Fantasy in the world of crossover anime

This was also Yu Shenhao's first time participating in this admiral's competition. Iowa didn't know anything about this place, so Yu Shenhao was even less aware of the situation.

Fortunately, someone appeared and solved Mikami Hiroyu's problem. However, why did Mikami Hiroyu feel like he had seen him somewhere before?

The person began by asking, "Are you the Admiral, Captain Hiroyu Mikami, of Maizuru Naval Base?"

Although Taihou and Iowa became the best way for others to identify Mikami Hiroyu, it's not possible to determine Mikami Hiroyu's true identity at a glance!

Seeing that the other party meant no harm, Mikami Hiroyu answered truthfully, "Yes, I am Mikami Hiroyu, the admiral of Maizuru. May I ask what business you have with me?"

Seeing that Mikami Hiroyu had acknowledged his identity, the man realized he hadn't mistaken the person. He wasn't worried at all about whether Mikami Hiroyu's story was true. He'd been given a photograph, and he'd also heard about the new admiral of the Maizuru Naval Base.

Maruyama Shigeki was one of the personnel assigned by the Naval Headquarters to oversee the training exercises here. Today, he received orders from his superiors to go to the port to pick up an admiral named Mikami Hiroyu, show him around the island, and then he was given a picture of Mikami Hiroyu and that was it.

Just yesterday, Maruyama Shigeki was discussing with his colleagues whether this rising star in the world of admirals would participate in this year's admiral competition. He himself said at the time that he really wanted to see this legendary young admiral in person, and his colleagues said they were still dreaming.

The social status of a captain/admiral differs greatly from that of an ordinary person, even if you are one of the wealthiest individuals in the world. In peacetime, such a wealthy person might enjoy a high social standing and have many admirers. However, in this era of deep-sea raids, the opposite is true. No matter how wealthy you are, you cannot match the social status of an admiral. Furthermore, the fact that the number of admirals has been consistently kept at 1 further elevates their social status.

This is also why Kanae Yanazawa, one of Hiroyu Mikami's few friends in this world, blushed when she heard that Hiroyu Mikami had been promoted to captain, thinking about other things. As for what Kanae Yanazawa was thinking about that made her blush, we won't mention it here.

Maruyama Shigeki also heard that this 11-year-old admiral possessed many ship girls that other admirals dreamed of, such as the battleship Iowa and the armored aircraft carrier Taihou. With these two ship girls, he believed that it wouldn't be long before he conquered Sea Area 1-4 and rose to the rank of lieutenant commander. Maruyama Shigeki also heard that an expert predicted that this Admiral Mikami Hiroyu would conquer Sea Area 1-4 within six months, and then rise to the rank of lieutenant commander. That expert's name seemed to be something like "Director Zhang," a very strange name.

After receiving the order, Maruyama Shigeki took the photo from his superior. Before he could even examine it properly, his colleagues snatched it away. This left Maruyama Shigeki heartbroken. In the end, he made many promises and signed numerous unfair agreements before finally getting the photo back from his colleagues.

The photo shows a boy dressed as a naval admiral, but the uniform doesn't accentuate his dignified bearing. Instead, the young captain makes Yuujiro look like a very cute boy. While "cute" might be a bit inaccurate, he's undeniably adorable. Although he's still quite young, I believe he'll grow up to be a handsome naval admiral.

Although Maruyama Shigeki signed many contracts, he wasn't bothered by them. On the contrary, he was quite happy, since this job allowed him to meet his idol and serve him—a truly wonderful opportunity.

After news spread that Mikami Hiroyu had taken up the post of admiral of the perilous Maizuru Naval Base at the age of 11 and risen to captain within a week, many people became fans of Mikami Hiroyu, including some admirals. Of course, these admirals only included those who had recently taken office and were in the same cohort as Mikami Hiroyu. Upon hearing of Mikami Hiroyu's exploits, they immediately became his fans.

After receiving orders from his superior, Maruyama Shigeki tidied his clothes slightly and left amidst the envious glances of the crowd.

Maruyama Shigeki received the order at 10:00 AM, and Nagata Nobunaga calculated that it should be about time to arrive. However, Mikami Hiroyu was traveling at an incredibly slow pace, as if on a leisurely stroll. Maruyama Shigeki started waiting at 10:10 AM and waited until 6:00 PM. Afraid of missing Mikami Hiroyu, Maruyama Shigeki even skipped lunch, continuing to wait. Finally, it was only because Mikami Hiroyu didn't want to spend the night at sea that he sped up. Otherwise, Maruyama Shigeki would have had to wait until tomorrow.

