I, Azure Commander!

"It's okay, it's okay. Little Beifa is already serving you like this~"

Lin Xiao didn't care about all that. She was happily teasing the child in her arms. Who wouldn't want to hold such a cute little angel?

"Yes, really?"

Little Beifa seemed a little uncertain. This was obviously different from what her sister Beifa taught her. But the master was the master, and of course she had to listen to what the master said. So for a moment she was completely at a loss.

"Well...if it can make the master happy, then Belfast will definitely do his best!"

The lovely child clenched her little fists and looked so adorable as to encourage herself that Lin Xiao couldn't help but rub her face again. His heart felt like it was about to melt.

He walked into the palace holding little Beifa in his arms. Sheffield had apparently told everyone the news that the commander had returned. The palace was now like the calm before the storm. No one could be seen inside, but the feeling of impending storm was everywhere.

However, they were not hiding from Lin Xiao. They just didn't know how to face the commander who suddenly returned. Moreover, they felt it would be better to dress up a little to meet the commander.

As he went deeper, Lin Xiao finally saw a blond child wearing a crown sitting on the throne in the main hall of the palace... a child?

She should be an old woman undoubtedly in age, but she looks like a child, and a very childish child at that. She seems to be very dignified, with her chest and head held high. Although she is less than 1.6 meters tall, her aura is as high as that of several floors. It can almost be said that she is looking down at Lin Xiao in an arrogant manner.

"Humph, as a subject of my king, you actually disappeared for so long, and you only came back now... It's really too much!"

However, as soon as he opened his mouth, that aura disappeared instantly, leaving only arrogance and childishness.

"Oh, I'm so sorry, my queen, but I swear, I don't want this either, I can promise."

"Goooo~"

Elizabeth wailed. For some reason, she always felt that this bold "minister" in front of her was teasing her and playing tricks on her.

"Commander, welcome back."

In comparison, the other blond dwarf next to her seemed much more straightforward. He greeted Lin Xiao very directly, and Lin Xiao smiled and nodded in response.

Standing beside them were two mature-looking maids, Curacao and Curlew, whose tall stature formed a sharp contrast with the petite figure of Her Majesty the Queen.

You know what, with two tall and beautiful maids standing on both sides and sitting on the throne, even for a short person like Elizabeth, it really looked like the throne.

The two maids bowed slightly to Lin Xiao, "Master, welcome back."

As for the other girls...

Lin Xiao looked around, and it seemed that no one was there. However, it was clear that the place was a bit messy. Obviously, not long ago, there couldn't have been only so few people here. They probably all went to put on makeup and take care of themselves...

Chapter 33: The Ship Girls in the Palace

"Is it just you? Where are the other ship girls?"

Lin Xiao found a stool and sat down. Although he knew the answer well, he still wanted to ask.

In fact, he doesn't really care about these things, nor does he care whether the ship girls wear makeup or not. He thinks there is no difference whether the ship girls wear makeup or not.

This is not because he is straight, but it is indeed true. For ordinary human girls, putting on makeup will indeed bring about a significant change. It can even be said that there is a big difference between putting on makeup and not putting on makeup. Some are even like a different person. However, for the ship girls, the role of makeup is minimal. Lin Xiao even often can't tell whether his own ship girls are wearing makeup or not.

"Many sisters were here just now. When they heard the commander was coming, they all went back to their rooms. Some sisters are still making dinner."

Little Beifa was naturally very happy to answer questions and solve doubts for her dearest master, and she sold those sisters who were usually kind to her without hesitation.

"Cook dinner? You guys make it yourself?"

"Yes, Her Majesty the Queen said that we, the Royal Ship Girls, should eat the most authentic royal traditional cuisine, so it has always been my sister who cooks at home."

Little Beifa said something very scary calmly. Lin Xiao's face changed immediately after hearing it. He looked at the little angel beside him with a worried look. He hugged her in his arms distressedly, touching her here and poking her there. After a while, he said distressedly: "It's over, Little Beifa has lost weight..."

A KanColle won't lose weight, right?

