Elder brother's garrison

"Oh? Maid outfit?" Xiaobai's eyes lit up, and she nervously clasped her hands together, while her feet began to pac lightly under the chair.

"Does Xiaobai want to go take a look?" Lexington asked.

"Hmm... well, let's wait until work is finished..." Xiaobai thought for a moment, then patted her cheeks, quickly suppressing her somewhat turbulent emotions. "The naval base has been closed for four months. Today is the first day of reopening, so let's finish our work first..."

"You're starting to look more and more like an admiral." Lexington bent down, picked up a stack of documents several meters high from the ground, and placed them in front of Xiaobai. "By the way, speaking of which..."

"Ok?"

"Xiao Bai, did you accidentally call Shropshire 'Miss Deer Cry' again just now?"

"Uh..." Xiaobai blushed, turned her head to the side, and said shyly, "Well... I'm used to being called that in Yuncheng... I haven't gotten used to the new way of addressing you yet..."

“That won’t do.” Lexington smiled and held up a finger to Shiro. “Shropshire specifically told us that although she doesn’t mind the sisters in the naval base continuing to call her by her human name, Shiro, you are special as her admiral. She would prefer you to call her by her ship girl name.”

"I will try my best..." Xiaobai lowered her head in shame.

"Okay, let's get to work." Lexington smiled and walked to her secretary's desk.

Because Xiaobai received the highest order from the Admiral's Headquarters from Muyu, during the months Xiaobai was away on business in Yuncheng, the work at the Naval Base could be temporarily suspended, freeing them from endless and tedious paperwork. However, even though the Naval Base was closed, some special tasks that couldn't be refused still piled up as usual.

The mountain of documents, several meters high, now displayed on the small white table is a collection of documents accumulated during the months that the newbie naval base was closed, consisting of special tasks that could not be refused or avoided.

For example, there are the salary approvals for the naval base ship girls, the procurement of ingredients for the ship girl canteen, the daily reporting of oil, ammunition, steel, aluminum, and rapid repair equipment at the training grounds, and the occasional special requests from some ship girls, such as applications for household appliances. In addition, there are reports on the surrounding sea areas, the clearing of deep-sea gathering points, and the umpteenth time that Chairman Er Gou has applied for venue permission before holding a party at the naval base...

These tasks may seem trivial at first glance, but the number of ship girls in the newbie naval base has reached an astonishing level. Even if only one out of a hundred ship girls makes a request each day, such as buying new stockings after they've been torn, the daily workload is still enormous, especially considering that this work has been piling up for four months.

However, these are quite easy tasks for beginners.

Xiao Bai was scribbling away on his desk with a pen, and work reports flew from one side to the other in a line. In just ten minutes, the mountain of documents that was originally more than ten meters high had noticeably shrunk by one head.

Before I knew it, it was lunchtime.

The mountain of documents that had piled up on Xiaobai's desk has been cleared away by Xiaobai, leaving only a thin layer.

After finishing the last backlog of documents, Xiaobai tossed his pen onto the desk and let out a long sigh of relief.

"Phew... After accumulating four months' worth of work, it's really tiring."

Xiao Bai stood up from his chair, rubbing his shoulders as he looked at the neatly arranged files on the office floor, and felt a sense of relief.

"Okay! That means we've finished up all the backlog of work. We can start working on today's new tasks this afternoon!" Xiaobai muttered to herself, then turned her head to Lexington, who was squatting not far away sorting documents, and asked with a smile, "Can I leave the cleanup of these processed documents to you as usual, Lexington?"

"Okay, leave it to me." Lexington hugged the stack of completed documents and reports to his chest, turned around and smiled at Xiaobai, "Speaking of which, it's almost lunchtime, Xiaobai, why don't you take a rest too? Would you like some tea?"

“Okay.” Little White sat back in his chair and nodded expectantly at Lexington.

"The usual, is sweet tea alright?"

"Please!" Xiaobai nodded quickly.

Lexington smiled at Xiaobai, then walked to her desk with the documents in her arms, placed them on the table, and bent down to take out a tea tray from under the desk.

"How does it feel to be back at work?" Lexington asked as she walked up to Xiaobai with a tea tray in her arms, rinsing the teaware with hot water.

"Yeah, it's been so long since I've done this, I was a little rusty at first, but the more I did it, the more familiar I felt." Xiaobai nodded to Lexington, a confident expression on his face. "If I were to start all over again now, I can guarantee I could finish them two hours earlier!"

"As expected of you." Lexington smiled as she set out the tea set and said to Xiaobai, "Xiaobai, your work ability has now far surpassed mine. I'm starting to consider whether I should recruit a new secretary ship for you."

"Huh? Lexington, are you retiring?" Xiaobai was taken aback and quickly reached out to grab Lexington's wrist. "No way! You're the strongest ship girl in our naval base. I can't leave Lexington's help!"

"I'm still young, retirement is too far away for me." Lexington smiled and patted White's hand. "Don't worry, even if a new secretary ship comes, it will just be adding a new table to this room."

