Elder brother's garrison

"Ah."

"Hey! You really have an inspiration for a skill?" everyone exclaimed in surprise. "What specific insights did you gain? Can you tell us about them?"

The crowd gathered in front of the empire.

The Empire remained silent for a moment, as if recalling the exercise scene just now. After a few seconds, the Empire nodded confidently, then extended its palm and gave a thumbs-up to everyone.

"...Battleship, Commander."

The empire gave a thumbs-up and calmly addressed the crowd.

"..."

Everyone stared blankly at the Empire, waiting for it to continue.

The atmosphere was quite quiet for a moment.

"..."

"..."

"The Empire, and then what?"

"Gone."

"……That's it?"

"Hmm." The Empire lowered its hand.

"..." Everyone.

Ok.

It's quite normal for the Empire, as a new aircraft carrier, to have such thoughts about the intense exercises between Rome and Rodney. However, what everyone actually wants to hear is not just that statement.

"It seems the Empire will need a little more time to explore before it can unlock its skills," Yubari said to the Empire, rubbing the back of her head. A smile crept across her face. "But seriously! I also think battleships are absolutely awesome!"

The Empire nodded, fully agreeing with Yubari's statement.

“Now that the exercise is over, let’s leave.” Lexington breathed a sigh of relief. She patted Xiaobai on the shoulder and said to him, “Xiaobai, I’ll go back to the Admiral’s office and do some paperwork as usual. You go back to Bismarck’s place.”

"Admiral, I'm going home now!" Yubari stretched and yawned. "Although I still want to test the Empire's ship equipment in detail... the modifications these past few days have almost exhausted me. I want to get a good night's sleep."

"Yes! Thank you for your hard work." Xiaobai nodded gratefully to Lexington and Yubari.

Yubari and Lexington waved goodbye, and the two left the training ground together, disappearing over the horizon.

Only Little White and Veneto's family remained on the beach.

The waves crashed against the calm beach, and the faint smell of gunpowder was carried by the sea breeze, along with a slight warmth.

“Admiral, it’s already so late.” Veneto helped the Empire up with one hand and pressed the face of Rome, who was still clinging to him, with the other. He bowed respectfully to Little White and said, “We won’t disturb the Admiral’s rest any longer. Let’s go back…”

"Ah, Veneto, wait a moment." Just as Veneto was about to turn around and leave with his two sisters, Xiaobai quickly stepped in and called out to Veneto.

"Admiral?" Veneto looked at Xiaobai. "What's wrong?"

"Um... Veneto, don't go yet." Xiaobai scratched his cheek, looked at Veneto and the other two, thought for a moment, and smiled sheepishly. "Veneto, didn't we talk about visiting you after the Empire's transformation is complete?"

"Hmm...it seems so." Veneto nodded, his eyes flickering slightly. "Admiral, are you planning to come tomorrow? Or do we need to schedule a time later? Our schedules are quite flexible; you can come whenever you like, Admiral..."

"...Then let's do it now."

"..." Veneto was stunned. She blinked her wine-red eyes and stared blankly at Xiaobai. "What did you just say, Admiral?"

"I said, let's do it now," Xiaobai said to Veneto with a smile. "How about it, is that okay?"

"..." Veneto didn't speak, just stared at Little White, lost in thought.

"...Veneto? Uh...Is it really inconvenient?" Xiaobai asked.

“No.” Veneto answered instantly. She snapped back to reality, took a deep breath, released her grip on the Empire and Rome, ran a hand through her white hair, and lowered her gaze slightly. “However… the reason you chose this time to come, Admiral…”

"The reason? There's no reason... We were both going home anyway, and you were in front of me, so I had nothing to do. Then I thought, even though Veneto, you're my marriage ship, I've never properly visited your home before, so..." Xiaobai said shyly, glancing cautiously at Veneto, "Then... is that okay?"

Chapter 1779 Sarah's Alertness

"Of! Absolutely! Sure!" Before Veneto could reply, Roma, who was prostrate beneath Veneto, was the first to jump up and excitedly shout to Little White, "Admiral, don't worry, whenever you come to our house, it's absolutely no problem at all!! Our whole family, young and old, welcomes you!"

"Ah...that's great." Xiaobai smiled with relief. "I thought you were busy tonight because you weren't talking."

"Oh, it's just that happiness came so suddenly, I haven't quite caught up yet!" Roma waved his hand and laughed at Xiaobai. "Putting everything else aside, Big Sister is watching over us every day... oh dear!"

