"All right, all right, one last thing before we wrap up! Yoo Jinseong! Just like when you shook hands with the Deputy Chief of Staff at Army Headquarters while holding your discharge certificate, come up front and stand here with the Chief of Naval Operations!"
"...."
"Oh~ Do I just go over here?"
The pure white naval dress uniform. Four stars on the shoulders. Aside from the one man standing with Jinseong, the reporters holding cameras and the many soldiers had gathered a little distance away from the two of them.
Of course, Jinseong’s clothes had also somehow changed from an Army soldier’s uniform into a white naval dress uniform. Watching Jinseong move as stiffly as the starched fabric he was wearing, the Chief of Naval Operations let out a hearty laugh.
"Yoo Jinseong."
"S-Sergeant Yoo Jinseong!"
"Hmm~ You’re not a sergeant anymore, though.... Let’s skip the formal introduction for now."
"Understood, Chief of Naval Operations...!"
"Hah-hah-hah. To be exact.... you do know that you’re becoming a Navy officer under Azur Lane, yes?"
"I know that!"
Between Jinseong and the Chief of Naval Operations, a Navy officer slowly approached carrying what looked like a certificate. The Chief of Naval Operations took it, opened it, and held it out to Jinseong, then swept his gaze across the cameras. The sound of shutters, as if they had been waiting for this, filled the space.
"Just keep looking at the cameras and listen. Navy officers under Azur Lane receive equal or even better treatment than navies around the world, and your rank and status carry over wherever you go."
"Ah.... That’s the first I’ve heard of that."
"Is it? Then remember it clearly now. Jinseong, you’re under Azur Lane, which means you’re not exactly under the Republic of Korea Navy.... but that doesn’t change the fact that you’re mine."
If he had heard that from a normal chief-of-staff-level officer, it would have been incredibly moving. But in this abnormal situation, Jinseong couldn’t immediately tell whether it meant, "No matter where you go, I’ll take care of you," or "You’re our signboard now, so you’re not getting away."
"Those are the reporters from the press agencies we all know.... Am I really going to end up on TV or in an internet article like this.... My parents are going to see this mess too, aren’t they...?"
Several weeks after the day he had declared to Dylan that he would become Eagle Union’s Commander, on the very day of his discharge, Jinseong had been dragged to Army Headquarters for a discharge ceremony, then shoved over to Naval Headquarters for a commissioning ceremony. Of course, all of it was being handled by people from Azur Lane.
Fortunately, during those few weeks, Jinseong had been able to take his final leave without any problems. He had properly told his parents that it looked like he’d be sent somewhere else as soon as he was discharged, and he had also been able to check the useless national merit plaque and nameplate that had been delivered to his home.
"Thank you so much! You’ve worked hard! Now, let’s get moving!"
After tucking the handed-over certificate under his arm and going through all the handshakes, salutes, and other fuss he could think of, Jinseong was finally able to get into a car guided by Azur Lane Navy personnel.
"Nice to meet you, Yoo Jinseong. I’m Ricardo, the adjutant to Colonel Dylan, head of personnel administration under Azur Lane."
"Ah...! Nice to meet you. Ricardo.... Major?"
"From here on, I’ll be in charge of escorting you. The Republic of Korea Navy will guide us to the nearest naval port, and once we set sail from there, Azur Lane will escort us together with the Navy."
"Uh.... Ah, understood."
The inside of the car was so comfortable it was hard to believe it was a military vehicle. The back seat, where he could see the silent driver and Ricardo in the passenger seat, was physically comfortable, but the atmosphere was uncomfortable.
Perhaps sensing Jinseong’s feelings, Ricardo suddenly offered an apology.
"I’m sorry about today, Yoo Jinseong. The Ministry of National Defense in Korea asked that we absolutely go through the ceremony, so things were delayed."
"No, not at all. How could this be your fault, Major Ricardo? Still, for the Ministry of National Defense, this is pretty fast."
