Magic and Warships

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, Kantai (Kancolle Collection) or anything else I may reference

Chapter 7

20 January 2027

Portsmouth

Creeping slowly the rays of the sun pierced through the glass of the transparent window and through the small gaps of the curtains to then land directly on the closed eyes of the resident in the bed sleeping soundly. Well she had been sleeping soundly until that light stuck her gentle face waking her up revealing her beautiful light blue eyes as they looked around the room. Now fully awake, she promptly got out of bed dressed in her pyjamas and headed towards the bathroom that she had in her on suite.

Taking of her pyjamas she quickly turned on the shower and adjusted the temperature until it was just right and stepped into to the warm water. As she washed herself starting with her blonde she couldn't help but think about the events that had occurred over the last few days ever since she had arrived in this world. She had been resting calmly in what could probably only be referred to as Ship girl heaven although it was nothing like the humans believed it was. She had been mostly content with her life but annoyed and feeling betrayed that after her many years of service she had simply been sold and then promptly turned into scrap.

She hadn't had any semblance of time as she was just there on her own until finally one day she had felt something grabbing at her, there was nothing that she could have done to resist. Yet as she was pulled she had felt her body change, no longer was she just a massive piece of metal that stretched on for many metres instead her body was condensed until she looked just like a human did. She was also given instinctual knowledge on how to move her body such as her hands and feet while at the same time keeping her old properties strangely though the last thing she moved was her eyes and as she did so her hand moved instinctually.

He was the very first thing she saw when she returned back to the human world, she didn't know how nor had she really cared instead just being happy to be back and as she noticed the Union jack in this strange place she had known instantly that she was with the people who she called family. Yet straight away after she had been called back she had been taken by the stranger young teenager who in physical age had to be several years younger than herself to a strange room. How she had been confused with others as they saw things that confused them yet none of them questioned anything accepting the fact that they would soon be told what had happened. And so it had happened but it was strange and if not difficult to believe at first, somehow she had not been called back straight after she was scrapped instead many decades had gone past until she along with her fellow other ship girls had been summoned in the year 2027.

The video they had been shown told them of the past and what had happened in the time since they had gone off too that strange place. It also explained why they had been brought back. Again for what must have been the umpteenth time Britain was under threat however no longer by invasion but of collapsing as her people no longer had access to the seas they had once ruled and kept the peace in. Instead strange creatures lurked in a thick fog which promptly attacked and destroyed everything that went over water or air preventing even radio waves somehow. For a brief moment she had wondered about refusing the admirals offer of helping them but then she had promptly quashed that down. Even if she had been sold for scrap metal people still needed her now and she would do her part not to mention as a ship girl it was natural for her to be on the world's oceans and seas going where she pleased armed to the teeth with eight fifteen inch guns. If she and other ship girls ever wished to sail across the world than they would have to rid the world of the threat that these creatures called Abyssal's first.

Since their summoning a few days ago their days had been strange yet interesting, despite having a human body and knowing how to use it that didn't mean she or the others were use to having one. There were so many complex things about her new body that she had never really understood before like her fingers these were incredibly complex yet elegant little things that until recently she had never understood how important they were. After all while she may have been a ship her crew were the ones doing all the work, they had aimed the guns and made the calculations to fire, they had steered her and repaired her. It seemed strange at first how they had been so good at keeping her in good shape especially as she had always assumed that humans had weaker bodies compared to her but these fingers that humans had were an amazing work of engineering. Other strange parts besides her fingers were her different parts of anatomy and how her face could change colour when people said something like when one of the sailors said something funny.

However her favourite part was being out in the swimming pool bath at the base, it wasn't as large as the ocean but it was a nice feeling to sail water again. Of course though she had also discovered that human food tasted far nicer to any of the fuel she had tried, that didn't mean that fuel tasted bad but it had one constant flavour and texture compared to what humans had created like chocolate, chicken and other food however he favourite thing was defiantly tea.

Tea was a beautiful drink unlike coffee which Nathanael had called swill; it had such an elegant flavour and gave off the picture and feeling of calm and royalty. Whereas coffee was just so black goo that didn't deserve to be drunk something that one or two of the soldiers had balked at but they weren't proper gentleman if they drank such a substance. Now that led to her next point which was the people she was sharing this new existence with.

