Elder brother's garrison

Page 1848

"Huh? Are there still interviews if all the spots are filled?"

"Let's screen all the ship girls who have signed up first. Or, Xiaobai, you can write down all the ship girls you like, and then we can discuss which four to choose after the interviews are over," Lexington suggested.

"Oh...that seems like a good idea." Xiaobai thought for a moment and nodded.

After a brief conversation, Lexington and Xiaobai decided to continue the interview.

Lexington returned to his seat and began calling for the next interviewee.

The office door was quickly pushed open, and a ship girl who looked extremely similar to Lexington, and seemed much younger in temperament, but whose expression was as indifferent as Essex, walked in.

"Huh? CV16?" Xiaobai looked at the ship girl who walked in with surprise.

“…” cv16 stopped in her tracks, her gaze sweeping over Lexington before settling on Xiaobai, and she bowed silently to the two of them.

"So you also want to be a secretary ship?" Xiaobai asked with some emotion.

“…” cv16 blinked and nodded, “Mm.”

"Little Sixteen is here too?" Lexington, who was standing to the side, suddenly felt exceptionally happy when she saw CV16. She got up and came behind CV16, gently placing her hands on CV16's shoulders, and asked her warmly, "What position on the secretary ship are you looking for? Something more administrative or something more interactive?"

“...Either is fine.” cv16 looked up and nodded at Lexington.

"How about we try out office work first? Try handling some routine paperwork?"

"Ah."

Lexington's physical age is roughly between twenty-four and twenty-seven, which is the age when a woman's body is most physically mature, assuming she retains her youth. CV16, true to her name, is a younger ship girl who inherited Lexington's name as her ship prototype. Her appearance is extremely similar to Lexington's, but because she is relatively petite and slender, she looks more like a sixteen-year-old version of Lexington.

When these two ship girls are together, Lexington is gentle and enthusiastic, while CV16 is obedient and well-behaved, creating a strange feeling of a mother and daughter getting along.

Xiao Bai watched the conversation between Lexington and CV16, thought for a while, and nodded.

Although CV16 is similar to Essex in personality, both being somewhat emotionless ship girls, her desire to communicate is much stronger than Essex's. Furthermore, although she speaks less, her words are concise and clear, which should not affect her work as a secretary ship.

In short, add it to the list and consider it.

While watching Lexington interact with CV16, Xiaobai picked up a pen and wrote CV16's name on the fifth spot of the secretary ship.

The interview process for newbie naval commanders is in full swing.

One by one, the ship girls walked in and out.

The list of secretaries in Xiaobai's hand is getting longer and longer.

……

"Admiral, she's absolutely determined to be the secretary ship!" Wisconsin stood in front of Shiro, hands on her hips, pointing at him with an air of authority and saying earnestly, "This job! I'm taking it!"

"That's quite an impressive sight," Xiaobai nodded with a smile, and wrote down the name Wisconsin.

……

"Admiral... I'm sorry to bother you..." Aoba sat down carefully in the chair, rubbing her hands together, looking around shyly.

"Aoba, you really came too?" Shiro looked at Aoba and smiled. "So you still want to apply for the secretary ship position after all?"

"No, no, no, I... I actually just came to visit Sister Lexington—" Aoba shook her head frantically, then said pitifully, "But as soon as I arrived, the sisters around me forced me into the line and said I couldn't leave until I got in for an interview..."

"Haha..." Xiaobai laughed at Qingye.

……

"Next person!"

"Excuse me!" President Er Gou pushed open the door and burst out laughing at Xiao Bai and Lexington inside.

"Huh? President Sister?" Xiaobai was shocked.

"President Naige, what brings you to apply for the position of secretary ship at the naval base?" Lexington asked helplessly as President Er Gou entered.

"Huh? Isn't this where you line up to get beer?" President Er Gou was stunned. She looked around. "I only came to join in because I saw everyone was lining up."

"...What kind of herd mentality is this...?"

"Hey, this is boring. So it's not about lining up for beer after all." President Er Gou clicked his tongue, waved to Xiao Bai and Lexington, and said, "Okay, okay, you guys carry on. I'm off!"

President Er Gou turned to leave, but the next second, a hand snapped and grabbed her wrist, pulling her back.

"Hey? What's up?" President Er Gou turned around and saw Lexington pulling him with a big smile on her face.

"...Speaking of which, President Noga was once the world's second-best admiral, right?" Lexington smiled.

