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

Page 24

"Commander, please wait a moment. I'll be done quickly."

The ship girl lowered her head and forcefully pushed Xu Huan back behind the screen, then immediately crawled back inside.

Hearing the constant cleaning sounds coming from inside, and the girl's somewhat hurried footsteps, Xu Huan couldn't help but chuckle.

It has a very lively and down-to-earth feel.

A long-lost feeling, one he hadn't experienced in a long time...

After waiting for about five minutes, Aurora finally revealed half of her rosy face again. Her eyes were slightly lowered, her gaze darting around, and she murmured softly, "Commander, you can come in now..."

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"Hu Teng, do you think we should go find Xu Huan?"

Inside the hotel restaurant in Royal Port, which is specially designed to accommodate visiting ship girls, Royal Fortune lay back in a chair, eating fresh fruit delivered that morning and drinking Royal's precious aged red wine, closing her eyes contentedly.

Ever since she entered the royal residence as a visitor along with Xu Huan, she has basically never stopped talking.

Belfast kept her promise. In addition to providing meals around the clock, the royal palace had almost everything imaginable, including fine wines and delicacies, and most of them were provided without limit.

Having drifted at sea for so long, and finally having the chance to enjoy a level of sophistication that she usually finds hard to resist, Royal Wealth admits that she seems to be somewhat indulging in it.

No wonder some of history's most notorious villains always tried to be recruited...

Isn't this better than living in constant fear and running around all day?

"Oh? I thought you'd be more anxious..." Hu Teng flipped through his book, answering without even raising his eyelids, "It's been almost two days, and only now are you thinking about the Commander?"

Unlike the royal wealth, what the royal family offered held no appeal for her.

There is only one person she cares about.

“Not really…” Royal Fortune squinted and licked his lips. “Didn’t Xu Huan hand over to Perseus and Belfast? Although I’m not a big fan of them, I have to say that they are much better at taking care of people than I am.”

"You can fool others with this excuse, but don't fool yourself too." Hu Teng said, glancing at the crystal pendant on the girl's chest: "You can say you're recuperating now, but will you still think that way after some time?"

"Well, I don't know what to do either!" Royal Wealth seemed to have been hit where it hurt, and became somewhat annoyed.

"I don't even know where he lives now, and when I asked those Royal Navy ship girls, they all seemed clueless. I even suspect they don't tell their own people... And aren't you just wandering around aimlessly all day? I haven't seen you do anything!"

"If there's still no news in a few days, I'll contact Ironblood directly." Hu Teng handed the book to Royal Wealth.

The blank page at the top features a scaled-down map of the entire Port Royal district.

She never intended to hand over the command directly.

"I wasn't planning to inform the port about the Commander's message..."

Chapter Thirty-Four: A Study of Human Emotions

"Huh?! So you didn't tell the port area!" Royal Fortune's eyes widened, but then they were filled with doubt.

No wonder the Ironbloods were so close to me and Xu Huan back then, but in the end, none of the Ironblood ship girls except Hu Teng arrived.

In terms of distance, Ironblood was the closest port back then. If Hu Teng had notified Ironblood at that time, Xu Huan probably wouldn't have come to the Royal.

"But why? Why didn't you tell your port? Look at Belfast, she immediately notified the port after meeting Xu Huan..."

"He's a pirate, after all. How come his thinking is still like a child's?" Hu Teng frowned.

"Ship girls aren't saints; we all have our own selfish motives, and I believe we're both the same. In my opinion, barring any other complications, I'd much rather have as few ship girls as possible know about the Commander..."

Hu Teng stated his plans very directly.

There's only one commander. If everyone knew, how would they divide and fight over the spoils? Would they just fight?

Royal Wealth nodded in understanding.

She completely agreed with that statement.

She now hopes that as few people as possible know about Xu Huan.

As for why, she herself couldn't explain it, and could only attribute it to the pirates' unique possessiveness of 'treasure'.

but--

"They even kept it from their own allies?"

"First of all, the situation with Ironblood... is much more complicated than you imagine..."

Hu Teng slowly explained, "After that, for me, it's better to let Xu Huan stay in the Royal as long as possible than to let him return to Ironblood. That's why I plan to inform Ironblood in a few days... If I can see him often, I don't plan to tell Ironblood Port."