The reason why Yuu-Kami didn't see Maruyama Shigeki after going ashore was because he needed to use the restroom. Just after Maruyama Shigeki finished, he saw a child dressed as a naval admiral running around. Behind the child were the battleship Iowa, the armored aircraft carrier Taihou, the regular aircraft carrier Kaga, the destroyer Yuudachi, and two others he didn't recognize: a blonde-haired, cute-looking ship girl, and a girl with an umbrella exuding a Yamato Nadeshiko aura.

Maruyama Shigeki recognized the little boy in the naval admiral's uniform running ahead. Then he looked at the photo in his hand and saw Iowa and Taihou behind Mikami Hiroyu. Suddenly, it dawned on him—wasn't this the person he was waiting for?

Once Maruyama Shigeki confirmed that Mikami Hiroyu was indeed his, he immediately started running after him. Maruyama Shigeki initially thought it would be easy to catch up, but to his surprise, Mikami Hiroyu was surprisingly fast.

Fortunately, Hiroyu Mikami didn't run far, and Shigeki Maruyama eventually caught up with him.

Chapter 102 Good News

Maruyama Shigeki first calmed himself down; he couldn't afford to embarrass himself in front of his idol. Then, in a trembling voice, he said, "Captain Mikami Hiroyu, I am Maruyama Shigeki, directly under the command of the Naval Headquarters. I've been ordered to meet you here."

"Is this the Governor's order?" Mikami Hiroyu asked after thinking for a moment.

Maruyama Shigeki: "Yes, Captain Mikami Hiroyu."

"Then I'll leave it to you, Mogi... Mogi-nii, you don't mind me calling you that, do you?" Yu Shen Haoyu had come up with this kind of address after all the changes in his mind.

Maruyama Shigeki: "No problem, no problem, Captain Mikami Hiroyu."

Mikami Hiroyu: "Shigeki, don't call me Captain anymore, just call me Nozomi."

Maruyama Shigeki quickly waved his hand and said, "That won't do!"

Before Maruyama Shigeki could refuse, Mikami Hiroyu interrupted him, saying, "It's settled then, Shigeki-nii. It's getting late, take us to report for duty!"

"Alright then! Yu Shenhao, no, Xiao hope, come with me! The reporting deadline for the competition isn't until tomorrow, and they haven't finished get off work yet. We'll be there in time."

When Maruyama Shigeki heard Mikami Hiroyu call him "Shigeki-nii" (older brother Shigeki), he was so happy he almost ran laps around the island twice, but he managed to restrain himself. Seeing how happy Maruyama Shigeki seemed, Mikami Hiroyu asked curiously, "Shigeki, what's made you so happy?"

"I... This is the first time I've ever seen a legendary ship girl in person, that's why I'm so happy!" Maruyama Shigeki couldn't very well say that he was so happy because you called him "Shigeki-nii" (older brother Shigeki), could he? That would be incredibly embarrassing. When he truly didn't know how to explain, seeing the ship girl behind Mikami Hiroyu gave him an excuse.

This excuse perfectly concealed the real reason for Maruyama Shigeki's joy, and Mikami Hiroyu had no doubt whatsoever. After all, this wasn't the first time such a phenomenon had occurred, and Mikami Hiroyu was used to it.

Speaking of Mikami Hiroyu's ship girls, Yamato has always been the epitome of a virtuous wife and mother, maintaining her elegance at all times. Even her slightly mischievous...

Iowa, Eugen, and Yuudachi all maintained a very ladylike demeanor in public. If any ship girl did anything wrong, no one would say it was her admiral's fault. For the sake of their admiral's honor, the ship girls of Mikami Hiroyu had a unified goal.

When Yamato and the others heard their admiral call them "Brother Shigeki" and say that seeing them happy made them smile in unison, expressing their gratitude.

"Brother Shigeki, can you tell me about tomorrow's competition?" Mikami Hiroyu asked, thinking that Maruyama Shigeki should know about the timing of tomorrow's practice.

Upon hearing this, Maruyama Shigeki seemed to have been given a shot of adrenaline. Without hesitation, he said, "If you ask me about the actual situation, I might not know much, but when it comes to this Admiral's Competition, I doubt anyone knows more than me."

Maruyama Shigeki spoke at length, while Mikami Hiroyu listened and pondered. He figured the governor probably knew he wasn't familiar with the area or the specifics of the competition, which was why he sent Maruyama to pick him up! But why was the governor being so kind to him? However, the competition should be the priority right now!

Mikami Hiroyu learned some specific information about this competition from Maruyama Shigeki. Last year, a total of 500 admirals participated in the competition, meaning that only 500 admirals managed to conquer the first four sea areas.