They didn’t exchange many words, but Ricardo’s consideration seemed to reach Jinseong all the same.
Thanks to that, quite some time passed, and unlike the earlier visit to a sparsely used facility for the aptitude measurement, Jinseong arrived at a naval base that was clearly bustling with active-duty sailors. After greeting several Navy personnel who had come out to guide them, he headed straight for the berth without delay.
"Hm? Th-this ship is...."
"Ah, this is your first time seeing one, isn’t it, Yoo Jinseong? This ship is the Commander’s flagship under Azur Lane."
Unlike the Korean destroyers that had already been departing nearby, a ship that was a little larger but seemed to have more strange equipment attached than actual-looking gun turrets stood solidly before Jinseong.
"You mean.... this is the ship I’ll be riding from now on?"
"Yes. For now, at least. It’s the 'command ship' assigned to Eagle Union’s Commander. But the people who’ve served as Commander until now preferred to ride the shipgirls’ production vessel instead of the command ship, so it isn’t a ship that sails often."
Jinseong followed Ricardo aboard the command ship. The command ship, which had been floating quietly with the gentle waves, rumbled with the vibration of its engines starting up as soon as Jinseong stepped on board.
"Oh.... So even this is different."
"...?"
"This command ship was built by Azur Lane with the help of shipgirls. So unlike ordinary Navy ships.... if there’s one especially unique thing about it, it’s that it properly uses the power of a Wisdom Cube as its engine. So when the owner of a ship with a high aptitude steps onto the deck...."
Ricardo cut himself off and headed to the bridge with Jinseong. The interior was on a completely different level from an ordinary passenger ship or boat, and everything about the machinery and layout was unfamiliar to Jinseong, who had never experienced anything like it before.
"Major, uh.... Commander, departure preparations are complete."
"Quick. Since this is the first time I’ve seen this phenomenon, I’d like to check something. What’s the engine output?"
"Ah.... It’s operating at the same output as a lightly powered nuclear propulsion vessel. Honestly, for a command ship this size—if we’re being generous, about a cruiser—it’s way too much power."
"Haa.... Does it need.... modification...? I’ll have to report this to the head of personnel administration."
When Jinseong walked a little farther forward and looked out at the sea through the bridge window, the area around them briefly grew noisy. Jokes flew around too—like how they’d made a nuclear-powered ship with no downsides, what kind of thing they’d stuffed into a destroyer-class vessel, or whether they were planning to make the ship fly.
The Azur Lane Navy personnel who had come up to Jinseong and Ricardo to report that preparations were complete looked at Jinseong again and asked for permission.
"Sorry for the interruption while we were discussing something else. Commander, departure preparations are complete once again."
When Jinseong stiffened at those words and looked at Ricardo, Ricardo bowed his head slightly and extended a hand, gesturing for him to issue the order.
"Then.... let’s depart by the fastest route to our destination."
Though awkwardly phrased, the command ship began moving forward as if it had been waiting for those words.
-------------
"Oh...."
"Welcome to Eagle Union."
Jinseong had hardly ever had a chance to ride a ship, so he had worried about seasickness, but nothing like that happened during the trip.
As he stepped onto the deck and got off the command ship, he looked around and let out a quiet gasp after hearing Ricardo’s words.
The Eagle Union home port. Sleek, modern buildings stood neatly in rows, but somehow the place didn’t feel like a military base at all.
When Jinseong turned his head, he saw shipgirls rising lightly from the seaside of the berth and coming up onto land in full dress formation. They were the shipgirls who had escorted the command ship all the way here after entering Eagle Union’s jurisdiction. Among them was Yorktown, whom he had already gotten to know and who had chatted with him casually during the trip.
"Commander! I can call you Commander officially now."
"Ah, Yorktown.... Thank you for the escort."
"If you hold the formal inauguration ceremony here, then you won’t be allowed to speak politely to us shipgirls anymore, okay?"
"Eh, y-yes....? Why go that far...."
"Hmm.... To establish the chain of command.... and because I want us to get closer faster?"
