Elder brother's garrison

Page 2442

"There are so many ship girls here," Changchun said to Xiaobai after looking around.

“Yes, after all, this is the clinic of the Goddess of the Hearth…” Xiaobai replied with a smile. “Although the Goddess of the Hearth has left Kyoto, her clinic should now have been transformed into a restorative bathhouse open to civilian ship girls, so it’s normal to have many civilian ship girls here.”

"Oh...indeed," Changchun murmured, his gaze sweeping over his surroundings.

Although there are many ship girls around here... at a glance, most of them are light cruisers, heavy cruisers, and destroyers. Moreover, their training level is not very high, and they do not have the strong aura of first-class ship girls.

Ok……

I feel like I could take on ten of them.

Changchun silently assessed the gap between the two sides and came up with a very conservative estimate.

However, comparing them like this is indeed bullying.

Changchun is a legitimate military ship girl, and it's normal that her combat strength is vastly different from that of civilian ship girls who generally lack various resources.

Xiaobai and his two companions stopped focusing their attention on the civilian ship girls around them.

As they approached the food stall, the lively atmosphere, the sizzling sound of the hot iron plate, and the aroma of oil, noodles, and meat wafted towards them.

A dozen or so civilian ship girls were gathered around the food stall. The middle-aged woman at the stall was wearing a clean white hat, her sleeves rolled up, and she was skillfully flipping the pancakes on the griddle.

In no time, the woman rolled up a pancake, put it in a clean paper bag, and handed it to the civilian ship girl in front of her without looking up.

"Girl, your burrito is ready!"

Chapter 3415 The Unsettled Repair Pool

"Thank you, aunt!"

The petite ship girl, waiting for the burrito, immediately reached out her hands and accepted it with a smile as soon as the food was handed to her.

After paying, the petite ship girl took big bites of the burrito, her face full of a happy smile, and walked into the alley leading to the Vestal Goddess Clinic.

What would you like next?

The stall owner skillfully used a small shovel to clean the oil stains off the iron plate, speaking without even looking up.

"I want a scallion pancake! The regular kind!" The ship girl took out her wallet, swallowed hard, stared at the items on the stall, and quickly said the meal she had already decided on.

Without saying a word, the stall owner quickly started making pancakes.

"We'll be closing in a little over ten minutes, that's all for these people, don't bother lining up later!" the stall owner said as she made the pancakes.

Upon hearing the vendor's call, the ship girls who were about to approach the stall immediately showed expressions of regret.

The ship girls who had been queuing up at the stall patted their chests and smiled with relief.

"Oh dear... luckily I arrived in time, otherwise I wouldn't have been able to eat the Pancake Master's pancakes!"

"This restaurant is delicious and the portions are huge, plus it looks very clean, and most importantly, it's cheap! If I miss this place, I won't know what to eat tonight!"

"Waaah, I made it! I made it!"

The civilian ship girls in line patted their chests and chatted amongst themselves.

Not far away, Xiaobai and Changchun Chaoda, who had just arrived at the scene, stopped and looked awkwardly at the middle-aged woman at the stall, exchanging glances.

"Oh dear... Admiral... what are we going to do now? This lady is about to go home..." Changchun whispered as he approached, looking embarrassed.

"Uh... there's nothing I can do about it..." Xiaobai could only manage a wry smile.

Xiao Bai's luck is so bad. If it had been just a few minutes earlier... he would have been able to get in line by the slightest bit.

However, just as Xiaobai spoke, the old lady who was making pancakes suddenly twitched her ears. She seemed to have noticed something, frowned, raised her head, and looked at Xiaobai.

The moment she saw Xiaobai, the pancake vendor paused for a moment, and then a look of surprise appeared on her usually calm face.

"Huh? You're not the one from before... Hey! It's you!"

The pancake vendor called out to Xiaobai, raising her small spatula and waving it at him.

"Auntie, you still recognize me?"

Xiaobai was also a little surprised. She looked around and walked up to them under the gaze of the nearby ship girls.

