A thin mist rose from the sea in the early morning.
Before the sun could fully illuminate the ocean again, the mist showed no signs of receding; the boundless sea remained a vast expanse of white in the distance.
"Hurry up, quickly pack everything!"
At Xianhua City's temporary naval operational base, Pennsylvania was urging her Ship Girls: "Be quick about it, we said we'd visit this morning, don't make Commander Wang Yu wait too long, or he'll say we don't understand etiquette. Royal Ship Girls are very particular about that..."
Amidst everyone's laughter, Pennsylvania led a few Ship Girls out of the port and headed towards Tianqing Port.
After sailing at a normal speed for only a dozen minutes, they had already arrived at Tianqing Port's defensive waters.
Before they could proceed much further, the roar of carrier-based aircraft echoed from high above.
A carrier-based aircraft landed and then ascended in front of them, drawing a beautiful arc, seemingly to welcome them.
"Accelerate!" Pennsylvania waved her hand: "It looks like the Master is already impatient. I told you to hurry, but you're all so sluggish..."
The response was a string of silvery laughter from everyone.
Now that there was a powerful port district stationed in the sea area, the defensive pressure on the entire Garrison Fleet instantly dropped by several levels. When conducting routine sea patrols, they no longer had to be as constantly on edge, ready to respond to Siren assaults.
At least now, if they encountered a crisis and requested support, there was a powerful port district nearby, ready to assist on the battlefield at any time.
Pennsylvania thought the same; ever since that incident, she immediately felt the safety level of the entire sea area soaring. She no longer needed to request aid from Headquarters. Although this port district didn't have many people, its strength was astonishing.
Soon, their group arrived at Tianqing Port's harbor.
She had imagined that Glorious or the Ship girl calling herself Gascogne would be waiting at the port, but instead, she saw another tall, fox-eared girl in flowing robes waiting. This distinctive feature immediately made her realize this was a Ship girl from Sakura Empire.
She noticed that the Sakura Empire Ship girl coughed softly, seemingly not in good health.
"Are these gentlemen and ladies from the garrison fleet? The Master has been waiting inside for a long time," the fox-eared Ship girl said softly.
Pennsylvania looked in surprise at the unfamiliar Ship girl who appeared at the port. The distinct animal ears indicated that this should be a Ship girl from Sakura Empire, and from her tall stature, she should also be a capital ship. She just didn't know which one. But to be someone she couldn't even recognize, she must be a super rare Ship girl...
Pennsylvania felt that this port district, from inside to out, exuded an air of strangeness.
When she first arrived, there weren't many people, but the strength of the Ship Girls was terrifyingly strong.
Well, just like now, another Ship girl, whose origin was unknown, suddenly appeared. She just didn't know if the strength of this Sakura Empire Ship girl was as powerful as the two Ship Girls before. Her intuition told her that this smiling Sakura Empire capital ship was also quite formidable.
Realizing that she seemed to have paused for too long, she said with a chuckle, "It's just that we brought quite a lot of things this time, and it took a bit more time to organize them, so we're a little late."
After speaking, she had her Ship Girls unload cargo from their rigging, while she followed Amagi towards the interior of the port district.
"May I ask which Ship girl you are? I haven't seen you before," Pennsylvania asked as they walked.
"Amagi, the battlecruiser Amagi. I've only recently returned to the Master's side."
The battlecruiser Amagi—Pennsylvania had a strong impression of this Ship girl.
After all, she was a great fox whose reputation was no less than that of Akagi of Sakura Empire. However, unlike Akagi, whose evaluations among Commanders and Ship Girls were severely polarized, Amagi enjoyed a very high level of praise among both Commanders and Ship Girls.
Not only was her combat ability strong, but she could also provide tremendous assistance during battles, making her a very gentle, considerate, and thoughtful older sister. Moreover, her command ability was outstanding; as a teammate on sortie, she was impeccable, bringing your fleet and victory back completely intact.
To be such a rare Ship girl, but Pennsylvania was only slightly astonished before no longer being surprised. After all, Wang Yu's Glorious was already a very rare Ship girl, and he also had powerful Ship Girls like Gascogne, whom she had never heard of. So, another Sakura Empire capital battlecruiser appearing was not strange.
Before, she felt that this port district was strange everywhere, but after witnessing its strength, even the appearance of a powerful Ship girl like Amagi in the port district was no longer surprising. Perhaps this was the unique ability of a top-tier Commander!
"Master, Amagi has brought the guests."
As Pennsylvania pushed open the door, she saw York cuddling in Commander Wang Yu's arms.
And Commander Wang Yu, whom she had only met once, was holding little York in his arms, continuously saying something...
"Haha, Commander Wang Yu is truly busy! It seems I'm visiting at an inconvenient time today."
Seeing someone had arrived, Wang Yu no longer bothered to comfort little York, who was somewhat miserable due to the sudden increase in training intensity.
Why did you have to provoke Gascogne? For that, I can only advise Gascogne to intensify her efforts.
York let out a shriek and broke free from Wang Yu's embrace, darting past Amagi and out the door, disappearing somewhere. It seemed being seen by outsiders made this boisterous girl feel shy.
Wang Yu said somewhat awkwardly, "Little girls sometimes encounter unhappy things, so they come to the Commander for comfort. I apologize for the spectacle."
Pennsylvania didn't pay attention to what Wang Yu said; her gaze was drawn to the blue-haired girl standing quietly in the room.
The girl stood in a corner of the room, quiet and silent like a water lily, her gaze fixed intently on her Commander. Even when she pushed the door open, her expression didn't change in the slightest.
She merely tilted her head slightly and gave a cold glance before turning back, but the scene they had met on the battlefield was still vivid in her mind. Although still silent and reserved, her demeanor gave a completely different impression.
Gone was the immense oppressive feeling like a war machine on the battlefield; instead, some human emotions inadvertently showed in her eyes.
This was something she couldn't have imagined before—that this machine-like girl would show such a gentle gaze... She couldn't connect the quiet girl in front of her with the figure who had engaged in a head-on firepower exchange with the Siren Fleet on the battlefield that day.
After all, even if times had changed, a single warrior fighting a thousand remained a scene powerful enough to shock the heart; the opponent's formidable strength was still deeply etched in her mind.
But that beautiful face, identical to before, constantly reminded her that she hadn't mistaken the person!
It was this seemingly delicate girl in front of her who had easily annihilated the entire attacking Siren Fleet on the battlefield, snatching her Garrison Fleet back from the hands of death.
She nodded slightly to the Ship girl named Gascogne, but received no response, which left her feeling a bit disappointed.