Bismarck went into the restroom and let out a small sigh.
"Haa..."
She had never once shouted at anyone before.
Even Bismarck herself could not understand why she was acting like this now.
"What... was I doing...?"
She had simply acted on instinct. If it had been someone from the same faction, she could have tolerated it to some extent. Hipper, for example...
But seeing him get close with girls from other factions had made a corner of her heart ache sharply.
Bismarck held a position of leadership. That meant she was supposed to be far more careful and restrained.
She had always done that well until now, or so she had thought. But...
"I... I actually yelled at the Commander like that..."
She could only stare at herself in disbelief after saying something like that out loud. The Commander was the man who had pulled them back from the cliff’s edge.
It would not be enough to bow her head and thank him a hundred times, and yet she had shamelessly been throwing her own demands at him.
Bismarck steadied her wildly beating chest.
"...Calm down like the Commander said, and... a-apologize..."
He was the one who had even repaired her seemingly hopeless relationship with Tirpitz.
She could not afford not to trust him.
Bismarck adjusted her cap and looked at the mirror.
When she thought about it, even the fact that she had recovered so quickly was all thanks to the Commander.
"...I should apologize. I really do think this was my fault."
Just as Bismarck was trying to steel herself, a sticky, unpleasant feeling cut through one corner of her mind.
The image of Akagi standing close to him replayed in her head.
"Ngh...!"
Bismarck forced herself to shake the thought away.
"Haa... haa..."
"It was... nothing. The Commander is Iron Blood’s Commander, after all..."
Bismarck recovered her composure once more and left the restroom.
...
At present, Azur Lane showed no real movement.
The first priority would be to figure out what had happened after my appearance.
The Commander they had cast out had gone over to the enemy and was now commanding them?
There was no way they could even imagine that.
Who came up with such a satisfying idea?
Me, of course.
Iron Blood is god, and I am invincible.
With those pointless thoughts in my head, I endured the lazy afternoon.
Knock, knock.
"Come in."
The one who opened the door was Akagi’s younger sister, Kaga.
The same Kaga I had once openly given the middle finger to, face-to-face.
"Hmph. So in the end, you became Iron Blood’s dog."
"Hey now, watch your words. Dog? Call me a bat instead, would you?"
Kaga stared at me blankly for a moment, then let out a sigh and sat down on the guest sofa.
"...May I ask why you did not choose the Sakura Empire?"
"Hmm..."
Honestly, there was no grand reason.
It was just closer...
And I had chosen the faction that looked like it needed a Commander the most.
If I had to force a reason, then:
The Sakura Empire was strong, but full of old fogeys. It had a long tradition and plenty of powerful ships stationed there.
As for Vichya, I simply did not know much about them.
Sardegna’s operational range was limited to the Mediterranean. No matter how strong they were, as long as the Royal Navy held Gibraltar, there was nothing they could really do.
So I had chosen Iron Blood.
They had little experience, so there were no old fogeys. They were not holed up somewhere either.
And most importantly, the target of my revenge was right in front of me.
Wasn’t this what they called nursing a grudge and waiting for the right moment? I would prove with my own hands that their actions had been wrong.
"Haa... I see."
Kaga crossed her arms and let out a small sigh.
"What a pity..."
"Hm?"
I looked at Kaga’s reaction and felt a little puzzled.
The Sakura Empire was strong enough even without my command.
Of course, there were three competing camps there: the First Carrier Division, the faction centered on Nagato and Mikasa, and the faction centered on the Yamato sisters. But that kind of tension felt more like healthy competition than the dirty infighting of humans.
That was why the Sakura Empire had been doing quite well without a human Commander’s leadership.
Organizations built by shipgirls were hard for humans to interfere with.
Right now, Azur Lane itself had not even gotten rid of me easily, had it?
Of course, if the government really set its mind to it, there was no reason they could not crush me. But even then, they would have to do it indirectly, by cutting supply lines and the like, not through direct action.
"The Sakura Empire is strong enough without me."
"I know that."
"........"
I shut my mouth and stared at Kaga.
Then why are you saying that?
"The strong seek even greater strength. There are many things you can do, Commander, that we cannot."
Kaga looked me straight in the eye.
"...Would you not consider becoming the Sakura Empire’s Commander?"
I propped my chin on my hand and looked back at Kaga.
A short silence followed.
"Hmm... Sorry, I don’t think I can."
"Why not?"
"Because... there’s still a lot I need to do in Iron Blood, and I can’t betray the place that took me in first, can I? I was betrayed and forced out. Now you want me to betray someone else? I can’t do that."
Kaga slowly nodded.
"Hmph... I see."
