Azur Lane Under the Stars

Page 446

The Duke of York's voice came through the receiver, again incomprehensible words, but since Renshuo Port now has its own translator, it basically said, "Guess."

"I'll give you a chance to rephrase your words," Ren Shuo said calmly.

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, then the voice said again, "Over here in Shinano."

"I'll be right there."

Ren Shuo hung up the phone, somewhat puzzled. Why would he go to Shinano? He felt that Shinano and Lüzov had absolutely nothing to do with each other.

He activated time stop, and almost instantly, Ren Shuo disappeared from his original spot and appeared at the entrance of Shinano's activity room.

"Shinano, everyone's playing on the beach, why are you alone in the activity room?"

Ren Shuo pushed open the door, and as soon as he finished speaking, he realized he was wrong.

Before me were Lafite, Nicolas, Champagne, and several sleeping giants from the Empire.

Nicholas, with a charming smile, was hugging a large salted fish pillow and was already fast asleep, while the others were drowsy.

Of course, Shinano was still enthusiastically exchanging ideas with Lützow.

The Duke of York, however, seemed somewhat out of place, dressed in a deep red gown, sitting upright in a chair, holding a wine glass filled with fine red wine.

"O unclean serpent, has it finally arrived? I have been waiting for this for a long time," the Duke of York murmured with a mysterious smile.

Ren Shuo thought to himself, "Forget it, I came over as soon as you hung up the phone. It's like I opened the door the moment you put your phone away. And you're telling me you've been waiting for a long time?"

Talking to people with chuunibyou (middle school syndrome) is exhausting.

So Ren Shuo decisively chose to ignore this chuunibyou patient and asked Lü Zuofu, "What are you talking about?"

Shinano, beaming, answered for Lützow, "We were talking about pillows and sleeping... Commander, I didn't expect the Duke of York's guest to share our interests!"

"Same hobbies?" Ren Shuo was taken aback.

"Um, let me introduce myself. Commander, I am Lützow, a battlecruiser from Ironblood. My hobbies are sleeping and slacking off. I absolutely hate tedious things and work!"

Lützow raised his hand and, with a grin, declared himself a "salted fish" (a person who is lazy and unambitious).

“Oh... what an amazing hobby…” Ren Shuo murmured in response.

This guy's another one who slacks off; no wonder he gets along so well with Shinano.

"Hehe, some commanders might not like a ship girl like me, but shouldn't we enjoy life to the fullest?" Lützow continued.

"Don't worry, Miss Lüzov, my commander will not dislike Miss Lüzov's hobby. After all, my commander is also a lazy bum."

Shinano showed Ren Shuo no mercy whatsoever.

In Shinano's mind, this young lady came to their port and seemed to suit their tastes perfectly. Based on their previous conversation, it was clear she wasn't opposed to joining the port, so...

We'll all be family from now on, it's only a matter of time, so why hide these things!

Ren Shuo was speechless: "Shinano, give me some face!"

"Hehe." Shinano acted cute and pretended to be silly.

Lützow, however, was quite intrigued: "So, Commander, you also like to slack off? What a coincidence!"

"Sigh, it's a matter of necessity, a matter of necessity." Ren Shuo forced himself to find an excuse.

The Duke of York still gave Ren Shuo some face: "It's not the Commander's fault. Our port has Belfast, the four wives recognized by the Commanders, and the ship girls of the Yixian and Dido classes... You understand?"

Lüzoff immediately understood: "I understand."

Rumors circulate that the Dido-class ship girls, the four wives, and the two guardians, Yi Xianbei and Fa, are all complete useless training machines, not to mention that this entire port has them all.

Now it seems that this commander at least knows some social skills, and he handles everything himself, including receiving guests. From this point of view, this commander is already quite capable; at least he hasn't become a useless person who expects everything to be done for him and only knows how to whine.

"By the way, I heard from the Duke of York that there are Bismarck and the others in your port. Why do they like to slack off? I remember Bismarck's personality was supposed to be very serious and intolerant of any wrongdoing."

In Lützow's mind, if there were a Bismarck in the port, even if there were some useless people being turned into machines, at least they would have to do their jobs.

Ren Shuo thought to himself, "The Bismarck you mentioned, the Iron Chancellor, the flagship and the one in charge... has long been sidelined, hasn't he? And he was completely sidelined by his own sister, Frederick the Great, and Peter the Great."