The sailors while being born many decades after she was constructed were still the same although lacking in morale as most of them had never been to sea before and there was nowhere for them to practise on their modern warships. The soldiers still acted the same except for they were better armoured something she was sure that the soldier from her time wished they had when they did their multiple amphibious landings. There weren't any pilots based in Portsmouth which was a shame as she would have liked to see the replacement for the Spitfire, Doctor Violet was a nice enough woman when she had looked her over.

Admiral Sycamore was different to any admiral that she had encountered but that was due to multiple things, First was the fact that he was incredibly young for a person of such responsibility especially since the only type of ship he had served upon were the new destroyers. In contrast captains of powerful warships like herself yet alone admirals would normally have had to serve aboard multiple vessels for certain periods of time with capital ships being the most desirable. So for a rear admiral to have only served aboard a destroyer which was the lightest of ships that were really designed to engage in active combat was slightly discouraging. However the man was trying and would likely get better as time went on but this led to her second point which was taking away his age the admiral had only served for a short time aboard a ship before the Abyssal's had attacked and he had never had the chance to command a warship yet alone a fleet. Finally that left Nathanael Tempest the person who had summoned her and was the very first thing she had ever seen when she had opened her eyes for the first time.

He was young being only fourteen however had they been living in the war than in a few years time, he would likely have been conscripted into one of the many armed services and had to fight. Whether that would have been in the army fighting the Germans, Italians and Japanese in tough fire fights or soaring high above the clouds in a fighter plan ducking and weaving constantly or finally serving aboard a warship like herself hoping to destroy the enemies naval presence at sea the fact remained that he had gotten off relatively lucky. From what she had been able to work out by the soldiers who always seemed to be following him in a protective way he had become rather important to some people.

Added to this the child apparently had such an important role that he could speak to the admiral incredibly usually as well as wonder around on a military base with no apparent repercussions. There was the fact as the Admiral had stated that he was the one who had summoned her and the others as well as being responsible for their care however it still didn't explain the freedom of movement he had. It could very much turn out that the current government was keeping him safe because he was valuable like a prime minister was although if he was the only one who did know how to summon and maintain ship girls like herself than perhaps he was far more valuable than even the head of the country.

When she finally finished her shower her long wet hair drooping over her back she quickly picked out some of the casual clothes that had been given to her as her current dress was in the wash. Today would be the first day that she and her fellow warships would be allowed to start training with live ammunition as it had finally been delivered in the night. It would nice she thought to be able to utilise her guns once more after staying silent so long, so far only Campbletowns sister had been able to really get to grip with things as they all ready had the ammunition for her where as the rest of them had to wait until it was manufactured and brought to the base.

She was very much looking forward to it especially since she held for the longest artillery shot to land on an enemy, not to mention unlike the smaller guns that the light cruisers and destroyers possessed her guns were large and powerful that could easily rip holes through an opponent's armour. Of course such a high class lady should not brag about what they could achieve and as such behave in the correct and proper manner of things. Speaking of which breakfast will be served soon and since it was her way of getting fuel now she didn't want to miss it, with that said and now fully dressed she left her bedroom and promptly headed to the ship girl cafeteria.

Unlike the human cafeteria, where the sailors got a set meal of a certain size and was rather plan with white walls, the ship girl cafeteria was far more like a restaurant. Old but comforting stone walls with warm orange lights that illuminated the room allowing the ship girls to see correctly. There were also wooden tables and chairs that were placed neatly in small tables all over the place. However the biggest difference that would make the human sailors jealous was that there was a very large amount of food that had been left out for ship girls to pick and choose what they wished to eat.

Looking around the area Warspite found the familiar face of Nathanael sitting in a corner reading contently from some newspaper or other while a few books sat by the table ready to be read once the wizard was finished. Next to the books was a full English breakfast and a nice cup of hot team all in all it was rather relaxing compared to the louder place of the sailors. Going to the breakfast bar Warspite began to pile her plate with food and quite literally it was a pile like the amount that would require at the minimum ten very fat Americans to consume.