Although she really wanted to complain, little Beifa didn't say anything in the end. She just sat obediently on her owner's lap, tilted her head slightly to let her owner touch her chin, and squinted her eyes with a comfortable expression.

"It should still be in time now..."

While stroking the little girl in his arms, Lin Xiao said as if he was facing a formidable enemy: "Haitian, and my wife, you two should hurry to the kitchen to take over, otherwise we will all have to eat royal food tonight."

"Commander, what do you mean? Do you have any opinion on our royal cuisine?"

Elizabeth puffed up her cheeks in dissatisfaction.

"Yes, there is... Not only that, but it's very big." Lin Xiaoke never indulges tsunderes. "This Haitian is a new ship girl who has joined the port. She is a very good cook and is proficient in all kinds of Donghuang famous dishes. Elizabeth, do you think it's better to let her finish cooking, or let the maids continue to cook?"

"..."

This sentence silenced Elizabeth. Donghuang's famous dishes, a ship girl with excellent cooking skills... Such words are undoubtedly very tempting to her who has been eating royal cuisine for a long time.

——Although she said that, the most important reason was that there were no restaurants from other areas nearby. Compared to buying ready-made royal dishes outside, the cooking skills of the maids at home were at least slightly better.

In fact, most of the time, everyone in the palace lived on toast and fish and chips.

Elizabeth was silent, and Haitian and Azuma naturally respected the commander's orders. Curacao took them to the cafeteria, and shortly after they left, the ship girls who had just dispersed also came back one after another.

Several girls were hiding outside the palace at this time, looking in cautiously. The moment they saw Lin Xiao, they immediately became excited and pointed at him and said, "Wow, it's really the commander!"

"Let me see, let me see... the commander seems to have gained some weight."

"He's obviously lost weight, right? Look at him, how can he look fat?"

"You guys are talking so excitedly, but in fact, you have hardly seen the Commander before..."

The merciless complaints behind the scenes made the ship girls who were discussing in an orderly manner stick out their tongues. They were indeed just talking nonsense based on that vague impression. Of course, this was mainly because they were obviously very excited to see the commander again.

Lin Xiao naturally noticed these girls and waved to them. The ship girls looked at each other and walked towards this side one after another.

At first I thought there were only a few ship girls, but later I found that there seemed to be more than that. More than a dozen ship girls walked into the palace at once, and more ship girls were coming here one after another from behind.

Lin Xiao opened his eyes wide and began to try to identify the girls in front of him.

Since the scope can be narrowed down to the category of Royal Ship Girls, it is not as difficult as imagined.

The General, Acasta, Zeal, Beagle, Bulldog, Comet, Crescent Moon, Fox, Goddess of Fortune, Grenville, Firefly, Brave, Hunter, Queen of Heaven...

There were many children and some girls, some of whom she couldn't quite recognize. She would touch their heads and say a few words to them. If that didn't work, she would secretly ask the little Beifa sitting on her lap. The little Beifa would immediately pull at their collars and whisper in her ears to tell her which ship girl that was.

Although there are already quite a few ship girls, this is obviously not all. The little loli with white hair and twin ponytails is a vampire. Then there are the sisters Aretosha and Galatea. The elder sister is a tsundere who is tired of being tsundered, while the younger sister is a direct and bold player.

The two maids, Kent and Suffolk, arrived late. It seemed that they had not been in the palace before and no one knew where they had been slacking off. They had just received the news and rushed over immediately.

Norfolk is a shy little girl, too timid to approach the commander, Dorset is a lively girl, and the immature York is also there, she should be able to become good friends with Z24 and Z36, her sister Exeter is also there, and then there are a few older sisters, the slow-witted and naive older sister Reputation, and her sister, the playful Counterattack... Well, this one doesn't feel like an older sister, she doesn't look like an older sister at all from body to mind.

Then, there was another heavyweight, Aunt Hood, who came over with a little kid on her shoulder. Upon closer inspection, it was Aberonkbi. He was probably too naughty again, so Aunt Hood caught him and gave him a good scolding.