Before Rome could finish speaking, Veneto swiftly raised his hand and brought it down, his palm flashing in an arc as he slapped Rome on the forehead with a loud crack, causing Rome to clutch his head and cry out in pain.

"Ahem, Admiral, please don't mind her. Roma probably just finished an exercise with Rodney, so she's a little out of it for a short time." Veneto coughed lightly, pressed Roma's head down, and smiled slightly at Xiaobai. "Don't worry about Roma's words... Admiral, let's discuss what we need to do when we go to our house later."

"What are you doing?"

"It's so late, Admiral, have you had dinner yet?" Veneto asked Little White.

"Ah... I haven't eaten yet." Xiaobai smiled at Veneto. "But it's okay. If you don't have dinner for me at your house, Veneto, I can go to the cafeteria to buy a bento box and then come to your house."

“Forget about the bento box…” Veneto shook his head. “Since you haven’t had dinner yet, Admiral, why don’t you eat at my place?”

"Hey? Veneto, you can cook too?"

“Having spent some time in human society, I still have basic life skills.” Veneto pursed her lips at Little White.

"As expected of Veneto, he's really reliable," Xiaobai exclaimed.

“…Let’s go home, Admiral.” Veneto scratched his hair behind his ear, pulled Roma up, and smiled at Little White.

The dormitory buildings where Veneto and Roma lived were not in the same building as Bismarck's original residence; in fact, they were quite far apart.

However, the newbie naval base will never mistreat any ship girl. Even though Veneto and the Roman Empire are far apart, their family configuration is definitely no worse than Bismarck's before physical expansion.

Xiaobai followed Veneto into Veneto's dormitory building.

"Admiral, Admiral! Our house is just ahead!" Before everyone even reached the door, Roma eagerly pointed to the door of a room not far away, grinning at Xiaobai with obvious anticipation. "Just a few more steps! It'll be here soon!"

"Rome, keep a calm mind. The admiral coming to our house as a guest is just a normal little thing; you don't need to make such a fuss," Veneto said, his brow twitching slightly.

"Oh!" Roma quickly put his hand down and smiled sheepishly at Xiaobai. "It's because I was really looking forward to your arrival, Admiral... After all, I can't always be as calm and dignified as Big Sister."

"..."

Veneto ignored Rome's last sentence.

Veneto led everyone to the front of her house, and calmly took out the key from her ship's equipment space.

then.

In front of everyone, Veneto held the key in his hand and tried to pry it into the keyhole of the door for a long time. The key scratched and rattled on the lock plate, and for a while he was unable to get it right.

"...Boss, your hand is shaking." Roma, seeing Veneto frantically typing into the lock, curiously leaned over and noticed that Veneto's hand holding the key was trembling uncontrollably.

“Nonsense,” Veneto said calmly.

“…Big sister, you really are quite excited…” Roma looked at Veneto’s palm with an “I understand, I understand” expression, and was about to speak when Veneto’s fierce glare made him close his mouth. “Uh…no, nothing…I didn’t say anything.”

"Hmph." Veneto snorted softly, reached out his other hand to grasp his trembling right hand, and pushed the key in.

There was a click.

The door opens.

What came into Xiaobai's view was a very clean and tidy corridor. The decorations in the corridor were modern and stylish, reminiscent of the interior design of a wealthy family in a TV drama.

"Admiral, welcome." Veneto held the door open and smiled faintly at Xiaobai. "...Please come in."

"Okay!" Little White nodded and went into Veneto's house.

-

at the same time.

Kilometers away.

The door to the Bismarck's house opened with a click.

Upon hearing the door open, a series of hurried footsteps echoed from the living room. Saratoga excitedly ran out of the living room, holding onto the sliding door to welcome the front door.

"Little White! You're back, welcome back... Huh?" Saratoga, who was about to be the first to welcome Little White home, suddenly froze when she saw who opened the door, her big blue eyes filled with confusion and disappointment.

"Hey... what kind of look is that... can't I even go home after get off work...?" Deep Sea Yamato, leading a group of Deep Sea maids who were leaving get off work, looked at Saratoga with a helpless expression at the gate. "Even if it's just pretending, you could at least say 'welcome home' to me... I work really hard, you know."

