Elder brother's garrison

“…” Richelieu.

Although the result was indeed like this, I still feel that the process was different.

Where should we begin to explain this...?

Richelieu looked at Succouv with a troubled expression. Just as she was about to explain, she suddenly glanced down at the time as if sensing something.

“Ah, it’s time.” Richelieu stood up and gave a slight bow to Succouv. “I have an appointment with Admiral Lu Lin. I need to meet her at her office at 9:30 this morning… Succouv, um… well, I’ll explain this to you when I get back…”

"Hey! No, don't go!" Upon hearing that Richelieu was going to see the admiral, Sukoff immediately stood up and grabbed Richelieu's sleeve. "You...you...you're just going to see the admiral like this?"

“Yes…” Richelieu nodded blankly.

“…Damn it, the Admiral has completely fooled you…” Succou bit her lip. She thought for a while, then gave a look that said she was ready to risk everything, and quickly said, “I! I’ll go with you too!”

"Sukuf?"

"I want to go too! I need to find out what's going on. If the admiral really tricked you into coming to the naval base, I will never agree to it!" Succouv said, pulling Richelieu along. "You're my good friend! Even the admiral... can't... bully you!"

“…Sukuv…” Richelieu looked at Sukuv with emotion.

“…Riccioli…” Sukuv also looked at Richelieu with tears in his eyes.

An atmosphere of friendship began to brew.

"...But, Sukoff, don't you get weak in the knees when you see Admiral Lu Lin? Can you really disobey Admiral Lu Lin's orders?" Richelieu asked with concern.

"You're so long-winded!"

The atmosphere of friendship shattered instantly.

……

A few minutes later, Richelieu and Sukuv arrived at the admiral's office together.

Knocking on the door of the admiral's office, Lexington opened it with a warm smile.

"Richelyu, you're here." As soon as Lexington saw Richelieu standing at the door, she immediately gave her a very happy smile. "Little White told me about yesterday this morning. Congratulations on finally becoming a ship girl in our naval base. Come, come—Little White and I have been waiting for you for a long time. Come in quickly."

Richelieu looked at the smile on Lexington's face and, for some reason, felt a shyness as if she had been seen through. She gave Lexington a brief bow and then walked into the admiral's office with her head down.

Just as Lexington was about to close the door, he saw Sukuv tiptoe up with Richelieu.

“Oh dear, what a rare guest.” Lexington looked down at Sukup.

“Mrs. Lexington, good morning!” Upon seeing Lexington, Sukoff immediately tensed up. She stammered, standing at attention, and said to Lexington in a fearful, low voice, “Uh… um… I… I… I… I am…”

“It seems you don’t trust your friend. Then come in together.” Lexington understood Sukoff’s meaning at a glance. She smiled gently and opened the door a crack.

Sukoff quickly ducked under Lexington's arm and slipped into the admiral's office.

Succouf spent not much longer in the naval base than Richelieu, and during that time, he actually entered the admiral's office very few times.

However, the fact that he rarely entered the admiral's office did not mean that Sukuff was unfamiliar with the place.

On the contrary.

The layout of the admiral's office, even the pattern of every single floor tile, was extremely clear and vivid in Sukoff's mind.

Upon entering the admiral's office, Sukup looked up towards the admiral's desk.

Right in Sukoff's line of sight, Xiaobai, dressed as an admiral, was sitting amidst a mountain of heavy documents. The pen in her hand moved rapidly as if an engine had sped up, and with a swish, one completed document after another flew out of Xiaobai's hand. These documents flew and piled up under the table, growing higher and higher.

"Richelyu, you're here." Xiaobai looked up at Richelieu as he walked into the office, her gaze sweeping over Richelieu's face before landing on Succou. "Huh? Succou? You're here too?"

Xiao Bai's gaze was one of surprise and pure joy.

Sukup's fair face flushed red, and she felt her body inexplicably hot, her legs went weak.

"what……"

Sukuv staggered a couple of steps and leaned against Richelieu.

"Please find a seat." Xiaobai looked at Xukufu's disheveled appearance and gave her an apologetic smile. Then she pointed to the sofa behind her. "Wait for me for two minutes. I'll finish the documents in my hand soon."

"Ah."

Richelieu helped Sukuv sit down on the sofa.

Perhaps because she was a little further away from Xiaobai, the blush on Sukup's face faded a bit. She sat on the sofa, lowered her head, bit her lip, and gently rubbed her thighs with both hands.

“I…I’m sorry…Ricelius…” Sukuv said in a dejected whisper.

"Ok?"

“I came here to help you get justice… but, but I became a burden the moment I walked in…” Sukup said, pinching her thigh. Red marks quickly appeared on her snow-white flesh as she gritted her teeth and whispered, “Damn it… this body becomes disobedient as soon as it sees the Admiral, I hate it so much…”

“…” Richelieu smiled at Sukuv.