Such a naughty child needs to be spanked hard. Now that she has been spanked, she seems to be a little more obedient.

Finally, there is the cute little swan. It is a little fat just as I remembered, but not the kind of bloated that looks ugly. It just looks like its size is completely different from other destroyers, and it can even compete with heavy cruisers.

So, even after greeting the ship girls one by one, the only ones left were the sisters Edinburgh and Belfast, who seemed to be cooking in the kitchen. Although it should have been taken over by Haitian and the others now, they did not rush over immediately, but stayed to help.

There should be some time before dinner, and before that, Lin Xiao also has time to chat with the girls...

Chapter 34: Sleeping with the Master is Also the Maid's Duty

Come to think of it, I didn't pay much attention to it when I recognized them one by one just now, but now looking back at the scene in front of me, it is really spectacular.

Roughly counting, there are about thirty ship girls in total, plus Belfast and Edinburgh in the kitchen, a total of thirty-five ship girls.

Although he had expected this before coming here and felt that there would be quite a few ship girls following Elizabeth, this number still scared Lin Xiao a little.

This trip to Area E was as beneficial as expected. Including Aurora and the others, the number of ship girls found on this trip has exceeded fifty. And this is not even the end. Lin Xiao believes that there must be ship girls in other parts of Area E that have not been found in the port area.

And this was one of the topics he was going to talk about with Elizabeth, but before that, there was one thing he was very curious about.

"Why do you live here..."

When Elizabeth heard his question, her face looked very serious, as if she was going to give a serious answer. However, as soon as she opened her mouth, Lin Xiao immediately lost all expectations.

——"That's because I am the Queen of the Royal Family, of course!"

"Tsk~" Lin Xiao couldn't help but curled his lips.

"Goooo!" Elizabeth puffed up her cheeks. "You are just a minister. You don't understand the glory of the king at all. This is an usurpation and blasphemy!"

Yan Zhan covered her mouth with a helpless look on his face. The little blonde old woman struggled for a long time, stammering but unable to utter a word.

Lin Xiao smiled knowingly at this. It must be said that when Elizabeth is cute, she is still quite cute, although her tsundere personality sometimes makes her a little unlikable. After all, this is no longer the tsundere version. Times have changed, my Queen...

It was obvious that he could not get a satisfactory answer from Elizabeth, so Lin Xiao turned his gaze to the snipe beside him. The older sister who looked a little strict bowed slightly and began to explain the ins and outs of the matter.

"It's like this, Master. Her Majesty the Queen does think this place is worthy of her status, so after arriving at this port, we had some communication and exchanges with the local forces here... Because of Her Majesty the Queen's special status, after paying a certain amount of rent, they agreed to let us stay temporarily."

"So Elizabeth really has that face-saving effect?"

Lin Xiao looked at a certain blond dwarf in surprise. Elizabeth, who had just calmed down, suddenly became excited again. If War-Yan had not stopped her, she would have rushed to him quickly, jumped up and kicked his knee.

"But the rent for this place isn't cheap, is it?"

Not to mention that this is a royal palace, just renting such a large place would cost a lot of money.

"That's true..." Curlew nodded and said, "But Her Majesty the Queen brought some funds from the port area, so we can still afford it."

"Just barely? What about daily food and clothing?"

The snipe fell into silence, little Beifa was silent, and even Elizabeth looked embarrassed and coughed twice.

"Actually... we have always used the money we got from gold."

"Gold? Where does the gold come from..."

Lin Xiao had only said half of this when he suddenly realized what was going on.

Yes, where does the gold come from? Who has the gold?

The image of a confused maid wearing glasses immediately emerged in my mind. Well, you guys can bully Edinburgh as much as you want...

Edinburgh values ​​her gold the most. She would never take it out easily on normal days. But now it is used as a source of daily expenses. This is only Elizabeth. If it were any other ship girl in the port, she would never give in easily.

And if it is just for daily expenses, if you use gold to exchange for money, a gold brick can last for a long time, so it is not a big problem. You can just ask Edinburgh for that piece of gold every month.

