Elder brother's garrison

Page 1743

"I... am ultimately not human." Akagi Akagi interrupted her thoughts, shook her head, and gave Shiro a bitter smile. "Even though I have lost the power of the deep sea, the blood flowing in my veins is still black. It is only natural that I would be met with malice and rejection from the human world if I intervened in it with this neither-deep-sea-nor-human identity. I have already... come to terms with this."

“Even a well-educated adult human has a hard time navigating society… let alone someone like you, Miss Akagi, who is all alone and helpless.” Xiaobai said to Akagi, paused for a moment, and continued, “Let me be frank, Miss Akagi, if you don’t have a clear plan for the future, given your current situation, your life will not improve at all. From a certain perspective, being captured by a human cult and used as a totem of faith is actually a relatively lucky ending among the worst possible outcomes you could encounter.”

"I agree with you, but I am powerless to change anything," Akagi Fukami replied with her eyes closed.

"I knew it." Xiaobai sighed deeply as she looked at Shenhai Akagi's resigned expression, but soon a smile appeared on her face again. "--That's exactly why! Miss Shenhai Akagi, I have a suggestion!"

"A suggestion?" Deep Sea Akagi opened her eyes and looked at Shiro with curiosity.

"It seems Miss Akagi Deep Sea has a clear understanding of the hardships of human society." Xiaobai held up a finger and smiled at Akagi Deep Sea. "Then, Miss Akagi Deep Sea, would you like to consider working for me?"

“Go to your place…?” Akagi Fukami was taken aback.

“Yes. As you can see, I am the Admiral.” Xiaobai patted his chest and said very seriously, “Admiral... to put it simply, an admiral is a profession that is responsible for leading admirals to fight against you deep-sea creatures. Because of the special nature of this profession, we usually live in naval bases far away from human society. If Miss Akagi of the Deep Sea does not want to continue to deal with humans, it might be much safer to go to my place.”

"You mean... that I should serve you?" Akagi Fukami raised her hand and pressed it to her chest, somewhat puzzled.

—After going around in circles, does the human in front of her still want her to serve her?

Seeing the puzzled look in Akagi's eyes, Shiro quickly waved his hand.

"No, no—there's a big difference." Xiaobai explained to Shenhai Chicheng, "Working for me is completely different from simply serving me."

What's the difference?

"...Hmm...What's the difference between a human and a dog?" Xiaobai said, touching her lips and thinking for a while.

"..." Akagi blinked.

"Being human is always more comfortable than being a dog, right?" Shiro smiled at Akagi. "If all else fails, you can come work as a cleaning lady at my place, a part-time maid. What do you think of my suggestion?"

"But I don't know anything." Akagi Fukami looked bewildered.

“Take your time learning. Our naval base has a well-established training system,” Xiaobai said confidently. “Besides, we have many deep-sea deans in our naval base. They’ll be happy to see you.”

"Are there other Deep-Sea Deans?"

"Yes, besides Yamato-neechan I mentioned before, there's also Pachina, Deep Sea Musashi, Loki, Deep Sea Ryujo, and so on..." Shiro listed them off one by one on her fingers, as if she knew them all by heart, leaving Deep Sea Akagi in front of her stunned.

Every time Xiaobai said the name of a Dean of the Deep Sea Academy, he would press down one finger. As he continued, he had pressed down all ten fingers, but he still hadn't finished.

"They... they're all here?" Akagi's eyes widened in surprise.

"Oh? What a coincidence? You know them all?"

“There aren’t many Deep Sea Deans in this world… I’ve met most of them once or twice,” Deep Sea Akagi shook her head and replied, “but only once or twice.”

"No wonder she's the Deep Sea Dean who's lived for hundreds of years, just like Yamato-neechan." Shiro gave Deep Sea Akagi a thumbs up, showing an expression of admiration. "She's very knowledgeable."

"...How did you manage to get them to get along?" Deep Sea Akagi remained unmoved by Xiaobai's praise. She pondered for a moment with slight doubt before asking, "Dean Deep Sea is mostly aloof and finds it difficult to get along with other compatriots. It's inevitable that friction will occur when they are together."

"Want to know?" Little White smiled at Deep Sea Akagi. "Are you interested?"

Seeing Xiaobai's smile, Shenhai Akagi quickly lowered her head, rubbing her legs on the floor, seemingly lost in thought.

After a short while, Akagi slowly raised her head. She looked at Shiro with a complicated expression, her eyes showing confusion, surprise, and a hint of doubt, but more than anything, she felt calm and grateful.

"...Even if I have lost my power and become a crippled body, would you still be willing to take me in?"

"With pleasure." Xiaobai gave a thumbs up.

"..." Akagi Shinkai showed a touched expression.

