"No problem," Illustrious agreed without a second thought.
"Wait, Secretary Ship? That's a bit... Ayanami, can you change that one?" After all, Illustrious had already promised the Secretary Ship position to Azuma! As a man I mean a girl now, she had to keep her word; a word spoken is a debt unpaid!
"Change it? Didn't you say 'no problem'? Now you're asking to change it, why? You promised me! How can you go back on your word, nanodesu!" Ayanami said excitedly.
"Because I am already the Admiral's Secretary Ship! So give up on that idea!" Azuma spoke up in a counterattack. She had to fight back; her position as Secretary Ship was being snatched away! Azuma's fur bristled like a cat's, as if she were facing a natural enemy.
In this world, the relationship between an Admiral and a Secretary Ship is intimate. In daily work, the Secretary Ship is closest to the Admiral, practically inseparable. Generally, the Secretary Ship is equivalent to the Wife Ship. The position of Secretary Ship held great significance for Azuma—it was vital to whether she could become the Admiral's Wife Ship.
While being a Secretary Ship was just a small step, it was a giant leap toward Azuma becoming the Admiral's Wife Ship.
Furthermore, an Admiral can only marry one Ship Girl, because only single-minded devotion brings happiness. Marrying two or more Ship Girls is considered bigamy. The Admiral would be handcuffed and taken away by the Military Police, then sent to a military court to be sentenced to prison, finally living a painful life without freedom behind bars.
The prison time for an Admiral who commits bigamy is determined by how many Ship Girls they married. At best, it's ten years; at worst, twenty years of fixed-term imprisonment. How many twenty-year periods are there in a person's life? Precisely because they know the severity, Admirals do not dare to commit bigamy.
But people always love to court death. Like treasure hunters, even if there is a dark, narrow, and deep hole ahead that is difficult to enter, they can't resist their inner curiosity to venture into the moist passage; perhaps there is a massive treasure inside.
There was once an Admiral who did just that. He married every single Ship Girl in his Naval Base and held a grand wedding. After the wedding vows, the Admiral put rings on them, kissed each Wife Ship, and spent a wild night in a large bed.
As a result, the next day, this Admiral was handcuffed and taken away by the Military Police. He was sent to a military court and, without any surprises, received the 'grand prize' of a twenty-year prison sentence, enduring a long twenty-year ordeal.
"Wait for me, I'll come back for you in twenty years."
"Don't worry, Admiral! No matter how long it takes, we will wait for your return."
What a touching scene! But the Wife Ships who returned to the Naval Base had no supplies because there was no Admiral.
First, the Wife Ships exhausted their reserves; the resources were consumed by them until they dwindled away.
Then the high-consumption Aircraft Carriers, Battleships, and Cruisers dismantled themselves one after another to turn into resources for the low-consumption Destroyers, letting them wait in their stead for the Admiral to finish his sentence and return from prison.
In the end, the Destroyers never lived to see the day their Admiral returned. Because there was nothing left to eat, they all starved and sank one by one.
Twenty years later, his sentence was finally over, and he was released. He returned to the Naval Base with an excited heart because his beloved Wife Ships were waiting for him to come home.
He stepped onto the island and returned to his Naval Base. The base before him felt foreign—it was dilapidated, with spiderwebs everywhere. The man rushed inside, shouting at the top of his lungs, but not a single ship responded to him.
"Come out! Don't scare me. Your Admiral is back! Come out! Come out...!" The man ran around, smashing everything he saw as if it could lessen his pain, before finally kneeling down and weeping in sorrow.
"My fault, my fault, it's all my fault! You won't be lonely anymore; your Admiral is coming to join you now!" He took out a pistol and fired a shot into his own head.
"Bang—" a loud noise rang out.
Perhaps it was a deathbed vision or something else, but as he was dying, he saw his Ship Girls appear before him, saying gently and happily, "Admiral, welcome back!"
"Yeah, I'm back," he replied happily.
As dusk fell, inside the dilapidated, web-covered Naval Base lay the cold, breathless corpse of a man, his face wearing a happy smile.
Later, people turned his experience into a story in the Admiral textbooks to warn other Admirals not to let the tragedy repeat itself.
Illustrious learned about this from the textbook. It was truly moving! Whether it was the Ship Girls' devotion to their feelings or the Admiral's suicide out of grief and guilt to accompany his Ship Girls.
Therefore, even if Illustrious died or jumped off a cliff, she would absolutely never commit bigamy.
"Admiral, who is this..." Ayanami said in confusion.
"I forgot to introduce these two to you. This is my initial ship, the Sakura Empire Super Cruiser Azuma, and that is the Royal Navy Aircraft Carrier Unicorn, my younger sister. Aren't she cute?" Illustrious introduced them to Ayanami.
"Oh! The Admiral's Ship Girls! Nice to meet you, nanodesu." Ayanami said, but then her tone shifted. "But saying you are the Admiral's Secretary Ship is a thing of the past. The Admiral already said 'no problem' to me just now, got it, Azuma-Obasan, nanodesu!"
"O... Obasan!" Azuma's face flushed with anger, and a murderous aura filled the space. She was so young and beautiful, yet she was being called an old lady. "Say that again if you dare."
"Can't you hear clearly? Sigh, you really are getting old. Then I'll say it again: Azuma-Obasan, nanodesu!" Ayanami continued to provoke Azuma, fearing no chaos.
"Ah! Die!" Azuma exploded with rage, immediately summoning her rigging's exclusive weapon, the ship-slaying great sword, and slashed at Ayanami.
"Clang—" a loud sound echoed.
"Haven't you eaten? Azuma-Obasan, nanodesu!" Ayanami also summoned her rigging's exclusive weapon, the ship-slaying sword, easily blocking Azuma's attack and mocking her.
"W... what should we do, Sister? Th... they've started fighting," Unicorn said anxiously to Illustrious.
"Calm down! Let's talk this out! Don't fight!" Illustrious tried to mediate.
"Shut up!" Azuma and Ayanami shouted in unison.
Illustrious was startled and leaned down to hug Unicorn, who also hugged Illustrious back in fear as they both said, "So... so scary!"
"Little one, the space here is a bit small. Do you dare go to the Exercise Field? The winner gets to be the Secretary Ship." This was the Admiral's Construction Room, and the machinery was very expensive, so Azuma spoke to Ayanami.
"Hmph, if we're going, then let's go, yes. Who's afraid of who?" Ayanami snorted and agreed.
The two ships put away their exclusive rigging weapons one after another, opened the door, and walked out of the Construction Room.
Watching them walk out without hesitation, Illustrious said in confusion, "Do they even know where the Exercise Field is?"
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