Elder brother's garrison

Page 260

"Ah."

"Could you please show me the way back?"

“No problem, leave it to Essex and the great Belle, haha!” Essex didn’t say anything, but the eagle on her shoulder spread its wings and shouted its reply.

"Thank you very much, then I'll leave it to you." Lexington said gratefully.

Lexington's words made Veneto raise an eyebrow.

"Lexington, you're not going back?"

“Yes. I’ll go ashore with you,” Lexington said with a smile.

"Isn't it said that it's not appropriate to expose oneself?"

“If you don’t get caught, it’s not considered an exposure.” Lexington was smiling one second, then turned mournful the next. “And even I, after not seeing the Admiral for so long, have started to miss him. I’ve been working day and night at the naval base dealing with paperwork, my back aches, and it’s so hard to find someone to chat with. I’m so lonely that I want to sleep with the lights on, and I’m always thinking about how the Admiral is doing. Now that I’m so close to here, I really don’t want to turn around and leave.”

At this point, Lexington gave Veneto a look that was so resentful it could melt your bones, then raised her hand to cover half of her face: "Waaah."

It makes it seem like Veneto is the bad guy.

Veneto looked at Lexington helplessly.

Lexington understood pretty much why she wanted to stay. Shiro was the sister of the former admiral, and the former admiral was Lexington's husband. So, to Lexington, Shiro was as close as her daughter. It was bound to upset an elder if their daughter suddenly married a ship girl without telling them.

A wedding ship is no small matter; it's a very important and serious affair. Ship girls, who value emotions, take the vow ring very seriously.

"If you want to stay, then stay. There's some trouble over there that I think I'll need your help with," Veneto sighed.

“Okay.” Lexington’s expression instantly changed from resentful to bright, and she nodded to Veneto.

“Sister…” Saratoga, who was being held down by Essex, looked pitifully at Lexington.

The meaning is quite clear: she doesn't want to go back.

Lexington nodded: "If you're not allowed to cause trouble, it's not impossible for you to stay."

Saratoga nodded rapidly, as if he had received a royal decree, like a hamster cracking sunflower seeds.

Veneto covered his head.

The aftermath became much simpler. After a brief handover, the remaining four ship girls in the carrier group, led by Essex, headed overseas, while Lexington and Saratoga stayed behind, facing Veneto and her entourage with dignified and radiant smiles.

On the way back to the beach, Glory had rested enough and slowly woke up from his unconsciousness. Everyone returned to the beach safely.

Around the beach, many ship girls were cleaning up the wreckage of the destroyed Abyssal ships, while a large number of admirals were also standing on the beach, cleaning up the sand that had been bombarded beyond recognition.

"They're back!" The ship girls, who had been watching, saw Veneto's return and immediately shouted towards the beach.

The admirals on the beach quickly gathered on the shore, excitedly watching the returning ship girls.

Although Xiaobai already knew about the battle situation through the admiral's network, he was still quite excited.

She, Ringo, and Mr. Barbatos stood in the middle of the beach watching the returning ship girls.

"Hmm? Why are there two more?" Mr. Barbatos murmured in surprise as he looked at the figures appearing on the shore.

"It's my ship girl who's here," Xiaobai explained to Barbatos.

"Oh! It's Admiral Lu Lin's ship girl! I knew it! I was wondering why the battle went so smoothly, it's all thanks to Miss Lu Lin's ship girl! I, Barbatos, am simply..."

Barbatos, true to his name, never missed an opportunity to flatter.

When Veneto and her companions reached the shore, everyone surrounded them as if welcoming heroes.

Glorious's ship equipment was the most damaged, and her physical strength and energy were also the most worn out. After she stepped onto the beach, she felt her legs go weak.

Glory, panting, walked into the crowd.

The admirals knew that Glorious was not in good condition, so they did not rush over to offer their condolences, but instead made way for him.

Luo Yin was also pushed forward from the crowd and brought before Guangrong.

Glory collapsed wearily into Luo Yin's arms.

"I'm back, Admiral." Glorious hooked his arm around Luo Yin's and smiled wearily.

"Welcome back, it's an honor."

"I'm sorry, Admiral, for showing you such a pathetic state of Glory once again."

“This is the most handsome I’ve ever seen you.” Luo Yin looked at the glory in front of him, but his face was quite serious. “You’re so handsome that even I, a man, am jealous.”

