"Bismarck. I’m coming in."
Wait, hold on!
What was Bismarck going to say if she came in right now...?
My telepathy telling her not to enter apparently didn’t get through, because the door slowly began to slide open.
"H-hey... Eugen..! Get off me already...!"
"Mm~? Why~?"
For some reason, Eugen refused to move away from me even though her faction’s leader was on her way in.
In the end, Bismarck entered the office.
"Ah...."
"........"
"Guten tag~"
Bismarck looked at me with a somewhat pouty expression and said, "You look busy, Commander. I’ll come back later."
"Ah.. uh... yeah...."
Bismarck started to push her wheelchair back out of the office.
"I-I’ll help..."
"No need."
Bismarck slapped my hand away and left the office.
When I glared at Eugen with a resentful look, she only covered her mouth and kept snickering.
"You think this is funny...?"
"Yes, very funny. You succeeded in making me laugh, Commander."
"You’ve got pretty bad taste if this is what makes you laugh."
Eugen shrugged and went back to work.
I’d have to go find Bismarck myself after I was done here...
Once again, the office was filled only with the dry sounds of pens moving and approval stamps hitting paperwork.
Bang—
"H-hng... I-I came to help because it looks hard..."
"Uh, NAGA."
Hipper came in, one hand on her meager chest... no, that wasn’t even a chest. That was more like...
Hmm... a resonating chamber? She clutched her resonating chamber as she entered.
"What are you thinking right now!"
"Nothing. I already found a secretary, so go on home."
I waved her off, motioning for her to leave.
"You...! I came all this way to help, and this is how you treat me, you idiot!"
"No, when I asked for help before, you turned me down cold. Eugen really is the best~"
"Grr...!"
Hipper stood there trembling with indignation, then for some reason dragged over a chair and sat down beside me.
"I want some too. I’ll show you just how outstanding an Admiral Hipper-class nameship can be!"
Hmm... don’t nameships usually have all sorts of problems?
Setting that aside, Hipper grabbed a few of the documents I’d approved and shoved them in my face.
"This! The quantities are wrong on three of them, so why did you approve it?!"
"Oh, wow, you’re right."
"This one’s even worse! What on earth are you using to calculate quantities?"
Hipper jabbed at the mistakes and chattered away.
"Ah... enough... I get it... you’re going to make my ears fall off."
"Eugen! Why are you doing this by hand when there’s a computer right there!"
Eugen stretched lazily and answered, "Mm... because handwriting is more convenient."
Ah... right, she was hopeless with machines...
"Don’t tell me... all these approval documents are..."
"Yep."
Damn it.
"Hey... Eugen..."
"What?"
"I think we’re going to have to redo all of this..."
"I see."
Oh, God.
"Hipper... help me..."
"Hah?! Do you not remember who it was that you shoved away so coldly just now?!"
Hipper, suddenly full of energy again, put her hands on her hips and scolded me.
"I’ll buy you beer..."
At the mention of beer, Hipper hesitated, then muttered in a small voice, "...And Schweinshaxe."
"Huh?"
"You idiot! Buy Schweinshaxe too!"
"Fine, fine..."
With that, the work Hipper helped with was finished quickly.
"You actually got all of this done..."
"Hmph. And you couldn’t even handle something like this properly. Were you really the Commander of Azur Lane?"
That was a little unfair. Back then, I’d been working in perfect sync with my secretary ship, so I could trust her and just stamp approvals without worrying about the details. But this place was different...
"...Still... I’ll admit it. Your command ability is real."
"What was that?"
"Nothing, you idiot!"
Honestly. She said it so quietly, then acted like that.
"But Commander, was the hierarchy in Azur Lane really this loose?"
"Huh? No, this is just my style."
My predecessor had been such a tyrant about discipline that it took more than two months before the whole fleet finally started speaking to me casually.
"And besides, this is the Red Axis."
"Hmm...."
Eugen grinned and suddenly lunged at me.
"Then I guess I can do this!"
She wrapped her arms around my head again.
"E-Eugen, you...!!"
Hipper’s face turned bright red as she rushed over and pulled us apart.
"Phew... thanks, Hipper."
"Hah? I wasn’t doing that for your thanks. Hurry up and buy me beer already."
But before that, I had business with Bismarck.
"Go on ahead. I’ll catch up later."
...
"I said I’m fine. Really."
"You don’t sound fine at all..."
I was in Bismarck’s room, trying to soothe and placate her until I was practically losing my mind.
No, seriously, how could the leader of an entire faction be this much like a child...?
"An apology from someone who doesn’t even know what they did wrong wouldn’t make me happy at all."
"No... I’m asking because I don’t know either, so tell me..."
Only then did Bismarck look my way and let out a sigh.
"Haa... I’m feeling better now, so get up, Commander."
"My, how gracious of you."
Bismarck blushed and moved her lips a few times.
"...Th-thank you..."
"Huh?"
"...I said thank you."
"Did I even do anything worth thanking me for...?"
