Ruler of Milano-V (4)
Of course, the users in the community who were just spectating could barely muster a reaction like, "Whoa, you actually pulled it off!"
That said, most of the gallery users weren't holding back or anything—they were light-years away on distant planets, just watching from afar.
And on top of that, the live updates posted by Benya (aka OverTechMom) up until now were, well...
1. Just attack
2. Pump 'em up if needed
3. Pick up the queen
(Roughly omitted)
6974. Put down the queen
Overall, given Benya's personality, aside from her whining, she never made a big fuss even when things got tough.
And her posts were all like, "Eh, it was kinda hard, but cleared anyway," so straightforward it bordered on careless.
Some users watching that were like, "That bastard's got it easy, pisses me off," plotting to smack her upside the head way in the future.
Tells you how bad it was.
Even the veteran lurkers suspected, "Is our Benya actually some ultra-vet oil baron pretending otherwise?"
World's full of mysteries.
Of course, if Benya heard how users were judging her?
The gallery would flood with bio-weapon hate pics in an instant.
Proving the situation wasn't as easy as it seemed...
-Ding!
"Hyaahhh, hyaaahhh!"
"Get a grip, Doctor."
"Gyaaaaaah! Freedom! The warrior of HAE-BANG!!!"
"Fair point, I suppose."
After that long, grueling month, the moment we finally ground down the last Red Scourge hive on Milano-V.
The event window popped up like that, confirming we'd solved Milano-V's problem at last.
I couldn't help screaming in joy.
And no wonder—how much suffering had I endured this past month?
"Assistant, think about it. How much pain and hardship have we gone through?"
"For a branch that's been here less than a month, it was bloodcurdling. But weren't you watching from the rear, Doctor?"
"I'm not the one fighting directly, but everything else is on me! And you'd say that if you were right there?"
"Joking."
Even Illeyna right beside me—her words sounded cynical, almost emotionless.
But in reality, she'd been swamped directing soldiers and Black Scourge legions in combat—stuff I couldn't do.
Plus sorting supplies and gear from other cities.
Assigning my newly produced Chimera soldiers and special equipment.
She'd been sweating bullets over it all...
Now, Illeyna—the one closest to "superhuman" under my command—slumped in her chair, exhaustion plain on her face.
Sure, her baseline specs were top-tier, so she'd handled it solo and overloaded herself.
"Still, we're lucky. Minimal supply drain and almost no casualties."
"Huh? Didn't I burn through three cities' entire stockpiles in just one month? The rest are scraping by on reserves too."
"If this happened on another planet, you'd plan for years and brace for half the cities to go down."
"Market's right."
"Is that so."
"Simple terms: We did 'three months' worth of supplies and troops in one month.' Normal case? 'One and a half years' worth over a year.'"
"Oh ho."
"Earth-style: Cities usually go 'root and all.'"
But thanks to our hyper-speed blitz, total consumption was way lower than standard.
I'd wondered why attitudes turned positive over time, even accounting for the three cities we wrecked.
"Saved me money—fair enough."
"Plus, the spent resources and gear? With the manpower and assets from those divvied-up cities, full recovery in a year. No big red flags on the books."
"Ughhh, I don't get balance sheets ughhh."
Turned out that's how it shook out. Those three cities' fallout got absorbed somehow.
Chaotic, but...
"So, TL;DR: All good?"
"Yes."
Hearing everything was settled, I sighed in relief.
Of course, just the Red Scourge issues—only on our Milano-V, barely.
"Phewww... so no other problems now?"
"More left."
"Eh?"
"Starting with handling the newly subjugated Red Scourge swarms. Negotiations with Milano-V planetary government. Report to Demonia Empire on this mess."
"Hooeeeeek!!!"
Even if Illeyna, subordinates, and Mayor Phedo handled most...
I couldn't offload everything.
Final approvals inevitably fell to me.
Result...
Benya buried under a mountain of approval docs—only idiot fluff, horns, and document-prodding mech-arm visible
Save meeee♡♡♡
Brain getting totalled by paperwork♡♡
Whining about paperwork hell, I decided to wrap this saga here.