As new ships were being built, Bismarck also went in for an overhaul.
Bismarck, after entering overhaul, had improved quite a bit.
The Bismarck who had once relied on a wheelchair was now standing beside me on both legs.
"Bismarck. Feeling a little better?"
Bismarck answered, trying hard to act like she was fine.
"I’m fine. I’m just a little unaccustomed to walking after so long. Focus on your work, Commander."
Man, you’re so cold. Would it kill you to say thank you?
"...I am... grateful to the Commander, though."
Well, that was just the kind of girl Bismarck was.
She wasn’t honest about her feelings, and yet she still tried her best to express them.
That gap moe really did something to me.
I grinned and told Bismarck, "Get well soon. Once you do, I’ll put you in the secretary ship seat and make my life easier."
"Hah... Hearing that makes me want to get back in the wheelchair again."
Bismarck let out a snort and stopped walking.
"By the way, Commander, your operation opened the route to the Sakura Empire, and it seems they’re looking forward to your visit."
"Ah... really?"
I thought back to the past.
"You and I are bound by fate."
A fox spirit with bright red eyes.
Akagi, the Sakura Empire’s carrier.
"So Akagi sent the invitation."
"How did you know...?"
"I just had a feeling."
Bismarck stared at me suspiciously.
"How did you know.........?"
No, seriously.
I just guessed, and it happened to be right.
"I’m telling you, I really just guessed."
"Hmph...."
"Anyway, for now don’t go running around anywhere. Focus on your overhaul. That’ll help both me and the fleet."
"Understood, Commander. I’ll take care of my own affairs, so you should worry about yours."
"Ah, right. There are names on the roster, but some of them aren’t showing up at the dock... What’s that about? Could it be...?"
Bismarck shook her head.
"It’s not what you’re thinking. They’ve just been dispatched to other waters. Like my sister, Tirpitz."
"Tirpitz is in the Arctic Sea sector right now, right? Then why is her deployment set for so long? Usually they come back within a month."
Normally, they’d return within two months at most, either for resupply or because the shipgirl herself wanted to come back to the dockyard and rest. But in Tirpitz’s case, her deployment had gone on far too long.
"That’s..."
Bismarck’s expression darkened.
"Why...?"
"She was exiled there for causing trouble."
Causing trouble? What kind of trouble gets you exiled?
"What did she do?"
"She knocked one admiral unconscious after he gave an unreasonable order."
"......"
Seriously. Why do people think they can mouth off to girls who are armed with naval guns, not pistols?
I really couldn’t understand it.
"Didn’t she do the right thing...?"
"Sigh... In the end, yes, but that’s not the issue."
"Then what is?"
Then what? What exactly was the issue?
"The fact that she dared to harm our creator is not something we can simply let slide. Could you stay with a girl like that?"
"No, but wouldn’t it be enough not to do something that deserves a beating?"
No, the problem was the idiot who kept acting up even though he knew he’d get hit, not the one who hit him.
Of course, violence still came with consequences, but this was the kind of thing that ought to be forgiven.
She had practically stopped Iron Blood from plunging into the abyss by force.
"Then I guess I’ll have to go to the Arctic Sea myself sometime."
"Are you serious?"
"Why wouldn’t I be?"
Bismarck pointed at the operations map.
"Can’t you see that? To get there, you’d have to break through the Royal Navy and Eagle Union’s dense surveillance net."
"Have you forgotten who I was?"
Only then did Bismarck let out an "Ah."
"There’s always a hole somewhere, Bismarck."
And right now, Azur Lane was probably one step away from complete chaos.
Well then, shall I go see the faces of our subordinates out in the wilderness?
...
Somewhere in the Pacific.
There, four shipgirls were locked in a desperate battle.
"Kgh...! Turrets 2 and 3 are no longer functioning...!"
Baltimore said with a pained expression as she struggled to her feet.
Helena was already knocked out and lying face-down on the ground.
"Enter...prise...."
Cleveland, battered beyond recognition, was still blocking Enterprise’s path.
"Haa... haa.... Don’t stop me...!"
"We... can’t.... We want to see the Commander just as much as you do. But... this isn’t right... this isn’t right, Enterprise...!"
Enterprise’s deck was already in tatters, and the hat the Commander had given her—her symbol—had been scorched by flames, blackened in several places.
Whoooosh—
Enterprise’s aircraft took to the sky again.
