Elder brother's garrison

Page 949

Lexington's desk was covered with several volumes of the "Yurukan Girls" manga, including the first two officially published volumes, as well as the one that had been sold at a comic convention recently.

Saratoga actually liked these comics too. She subconsciously reached out and flipped through the Swaying Ship Girls comic book. Then, at the very bottom of the comic book, she saw a brand new notebook.

Saratoga glanced back at Lexington, who was reluctantly taking down the photograph from the wall with his back turned, not far away. Then she picked up her notebook and opened to the first page.

"On the first day without Jiajia and Xiaobai, the naval base felt unusually quiet, and work became much more relaxed. While sitting alone in the office, I couldn't help but think back to a year ago. Ever since Xiaobai arrived, things have been getting better. Thinking about it, time really flies..."

Saratoga raised a thin eyebrow.

This is the notebook where my sister recorded trivial matters during the time she accompanied Xiaobai on her expedition.

Saratoga thought for a moment.

Lexington, who has long been engaged in clerical work, does indeed sometimes have the habit of casually writing down his thoughts and feelings.

Saratoga's lips curled into a smile.

Sisters, you know.

As the younger sister, and since what my older sister writes isn't a diary, of course I can secretly take a look.

Saratoga turned to the second page.

"On the second day after Jiajia and Xiaobai were away, after settling the little animals downstairs, I idly watered the flowers a few times, called Shengwang over to play a few games of chess with her, and then Shengwang went back to work... I really felt bad about disturbing her work any further."

"On the third day since Jiajia and Xiaobai left, speaking of which, the eagle that Essex left behind seems to have combat power that other ship-mounted pets don't have. It's said that it was left behind because it got sick. It can also talk a lot, although sometimes it says some annoying and harassing things to me. But it's an animal after all, so I can't mess with it. And thinking about it, this kind of eagle is quite cute. Hmm... should I get one too?"

"On the fourth day without Jiajia and Xiaobai, fourteen ways to cook birds..."

"It's been five days since Jiajia and Xiaobai left. Speaking of which, many of the Deep Sea Deans that Xiaobai brought back seem to still be unable to speak human language. They seem to be quite intelligent; they can understand what I say. Since I have nothing to do right now, why don't I try teaching them?"

"It's the sixth day since Jiajia and Xiaobai left. Today there was a heavy thunderstorm. The collection room was damaged by the Deep-Sea Bismarck, and it will take a lot of effort to repair it. The Deep-Sea Deans are making good progress in their studies. To improve their learning environment, I also called over Pachina, the Deep-Sea Supply Ship, and Richelieu. I hope they can grow and improve together—"

"..."

"..."

"On the twelfth day, Bismarck's academic performance was surprisingly good. However, compared to her excellent written test scores, she, her sister, and Musashi were still unable to speak..."

"..."

"..."

"Day 20, missing Xiaobai."

"Day 21. Today I tried filling the room with photos of Xiaobai and Jiajia, and it felt much more comfortable—I'm becoming more and more capable of doing strange things, huh... If Jiajia and Xiaobai come back and see me, how am I going to explain it..."

"..."

"On the twenty-third day, before Akashi and Sukhbaatar left, they gave me a lot of Shiro figurines, which I put in my office. They're so cute."

"On the twenty-fourth day, I miss Xiaobai and Jiajia."

"Day 25, I really want to add more..."

"..."

"..."

"Day 30, plus... plus... plus..."

This is the last page of the notebook.

When Saratoga saw this, his shoulders twitched, and he instinctively shrank back, his face filled with terror.

"Have you finished reading?" Just then, Lexington's gentle voice came from beside Saratoga.

Saratoga's hands trembled, nearly dropping the notebook in her hands. She turned her head in alarm and saw Lexington smiling at her, holding tea and snacks.

"Jiajia is really engrossed in what she's looking at. I've already finished tidying up the room, and you're still watching." Lexington smiled indulgently, placing the tray of tea and snacks on the table. "Are you thirsty? Have some tea."

"..." Saratoga quickly closed her notebook, trembling as she put it down and stood up. "Sister... Sister, I... I remembered I need to talk to Xiaobai..."