"Well, that's a long story. The person in charge of our Ironblood Port isn't Bismarck..."

Ren Shuo decided to give Bismarck some face: "Well, Bismarck has other missions."

"Commander, don't give Bismarck any face. Isn't Bismarck being sidelined by his sister and Frederick the Great? He can't even manage things if he wants to."

The Duke of York chuckled.

“…” Lüzov was stunned. “Frederick the Great?”

This doesn't seem to be listed in the encyclopedia, does it?

The Duke of York looked at Lützow with an air of utter disbelief: "Look at you, so naive! There are plenty of ship girls in our port that aren't listed in the encyclopedia. Just remember, the Ironblood ship in our port is Frederick the Great on the surface, but the real boss is still Frederick the Great."

"Oh, I see... I wonder if I'll get to witness Frederick the Great's splendor." Lüzoff was somewhat expectant; she was very curious about what kind of heroic figure this ship girl, who could overpower Tirpitz and Bismarck, possessed.

However, when Lützow finally got to see Frederick the Great's splendor, she was somewhat disillusioned. This was hardly a dashing ship girl; it was clearly just a mediocre ship.

Her, uh, older sister? Younger sister? That Hu Teng, he looks more handsome than her.

"Commander, this body pillow from your port is really nice. Can I buy one from you?"

Lüzov asked Ren Shuo with a serious expression.

"Well, how should I put it? You don't need to buy it. If you want it, I can just give it to you. It's just a pillow. But if it's for someone else's exclusive use and they don't agree, then there's nothing I can do."

Ren Shuo shrugged and said.

"Oh, thank you so much, Commander!"

Lüzoff looked at Shinano with shining eyes, still clutching a body pillow resembling the Ironblood mechanical fish he'd seen in the café earlier, and asked with a hint of anticipation:

"Miss Shinano, does anyone need this?"

Shinano glanced at it; there was no name embroidered on it or a label attached, so it was probably unused.

So she nodded and said, "Sure, you can bring...for your own use."

I was going to say "take them away," but then I thought that would mean asking them to stay, so I decided not to say that.

“Miss Lützow, you should have a good chat with Shinano. It just so happens that you have something in common to talk about… By the way, we’re having dinner on the beach tonight. Everyone’s on vacation lately, so cooking and eating are all done by the sea. You and Miss York can come along too.”

“Oh, then I’ll gladly accept your offer,” Lützow said with a grin.

"Then I'll be going now. Shinano, and the Duke of York, remember to treat your guests well," Ren Shuo said.

After saying that, he carefully and cautiously left the room, making sure not to touch Raffia and the others who were sleeping on the tatami mats.

"Dinner... What do you eat in your port area? Before, at the Ironblood Maritime Bureau, it was awful, it was always pork knuckle and sausage, or fish and chips."

Lüzov asked.

She was quite outgoing, and since Shinano and the Duke of York were the kind of people she could chat with and become good friends with in just a few words, her conversation was very casual.

Shinano said, "Then you can look forward to it. Our port district, Yixian, Fusang, Yorktown, Dunkirk and others are all excellent cooks. I guarantee you will be full of praise for the food, and your tongue will be completely satisfied."

"Yay, finally I can have a proper meal. That nagging old man always liked to nag me, saying things like food is just an external thing, and you should train hard so that you'll have plenty of good food when you're strong."

Lützow poured out his grievances.

"That Seydlitz fellow? That's certainly very much her style," the Duke of York couldn't help but laugh.

"Where did that person come from, a parent? Why would they say something like that?" Shinano was somewhat taken aback.

This is just like a parent's lie, saying things like, "If you get into a good junior high, you can relax; if you get into a top high school, things will be easier; if you get into a good university... you'll find a good job... you'll get married and have kids..."

In short, don't even think about relaxing.

Even after you retire, you still have to take care of the next generation's children.

"Right, right? You understand me so well, Shinano!" Lüzov felt as if he and this Miss Shinano were kindred spirits.

I just don't know what the food is like in this port area, or what the treatment is like, or if they mind if I'm a lazy bum... If none of these apply, I'm definitely staying in this port area!

I'll stay no matter what!

