I was standing in front of Shiranui's shop, the proprietor standing behind the counter staring at me with blank eyes. "I'd like a drill please; I figured the Dragon empery dorms were in need of repair." Shiranui handed me a drill, but I was carful not to touch it, in case when I tried to give it back to her she would refuse because it was second hand.

"Again?" she queried. That was all I needed to hear. I spent the next few minutes repeatedly telling Shiranui that I hadn't actually exchanged cash for the drill, so therefore I didn't buy it. Eventually she became frustrated and gave up trying to sell me a drill, or anything else for that matter. I had just started to walk away from the shop when the phone in Shiranui's shop rung. "Hello…of course…Indianapolis, you are needed." I sighed and walked back towards the shop and took the phone from her hands, she didn't let go though. "300 coins a minute." Of course she would.

"From when?"

"10 seconds ago." I gave a grunt as she let go of the phone and I could hear the person on the other side.

"Langley…uh huh…WHAT?...Okay thanks for telling me, could you do something for me though?"

I walked into the infirmary, hornet was there, looking quite the worst for wear, she gave a yawn before spotting me and gave me a nod, I walked over to her, in the bed in front of us was Myoukou, her head covered in bandages. "Feeling alright kiddo?"

"What happened?" I asked even though the answer was obvious.

"She has sustained blunt force to the back of the head, with some sort of specialized projectile." Vestal answered. Not really what we were asking, but it was nice to know.

"I'm sorry senpai, I did as you asked, but when I was going through the Sakura Empire bins, someone came up to me from behind and threatened me."

"And you resisted?" Hornet finished.

"Y-yes, I didn't think that they would do such a thing to an officer of the law. I didn't even see who they were, the next thing I remember after hitting the ground was waking up here."

"Damn, I don't suppose you have the projectile with you Vestal?"

"Of course not, that thing was biohazardous waste, it had Myoukou's blood all over it, who knows what sort of diseases would occur if someone with an open wound came into contact with it?"

"Damn, still no proof."

"No need to worry." I said, handing her the folder that was in my hands and onto her stomach.

"Where did you get this?" Hornet asked.

"Langley gave it to me outside the infirmary."

"I see, I don't suppose I need to read it?"

"No."

"I though not, well then, I guess there's only on th-huh?" Hornet was dragged down by the arm by Vestal who was studying her with a meticulous eye.

"Have you been getting enough sleep Hornet?" she quizzed.

"Huh? O-of cour-" Vestal gave her 'I don't trust you' eyebrows that she frequently used when Enterprise said that she was going out for some 'fresh air', or that she had eaten a 'hearty breakfast' "Well…I mean, I have had a lot of work to do, so…I might have stayed up a little later than usual. Vestal gave a malicious glare. "H-h-hey d-don't worry about it, o-once this case is over, I-I swear that I'll have some R&R." Vestal gave her the eyebrows again. "H-hey, I swear, I-I'm not like sis you know, I, I know when not to push you." Vestal gave a humph before letting go of her arm. Hornet let out a breath she didn't know she was holding and fiddled with her hat, before turning her attention back to me. "Well, I guess we know who committed the crime, but what reason would they have for stealing the Dragon empery's food?"

"Cough…cough…urgh…"

"Commander! If you so much as stick your toe out of the sheets, I swear I'll strap you down to the bed!" We left Vestal to attend to her patient.

"I suppose it doesn't matter." I said, "If we confront them with the evidence, we might be able to get a confession out of them." Hornet put her hands behind the back of her head.

"HM Queenie isn't going to like this…"

"It doesn't matter if she likes it or not, once we present the proof, she'll have no choice but to order their arrests, re-open the investigation and interrogate the culprits."

"I suppose so…"

"Well, what are we waiting for, let's go!"

"Sorry Myoukou, but you have to rest and recover for now." I said.

"But I don't feel too bad, this is nothing compared to the wound in my pride." Hornet shook her head.

"Sorry kiddo, but if Vestal found out, she'd probably tie us to a hospital bed, lock us in a storage cupboard, gag us then continuously give us an enema." The both of us shivered.

"S-she…isn't that against the hippocratic oath?"

"W-well when I questioned her about it when she punished sis after catching her going out at midnight for some training, she explained that she was a repair ship, not a doctor, so she didn't need to take one."

"It checks out, legally, there's nothing we could do to stop her…" I added. Myoukou looked as white as a sheet.

"Still, here's to a speedy recovery kiddo!"