Although she still felt sorry for Edinburgh, on a certain day every month, all her companions looked at her differently than before. They all stared at her like hungry wolves... for the gold on her body.

Poor girl…

But it’s not a big problem. The gold in Edinburgh is renewable anyway. And now as a commander, he has brought the Saint Aunt’s bank card with him, so he is not short of money from Edinburgh’s gold.

"By the way, regarding the Royal Navy shipgirls in Area E... As you can see, I found Dido and the others before coming here, and then I came to Remi Port to find you. In addition to the shipgirls I have already found, there should be shipgirls at home in Area E, right?"

"Yes." Curlew nodded. "There were many ship girls who followed the Queen. Many of them got separated on the way, but most of them still came to Area E. Everyone lived together for a while. After that, some ship girls chose to live separately, but they should still be in Area E."

"So, do you know where they are?"

Lin Xiao asked the key question, "The most urgent and most important thing now is to find them back first."

"This one……"

The shipgirls present looked at each other for a while after hearing this. Curlew also showed a somewhat embarrassed expression, "It's hard to confirm the specific information about this."

"Is that so?" Lin Xiao sighed in disappointment.

"Although they all told Her Majesty the Queen when they left, and also told her where they were going, but when we tried to contact them later, we found that they were not there... This is also very normal. Maybe they did plan to go there at the beginning, but later changed their place of residence or even moved to another city for various reasons. Some of them would write to contact us at the beginning to explain the situation, but then the contact gradually became less and less, and everyone basically lived their own lives."

Speaking of this matter, everyone is indeed somewhat disappointed. If the commander hadn't come back, those sisters from the past might have found it difficult to meet again... Even the ship girls living here now, some will choose to leave and live their own lives in the future.

There is nothing that can be done about it. Although the Royal Faction is relatively special compared to other factions and has a special existence like the Queen who can unite people's hearts, the person who connects all the ship girls in the port area is no longer here. Even Her Majesty the Queen will slowly begin to lose people.

"No matter how uncertain you are, there must be some clues, right?"

"That's still there."

Curlew nodded and said, "Her Majesty the Queen has carefully kept all the letters sent by her companions in the small cabinet over there."

Curlew pointed to the table in front of Elizabeth and said, "Her Majesty the Queen carefully wrote down every single message they left behind."

"That's fine."

Lin Xiao nodded. This way, at least there would be some clues to follow, which was much better than searching randomly like a headless fly.

However, I didn't expect Elizabeth to be so considerate... or should I say she cares more about her royal companions? As the queen, she is still somewhat reliable.

Even though it’s just a little bit…

Elizabeth seemed to be aware of something, and there was a hint of hostility in her eyes as she looked at Lin Xiao. She gritted her teeth secretly, as if waiting for an opportunity to bite someone.

After that, she chatted with the ship girls for a while and asked some questions, and she had a general understanding of the situation here. After that, Haitian and the others prepared dinner and were waiting for them in the restaurant.

The huge fleet of ship girls lined up to wash their hands, and then headed to the restaurant impatiently. This might be the most active time they had been eating in such a long time. In the past, the royal maids were the ones who cooked, and they basically only knew how to cook royal dishes. Even the head maid would only occasionally cook dishes from other regions. Her cooking skills were not that good, but at least acceptable, and she would often become the target of everyone's competition.

But tonight, the ship girls all heard that the commander specially invited a chef from Donghuang to cook dinner. The royal ship girls who had not eaten Donghuang cuisine for a long time immediately recalled the time when they were still in the port area and could often eat meals cooked by Yixian and others, and had steamed buns made by Pinghai and Ninghai every day.

When they thought of the Donghuang delicacies, their saliva immediately flowed out. The Royal Navy ship girls who had been polite to each other didn't care about that anymore and rushed into the restaurant with all their might, fearing that they would have nothing to eat if they were a little slower.

Lin Xiao looked at the scene in front of him, feeling both distressed and amused. He shook his head helplessly and followed the group into the restaurant.

As a commander, he still has some face, and everyone will give way to him.