Arthur, Queen Elizabeth, and Warspite rush out of the Royal Navy HQ.
Pure darkness engulfs the sky. Unlike evenings where a shard of moonlight can mildly shine on the world, this sky gives the viewers freezing creeps.
Suddenly, they hear the faint sounds of an explosion from far away in the ocean.
"Only battleships' barrages can produce those sounds."
An eclipse usually symbols the end of something, consider this meaning to Iris Libre's situation…
"Perhaps Iris Libre has decided to fight to their death. We do not have much time left. Your majesty, please recall the dispatched fleets and summon the remaining air carriers we have immediately."
Queen Elizabeth orders a messenger Manjuu to deliver an emergency encrypted message to Hood.
Now, they need to discuss their operation with the air carriers.
"Our remaining air carriers? That leaves… oh," Queen Elizabeth suddenly pauses her sentence.
"Is everything ok, Your majesty," asked Arthur.
"It's…it's nothing. Do you really need our available air carriers for the next operation?"
"Yes, without them, I will need to greatly alter my plan which will be much less effective," said Arthur.
"Sigh… fine," said Queen Elizabeth. She seems hesitant to call the air carriers of the Royal Navy. Do they have personality or behavior issues?
An hour later, the Kansens of the IIllustrious-class, Illustrious, Victorious, and Formidable present themselves in front of Arthur and Queen Elizabeth.
Warspite, for some reason, decides to keep her eyes shut for the entire meeting.
"Ahem…behold, our most reliable air carriers: the sisters of IIllustrious-class: Illustrious, Victorious, and Formidable. They are all beautiful ladies with the latest models of aircraft."
Arthur feels the pressure on his eyes and stimulation to an inappropriate place of his body.
Mountains, mountains, and mountains.
All three Kansens own their respective pairs of massive mountains.
He thought Illustrious alone should have enough shares of mountains in the Royal Navy for men's sanity. However, it seems he underestimated the power of sister ships.
Wait, mountains? Arthur believes he found something more than he asked for.
Arthur suddenly gives a round of applause. No one knows why he is clapping.
"Amazing, simply amazing."
To everyone's surprise, he walks to the front of Illustrious and bows like a gentleman.
"Dear magnificent lady, would you please have a dance with me?"
Queen Elizabeth opens her mouth wide open. What she feared has become a reality after all.
"Eh? Oh, where are my manners? Thank you for your kind offer, perhaps we should do it another day." Illustrious politely smiles.
"Of course, I look forward to demonstrating my pleasure of meeting you."
Arthur and Illustrious look at each other with heartwarming smiles.
Queen Elizabeth looks at Arthur while breathing in the air to fill her mouth. Her cheeks become like an air-pumped ballon.
"Your majesty, it is an act of formality, FOR-MAL-I-TY," whispered Warspite to Queen Elizabeth.
"Greetings, beautiful ladies. Please forgive my rather impolite actions from earlier. You have no idea how happy I am right now seeing you," said Arthur.
"It is our pleasure to meet you too, commander. We have heard many great discussions about you. May I ask the reason for your happiness? I sense it is more than just meeting us," said Illustrious.
"Our next operation will heavily depend on your abilities as air carriers. However, you surprised me with your stunning appearance. They will add an unexpected impact to the operation."
"Hmm… So you are only interested in our appearance?" Illustrious asks with a gentle voice but she seems to ask something different.
"Please, spare me from your teasing," said Arthur with a slightly troubled smile.
"Fufu… I wish to know the truth though. So are my sisters," said Illustrious.
"Ahem," Queen Elizabeth cannot hold her temper any longer. "We should focus on our matters at hand."
"Right," said Arthur.
Illustrious asks, "Commander, which of us do you desire to sortie?"
"All of you," replied Arthur without a moment of hesitation.
"All of them?!" Queen Elizabeth cannot hide her surprised expression. Warspite whispers to her "For the operation, your jealo– I mean your majesty."
"Yes, before we dispatch for the next operation, make sure you bring enough sunscreen, oils, or whatever that you need to maintain your skin. You will be staying outdoors for a long while."
Arthur circles the target location on the world map with a blue marker.
"Now then, Our operation location is here."
Once again, he surprises everyone in this room.
"Commander, even though we have the initiative, this attack seems too reckless," said Queen Elizabeth."
Arthur agrees, "Yes, we likely won't take down this area, but that is not important."
He circles another circle with the blue marker on the location of Ironblood's HQ, Berlin.
"Regardless of our success rate, take a few moments to imagine if we, by a miracle, managed to success our siege," suggested Arthur.
The two blue circles have only a short distance. If they managed to take the area of the first circle, then Berlin is only several hours away.
No country would want its capitals to face imminent attacks.
Queen Elizabeth discovers the operation "So this entire assault…"
Arthur puts his right index finger on his mouth to symbolize silence.
"That will be my surprise to all of you," said Arthur.
"Now then," said Arthur " He draws a line from the port of Felixstowe to Iris Libre. "I need someone to fulfill one final piece of our operation. Someone who moves fast enough and can have some abilities to engage in emergencies. Since we do not have a submarine, we cannot rely on stealth to follow this path. The Kansen who takes this role will likely face some attacks from our enemies."
