Elder brother's garrison

Page 419

"Oh." Aoba put down her water bottle, then put an arm around Baltimore's shoulder, a knowing smile appearing on her pretty face. "You want to learn a skill, don't you?"

“…Hmm.” Baltimore thought there shouldn’t be any ship girl who didn’t want to learn skills.

"Putting Eugen aside, Quincy's activation of his skill was purely coincidental, a coincidence, you understand!" Aoba said to Baltimore.

"Uh……"

"Seriously, who wakes up from a nap and suddenly learns a skill? We agreed to work hard together, but one of us just activated a skill on his own... In short, never learn Quincy's skill! Never!" Aoba held up a finger and said to Baltimore with a serious expression.

“Oh, oh…” Baltimore glanced at Quincy, then at Aoba, “That Aoba…”

"what happened?"

"...Could it be that you... unlocked your skills later than Quincy?"

“…I’ll do it to you.” Aoba’s mouth immediately puffed out.

“…I’m so sorry, so sorry.” Baltimore quickly apologized.

Judging from Aoba's reaction just now, Baltimore seems to understand why Aoba's skill was targeted at Quincy.

"However, speaking of which, I must admit something." Aoba coughed lightly, "Our naval base's ship girls activate their skills, although it's mostly under all sorts of strange circumstances, but those are just opportunities."

"Opportunity?"

“If you’re not strong enough, even if you’re given the chance, you won’t be able to activate your skills. None of the ship girls who can activate their skills are just taking advantage of the situation.” Aoba patted Baltimore on the shoulder. “You’re the Admiral’s bride, right?”

"Ah, no... I didn't..."

"Don't push it away. Everyone knows you're the bride the Admiral won back. Even though we're not married yet, who knows what the future holds?" Aoba shrugged. "I think I understand you. You want to shine and get the Admiral's attention, right?"

"..." Baltimore blushed and lowered her head.

"Then let's train hard," Qingye said with a smile. "There's no shortcut to unlocking skills, just keep practicing."

“…Thank you.” Baltimore nodded gratefully to Aoba.

Aoba was actually trying to tell herself not to get hung up on activating the skills themselves, but to focus on improving her own strength.

Although this is a rather general statement, Aoba's situation when he activated his skills seems quite similar to his current situation. As someone who has been through it, Aoba's words are something that Baltimore needs to take seriously.

"But speaking of which, although there are no shortcuts to unlocking skills, training is one thing." Qingye chuckled and clapped his hands.

As Aoba clapped her hands, four ship girls suddenly appeared from the side.

“Baltimore, you’re a gunnery cruiser, right? There are other older women in the naval base who are about your age. If you train with them, you should get a lot of help.” Aoba said, raising her hand to introduce Baltimore, “Here are the… cough cough, Wichita, Pensacola, Des Moines, Portland. They, like Quincy and you, are all very powerful gunnery heavy cruisers.”

Baltimore subconsciously shifted her gaze to the ship girl beside her.

The ship girls standing next to Baltimore had brightly colored hair and stood there prettily, smiling and greeting Baltimore.

"Ah! Hello!" Baltimore quickly stood up and bowed to the ship girls.

Then, just as Baltimore's face hit the beach, a pair of hands suddenly reached up to her neck and lifted her head up completely.

"Hey, little girl, how are you?" A loud, gruff voice rang out in Baltimore's ears. "I'm Washington."

“Washington!” Baltimore exclaimed in surprise, looking up immediately.

Only then did he realize that a white-haired ship girl was standing in front of him. She hugged him, grinning broadly with her white teeth, and asked, "Have you finished talking to Aoba?"

"What are you saying?" Baltimore was taken aback, then looked at Aoba.

Aoba looked threatened, then smiled sheepishly at Baltimore.

"Huh?!" Baltimore instinctively had a bad feeling.

"The Admiral has asked me to teach you!" Washington laughed loudly, then swept Baltimore up in his arms like a woman being snatched away. "I'll train you properly and make you a qualified rookie ship girl for the naval base!"

"Okay, sure! I'll try my best!"

"Hmm, very good. Just don't die, or I won't be able to explain it to the admiral."

"died??"

"Hahaha, it's nothing." Washington laughed heartily. "Anyway, let's head to the flank first. Let's set a small goal for today: each of us kill ten thousand Deep Sea monsters! Fight for freedom!"

