Elder brother's garrison

"No need to be so polite—but... well, thank you anyway!"

Little White, holding the basket of roses, happily thanked Shropshire twice, then turned to look at Montana beside him.

Xiao Bai was still holding a flower basket, so she couldn't put anything else in her hands.

Montana immediately understood and stepped forward. She came to Shropshire and took the fruit basket from her.

"Hello Shropshire, my name is Montana." After taking the fruit basket, Montana chuckled and greeted Shropshire.

"Hello."

Shropshire bowed slightly to Montana.

Montana also took this opportunity to look around Shropshire with great interest.

Montana's gaze traveled from Shropshire's beautiful features to her well-proportioned figure and elegant maid's attire, and then to her slender, jade-like hands and feet, which also faintly exuded the scent of earth.

Gardener...

He is truly a unique person.

Shropshire's approachable demeanor made Montana feel somewhat favorably toward her upon their first meeting.

“Shropshire, may I ask you a question?” Montana asked Shropshire with a smile, carrying a fruit basket.

“…?” Shropshire looked at Montana.

“You are a unique ship girl,” Montana said with a smile. “I just heard the Admiral talk about you. Did you come from human society?”

“…Hmm.” Shropshire nodded, somewhat lost in thought.

“It seems your story with the Admiral has been quite eventful.” Montana looked into Shropshire’s eyes, caught a moment of distraction in her gaze, and then said with a smile.

Shropshire snapped out of his reverie, nodded slightly to Montana, and smiled faintly.

“Shropshire,” Montana called softly.

"I'm here."

"Could you give me a little hint?" Montana lowered her voice, raising a hand to cover her mouth, and whispered to Shropshire, "The Admiral is a very nice person, right? As a ship girl with such a unique identity, what do you think of her?"

"...?"

Shropshire was taken aback for a moment upon hearing this.

Shropshire stared blankly at Montana.

"Is it inconvenient to say?" Montana asked.

"..."

Shropshire glanced at Little White out of the corner of her eye, then looked at Montana's face quietly for a while, finally shook her head, stepped forward slightly, stood on tiptoe and whispered something in Montana's ear.

Montana listened to the whispers in Shropshire and nodded repeatedly.

Behind Montana, Little White, holding a basket of roses, blinked and looked curiously at the two ship girls who had suddenly become intimate in front of her and were whispering to each other.

With Xiaobai's abilities, if she were willing to use the power of her ship equipment, she could certainly overhear the whispers between these two ship girls.

However, Xiaobai is a very well-mannered admiral who respects other people's privacy. Although Xiaobai is a little curious about the whispers between ship girls, she would not use her ability to eavesdrop.

After a while.

The whispers between Montana and Shropshire have come to an end.

Montana nodded with satisfaction and smiled at Shropshire.

"Shropshire, thank you."

“…Hmm.” Shropshire bowed slightly and replied, “You’re welcome.”

Montana turned around, carrying the fruit basket, and returned to Little White's side.

Montana smiled as he looked at Little White, who was holding a basket of roses, with an expression as if he had heard some good news.

After saying goodbye to Shropshire, Little White and Montana left the greenhouse one after the other.

"Montana, what did you talk about with Shropshire just now?" After leaving the greenhouse, Xiaobai couldn't contain his curiosity and asked Montana.

"What's wrong, Admiral? Do you want to know?" Montana asked with a smile.

"Because you two were being so secretive in front of me... Could it be that what you were talking about has something to do with me?" Xiaobai muttered as she asked.

"Admiral, you're quite perceptive; you guessed it all along."

"Huh? It really concerns me? What are you talking about?"

“I’m sorry, this is a secret between Miss Shropshire and me.” Montana shook his head, his smile exceptionally bright. “But… Admiral, you can rest assured, what we just talked about was definitely a good thing for you.”

"Since it's such a good thing, can't you give us a little hint?"

"You should ask Miss Shropshire herself another day."

"Uh... this familiar line, isn't it what I just told you...?"

"What goes around comes around," Montana said with a bright, sunny laugh.

"..." Xiaobai looked at Montana helplessly and sighed.

It seems I won't get anything out of Montana.

That's it.

Let the rumors go with the wind.

Xiaobai hugged the basket of roses tightly and walked towards the direction of the ship girl dormitory.

Montana's inherently friendly attitude, coupled with her naturally outgoing personality, allowed her to integrate into the newbie naval base much faster than the newbie had anticipated.

On the way to the dormitory, Xiaobai watched as Montana befriended and chatted with several new ship girls from the naval base, enthusiastically calling out to her friends and exchanging contact information and arranging a time to meet again.

"Montana, we'll invite you to our pajama party next time—bye-bye!"

"Oh, and the Admiral too, bye-bye!"

The ship girls waved their phones, which had recorded Montana's contact information, and left satisfied.

"Remember to call me, I'll definitely go."

Montana waved her phone, smiling as she watched the ship girls leave.

After the ship girls had gone far away, Montana looked at Xiaobai and saw that Xiaobai was staring straight at her.

"Hmm? Admiral? What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?"