Deep Sea Akagi stretched out her hands towards Shiro.

Xiaobai watched Akagi's movements, thought for a moment, and then reached out her hand.

Deep Sea Akagi held Xiaobai's hands in her palms as if they were some precious treasure, and slowly dragged Xiaobai's hands to her face.

"Anyway... my life can't possibly get any worse, right?"

"Maybe things will get better and better."

"I wish it so too." Akagi's eyes rippled like a deep pool. She lowered her head, pressing her cheek against the back of Shiro's hand, her eyes closed, slowly nuzzling him. "...Clearly...it would have been enough to make me give up thinking and become a walking corpse, serving you wholeheartedly. Why go to such lengths to ignite my desire for life...Going to this extent to stop, I really don't know if you're just genuinely kind, or if you have ulterior motives towards me..."

"what……"

Chapter 2397 Joy +2 Long Time

"Admiral! We're back!" The hotel room door was pushed open amidst a series of hurried footsteps. York, holding two bundles of sleeping bags high, strode into the room with a happy expression and shouted into the room, "We even saw some Deepsea Dean merchandise for sale on the way! Since we're going back tomorrow anyway, we bought some souvenirs. Admiral, you should take a look too—wait, where's the Admiral?"

York talked to the room for a long time before realizing that the room was empty.

The deep-sea Akagi has disappeared.

Little White is also gone.

“Since it’s not in the room… could it be…” York turned his head thoughtfully and looked towards the bathroom.

Sure enough, right where York's eyes were, the bathroom lights were on, and the sound of the showerhead whirring could be heard through the mist door.

Behind York, Baltimore emerged carrying a bag of Deep Sea Dean souvenirs.

"Huh? Is the Admiral taking a shower?" Baltimore looked at the bathroom with curiosity.

"Sniff sniff sniff—" Behind Baltimore, Akagi peeked out with narrowed eyes. Her eyes lit up as she looked towards the bathroom door. "Akagi! Here, here!"

"What?! We only went out to buy a sleeping bag! And the Admiral is already so close to Akagi that they can shower together?!" York's eyes widened, his face filled with shock and resentment. "But! Baltimore and I stayed at the naval base for so long before we had this opportunity! And Baltimore and I haven't even showered yet—"

After saying that, York quickly threw the sleeping bag aside, leaned over the bathroom door, pouted, and nervously pressed his face against the frosted glass door.

“York, what are you doing…” Baltimore looked at York with a worried expression.

“Our admiral is so naive! I’m just worried she’ll be taken advantage of by Akagi!” York said, turning to Baltimore, “Aren’t you worried? She’s a woman who’s only met the admiral once and is already willing to bathe with him! I don’t even want to think about what she might want next!”

“Ah…” Baltimore blushed, “It seems…it really does…”

"So, as a ship girl, isn't it normal for her to care about the admiral's safety?" York pulled Baltimore's hand away and said to her.

“But… I feel like we’ve done something similar before…” Baltimore was pulled down to her knees, but she was still very worried.

"Last time it was for personal gain, so it wouldn't work. This time it's for official business, so safety is paramount!" York said seriously, then looked at Deep Sea Kaga.

"That makes sense..."

"Give it to me!" Before Baltimore could finish speaking, York pulled her to the bathroom door and gently pried it open. Although Abyssal Kaga didn't know what the two ship girls were going to do, following the principle of majority rule, she also moved closer to the two ship girls. The three of them squeezed their heads against the door and looked through the crack in the open door.

York carefully pried open the bathroom door.

A strong, scorching mist billowed out from inside the door, followed by an extremely sweet floral fragrance.

One sniff and I felt refreshed and invigorated.

York quickly suppressed the pounding in his heart and stared wide-eyed inside.

The bathroom was shrouded in mist, and it took York and the other two a great deal of effort to finally make out what was inside after activating their ship girl vision.

A slender, snow-white, voluptuous figure sat by the pool, gently rubbing her arms with a bar of soap. Her hip-length black hair, soaked with water, cascaded straight down her delicate shoulders, clinging to her curvaceous figure and just covering her pert buttocks.

Amidst the white mist, a slender woman washes her body, clear water flowing down her milky-white arms.

The woman turned her head to the side, revealing her slightly flushed cheeks. A few streams of water gathered at her pointed chin, condensing into droplets that fell down.

……

Kaga Shinkai stared intently at the scene inside.

York and Baltimore covered their mouths, their cheeks flushed as they stared at the scene inside.

"Miss Akagi from the Deep Sea really is... she seems timid no matter what she does," York said with some emotion.

"No wonder the admiral was willing to bathe with her..." Baltimore sighed.