Due to her new physiology Warspite and all other ship girls for that matter had to eat more than a human their average age did so that they could get the energy needed to fuel them. Despite the ridiculous amount of food however it was incredibly energy efficient since if one remembered that warships had to be able to sail tens of thousands of kilometres on their fuel tanks alone and that was without including all the other electronic devices like radar, sonar or even the lifts on a warship. Where before it would have required incredibly large amounts of oil to be filed into a ship to keep it floating now it was simply a case of feeding these ship girls large amounts of food to keep them working. The amount of food consumed by warships only truly became ridiculous when one got to Battleships and what would also likely be carriers, as they were the largest ships in the fleet they required large amounts of resources to be utilised on an everyday basis. It had been a rather amusing sight the first time it happened for sailors to watch as Warspite kept eating incredibly large amounts of food that would constitute dinner only to be followed by large amounts of ice cream suffice to say it was kind of intimidating.

Feeling that she didn't particularly feel like sitting on her own and she also didn't really connect to the other ship girls since mentally and physically they were quite a bit younger than her she decided to sit opposite the wizard. Nat unlike all the other staff was allowed to eat in the ship girl cafeteria if only due to the fact that due to his magic the ship girls were allowed to consume the amount they did. As such he had breakfast in the quiet area of the base where he could have a quick look over at the ship girls first thing in the morning just in case he needed to sort something out for later.

"Good morning Heir Tempest" With a proper polite smile Warspite took her place easily setting down on the table only for the pile of food to be so high that it prevented her from looking at him directly. At this moment though Nat was use to it although he did find it slightly amusing when after Warspite had finished she simply picked up a through chocolate bars to consume until she got to lunch. He had noticed that the amount of energy they expended was vastly increased when they went out to see otherwise it was minimal on land to the point where the ship girls would likely be able to sustain themselves on an average sized meal.

"Likewise Lady Warspite I presume you are doing well" It was an unspoken arrangement between the two of them, since Nat was nobility and Warspite was sort of nobility they had decided to treat one another in such a way. Again it was always funny to see the confused faces from some of the other people at their politeness especially since everybody referred to each other in a casual way with only their first name.

"Yes very much so "With their introduction finished Warspite began to eat her breakfast however unlike other she had noticed who did so quickly she took her time as it would be a while before she had to do anything major. Nat in the mean time was reading the paper which in this case was like most of the time about the current government and the apparent lack of results made on the regain the seas and oceans part of his pledge.

It was to be expected military operations were kept secret and to his knowledge the people hadn't yet realised where they were stationed as they likely believed that they would be killed by shelling. Still it would take long for people to recognise where they were and when that happened the base would have a swarm of angry nasty little insects who were in his opinion one of the worst types of people in the world. They also happened to go by the name reporters. Once that happened the army would likely be called in to stop anyone from entering the base or seeing anything they shouldn't which in this case was the ship girls.

If knowledge spread about their existence to the public before they had managed to make any sort of achievement like retaking the channel than there would be such a large public backlash. No if the ship girls were to be existed they needed to have made a serious gain in this war otherwise they would be treated as a waste of recourses or worse be attacked by religious zealots over their existence. Even so if their plan did succeed and when the rest of the world would be told about the fact that Britain had a mysterious weapon that can reclaim the seas there would be calls from every nation connected by land in Europe, Asia and Africa for them to sort out their respective piece of ocean next due to its importance to that country.

A lot of countries would want the Mediterranean finished next since a lot of countries could than trade with each other quite a few of which would be European countries who would have the most clout of any continent in negotiations. That was to be expected however as not only were they physically the closest countries to them but they were generally rather rich in comparison to other nations that didn't have incredibly long routes to reach. For example China who used to be rich before the loss of the seas with their exports was on the opposite side of the world and had no chance of gaining access to sea routes for what could be many years.

Even than the country had been hit hard massively by the loss of the ocean trade since it could no longer sell things they way it needed to which while unknown to the general public had caused a civil war in the country. It was far easier for magic users to get information n world affairs due to apparition and as such he had learned that while the war had been incredibly bloody with over half a billion people killed the communist regime had been toppled with a new government system put in place. But that wasn't all Hong Kong had declared its independence with the express intent of rejoining the United Kingdom when that became possible , apparently they preferred the old colonial rule in fact they had already gone so far as to officially declare themselves as an overseas territory.

