Elder brother's garrison

Page 23

She was sulking, so she hugged Xiaobai and pressed her little face tightly against Xiaobai's chest.

"...The Admiral is still the best." Feeling the smooth, soft touch on her face, Fubuki muttered to herself.

Xiaobai naturally couldn't figure out what was going on in Fubuki's little head.

Although destroyers are known for their carefree lifestyle, it seems they do have some of their own little ideas.

However, it's not a bad thing that the destroyers have a subtle fondness for it.

Thinking this, Xiaobai couldn't help but feel a little happy.

At this moment, Bai Xue and the others also came over carrying a bunch of things.

"Sister...come out quickly." Bai Xue bent down and called out to Fubuki, who was feeling self-loathing.

"No." Fubuki buried her head in Shiro's arms and answered in a muffled voice.

Bai Xue sighed helplessly.

She placed the things she was carrying on the table and straightened the bottle that Fubuki had carelessly left out.

"Admiral, here are the writing brush, ink, paper, and inkstone." Bai Xue said, taking a roll of Xuan paper from Chu Xue and spreading it on the table.

"Oh, oh, oh. Thank you for your hard work," Xiaobai said.

"Hmm... Huh? What is the Admiral doing?" At this moment, Changchun, who sat down in front of Xiaobai, looked at some unfamiliar objects on the table and couldn't help but ask.

Xiaobai gently shifted her position while holding Chuixue.

Fubuki's body was soft and light, causing no burden to Shiro.

“Last night, that banner at the welcome party… oh, I don’t think you were here then,” Xiaobai explained, nodding. “The words on that banner were written by Fubuki.”

"Oh...that's really impressive," Changchun said softly, his eyes wide.

Chapter 27 Challenge

While Shiro and Fubuki were chatting in the warehouse, they suddenly started talking about the banner from last night. After hearing Shiro's praise, Fubuki said she had to demonstrate her calligraphy to Shiro, so she took her sisters home to get brushes, ink, paper, and inkstones.

While Xiaobai was waiting for Chuixue and the others in the warehouse, she encountered Changchun, who had just returned from the headquarters' renovation, which led to this scene.

What a coincidence.

When Xiaobai explained the whole story, Changchun laughed awkwardly.

After all, the first thing he did upon returning to the garrison was to flirt with his superior officer and also casually reveal some of his embarrassing past, which was quite a strange experience for Changchun.

However, Fubuki, who was supposed to demonstrate calligraphy, was now silently attached to Shiro like a chest ornament, so it seemed that no one was actually writing calligraphy.

After confirming several times that Fubuki had lost all interest, Shiro expressed his regret.

"Speaking of which, Changchun underwent a refit, right?" Xiaobai asked, "...a missile destroyer?"

"Oh, oh, oh, the Admiral knows that too?" Changchun exclaimed in surprise.

Changchun's refit was carried out a month ago, while Xiaobai only took office yesterday. Changchun thought that Xiaobai would know nothing about him, but after Xiaobai told him that he had accepted the refit of the missile destroyer, Changchun still felt flattered.

“I’ve read the materials,” Xiaobai said.

"Oh, I see." Changchun nodded. "Yes, the renovation is finished."

"how do you feel?"

"Hmm..." Changchun tapped his chin with his finger, "I haven't had any real combat experience yet... so I'm not very clear."

"Oh, I see." Xiaobai picked up her teacup and took a small sip. "Would you like to try it?"

"what?"

"exercise."

Xiao Bai put down her teacup and said softly.

"Drill!" Suddenly, Fubuki, who was in Shiro's arms, raised her head as if she had been injected with hormones, her red eyes sparkling with excitement.

Exercises are a major activity for ship girls from various naval bases to exchange skills and learn from each other. Naval bases will continuously send out ship girls of moderate training levels to challenge other naval bases in the surrounding areas. The main purpose of this activity is to allow ship girls to improve their training levels through mutual understanding and friction, and incidentally, to foster camaraderie between naval bases.

A naval base with good interpersonal relationships might receive seven or eight fleet ship girls visiting for exercises every day.

