The Pirate's Contract

As more defense posts like that started pouring in from high-rank accounts and veteran players, everyone except the handful of trolls who'd only been there to stir up drama finally came to their senses.

"Hmm…"

"Still, it's a relief that people are properly pushing back against the smear campaign aimed at you, Commander."

"Yeah, no kidding."

The gallery's public opinion was far more favorable than I'd expected. The first person to set that friendly tone had been the rank-four player known as Arcadia — and I found myself thinking I should talk to her soon and thank her for what she'd done.

At that same moment, elsewhere…

"Clan Leader, we handled the gallery opinion campaign just like you ordered."

"Good work, everyone. By shaping a favorable narrative before the weirdos could start running their mouths… it looks like our operation to draw him into the clan is proceeding successfully."

Arcadia had mobilized the full resources of the Justice Clan to counter the smear campaign against Icarus. On the surface, it was preparation work for the plan she'd always intended — recruiting Icarus into Justice. Underneath, her fan devotion toward Icarus was being thoroughly satisfied, and the sheer fulfillment she felt was enormous.

Of course, the other clan officers watching her had their own take.

"If I'd known it would turn out like this, I should've just listened to the Clan Leader from the start."

"Gotta give her credit. Who would've guessed she'd been lowballing the bid since his newbie days?"

"Damn, even the old-timer boomer is admitting it. Insane."

Just a few months earlier, Arcadia had pushed hard to recruit Icarus — only for the effort to fall apart thanks to their lukewarm response and the man's own refusal. Remembering that failure, they nodded with a sense of responsibility.

"Well, that's why we're following the Clan Leader's plan now and working so hard on the opinion campaign, right?"

"Hmm… maybe call it supporting fire instead of opinion manipulation. Sounds cooler."

"Yeah, that works better."

Not ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠a single one of them had the faintest clue about Arcadia's true ulterior motives.

And while those shady schemes swirled around him, what was our Icarus up to?

"Oppa! I'm back! Your Marianne is baaack!"

"Guh—!"

Having finally finished her "business," Marianne came flying in with a full-force shoulder tackle packed with pure affection, and I nearly had my spine snapped in half.

Granted, Marianne had been suffering from a severe shortage of so-called Icarosneum, and the resulting deficiency had left her eyes slightly unfocused — but still.

"Marianne, if you charge him like that, the Commander won't survive!"

"Ah, right."

Fortunately, Ignis appeared at her side and immediately hauled her back, so the catastrophic collision with my body was narrowly averted.

A short while later, Marianne — finally calmed down by Ignis — asked me to forget the embarrassing display from a moment ago. And yet…

"Hehe. Oppa's still way better than a bunch of ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pirates."

"Uh… yeah."

"Sniiiff… haaahhh…"

"…???"

She clung to my side like a spoiled child and spent a long stretch repeatedly taking deep breaths against the uniform I was wearing.

Yeah. No. Absolutely not.

Watching overgrown Marianne glued to my side, nuzzling and thrashing around as she tried to absorb whatever bizarre substance she called Icarosneum, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.

By the way… if she surrenders to me, what actually happens to the real pirates?

In a way, the current situation resembled the number-one "happy ending" the veterans had described. But as I understood it, that ending assumed the Pirate Empress was defeated first and then surrendered.

I had never imagined a version where she surrendered without even fighting, then parked one of her personal guard fleets here so I wouldn't be in danger while she was gone.

That much I could still force myself to accept. But looking at it another way… wasn't this basically the same as the Pirate King — the Pirate Empress losing to an enemy?

And since she'd surrendered without a fight, wouldn't the normal pirate response be to kick Marianne out and install a new leader? Or just stop having a leader entirely and go wild on their own?

Then again, this was a game, and given the developers' bizarre management style, they probably just slapped something together without thinking it through. It would "somehow" sort itself out… probably.

Still, curious was curious. So I casually voiced the question to Marianne.

The moment she ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠heard it, her distinctive dark-brown eyes lit up and went wide.

"Ooooh… Oppa! Are you finally interested in how we operate? Does this mean you're ready to plunder the entire universe with me?!"

"W-wait—!"

The pure mania pouring from her eyes as she instantly floored the accelerator nearly gave me a heart attack.

Thankfully, the others nearby restrained her almost immediately, and we managed to continue the conversation in a somewhat calmer state.

Once she was properly subdued, Marianne heard my question, shrugged as if it were nothing, and shook her head.

"It's not really a problem? My situation and that human pig's are completely different."

"Yeah, and I'm asking what that means."

"To put it bluntly — me surrendering to Oppa was decided from the very beginning."

"Hmm?"

I was about to press her for more details when a new event message popped up in front of me with a cheerful little chime, thoughtfully explaining things my insufficient brain couldn't quite grasp on its own.