"...That's still true now, after all, the third brother hasn't launched any ranking drills against me." President Er Gou looked at Lexington with a strange expression. "Why are you asking this?"

"The world's second-best admiral's work ability... must be pretty good, right?"

"...Hey, you wouldn't..."

"Hehehe... Guild Leader Naige is now considered one of our newbie naval commanders, so it seems like you could take the secretary ship position."

"Huh?? Wait, I'm human! The job of your secretary ship shouldn't be done by you ship girls..."

"President Naige is joking again." Lexington smiled and moved behind President Er Gou, reaching out to pinch President Er Gou's waist.

"Huh?!" President Er Gou was startled. Her black hair suddenly turned snow-white, as if it had been enhanced with special effects, and the aura of the ship's equipment spread out from her body.

"Look at you, so adorable. Do people think you're a ship girl or a human?" Lexington released the soft flesh around Er Gou's waist, then smiled and said to her, "Speaking of which, President Noga has spent quite a bit on drinks at the naval base lately, hasn't she? Since you're Shiro's sister-in-law, I won't ask you for the money, but the debt of gratitude... it's not something you can repay in a short time."

"You you you you————" In shock, Chairman Er Gou was pulled into the office by Lexington in full view of everyone.

Boom!

The office door closes.

Chapter 2554 Abandoning the Position of the Secretary Ship

"Lexington—you you you you you despicable!!!"

President Er Gou's grief-stricken cries soon echoed from the office, causing the ship girls queuing in the corridor to whisper among themselves.

……

There were actually many little incidents during the interview session.

Quincy, along with Aoba, came to apply for the secretary ship position. Xiaobai thought she was just there for fun like Aoba, but to her surprise, Quincy, who seemed so innocent and adorable, scored a shocking perfect score on the secretary ship's ability test.

For example, Deepsea Akagi secretly entered the Admiral's office and applied to become a secretary ship. Xiaobai subconsciously wanted to persuade her to give up the idea, but after thinking about it carefully, after learning from the example of Chairman Er Gou, it seemed that the racial threshold for secretary ships did not need to be so strict. So after a simple test of Deepsea Akagi's abilities, Xiaobai added her name to the list of secretary ships.

Another example...

The selection of new secretariat ships is as exciting as the ancient emperor choosing his concubines—it's full of novelty and exhilarating.

Xiaobai had never been so excited in a day.

The interview process for newbie naval commanders continued into the evening.

After finishing the interview for the last ship girl, Shiro and Lexington stood in front of the office door, smiling and waving to the last ship girl.

"Watch your step on the way back."

"I will post the interview information on the naval base's official website."

Xiaobai and Lexington watched the last ship girl disappear down the corridor, then breathed a sigh of relief and returned to their office.

"What a delightful day!" Lexington stretched, a satisfied expression on her face. "I feel like all the fatigue I've been feeling lately has vanished with everything that happened today."

"It feels like half of the ship girls in the naval base came today." Xiaobai returned to her seat, looked at the ship girl list on the table, and muttered to herself.

"How many slots are there for the secretary ship?" Lexington asked, stepping forward with her hands behind her back.

"...Quite a lot." Xiaobai pinched a corner of the ship girl list on the table and gently pulled it up. The paper on the table instantly stretched to several meters long. "Iowa, Hood, Missouri, Essex, CV16, Wisconsin, President Sister, Quincy, Prince of Wales, Akagi, and..."

Xiao Bai opened his mouth and rattled off dozens of names.

"There are a lot of spots available." Lexington nodded after hearing Xiaobai list the dishes.

"I've done my best to screen applicants..." Xiaobai smiled wryly, "This is already about a one in twenty chance of being accepted... There are just too many applicants."

"Hmm..." Lexington stepped forward, picked up Shiro's list of ship girls, and read it silently with great interest. "Each one is a wonderful ship girl."

"Should we choose four people from here?" Xiaobai asked again.

"It's a bit of a difficult choice."

"That's right," Xiaobai said, holding the list with some worry, "four secretary ship positions are still too few."

"Should we increase the number of positions in the secretariat?"

“That won’t do either.” Xiaobai shook his head. “If the number of secretaries increases, it will become cumbersome when carrying out the work.”

“That makes sense.” Lexington smiled as she looked at Xiaobai deep in thought, and put the list back on the table. “Then I have another idea.”

"What are you thinking?" Xiaobai looked up.

"Little White, what do you think... about the rotation?" Lexington smiled mysteriously.