At my question, Bismarck sighed and said calmly, "Our Iron Blood kept losing after I was badly wounded. Then you arrived. At first, I wasn’t sure. And about the submarine operation... I’ll allow it."
"Mm, good. Great."
To be honest, I had moved the submarine unit on my own authority, but I’d felt uneasy without Bismarck’s approval as the faction’s pillar and leader. Now that she’d given it, I felt much better too.
"I was thinking about it the wrong way. Those girls are capable fighters too..."
There’s one mistake people make all the time.
They assume everyone else thinks exactly the way they do.
And once they start stubbornly forcing that assumption on others, the people around them get furious and frustrated.
Most of the time, they don’t even realize what they did wrong, but Bismarck was one of the rare cases who quickly admitted her misjudgment.
So this is what a leader is like. She has the character to match the position.
"Bismarck, you really are fit to lead. I’d like to learn a thing or two from you myself."
I smiled faintly and said exactly what I was thinking.
"Eh...? Ugh..."
Bismarck heard me, froze for about three seconds, and then her face turned bright red.
So people really can become tomatoes.
"Th-thank you..."
Bismarck turned her face toward the window, but she couldn’t hide her red ears, and her shaken emotions were obvious.
"Then rest up. You’re not in good shape, so I’ll be going."
"Ah, th-then... yeah... go ahead."
Bismarck reached out toward me in a hurry, then stopped herself.
...
"Huff...! Haaah...! Enterprise, stop!"
"What is your problem...!"
Somewhere off the coast of the Eagle Union.
The girls of the Eagle Union were desperately trying to stop Enterprise.
"Cleveland, I don’t want to hurt you. Come out."
Enterprise didn’t stop walking, her face hidden in shadow.
"Enterprise..! I understand how you feel a thousand times over. But...! Something is wrong here!"
Enterprise deployed her rigging.
"This is your final warning. I don’t want to attack my own allies either."
"Helena, Baltimore! Deploy your rigging!"
At Cleveland’s command, all three deployed their rigging.
Enterprise kept advancing without pause, and in the end the two sides collided.
...
I was discussing the fleet’s future operating policy.
With the temporary staff I’d appointed for the job—meaning Hipper, Eugen, and Bismarck, and no one else—I brought up the subject of ship construction.
"...So I’m planning to focus on building destroyers and cruisers."
"We’re outnumbered right now. To make up for that, I think we need one big punch in the form of battleships."
Eugen raised an objection.
"It’s true we don’t have any ships with large-caliber main guns. But Eugen, without escorts to protect them, battleships are just floating targets. And the Royal Navy and Eagle Union both have strong air power. To close that gap, we need cruisers for anti-air and destroyers for offense. And... I’m planning to equip every ship with the latest radar and sonar."
"Do you even know what our resource situation is like? We don’t have the resources to develop radar and sonar."
Hipper crossed her arms and sighed.
"What are you talking about? We’ve got two developers right here."
I grinned and looked at Bismarck and Hipper.
"Hah?! Being worked to death by you was enough the one time already!"
"...Mm..."
I could almost hear the sound of a labor bell ringing over Hipper’s head.
"You like it too, so stop pretending otherwise."
"W-what?! Don’t decide that on your own! I only helped you back then because I felt sorry for Bismarck!"
"Yep, yep, got it. Anyway, I’m going to build destroyers and cruisers to reinforce the fleet on a tight budget. Battleships and carriers can come later. No objections, right?"
"No, I understand."
Bismarck nodded and gave her approval.
I went for a walk down at the home port harbor, partly to smoke a cigarette.
Smoking while watching the sunset over the horizon was a real treat.
"Is that the Commander?"
"Hm?"
When I turned around at the voice calling me, I saw two sturdy battleships.
"Ah, Scharnhorst and Gneisenau. Are you back from your mission?"
"Yes. There were no issues during patrol."
Seeing the fleet gradually settle into stability made my chest swell with a strange sense of grandeur.
Was this how a founding father felt after bringing a nation to prosperity?
But there was still so much left to do. I wasn’t going to stop here.
"Good work. The cafeteria food was pretty decent today, so hurry up and go eat."
"Understood."
Gneisenau started walking ahead first.
"Hey, Commander."
Scharnhorst put a hand on my shoulder.
"Hm?"
"Thank you... for saving us. For saving our fleet."
Then Scharnhorst hurried past me.
Her cheeks were tinged red as she went by.
"......."
That familiar feeling of satisfaction made it impossible for me to stop the corners of my mouth from lifting.
"Tch, you girls."
Overcome by pride and a little embarrassment, I clamped the cigarette between my teeth.
"There’s still a long way to go, you punks."
...
The new destroyer and cruiser construction project was going smoothly.
But there was one ship I was putting especially careful effort into.
[New Heavy Cruiser Construction Plan - Roon]
Once the keel was laid, a new heavy cruiser would emerge.
"Hm?"
As I passed in front of the capsule, smoke billowed out and the lid opened.