Now to the average public if they ever found out about this then it would be considered strange and non official after all the British Government would have to organise such a thing. However with magical agents there was very much the chance that something had already been sorted out, if this was true than that made things both simpler and more complicated. With both Gibraltar and Hong Kong back in British control than theoretically with a few more admirals Britain would be capable of making work on multiple stretches of water at a time. To extend upon this with more admirals and captains than perhaps theoretically if the ship girls did indeed prove to be a success then the Royal Navy would be operating from multiple bases at once all over the world. Old bases like Scapa Flow could be put back into commission and due to it being relatively close to the mainland there would not be as much suspicion if ship girls were to suddenly appear there while at the same time ships from liver pool could secure the Irish Sea.

The amount of supplies needed would be immense as would the amount of ship girls, admirals and naval crews, however while he was no expert from memory he could remember that before the Second World War the Royal Navy was the largest in the world. As for the likelihood of them being able to retake entire oceans single handily well it might be possible but it would require a good amount of warships in a single area where as the most probable strategy would be to have them spread out and located in different areas to try and link up the world's economy.

Still he doubted that even with the strength of the royal Navy that it could be done all on their own and would very much likely require the assistance of other nations to help shoulder the eight of responsibility. For simplicity and logistics the most likely thing would be that major naval powers would be in charge of controlling certain stretches of water, For Britain that would mean controlling the North Sea, English Channel, Irish Sea, and anything to the west going all the way to Canada, France would likely concentrate on the Mediterranean with a few ships in the Atlantic and English channel to assist. The Germans and Polish would likely be the power in the Baltic Sea and North Sea whereas as the Nordic countries would control the Greenland and Norwegian seas while assisting the Germans and British in the North Sea. Italy's roles would be to act alongside France as the defenders in the Mediterranean as well as likely the Red Sea, Japan would have a large amount of responsibility controlling everything south of it to New Zealand leaving the US to practically protect the Americas.

With time and success more ships could be sent away from safe seas to more dangerous ones bur at least initially the world would be able to trade with one another again even if somewhat limited. After all there was the Indian Ocean to worry about and surroundings seas as well as the South Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans. Without doubt it would be far harder or countries if they attempted to control waters far away from their landmass leaving for a general trust to be needed between nations to assist each other

However any possible arrangement would have to wait as first the current ship girls had to prove themselves capable of retaking the English Channel. If they failed to capture that strategic area than the whole plan with the ten ship girls who had been summoned forever relegated to human life on Britain as it is forever isolated from the world. And while he had no care for these sailors or these ship girls he did care for his country and its history so if there was something he could do to prevent it going to even worse shit than it already was then he would do his best.

Still he continued to eat his breakfast slowly as he ate his rather nice breakfast all the while what would be considered by most people who met her, an incredibly attractive older woman sat opposite him not that he was interested. Current new was more interesting than just some pretty girl and was far more important to him as the wrong set of politics could shaft him over. Soon enough though the sound of other ship girls was made apparent as they walked in and promptly loaded their plates with food before heading to separate tables to start eating rather nosily much to Warspite's annoyance.

A knock at the door was heard and Nat turned his attention to see none other than one of his SIS body guards looking at him calmly. Nat didn't bother to read his mind since as a wizard he would be able to stop him if not at least sense him where he could possibly be arrested. Instead he simply finished his breakfast and left the paper for Warspite who in case of later got bored could than read it giving her some method of entertaining herself.

"Come with me" Nat followed the agent quietly as he looked around the base to see sailors and soldiers patrolling or going about their daily business soon enough though he was brought into a large hall located at the side of the base. When they stepped inside Nat was able to recognise what the man had wanted to do from the first place.

Laid at the end of the hall were multiple static targets that were used for shooting while in front there were multiple booths for a person so shoot guns from. In short he had been brought to a shooting gallery. His booth as he walked towards it had only a single weapon laid out on the table with multiple clips all of which were full of bullets that was then followed by a box of bullets.

"In the defence of national security the decision has been made that you will be given the exclusive right to carry a weapon on your personal self defence. This is not a toy and should you ever abuse this power than you could be facing life in jail. As mentioned before, the only reason you are going to be educated in firearms,, martial arts and other types of defence is so that in the case of a scenario where you cannot use magic that you will not be defenceless."