Yorktown chuckled at Jinseong’s dumbfounded expression. Meanwhile, Jinseong could feel an enormous number of gazes pouring in from all around. Because of that, he could only look at the ground instead of Yorktown’s face, and could only sneak glances around while following Yorktown and Ricardo.
It was definitely a military base, but everywhere he looked, the people walking around were women. And not just that—they were women wearing all kinds of varied, distinctive outfits.
Every time Jinseong tried to lift his head, their multicolored eyes flashed as they etched him into their memory.
"Since the schedule has been packed tight, we’ll hold a simple, abbreviated inauguration ceremony here in Eagle Union’s main auditorium, and you’ll rest for today."
"Ah.... Haa.... O-okay."
It felt like he couldn’t breathe. As Jinseong stepped up onto the stage in the auditorium, a Navy man came over from the side, waving his hand.
"See you here, Commander?"
"Colonel Dylan?"
Ricardo saluted and left the auditorium as if his role was over.
While Jinseong was still startled, Dylan quietly came closer and opened a small, luxurious-looking box for him to see.
"I brought your rank insignia too. Be happy."
Inside the box was a clean, shining second lieutenant insignia. Jinseong’s eyes widened as he looked back and forth between the insignia and Dylan’s face.
"What is this...?! Don’t I need some kind of training or something else.... I didn’t even graduate from the military academy...!"
"To put it simply.... think of it as a special admission track. Normally, to become a Commander in Eagle Union, you’d need to be at least a major. So I immediately recommended a promotion to major, but.... the people above are so rigid. They said there was no way they could let someone from the Army, who hadn’t even graduated from the academy, wear major’s bars right away, no matter how special he was."
"Then why am I a second lieutenant right away...."
Dylan glanced at the shipgirls gathering more and more densely in the auditorium, then at the second lieutenant insignia in the box, and paused for a moment.
"You.... have too much experience to leave you at the very bottom as a second lieutenant. Even if you were in the Army, you already have service experience, and most importantly.... you somehow led not one but two shipgirls and completed the simulated combat training at a level that practically reset the record, didn’t you? Yorktown’s modest recommendation completely shut down the nonsense from above. If only that Sakura Empire shipgirl had been there too...."
As their conversation was winding down, the inauguration ceremony began, as if all the Eagle Union shipgirls had finally gathered.
As promised, it was extremely simple. After Colonel Dylan’s brief introduction of Jinseong, Yorktown’s help finally allowed Jinseong to pin the rank insignia onto his naval dress uniform.
"Now, Commander. As a member of Eagle Union, please say a few words to the comrades you’ll be working with from now on."
"Ah...."
Pushed forward by Yorktown, Jinseong stepped up to the microphone. The gazes of countless shipgirls stabbed into him, and his heart and hands felt like they were shaking, but he steadied himself again by thinking, 'This is all just work,' and by focusing only on discharge.
"Nice to meet you, Eagle Union. I’m Yoo Jinseong.... Second Lieutenant, newly appointed as your Commander. As you may have heard, I’m from the Army, not the Navy. I know very well that I’ll have to learn a great deal from all of you. So I’ll do my best to build trust one step at a time from the very beginning. Please take care of me!"
Colonel Dylan alone clapped with a shrug. But the atmosphere among the shipgirls standing in the auditorium was quite cold. There was no applause; instead, more of them were looking away, staring at him, or whispering among themselves.
Jinseong forced a smile and stepped back from the microphone, but he couldn’t stop the small sigh that escaped him.
"My road ahead is looking rough...."
"Haa.... This is going to take some.... time. I’m sorry, Commander."
"Goodness, this.... Well, then I’d better leave Eagle Union quickly, since I’m not even the Commander."
At Jinseong’s mutter, Yorktown, standing at one corner of the stage, pressed a hand to her forehead and shook her head, while Colonel Dylan laughed heartily, whether he was aware of the mood or not, coughed awkwardly, and stepped down from the stage.
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