"Huh...?"
When the smoke cleared, a short-haired girl appeared.
"Mm~ Are you the one who gave birth to me in this world?"
"Roon...?"
"Yes~ I’m the new heavy cruiser, Roon~"
Roon smiled brightly and exposed her chest without the slightest hesitation.
"Uh... I didn’t expect to see you this soon..."
"I couldn’t wait to see you, Commander."
"Uh... I see..."
I called Hipper over to ask about this early completion.
"Hah?! There should still have been some time left until construction was complete. What’s going on here?"
"Well... I was just too curious about the person who was going to create me and bring me into the world~"
With that, Roon hugged me tightly.
"W-what...! Let go of me right now?!"
Hipper’s face flushed red as she tried to pry Roon and me apart.
"Mm~? Why are you stopping me when I’m just expressing my gratitude...?"
"Th-the way you’re doing it is weird!"
"Hmm... I have my own way of doing things, so could you please not stop me from hugging the Commander?"
Oh, Hipper was losing ground.
Hipper was at a loss for words, her face beet red as she could only keep repeating, "Y-you... you..."
"Mm~ It feels nice to meet my creator in person..."
"Commander, you feel the same way, don’t you?"
"Yeah, welcome to our fleet, Roon."
"Why are you so calm about this!!"
My first meeting with Roon ended with Hipper shouting at the top of her lungs.
...
Somewhere in a shrine with an eastern atmosphere, cherry blossoms drifting through the air.
The fox with nine tails looked thoroughly displeased.
"Why...? Why did he go to Iron Blood instead of Sakura Empire, where Akagi is...?"
Akagi knew the face of Azur Lane’s Commander.
And she knew his infamous reputation for toying with others.
She herself had fallen for his tricks more than once or twice.
The Commander preferred binoculars and radar over a tactical map for more effective command.
This was a command style effectively proven by Heinz Guderian, a general from Germany in the past.
So the Commander personally took his ship close to the combat zone to direct operations.
During a fierce battle with Sakura Empire, Akagi happened to spot a ship flying the Azur Lane flag.
"Hm...? Why is an Azur Lane ship in the middle of enemy territory like this...?"
"Sister, I think it would be better not to get any closer. It could be a trap."
"...No, let’s approach and take a look."
"Sister...?"
With a look of certainty on her face, Akagi began moving toward the ship.
"...That’s... Akagi and Kaga from Sakura Empire?!"
As the Commander scanned the surroundings through his binoculars, he finally realized that his navigation system had gone haywire.
Normally, carriers were protected by allied ships and couldn’t be seen unless they were deep in enemy territory.
"...Still, it’s impressive that they weren’t intercepted even after coming this far into enemy lines."
Muttering that to himself, he urgently sent out a distress call.
"You ship under Azur Lane, stop right there. This is Kaga of Sakura Empire."
Azur Lane is two blocks below us.
Kaga signaled with a searchlight.
Then a luminous reply came back.
"F-U-C-K-Y-O-U"
"Ah... so that means ‘go to hell’?"
A vein throbbed on Kaga’s forehead.
"You bastard!! I’ll send you to the bottom of the sea today!"
Kaga launched her dive bombers.
"Uh... I think I’m screwed..."
This ship was lightly armored. There was no way it could withstand bombs.
"Hey!!! Enterprise!! Hornet!! Anyone, I don’t care who, just get here now!!!"
The Commander threw the ship into emergency full speed ahead and began desperate evasive maneuvers.
"Why is the Phalanx acting up too!!"
The ship’s defensive system failed to activate.
The dive bombers drew closer and began their vertical plunge.
"Hwaaaah!!!"
Sensing his impending doom, the Commander let out a strange cry.
Then.
The diving bombers were torn to pieces.
"Huh...?"
Both the Commander and Kaga stared blankly at the shredded bombers.
"Kaga, what do you think you’re doing, launching bombers without my permission?"
Akagi, with a prim expression, recovered the fighters and landed them.
"S-sister..."
Then Akagi lightly stepped onto the ship and opened the door to the Commander’s office.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you. The Commander of Azur Lane."
The Commander kept his pistol in hand, his expression frozen.
"You know better than anyone that it won’t be easy to neutralize us with that. Don’t worry. I have no intention of harming you right now.
I just... wanted to see you once."
Akagi smiled sweetly and turned away.
"It seems we have an unwelcome guest on the way, so I’ll be going now. I look forward to seeing you again."
And then Akagi vanished.
Even now, looking back on it, it was a strange memory.
Had I been bewitched by a fox?
Now that I could meet her properly, it almost didn’t feel real.
"What are you thinking about so hard?"
Bismarck, looking a little better than before, walked over and asked.
"Mm, something from the past."
Bismarck placed a hand on my shoulder and said, "You’re our Commander now. Forget the past."
...
"Sister, may I ask why you let the enemy faction’s Commander go just like that?"
Akagi smiled faintly and said, "Because he’s the man of my destiny."
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register