"Not bad. If the six new shipgirls are as powerful as Veneto, we could practically steamroll the enemy."
Veneto raised her chin proudly, arms crossed, and gave a playful huff. "There aren't six shipgirls in the entire base who can compare with me."
Of course, if you really counted, there were, but Hikaru wasn't foolish enough to say that out loud. Instead, he flattered her: "That just means I'll have to entrust you with even greater responsibility. The greater the power, the greater the responsibility."
Veneto's heart nearly bloomed with joy. She tried to keep her composure, but the corners of her lips betrayed her, curling upward uncontrollably.
"Let's hope the new arrivals are strong," Bismarck said, nodding to Hikaru. "I'll head out. Veneto, follow me."
Hikaru gestured toward Leipzig. "Since they're heading to battle, the defense of the port will be under more pressure. You go too."
Leipzig rubbed her fingers together. "Triple overtime pay!"
Hikaru swatted her hand away. "Yeah, yeah, money grubber."
"Heehee, I earn what I work for!" Leipzig chirped with self-satisfaction as she left.
Hikaru glanced behind him at Tirpitz. Though the base was desperate for fighting strength, the girls had unanimously insisted she remain at his side.
In times of chaos and danger, even a stray shell could kill him without protection. The shipgirls would never allow that risk.
If Lexington had her way, Hikaru's guard detail wouldn't be just Tirpitz. At minimum, he'd be escorted by a six-ship elite squad at level 60 and above—something befitting the rank of their Commander.
Shaking off those thoughts, Hikaru rubbed Tirpitz's head and sent her to fetch the resources for the next construction.
This time he was determined to summon seven shipgirls in one go, even if it meant pushing his spirit to the brink. If necessary, he'd skip reviewing the "memories of steel" to ease the burden.
Watching Tirpitz drag her feet off to retrieve the resource crates, Hikaru's mind shifted again.
How would the Fleet Admiral respond to his warning?
At the City branch, the Navy received Yamato's top-priority encrypted transmission almost immediately.
Still stationed there, Warspite—handling the investigation into the "yacht incident"—was the first to see it.
Inside the long meeting hall, smoke curled thick in the air, turning the chamber into a foggy haze of cigars, cigarettes, and pipes.
Gathered around the table were the senior figures of the Navy and the shipgirl headquarters, all consumed with discussions about the suspected "traitor."
Some argued it was the work of foreign powers—pointing to the Mountain Summit Nation as a prime suspect. After all, the discovery of one of their operatives hidden inside the restaurant had provided fresh evidence for that theory.
Others believed the hand behind it all belonged to the Abyssals. It was well-known that the Abyssals had no intention of exterminating or enslaving humanity outright. What they craved were the most potent, renewable sources of negative emotions.
In a way, they were cultivating humanity like crops, harvesting despair at intervals.
The last large-scale attack on China had been just such a "harvest." Tens of thousands of shipgirls sank, countless commanders were broken, and millions of civilians were left trembling in prolonged terror.
Amid unending despair, the Abyssals would dangle a shred of hope—just enough to prolong the suffering. That was their sweetest feast.
But they hadn't accounted for Hikaru and his two shipgirls, who swept across the battlefield like a storm, crushing the southern Abyssal forces into a rout.
Though the Abyssals retreated after that debacle, their failure on the frontlines only meant they would redouble their efforts in intelligence warfare.
Other theories circulated as well—perhaps a clique of internal defectors, or even the influence of corruption by "tainted" forces.
The investigation had only just begun two days ago. Nothing conclusive had been uncovered, and it was far too soon for definitive answers.
And while the "yacht incident" kept these high-ranking figures locked inside a smoke-filled room, another matter gnawed at their thoughts: the looming battle in the East Sea.
The operation was officially top secret, but with men of such reach gathered here, even fragments of troop deployments and resource allocations were enough to guess the truth.
It was clear: a massive counteroffensive was brewing—on a scale not smaller than the last defensive campaign.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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