How do I start a romantic relationship with a ship girl?

Page 171

"Ahem, I understand... there's no need to continue..." Xu Huan coughed twice, thus avoiding the somewhat awkward topic for him.

“Since the Commander doesn’t want to hear it… then I won’t say it. After all, strictly speaking, this matter has nothing to do with the Commander…” Having finally made things clear, Tirpitz’s lips curled into a subtle smile.

It's really okay.

While you guys were fighting, I was probably on some unknown planet fighting bugs, right?

Xu Huan thought to himself.

"So now that we've reached the border, let's pack up and prepare to return?"

Having already achieved his original purpose for setting sail, and having learned about some of the battles that had taken place, Xu Huan no longer had any intention of continuing the voyage since he was already there, and decided to head back home.

"Hmm? You're already planning to go back? Commander..." Tirpitz was somewhat surprised by his words.

Is our own commander... only going out to sea to take a stroll around the border?

She didn't understand Xu Huan's purpose in going to sea, and seeing that the young man had only been gone a short while before planning to return, she asked him.

"Yes, the main purpose of this voyage was to experience firsthand the activity level of the Sirens. Now that we've achieved our goal, there's no reason for us to stay at sea any longer..." Xu Huan replied.

"Given the current situation, we'll probably run into the Sirens' active fleet on the way back. We can collect more data then."

"It's a simple matter. I originally only planned to come out with Z23, but I didn't expect Ironblood to have related regulations... In the end, I had no choice but to trouble you..."

Hu Teng stood to the side with his arms crossed, and upon hearing this, he also cast a look at Xu Huan with a certain emotion in his eyes.

His dark gold eyes held a hint of doubt and dissatisfaction.

The young man naturally understood what Hu Teng meant. It was not easy to get together, and the little wildcat was somewhat dissatisfied that he had to return after such a short time.

So he gently gestured that they should have dinner together that evening.

Seeing this, Hu Teng turned her head back with satisfaction, her beautiful face softening slightly.

"For safety's sake, it's no trouble, Commander."

Unlike Hutten's dissatisfaction, Tirpitz breathed a sigh of relief upon hearing that Xu Huan intended to return.

In her eyes, no matter what, the sea was still too dangerous for a human like Xu Huan. As the ship girl who was in charge of all matters related to the commander on the Ironblood side, it would be hard to live up to the trust of her other port comrades if anything unexpected happened.

As for Z23, his thoughts were not much different from Tirpitz's, but he felt it was a pity that he had come out with the Commander and did nothing.

Just as everyone was preparing to turn the ship around and head back towards the port, the ship's radar suddenly emitted some warning sounds.

"Didi dididi——"

"This is... Sirens detected? It seems the situation is more serious than I imagined..." Xu Huan said, then subconsciously looked at Hu Teng.

Hu Teng, the owner of the prototype ship, shook his head quite naturally at this moment: "It's not a Siren... Xu Huan, the opponent's mental signals do not belong to the Sirens."

"Not Sirens?"

Xu Huan was somewhat puzzled.

If they aren't sirens... then in this area, the number of people one could encounter is quite considerable.

Ironblood's own ship girls certainly wouldn't trigger radar detection alarms, so as the border between Ironblood and Northern Alliance, the only ships they could encounter are probably Northern Alliance ship girls.

The group exchanged glances, seemingly sharing a fairly consistent guess about the newcomer's identity.

“It’s probably a ship girl from the Northern Alliance… Xu Huan, what should we do?” Hu Teng asked proactively.

If it were back in the royal court, Hu Teng's first action would have been to ignore everything and try his best to refuse to contact the other party, so as not to give the other party any opportunity to contact Xu Huan.

I don't want the commander to come into contact with other factions... or with ship girls from other factions.

It's a very simple and unpretentious idea.

Of course, even now she still holds the same idea deep down, but she prioritizes listening to the young man's opinion.

This is one of the changes that occurred after the little wildcat developed a close relationship with the young man; she respected his wishes more than her own.

Tirpitz, who was standing to the side, was about to say something and even took a half step forward, but then stopped.

She raised her head, a complex look appearing in her eyes as she gazed at the young man, and a rare hint of confusion appeared on her beautiful face.

Upon learning of the appearance of a Northern Alliance ship girl, she instinctively prepared to proactively open the communication channel so that Xu Huan could communicate with her.