Nat could very much understand the logic behind that, as a possible strategic asset he couldn't afford to be left undefended and there was no telling that in an engagement that he would have backup or be able to escape. Still though to trust him not only with firearms when he was technically classed as a civilian as well as the ability to carry one on him at all time was a massive amount of trust. Brits could own firearms but there were extensive tests that a person had to go under which made it difficult so for him to be given that ability without those long arduous processes mean that the government was not taking chances.

"I understand and will not abuse this power" Nat spoke calmly and simply looked into the eyes of the SIS agent showing that he was deadly serious. The man got his message as he nodded his head before pointing to the gun on the table gesturing for him to pick up the weapon.

"This is a Glock 17 and from now on will belong to you for personal defence" Picking up the weapon he noticed that it was unloaded and more than likely the secret agent wanted to get him to have a feel for the gun before he did any kind of shooting. "It has a seventeen bullet magazine; at full auto it can shoot 1100-1200 rounds a minute. It possesses an effective firing range of fifty metres although if you are personally getting involved in combat than you will be shooting at a fire closer distance. Now that you've had a feel for the gun pick up the empty clip and try to load the gun"

Loading the gun for a person who had never once touched a modern firearm was a different experience for the wizard however after being shown what to do; he then repeated the process a few times until he had gotten the pattern down. His experience with muskets was incredibly difficult to that of a modern gun one of which was the speed it could be loaded and fired. Growing up in the UK his country just didn't have a gun culture, people could buy them but there was an extensive list of things had to do, such a background checks, police interviews, stating a valid reason for owning a firearm of which personal defence was not a valid reason with one of the most often used being to hunt or for clay pigeon shooting. During the police interview when the officers came round and checked over ones house to make sure that it was safe as well as ensuring that any firearm would be kept in a hard to find and reach location that was typically bolted down and heavily secured with locks. Once that had been done a certificate was given for a very specific type of gun which again was typically a shot gun from there one could buy a firearm but all the certificates had to be checked with the police when purchasing the gun straight after of which the gun had to be registered with the police and kept in that well secured gun cabinet and was only ever taken out for use or cleaning. Than to go anywhere to use the gun certificates had to be kept with a person at all times in case they were stopped by the police; finally every five years a person had to renew their gun license which meant that depending on the police force an entire new set of background checks and other methods could be used. Lastly for extra security the Police had the right to random spot checks where they could turn up at ones home at any time they wanted and check that the weapon was indeed being stored properly and not being abused.

Under muggle law he would have violated these laws as he had never once gone through any of these checks but since he was a wizard he instead was under magical law which didn't really have many laws regarding firearms as they weren't really a normal thing. Something that due to their incredible rarity and never really seen or mentioned had been entirely left alone by Mrs Weasley and why those who did own guns were being incredibly secretive with how they used them. Better to keep silent about that little thing than accidentally alert the woman and send her off on yet another crusade. Honestly though with the way she went about her politics she was soon going to divide the country in two, as such when the inevitable civil war broke out she had better win because his side would not be kind to hers.

Back onto the current weapon he was holding he listened to the typical instructions on firing a weapon before he temporarily placed the gun down and picked up the noise cancelling headphones. After that had been finished he picked up the gun again and followed the instructions of standing shoulder width apart loading the gun and taking of the safety while looking down range to a relatively close target.

With him told to fire in his own time he took the time to slowly squeeze the trigger, soon enough as he aimed down the sights he had squeezed enough to fire the gun sending with a noticeable bang a bullet spinning down range. Which promptly missed the target board entirely. He didn't frown instead just keeping his calm expression he had fired a bakers rifle from far greater distance and hit his target but this was an entirely different generation of firearms and for his first shot he wouldn't particularly say he was aiming for the target. Shooting was not a big thing where he had grown up, firing the Bakers rifle was simply family tradition and he hadn't ever got any joy out of it perhaps because of the thought that while he could easily and willingly inflict extreme pain onto a person killing another human being was a far harder for him to do. Other creatures however wouldn't yet still he could feel that hesitation in him that constant fear warning him to mind his actions and be very careful.