"Montana, who...who bought you your phone?" Xiaobai asked.

"Oh...you mean this?" Montana pointed to his phone and smiled. "This is something from the supplies the admiral gave me in Chapter 8. I heard that people in your era use this to communicate, so I played around with it a bit in my spare time and figured out how to use it—oh right, admiral, you also have a social media account, right?"

"Yes, I have."

"Since we're on the topic, why don't we add each other as friends?" Montana pulled out his phone, showing the social media account number on the screen. "That way, if the Admiral wants to contact me in the future, he'll have another way, right?"

“Oh…that’s fine…” Xiaobai held the flower basket, took out her phone with one hand, opened a social media app, and added Montana as a friend.

Ding!

Xiaobai has gained a new friend on her social media app named "The Child Without Toys".

Xiao Bai looked at her friend on her phone screen and blinked.

Huh?

Did Montana just lead me by the nose and add me as a friend?

Now, what's the difference between me and those ship girls I just exchanged contact information with...?

When did I fall into her trap...?

Damn, Montana's social skills are just too good.

Xiaobai put his phone away and looked helplessly at Montana, who was holding his phone and staring intently at him as he set a nickname for his friend.

“Montana…you really have the makings of a playboy…” Xiaobai said to Montana.

"Thank you for the compliment, Admiral."

"Hurry up, it'll be dark soon if we don't get back to the dorm." Xiaobai carried the basket of roses and walked towards the dorm building.

Montana, holding her phone, followed in Xiaobai's footsteps.

Xiaobai and Montana walked quietly until they arrived at the dormitory building. They went inside and climbed the stairs, floor by floor.

The sound of their synchronized footsteps echoed down the stairs.

"Speaking of which, Admiral, I've never heard you mention who your family members are," Montana suddenly asked, standing next to Little White.

"Family? Well... I have a lot." Xiaobai said as she walked. "In a broad sense, all the ship girls in this entire naval base are my family... But if we have to be narrower, my family in this naval base probably refers to those who live in the same dormitory as me."

"The admiral's house sounds lively."

There's a reason for it.

Who are they?

“For example, Hood, Bismarck, Tirpitz, Taihou, Missouri, Wisconsin, Iowa, New Jersey…” Xiaobai paused slightly at this point, “Besides that, there’s Yamato and the others. Yamato and the others aren’t ship girls, they’re a group of Abyssal Deans.”

"Dean of the Deep Sea..."

“Oh, right.” Xiaobai stopped and turned to Montana, saying, “Speaking of which, there’s actually someone else who’s somewhat related to you.”

"Huh? What does this have to do with me?"

“Yes,” Xiaobai said with a smile. “Actually, not long ago, I brought back another deep-sea dean from the shore of Chapter 8, named Shinano Shinkai. In a sense, she is your sister, since you both come from the same sea.”

“Haha…” Montana smiled upon hearing this, “Then I suddenly want to meet her. She must be a very interesting person.”

"We'll see her soon." Xiaobai said, smiling as she looked ahead. "Shinano Fukami has quite the air of a refined lady."

"A lady from a respectable family..."

"Yes, both the super-duper and the great-great-grandmothers call her Miss Third."

"She sounds like a pretty well-behaved person."

"That is to say..."

Xiaobai and Montana chatted back and forth, looking ahead.

Xiaobai and Montana walked out of the stairs and into the spacious corridor leading to the dormitory.

The two chatted as they walked forward. Soon, as they got closer to the dormitory door, Xiaobai spotted a familiar yet unfamiliar figure not far ahead.

A figure was squatting on a bench outside Xiaobai's dormitory.

The figure was a woman wearing a large black trench coat, with a brown wooden sword slung over her shoulder. Her pale face was covered with bandages, and her features were painted with an extremely heavy black smoky makeup. Her black hair was tied up in a bun at the back of her head, and the lollipop in her mouth kept moving back and forth. Even her facial expression was dejected, giving her the air of a street thug and unemployed biker gang member.

Hearing the approaching footsteps of Xiaobai and Montana, the woman dressed as a biker gang turned her head and glanced at Xiaobai with her sharp eyes, which were covered by thick dark circles.

For a moment, Xiaobai felt that the person in front of him was like the kind of lawbreaker who would follow a large group of noisy people at night, riding heavily modified fancy motorcycles, sputtering and racing wildly on crowded streets while shouting.

So, who is this?

Xiao Bai doesn't remember having such a person in her family.

Xiao Bai stopped in her tracks and subconsciously looked over.

"Eh?"

Xiaobai stared at the biker gang member in front of her, and after seeing her face clearly, she suddenly froze.

"This is the first time I've seen her like this." Montana looked at the woman dressed as a biker gang with curiosity, and then asked Shiro with interest, "Admiral, I'd like to go up and say hello. What's her name?"

"……Well……"

"Admiral?"

"...Shinano Deep Sea."

"Oh, Deepsea Letter... um?"

Montana was about to nod, but then paused and looked at Little White.

Wait a moment.

Fukashinano?

Didn't the Admiral just say that she was a well-behaved Deep Sea Dean with the temperament of a lady from a prominent family?