Based on experience, this is the most appropriate and normal procedure.

But for some reason, she hesitated when she was about to take that step.

Is it really okay for me to act like this?

In a daze, she remembered arguing with her sister Bismarck in the port office.

At that time, Tirpitz felt that her older sister's act of concealing information about the commander for her own selfish desires was going too far...

But now, I'm experiencing something like this myself.

She subconsciously chose the same path as her older sister...

Is this...my own selfish desire?

Chapter 238 Drunkenness Causes Trouble

Tirpitz couldn't quite tell them apart.

Her mind was in turmoil, like a tangled mess of threads, and she didn't even know what she truly wanted to say.

My current thoughts and plans are almost identical to those of Bismarck back then.

She had previously stood on moral high ground to criticize Bismarck's actions, but when it came to her own situation, she subconsciously felt the same urge to prevent Xu Huan from interacting with ship girls from other factions.

The commander has only been with Ironblood for a short time, how could he possibly give it up to those drunkards from the Northern Alliance?

Tirpitz himself didn't know why he had such an idea.

Xu Huan isn't a succubus like Hindenburg; she doesn't possess the ability to instantly win someone's heart.

Even though the new commander seemed exceptionally capable, and she might have developed some respect for him due to various reasons, she was certain that she wasn't acting out of personal greed.

This is for the sake of the Ironblood faction. As a ship girl of the Ironblood faction, it is natural to protect the interests of the Ironblood faction, and the commander is the biggest core interest of the Ironblood faction at present.

Naturally, she pulled back the step she had already taken halfway.

They became hesitant and silent.

She couldn't do what Bismarck did—directly and proactively isolate the commander from contact with ship girls of other factions—but she also couldn't actively push the commander away.

So Tirpitz ultimately chose to stand still, do nothing, and let things take their natural course.

At that moment, Z23 ran to the communication equipment, waiting for Xu Huan's decision.

With a simpler mind, she didn't think as much as the other two ship girls; all she had to do was obey Xu Huan's orders.

As the commander, Xu Huan naturally had a rather curious attitude towards the ship girls of the Northern Alliance.

Unaware that the ship girl intended to conceal her information, he pondered for a moment before deciding to have Z23 initiate communication so they could have a proper chat and see if any useful intelligence could be found.

Before I could even finish speaking, Beilian contacted me and requested to communicate.

"Commander...it seems they've requested to communicate..."

"Z23 said, sitting in front of the communication device."

"Connect them... let's see what they have to say..."

Xu Huan nodded; the Northern Alliance's actions were exactly what he wanted.

A noisy hissing sound came from the audio device, and after a while, a clear voice entered everyone's ears.

"Gangut, a crossbow-class battleship belonging to the Northern Union... sends its greetings, Ironblood friends? Hmm... now, we can certainly call it friends... hahahaha..."

The voice was clear and strong, but Xu Huan felt that the person on the other end seemed to have a slight lisp.

And this feeling was very familiar to him...

"Gangut...is this guy...already drunk?" Xu Huan muttered to himself, making his judgment based solely on the other person's first sentence.

The reason was simple: he was all too familiar with that slurred, drunken rambling. Back in the People's Liberation Army, he'd heard it so many times it was practically calloused...

“I’ll answer…” Xu Huan nodded to the hesitant Z23, then took the microphone: “Hello, this is—”

He had barely started speaking when a shocked exclamation came from the North Alliance, interrupting the young man's words.

"Huh?! Am I drunk?! I can actually hear a male voice... There's a male voice on the high seas, I've really had too much to drink... Or is someone on your Ironblood side going through puberty? Hahahahahahaha..."

"He's definitely drunk..."

Xu Huan sighed and handed the microphone back to Z23.

He had plenty of experience communicating with drunk people; generally speaking, when someone is drunk, any further communication is futile.

Therefore, after confirming that the other person was drunk, and from what he could tell, quite drunk, the young man lost interest in continuing the conversation.

"If it's just a chance encounter, a few words will suffice to send it on... Let's go back to the port..."

My luck wasn't great; I ran into a drunken Northern Alliance ship girl.

However, if there is an opportunity in the future, I can still have more contact with the Northern Alliance. It's just that my drinking capacity might be my weakest point.

"Yes, Commander..."

Z23 resumed the conversation, gave a brief greeting to Gangut on the other end with a very serious and formal attitude, and then hung up the call.