Although Succouv turned into this as soon as he entered the admiral's office, Richelieu was actually quite moved.

After all, in the past, Sukuff would run away at the mere mention of Admiral Lu Lin. She would avoid Admiral Lu Lin day and night, let alone go to the Admiral's office to face him face to face... Now that she has actually mustered up the courage to come here because of her own affairs, then no matter what the outcome is, it can prove that Sukuff really cares about her dear friend.

Richelieu reached out and gently rubbed Sukuf's thigh, which was covered in red marks.

"It's okay, I..."

“The last time Succouv came to the Admiral’s office was when he had just come out of the construction device, wasn’t it?” Just then, Lexington walked up to Richelieu and Succouv with two cups of tea in her hand. She put down her teacup, sat down directly opposite them, and smiled as she studied Succouv and Richelieu’s expressions. “Life is unpredictable. I never expected that Succouv would come here again in this kind of situation.”

Richelieu and Sukuv quickly straightened up and sat upright.

“Don’t be so formal. After all, from today onwards, we’re family.” Lexington smiled again at the two’s stiff behavior and pushed the teacup toward Richelieu and Sukoff. “Have some tea. I brewed it myself.”

"……Thanks."

"...Thank you, Mrs. Leigh..."

Succouv and Richelieu carefully picked up their teacups and took a sip.

Richelieu rarely drank tea, but the tea brewed by Lexington was the kind of tea that exuded sophistication with just one sip.

“It’s delicious…” Richelieu said.

"Thank you for the compliment." Lexington looked at Richelieu with a smile, her gaze sweeping over Richelieu's face, neck, chest, waist... her face full of satisfaction. "Richard, do you know? When you first arrived at the naval base, I secretly made a bet with Reputation about you."

“A bet?” Richelieu looked up.

"Well, Reputation and I bet on when you'll escape from the naval base," Lexington said, cupping her cheeks in her hands, her tone unusually amiable. "Do you know how long each of us bet?"

“…” Richelieu held up his teacup and shook his head.

"Reputation thinks you can stay at the naval base for ten years," Lexington said. "After ten years, you probably won't be able to stand the imprisonment and will secretly find a chance to escape."

“…” Richelieu swallowed hard and looked at Lexington.

"And me? I'm betting... my whole life." Lexington pointed at herself and said with a smile, "What I told Repulse was that rather than being locked up in the naval base for ten years, Richelieu, you'll eventually become one of our naval base's ship girls, and then there won't be any difference between running away and not running away. Looking at it this way, it seems I was right after all. Repulse is going to have to treat me to a nice afternoon tea today."

"..."

Richelieu put down his teacup, an embarrassed and shy look on his face, and he rubbed his hands together helplessly.

No wonder Lexington stared at me with that all-knowing, smiling look when I first saw her…

So Lexington had foreseen his current fate all along...?

Chapter 2709 A Special Commemoration of Richelieu

“Although Richelieu was captured and brought here, she has realized her mistakes and is atoning for her sin of kidnapping the Admiral!” Just then, Succou hurriedly put down her teacup and said nervously to Lexington, “Um… um… Mrs. Lexington, our… our naval base respects every ship girl, right? So forcing Richelieu to join the naval base is wrong!”

“Sukuv—” Richelieu looked at Sukuv in a panic.

"Oh dear, it seems our little one has something to say." Lexington showed no surprise whatsoever; she simply nodded gently, looking at Succouv with a smile, and said, "So, Succouv, do you think Richelieu was forced to join the naval base by Little White?"

“Because Richelieu told me that as long as I become a ship girl in the naval base, I can see Jean Bart!” Succouv mustered her courage and nervously looked at Lexington, saying, “That…that…I…I think this is a form of coercion!”

“I see.” Lexington nodded, then looked at Richelieu. “Riceleu, do you think Little White forced you?”

"No, no, no, no—" Richelieu quickly waved his hands, "It was my own choice!"

“Succouv, Richelieu said she did it voluntarily.” Lexington smiled at Succouv.

“Ricelia… well, it’s possible she was deceived by the Admiral!”

“Richardius, Succouv said you were tricked by the Admiral.” Lexington shook his head and looked at Richelieu.

“No, no! Absolutely not!” Richelieu shook his head frantically. “I begged Admiral Lu Lin to take me in!”

“Oh dear—this is getting interesting.” Lexington cupped his cheeks and grinned.

Xiaobai finally finished processing the documents. She gently rubbed her shoulders and came to Lexington's side. She looked at Richelieu and Succouv sitting next to each other across the coffee table and blinked.

