I'm going to borrow one of the shuttles."

"…"

True to her pirate nature, she made to leave at once by "borrowing" one of our shuttles. But the moment I saw that, I called her back and stopped her.

"Ah — wait a second, Marianne."

"Hhk… what is it?"

"That cruiser you arrived on, docked at Berth Nineteen — we still haven't found a captain for it."

"…!"

"And apparently that cruiser is ready to launch at any time…"

"…"

"We'll need to appoint a captain sooner or later, of course. But I've heard the interior is packed with clones engineered to be loyal to whoever holds the captain's seat."

"…"

"So if someone were to infiltrate with a captain's commission while the position is still vacant… well, the whole cruiser could be seized as-is."

I set a small device down on the table where we'd just been drinking tea.

"But I have no idea where that captain's commission has gone."

"O-Oppa…"

"And as it happens, for the next hour or so, the base sentries and nearby surveillance systems are scheduled to power down for maintenance."

"Hhk."

"Honestly, even if someone stole the cruiser… I don't think anyone would notice."

"…"

"Of course, if I were awake when the ship started moving, I'd catch on immediately — but I'm planning to take a nap for about an hour starting now."

"Hnnngh… thank you, thank you, Oppa!"

At my words, Marianne threw her arms around my neck, fat teardrops rolling down her cheeks.

Ghk?!

There was a minor mishap in the process — her emotions ran so high that my cervical vertebrae took some collateral damage — but regardless, Marianne looked genuinely moved.

"Please wait for me! From now on, I'll give you nothing but absolute loyalty!"

"Ghhk… y-yeah, okay."

"You have to! You absolutely have to wait!"

With those words alone, Marianne turned her back and never looked around — ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠seized the cruiser, and shot off into the endless dark of space, racing toward a destination no one could name.

And so, before I knew it, three months had passed since Marianne's departure.

The pirate raids had been coming for a full half year now — only the ship and unit compositions changing with each wave. Most players had resigned themselves to the idea that this was just how things were supposed to be. More precisely, they'd given up entirely, living a scavenger's existence of shredding pirates day after day.

But talk like that ended today.

Word of a new update announcement sent the gallery — which had been dead quiet on the subject for a while — roaring back to life.

The Pirate Empress! An Empress!

And as everyone sat on the edge of their seats, even the lurker skeletons rising from the depths, a mass message from the game company popped up before every player's eyes with a cheerful little chime.

Of course, as always, no matter how carefully they wrote it out, almost nobody actually read the thing properly.

Most people just waited a bit and read the summary someone posted to the gallery in far greater detail. But once that summary and the full announcement dump went up—