Barely two minutes later, Prince of Wales stepped out of the cabin. She cast a glance at Yamato, who was sitting on the sofa, then said to Bismarck, "You'd better come and take a look."
Yamato's heart skipped—could there be some discovery? This yacht was one she had brought straight from the shipgirl division, even intending to gift it to Bismarck's group. How could there be any problem? Still full of suspicion, she stood up and followed Bismarck inside.
Prince of Wales pointed around in quick succession. "The corner of the ceiling, behind the stained glass panel of the chandelier, beneath the surface of the bath barrel here—this eye-shaped pattern…"
She rattled off seven or eight spots.
Helena also came over. Closing her eyes for a moment, she scanned and said, "Some are photographic devices, others are magical etchings, but their purpose is essentially the same—recording images."
Saratoga and Ranger stopped their scuffle at once, fixing cold glares on Yamato. Their eyes burned with fury.
Hidden cameras, even in the bath barrel. Just imagining it made one's skin crawl.
For shipgirls—or for any woman—privacy and reputation were sacred.
If not for the fact they were here under diplomatic status, they might have blown the yacht to pieces and stormed the shipgirl division headquarters in outrage.
"No… impossible, there must be some mistake. How could I not have noticed this!"
Yamato's face drained of color, as though she had plunged from a blazing summer day into an icy pit. Her entire body trembled.
Too vicious. The hand behind this was too vicious. If this came to light, Bismarck and the others would have every reason to declare their cooperation broken off completely.
And to Yamato, that seemed the most likely outcome.
She clung desperately to denial, repeating like a drowning soul clutching at a final reed, "Impossible… I didn't notice… it can't be."
"These setups are clever, but they can't fool us," Helena sighed. She reached up to pluck a tiny bulb from a metal branch on the wall, crushed its glass, and revealed a camera no bigger than a fingernail. "See for yourself."
"It's magically miniaturized," Prince of Wales asserted firmly. "The traces are obvious."
Helena gave her a sidelong look but didn't expose her.
For shipgirls, the attribute "Search" was linked to perception and detection, much like "Speed" tied to agility.
Even Yamato hadn't sensed these devices—their craft was that exquisite. Under normal circumstances, Prince of Wales shouldn't have noticed either.
But now the whole team benefited from Helena's "Intelligence Analysis," a scouting skill that acted like a cheat—highlighting anything unreasonable or suspicious in reality as clearly as it did in battle. Like a super detective system or an all-seeing eye.
That was why Prince of Wales could claim this credit. She looked invigorated, practically radiant.
Helena mused bitterly. This wasn't a small achievement either. Sinking Abyssals was defeating enemies, but uncovering hidden cameras was protecting themselves. Knowing the Commander's nature, he would likely value the latter even more.
As would any admiral—since shipgirls were a commander's most precious treasure.
"Tch… why wasn't I the lucky one to find it?"
The thought made Helena's heart sting with envy.
Up to now, it was Bismarck and the carriers who had shone. She and Prince of Wales had been like a pair of unlucky sisters, their results paling by comparison.
And then Prince of Wales just walked a circle inside the cabin—and landed a contribution even greater than a desperate battle.
Infuriating. Why hadn't the villains planted the devices on the aft deck instead!
While Helena cursed the hidden saboteurs in her heart, Yamato sat stricken. She felt she had stumbled into an enormous trap.
Picking up one of the fragments from the smashed glass, she turned the wafer-thin camera over and over, as if wishing it would suddenly transform into anything else.
But that was impossible. Even if magic was not her strength, now that the device was in her hand, she could recognize it for what it was—an insidious, malicious contraption.
Just imagining the consequences if they had gone undiscovered made Yamato shudder.
The images recorded could of course be used to threaten Hikaru—or even to blackmail shipgirl headquarters itself.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
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