"Huh? You guys were having a lively chat just now. What were you talking about?" Xiaobai naturally sat down next to Lexington, gently placing one hand on Lexington's thigh, and asked Richelieu and Sukoff.

"Awoo—" Sukuf's body went limp, and he collapsed into Richelieu's arms in an instant.

"Little White, Surcouf is very concerned about Richelieu. She just kept asking us, 'Little White, did you go against Richelieu's wishes and use trickery or coercion to make her become our ship girl?'" Lexington said to Little White with a smile.

"Haha, is that so?" Xiaobai laughed when she heard this. She turned to Richelieu and Succou and said, "How could that be? I respect Richelieu's opinion very much. Well, there was indeed a trigger for her becoming our ship girl."

As Xiaobai finished speaking, her gaze turned to Sukup.

Nestled in Richelieu's arms, Sukup was blushing, breathing heavily as she weakly stared at Little White with eyes full of embarrassment.

Xiaobai smiled and looked at Sukuf.

"I won't bully Richelieu," Little White smiled at Succou. "Trust me! I promise you in the name of the Admiral."

"..." Sukup's eyes were filled with tears. She opened her mouth to Little White, but she couldn't resist the tingling sensation all over her body. In the end, she could only turn her head and hug Richelieu.

Although Sukupov didn't say anything.

But Xiaobai, Lexington, and even Richelieu all seemed to sense that the resistance that had been lingering around Sukupov's body had vanished without a trace.

"Even though you're taking Richelieu as your own ship girl, it's more like marrying your daughter off to your mother-in-law," Lexington teased Xiaobai. "Xiaobai, did you win over Succou with your sincerity? Congratulations, congratulations!"

"No way—" Xiaobai smiled as well.

Surcouf is, in the end, Shiro's ship girl. Although due to those "accidents" in the past, Surcouf developed some special feelings of antagonism towards Shiro, in the end, it still comes down to this: no matter what, Surcouf is Shiro's ship girl. During the two years she lived in the naval base, she also witnessed firsthand how Shiro managed the naval base and how he got along with his own ship girls.

— Richelieu knows what kind of admiral Xiaobai is, but doesn't Sukuf know?

—At this point, it's all just stubborn pride.

However, pride has always been afraid of genuine feelings. Faced with Xiaobai's straightforward gaze, no matter how much Sukup wanted to resist Xiaobai, he ultimately couldn't bring himself to say a single "no".

Ultimately, he was too weak, Sukuv.

“Since even Succouv has no objections, then Richelieu can be considered to have officially joined the naval base, right?” Lexington smiled and clasped his hands together, then took out a registration form from behind his clothes and placed it on the table. “Riceleu, this is our naval base’s employment application form. Would you like to fill it out yourself or have us fill it out for you?”

“I, I’ll do it myself—” Richelieu quickly bent down, picked up the pen on the table, and began to write on the job application form.

“If it’s about ship girls, just write ‘civilian ship girls’,” Lexington reminded Richelieu. “It’s best not to write anything about Osmanthus on it.”

“…Hmm.” Richelieu paused for a moment, then nodded silently.

"Speaking of which, Richelieu, what's your ship equipment level?" Lexington asked with a smile.

“Lexington, Richelieu is a max-level ship girl.” Xiaobai patted Lexington’s thigh and said, “Yesterday when I was on the admiral’s network link with Richelieu, I checked her ship equipment.”

"Did Richelieu receive any training from the naval base before?" Lexington asked Richelieu.

“I have never been to a garrison…” Richelieu shook his head.

"Doesn't Muxi have a garrison?"

“…Although she has the ability and network of admirals, she did not choose to become an admiral recognized by the Admirals Guild.” Richelieu shook his head.

"So how did you improve your skill level?"

“To fend for oneself on the high seas…” Richelieu said softly.

"..." Xiaobai and Lexington blinked. "You practiced all by yourself?"

"Um……"

What should we do if the ship's equipment is severely damaged?

"She'll steal quick-repair devices and all sorts of resources from her house for me..."

“The Mu family…” Xiao Bai looked at Richelieu with some emotion upon hearing this, “Riceleu, your life wasn’t easy before either…”

“…” Richelieu.

"Don't fill in the maximum level on the job application form, um... fill in around level 40 or 50," Lexington said, holding up a finger.

"it is good."

“Speaking of which, Richelieu, you must be very strong, right?” Xiaobai blinked and asked Richelieu again, “I checked your ship equipment. Your ship equipment is of a very high grade. It’s top-tier ship equipment, like Veneto’s. And since you trained to the maximum level on the high seas, you must have a lot of combat experience, right? As for the ship girl equipment… your ship girl equipment should have been stolen from the Mu family by Muxi and given to you. It shouldn’t be bad either.”