Armor plates had been torn away here and there, and black smoke was rising, but her planes showed no sign of stopping.
Baltimore opened anti-air fire with her Bofors, but the battered AA guns soon jammed from spent casings and ground to a halt.
"Tch...! The AA guns...!"
The bomb dropped from the dive bomber didn’t hit Baltimore directly, thankfully, but even a near miss was enough to knock her out.
"Damn it....."
Baltimore’s eyes rolled upward, and in the end even Eagle Union’s latest heavy cruiser was knocked down.
"Huff... huff....."
Cleveland realized further resistance was pointless and stopped fighting.
Seeing that she was no longer resisting, Enterprise took a shaky step forward.
"...Sob.... sniff....."
Tears welled up in Cleveland’s eyes and mixed with the rain.
...
Right now, I’m watching Roon’s target practice, one of the drills meant to help her get used to her rigging.
"Break... apart!!!!!!"
That girl Roon... she might be crazier than she looks.
Every time Roon fired a salvo, she either laughed like a maniac or shouted in a voice completely unlike her usual tone.
And when training was over, she’d come back to me smiling brightly as if nothing had happened, speaking in a sweet voice.
"Phew~ I’m getting better and better. You think so too, Commander, right?"
"Uh... yeah... I guess so."
Roon’s performance curve was definitely shooting upward.
She was improving so fast she might soon catch up to Admiral Hipper and Prinz Eugen.
Roon stared at my face and asked, "By the way, Commander, what are your hobbies?"
"Hobbies?"
Sleeping and doing nothing.
If I said that outright, my dignity would probably take a hit, so I gave her a harmless answer.
"Hmm... maybe reading books."
"Hm? Commander, I haven’t seen you reading lately."
"I’ve been busy, so I haven’t had time."
How did she know?
I’m not exactly close with letters and words. Even now that I’m Commander, I’m still fighting in a way that’s a little different from the manuals teach. In other words, I fight with what you might call raw instinct.
And the reason that works so damn well is because it works so damn well.
"Ah! Then Commander, why don’t you take up a relaxing hobby with me?"
Relaxing...?
What was that supposed to mean?
For some reason, when Roon said "relaxing," it sounded like it would involve something destructive.
"No... I’m good."
"Hmm..... What a pity."
Roon really did look disappointed.
"Heeey, Commander~!"
At the sound of someone calling me from far away, I turned around and saw Scharnhorst and Gneisenau waving as they approached.
"Oh, it’s you two. You here to train too?"
"A soldier should always keep training and improving, Commander."
"That’s right. Unlike Commander, who just lazes around doing nothing, a proper soldier can’t be made."
Ugh. I don’t want to do anything, but I do want to laze around. What am I supposed to do about that?
"Mm.... Hello, my comrades~"
Roon, who had been standing off to the side, greeted Scharnhorst’s group.
"Oh, so you’re the new heavy cruiser. Nice to meet you."
"My, thank you for the warm welcome."
Roon exchanged rather normal greetings with Scharnhorst.
Gneisenau simply watched the scene in silence and pushed her glasses up.
"Haaah.... I don’t want to work."
Gneisenau said, tapping my shoulder.
"It’s not like you have that much work to do anyway, Commander."
"What are you talking about? I have tons of work."
"The computer does everything for you, though..."
Gneisenau looked at me with a dumbfounded expression.
"Look at her. What, does some shadow power behind the scenes do everything for you? I have to sit here and handle it myself."
"Sigh... I’m worried about Iron Blood’s future."
Gneisenau said, pressing a hand to her temple.
"Yeah! Gneisenau! I’ll make you my secretary monster too! Let’s work togeth..."
"Commander, Anton is targeting you."
One of Gneisenau’s turrets pointed at me.
"Uh... yikes... put that weapon away."
Yeah, no. If I messed with a girl carrying naval guns, I’d lose.
"Anyway, I’ll help, so don’t just slump around like seaweed."
"Wow, Gneisenau, as expected. I love you!!"
"I-I...! Cough! Stop saying weird things, Commander."
Gneisenau adjusted her glasses and turned away.
"Anyway~ I’m going to get back to work."
Before that, I should grab some coffee and slack off a little.
I hummed to myself and headed for the vending machine.
As I walked with my arms stretched wide, I spotted Hipper crouching in the distance.