“There are many things I don’t understand…” The little octopus picked up a strawberry, frowned, and threw it into its mouth: “Since you now think it’s better for Xu Huan to stay in the Royal Family, then why did you want to bring Ironblood back in the first place?”

Hu Teng sighed helplessly upon hearing this, "Ship girls' thoughts can change too. I really hope that Miss Royal Fortune can maintain this mindset and perspective..."

"Then why did it change?"

Hu Teng didn't bother to speak this time, he just gave a faint smirk.

If she weren't currently in the royal family and might need the octopus in front of her for help with some things, she would have ignored it long ago.

It seems that the useless fat on her chest has occupied most of the other person's thinking ability.

"Alright then, let's change the question..."

Royal Wealth realized that asking such a question would seem a bit silly, so they chuckled sheepishly and changed their answer:

"The Royal Navy's ship girls are no fewer than Ironblood's... This doesn't seem to align with your point that the fewer ship girls who know Xu Huan, the better, right? How about it? This is quite a profound question, isn't it?"

"...Do you know about special characteristics?"

"Hmm? Special characteristics?"

"To you, what makes Xu Huan different from everyone else?"

"He's someone I found at sea..."

"that's it?"

Hu Teng glanced again at the crystal pendant on Royal Fortune's chest.

"It should be...probably...maybe...this is it?"

The girl seemed somewhat insincere, her gaze constantly drifting elsewhere as she spoke.

"Then let's talk about it... For you, the Commander is someone you found in the ocean, but for the Commander, I am the only one among all the Royal Navy ship girls who comes from Ironblood. That's what you call special."

Is this really necessary...?

Royal Wealth felt that Hu Teng's statement was somewhat exaggerated.

"Whether it's necessary or not, and... you'll find out later about the importance of a commander to a faction. Our commander isn't an ordinary person; he's not so easily fooled." Hu Teng shook his head and continued flipping through his book.

Whether Royal Wealth believes it or not is her business; I need to continue learning.

"By the way, Miss Hu Teng, where did you learn all this?"

"You don't need to learn these things, thank you."

Hu Teng spoke expressionlessly, making the book he was tucking inside his sleeve even more concealed.

On the book's cover, the six large characters "A Study of Human Emotions" have been worn away completely by some unknown means.

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At the same time, Belfast also enjoyed a rare break after finishing her day's work.

Belfast preferred serving Xu Huan to managing the entire maid corps and all aspects of Port Royal.

The workload is secondary; the main thing is spending a lot of time with the commander, which not only helps increase the ship girls' mental energy but also helps maintain their happy mood.

For Belfast, there's also the option of being 'eye-catching'.

With light steps, Belfast walked to the familiar building, gently pushed open the door, and inside, as usual, at dusk, only Warspite was still busy with work that had not yet been arranged.

Hearing the door open, Warspite looked up, somewhat surprised.

"Hmm? Belfast, you're taking a break so early today?"

As one of the few ship girls in the Royal Port area responsible for administration, working overtime has long been the norm for them, and getting up early and working late are commonplace.

There was no other way; the port area couldn't be without management personnel, and Elizabeth basically didn't get involved.

"My master doesn't really need me right now, so I'll rest for a bit..."

Since Xu Huan arrived at the Royal Navy, Belfast has basically taken full responsibility for all matters related to Xu Huan, including his daily life and accommodations, while the previous duties were handed over to Warspite and other ship girls in the maid corps.

"Doesn't he need you? Is he really that difficult to get along with?"

Upon hearing the mention of Xu Huan, Yan Zhan became interested and quickly put down his work to start inquiring about him.

"No, I should say that the master is very kind, but sometimes he asks some strange questions."

"Oh... then what does it mean that he doesn't need you anymore?" Warspite ignored the strange questions.

Both humans and ship girls possess a great deal of curiosity, which is understandable.

"Hmm... Master seems interested in Eastern cuisine, so I introduced Aurora to him. Now, judging by the time, the two of them should be getting ready for dinner..."

"Aurora? Indeed... By the way, this afternoon Illustrious told me that she also wanted to find an opportunity to meet the Commander."

Chapter Thirty-Five: Time to get up and eat!