Chapter 115 – A Ship Full of Commanders: Friend or Foe?

Hikaru swept his gaze across the crowd. No one looked away—and several even returned his glance with knowing smiles.

Friend or foe?

He didn't know.

Just as they couldn't read his heart, he couldn't read theirs either.

Of course, Hikaru had his reasons.

He was an outsider to the shipgirl war. His voice held little weight in the military. He had no idea how much his shipgirl could contribute in a battle involving hundreds of thousands.

More importantly—why should she have to?

Why should Tirpitz be responsible for the lives of others?

To be honest, after Tirpitz returned from that battle, she reported that all five of her damage control fairies were completely depleted. Hikaru had been both shocked and terrified.

Even if Tirpitz's combat readiness put her a tier above all others… even if her rigging was top-tier… she still wasn't invincible.

Just a little more—if the enemy had one more Abyssal flagship—even five fairies wouldn't have saved her. She would have been defeated without question.

Had it not been for the cheat-like nature of those damage control fairies, Tirpitz would have been instantly killed by the first shot from Barbarossa in her godlike state. She would never have come back alive.

Could Hikaru have foreseen any of this before the battle?

Now that Tirpitz had been placed on the pedestal as the strongest shipgirl in the world, Hikaru's supply of diamond resources was already depleted. You could say this was the most dangerous moment for them.

Hikaru avoided befriending other commanders partly out of fear—fear of being praised to death, of being morally blackmailed, of being roasted alive on a public spit.

But could he ever explain that?

All he could do was maintain a dignified silence.

"If anyone has a problem with Hikaru, step forward now and show you're a man!" bellowed Fleet Admiral Gorou. "But if anyone dares to play tricks behind his back, I'll personally put a bullet in your head!"

No one stepped forward.

"Good!" Gorou turned to Hikaru. "Your shipgirl went too far in her counterattack. You'll be punished with her."

Just then, Yamato clapped her hands, drawing everyone's attention.

"The medal commissioner's aircraft has arrived."

A roar of rotor blades swept the deck, and a helicopter descended like a dragonfly onto the helipad, which had just been hastily cleared.

Fleet Admiral Gorou stood straight with a line of middle and upper commanders, ready to receive the guest with full formality.

Not because the commissioner was some mighty, supernatural figure—on the contrary, she was simply a civilian official responsible for awarding medals. But the respect these commanders showed reflected their acknowledgment of the importance of honor.

More profoundly, it was a show of respect from the extraordinary toward the rules of the ordinary world—toward universal values.

If the supernaturally powerful ever chose to trample over worldly order just because they could, no one would rejoice more than the Abyssals. That would create a flood of negative emotions—and those with power would eventually be devoured by the consequences.

This was a lesson learned from a darker era—a time when the extraordinary ran rampant.

Hikaru stood in the back of the crowd, lost in thought.

Tirpitz rubbed her eyes and grumbled.

"Commander, I wanna go back already. Standing out here makes me sleepy."

Hikaru could only soothe her gently—after all, slipping away in front of the medal commissioner would be the ultimate public disgrace.

Even though Tirpitz looked completely disinterested and sluggish, no matter how strict or harsh a soldier might be, no one dared to blame her.

After all, her demonic display of power was still vivid in everyone's minds—unforgettable.

Take Josephine, for example. A worshipper of the strong, she'd practically become one of Tirpitz's rabid fans. Her eyes shimmered with awe and fear as she paced nervously nearby, clearly hoping Tirpitz might notice her.

But the real star of today was just stepping off the helicopter.

Someone approached with a folding staircase, but she waved it off.

She jumped straight from the cabin door, about one or two meters off the ground. Though she wobbled slightly upon landing, she quickly regained her footing.

The medal commissioner looked up.

She was an elegant woman in her forties or fifties, her hair coiled into a tight chignon at the back of her head. Lips pressed into a line—clearly not someone to be trifled with.

Fleet Admiral Gorou took two steps forward and, with a trembling arm, gave a formal military salute.

Even though he was old enough to be her great-grandfather, propriety could not be set aside.

Because this woman carried the honor of warriors on her shoulders.

[End of Chapter]

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