"Huh? So you mean..."

"Hmm... I'll think about it seriously." Lexington glanced back at the files scattered on the floor behind him. "Indeed, if I'm the only one working, I'm holding you back a bit in terms of work... Since I can't manage on my own, let's find a few more long-term helpers so that everyone can have an easier time."

Speaking of it.

Lexington turned around and smiled at Little White.

"Speaking of which, Xiaobai, have you ever heard of a concept called a secretariat in some of our counterparts' naval bases?"

"Secretariat Group? What does that mean?" Xiaobai was stunned.

"That is to say, the secretary ship is not served by a single ship girl," Lexington explained to Xiaobai. "Instead, it is served by multiple ship girls simultaneously, with one ship girl as the leader of the secretary ship and the other ship girls assisting the secretary ship, forming a small secretary team that can be more hierarchical, orderly, and comprehensively help the admiral handle his work."

"The world is full of wonders," Lexington smiled. "What do you think, Little White? Want to consider it?"

“The secretariat…” Xiaobai pondered, glancing cautiously at Lexington before looking down at the tea tray. “Hmm… actually, I think Lexington alone is enough… but if you think it’s alright, Lexington… I have no objections…”

“Then it’s settled. We’ll find some time later to discuss the secretariat with everyone at the naval base.” Lexington smiled playfully at Xiaobai. “Hmm… the secretariat can also help foster camaraderie among everyone, which is a good thing for you, Xiaobai. Otherwise… if you’re always looking at me in the office, you’ll get tired of it sooner or later.”

Chapter 2540 Special Training in Reputation

"Hmm—how could I possibly get tired of Lexington..." Upon hearing Lexington's words, Little White immediately pouted, "Even if it were Lexington saying that, I'd still get angry!"

"I was just kidding." Lexington couldn't help but chuckle at Xiaobai's sullen expression. "But if you have a secretarial team, having other fresh ship girl sisters to work with you shouldn't be a bad thing, right?"

"Hmm... well..." Xiaobai mumbled.

“Sometimes, learning from others’ strengths isn’t a bad choice,” Lexington said while arranging tea leaves. “Hmm… When secretarial groups first became popular in those naval bases, their original purpose wasn’t actually to help the admiral solve work problems. After all, the work of ordinary naval bases is far less demanding than ours. The reason those naval bases created secretarial groups was actually to indirectly satisfy the admiral’s desire to see more pretty girls every day. Although this sounds a bit frivolous, when you think about it calmly, it’s not a bad thing… After all… ah.”

Lexington stopped talking abruptly at this point.

Little White, who was listening intently to Lexington's words, asked curiously, "What's wrong?"

"..." Lexington looked up and smiled apologetically at Xiaobai. She held up the tea box in her hand, "It seems like we've run out of the sweet tea leaves we saved up before."

"Huh?" Xiaobai exclaimed in surprise.

“It’s all my fault,” Lexington sighed.

"No, no, no, it's just tea... If you don't want sweet tea, anything else is fine too..." Xiaobai quickly waved her hand.

“But Xiaobai, you don’t like other flavors, right?” Lexington put down the tea box, thought for a moment, and said to Xiaobai, “Hmm… it’s lunch break, so how about this, Xiaobai, you wait here for a bit, I’ll go to the shop where I bought the tea and buy some new tea…”

As Lexington finished speaking, he made a move to get up and walk towards the door.

Xiaobai quickly grabbed Lexington.

"Lexington!" Little White called out.

"Little White?" Lexington turned around.

"...Um...Let me go buy it." Little White grabbed Lexington's wrist and said earnestly, "You rest here, let me go buy it!"

"How can this be so embarrassing..."

“We’re family, what’s there to be shy about?” Xiaobai stood up, walked over to Lexington without another word, pushed her all the way to the admiral’s seat, and pressed her down. “It’s settled then, I’ll buy my own sweet tea leaves! Lexington, you just wait for me here!”

“Ah…” Lexington looked at Little White with some surprise.

"I'm an adult, you know," Xiaobai said seriously.

"...Xiao Bai, you're seventeen this year, right?"

"I'm twenty-two!" Xiaobai pulled out her ID card.

“That ID card…” Lexington smiled wryly, as if he wanted to say something.

"Alright, alright, it's settled then." Xiaobai patted Lexington on the shoulder, stuffed his ID back into his wallet, and said seriously, "You just wait for me here."

“…Well…” Lexington rubbed his shoulder and smiled slightly at Xiaobai, “Do you know where the store is located?”

"I have a map of the area within a hundred miles of the naval base memorized." Little White nodded to Lexington.

“Alright.” Lexington lowered her hands. “I’ll wait for you here.”

"Leave it to me! I'll definitely complete the mission!" Xiaobai nodded quickly, then glanced at the tea set on the tray and said to Lexington, "I'll try to be back before the tea gets cold!"

"...You can come back after it gets cold."

"I'm leaving!"

Xiao Bai slipped out of the admiral's office in a flash.

Lexington sat in White's seat, looking at the office door, and smiled.