“Wait a minute, speaking of the Admiral…” York paused for a moment, frowning as she looked into the bathroom. “There seems to be only Akagi from Deep Sea here. I don’t think I see the Admiral…”

"Huh?" Baltimore was stunned. She quickly came closer. "Let me look. Maybe they've almost finished washing and went to take a bath in the pool next door?"

"No, the pool is clean and there's no one there."

"That...that's in the blind spot behind the door?"

"No, not at all..."

"..."

The two ship girls were talking to each other through the crack in the door, their butts sticking out and swaying in mid-air.

"York? Baltimore? And Abyssal Kaga? What... are you doing now?" Just then, Shiro's voice rang out from behind the ship girls.

"Wow ya ya ya!!!"

The moment Xiaobai's voice appeared, York and Baltimore, who were engrossed in the view inside the bathroom, felt their hearts stop. They quickly looked away, yelled, closed the bathroom door, and looked behind them.

Little White stood behind the group, perfectly dressed, looking at the two with a strange expression.

"T-T-T-Admiral, what happened...you weren't in your room just now..."

"Huh? Me?" Xiaobai pointed to herself. "Oh... because the bill is due tomorrow, I just went downstairs to the front desk to pay for the next few days in advance... didn't you see me when you came up just now?"

"That, that deep-sea fortress..."

“Miss Akagi hasn’t taken a bath in a long time either. She was imprisoned by a cult for several months. But she’s in good health. Even after being imprisoned for so long, she’s still clean and smells nice,” Xiaobai explained. “However, being imprisoned for so long must have been psychologically uncomfortable. After I finished talking to Miss Akagi just now, she said she wanted to take a bath to clean herself up.”

"Uh..." The two ship girls looked at each other, their expressions instantly turning awkward. "So... Admiral, you didn't bathe with Akagi..."

"Huh?" Xiaobai was stunned for a moment, then asked in confusion, "Why would I take a bath with Deep Sea Akagi?"

"Uh……"

The ship girls looked at each other, and they could all see the awkwardness in each other's eyes.

Yes.

why?

Why do I feel like the Admiral would take a bath with Akagi from the Deep Sea...?

Just when the ship girls were feeling awkward.

The bathroom doors were pushed open.

Accompanied by a floral fragrance, Akagi's face, still covered in foam, peeked out from inside.

"It's so noisy outside..." Akagi Fukami opened her eyes and looked at the crowd outside the door with a puzzled expression. "I just took a bath, why are there so many people standing at the bathroom door?"

"Ah, it's nothing, we just got back," Xiaobai said with a smile to Shenhai Chicheng. "Let's chat at the entrance."

"I see." Akagi looked at Shiro and smiled kindly. "Then I will go back to wash. Please wait a moment, my lord."

"Oh!" Xiaobai nodded.

Akagi's head retreated back into the bathroom, and she closed the door again. Soon, the sound of running water echoed through the bathroom once more.

York and Baltimore blinked, looking at Little White with shocked expressions.

"What's wrong? Why are you looking at me like that?" Xiaobai looked at the ship girl strangely.

"Admiral... I... I didn't hear you wrong, did I?" York gestured and stammered, "Miss Akagi of the Deep Sea, what did she just call you?"

"Uh... my lord?"

"What does this mean?"

"Hmm... I guess... it means something like 'boss'?" Xiaobai thought for a while, but he wasn't sure what it meant, so he could only give a simple explanation.

“I, I didn’t mean what that title meant!” York shook his head, then asked, “I mean, why does Miss Akagi call you that?”

"Oh...you mean this?" Xiaobai smiled upon hearing this. "That's easy, because I just talked to Miss Akagi about our future plans. I've already convinced her to join our naval base, haha."

As Xiaobai finished speaking, he stood on tiptoe and patted York on the shoulder.

"York, from now on, Miss Akagi from Deep Sea will be our colleague. Let's all get along well."

"This...so fast?" York gasped.

"Surprised?" Little White looked at York.

“No… this result isn’t unexpected… but I didn’t expect the Admiral to be so quick…” York quickly shook her head, frowning as she looked towards the bathroom, muttering, “I thought it would take at least a few days to convince him…”

"Miss Akagi from the Deep Sea is even easier to talk to than I imagined," Xiaobai remarked, bending down to pick up the sleeping bag from the floor and entering the room.

Deep Sea Kaga stared at everyone, listening to Shiro's conversation with the ship girls, then shifting her gaze to Shiro's back.

Kaga took two quick steps to catch up with Shiro.

Xiaobai stopped and looked back at Shenhai Kaga.

"Miss Fukami Kaga, are you in such a hurry? Here, this is your sleeping bag. You know how to use it, right?" Shiro smiled and handed the sleeping bag to Fukami Kaga. "If you use this to sleep tonight, you won't have to kneel on the ground like yesterday. It will be much more comfortable."