"Freedom!" Wichita and the other ship girls gathered around Washington, raising their hands and shouting.

"Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee???"

"This is Sparta!!!"

“Sparta??????!!!!” Baltimore, carried by Washington, looked completely bewildered.

Under the watchful eyes of Eugen and Aoba, Washington, laughing wildly as if she had found an interesting toy, hugged Baltimore as the six ship girls flew past in a flash, swaggering away.

Aoba lowered his head and mourned for Baltimore with a heavy heart.

Why write "Miss Baltimore" instead of "Miss Baltimore"? Because "Miss Baltimore" is a sensitive word.

Chapter 552 Veneto's Round

Xiaobai and the ship girls walked back to the courtyard of the naval base along the same path they had come from.

Along the way, the admirals, who usually just stood by and watched with envious expressions, were acting differently today.

The admirals on the road walked in twos and threes, whispering among themselves as they looked at Xiaobai and the ship girls behind her. In their envious eyes, besides the usual bitterness of watching the rich and powerful, there was also a bit of gossip and the sweet fragrance of being single.

"Yesterday's exercise has probably reached most of the admirals' ears by now," Akagi said with interest, looking at the admirals on the roadside beside Shiro.

"Uh..." Xiaobai nodded awkwardly.

Since artificial cities are, after all, facilities designed to combat the deep sea, it's easy for admirals to have very negative consequences if they start scheming against each other. Therefore, in order to resolve friction between admirals and maintain a stable environment, artificial cities provide training grounds for admirals to settle disputes.

However, even if a training ground is provided, the application process is quite complicated. And just like yesterday, whether you like it or not, you will inexplicably attract a large number of onlookers to watch your exercise in an inhumane way. So, just like Nia in the first chapter, unless there is an irreconcilable grudge between the admirals, they usually will not choose to conduct exercises in artificial cities.

After all, it's not a good look for either of them to lose, is it?

But that's precisely why yesterday's exercise between Shiro and a male admiral from a certain naval base attracted even more attention.

—In the eyes of many, it was a wonderfully dramatic family drama.

It not only allowed everyone present to witness the exciting battles between ship girls—cough cough, ship girl battles—but also to experience the twists and turns of the plot. In the end, we even saw the young admiral, with tears in his eyes, push his own ship girl to the enemy's naval base, sit and watch the lilies bloom, and then be pulled away by his own ship girl. With each step he looked back, his concerned expression was like a green light, almost tangible.

Unlike the life-or-death drills of the past, Xiaobai's refreshing and unconventional exercise piqued the curiosity of many admirals. Xiaobai's legend spread rapidly through the mundane routines of this artificial city.

“Baltimore is certainly living a glamorous life,” Lexington teased Little White.

"What's so glorious about it?"

"She'll marry into our garrison."

"..." Xiaobai's eye twitched.

This is the power of rumors. Because the admirals watching the battle lacked an objective understanding of the facts, they easily added subjective speculation when spreading information. The most serious example of this was the treatment Baltimore received upon entering the naval base.

In fact, Baltimore joined the newbie naval base as a rookie ship girl because a certain naval base's requester, Shiro, wanted to treat her well.

However, according to rumors, Baltimore's joining the naval base was a rather convoluted process. Simply put, in many people's eyes, Baltimore was brought home by the young man as his wife.

—When discussing the rewards for yesterday's exercise in Baltimore, the artificial cities of today jokingly add a line about the young mistress of the rookie naval base.

It's estimated that this news might even spread beyond the realm of artificial cities, reaching the entire world, thanks to the status of the newbie naval base as the world's number one naval base.

What can a novice do in this situation?

She can't just go up to everyone and say that Baltimore isn't her married ship, but just an ordinary ship girl from a newbie naval base.

"Lexington..."

"Okay, okay." Lexington shook his head with a smile, no longer teasing Little White.

Xiaobai and the ship girls returned to the courtyard of the naval base.

As soon as Xiaobai entered the courtyard, Luo Lian's voice rang out.

"Xiao Bai!" Luo Lian jumped out from the other side of the door in a flash, smiling as she grabbed Xiao Bai's shoulder. "You're back!"

"Lianlian?" Xiaobai looked at Luo Lian in surprise. "Did you need something from me?"

"Can't I contact you if there's nothing wrong?" Luo Lian asked.

"Sure," Xiaobai laughed. "But I haven't seen you for the past few days, and I thought something had happened to you."