Kaga stood up.
"You are more stubborn than I expected."
"Yeah, well, I have to be."
"Will you attend tonight’s banquet?"
"Yeah. We did put money into this, so I should attend... but there’s someone I need to be careful around, so I’m not sure."
Kaga fiddled with her mask and left the office.
"Huu..."
It was a good thing to be receiving love calls from all over.
It meant they recognized my abilities.
But...
I could not forget Bismarck’s face.
Was I actually just a glorified Commander wrapper?
I did have moments like that of self-doubt. But whenever I saw everyone cheering because they had won under my command, I could put those thoughts aside for a while.
I readjusted my hat and headed for the conference hall.
When I entered, each faction’s representatives were already seated.
For us, Bismarck and Tirpitz were there. For Vichya, Jean Bart and Dunkerque. For the Sakura Empire, Akagi and Kaga.
I quietly sat down beside Bismarck.
"...I can sit here, right?"
I tested the waters with Bismarck.
Bismarck’s expression grew complicated, then she said,
"...Yes."
The time it took her to answer bothered me a little, but she had given me permission, so I could relax.
"Looks like everyone’s here."
Jean Bart cleared her throat and opened the meeting.
"Today we are holding our regular strategy meeting to counter Azur Lane. Since we also have the Iron Blood Commander, who is an expert in this field, we should be able to have a more professional discussion."
I looked over the materials I had been given.
The documents on Azur Lane were all things I already knew.
"...Nothing here I don’t already know."
What was more of a problem was the number of ships our alliance had.
The Sakura Empire had a single carrier force that could barely stand against the Eagle Union, and their battleship strength was solid, but all their ships were vulnerable to anti-air fire.
They also needed more cruisers and destroyers. More than anything, their numbers were absurdly low.
Vichya was simply lacking across the board.
Each ship was excellent, but there were too few of them.
Then came our faction.
Since I took office, things had improved little by little, but our absolute numbers and firepower still fell far short of the Sakura Empire.
"Haa... how have we even held out against Azur Lane in this state...?"
"For now, we need a massive military buildup. Things are quiet at the moment, but if the Eagle Union joins the war again, it will only be a matter of time before we are pushed back."
Everyone nodded in agreement with my words.
"So I would like to request technical exchanges with the Sakura Empire and Vichya... specifically, battleship technology and destroyer technology."
The leaders listened to my proposal and considered it carefully.
The first to accept was Akagi.
"Very well. But if we are giving something, we should receive something in return, yes?"
"Sure. What do you want?"
"You, Commander."
""".................."""
The meeting froze in an instant.
"Ah, of course, not to take the Commander away completely. Just as a temporary dispatch to our side."
When I turned to look at Bismarck, sure enough, shadows had fallen over her eyes.
"L-let’s take a short break and continue after that."
I led Bismarck and Tirpitz outside.
I lit a cigarette and asked,
"You’re not going to agree to that, are you...?"
Bismarck kept her mouth shut and stared silently at the sea.
"...Do you want to go?"
Bismarck asked quietly.
"It’s necessary."
"Our technology is enough to handle it. You proved that. With you here..."
"Bismarck."
I cut her off.
"I’m not some kind of hero."
"But... but...! Looking at everything you’ve done so far, this isn’t impossible! You completed Graf Zeppelin and Roon!"
"Graf Zeppelin had already received technology from the Sakura Empire before. And Roon was easy because I just had to scale you down based on my experience building you. We don’t have the carrier operations experience the Sakura Empire or Vichya has, and our destroyer doctrine is lacking too. This isn’t something I can solve by myself."
Bismarck knew full well in her head that she was spouting nonsense.
But... but if she let the Commander go to the Sakura Empire like this, it felt wrong.
"Th-then I’ll go too...!"
"Haa... Bismarck. Someone has to stay and guard the home port."
"But..."
"Are you that worried?"
I lightly pinched Bismarck’s cheek.
"Eep..."
Bismarck’s face turned red as she lowered her gaze.
Tirpitz watched us in silence.
"What, do you want one too?"
"No... I’m fine."
Come to think of it, it was strange. When had we gotten this close?
...Probably after I smoothed things over with Tirpitz, I guessed.
"Anyway... back to the point. If Tirpitz accompanies me, will you agree?"
Bismarck thought over my proposal carefully.
"Haa..."
"If this were not for the sake of Iron Blood’s development, I would never agree to it."
We returned to the meeting room.
"Akagi, I’ll accept your proposal. But we will send Tirpitz as an attendant. If you cannot accept that condition, then the offer is off the table."
"Hmm... Very well."
"We would also like to request exchange under the same conditions."