"Hm? What’s that idiot doing, hugging her resonator like that?"
I killed my presence and crept up quietly to startle Hipper.
"Boo!"
"Hyaaaah?!"
Hipper screamed in a bizarre voice and jumped to her feet.
As she stood up, a cat shot away at full speed.
"Wha..."
"What are you doing, you idiot!!!!"
"Idiooot, hahaha!"
I couldn’t hold back my laughter at that savage nickname and burst out laughing in front of her.
Then Hipper started chasing me, fists swinging wildly.
"I’m seriously not letting you off todayyyyy!!!!"
"Oh no, how scary~"
And Bismarck and Eugen were watching the whole scene with tired, disgusted looks.
...
Bang!
"What do you mean by that, comrade!"
"Exactly what I said. This quarter, our budget from Azur Lane was cut in half."
Sovetskaya Rossiya slammed her fist on the table in outrage.
"I thought our Red Navy was finally about to rise...! This has to be Eagle Union’s doing! Those same people who all backed away and cast abstention votes when the Commander impeachment vote was held!"
"...But wasn’t it comrade-chan who trusted the Northern Parliament the most? If comrade-chan, who pushed for support for us, is gone, then our budget would go down, not up, I think..."
Tashkent quietly gave her opinion.
"Tch, don’t be ridiculous. We still have three battleships in our regular fleet. We’re not like those ugly fools who’ve split in half and are busy trying to devour each other!"
Only Sovetsky Soyuz, who had been silently listening to everything, fully grasped how serious the situation was.
"...We need to bring the Commander back."
"...But, comrade-chan... we don’t even know where he is..."
".............."
"If we send our agents to search, we’ll find him in short order."
Chapayev smiled faintly and stroked Tashkent’s head.
"If it comes to it, we may need to consider leaving Azur Lane."
Sovetskaya Belorussiya muttered with her chin in her hand.
"We cut the Commander loose for our own benefit, and if we leave now, what would be the point...?"
Chapayev sighed, pressing a hand to her forehead.
"That’s enough for today. Let’s adjourn for now and discuss this again later, comrades."
With Soyuz’s dismissal, everyone rose one by one, each carrying their own worries.
...
"Ah, I want cola."
The thing I missed most after leaving Azur Lane was cola.
Whether I was eating fries, greasy Schweinshaxe, or tearing into fried chicken, there was always one thing I wanted.
Cola.
"We’ve got Fanta here, so drink this."
"Ugh, you want me to drink that fruit-pulp-tasting stuff?"
Oxygen cola, which Eagle Union had stopped supplying long ago, was rare to see in Iron Blood.
Instead, they had oxygen Fanta as a substitute, but the taste was absolutely awful.
"Sakura Empire at least has Ramune..."
Wait, Ramune?
"Ah!"
A brilliant idea suddenly struck me, and I sprang to my feet.
"Commander, you’re not done with your work yet. Where are you going?"
Gneisenau said, pressing down on my shoulder.
"Ow. Let go, Gneisenau. If you do, I’ll make you an amazing drink."
No one could stop me now, lol.
I immediately drove out, bought a bottle of lemonade, and headed to the fire hydrant.
"Heh heh heh, if I put the carbon dioxide generator in here..."
After a few bubbly sounds, I pulled the hose out of the bottle and a sharp, carbonated scent rushed out.
Full of anticipation, I took a sip of the sparkling lemonade.
"Kraaaah!!! F*ck yeah!!"
A laborer’s vibe exploded out of my mouth on its own.
"Oh... this is actually pretty good."
Gneisenau, too, tasted my special sparkling lemonade with a surprised look.
The news spread quickly through the dockyard, and everyone came to try my special sparkling lemonade. Before long, it had even been added to the supply list.
"Ah... I should’ve gone into business with this brain."
"I’ll admit it... this time."
Even Admiral Hipper nodded for once as she drank the lemonade.
I got a little mischievous and imitated Hipper’s usual way of speaking.
"Hah?! I’m not happy to be acknowledged by you at all, you idiot!"
"............."
Uh... am I screwed?
Shadows seemed to fall over Hipper’s face, and heat haze looked like it was rising around her.
Baby... I need to run to Bismarck’s infirmary fast...
"Commander, return to your original position."
"I’m not getting a single hair on my head hurt!!!"
I ran to Bismarck’s infirmary at the fastest speed of my life.
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