"We're all family...that makes sense."

"Unbeknownst to us... Little White has grown up so much."

Lexington leaned back gently in her chair and closed her eyes.

A gentle breeze caused the flowers in the basket on the table to tremble slightly.

"If... I could have a daughter, and if she were a girl like Xiaobai... I would probably be overjoyed."

……

After leaving the office, Xiaobai touched his wallet, feeling a mix of emotions.

Speaking of which, because he was to take on the role of the newbie naval commander, Xiaobai's ID card was altered by Muyu's connections to show that he was 21 years old. More than a year has passed since Xiaobai took on the role of the newbie naval commander, and now Xiaobai is legally 22 years old, which is a perfectly legitimate adult from any perspective.

However, Xiaobai's biological age was sixteen when he became the admiral, and now, more than a year later, his biological age is about seventeen and a half.

This is why Lexington just said that Xiaobai is only seventeen years old this year.

Of course, there's nothing wrong with Lexington using the real age to calculate Xiaobai's age. However, there's a hidden problem: Lexington doesn't know that Xiaobai was once caught up in a time warp due to the will of the deep sea and spent more than half a year training in the world 500 years ago.

In other words.

If we include the six months of interruption, Xiaobai's real age is now eighteen years old and an adult.

Xiao Bai is already a flawless adult!

"Adults should do things that adults do... How can we let Lexington go out to buy tea and such..." Xiaobai muttered to himself as he pushed open the door of the admiral's office building.

Outside the admiral's office building, the sun shone brightly, and the weeping willows on both sides of the road were just sprouting, their tender green leaves swaying in the wind.

Xiaobai hadn't properly appreciated the scenery of the naval base in a long time, so she took advantage of this trip to buy tea to experience life here with her hands behind her back.

Xiao Bai was thinking.

Suddenly, clear pleas for mercy reached Xiaobai's ears.

"Reputation Boss... I... I can't stand up anymore..."

"My arms are so sore, waaaaah, they're so heavy..."

"It's going to break, my body is going to break..."

"Hmm?" Upon hearing the familiar voice, Xiaobai abruptly stopped and curiously looked in the direction of the sound. "This voice sounds...could it be..."

Xiaobai's gaze fell upon the corner of the newbie garrison's office building.

Behind the corner of the office building is a patch of lush vegetation. According to the newbie ship girls at the naval base, the scenery there is quite nice and it's a great place for a spring outing.

Curious, Xiaobai walked to the corner, leaned against the wall with one hand, and peeked over.

Sure enough, there was a spacious grassy area behind the corner of the building. A row of Deep Sea Deans dressed in maid outfits were standing on the grass. These Deep Sea Deans were holding buckets of water in both hands, stretching their arms out to both sides, trying to maintain a straight posture while constantly begging for mercy from the person in front.

Standing among all the Deans of the Deep Sea was the one with an elegant and composed demeanor.

"Boss, I...we can't lift it anymore..." Yamato's hands trembled, and his face turned red.

"You've only been resting in human society for four months, and your basic qualities as maids have already declined to this extent?" Renown closed her eyes and walked up to Yamato Abyss. "It seems that these four months have made you quite lax, even worse than the newcomers. You've forgotten your duties."

As he spoke, he pointed to a spot not far behind him.

The Dean of the Deep Sea and Little White, who was spying nearby, followed the direction of Reputation's finger and saw Shropshire standing peacefully under a willow tree, holding an overflowing bucket of water in both hands, his eyes closed, without the slightest tremor in his body.

A spring breeze blew by, and the petals drifted down and landed in the bucket in Shropshire's hand, floating on the water and creating ripples.

The visuals are extremely beautiful.

The directors of the deep-sea research institute were speechless.

“That girl… is qualified to be the head maid.” Reputation looked towards Shropshire, a rare hint of admiration in her eyes. Then she turned to the Deepsea Headmasters and said, “Do you know what’s most important for a maid?”

"You taught me, it's elegance!"

"That's right. As maids, our existence is the face of our masters." Reputation said to the Deans of the Deep Sea. "As a profession that serves our masters with our bodies and minds, our elegance is the elegance of our masters, and our manners are the manners of our masters. Therefore, no matter what, maintaining absolute elegance and absolute image at all times for the sake of our masters is a compulsory course for every maid."

At this point, Renown reached out and gently patted Yamato Abyss's arm.

Yamato shuddered.

"The use of ship equipment power is not allowed in today's training." Renown said to Yamato Abyss. "As a maid, the right way is to overcome difficulties with physical strength. The same principle applies to combat maids. If a maid becomes disheveled simply because she has lost the protection of ship equipment power, then she is ultimately just an external thing."

“Yes…” the Deans of the Deep Sea Academy said tremblingly.

"Hmm." Reputation nodded, turned around, and glanced at Little White, who was spying from a distance.

"!" Little White quickly shrank his head.

"..." Reign closed his eyes, bowed slightly to the empty corner, then turned to look at Deep Sea Yamato, "Today's training is temporarily suspended. Let's rest for half an hour."