Xyrin Empire

Chapter 612: Chapter 612 Bad News

I have a good impression of the female commander of the privateer group named Bonnie.

Don’t get any wrong ideas. Although she could be considered quite the beauty with exotic alien traits, my hands are already full with non-human sisters accounted by the legion, so what I truly admire about her is a certain spirit and an aura of authority.

A young woman, leading a privateer group of several thousand and providing shelter to tens of thousands of “ordinary folks,” surviving in a universe fraught with danger and incessant battles, living each day on the knife’s edge, sometimes quite frugally—yet her people follow her willingly into this kind of life. Sure, privateers are rough around the edges, a bit fond of taking small advantages, accustomed to engaging in petty theft, but within their ranks, there is a genuinely touching atmosphere, and all this can be attributed to Bonnie’s leadership and personal charisma.

Just as Lilina said, most privateer groups, in order to survive, are more cunning than pirates and greedier than robbers, but Bonnie’s group, in my view, is more like a large family of refugees. They engage in “business” that the self-righteous scoff at, never truly harming anyone—a lasting impression from half a day’s interaction with them.

Regardless of what others think, I find her to be a woman worthy of admiration.

In this universe, there are many admirable people, even generals as staunch as Pandora Visca pay them respect. Figures like the old man Roland Gale and other elder leaders from different factions who nearly sacrificed everything to keep their nations alive—they are heroes that move people’s hearts, great figures whose names should live on through the ages. But, on the other hand, the “small folk” also have their resolve and tenacity, like Bonnie and her privateer group.

To many, they seem insignificant, just minor characters surviving on the scraps of the battlefield amid the power struggles of nations. The mere freedom to live is their entire fortune, but these small folk, led by a woman who is one of them, band together. Despite the turmoil outside, they support each other to maintain a peaceful home—even if it’s just a rundown space station. This is the valor of the small folk, no fanfare or grand deeds—their sole achievement is living happily to the fullest.

In this universe, that’s no easy feat.

Besides, they’ve helped us a great deal. Although Lilina’s prior threats played a part, Bonnie indeed helped us make contact with the Holy Temple Army, contributing directly to a major operation of the Imperial Army. Inside the Xyrin Apostle, she might even be awarded a medal for such services.

Therefore, to show respect and sincerity, I dispatched an Eternal-class Mother Ship and a small escort fleet to jump beside Bonnie’s “Ark” space station for the meeting ceremony. According to Imperial customs, this is the minimum scale of envoy deployment when officially interacting with the leader of another faction. It’s unprecedented to treat a group of privateers as a formal faction, and all this was done to show respect to Bonnie. After all, an invitation from the formidable behemoth that is the Imperial Army leaves little room for refusal. We’re already suspected of being overbearing—if we had simply sent a small ship to forcefully drag her over for that dangerous mission, it could seem like an insult.

But now it seems the imposing Imperial fleet has frightened them…