—Of course, this does not include the garrison town of Xiaobai.

It seems that because the newspaper team frequently went out for drills, no one has come to conduct drills for a very long time.

Fubuki's love for exercises was cultivated during her time in the newspaper team.

"Of course I don't mean those kinds of field exercises." Shiro quickly explained, looking at Fubuki's excited expression. "Those kinds of field exercises that take a long time. I mean the exercises inside the naval base."

Upon hearing this, Fubuki immediately lowered her head, losing interest.

Fubuki's passion for drills stems from her fascination with the thrill of remaining unscathed amidst the battleship fire of other naval bases. This formidable evasion ability is built upon Fubuki's superior training level compared to other naval base ship girls. Within her own naval base, there are countless ship girls with training levels comparable to Fubuki's, so she naturally cannot guarantee an extremely high evasion rate even when bombarded by her own ship girls.

Getting hit by a cannon isn't a very pleasant experience.

"Is it fighting with the older sisters?" Changchun asked blankly. "Changchun probably can't beat the older sisters."

The "older sister" that Changchun mentioned refers to the top-tier capital ships in the naval base's food chain, with Lexington at the head.

"...Um, shall we practice with Fubuki?" Shiro asked.

As soon as Xiaobai finished speaking, everyone in the room fell silent.

Most exercises between destroyers of similar skill levels often end in mutual destruction.

Destroyers have weak artillery firepower and extremely high maneuverability, so they are usually unable to inflict damage on the enemy in long-range artillery battles.

Most of the time, the two destroyers would approach each other rapidly on the sea and then pull away, exchanging small cannon shots, and neither of them would be harmed.

If both sides get close enough to use torpedoes, the outcome will be that they wipe each other out.

Of course, Fubuki and the others can use their high training level to forcefully evade the torpedoes of other naval bases' low-trained destroyers, but Changchun does not fall into the category of low-trained.

Although Kogan has always lagged behind the top destroyers in the naval base due to its inferior ship equipment, in terms of training level alone, Kogan is on par with Fubuki, reaching top-tier training levels.

Furthermore, after the transformation, Fubuki and the others believed that Changchun, upon his return, would at least possess the ability to perish together with them.

“Admiral, destroyer exercises are boring,” Shirayuki explained from the side. “Unless it’s a destroyer like Hatsuyuki with specially enhanced gunnery, destroyer exercises in the naval base usually end in mutual destruction.”

Fearing that Xiaobai might not have understood, Baixue explained to Xiaobai the general process of a battle between destroyers, as well as the annihilation that would result from launching torpedoes at each other as a gesture of goodwill.

"Um..." At this moment, Changchun raised his hand, looking hesitant.

"Please speak," Bai Xue nodded.

"...Changchun no longer has torpedoes."

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

"Eh?"

The four Fubuki sisters couldn't help but gasp in shock.

Torpedoes are fundamental to destroyers, and are the main reason why a destroyer's threat level increases to its maximum after close combat. In fact, the strength and accuracy of a torpedo can affect a destroyer's overall capabilities.

There is a destroyer in the naval base that is called Solomon, the demon god.

Because she maximizes the torpedo attack capability, even a deep-sea dean could be sunk by her torpedoes if he is not careful, let alone an ordinary battleship or aircraft carrier.

This is the allure of torpedoes: within the fragile hull of a destroyer lies a destructive force that even the strongest battleship fire cannot overcome. When this force is detonated under certain conditions, it signifies the end of a battle.

Even when destroyers like the Hatsuyuki and Gearing have had their gunnery capabilities enhanced during refits, resulting in a slight reduction in torpedo firepower, they will not abandon their torpedo attack capabilities.

Changchun's claim that he had lost his torpedoes was a shock to the Fubuki sisters as Lexington learned that her sister had lost her flight deck after her modifications, or Bismarck learned that Tirpitz had lost her main guns.

—Or rather, it's a feeling of being unable to accept it.

"Hmm... Changchun is equipped with a new type of..."