As she muttered to herself, Yamato Fukami entered the room. The first thing she did upon entering was to lean against the wall, lift the hem of her skirt, and then pull down a long pair of black stockings from under her long skirt.

"Ugh... Being a maid is so tiring, going to work is so tiring, wearing this uniform is so tiring, this outfit doesn't let in any air at all... It's almost winter and it's still stuffy like summer inside the skirt... I'm definitely going to write a complaint to Lexington about them abusing their employees..."

Deep Sea Yamato clutched the hem of her skirt, revealing two long, bare, snow-white legs. As she spoke, she fanned her legs incessantly, complaining about work like a corporate slave who had just finished their shift.

Several deep-sea maids followed Yamato into the corridor, making the spacious corridor almost impassable.

Saratoga stared longingly behind the deep-sea maids, hoping to catch a glimpse of Shiro, but even after the last maid, Yamato, entered the room and closed the door, Saratoga still hadn't seen Shiro.

"Ugh--"

Saratoga's head drooped immediately. She listlessly turned her hips and wobbled back into the living room.

Return to the living room.

Tirpitz and Enterprise were sitting cross-legged in front of the game console, playing a multiplayer game.

"What's wrong? It wasn't Little White who came back?" Tirpitz asked, turning to Saratoga as he continued operating the game, his gaze lingering on Saratoga's dejected face.

“Hmm…” Saratoga lowered her head and pouted, “How did you know…”

"It's written all over your face..."

"Ugh..." Saratoga muttered as she sat back down next to Tirpitz. "Little White is usually home by now, why isn't she back yet... Is she working overtime again?"

"Who knows, after all, I'm just a shut-in. (Artistic II Phosphorus Umbrella (IV))"

"Don't you live with Xiaobai every day? You should have some experience, right?"

“…” Tirpitz glanced at Saratoga, giving her an expression that said, “I can’t be bothered with you.”

Saratoga hadn't expected to get any information from Tirpitz.

However, Saratoga was still a little annoyed by Tirpitz's disdainful look. She pouted and poked Tirpitz's waist with her finger.

Tirpitz's loin is very soft and delicate, and feels great to the touch when poked.

Furthermore, Tirpitz is surprisingly sensitive to his waist; if Saratoga touches it, Tirpitz will definitely flinch.

“…I’m in control.” Tirpitz, who was fighting against Enterprise, shuddered and spoke to Saratoga.

"I know."

"...The situation is critical."

"Yeah, I know that too."

"...Please let me go, it's so itchy."

"Hmph." Saratoga hummed softly, but still withdrew her hand.

Chapter 1780 Suppression of Rank

After Saratoga released her grip, Tirpitz's somewhat distorted controls returned to normal. She breathed a sigh of relief, rubbing the buttons on the controller while glancing at Saratoga beside her.

Saratoga hugged her legs, pouted, and drooped her head, just like a little puppy waiting patiently at home for its owner to come home from get off work.

"...Little White isn't going to stay away forever, she's just a little late... Haven't you seen enough of her these past few days while you've been staying at my house every day?" Tirpitz asked Saratoga.

“It’s not a matter of whether I’ve seen enough or not.” Saratoga shook her head and said seriously to Tirpitz, “It’s so dangerous for Little White to be out there alone! I’m worried that she might get kidnapped if she comes home so late!”

"..." Tirpitz looked helpless. "...Are you sure you were serious about what you just said?"

"Huh?" Saratoga tilted her head.

"No matter what, she's an admiral, how could she be kidnapped in a naval base full of her own people..." Tirpitz said, "Besides, who can beat Shiro with her combat power? Even if it were kidnapping, it would be her who actively kidnapped someone, right?"

"Little White... abducted someone else?"

"Yes."

"...Wouldn't that be even more dangerous!" Saratoga looked worried and anxious, her blonde hair swinging in the air. "If there are more ship girls around Xiaobai, wouldn't that mean there will be more formidable opponents like Missouri... If the situation gets worse, Xiaobai will be able to get up in a different ship girl's bed every day!"

"...You're surprisingly weird."

"Don't be a pervert! Don't you think what I said makes sense?!" Saratoga patted Tirpitz lightly on the shoulder. "That's why I have a reason to worry about Little White!"

"Hmm... but even if you say that, I still don't know where Little White is..." Tirpitz said helplessly. "Why don't you ask someone else? Or maybe have Enterprise get lost and lead you to find her? The others should be able to..."

Just as Tirpitz was speaking to Saratoga.