"Oh my, what are you saying? That little girl who was shorter than you before... the one who used to live here, was she called the Kitchen Goddess? She's been eating here for so long and you're the only customer she's ever served!" The pancake vendor immediately gave Xiaobai a warm smile. "I later found out she moved away! Little girl, long time no see! Are you back to visit relatives?"

"Ah... um, sort of." Xiaobai thought for a moment and nodded.

"Where's that little girl, the female kitchen god?" the aunt asked with a smile as she skillfully spread out the pancakes.

"..." Xiaobai looked around and immediately stared at her civilian ship girls upon hearing the words "female hearth goddess". She shook her head and said, "Auntie, I'm not with her... I haven't seen her in a long time... She probably went somewhere else."

"Oh... I see." The pancake vendor's expression immediately softened. She took a breath, thought for a moment, and said, "Young lady, life is either about attending feasts or on your way to them. Parting is nothing to be ashamed of. So, you've come to eat pancakes with me?"

"Uh...bad luck, I arrived just as you were leaving get off work." Xiaobai smiled sheepishly.

"Hey! Little girl, how could I refuse your business?" The older woman waved her hand immediately upon hearing Xiaobai's words. "Come on, come on, wait until I finish this one, then I'll serve you next! What would you like to eat? Still the family set?"

"..." Xiaobai looked around at the ship girls, "Auntie... I, I won't cut in line..."

"Haha, you know the rules." The older woman chuckled. "Alright, alright, I'll finish this one order for you before I go home!"

The flames heated the iron plate until it was scorching hot.

The sizzling sound of oil and the scraping sound of spatula echoed each other.

The pancake vendor spent more than ten minutes serving all the ship girls in front of her, then looked at Xiaobai with a smile as she walked up to her.

"Young lady, are these two your new partners?" the pancake vendor asked with a smile.

“Yes.” Xiaobai nodded.

"Okay, okay, three family-style pancakes." The pancake vendor skillfully took out the ingredients.

As the flames rose, the pancake-making lady skillfully began her work.

While making pancakes, the older woman started talking to Xiaobai as if she had opened a floodgate.

"Young lady, my business has been getting better and better these past two years. I don't know why, but there are more and more pretty girls on this street lately."

"Oh, yes."

"Hey, it's great to have more. With more pretty girls, those shameless young men have come attracted by the scent. TV stations have also come to interview people here. This street has suddenly become much more lively."

"Um……"

"But later, for some reason, the TV interview program I waited for a long time never aired, and the young men who wanted to come and see the girls stopped coming. It's like this street has gone back to the time when there were only girls." The old lady shook her head as she said this. "Sigh, but I'm fine. Too many people would have made me tired."

"Haha..." Xiaobai chuckled.

The pancake vendor skillfully made three family-style pancake rolls and handed them to Xiaobai.

Xiao Bai took the wrap and took out money to hand to the old lady, but the old lady smiled and pushed it back.

"Little girl, it's been two years! This time, I'll treat you to a meal," the woman said with a kind smile. "I've gotten quite a few more gray hairs in the past two years, and you're still so tiny, you haven't grown at all. In the future, eat less of these street food snacks; they're not nutritious. Drink more milk and eat more eggs; those will help you grow taller!"

"Thank you, Auntie..." Xiaobai accepted the rolled pancake after seeing the pancake vendor's warm smile.

Changchun quickly bowed to the woman to express his gratitude.

The older woman looked at Changchun with satisfaction in her eyes.

“Last time, it was that little girl, the Kitchen Goddess, who led you to me. Now, you’re leading someone else to me,” the woman said, her voice tinged with wistfulness and emotion. “That’s good, that’s good.”

The woman kept her word.

After finishing Xiaobai's order, she immediately turned off the engine, closed the cart, and then prepared to leave with the cart.

"Young lady, how long are you staying in Kyoto this time?" the older woman asked Xiaobai with a smile before leaving.

"Just a few days," Xiaobai replied.

"Okay, see you next time," the woman said with a smile.