Saratoga hadn't finished speaking.

Lexington gently and extremely quickly took Saratoga's hand.

"What does Jiajia want with Xiaobai?" Lexington asked with a smile.

"Uh...I..."

"Ah... Gara, you wouldn't be thinking of telling Xiaobai what's in the notebook, would you?" Lexington covered her mouth, smiling as she moved closer to Saratoga inch by inch. "Gaga... you're really naughty..."

"No, it's not..."

“Your sister told you not to touch anything before she came back… but you still secretly looked at her notebook.” Lexington lowered her hand, a sad and regretful expression on her face. “Jiajia is really—a disobedient child—”

Saratoga retreated repeatedly, straight back until he was pressed against the wall.

"Sister...no, it's not...I..."

"Jiajia, are you... ready for the worst?"

Lexington smiled and raised his hand, slowly approaching Saratoga's body as if he were moving horizontally.

“Disobedient children… deserve… a beating… oh…”

Lexington pouted slightly, showing off her beautiful teeth, as Saratoga was pressed against the wall.

Saratoga's pupils contracted slightly.

"Oh dear!"

Saratoga's scream.

Rumors spread that the office building of the newbie garrison had been discovered.

Chapter 1242 Just Obey Me, Admiral (6500 words)

In the plaza of the naval base, Xiaobai, who was walking side by side with Missouri, turned around and looked at the tall office building behind him with a puzzled expression.

Missouri.

"Missouri is here."

Did you hear Saratoga's voice just now?

"Saratoga-senpai?" Missouri put her hand to her ear, tilted her head and listened for a while, then shook her head at Shiro. "If you activate ship girl hearing, the sounds inside the naval base are much louder than on the sea. Missouri didn't notice Saratoga-senpai's voice."

“Oh…” Xiaobai scratched his head. “It’s really strange… It’s a subtle feeling that every time I part ways with Saratoga, I can vaguely hear her voice.”

“Perhaps Saratoga-senpai was genuinely happy to be back at the naval base with Lexington-senpai, which is why she couldn’t help but make some happy noises,” Missouri smiled at White. “After all, Saratoga was such a lively girl, wasn’t she?”

"Oh ho, that makes sense." Xiaobai nodded knowingly. "Then let's leave it for now."

“Yes, ma’am.” Missouri nodded.

Looking at Missouri's meek and submissive demeanor, Xiaobai subconsciously scratched a stray hair behind her ear and rolled her eyes.

"...But speaking of which, we're going to see Iowa and the ship equipment test. Isn't Wisconsin coming with us for such an important event?" Xiaobai asked.

"Wisconsin? As for her... Admiral, you know that it's a bit difficult to get her to be frank before she gets over her pent-up frustration."

Missouri smiled helplessly, "However, the other seniors all have some things to do. Wisconsin is just helping to get the unconscious Yamato-senpai home, which Missouri thinks is a good thing. I believe Iowa-neechan won't mind."

"Oh wow... I see."

Xiao Bai stammered for a moment and then turned around.

"Is the Admiral's itinerary to go directly to the training grounds?"

“No,” Xiaobai pointed to the scattered ship girl stalls in the square, “Lexington said Yubari likes sweets, so I’ll buy some snacks before I go.”

"Yubari-senpai also likes sweets."

"People who like to use their brains often have a habit of eating sweets. Lianlian sometimes puts some milk candies in her clothes."

As Xiaobai spoke, her eyes searched among the ship girl stalls in the square.

Some time ago, due to Xiaobai's occasional whim, after the expansion of the naval base, Xiaobai waved her hand and gave each of the idle ship girls in the naval base a considerable amount of start-up capital, allowing them to open their own favorite little shops on the open space of the naval base square.

During that period, the newbie garrison was as lively as an amusement park.

As soon as you enter through the main gate, rows and rows of ship girl shops line the square, offering a dazzling array of goods, from toy stores to snack shops to all kinds of experience stores. The sky is filled with flying balloons, the ground is covered with colorful decorations, and the air is filled with shouts of "Celebrating the opening of xx store, may your business prosper!"