Vichya made the same request.
"Yes, understood. So both sides want me to be dispatched personally in exchange for technology transfer, to pass on my doctrine of command?"
"Yes."
Jean Bart looked at me with her fingers interlaced.
"So... where do you plan to visit first?"
Akagi and Jean Bart looked at each other.
Once again, the atmosphere in the conference hall turned sharp and hostile.
"Fufufu, I trust you will visit the Sakura Empire first, where the history of exchange runs deepest~"
"Destroyers are indispensable to a fleet. Iron Blood may have experience building battleships, but our latest destroyers are unmatched by any other nation."
"Grr..."
As Akagi fell behind on the conditions, she glared at Jean Bart in frustration.
"...Fine. Then we will offer an unprecedented new technology that will increase the caliber of our battleship guns."
For some reason, it felt like I had become an auction item.
"Then let’s do this."
At my words, the two of them stopped glaring and turned to me.
"As compensation for the side visited later, the later visit will stay longer than the first. How about that?"
"Hmm..."
Jean Bart moved first.
"Fine. Our Vichya can wait until after you visit the Sakura Empire first."
Come to think of it, Vichya had won this contest.
I was already visiting Vichya, and after going to the Sakura Empire, I would have to stay in Vichya longer. If you added the time I had already spent here, the total number of days I had visited Vichya would be greater.
From the beginning, this negotiation had favored Vichya.
But Akagi did not seem to realize that yet, so I decided to quietly let it pass.
"Then it’s settled."
"I’ll head back to my homeland today, make preparations, and then depart for the Sakura Empire."
"Very well."
...
Somewhere in the Pacific.
Enterprise was secretly resting in an empty naval dock.
Bandages wrapped her body, which was battered and bruised all over.
Enterprise filled her starving stomach with combat rations.
As she ate the dry biscuits, the Commander and Belfast came to mind.
"Enterprise. How can you eat only things like this? Belfast, could you prepare a proper meal for Enterprise?"
"Of course. I will prepare enough for Master as well."
"Thank you as always. I’m counting on you, Belfast."
"You’re doing something pointless... I’m fine with this, though."
The Commander let out a long sigh and said,
"I’m not fine with it. I’m not."
Then he took her wrist and headed for the dining hall.
She could have pulled away if she wanted to, but for some reason Enterprise could not shake off the wrist he had taken hold of.
The warmth she had not felt in so long made Enterprise’s face flush red.
And then, after putting another combat ration in her mouth, she was dragged back into cold reality.
Tears began streaming down Enterprise’s face.
Regret surged up inside her.
She should not have been so cold back then.
If she had been a little more honest with the Commander, would he have stayed?
If the Commander saw her like this, he would surely say something like:
"What happened to you...? Hurry up and get on my back. Yorktown and Hornet are worried sick about you."
Even after leaving her sisters behind, the Commander had become that precious to Enterprise.
"...Hypocrite New Jersey..."
New Jersey, who always clung to people so familiarly, was doing nothing now.
Thinking about how the Commander had been tormented by such two-faced people made her feel even worse for him.
"I should be the one to save him..."
Her own miserable state, slumped in a dark dock and unable to do anything at all, felt truly pathetic.
...
Wales was biting her nails.
The nails the Commander had once praised as beautiful had now become rough and ugly.
After the Commander left and rumors spread that he had been heard in enemy territory, Wales grew anxious.
He must have gone out in a fit of anger. He would come back eventually.
That was what she had thought until recently.
Wales recalled a memory that was both bright and painfully sharp.
"...Fighting fairly and squarely is my creed... and the same goes for romance... Commander...! Would you not go out with me?"
Wales had flushed bright red and handed the Commander her love letter.
But the Commander had worn a troubled expression and rejected her confession.
"...Wales. I’m deeply grateful for your feelings, but the Commander cannot belong to just one person."
Then why on earth did the oath ring exist?
Wales experienced the pain of heartbreak for the first time.
And the self who had once claimed fairness as her creed disappeared, leaving behind only vicious jealousy and spite as she obsessively isolated the Commander.
The Commander cast out by Azur Lane would have nowhere to go.
So the place he would eventually return to had to be the Royal Navy, which had supported him so much. That was when she planned to make him hers again.
But a week passed, then a month, and there was still no word from him.
And then the situation suddenly began to change.
Azur Lane was being pushed back by Iron Blood, a faction that had not even been able to keep up with them before.
Wales grew restless.
What if she never got to see the Commander again?
It felt as though someone were rubbing a shard of glass against her chest.
"No...!"
Wales left her room.
She had to get the Commander back.
By any means necessary.
Otherwise, everyone would go mad.
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