"Come on!" Suddenly, Fubuki stood up. "Let's do a drill!"

Changchun sat on the ground, looked up at Chuixue's face, and thought for a while.

"……it is good."

Changchun nodded and stood up as well.

Chapter 28 YES! RPG!

Ship girls' movement trajectories can easily be tens or even hundreds of meters, so the training grounds for ship girls need to be very large. Building a large swimming pool directly in the naval base for training would be a waste of resources, so the training grounds for naval bases are usually found in a nearby sea area close to the naval base.

Anyway, naval bases are usually located by the sea.

At the harbor, Xiaobai, Baixue, Chuxue, and Shenxue sat on a thin blanket.

There was a small table on the stall, which was filled with all sorts of snacks.

"Admiral, would you like another cup?" Bai Xue asked, holding the teapot, noticing that the tea in Xiao Bai's cup was almost empty.

"Oh... thank you."

Bai Xue tilted the teapot slightly, and the pale green Durian Ersan (IV) tea quietly flowed into Xiao Bai's cup.

After filling the teacup, Bai Xue put down the teapot and then turned her gaze to the distance.

Fubuki and Changchun stood side by side at the edge of the port.

The two of them were bent over, carrying their shoes, looking ready for anything.

"Are you ready?" Xiaobai asked.

Xiaobai's voice wasn't loud, but the ship girls' sensitive hearing allowed them to easily hear Xiaobai's voice even in open terrain.

"Ready."

"Ready."

The two destroyers stood together.

"Then let's get started."

As soon as Xiaobai finished speaking, Chuixue and Changchun lightly jumped off the high cement platform.

The ship girls' humanoid bodies are no different from humans, but they possess a unique type of weapon called ship armor. They can appear and disappear at the ship girl's will, spew cannon fire, launch carrier-based aircraft, and fire torpedoes.

It can also bestow the sea's blessing upon the ship girls.

Walking on the water, speeding on the crests of the waves.

"Swoosh—" A sound of air slicing through the water came from the air.

The moment Changchun and Fubuki's feet touched the sea, they floated up as if supported by some invisible force. Then the water beneath their feet began to churn and surge violently behind them, like a jet of steam.

The two ship girls moved swiftly towards the other side of the sea.

Soon, even with Xiaobai's sharp eyesight, he could no longer make out the figures of the two ship girls.

"Destroyer exercises often last all day," Bai Xue said to Xiao Bai, who could no longer make out the two ship girls.

"Oh, I see." Xiaobai took a sip of tea and nodded.

“Yes, my sister and Changchun are at the same level in terms of training and have similar combat experience. Given the capabilities of destroyers, they will probably test each other for a long time,” said Shenxue, who was standing next to Baixue.

With a crisp "crunch," Chu Xue bit into a senbei (rice cracker), her eyes fixed on the distant sea.

"Speaking of which, can you all see it?" Xiaobai asked, noticing that the ship girls around her were all staring intently at the sea.

"Sure." Hatsuyuki chewed on a rice cracker and looked at Shiro. "Can't the Admiral see clearly?"

“…Hmm.” Xiaobai could only manage a wry smile.

"The Admiral can use the Admiral's website, waaaaah..." Chu Xue thought for a moment and said half of it to Xiao Bai, but Bai Xue next to her covered her mouth with her hand.

"...Ah, it's nothing, it's nothing, please don't mind it, Admiral..." Bai Xue said with a smile to Xiao Bai.

What Chuxue wants to talk about is the Admiral Network, a magical ability that can connect ship girls with admirals.

Through the Admiral Network, Admirals can command ship girls from thousands of miles away and gain access to their five senses, making it a very powerful communication capability.

Of course, as an admiral who hasn't taken the medicine, Xiaobai cannot acquire this ability.

Bai Xue is really quick-witted. Considering that Chu Xue's words might affect Xiao Bai's timing in taking the medicine, she quickly interrupted Chu Xue.

Chu Xue also realized that her words were somewhat inappropriate, and her eyes began to wander.

Xiao Bai smiled.