He had once met a muggle raised American Wizard, even in the modern age before the Abyssal's they generally weren't common as MACUSA still kept strict segregation laws. The kid hadn't been a duellist but rather an annoying little shit whom he called his biggest fan not that he cared he duelled only for himself not for other people. The kid had constantly talked about how guns were easier to use than wands and if he could give some directions as while he was apparently a good shot with a firearm he was rather terrible with combat magic and duelling in general. He had flatly refused.

Even as he fired again this time pushing back those warning away and hitting the target he would never say that he found shooting fun in the slightest. Actually if anything as he fired a few more rounds he would say that while deadly and a useful weapon he couldn't help but find not only this specific gun but firearms in general rather uncivilized. If swords were still a viable weapon in modern warfare than he would more than likely ignore guns however he wasn't stupid and he would train with the gun to make sure that he was proficient if only because he might need the skill one day.

Still for the next few hours under the watchful eye of some SIS member he would practise with the firearm spending large amounts of ammunition until he had to use magic to give him an infinite amount on the side. He only stopped when a soldier walked in asking that it was time to observe the ship girls although he did notice that said soldier looked over his shooting ability. When this was done Nat took his new clips of ammunition which were now stored inside his jacket pocket all the while he placed the gun in a shoulder holster before covering it up with his jacket. Allowed to carry a firearm he may be but he didn't exactly want to show that type of thing off and as far as he was concerned it was only a work thing.

As Nat approached the admiral he noticed that the ship girls were walking towards the ocean all of them looking slightly happy something he guessed was due to the fact that they now had ammunition that they could use rather than pretend noises. Of course it wasn't for the fact that the ship girl project at this current moment in time was a massive national secret than it likely would have gone on the internet with multiple people having seen it. Walking forward he noticed that Warspite smiled at him gently before focusing her attention on George, in all honesty while he didn't like anyone here he would say that Warspite was quickly becoming his favourite of all the people he didn't care for.

"All right girls we're going to have a few testing salvos to make sure that all of you are up to scratch, we have already set up some targets so if you could take your place in the water". As the girls got on the surface of the water Nat couldn't help but wonder about the risks that could happen. The first encounter with the abyssal had been days ago and the base was on a rather high alert waiting for some type of counter attack however none had came though this just kept everyone on edge. By placing the girls on the water it could invite the enemy to come in and attack them while they were training or it could be some type of trap either way he wished that the ship girls actually had some chance to train properly before they were sent on potential suicide missions. However politics was politics and time was running out so all of them had to do their jobs no matter what pressure they were under.

Like it had been with Bell when she had first been able to fire her guns there was a bit of excitement in the girls but they still managed to keep their discipline and took turns shooting with the last being Warspite. In all honesty the first time Nat ever heard the guns of a battleship firing was truly impressive as well as informing of their current situation. Unlike the small guns on the destroyers and the medium guns on the cruisers Warspite guns were a masterful piece of engineering and while he had no interest in firearms the knowledge of that decades ago, these specific guns had been used to defend his island home was a nice one.

With a roar of crashing thunder the eight fifteen inch guns focused on their target before firing unleashing her heavy shells that the warship carried for ammunition. It didn't take long at all for these shells to absolutely rip through the thin metal armour which had been placed in front of it and explode with amazing force. In fact, due to the limited supply of ammunition the sight of the large explosion and crash from what was now singlehandedly the biggest set of guns in the U.K's arsenal was a rather spectacular one. Soon enough the humans started applauding with the occasional comment about her firepower in return Warspite simply turned around and curtseyed before then returning back to her mission.

"I take it that our guest has given you a few lessons on shooting a gun" George spoke plainly as he and the wizard observed the ship girls going through the basic shooting drills. Nat made no motion of interacting with his weapon instead he kept his gaze on the warships mentally making a list of what could be improved with magic and roughly how long it would take as well as the importance of those adjustments alongside how it would have to be done.

"Yes, don't worry I have no intention of ever using it" George nodded in general like Nat and many other Brits he didn't think that civilians owning firearms was a particularly good idea. Despite what the old arguments being said that people were the ones at fault which was true it was also incredibly true that having a gin made it far easier to kill a person than a knife or a sword. He remembered growing up with the general impression that since the police didn't carry guns that the country was rather safe and countries that did have all its police officers carry guns were the opposite. It was a sort of reverse psychology thing, in theory more defence was to put a person's mind at rest however it did the opposite as it forced people to think just what were they dealing with if all the police had to be so well armed.