The competition is simple: opponents are determined by drawing lots. The format is also straightforward: each admiral sends out their fleet to battle against the opponent's fleet. Victory is the only goal, regardless of formation or tactics. Don't worry about your ship girls getting hurt; even heavily damaged, they can be quickly revived as long as they have a sliver of life left.

Actually, this stemmed from the ship girls getting extremely bored while waiting for their ships to enter the dock. They proposed inventing something similar to rapid construction to quickly heal their wounds. This suggestion quickly gained support from many ship girls, and thus, a high-speed healing barrel, similar to rapid construction, was born.

The High-Speed ​​Recovery Bucket, along with High-Speed ​​Construction, was invented specifically for ship girls. As the name suggests, it can quickly restore a ship girl's health after taking damage. Even if a ship girl is barely clinging to life, using the High-Speed ​​Recovery Bucket can restore her to a completely refreshed state. The High-Speed ​​Recovery Bucket was extremely popular with admirals and ship girls alike upon its release.

However, the high-speed recovery barrel also has drawbacks. First, it's only effective when the ship girl is in the dock; it has no effect elsewhere. This greatly disappoints admirals who wanted to use it to attack areas 1-4 and 2-1. Second, while it instantly restores damage taken by the ship girl, it doesn't restore her spirit. Despite these drawbacks, the high-speed recovery barrel's popularity hasn't decreased; in fact, it's slightly increased.

Due to the large number of participants, the 500+ people were divided into two groups of 250 each. To win, participants had to be among the top three in their group to advance to the semifinals. In the semifinals, the first-place team from each group played against the last-place team, and the second-place team played against the second-place team. The winners of these matches advanced to the finals. In the finals, each participant challenged two other participants, earning one point for each victory. The participant with the highest score was first place, and the remaining participants were ranked second and third based on their total points. In case of a tie, the two participants with the same score would compete again.

Yu Shenhao felt that this kind of competition was fair and beneficial to everyone. However, since it was a competition, in the end, it still came down to strength. As long as one was strong enough, first place would be theirs.

Hiroyu Mikami also learned from Shigeki Maruyama that the champions of the admiral competitions in the past two years were both Admirals Naoya Kimura of the Yokosuka Naval Base. Hiroyu Mikami knew a bit about Admiral Naoya Kimura of the Yokosuka Naval Base; he owned the highest-level Fusō battleship, level 90, and was also the first admiral to conquer the 1-4 sea area.

The admiral of Yokosuka Naoya, Kimura, is probably his biggest enemy in his quest to get first place.

However, Yuuji also learned some good news: the ship girls who win this exercise will gain experience just like those who defeat the Abyssal Fleet. This news relieved Yuuji greatly; as long as the enemies he encounters at the beginning aren't too strong, he can level up Kaga and Eugen first. Another crucial point is that the Admiral's Exercise is an annual event. Fleets that participate and win can receive free supplies until they lose.

This news is a godsend for Yu Shen Haoyu!!

"Requesting flowers," "Requesting tips," "Requesting favorites," or "Requesting monthly votes."

Chapter 103 Pre-match Preparations

When Yu Shenhaoyu heard that fleets that participated in and won the competition would receive free supplies until they lost, it was like a godsend. It was arguably the most welcome news he had heard since arriving in this world.

Yu Shen Haoyu currently wishes this tournament could last for ten days to half a month, so that his fleet could probably fight against the superior Abyssal Ships with names like Oni, Hime, War Oni, and War Hime. However, this is just wishful thinking on Yu Shen Haoyu's part; such a good thing is unlikely to happen in reality.

Maruyama Shigeki led Mikami Hiroyu to the competition registration area, where, under the guidance of staff, they received their competition number plates for tomorrow's matches. Mikami Hiroyu received number 88, a very auspicious number. Whoever draws number 88 tomorrow will have to face off against Mikami Hiroyu. To the astonishment of the staff, they registered the members of the fleet they would be participating in tomorrow's competition.

The staff member was brought back to reality by a colleague who came to call him off work long after Yu Shen Haoyu had left. The colleague asked him what was wrong, but the staff member just stammered and didn't answer. Knowing there was a confidentiality agreement, the colleague didn't press further. The staff member carefully saved Yu Shen Haoyu's information into the computer, as if afraid the information would disappear.

His colleagues laughed at him for going overboard, but the staff member said very seriously, "There's information above that could make me like this." This information contained the Yamato, the first ship of the Yamato-class battleships, which humanity hadn't yet built but was considered the strongest battleship in history, and Prinz Eugen, known as the lucky ship. The mere exposure of these two ship girls would disrupt the normal operation of the competition.

