Daily life with the ship girl

……

Lunch was ready after more than half an hour. This time Li Ran made a bear meat stew, as well as some Western snacks, such as French fries and vegetable salad, as well as some simple Chinese home-cooked dishes, mapo tofu, scrambled eggs with tomatoes, and a steamed bear paw. These were the only two bear paws left, so Li Ran simply took them out as a treat for the two Liberty Ship girls, after all, they were alumni of Lexington.

In fact, he also wanted Juno and Quincy to stay like Lexington. After all, his own garrison was short of manpower, and Deep Sea was always eyeing them covetously. As the saying goes, more people mean more strength, so he didn't want to salvage the ship.

While eating, Li Ran was still a little nervous, after all, there were no tables and chairs in his garrison.

However, Juno and Quincy didn't care too much and even praised Li Ran's craftsmanship.

Everyone sat around and started eating. Because there were outsiders around, Lexington returned to her elegant ladylike demeanor.

Li Ran looked at the ship girls sitting around him. Each of them had their own characteristics. Without exception, they were all very cute and beautiful. He found them particularly pleasing to the eye. Occasionally, Juno would ask Li Ran some questions. This arrogant little girl asked some strange questions, such as how many ship girls did Li Ran plan to marry in the future, who would be the secretary ship and who would be the flagship, whether Pinghai would have no chance to attack because it was a light cruiser, etc.

Li Ran felt that there were some problems, but he didn't know how to answer them, so he just laughed it off. For example, regarding the question of how many ship girls to marry, Li Ran felt that if you married one, you'd be a scum, and if you married more than one, you'd be a scumbag. Anyway, for this kind of question, just remain silent, otherwise if you said the wrong thing, you might end up in eternal damnation.

After having a good meal and a good drink, Li Ran heaved a sigh of relief. He was very nervous during this meal. It seemed that Juno was not just a tsundere. However, he was very surprised by Juno's attitude towards Bismarck, which seemed a little strange.

After dinner, Firefly walked up to Quincy and whispered something in her ear for a while.

After hearing this, Quincy showed a somewhat apprehensive expression and said:

"That's not good,"

The firefly continued to instigate:

"Sister Quincy, you have to learn to take the first step. Don't you want to be an idol? Sing a song for everyone and take the first step bravely! Come on!"

Quincy was still hesitating, and Firefly continued:

"Could it be that Sister Quincy can't even sing a song after eating the Admiral's meal?"

"Nothing." Quincy felt a little embarrassed, but she actually wanted to be like Aoba. However, she has always been a timid girl. Although she always said that she wanted to be an idol, she was afraid of trouble. In addition, her sister did not support her, so she had always just been dreaming. At this moment, Firefly's words aroused her desire hidden in her heart.

Firefly smiled slyly, and before Quincy could react, she immediately shouted:

"Oh, everyone, please stop for a moment. Sister Quincy is going to sing a song for everyone. Please welcome her with applause."

Firefly's words made Lexington and Juno, who were busy in the kitchen, stick their heads out. Li Ran and Bismarck, who were standing at the door chatting, turned around. Juno, who was sweeping the floor, and Pinghai, who was tidying up the living room, also stopped what they were doing and looked at Quincy curiously.

Firefly pushed Quincy out and said to her:

"Come on, Sister Quincy, treat this place as your stage. Don't worry too much. Just sing a song. No one will laugh at you."

Li Ran showed an encouraging look. Juno also knew that Quincy had a dream of becoming an idol, so she encouraged him loudly:

"Come on, idiot!"

"I'm not stupid." Quincy was a little annoyed by Juno, but it also eased her tension. She stammered:

"Well, then I will make a fool of myself."

"Sing, sing whenever you want, sing loudly." Li Ran suddenly remembered this sentence and took it as encouragement. Quincy heard Li Ran's words, her eyes sparkled, and she murmured to herself:

If you want to sing, just sing loudly! Yes, that's right, I just want to sing, I want to defeat Qingye, hum! I want to prove that I'm not a fool!

Quincy took a deep breath, and after a moment's thought, she recalled a short song she had heard before. Her voice was full of the breath of the ocean, yet it revealed a hint of sadness:

"The hand I once held

That is the tenderness that I have never forgotten

There are seagulls on the sea in the distance

Whispering

Sister, why don't you return to Hong Kong?

Sister, I haven't seen the albatross you mentioned.

Sister, why don't you return to Hong Kong?

Air raid sirens are increasing

Sister, why don't you return to Hong Kong?