Despite this he did agree that Nat should be carrying a firearm purely in a practical sense, if this ship girl plan did succeed than singlehandedly he would become the most important person on the planet. Fuck the president of the United States, despite having the power to destroy the world with nuclear weapons which would mean that nobody was victorious and the power of its armies and air force Nat still had them beat. The fourteen year old boy next to him was the sole person who had the ability to give the strength needed to countries to retake the world as it needed to be.

It was very much possible that if Nat didn't want to give any country access to ship girls than it meant that country would be entirely defenceless and have to rely on certain nations for defence. Even then however if all the ship girls turned against their summoner than there was still nothing that could be done and it would doom them since as of this moment not only was the boy the only person who could summon the ship but he was also the only person who could maintain them. For this reason not only did it give him a serious amount of power over all countries and their governments if ships girls did indeed work but it also made him a target?

Any group of person who wanted to cripple Britain or pretty much any western country or hell even the world's economy would only have to kill him and send the world crashing down. Perhaps in time when the abyssal threat was defeated that would change but for now of ship girls did indeed work than it was likely every single nation especially the ones which relied on ships for its economy to either protect or take control of Nat. A certain few countries would likely try that so much so that it was likely that wherever the kid went he would have to have an armed escort as well as try to avoid places where he could easily be captured or killed.

For now though the kid was safe however if this ship girl plan worked and everybody who was in the know was seriously hoping that it was then Nat was not a person who could be left alone. Governments, sailors, soldiers, pilots, generals, admirals, diplomats, ship girls, anyone else could be replaced if they were killed or something else happened to them but not Nat. He only wondered though if the government would want to try and keep it that way giving their country unparalleled power that it had seen since before the First World War but risk having everything destroyed in one go. Or would they be willing to lose their power and influence to others by trying to force the kid to give up the information they would require to get rid of him.

"Does it make you feel any safer" George was just curious at this he had met a few people who after firing a gun for the first time made them feel powerful. For Nat though he was a world class duelling champion who could warp the very fabric of reality which was more commonly known as magic where a wand in the right hands was far more dangerous than any gun.

"The opposite if anything I'm more of a target" Nat could honestly say that he would only use the gun as the very last resort, if there was a fight his first goal would be to run and escape not to enter. A talented duellist he may be but unlike spells where one could easily see the attack due to it being coloured light one generally couldn't see a bullet. Not to mention if he got in a fire fight with another person with a weapon he would likely go from an unarmed civilian to a combatant, the latter of which were typically left either alone in a gun battle or were the last targets to be aimed at as they possessed less threat.

"Well you do have your body guards" It was a small joke as he glanced towards the two men who to try and disguise themselves just in case were dressed as soldiers carrying assault rifles rather than standing out in suits and ties. Nat in response turned around and gave a look at them analysing them for a few seconds.

He had no doubts that should a fight emerge that the men were dangerous and would do their job well having been trained in both magical and muggle combat. Even so however people got distracted when bullets were whizzing around, where bullets were whizzing around was a dangerous location for him even when wearing proper equipment to try and minimize the impact going on.

"I think the best thing to do is stay out of trouble all together" George couldn't deny that the one thing better than having elite guards have you is not to get in a fight at all, kept you a lot safer that way.

"Good advice expect for I've received orders after today Bell and the others are to start officially clearing the channel". Nat said nothing he had already made his views on the girls not having enough training known; he also understood why the government was getting incredibly jumpy. More rallies were being seen and more riots were starting to occur and it wasn't the typical violent rallies it was the dangerous most people trying to actively revolt rallies. Soon enough the government would have no option left but to give police and soldiers the orders to use live ammunition against these people something which would spark a massive event.

"They need to make good use of it then, if tomorrow is the day we go serious, than we have a lot of work on our hands. I'll try to upgrade the girls tonight if I have to pull an all nighter I'll do so but the fact of the matter is we're running out of time" George simply nodded as he kept his attention to the ship girls on the water they only had a limited amount of time before they had to see active service again.