Chapter 576: 『Please leave it to us. We will always execute our tasks perfectly.』
Author's Preface
My little Brodia won't take off her clothes... Being so guarded and modest is cute too, though...[*1]
Did you know? The saying "idiots don't catch colds" strictly means that idiots just don't notice when they've caught one.
Since I'm an idiot when it comes to being a game-brained idiot, I can completely nullify the Status Effect: Cold.
Quietly sipping through a straw from a can of Riot Blood I'd secretly stashed (or rather, forgotten about) in the back of the fridge, I booted up the VR system. I popped the ShanFro software cube out of the system slot and slotted in the Galaxy Traveler cube instead. Confirming the loading process had started with a quiet but barely audible whirring of the drive, I tossed the empty Riot Blood (Original Flavor) into the trash can... Hole in one. It's no exaggeration to say I'm practically in peak physical health right now.
"Alright, shall we begin?"
Galaxy Traveler. Since time passes even while you aren't logged in, leaving the game alone practically guarantees your NPCs will stage a mutiny and give you a Game Over. That's why putting the entire crew into cold sleep and saving in a safe zone is standard procedure, and I'm pretty sure I did exactly that the last time I played...
"Ah, Badugamosu... No, let's not."
Even though I'm trending towards recovery after taking a nap, I don't have the courage to strap on that MR-compatible helmet with its unknown origins and Riot Blood-specific specs while my head is still foggy from a cold. Being terrified of the occult might look ridiculous, but when it comes to Riot Blood, the general consensus among the rioters is that you'll have a much healthier time if you just blindly believe in the occult and jinxes.
You could say I chickened out, but trusting that I made the right decision, I lined up the Normal, Silver, Gold, and Diamond Badugamosu-kun dolls on the shelf, leaving only the Platinum one out. The sight of space metal jellyfish lined up was violently surreal, but every time I look at that Diamond Badugamosu-kun, I remember that old man holding up five fingers, so I quietly averted my eyes. Lingering regrets are meant to be kept in the corner of your heart; you shouldn't let them set up camp right in the middle of your life...
"Alriiiight!!! Pull yourself together! Off to the nostalgic, boundless universe!!"
◆
I was fired up, but what awaited me upon logging in wasn't the interior of the spaceship owned by Player: Sunraku. Instead, I was greeted by a window announcing various changes from the massive update, followed by windows notifying me of assorted bonuses... windows, and more windows... In the end, just skimming through and fully digesting all of them took me nearly ten minutes. But even if it was just a quick skim, having read through them meant I mostly grasped how post-update GalaTra worked.
For starters, there were three major categories heavily altered by the massive update.
The first was the spaceship—the player's house, weapon, ship... and above all, their ultimate asset. Pre-update, they were evaluated as clunky pieces of junk with mediocre performance where losing it meant game over, but the update buffed them enough to let players launch aggressive counterattacks against space pirates. The massive enhancements to weaponry were a huge deal. Being able to actually slaughter an opponent in a single blow with our max firepower was enough to bring a tear to my eye... I mean, pre-update, it was par for the course for your absolute max firepower to "only" barely pierce the enemy's armor... Taking on a space pirate fleet used to be the cue to start getting your real-life affairs in order.
Second was the NPCs—the crewmen and the very lifeblood required to operate the spaceship. They went from being absolute garbage crewmates who would stage a mass uprising just because you removed one item from their meals to save cash, to actually tolerating things a little bit, which was huge in itself. But the real highlight was the addition of the Android Crew... in other words, robot crewmates. These guys never complained or went on strike, but in exchange, they chewed through more materials and money than normal crewmates... Meaning, the operating costs got heavier, but you no longer had to constantly kiss their asses like before. Personally, I'm just happy you can chuck them out the airlock and still retrieve them; human NPCs without EVA gear just instantly die when you do that...
And finally, the third point. You could call this the biggest reason I was drawn back to Galatra. Players were finally allowed to stand up from the captain's chair, and even better, it was now possible to sortie out as an individual combatant.
Specifically, players themselves had stats added to them, similar to what you'd set for crew NPCs. It seems this part was modeled after standard action games, where raising the avatar's "Aptitude" increased the parameters for respective actions. It looks like my stats were somewhat pre-allocated based on my past playtime, so I just dumped all my free points entirely into close-quarters combat and fighter craft piloting... aaaand done.
"What's with this handgun... ah, it's that thing from JGE."
Are these stats... even worth using? It'd be a shame to just let it drift off into space, so maybe I should head back to Earth and store it. The player's personal room on Earth is the only place where items won't be lost no matter how many times you die. Souvenirs like this should be preserved, but... the real issue is whether I can even make it back to Earth safely.
"As for the NPCs... whoa, their dissatisfaction is on the verge of exploding."
Come to think of it, I'm currently in the middle of getting completely and utterly stranded... After all, even if you have a map, the data periodically gets wiped, meaning you usually end up lost while trying to recover it. If you don't play your cards right in the meantime, you end up dealing with a crew strike on top of being lost in space. And the past me had basically failed at managing that, gotten annoyed with the whole thing, saved the game, and quit playing altogether... Now I remember.
"...What should I do about this?"
I can't operate the ship without a crew, but if I try to order these guys around, it's guaranteed to turn into an entirely different game about internal infighting. The quickest solution would be to trade crew members with a passing player or NPC to reset their affection levels, but... hm? A commercial transmission from an unidentified vessel to the Third Rakuou Maru (the spaceship I'm currently riding)?
"Hello?"
『Language authentication... Hello, traveler of the galaxy. I am the Unmanned Trading System "SL:EVE", affiliated with the Droid Crew Agency. As a means to assist in resolving organic personnel discord, we currently propose a trade: your vessel's crew for our Droid Crew Agency's proudly serviced Android Crew.』
...Trading humans... for androids, huh.
Five minutes later.
『Thank you very much for agreeing to the trade of forty-five Earth-descended lifeforms for our androids! As you have completed a transaction exceeding the specified quota, as a special complimentary service, we will be attaching the Android Onboard Combat Pack to all androids involved in this trade!』
"No, no, the pleasure's all mine. It was a great purchase."
So long, you relentlessly whining crewmates who just got shipped off while stuck in cold sleep! SL:EVE is so disturbing and dangerous when you put it in English that it feels like they aren't even trying to hide it, but I'll pray for your futures!!
"Well then, I look forward to working with you! My excellent android colleagues!!"
『Please leave it to us. We will always execute our tasks perfectly.』
『Please leave it to us. We will always execute our tasks perfectly.』
『Please leave it to us. We will always execute our tasks perfectly.』
『Please leave it to us. We will always execute our tasks perfectly.』
Yaaay, I sense a dystopia.
Author's Afterword
SL:EVE
Well, it literally just reads as "Slave" merchant. You can easily guess the fate of the sold-off NPC crew.
By the way, as long as you don't become hostile with the organization EVE belongs to, they are highly competent android crews, so many players use them. Or rather, they constantly spawn right in front of free-to-play users who just received massive amounts of in-game money from the update bonuses, so the devs are absolutely doing this on purpose.
The top-tier players don't really care about that stuff, because they're managing entire fleets, so whether the manpower is flesh or iron, more is always better.
Translator's Notes
- [1]Katarina failed to pull Summer Alexiel, phew.
Comments
Post a Comment