Lüzoff thought to himself.

Chapter 500: The Flat-feathered Beast, the Auspicious Crane?

"Eat vegetables!"

"I do not want!"

"You won't grow tall if you don't eat vegetables!"

"You're cursing me! Take this!"

The sound of Little Zeppelin and Zeppelin arguing echoed across the entire beach, while many ship girls ate their food and watched the commotion.

Whenever Zeppelin wanted his son to do something, Zeppelin would always refuse with various excuses, even though he knew it was for his own good.

Zeppelin could only say, "Where's the commander? Where is the commander? Come and take charge!"

"Coming, coming!" Ren Shuo quickly dropped his chopsticks and ran over.

"It's always the same, you fat woman! You always have to hand it over to the commander!" Little Zeppelin's face turned red, and she looked very angry.

Ren Shuo began to persuade Little Zeppelin to eat, and York and Lützow asked curiously, "Is it always like this?"

The Duke of York replied, "Whenever a little one refuses to eat, the Commander just comes over and coaxes him. So sometimes, the Commander is actually the busiest when it's time to eat."

"The commander has it tough too."

Looking at Ren Shuo taking care of the child, Lü Zuofu sighed.

"Cool, cool, cool! This is the trial we are giving to the commander!" York said, holding his stew in his hands, pretending to be serious.

"How dare you say that!" Exeter glared at her. "You're such a grown woman, and sometimes I have to talk to the Commander before you'll eat vegetables. It's always like this, and you're supposed to be the older sister! How can you be so shameless?"

York was still quite timid around Exeter. Upon hearing Exeter's words, York shrank back and stammered, "I...I am the Night..."

"Shut up and eat! Otherwise, speak properly!"

Exeter took out her Noble Phantasm against York, which was a feather duster, weighed it in her hand, and said with a subtle smile.

York immediately fell silent and began to obediently sip his soup.

“Your port district really knows how to manage younger sisters,” Lüzoff said, glancing at the obedient York.

“Of course, let me tell you, in our port area…” Exeter started to say, then realized something was off, “No, no, this is my older sister, I’m the younger sister.”

“But it doesn’t look like it.” Lützow’s expression turned strange.

"Although it's not quite like that... well, in our port, older sisters manage younger sisters, or younger sisters manage older sisters, and they're all very good at it. If you don't believe me, just look at Amagi of Sakura Empire. She can keep the lawless Akagi completely under her control. And Illustrious also manages her younger sisters."

Exeter recounted the scandals of his port with great familiarity, making no attempt to conceal them, because, under the instructions of Amagi, Hood, and Frederick the Great, he was determined to keep these two men at all costs.

Once Exeter felt the heavy burden on her shoulders, she wouldn't hesitate to betray her teammates.

"...Is this what you meant by being able to control them well?" York's beautiful eyes were filled with amusement as she pointed to a certain spot.

"What? Let me see..." Exeter fell silent upon seeing it, feeling as if she had been slapped in the face repeatedly.

The first thing you see is Gascoigne running at top speed, a shovel in one hand and a fork in the other, his clothes covered in fine sand. Behind him is Archbishop Richelieu, who is calling out, "Gascoigne, stop running! It's time to eat!"

They could only helplessly follow behind.

Not far from them, Jean Bart looked like he had successfully pulled off a prank, laughing heartily.

The situation suddenly became clear: Barr must have given Gascoigne another order, which put Richelieu in a difficult position.

Richelieu was reluctant to give orders to his sister, who was somewhat lacking in emotional intelligence.

If this scene happened between Cecil Zeppelin and Frederick the Great, it wouldn't seem strange at all; in fact, it would be quite amusing. But these two are both grown women…

It looks weird no matter how you look at it.

“…This was an accident, um, an accident,” Exeter forced an explanation. “Gascigné’s situation is a bit special…”

"And over there?" Lützow asked again.

"Over there..." Exeter felt exhausted. Little Eugen and Eugen had already started tormenting Admiral Hipper.

She racked her brains frantically, then said, "All I can say is that this is, this is, the way the sisters interact in their daily lives. Yes, that's it."

"To convince others, you must first convince yourself," Exeter said.

“Your port is quite interesting,” York said. “By the way, Miss York, would you be interested in participating in an exercise with me tomorrow?”