"Yes, I was indeed busy these past few days, but it's all settled now." Luo Lian chuckled, then naturally wrapped her arms around Xiao Bai's waist. "Xiao Bai, if you don't mind, I'll stay here with you every day, okay?"

"Lianlian, you don't work?"

"What kind of work?"

"Accumulate merits by participating in autumn activities."

"Hmm, hmm, hmm—" Luo Lian thought for a while, then shook her head, "No need, I don't need this in the short term."

Xiao Bai looked at Luo Lian's face with curiosity.

Luo Lian's statement puzzled Xiao Bai a bit.

According to the admiral's notes left by Brother Xiaobai, new admirals are extremely lacking in resources. Before they can snowball their success by acquiring powerful, highly trained ship girls, the huge problem of earning merit points has stumped millions of newbies.

To be honest, Xiaobai was actually considering whether to discuss with Lexington about sharing some of Luo Lian's resources to help her get started.

However, judging from the current situation, it seems unnecessary.

Luo Lian wouldn't lie to Xiao Bai in a place like this. If she said she didn't lack merit, then she really didn't.

Luo Lian, seeing Xiao Bai staring at her face, put on an impeccable smile.

— Xiaobai's waist feels so soft and comfortable to touch.

After entering the courtyard, the ship girls dispersed, stretching and returning to their rooms. Several ship girls from the manga group secretly glanced at Luo Lian, then, after some thought, pretended not to know her, exchanged a few greetings with Xiao Bai, and left.

Saratoga then ran over to Xiaobai, his face darkening as he squeezed between Luo Lian and Xiaobai, reaching out to wrap his arms around Xiaobai's arm but refusing to hold her hand.

Suddenly, a familiar scene of lightning, thunder, and flying sand and stones filled Saratoga and Loretta with a series of crackling sounds.

However, subtly, Xiaobai also felt that this scene was not a big deal. So, quite naturally, he took a few steps back.

"Admiral." Just then, Veneto and Missouri arrived at Xiaobai's side one after the other.

"Veneto, is something the matter?" Xiaobai turned to look at Veneto.

"The weather's nice today, wanna go out for a stroll?" Veneto smiled at Little White.

“Okay.” Xiaobai nodded, then looked past Veneto and saw Missouri behind Veneto.

Missouri, with the humble demeanor of a younger sister, obediently followed behind Veneto. When she saw Xiaobai looking at her, she smiled naturally at him and said, "Thank you, Admiral."

"What are you thanking me for?"

"The Admiral's gaze is the greatest favor to Missouri."

Xiao Bai's face turned red after Missouri said that.

"Admiral, let's go out." Veneto reached out and gently pulled Xiaobai up, then gently dragged Xiaobai towards the door.

"Ah, I want to go too!" Saratoga, who was locked in a fierce eye battle with Luo Lian, noticed that Xiao Bai was about to be dragged away and quickly raised his hand towards Veneto.

"Saratoga, I'm sorry." However, Veneto rarely refused Saratoga. In Veneto's red eyes, a fighting spirit rose like a flame. She raised her left hand and slowly said to Saratoga, "Not today. Today is a wedding ship exclusive."

On Veneto's raised left hand, a gleaming ring shone brightly.

Saratoga suffered 10,000 points of damage. Saratoga was speechless with grief; Saratoga was on the verge of death.

After that, Veneto led Little White away from the yard.

Missouri bowed slightly to Saratoga and whispered "senior." After taking his leave, Missouri hurried towards the door with Little White and Missouri.

The time that followed could be described as an eternity for Luo Ritian and Sa.

After Xiaobai left the courtyard, it wasn't until the sun dipped low over the sea, rolling on the surface like a duck egg yolk, that Xiaobai and the wedding ships returned to the courtyard.

Veneto seemed to have no intention of continuing to possess Little White. After accompanying Little White back to the yard, she nodded to Little White and went back to her room.

"Little White!" Saratoga rushed to Little White's side, looking at him pitifully.

"What's wrong, Saratoga?"

“What have you all been doing?” Saratoga asked.

Xiao Bai thought for a while: "Well... I just wandered around and bought a few clothes and ate some desserts."

"Only this?"

“Yeah, it’s a man-made city after all. Even though it has everything, it still falls short compared to a real city,” Little White said with a smile, patting Saratoga’s head. “Ah…but…”

"But what?" Saratoga immediately became alert.