We were standing in the Royal Navy kitchens, on the one side was the angry midget and her lord high executioner, on the other were the most important of the Royal maids: Belfast, Sheffield, Newcastle and Sirus. "Alright everyone, thank you for gathering here today." Hornet started.

"There'd better be a damn good reason for this you part-timers." The queen angrily growled.

"There will be your majesty." Hornet replied, "Now I'll let Indianapolis explain everything." I stepped forward.

"For the last couple of weeks there has been a series of food thefts from the Dragon Empery's dorms."

"We know all this, I'm not going to be lectured by someone who sticks their tongue into helpless girls mouths!" I paused for a moment.

"Where did you get that idea from? Anyway, your explanation, your majesty was that a mouse had burrowed in and eaten the food, unfortunately for you, you never had the Knights examine this hole properly, if they had looked closely they would have found that the hole was not only too big to have been created by a mouse, but it was also too smooth for it to have been eaten away by a mouse's jaws, I felt the rim of that hole all over and it was smooth all the way around, no splinters, how unlikely would it be for a mouse to have created a hole that smooth? No, this hole was drilled." Belfast raised a hand.

"If I may miss Indianapolis? What does that have to do with us?"

"Well, we have reason to believe that this thief has stolen food from your stores also." The queen scoffed.

"That's impossible, if anything was missing Belfast would have noticed."

"Maybe." Hornet said, "But just in case we asked for an audit of your stores." At that moment Akashi walked out of the storeroom. As soon as the Queen saw Akashi, she immediately leapt for her, luckily for Akashi, Warspite was able to hold her majesty back.

"AAAKKAASSHHIIIII! I'LL RIP YOUR EARS OFF!"

"As you well know, as someone who runs a business, Akashi is very careful with figures, a zero in the wrong place could end up bankrupting her." Hornet explained.

"Myah hah! Akashi has counted all the stock, there is a discrepancy in the amount of flour there is, by 0.001 grams." THUD!

"OH NO! Belfast has fainted!"

"Oh my~"

"Humph!" Sirus and Newcastle helped Belfast to her feet.

"H-how could I have missed that?~"

"JUST A MINUTE! You probably bribed that greedy cat to say what you wanted!" Hornet sighed and rolled her eyes.

"We thought you might say that, so we asked for a second opinion." Then out of the storeroom emerged a Sakura Empire girl with brown hair and cow horns.

"Um…" the girl fidgeted nervously "There's 0.001 grams missing."

"AH QUICK! Belfast is about to faint again!" Sheffield and Sirus managing to keep hold of her arms to stop her falling to the floor.

"As you well know, Kashino, as an ammunition ship, has to be very precise with figures, that is part of her job. The queen scowled.

"Well, she isn't the brightest ship in the room, probably because the nutrients aren't going to her brain, THEY'RE GOING TO HER-"

"Ahem!" Warspite tried desperately to get things moving, but unfortunately the damage was done, Kashino cried out and rolled into a ball while covering her breasts.

"Akashi…take her home…" Akashi complied; all the while being followed by the queen's glare until she left the room.

"Just what is the meaning of this?" she gritted, "Are you implying that Belfast knew about this?"

"Actually, no we aren't" I said, "Belfast may be the perfect maid, but even she had to be taught." The two of us turned our attention to the black-haired maid.

"Do you have any proof to back that up?" she asked.

"Yeah, not only are you the only one to be able to avoid Belfast's keen eye as your apprentice, we also checked Shiranui's log book, you were the one who bought the drill under the pretence of refurnishing the Dragon Empery dorms, but you also took to cleaning the Dragon Empery dorms after their evening meal, giving you the most time to steal food without drawing attention to yourself, as shown by the cleaning shifts you worked." I held up the folder that Langley had given me earlier. There was silence for a few seconds, before Newcastle gave a smirk.

"You three are rather clever, aren't you?"

"WHAT? NEWCASTLE?" the queen yelled; Sheffield raised her hand.

"That can't be possible, Newcastle wasn't working at the Dragon Empery dorms every night." Hornet slowly facepalmed, before slowly smiling.

"Indianapolis, if you may…"

"Of course!" I turned towards Sheffield. "We had forgotten to mention about her accomplice, hey, Sheffield?" The room was silent for a good few seconds before Sheffield drew her pistols and the two of us summoned our riggings. All hell practically broke loose: Sheffield was pointing her pistols at us, we in turn were aiming our riggings at Sheffield, the more dangerous of the two, Warspite held her sword under Sheffield's throat, and Sirus held her sword under Newcastle's throat, the said maid merely holding her head in her hand, all the while smiling and going 'ara ara'.