Glory looked at Luo Yin, shook his head, and gently pressed against Luo Yin's chest.

The surrounding admirals immediately burst into laughter.

Compared to Luo Yin and Guang Rong, Xiao Bai was noticeably less noticed.

"It was clearly my sister who did the hard work," Rome protested slightly.

“She is more worthy of respect.” Veneto didn’t care about that and patted Roma on the waist. “Although she is still very weak, that ship girl has the will of a strong person. Roma, if you don’t work hard, she may be stronger than you in a few years. So let’s double the training volume starting today.”

"Why is it doubled again?!"

"The weather's nice today, so let's double the training in Rome."

"Stop! This is torture!"

As soon as Saratoga got ashore, she ran towards Little White and pounced into his arms like a little kitten, nuzzling his face against him.

"Little White!" Saratoga exclaimed, looking as if he'd finally been waiting for this moment.

Lexington watched as Little White and Saratoga reunited, and unusually, he didn't interrupt them. Instead, he looked at Ringo beside Little White.

Ringo then looked at Lexington.

Lexington nodded at Ringo with a slight surprise.

Only then, with all the expeditionary forces returning safely, did the incident involving the Dean of the First Sea Area finally come to an end.

The ship girls on the beach swept through all the deep-sea roosting ships near the sea, collecting more than two hundred deep-sea metals.

The spoils were divided equally among the admirals of all the ship girls who participated in the battle.

The cleanup of the battle on the Deep Sea Dean's side has been handed over to the ship girls here. However, since Lexington has already obtained the most important Deep Sea metal, the rest doesn't matter.

Although many of the admirals suffered physical injuries and even developed heart problems from the attack, the gains were quite substantial.

The experience and lessons learned by all the ship girls who participated in the battle are invaluable, and each of them has undergone a complete transformation.

It's a blessing in disguise.

After the battlefield was cleared away, the train to the city center was put into service, and the admirals returned to the city center in several batches.

At this time, the Admiral's Guild also announced that it would be closed for half a day for renovations.

Compared to the thriving atmosphere outside the Admiral's Guild after a great disaster, the atmosphere inside the Admiral's Guild was far from good.

Inside the Admiral's Guild, Mr. Barbatos and Ringo stood together, looking directly at the Admiral below.

Ian stood there alone, looking at Ringo and Barbatos with a sense of loss.

Ian looked at the stunningly beautiful governor in red standing before him, his indifferent eyes showing no emotion.

Anyone with eyes could see that Ian was already disheartened.

Chapter 329 Even Newton would jump out of his coffin from anger because of you.

Xiaobai and Nia stood to the side.

Nia's mood hasn't been very good since the exercise, and it seems that Ian's words have had a significant impact on her.

“Ian Isaac, let me introduce you. This is the Governor of the Inland Area.” Mr. Barbatos was unusually serious as he stood to the side of Ringo and introduced Ian.

Ian looked at Ringo, his indifferent face showing no reaction.

"Let's get straight to the point, Ian, let's take stock." Only at this moment did Mr. Barbatos act like a guild manager. He pulled a small notebook from his waistband and began to read aloud as he flipped through it. "Ian Isaac, first of all, on the beach, you revealed the existence of the Admiral's Network to everyone. This is a top-secret matter."

At this point, Barbatos glanced at Ian again: "You're not drunk today, are you?"

Ian shook his head.

“Since your clan has many admirals, I won’t ask you where you learned about the admiral network. But leaking secrets is a very serious matter. Are you prepared to be punished?” Mr. Barbatos said, flipping through his notebook. “According to Article 8, Item 9, an admiral who disregards laws and regulations and acts insincerely will be stripped of his privileges for one to three years and fined between 100,000 and 500,000 merit points, depending on the severity of the offense.”

Ian did not react.

Barbatos closed his notebook: "Do you have any explanation for this?"

“No,” Ian replied.

"Next, I'll talk about you and Nia." Mr. Barbatos said, then looked at Nia, who was standing next to Xiaobai. "Admiral Nia, please come here."

Wu (1) Qibalin (7) Lunia walked over and stood two or three steps away from Ian.

“To say these things in public, I must say, Ian Isaac, you really have courage,” Mr. Barbatos said to Ian. “Relocate the garrison? Ha.”

