Mad Scientist (2)
In a conversation whose subject I couldn't begin to follow, she maintained a thoroughly businesslike attitude toward Griyanaar.
As for the existing legendary trio… no, the three supers.
"It's been so long♡ Professor Griyanaar♡"
"Ah, Pashtura? That exquisite fashion sense of yours hasn't changed a bit."
"Neither has yours, Professor. Judging by the look of things, you're planning to throw yourself back into research♡"
"Of course. My purpose has always been to produce the finest research results possible."
Unlike Jessica, Pashtura was pure, unfiltered affection itself. Remarkably, even with a meeting between Griyanaar (A-cup)—the very picture of flat-chested—and Pashtura (G-cup)—the living embodiment of voluptuous curves—there was none of the usual subculture friction. No dead-eyed jealousy like Ignis had shown upon first seeing Marianne. Griyanaar simply didn't throw a tantrum at Pashtura. A genuinely rare sight.
"That look you're giving me is thoroughly unimpressed, Belial."
"…It's nothing of the sort, Griyanaar."
"Don't tell me you still harbor aversions to my research? How truly unfortunate."
"Ahem…"
True to her reputation as a mad scientist, Griyanaar conducted every kind of deranged experiment that no ordinary person could possibly tolerate. Belial, being the textbook military type, reacted with the expected degree of discomfort.
"Nice to meet you, Miss Griyanaar!"
"Right. And you are…?"
"I'm Ignis—I just joined recently. Pleasure to meet you!"
"Aha. A new recruit, then."
"Somehow I feel like the two of us are going to get along great."
"…Get along, you say."
Griyanaar eyed Ignis and practically licked her lips at the thought of a fresh experimental specimen walking through the door. Ignis, utterly oblivious to those thoughts, nodded along with an innocent expression—her gaze drifting, quite naturally, to a certain area of Griyanaar's chest.
And last of all…
"A pleasure."
"Likewise. Another new recruit this time?"
"Heehee. I'm just a humble pirate working for my Oppa's sake, Professor."
"Ah, a pirate… In that case, might you be able to hand over a few disposable trash specimens for me later?"
"Hmmmm… Somehow I feel like this conversation is going to go very well."
For reasons I couldn't fathom, even Griyanaar and Marianne seemed to click instantly. Watching everyone chat away so amicably, I quietly took my seat and opened Griyanaar's status window.
And since three years had passed since I quit the game, there was a strong chance something had changed from what I remembered. So I also checked the newly added info compilation tab on the gallery, and read through the entry on Griyanaar while I was at it.
[Griyanaar Full-Body Concept Art]
Real name: Griyanaar Gremory.
This game has spit out a ton of support characters over the years, but among all of them, Griyanaar is the absolute staple—the comfort-food mainstay who, in her specialized field, has never once surrendered the top spot. Not from her initial release all the way through the latest version four years later.
First off, when you deploy her on the battlefield, she continuously blankets the entire fleet that includes her ship with some seriously powerful buffs. The ship she's personally riding gets extra fire-rate and boarding-action defense success rate on top of that, so the usual play is to stick her on a capital ship or flagship.
But that alone wouldn't make her the absolute peak of the support category, so let me keep going.
Griyanaar is a mad scientist by lore, which means she builds things like a Biology Lab and a Weapons Development Facility inside your base. Once those are up and you've stationed her at the base, she periodically rolls random enhancements onto your supers and fleet at set intervals.
The enhancements are random, so sometimes you get something useless—but the direction of the upgrade is always a positive one for that super or ship. That's the real selling point. She also boosts tech development success rates at the lab and so on. She's basically a living totem.
And here's something a surprising number of people don't know: when the Commander smashes Space Kaiju or alien ships, she takes the wreckage, researches it, spits out positive research results on her own, and crafts high-grade equipment by herself.
She's practically mandatory for solo players, and half-essential even for people who picked the Earth Federation or the Space Pirates.
Ah, but the catch is that she modifies things however she wants. Every now and then she'll slap a Space Kaiju tentacle-skin edition onto one of your supers out of nowhere, or churn out chimeras mixing aliens and monsters into your shipboard troops—major screw-ups that can trigger an invasion event from some extremely pissed-off aliens.
Relieved to hear she was still relevant, I decided to welcome our Professor with a smile.
"Welcome, Griyanaar!"
At any rate, once the introductions—complete with a side of girls' talk—were finished, I sat everyone down and resumed the earlier meeting on which faction we should choose.
And of course, just like last time…
Ignis—"The aliens, for the tech!"
Pashtura—"Tentacles♡"
Belial—"Let us go with the Earth Federation—reliable and trustworthy."
The legendary trio's opinions hadn't shifted in the slightest. I turned to Jessica and gave her a gesture. Catching my cue, Jessica likewise called on the two newcomers to offer their thoughts.
"Since you're both here, why don't the two of you share your opinions as well?"
But upon hearing that, our Marianne shook her head firmly, drawing a clear line on the matter.
"I don't really need to say anything, do I?"
"Well, still, since you're already here…"
"Given what my profession is, there's only one thing I could possibly say."
She stated her situation—Pirate Empress—with absolute clarity. In other words: as long as she was the Pirate Empress, no matter what anyone said, she would mindlessly recommend her own faction, the Pirates. It was as good as a declaration.
Jessica stared at Marianne's unchanging expression for a moment, then shook her head.
"If that's how it is with you, Marianne, then fine."
She turned to Griyanaar, seated beside her, and opened the floor.
"Then, Miss Griyanaar—what are your thoughts on this matter?"
Honestly, if it had been anyone other than Griyanaar who'd shown up this time, I would have just used the newly added community roulette feature to pick a faction. But Professor Griyanaar was a certified genius by official lore. She would have a solution for our current situation. The entire point of this meeting was to solicit her opinion publicly and shut down the remaining opposition.
I pretended to be indifferent, pulling up the command consoles, while casually angling my gaze toward Griyanaar—waiting for those tightly sealed lips of hers, currently lost in thought, to finally open.
Griyanaar, who had been listening through the meeting and absorbing the situation, turned the problem over and over in her mind. Then, a moment later:
"Hmm. Aligning with the Space Kaiju is clearly the most efficient option."
She raised her hand for the Space Kaiju.
"Shame. I really wanted to try an alien plasma sword."
"Tentacles really are the best♡"