"Okay everyone let's just all calm down and no-one will get shot." My boss said.

"How did you figure Sheffield out?" Warspite asked.

"Simple." I explained "Sheffield also worked the same shifts that Newcastle couldn't cover, she was also the one who discarded the evidence in the Sakura Empire's bins, hoping that the similarity in the two country's cuisine would not arouse suspicion, her pistols that she is now holding up to us are the same ones that she used to threaten me and shoot Myoukou in the back of the head, we know because the bullet we found matches that style of gun, not only that but that cartridge was also filled with an unusual substance, soap and water, in other words the very same substance that Sheffield's cleaning bullets contain." Of course, we didn't have any solid proof for that last one, but the theory was so spot on that there wasn't a need to show proof with everything else that we found out. "Finally, you tried to throw us off by making us believe that these thefts were conducted by some sort of intelligent criminal mastermind by mentioning that these thefts had evaded Belfast's notice, the perfect head maid, instead you pointed us to the only person who could have evaded Belfast's keen eyes." Sheffield clicked her tongue.

"I guess even insects can think every now and then."

"Sheffield, Newcastle, I demand an explanation!" Queen Elizabeth looked absolutely fuming. Unfortunately…

"I'm sorry your majesty, but I'm afraid I cannot." Newcastle nodded in agreement.

"THAT IS AN ORDER! THE ONLY ONE WHO OUTRANKS ME IS-"

"EVERYONE STAND DOWN!" We all looked towards the door where our new arrival stood, and each of us, in slightly different levels of shock and surprise cried.

"Commander?"

I stood on the pier looking out towards the sea, wearing the new brown dress that Portland had bought me. It had taken me a while to get her off my arm, but somehow I managed to escape. I sighed loudly. "Indianapolis senpai!"

"Don't call me that" I mumbled, Myoukou ran up to me, her head still covered in bandages.

"Why are you out here senpai?"

"Yeah, come on rookie!" Hornet somehow managing to sneak up behind me from the other side "You're missing all of the fun!" I turned my head back, behind us multiple ship girls were celebrating and partying like no tomorrow, well most of them, I could distinctly see the queen sitting on a low wall, her legs crossed, arms folded and pouting furiously while staring off into space, the only movement she made was to open her mouth and eat some food when Warspite held some food under her nose.

"It-it kinda feels anticlimactic." I said.

"Yeah, I know how you feel rookie, I certainly wasn't expecting the commander to arrange a celebration for the Dragon Empery New Year. I mean I get that secrecy was the key, but why did only Newcastle and Sheffield know?"

"Because Shikikan only told Newcastle and Sheffield to arrange the food."

"That was rhetorical kiddo, he could have at least told someone else about it though."

"Hornet Senpai, is it alright for you to be out here? Isn't there still a load of paperwork to finish." The boss gave a large grin.

"Vestal ordered me to stop with the paperwork, and she made sure that my replacement did her fair share."

Inside the commander's office was a huge pile of paperwork that almost touched the ceiling, behind which was Wasp who was sniffling "uuuwwwuuuuhhh~"

"Don't worry sis will be back tomorrow, so she won't have to work all day and night like I did!"

"I don't get why they stole food from the Dragon Empery dorms though?" I said

"Well neither of them had made any Dragon Empery cuisine before, and according to Newcastle she didn't want to order a large batch of ready-made food, that's taboo for a maid, she also didn't want to order ingredients, in case it tipped off the Dragon Empery that some other faction was getting what they thought was their supplies." I gave another loud sigh. "Hey, rookie, I know that it wasn't exactly the answer you were looking for, but you still managed to figure out the truth before the Royal Knights did." She was right, we had actually solved the case, one that the Royal Knights didn't even think existed, I might have actually smiled.

"Come on Indianapolis senpai! They're about to do the lion dance! Let's go!" And so it was that I was dragged hand first into the bustling port crowd by my junior, with 3 nights of enjoyment ahead of me.

The commander received a stern telling off by the queen for ordering her maids about without her permission, stopping only when Vestal intervened worrying that he might faint from exhaustion, although that was nothing compared to the very stern lecture that Queen Elizabeth and Belfast later gave to Newcastle and Sheffield, however considering the circumstances neither were punished. Enterprise (and the first fleet) returned to port the following day to find no paperwork and that Wasp had writer's cramp, and the 3-day celebrations were very enjoyable, if it hadn't had been cut short by a day due to the 'Firecracker Incident'.