After Maruyama Shigeki led Mikami Hiroyu to the rooms reserved for the contestants, he smiled and bid farewell to Mikami Hiroyu. He then headed towards his home, but after only a few steps, several figures appeared before him. Upon recognizing the people blocking his way, Maruyama Shigeki immediately knelt in fear and said, "Governor!"

Indeed, the person blocking Maruyama Shigeki's way was Governor-General Nagata Nobunaga, along with his entourage.

"Has he settled in?"

"Your Excellency, no, Captain Hiroyu Mikami and his fleet of ship girls have already settled in."

"Really? That's good! It seems you get along well with that kid. From now on, I'll have you handle all the miscellaneous things for him during the competition, how about that!"

"Yes, Governor."

"You can leave now. You've had a long day, go and rest!"

"Thank you for your concern, Governor. I shall take my leave now."

After Maruyama Shigeki finished speaking, he stood up respectfully and left.

After Maruyama Shigeki left, one of the men who had come with Nagata Nobunaga asked, "Governor-General, why are you so concerned about this admiral who is still only a captain?"

Nagata Nobunaga said with a smile, "You'll find out when the results of this admiral's competition are in."

"The governor means that this is a captain-level admiral who was able to defeat the admiral of Yokosuka Naval Base, Major Kimura Naoya."

Nobunaga Nagata did not answer the question, but simply smiled mysteriously at the man and led the way away. As soon as Nobunaga Nagata moved, his bodyguards followed him, ready to protect him at any time.

The man didn't quite understand Nagata Nobunaga's mysterious smile, but he still believed that this year's championship would be won by Major Kimura Naoya, the admiral of Yokosuka Naval Base, because that was his son.

After seeing Maruyama Shigeki off, Mikami Hiroyu carefully examined the house. The overall layout was quite good, and it was sufficient for the admirals participating in the competition to stay in.

Just as Iowa and the others were looking around the house, the doorbell rang. Before Hiroyuki could open the door, Yamato opened it first.

A short while later, Yamato came in with a beautifully packaged lunchbox and a card that looked similar to a resource card.

"Admiral, this is the dinner the organizers brought. They also told us that we need to be at the competition venue by 7 o'clock tomorrow," Yamato said, placing the lunchbox on the table.

"It seems the Governor is quite thoughtful, even delivering goods to our door. By the way, Yamato, let's invite Iowa and the others to dinner! We can talk about tomorrow's competition after we eat!"

"Yes, Admiral."

Yamato first opened Mikami Hiroyu's lunchbox, arranged the food inside, and then arranged the ship girl-specific food from the resource card before calling Iowa and the others.

Upon hearing that dinner was served, Iowa immediately gathered everyone in her room and they rushed to the hall. Iowa and her group were initially quite fast, but seeing their admiral sitting at the table waiting for them, their steps became noticeably more ladylike. Fortunately, only the destroyer/frigate Yuudachi and the energetic Eugen followed behind Iowa. Otherwise, she would have been in for a rather unlucky fall. A minor mishap before the competition even started—what would become of her dignity as a battleship!

As for Yamato, Kaga, and Taihou, they all possessed a very ladylike demeanor. Basically, unless something like Iowa's situation occurred, everyone present automatically ignored the earlier incident.

After finishing their meal, Yamato and Kaga took the initiative to clear the dishes. Yuudachi and Eugen helped, while Taihou chatted with Iowa.

After Yamato and Kaga finished packing, all of Mikami Hiroyu's ship girls sat in the same seats where they had been eating, waiting for Mikami Hiroyu to give them instructions about tomorrow's competition.

Seeing that everyone had arrived, Yu Shenhaoyu said, "I'm sure you all know how important this competition is!"

Yamato, Taihou, Iowa, Yuudachi, Kaga, and Prince Eugen all nodded solemnly. They all knew that winning first place would grant them at least 15 resources. These 15 resources were essential for Maizuru Naval Base, as they were crucial to the rapid development of Mikami Hiroyu in the future.

"Our initial opponents will likely be captains around my level. Their fleet will consist mainly of level 40-50 destroyers, most of which haven't undergone any modifications. These don't pose much of a threat to us. Our real enemies are the ship girls who are level 50 and above, and have undergone modifications."

Although Yamato and the others didn't know why their admiral could predict tomorrow's opponents would be mostly level 40-50 destroyers, many of which hadn't undergone any modifications, since the admiral had said so, then it was true.

The reason why Yu Shenhao knew who the enemy would be tomorrow was because he made the connection based on the strange occurrence of this admiral's competition.