"Thank you, aunt!"

"Oh...right by the way." The older woman was about to pull her cart away when she suddenly stopped, as if she had remembered something, and said to Xiaobai, "Young lady, it seems things aren't very peaceful around here lately. You should go home early tonight."

"Huh? Something's not going well?" Xiaobai was stunned.

“I’ve seen quite a few young girls go in from there, and they always come out arguing. Sigh… Occasionally, the arguments can be quite loud.” The woman shook her head and pointed to the alley leading to the clinic of the Goddess of the Kitchen God. “But it has nothing to do with me, so I’ve never bothered with it. Young lady, don’t go in later.”

"...Okay, thank you for reminding me, Auntie."

The pancake vendor smiled at Xiaobai with satisfaction, then pushed her cart away along the dirt road.

Xiaobai watched the pancake vendor leave, then turned around and divided the pancakes in her hand into three portions, handing them to Changchun and Chaoda.

"Wow...it's huge." Changchun was surprised to find that he couldn't even hold the family-style wrap in both hands. "I probably can't even take a bite out of this..."

"..." Chao Dahe held the crepe, opened his mouth and took bites one by one, soon his lips were covered with shiny oil.

Xiao Bai looked around.

The nearby ship girls, having just witnessed what had happened, stood at the edge, looking at themselves in astonishment and whispering among themselves.

"The Burrito Master actually smiled at this little sister..."

"Wow...that's rare, considering that the Pancake Master used to be so indifferent to everyone."

"The Pancake Fairy just said that she seems to know Miss Stove Goddess?"

"A friend of the Goddess of the Hearth... Wow... Could it be that she's here to..."

"..."

Xiaobai listened silently to the chatter of the ship girls around her, then opened her crepe and took a bite.

Ok.

Hot and steaming wraps are just so delicious.

It's oily, spicy, and fragrant.

As Xiaobai chewed on her crepe, she stopped looking at the ship girls around her and instead gazed at the alley leading to the Vestal Clinic.

Xiao Bai stared thoughtfully at the dark alleyway.

In that instant, Xiaobai thought of many things.

If Xiaobai remembers correctly, the clinic of the Goddess of the Hearth is currently being managed by Lin Yueyue.

I wonder how Lin Yueyue is doing now... Wasn't she someone I recommended to Mu Yu to become an admiral?

The Vesta's clinic is no longer a clinic in the traditional sense. Back then, in order to get the Vesta to willingly accompany her, Xiaobai promised her that after she left, she would transform her clinic into a repair pool that would be open to civilian ship girls free of charge.

All maintenance costs and daily wear and tear on this repair pool are naturally borne by the Novice Town Guard.

This is purely a charitable act.

This expense isn't significant for a newbie naval base.

It's just a drizzle.

Compared to the value of the goddess of the hearth, this expense is actually an extremely good deal.

Xiaobai knows exactly what a free repair pool means to civilian ship girls.

Xiaobai also knew that this building would naturally cause a considerable stir in the fan community of Kantai Collection (KanColle).

only……

The lady who made the pancakes just said that things haven't been peaceful around here lately...

Xiaobai's intuition told him that this unrest was probably related to the repair pool.

Xiao Bai chewed on the crepe, his eyes slightly furrowed.

Xiao Bai wanted to see just how turbulent this self-built free repair pool could become.

"Changchun, Chao Yamato, let's go."

Chapter 3416 Pure White Wings

Upon hearing Xiaobai's instructions, Changchun immediately understood, knowing that he was likely about to be given a job.

Changchun quickly packed the large wraps and put them into his ship's equipment space.

Meanwhile, Chao Dahe stuffed the large burrito into his mouth in just a few bites.

The enormous burrito, big enough to fill his entire neck, vanished into Dahe's mouth as if by magic, leaving not a trace.

Ignoring the whispers and prying glances from the civilian ship girls around them, Xiaobai and her two companions entered the alley leading to the Vestal Goddess Clinic.

Walk into the alley.