As everyone thinks about a candidate, suddenly someone opens the door.
"I shall take that role," said the Kansen who interrupted the meeting.
Arthur recognizes her.
"Neptune? How have you been?"
"You two know each other?" asked Queen Elizabeth.
"She served as my partner during the nomination exam," said Arthur.
"Wait, they let HER participate in the exam?" Queen Elizabeth smacks her hand to her head.
Arthur does not understand Queen Elizabeth's reaction, "was she not an appropriate partner?"
Neptune has an atmosphere of nobility so perhaps she is someone important.
"Well, she is… umm…" mumbled Queen Elizabeth.
"My identity should not matter right now. Don't worry, with my abilities, I shall bring your operation to success," said Neptune.
"I see. We will have to discuss it with you later. Neptune, we are doing a real operation where failures mean consequences that everyone must withstand. Therefore, I need to know why you suggest yourself as a candidate for this role. I will not take vague answers."
"Of course, let me show you something," said Neptune.
She summons a trident.
"Do you know why I am called Neptune, the name of a god of the ocean?"
Very interesting question. Since Kansens are warships, all of them have excellent capabilities for skating through the ocean. Therefore, boasting of one's sea capabilities seems rather meaningless.
"I have the blessing of the god of the ocean," said Neptune.
The entire group remained silent.
"I have the blessing of the god of the ocean," repeated Neptune.
The entire group remained silent. Arthur puts his hand on his forehead.
"I have the–"
Arthur interrupts, "Okay, okay, we get it, you are a lucky Kansen who received a god's blessing. Would you elaborate your phrase?"
"There is no place on the ocean that I cannot go. I can tell the flow of ocean currents so I can always move at the maximum speed in any direction," said Neptune with a proud voice.
Always moving at maximum speed, now that is finally something useful.
"Do you swear to your name and the god of the ocean that you speak truly of your capabilities?"
"Yes, I swear. If I fail in showing my abilities, feel free to call me something you want," said Neptune.
"I will decide what punishment you will receive when that happens. Anyone has an objection to leaving this role to Neptune?" Arthur asks the rest of the members.
No one raises their voice.
"Alright, that concludes this meeting for our operation. We launch our attacks at 0900 hours tomorrow," said Arthur.
Arthur dismisses the Kansens except for Queen Elizabeth and Warspite.
"Finally, that was long," said Arthur. "Your majesty, we will need to do… your majesty?"
Queen Elizabeth stares at Arthur without moving a step.
She asks with a furious voice, "Are big women that attractive?"
"I beg your pardon?" Arthur suddenly feels a sweating gaze from Queen Elizabeth.
Perhaps it is his imagination, but he feels like he sees an aura of a crimson flame mixed with haunting darkness around Queen Elizabeth.
Queen Elizabeth repeats herself, "I am saying, are BIG, MASSIVE, and VOLUPTUOUS women really that attractive to you?"
It seems Queen Elizabeth holds a grudge against Arthur's behavior toward Illustrious in the meeting.
"Your majesty, I meant my words truly. As I said, their appearances add a layer to our operation. They will surely create a huge impact on our enemies. If everything goes well, our enemies may even fear the sisters of Illustrious-class."
"Hmph, appearance this, appearance that. Who are you, a guy who chases after women's chests and butts? Here, have some."
Queen Elizabeth tries to pull her top off to show off her "horizontal" line. Looks like her emotions may be getting out of Arthur's hands.
Warspite sighs and steps in.
"Your majesty, here is your tea and your favorite chocolate."
Without waiting for Queen Elizabeth's reaction, Warspite quickly puts a piece of chocolate into Queen Elizabeth's mouth.
Queen Elizabeth chews the chocolate for a few seconds and then the anguish aura around her quickly mellows down.
"Thank you, Warspite," said Arthur. Queen Elizabeth truly seemed like she could explode at any time.
"You should understand more about her majesty's complexes," said Warspite.
"Hmm… I see. Your majesty, my apologies for the actions earlier. I did not expect the Royal Navy to have such outstanding personnel."
These words alone would probably make Queen Elizabeth furious again. Therefore, Arthur moves in front of Queen Elizabeth and touches her shoulders with both hands.
"Your majesty, please understand, you have a unique charm that no Kansen has. You are a member of the royal family and you portray the atmosphere suitable for a queen. Being a queen requires elegance, courage, and compassion. You have all of them. Sure, many Kansens of the Royal Navy have dominating charm, but they only affect specific groups of people. On the other hand, all Kansens of the Royal Navy admires your charm."
Hearing Arthur's speech, Queen Elizabeth tries to mentally suppress her outraging emotion.
"Do… Do you mean it?"
"Of course, should I swear on the seat of the commander?"
Finally, after taking several deep breaths, Queen Elizabeth calms her mind.
"Welcome back, your majesty," said Warspite.
Warspite takes a tray of teacups and chocolates away to refill.
As she walks past Arthur, "thank you, you sure are good at consoling females."
"Just doing my job," said Arthur.