I wish you could touch my face

I really hope my sister can accompany me

Don't get bruised every time you attack.

......"

After the song was finished, everyone felt sad. Although the song was not well-written, it expressed longing. Li Ran was the first to applaud, and everyone reacted and joined in.

Li Ran felt that Quincy's voice and timbre were both first-rate, but the song selection was wrong, which inevitably did not match the first impression she gave people. Well, Quincy was silly and cute, and she was not Quincy if she was so artistic and sentimental. He thought for a while and said:

"You sang very well, but it was too sad. Quincy, you are more suitable for singing lighter songs."

Quincy was very happy. She looked at everyone applauding her, her face flushed, and she listened to Li Ran's words and said:

"Know it."

Bismarck listened to this song and felt that she missed her sister. After Li Ran finished asking, she asked casually:

"Quincy, can I ask who wrote this song?"

Quincy thought about it, and then she looked at Bismarck's clothes and showed a surprised expression:

"The person who wrote the song is someone who dresses very similar to you, but she keeps saying that she can't find her sister. She even stopped reading her favorite book. Oh, and she left the First Shipgirl Academy three months ago. I heard she was going to look for her sister."

Juno heard Quincy's words and said uncertainly:

"Quincy, you are talking about the girl named Tirpitz, right? I heard that she was holding her sister's notebook in her hand all the time. But later she became so scary that many ship girls in the academy were defeated. I heard from Vice Dean Langley that she was greatly stimulated."

"What did you say? Is that man called Tirpitz?" Bismarck suddenly became excited, her tone full of surprise, and she asked quickly:

"Where did she go?"

Juno and Quincy were startled by Bismarck's excitement. Quincy didn't dare to speak, but Juno thought for a moment and said:

"I heard that she went to be a mercenary shipgirl by herself, and she kept saying that her sister was missing, but I've never heard that she had a sister."

Li Ran also felt a little confused. She gently patted Bismarck's shoulder and said uncertainly:

"Could it be another Tirpitz? After all, it's possible that there is a ship girl with the same name."

When Juno heard what Li Ran said, she said in a strange tone:

"Admiral Li Ran, what you said is not right. Many powerful ship girls are unique because the souls and thoughts they inherited from their warships are too unique. Especially a powerful ship girl like Tirpitz, there is only one in the world so far."

Li Ran was a little surprised when he heard Juno's words. He asked:

"So what you mean is that there is usually only one battleship girl? There won't be more?"

"No, except for Tirpitz, there are actually many ship girls with the same name, but she is a special case, probably because of her title."

Li Ran smiled bitterly: "Are you talking about her title [The Lonely Queen of the North]?"

"How did you know?" Juno was very surprised. Although this was not a secret, only a few people knew about it. She looked at Li Ran suspiciously and asked:

"You, the admiral, give people a strange feeling."

Li Ran was a little embarrassed, but he looked at Bismarck who seemed a little distracted, and walked over to her:

"Bismarck, don't worry. Now that your sister has appeared, we will definitely find her."

"Admiral, I..."

Li Ran waved his hand and watched Firefly talking to Quincy. Juno was tactful enough not to disturb him. Pinghai continued to clean the floor. He thought for a moment and said:

"Come for a walk with me."

Bismarck nodded. She followed Li Ran, somewhat absent-mindedly.

Due to lack of manpower, the woods around the garrison were only cleared by Bismarck and Lexington, and there was no cement road at all. However, it must be said that the original rainforest style was preserved, except that it rained a few days ago and the road was a little muddy. Walking on it, Li Ran felt very relaxed, but Bismarck was still unhappy. He thought for a while:

"Bismarck?"

"Yes, I'm here." Bismarck responded perfunctorily.

"It's going to hit a tree." Li Ran reminded her. Bismarck subconsciously stopped and looked in front of her. She found that she had been deceived and her expression changed.

Li Ran sighed. He was really a sister-con. He said seriously:

"Don't be so depressed. Your sister is so strong. At worst, I can take the time to accompany you to find her, even if I have to travel all over the world."

"What about the garrison?" Bismarck's expression softened a little. Seeing that Li Ran wanted to say something, she interrupted him:

"Admiral, Bismarck will not forget his duties because of personal matters."

Li Ran sighed and touched the back of his head:

"What should we do? Post a missing person notice? Or offer a reward?"

Bismarck knew that Li Ran wanted to make herself less boring, so she shook her head:

"No, she needs to grow up too. And I don't know if she will blame me for being alone for so long."

