300: The Little Swindler's Past in the Eagle Union

"Ah-la-la~ Has the Commander finally finished his long-winded talk? Sara-chan was about to fall asleep~"

Lying bored on the table playing with her phone, Saratoga stretched lazily and grinned as she watched Lin Lan finally wrap up his call.

New Jersey, Eldridge, and Anchorage—who was petting the command Meowfficer—also turned their attention to him as he ended the call.

"Sorry, sorry. I had to take care of some things over there. Thanks for waiting so long. Let's head out—Yorktown and the others are still waiting outside."

Lin Lan scratched his head in embarrassment, knowing he'd made the four of them wait quite a while during the call.

"Well~ as for them, Sara-chan already sent them a message to go ahead and start setting up the welcome party, so it's totally fine~"

As the group left the conference room and headed outside, Saratoga said this with a cheerful smile.

Lin Lan was a little surprised. No wonder Saratoga had been fiddling with her phone the entire time—it turned out she was doing some "cloud work."

As expected from the freedom-loving Eagle Union faction. After spending some time in Iron Blood, this kind of efficient working style felt a bit alien to him.

"So what exactly did Akashi do over here before? I noticed both you and New Jersey went pale when Bismarck mentioned she might show up."

The white command Meowfficer from the Eagle Union faction had been left on the conference room table, soon to be taken care of by a Manjuu caretaker.

As Lin Lan and the others walked down the white corridor lit by warm sunlight, he couldn't help but ask, recalling how both Saratoga and New Jersey had reacted with visible dread at Akashi's name.

"Ah, honey, that's really a long story. The days she spent here were some of the darkest in Eagle Union history."

New Jersey, who was clinging tightly to Lin Lan, let out a wry smile as she began recounting:

"At the time, we had just taken this island and were still in the middle of reconstruction. 

She claimed she had just come over from the Iris Libre and brought with her all kinds of magical black-tech from the Holy Teaching Nation."

"Whoa, she even went to the Holy Teaching Nation?"

Lin Lan looked surprised at the lavender-haired battleship girl clinging to him.

From Liaozhou to the Holy Teaching Nation, then to the Eastern Continent—this little swindler Akashi had really been all over.

He used to have doubts about Akashi's abilities, but then he remembered: in the game's major operations, Akashi often popped up in various sea zones as a "battlefield merchant."

Alright, maybe this so-called "cat's sixth sense" was real after all—she was a sly trickster, no doubt.

And now that he thought about it, Lin Lan recalled how meticulous Akashi was when she had Sun Dewang purchase specialty items from the Holy Teaching Nation back in Yunhai City. 

It was like she had a deep understanding of Holy Teaching artifacts.

She even had a shop in his Lihu County port area renovated in full Holy Teach style—she knew how to categorize, store, and use magical items from that country.

There's no way she figured all that out just from reading a manual.

With that in mind, Lin Lan was almost certain that Akashi had indeed been to the Holy Teaching Nation. 

She just never brought it up, and he never asked.

But hearing Lin Lan's surprised reaction, New Jersey gave a complicated smile:

"Back then, we didn't believe it either, but she showed us a token from Richelieu and pulled out all sorts of unexplainable magical devices.

Both Sara and I had no choice but to believe she'd been there."

"After she moved into the Eagle Union dorms we had just built by the docks and saw we were constructing an artificial island, she offered to help using Holy Teaching magic for rapid construction."

Saratoga chimed in at the right moment to add context:

"Sara-chan remembers what she said~ Something like, 'The Holy Teaching's secret construction formula, unshared with outsiders! Great quality, low cost, no pollution, time-saving—three times more efficient than Manjuu!'"

Hearing that, Lin Lan understood immediately: Akashi had definitely gone overboard.

Knowing this swindler, the more confidently she talked, the less trustworthy she probably was.

"So you actually believed her?"

Hearing Lin Lan's follow-up, both Saratoga and New Jersey let out a simultaneous sigh.

"She used some unknown method to summon this massive flame... demon—yes, a demon. That's what she called it later."

"She ordered that green-flame-covered demon to follow her commands, but it completely ignored her. It even yelled at her, calling her a vile fraud who couldn't offer a life as a sacrifice for a contract."

"???"

Lin Lan's eyes widened as he stopped in his tracks at New Jersey's words.

Which unfortunately caused Anchorage, who was walking behind him while happily cradling twelve ice crystals, to bump into his back with a cute "Ouch!"

Lin Lan quickly turned and gently patted her on the head in apology before turning back to New Jersey and Saratoga, following up in disbelief:

"Wait—are you sure she actually summoned a demon? Not just... something else?"

Even though Lin Lan had been in this world for over a year and knew the Holy Teach was a magical nation, he never expected actual demons to exist.

He'd seen some mentions of them on the internet in Orlan, but always thought they were just rumors spread by the materialist nation to discredit Holy Teach's magic.

After all, people tend to get very imaginative when it comes to the unknown.

The Holy Teaching's territory was vast, and Orlan had only managed to gather information through envoys and merchants sent by the Holy Teaching Church.

"Commander, that green-flame monster actually talked. We heard it clearly cursing Akashi right in front of us," said Saratoga, who held a white mechanical staff that looked like a magical girl wand, giving Lin Lan a helpless smile.

"After that, the flame demon tried to attack us, but Enterprise shot it down with a single arrow."

"But when its remains exploded, it scattered green flames that burned the entire island for three days and nights before the girls managed to extinguish it with ship rig fire suppressors."

"Nobody got hurt, but those sky-reaching green flames could be seen from miles away..."

At that, Lin Lan finally understood why New Jersey had called those the darkest days in Eagle Union history.

And why both she and Saratoga turned pale at the mere mention of Akashi's arrival.

That damn Akashi—just what doesn't she dare to try?

Never mind the fact that summoning a demon was outrageous enough—but as shipgirls born from wisdom cubes and essentially immortal, what did she plan to offer the demon in exchange? Her own life?

Even if she wanted to give it, could the demon even accept it?

But then Lin Lan suddenly paused.

What if—just maybe—that swindler had planned this all along? She knew full well she couldn't offer a real sacrifice and just wanted to scam the demon in a no-cost deal?

She just didn't expect that the demon would have such a fiery temper and an unbreakable will?

The more he thought about it, the more Lin Lan felt like that was something Akashi would absolutely try to pull off.

"Ahem, don't worry. Once she gets here, I'll keep a tight leash on her."

Since that swindler would be arriving at the artificial island soon anyway, Lin Lan could only smile and try to reassure Saratoga and New Jersey.

Before long, Lin Lan and the girls returned to the entrance hall of the building.

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50 advanced chapters on p@t re on (.) com/SenatusTheta

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