"Requesting flowers," "Requesting tips," "Requesting favorites," or "Requesting monthly votes."

Chapter 104 Interaction with Kaga

The appearance of the Admiral's Exercise is really too strange. Just then, Mikami Hiroyu's Maizuru Naval Base was facing a resource crisis. This exercise came about as if it were specifically designed to help Mikami Hiroyu solve the naval base's resource shortage.

It seems this is a gift from the world to him, but it's not an easy gift to accept. It will require Mikami Hiroyu and his ship girls to work hard and participate in this admiral's exercise competition.

"Our fleet currently includes Kaga and Prinz Eugen, who only arrived in this world yesterday. Their levels are still at the initial stage, level 0. Therefore, I've decided to use Kaga and Eugen as the flagship until the semifinals to accelerate their leveling. Does everyone agree?"

Yamato always did whatever Mikami Hiroyu said, and Taihou, Iowa, and Yuudachi all nodded in agreement.

Yuudachi: "No problem, poi."

Iowa: "The admiral is right. To win, we need to level up Kaga and Eugen quickly, to at least level 25. Only then will we have a chance of winning."

Next, Hiroyuki Mikami and Yamato discussed which formation to use tomorrow. Fleets change formations in different battles to maximize their advantages, and after countless battles, the admirals have summarized five formations:

Single Column Formation: A basic formation that can be selected for up to 3 ships in a fleet. It is an attack-specialized formation that can greatly increase the damage of artillery and torpedoes, but has low anti-submarine capabilities.

Double Line Formation: Optional for 4 or more ships, 80% artillery firepower, 120% anti-air (non-air superiority), and 20% increase in artillery hit rate.

Wheel Formation: 160% anti-air capability, can reduce enemy opening air attack damage to some extent, but will significantly weaken artillery and night battle damage. Optional for 5 or more ships.

Trapezoidal formation: a formation with no known formations.

Single-line formation: This formation enhances anti-submarine and torpedo evasion capabilities, but significantly reduces artillery and torpedo damage, and drastically lowers torpedo hit rate. Optional for 4 or more ships.

Since there's a high chance tomorrow's enemy will be destroyers, especially with the aircraft carrier Kaga as the flagship, a simple and straightforward formation will suffice: a single-line formation, an attack-specialized formation that significantly increases artillery and torpedo damage, but has low anti-submarine capabilities.

Yu Shenhaoyu hasn't heard of anyone building a submarine yet, but after a brief discussion, they made a decision.

After finishing the operational meeting, Mikami Hiroyu let all the ships go to rest. Even Yamato, who wanted to tidy up Mikami Hiroyu's room, was forcibly ordered to rest by Mikami Hiroyu, leaving Kaga behind alone.

Although Kaga appears cold and aloof, like an ice queen, and rarely speaks, giving off an impression of keeping people at arm's length, her inner self is completely different from her outward appearance, as if they were two entirely different people.

Kaga's inner emotions were actually fluctuating wildly, and now she was alone with Mikami Hiroyu. Although her face remained expressionless as usual, a closer look would reveal a slight blush on her cheeks, but fortunately it was nighttime, so Mikami Hiroyu didn't notice.

Mikami Hiroyu: "Kaga, I'm sorry, you only came to this world yesterday, and I haven't had a proper chat with you yet, and now you're all following me around."

After hearing Mikami Hiroyu's words, Kaga didn't say anything like, "I'm the admiral's ship girl, wherever the admiral is, I'll be there." Instead, she said, "I am a ship girl."

Okay! Although Kaga spoke rather coldly, Mikami Hiroyu still understood what Kaga meant.

Mikami Hiroyu: "Then I'll leave the heavens to you, Kaga."

Kaga stood up and said earnestly, "I will bring the glory of victory to your side." After saying that, Kaga left.

Yu Shenhao touched his nose: "Did I succeed in giving them encouragement before the battle?"

The next day, because he needed to be at the competition venue by 7 a.m., Mikami Hiroyu was woken up early by Yamato. Mikami Hiroyu took the washcloth Yamato handed him, washed his face quickly, and then asked, "Yuudachi, are you and Eugen up yet?"

"Iowa went to wake him up, he should be awake by now!" Yamato replied truthfully.

When Yuujin finished washing up and came to the lobby, all the fleet members were already waiting for him. Moreover, the two Yuudachi and Eugen that he had just mentioned were already waiting for him in the lobby, which made Yuujin a little incredulous. Aren't elementary school students supposed to like to sleep in? How come they got up earlier than him?

When Mikami Hiroyu led Yamato and the others toward the arena, they discovered someone outside the gate who was still there—Maruyama Shigeki.