The sky was a clear blue, and beneath the vast white clouds, the quiet home port stood majestically, allowing the waves to crash against the reef shore, wave after wave. Amidst the spray of white foam, one could vaguely see numerous ships with white sails entering and leaving the harbor in an orderly manner.
Among the ships, one could also see a good number of girls who, without relying on any water equipment, were freely running on the vast ocean.
A flock of seagulls landed directly on the pier, with a few tilting their heads to look at the crowd standing in the distance, curiosity in their eyes.
Suddenly, with a shout of "Everyone's back!", the flock of seagulls was startled and fluttered their wings, soaring high into the sky.
Unlike the joy and anticipation of others, the blonde woman in a red military uniform among the crowd furrowed her brow.
Prince of Wales glanced at the silver-haired military officer beside her and said in a low voice, "Enterprise, regarding Belfast's report..."
"We'll talk about it later."
Enterprise stared expressionlessly ahead. She could faintly see the returning figures on the sea.
"Although I don't know why Belfast told us not to make a fuss, since she made this arrangement, we'll follow it for now."
On Enterprise's left side, a black-haired, long-haired shrine maiden lolita with animal ears on her head tried to keep her cute face serious, secretly taking a few deep breaths. After suppressing her excitement, she spoke in a gruff voice, "No matter what, this is the first time we've captured the fat... uh... I bit my tongue...!"
Halfway through her words, Nagato's face changed slightly, and she subconsciously lowered her head. Her small hands covered her mouth, the animal ears on her head drooped limply, and her deliberately rough voice reverted to its soft, sweet lolita voice.
Prince of Wales and Enterprise exchanged glances, both seeing a slight upturn in each other's corners.
As the flagship of the Combined Fleet, Nagato of the heavy cruiser class naturally had a considerable voice in Azur Lane. Her soft appearance and high-ranking position didn't match, making this child always try to do everything in a way that "matches the identity of the flagship". However, she often made blunders because of this.
Although she was cute, she was still the flagship of an important force in the alliance, so they had to give her the respect she deserved.
Enterprise pretended not to see Nagato's embarrassment and focused her attention on Belfast, who was getting closer on the sea. She tried to find some clue from her.
Unfortunately, Belfast didn't show any unusual signs. There weren't even many traces of intense combat on her body.
On the other side, through Belfast's perspective, Bai Yu also saw the shipgirls on the pier.
The familiar images brought back memories from his previous life, causing Bai Yu to silently call out their names in his heart.
Standing at the front were Prince of Wales, Enterprise, and Nagato. Not far away, under a sunshade that was clearly set up temporarily, a table and chairs were placed. The golden-haired, crown-wearing little girl, Queen Elizabeth, was trying to look nonchalant, but her little eyes kept glancing over here.
Next to Queen Elizabeth stood the old lady, Warspite, respectfully.
Besides them, there were also numerous shipgirls from various factions, crowding behind them, waving to Belfast and her team as they returned.
"Commander, this is the port area," Belfast said with a gentle smile.
"Yes, I know."
The accompanying Vanguard and Victory already knew that Belfast's mysterious commander could communicate with Belfast telepathically without any equipment, so they didn't show any surprise at this.
The rescued destroyer shipgirls, who were lagging behind, were all injured. Before rescuing them, Belfast had also instructed Vanguard and the others to keep this matter confidential. As a result, even Laffey and the others didn't know the current situation about Belfast.
After landing, Belfast led her team and respectfully curtsied to the shipgirls in front of them.
"You've worked hard, Belfast."
Prince of Wales nodded, subtly signaling Belfast.
"Are you all alright?"
"No major injuries," Belfast shook her head, "But Laffey and the others might need to rest for a while and can't go out on missions for the time being."
"I'll adjust the mission schedule accordingly. The patrols originally assigned to them, you can temporarily arrange someone to take over. What do you think, Nagato?" This time, it was Enterprise who spoke. She turned to Nagato.
Nagato didn't expect Enterprise to ask her suddenly. After a brief moment of panic, she straightened her face again, nodded pretending to be mature, and said, "No problem!"
"Then, if you can still hold on, let's have a debriefing and report the details of the battle."
Prince of Wales timely put forward her request.
However, to the surprise of Prince of Wales, Enterprise, and everyone else, Belfast didn't immediately agree. Instead, she slightly tilted her head—
(Commander, is it okay?)
"I have no problem with it."
After obtaining Bai Yu's permission, Belfast then said to Prince of Wales, "Yes."
Is she seeking the agreement of that Commander?—Prince of Wales narrowed her eyes, immediately guessing the reason for the maid's abnormal behavior.
With mixed feelings, Prince of Wales turned and walked ahead.
The shipgirls watching on the pier scattered. Belfast and the other rescue team members who knew the truth followed Prince of Wales and the others through the central courtyard of the port area and into a magnificent building.
Along the way, Bai Yu observed the surroundings. To his surprise, he didn't see any human figures besides the shipgirls.
Or rather, there weren't any humans at all.
As for various tasks, they were actually being handled by a group of very strange, chicken-like creatures!?
(This absurd world...)
Although the main storyline of KanColle was so poorly written that it was now basically focused on event plots, Bai Yu vaguely remembered that this world became this way entirely due to humans.
The raw materials for the Mind Cube came from meteorites, and it was initially researched by humans. It even caused the world to split into two opposing factions.
The real enemy of humans wasn't the Sirens. In fact, the Sirens were originally just a reserve force for humans to fight against their true enemy. After the decisive battle, the world was in ruins, and then another organization, Ashes, emerged. They hated everyone?
While he was thinking, they entered a grand meeting room in the General Affairs Building.
Warspite, who entered last, closed the door behind her. On one side of the long table in the meeting room, Prince of Wales, Enterprise, Nagato, and Bismarck were already seated.
As for Queen Elizabeth, this eccentric young girl was seated on a luxuriously decorated chair that was clearly out of place in a serious meeting room. Then Warspite went to Queen Elizabeth's side.
After that, the rescue team, led by Belfast, sat on the other side of the long meeting table.
Bai Yu silently observed everyone and quickly analyzed the situation.
It seems that in Azur Lane, before the Red Axis faction split off, the current situation is that each major faction has a "flagship" who acts as the decision-maker, forming a council-like decision-making body?
He just didn't know why he didn't see the leaders of the Eastern Dragon, Sardinia, the French Fleur-de-lis, or the Northern Union.