"Rotation?" Xiaobai was taken aback.

“Hmm… The secretariat consists of five ship girls, which is the result of our discussion.” Lexington said to Xiaobai. “I will be in charge of leading the remaining four ship girls in the secretariat, and I will also be responsible for assigning tasks to those four ship girls. In other words, apart from me, the remaining four ship girls in the secretariat do not actually need to be present all the time.”

"Eh?"

“Working in the office… is more tiring than I imagined.” Lexington closed her eyes and said softly, “Not everyone can have unparalleled work efficiency like you, Shiro. For us ordinary ship girls, even if we have unlimited physical energy, every day’s work will accumulate a kind of negative energy called mental fatigue in our brains. So I hope that the new ship girls in the secretariat can work one day and rest for a few days. That would be better for them.”

"Eh... does that mean rotation..." Xiaobai looked down at the list in her hand. "There are about forty ship girls on this list. That means each ship girl only needs to work as a secretary ship for one day and then she can rest for nine days?"

“That’s right,” Lexington smiled. “This should be good for everyone.”

"..." Xiaobai looked up at Lexington with a strange gaze, "...Lexington, you didn't plan to rotate the secretarial team all along, so you made me write down all the ship girls I liked on the list, did you?"

"How could that be?" Lexington chuckled, covering her mouth.

“Rotating the secretarial team is indeed a good idea…but won’t they become rusty in their work?” Xiaobai asked.

“It’s alright. I’ll handle the assignments for the secretariat. I’ll take care of the tasks that require spending a lot of time in the office, and the rest that can be done quickly can be handed over to the remaining four ship girls.” Lexington nodded and said, “That way, the rotating ship girls won’t have any problems with getting rusty.”

“But then…your workload will still become very heavy, won’t it?” Xiaobai looked at Lexington with some concern. “The original intention of setting up the secretariat was to reduce your pressure…”

“It’s already much better, this is nothing,” Lexington said with a smile. “Besides, just as our naval base’s maid corps needs a head maid, the secretariat also needs a secretary-general to assign tasks, doesn’t it?”

　"Hmm..." Xiaobai covered her mouth and nodded.

Xiaobai looked down at the list of ship girls in his hand, his gaze momentarily blank.

Lexington's point is indeed very valid.

However, coordinating the rotation of more than forty ship girls and being responsible for the work assignments of each ship girl, it doesn't seem like Lexington's workload has been reduced by much...

Will this secretariat system really be effective...?

Thinking of this, Xiaobai silently raised her head.

In Xiaobai's gaze, Lexington walked to the window and looked up at the moon outside.

It is now night, and the stars twinkle outside the window while the moon hangs high in the sky.

The starry sky by the sea was much brighter than in the city. The bright moonlight streamed through the glass window, bathing Lexington in its glow and making her fair skin shimmer.

Lexington is beautiful under the moonlight.

But he looked somewhat lonely and tired.

But for some reason, Xiaobai felt a little sorry for her.

Xiao Bai silently watched Lexington's retreating figure, then suddenly his brow twitched.

“Lexington,” Little White called out.

"Hmm?" Lexington, standing by the window, turned her head.

"Lexington, have you really not considered... retiring?" Little White asked, holding the list in his hands.

"..." Lexington looked at Little White and slowly walked towards her. "What's wrong, Little White?"

"It's nothing, I just suddenly realized that you've been working so hard for the naval base for over ten years, Lexington." Xiaobai sighed and said to Lexington, "You just said that working in the office is tough, and the ship girls' fatigue increases with the workload, but you're a ship girl too. You've been working for the naval base for so long, without a break all year round... Haven't you thought about taking a proper rest?"

"..." Lexington.

“When I first became Admiral, it was you, Lexington, who taught me how to handle work, gave me experience as an Admiral, and so on.” Little White murmured to herself, “Everyone in the naval base seems to have gotten used to you being the secretary ship now… but I always feel like this might be unfair to you… You see, the naval base is gradually getting on track now, and I’m not making as many mistakes as I did when I first became Admiral, so… I was thinking, since things are getting better and better now, if you really find being the secretary ship tiring, Lexington, then I won’t lock you in this office. I don’t mind where you want to go…”

As Xiaobai spoke, she nervously clasped her hands together.

“Lexington…do you…want to rest?” Little White asked Lexington softly. “Not for everyone at the base, but for yourself, for Saratoga…”

"..." Lexington looked at Little White quietly.

Lexington turned his head to look out the window.