This lively scene did not last long.

It's certainly fun for ship girls to open shops, but ultimately, opening a shop isn't something you can just do on a whim.

After the initial enthusiasm cooled down, the ship girls' shops began to close one by one due to the ship girls' waning interest, the excessively strenuous daily work, and factors such as being niche or poorly managed.

Even now, the once bustling commercial area that dominated the entire square has been reduced to just a handful of small shops.

From an investment perspective, Xiaobai's previous act of allocating funds to the ship girls to open shops can be described as a complete loss, the kind that would make one want to jump off a rooftop.

Fortunately, the newbie naval base is large and well-off. For Lexington, who manages the treasury, this level of loss is still quite worthwhile if it's used to entertain the ship girls and make the newbie laugh.

And in the end, as the tide receded, a few ship girls withstood the test and made their shops thrive.

What struck me most as odd was the "Let's all go to the Kun Cafe" opened by the heavy cruiser ship girl Aoba. This quirky shop has not only survived to this day, but it also seems to be quite popular.

Shiro, who was thinking about what kind of sweets to buy for Yubari, scanned the shops in the square one by one.

Suddenly, Xiaobai's gaze fell on a quaint shop, and she paused in surprise.

This little wooden cabin must be the bookstore opened by Veneto's sister, Empire.

But at this moment, for some reason, what should have been an Imperial Bookstore appeared to Xiaobai as an Imperial Snack Shop.

Ok?

Isn't it a bookstore?

When did the transformation take place?

It happened to be a snack shop, and with her doubts in mind, Xiaobai approached the entrance of Empire's shop.

At the entrance of the Empire's shop, the Empire, whom we hadn't seen for a long time, still looked perpetually tired. She was holding an extremely thick book in her arms, and her head was bobbing up and down like a chicken pecking at rice.

"Empire—" Little White waved to the Empire.

Empire didn't seem to be asleep yet. She heard Little White's voice, and her head, which was pecking at rice like a chick, paused. Then she raised her hand, rubbing her eyes as she looked in Little White's direction.

"Admiral... good morning." The admiral opened his arms and waved to Xiaobai.

"Good morning, Empire." Little White walked up to Empire, looked at Empire's sleepy face, and couldn't help but smile. "Excuse me, did I disturb your sleep?"

"No, my sister and her sister came and woke me up earlier, so I haven't fallen asleep yet," Empire said.

"Veneto and Rome? Are they in the shop?"

"My sister took her home to pack her luggage. She'll come back in a bit."

"Oh ho." Xiao Bai looked up at the sign of the Empire store. "By the way, Empire, you've switched to selling snacks now?"

"The store also has books."

"Oh...why did you switch to selling snacks?"

"My sister said that the snacks in the store have been selling more than the books lately," Empire said softly. "The purple-clad lady always brings the red-clad lady to buy things to eat. The sales of snacks far exceed the sales of books, so my sister simply changed the store's name."

After thinking for a while, Xiaobai figured the purple-clad lady was probably referring to Yamato from the Deep Sea...

It seems that Yamato Shinkai spent all the money he would have spent on snacks for Musashi Shinkai on the Empire's shops.

In a sense, it is quite strong.

Yamato-neechan single-handedly supported the entire store.

Xiao Bai thought to herself that she really needed to give Shen Hai Da and her a raise. She pointed to the Empire's shop.

"Does your shop in the Empire have desserts?"

"I don't know, my sister is the one who buys all the goods in the store."

"...Uh, then I'll go in and take a look..."

"Okay, Admiral, take whatever you want, just remember not to pay." The Empire nodded.

"Huh? You're not paying?"

"My sister said that the Admiral is family, so she told me not to accept money from him when he comes to buy things." Empire's eyes were blurry, as if he was about to fall asleep again. "Otherwise... I won't give Sister Rome dinner."

After saying this, Empire slumped onto the table with a thud, his breathing steady, and he fell asleep peacefully.

Xiaobai and Missouri exchanged a glance.

"Veneto, you've really thought of everything." Missouri smiled at Little White.