Li Ran looked up and saw a petrel flying over his head. His tone was filled with sadness:

"No, if a ship girl holds a grudge, she will become a deep sea. Don't you understand your sister?"

Bismarck's face softened, and she said softly:

"Yes, she is a person who particularly hates fighting. She might be hiding in some corner reading a book right now."

Li Ran was relieved to see Bismarck say this, and said:

"Trust me, I will help you find your sister as soon as possible, otherwise I won't be able to hand over the fleet to you."

Bismarck glanced at Li Ran and saw a concern on his face that made her heart beat fast. For the first time, her heart beat faster.

Li Ran smiled and saw Bismarck's cat ears move. He said softly:

“You should smile more.”

Bismarck was silent and smiled, something she was never very good at.

The two of them walked slowly through the woods. When they returned to the garrison, only Lexington was there. Li Ran felt a little strange and asked:

"Where are they?"

Chapter 29: Someone is looking for trouble?

Hearing Li Ran's question, Lexington wiped the sweat from his forehead and said:

"They should be at the beach. It's such nice weather."

Li Ran glanced at the bright sunshine and stretched himself:

"Yeah, it's a beautiful afternoon."

Bismarck walked to the place where the bear skins were drying, took down two intact bear skins, and walked to Li Ran:

"Admiral, the two bear skins have been dried, but the tanning work may be a bit troublesome."

"Tanning?" Li Ran looked at Bismarck holding two fine brown bear skins and revealed a troubled expression:

"Yes, there might be some trouble if the raw hide is not tanned as soon as possible. However, we don't have any extra tools now. Lexington, which country is the closest to us?" Li Ran thought about it and asked whether he should ask the ship girls to make a long journey.

"We all know that there are three islands, A, B and C, in the eastern waters of the island. As for the rest of the island, it seems that that area is unexplored on the world nautical chart. We are at the edge of the known sea area. The country closest to the port is Xia, 1600 nautical miles to the east."

"Xia Country?" Li Ran looked at Lexington in confusion.

"Well, Xia is a country of yellow people. By the way, like the commander, he has black hair, black eyes and yellow skin. He ranks among the top three in terms of strength among the land countries. By the way, remember the seven war zones I mentioned? The heads of three of them, that is, the governors, are from Xia. The governor of the Pacific War Zone to which our port belongs is from Xia. His name is very strange, I think it's Xiao Xiao." Lexington thought for a while and began to explain some common sense to Li Ran:

"Well, the closest to the Pacific Theater are the Atlantic Theater, the South Pacific Theater, and the Far East Theater. Except for the governor of the Atlantic Theater who is not a Xia countryman, the governors of the other two theaters are all from Xia country. If the commander becomes an official admiral in the future, it is necessary for him to visit the governor of the Pacific."

Li Ran sighed. It was really troublesome, but he still nodded.

"Got it. It won't be too late to talk about this after we solve the deep sea problem first. Actually, I'm thinking of a question. Since we are at the edge of the known area, what is there in the unknown area? Are there people living there? Are there countries? After all, we are too far away from the nearest country. If we want to get supplies, it will take a week to go back and forth."

Lexington sighed. She watched Bismarck put the bear skin in the house, then thought for a moment and said:

"Generally speaking, the unknown regions are opened up because the admirals' military strength is not enough. In fact, more than ten years ago, there was a large-scale maritime exploration. That exploration was organized by hundreds of the most elite garrisons in the seven major war zones. But later, the combined fleet did not return. There were rumors that the unknown regions were deep-sea bases, so the combined fleet must be in danger.

However, a few optimistic people thought that the combined fleet should have settled in the unknown area. After all, if there were no resources to replenish during the expedition, the combined fleet might not be able to return. However, from then on, the exploration of unknown areas was considered a dangerous thing. In addition, the deep-sea fleet has appeared frequently in recent years, and the pressure on the seven major war zones is not small. Therefore, the exploration of unknown areas has been shelved indefinitely. "

Li Ran thought about it. It seemed that this world was really different from what he had imagined. However, Lexington's words aroused his fighting spirit. After all, who doesn't want to be a famous navigator like Columbus? He said humorously:

"Then I really want to go to the unknown areas. The world is so big. If I stay in the port area just because I have your protection, I will be content with the status quo. I'm sure you will be disappointed with me, Admiral."

Lexington was silent for a while. She wanted to refute, but she found that she actually wanted to travel around the world. The feeling and curiosity of the ship girl for the ocean were innate.

Bismarck had put the bearskin away, and she interrupted: