I, Yuhaka, am hungry!

"Don't worry, Youyou, you're strong! You won't lose! Your teammates will be back soon! So, cheer up!"

After hearing Yuhaka's encouragement, everyone present perked up a bit, and Z23 rubbed his temples slightly and said:

“You’re right. Saving our comrades in the port is the most important thing right now. We don’t have time to waste on our disappointment.”

After hearing Z23's words, everyone nodded in understanding. Then, Javelin looked at Z23 and asked:

"So, z23-chan, what should we do now?"

Regarding the javelin issue, Z23 quickly issued instructions, stating:

"Just like Siren said, it would be better for us to try to gather a group of barbarians first. According to Siren, it's like a strategy game: we develop our troops, collect resources, and then attack."

Upon hearing Z23's words, Mutsu excitedly raised his little hand and shouted:

"Ahhh! I know Mutsu! It's like a live-action Sengoku period game! I've played it with Isokaze and the others!"

Upon hearing Mutsu's words, Z23 scratched his cheek, looking a little embarrassed, and said:

"Uh... I guess that's how it is? I've never played that type of game before..."

Then, as if changing the subject, Z23 looked at Ayanami and asked:

"Ayanami, have you ever played this kind of strategy game? What are your thoughts on it?"

Upon hearing Z23's question, a slightly excited Ayanami nodded and replied:

"Yes! Ayanami has played a lot of strategy games about the Warring States period, and most of them involved dominating the entire country!"

As she spoke, Ayanami gave a thumbs-up. Seeing Ayanami's confident demeanor, Z23 probably thought that Ayanami was very good at that type of game, although he was a little worried...

...........................................................................

Under Z23's command, the barbarian foes quickly submitted to the rule of Yuhaka and the others, and the barbarian foes of the other ship girls also quickly submitted to Yuhaka and the others, without any hesitation. They truly lived up to their reputation as barbarian foes.

Of course, that wasn't the reason. It was because Yuhaka's cooking was so delicious that the main reason the Manju quickly defected was that.

In a small wooden cabin, which was being used as a makeshift meeting room, z23 spread out a worn-out map on the table and spoke to the others:

This is where we are right now.

As she spoke, Z23 pointed to the end of the long island. To be honest, after seeing their location, Z23 felt that it was an excellent spot, since being at the end meant they wouldn't have to worry about being surrounded by enemies from all sides.

"The current situation is quite good, but the only drawback is that our foundation is too weak."

Just as z23 said, the area that Yuhaka and her group currently occupy is only a small piece of land, consisting of only a few acres of farmland. Of course, there are some good things, namely the lush forests surrounding the area and the nearby river that is close to the sea, which makes it quite good for Yuhaka and her group to obtain wood resources and fish-related information. However, the only difficulty is that Yuhaka and her group cannot obtain enough mineral resources, which makes it very difficult for z23 and her group to arm the Manjuu troops and build sturdy stone walls and fortresses.

It's understandable that z23 would think that way, since most castles in medieval Europe were made of stone. However, z23 forgot one thing: this is Sakura Empire. The style of castles in Sakura Empire is completely different from that of European castles. You should know that castles in Sakura Empire are basically made of stone for the lower half, while the upper half is built with wood.

It would be virtually impossible for the Sakura Empire to adopt the European method of building castles.

Ayanami looked at Z23 with a puzzled expression after hearing his words and said:

"Really? Ayanami thinks the resources in this area are pretty good?"

Upon hearing Ayanami's words, Z23 looked at her with a puzzled expression. To be honest, she couldn't figure out why Ayanami would say that the resources here were good.

"Hmm? Is that so??? Uh... well, anyway, we must develop our power as soon as possible. If Yuudachi and her troops don't occupy this place, the other side will definitely send another force over."

Upon hearing Z23's words, Mutsu, who was standing to the side, looked at Z23 with a puzzled expression and said:

"Huh? Wouldn't that be even better? If Yuudachi comes over, we can contact her, right?"

Z23 shook his head at Mutsu's innocent words, and said with a serious expression:

"No, I don't think things are as simple as we believe. After all, the Sirens won't let us solve the problem here so easily."

Upon hearing Z23's words, everyone present nodded in agreement. Indeed, as Z23 said, they didn't think the Sirens would obediently complete their mission smoothly. Perhaps Yuudachi and the others had already been controlled, but it shouldn't be a big problem, right?

P.S.: I had insomnia again last night. I lay in bed for two hours without falling asleep. I don't know if it's because the temperature has risen, but I felt a bit hot and couldn't sleep. In the end, I was forced to get up and write. I really don't know what to say.

Volume 1 [Lazy to Divide into Chapters]: Chapter 1514 [Siren: Hehe, let's recruit a few more ship girls]

Regardless, Ehaka and her group began setting up their base. They collected a large amount of wood from the surrounding area, and Ehaka used her super strength to chop down trees. She started by using an axe to chop down trees, but when the axe broke, Ehaka simply kicked the trees in half with her feet.

Watching Yuhaka kick the tree down, Ayanami looked at her own machete with a puzzled expression. For some reason, Ayanami felt that her machete was not as strong as Yuhaka's foot.

Regardless, Ayanami was still wielding her large cleaver to chop down trees. To be honest, Ayanami hadn't expected to be ordered by Z23 to chop down trees.

Soon, with Ayanami and Yuhaka's rapid tree-cutting speed, they had enough wood to make the wooden wall. The remaining work of processing the wood could be left to Banjuu, since Banjuu was also very fast at these processing activities. In less than a day, they were able to make the materials needed for the wooden wall.

After the timber was prepared, the Manju quickly erected it to build a wooden wall. Of course, to facilitate the Manju archers, the Manju also set up arrow towers and high platforms. Looking at the completed wooden wall, Z23 and the others nodded in satisfaction and said:

"Hmm! Not bad. This way, we can at least withstand small-scale attacks."

Although Yhaka is very strong and can easily take down a large number of enemies, the current situation is not one where a single person can decide the outcome.

According to the instruction manual brought by a Manjuu, there is a rule that clearly states that there are flags at the locations of some strongholds and positions. If the Manjuu or ship girls replace these flags with their own faction's flags, they can occupy these strongholds. Therefore, the Manjuu force can be said to be indispensable.

After all, the larger the area occupied by Yuhaka and the others, the more manpower they will need, and even they, as ship girls, will find it difficult to manage those areas.

So we had no choice but to leave it to those barbarian tribes to manage.

After completing the building defenses, Yuhaka and her group began working on the weapons. Since their base was just a small village, the Manju here only had some farm tools, which were insufficient against a proper Manju army.

Although the captured Manju troops were brought under the command of Yuhaka and her group, the number of troops was still far from enough, and the troops were only armed with simple spears and foot soldiers.

Since there were no attacking units at a distance, Z23 had the Manjuu make some bows and arrows. Of course, due to the lack of materials, it was impossible to make a large number of bows and arrows.

However, Yubari did come up with something quite remarkable: a torsion catapult. It was a good thing, as all it required was placing stones into the catapult's crater. The only problem was that even for Manjuu, it was difficult to operate; it required several Manjuu to control it. For ship girls, it was manageable, but seeing this, Yubari couldn't help but show a slightly troubled expression and said:

"Hmm... I knew it. But we can improve it a bit, and then it won't be a problem for the Manjuu to use it."

Upon hearing Yubari's words, Z23 naturally nodded. Siege weapons like this could be quite useful against large numbers of enemy troops. However, it was a pity that they didn't have enough Manju to use this siege weapon.

Fortunately, we only need to focus on defense now, and at least we don't need to worry about having too few players.

Then came the issue of weapons and armor. Due to a lack of metal, Yuhaka and her group were unable to produce enough ironware and metal armor. However, Yuhaka had at least found a mine, and they could send out a group of Manju to collect resources.

However, it's a pity that we can't expect to get a large amount of metal in the short term.

After a busy day, everyone went to soak in an open-air hot spring. Here, Yuhaka and the others were enjoying the warm hot spring with relaxed expressions.

"Ah~ Soaking in the hot spring after a long day feels so good~"

Javelin let out a sigh and said this, while Ayanami, standing beside her, nodded with narrowed eyes and said:

"Yes, that would be even better with a glass of milk after my bath!"

Then, as if remembering something, Ayanami suddenly opened her eyes, looked at Z23 beside her, and asked:

"Speaking of which, what's the name of our faction? It seems we haven't prepared any flags, symbols, or a faction name, have we?"

Hearing what Ayanami said, the ship girls present were stunned. Indeed, just as Ayanami said, they did not have a name or flag for their faction. They only remembered it after Ayanami mentioned it.

After hearing what Ayanami said, z23 sat up and said with a serious expression:

"By the way, speaking of which, it seems we haven't decided on a name for our faction yet. If that's the case, how about we just use the name and flag of Azur Lane?"

After hearing Z23's suggestion, everyone seems to think it's credible, right?

After all, they belong to the Azur Lane faction, so there's nothing wrong with calling themselves Azur Lane. However, for some reason, they also felt a little regretful, since they missed the vote on the name and flag design. But Z23's suggestion was at least quite good. With this name, they might be able to attract other ship girls with this reputation. If some of the ship girls on this side are not under control, then their faction name and flag could also attract some of their comrades to join them, which would be a good thing.

"In that case, my sisters will be able to hear it too, right?"

Hearing Z23's suggestion, Mutsu echoed the sentiment. Z23, looking somewhat troubled, rubbed her head and said:

"No, that's not necessarily true. The specific situation depends on whether the other party is under the control of the Sirens and their ilk..."

At this point, the atmosphere became somewhat heavy. Although some ship girls had fought against controlled comrades before, it was better to avoid such experiences.

...............................................................................

While Yuhaka and the others were in the Mirror Space, less than an hour had passed outside. At the Sakura Empire's defense base, Mikasa was looking at the sea chart in front of her. According to the reports from the drones, the intelligence from the Fog Fleet was vague, as if they were waiting for an opportunity. This made Mikasa's expression turn serious. If it weren't for the fierce battle between the Sirens and the Fog Fleet earlier, Mikasa would have suspected that the Mirror Space was a joint effort by the Fog Fleet and the Sirens.

Just then, Mikasa's communication bracelet rang. She frantically tapped on it, looking somewhat troubled, and said:

"As expected... I'm not very good at using these high-tech gadgets... huh?"

Looking at the message displayed on their wristbands, it showed that several ship girls from other factions had also gone missing. After the last time when several people were inexplicably abducted by the Sirens, Azur Lane had been on high alert, but they didn't expect that the Sirens would still abduct a few people. This made the flagships of Azur Lane very angry.

Seeing this, Mikasa felt a sense of unease, so she sent people to investigate who among the Sakura Empire's people had gone missing. Soon, Mikasa learned that several more people had disappeared, which gave her an urge to draw her sword and kill them.

P.S.: I've restored the word count to 2500. I'll go to bed early tonight and get up early tomorrow to write more. By the way, I'll quit Honkai Impact 3, Genshin Impact, and Punishing: Gray Raven. The more I play them, the less I understand what's so fun about them. If it's just about the story, I can just watch it online. And once I stop playing those money-grabbing mobile games like Honkai Impact 3 and Genshin Impact, I suddenly feel like I'll have plenty of money left by the end of the month.

If you have time, you can also do some tabletop role-playing games or paint tabletop role-playing pieces, or even make tabletop role-playing game scenes with clay. Although I'd like to create a Genshin Impact tabletop role-playing game or an Arknights tabletop role-playing game, it's a bit of a pity that it's not easy to do without detailed rules, especially with the unstable settings of Vision and Originium Arts.

Volume 1 [Lazy to Divide into Chapters]: Chapter 1515 [However, Z23 overestimated the enemy]

On Yuhaka's side.........

Yuhaka and the others were also unaware of the situation outside, but this did not significantly affect their actions.

As night fell, apart from the ship girls of the Sakura Empire, no one was very familiar with sleeping on tatami mats. Of course, the two bunny aliens, who were both very sleepy, naturally sneaked over to Yuhaka's side. Since Yuhaka was also not very familiar with sleeping on the floor, she simply took out a bunch of soft animal hides from her dimensional portal and piled them up like a bird's nest. Then, Yuhaka curled up inside and huddled together.

Meanwhile, Raffi and Vicious also set their sights on Yohaka's blankets and crawled in together. After all, sleeping on soft animal hides was definitely much more comfortable than sleeping on the floor, and with Yohaka's body temperature acting like a little biological heater, it was incredibly comfortable on such a cold night.

Yuhaka didn't mind squeezing in with Raffi and Vicious, since Yuhaka used to do the same with Yurin, Yuki, and Little Titi.

By noon the next day, Yuhaka and the others received a report from the reconnaissance team responsible for detection and surveillance. A large force of Manju was heading this way, but no ship girls were following.

Upon hearing this news, Z23 stroked his chin thoughtfully and said:

"Is there only one large squadron of Manju? Didn't Yuudachi and the others come along?"

Z23 was somewhat puzzled by this intelligence. Based on her understanding, if her subordinates didn't return to report, Z23 would also send someone and a unit to investigate. However, considering Yuudachi and the others' intelligence... well, Z23 also felt that it wasn't impossible for them to do so...

"They might just be a reconnaissance force. After all, the previous troops didn't reply, so they're probably unaware of the situation here. Given their personalities, they might think the Manjuu troops forgot to report..."

After hearing what Z23 said, Ayanami and the others thought about Yuudachi and the others' personalities for a moment, and they also felt that what Z23 said made a lot of sense.

The group then prepared to engage this wave of Manju troops. According to the Manju reconnaissance report, this wave of Manju troops, in addition to carrying spears, also included a group of Manju archers with bows and arrows, and that was it.

After hearing the report from the Manju scouts, everyone felt that these Manju were no match for them. Indeed, in a sense, these Manju were no match for Yuhaka and the others. If their numbers were more than ten times greater, the ship girls who couldn't fully deploy their ship equipment might also be overwhelmed.

As the Manju troops appeared in their field of vision, Z23 and the others hid behind the wooden city wall and watched the Manju troops slowly approach. Upon seeing the Manju troops, Z23 and the others realized that the Manju seemed to be on a picnic rather than coming to fight.

Seeing this, Z23 looked at Yuhaka and asked:

"Youyou, can you sense the other person's hostility?"

Hearing Z23's words, Yuhaka glanced at the distant Manjuu forces and shook her head at Z23, indicating that she didn't sense any hostility. This made Z23 and the others look puzzled. Z23 herself looked puzzled, stroked her chin, and said something:

"Could it be that the enemy hasn't realized their troops have been defeated yet?"

Thinking of this, Z23 and the others couldn't help but break out in a cold sweat. Obviously, they hadn't expected that Yuudachi and the others hadn't noticed the situation here. They probably thought that the barbarian farmers in the village couldn't possibly defeat their foot soldiers.

So it's very possible that these troops were sent by them to guard this place?