Upon hearing this, Ian, who had been calm and indifferent all along, suddenly raised his head and looked directly at Barbatos.

Startled by that glare, Barbatos instinctively flinched.

"What are you looking at?!" Barbatos shouted.

However, Ian showed no fear and continued to stare straight at Barbatos.

Barbatos was, after all, just a businessman. Although he was a guild leader who usually acted arrogantly, he really didn't know what to do when faced with a stubborn kid like this.

Ringo looked at Ian thoughtfully.

She asked Ian, "You think it's unfair?"

Ringo's words gave Ian hope, and he withdrew his gaze from Barbatos and nodded slightly to Ringo.

“I don’t think it’s fair,” Ian said firmly.

Ian's emotions were no longer as intense as they had been in the bar and on the beach. It seemed that after going through a series of events, he had finally calmed down.

Veneto's explanation only clarified why Xiaobai should help Nia, convincing only the onlookers and those who were simply looking for fun, but it failed to completely convince Ian and Nia, the two parties involved.

“I have good grades, a good family, a good background, and many elders who are admirals. Once I become an admiral, countless resources will flow to me.” Ian said quietly, clutching his chest. “Although I didn’t build a light cruiser ship girl during the graduation construction, my family still provided me with a lot of resources to build a destroyer. I think the school at the time could also see that I am different from those who rely on luck. I have a more stable future and greater potential for development.”

“The revitalization of my family, the expectations of my elders, even the flattery I received from my friends—all of these things spurred me to give my all from the moment I became conscious. I risked everything, even my dignity, and in the end, they told me I got nothing?” Ian said, letting out a bitter laugh. He pointed at Nia. “If it were someone better than me, that would be one thing, but you’re telling me it’s this woman who’s worse off than me academically, from a less privileged background, with no money or power, who just got lucky and created a Cleveland woman who stole everything from me?”

At this point, Ian turned to look at Nia.

"Do you have ideals? Before becoming an admiral, did you understand the importance of this position? Do you know that the admiral is the most important position established to protect humanity? Do you really have the awareness to be an admiral?" Ian asked Nia. "You don't. Nia, I admit you are kind and gentle, but you are also weak and superficial because of that. You are really not suitable to be an admiral. You are not worthy."

Ian then opened his arms and looked at Barbatos: "So all I did was to get someone who was never meant to be an admiral out of the admiral's world as soon as possible. Although there were some personal grudges involved, I don't regret it."

Nia's expression instantly turned ugly upon hearing Ian's words.

She clutched the hem of her clothes, her fingers turning white from gripping them so tightly.

Cleveland wanted to step forward, but Veneto pulled her back.

“If you still want her to be a child under your protection, I won’t stop you,” Veneto said softly.

Cleveland pursed her lips and lowered her head.

Barbatos looked at Ian's sanctimonious demeanor and wanted to yell at him, but he really couldn't find a way to start.

As the governor, Ringo had access to a great deal of information. Ian was indeed the top student in the school, and Nia's grades were also quite good. However, statistically speaking, Nia's grades were slightly lower than Ian's, placing her second. If ranked, Ian was indeed more deserving of the title of "best student."

"Admiral Nia, raise your head," Ringo asked Nia. "Why did you become an admiral?"

Nia raised her head and looked at Ringo in front of her.

Ringo's eyes were calm and clear, which made people feel at ease, yet they couldn't tell any lies.

It's as if that gaze can pierce through your body and reach right into your heart.

“…I want to find a job, so I can…earn money and support…myself,” Nia said, clutching the hem of her clothes with a guilty expression.

She genuinely felt that compared to those truly dedicated to saving the world, her reasons for wanting to become an admiral were far too simple, even pathetic.

Nia couldn't even bring herself to say this selfish wish out loud.

Ringo looked at Nia with some surprise.

“Governor Ringo, Admiral Nia are orphans,” Barbatos explained from the side.

Ringo nodded in sudden realization.

Ian, who was standing to the side, revealed a victorious smile on his calm face: "Your Excellency, you see, Nia did not have the awareness to become an admiral. She just wanted to fill her stomach, make money, and survive in society, which is why she chose the profession of admiral."

Ringo didn't linger on Ian's victorious smile for long, but continued to look at Nia.

"Anything else?" Ringo asked.