Barham could see the flash of cannon fire and impacts of shells as the remainder of her fleet approached the coordinates Baden had set to meet at. She called for a halt, reaching for her communicator but stopped by the sight of a pale blonde approaching. It only took a moment before she recognized the deep red riggings of the light cruiser.
"Wiesbaden. A pleasant surprise to see you participating."
Wiesbaden removed her hat to bow to the battleship briefly before straightening and placing it back on her head, pale blue eyes assessing the fleet behind Barham. "Guten Tag, Lady Barham. Allow me a moment to inform Lady Baden of your arrival and fleet composition, please."
Barham nodded, looking past Wiesbaden and at the facility the Iron Blood fleet was bombarding. "The light cruisers with me are Dragon and Naiad and the destroyer is Hunter."
"Understood." Wiesbaden pressed a button on her communicator, waiting until Baden asked her for her findings before she spoke. "Lady Barham has arrived. Two light cruisers and a single destroyer are accompanying her."
"Excellent timing," came Baden's voice over the communicator. "We're headed that way. It's about time for another report, anyway."
"She's been a complete slavedriver this whole operation," another woman complained in the background of Baden's comms. "Why can't she just let us do our job and keep her nose out of it? You don't see me sticking my nose into everything and I'm of higher authority than her."
"Kaiserin, that is exactly what you're doing right now," Baden said with an audible sigh. "And those comments better be directed at Augusta and not myself."
"No, I meant Prinz Heinrich- Of course I meant Augusta!"
Barham smiled slightly at the banter. "I see that some things fail to change. I will see you shortly, Baden."
While Wiesbaden ended the call with Baden, Barham reached for her own communicator just in time to hear Augusta's check-in. A few isolated pockets of resistance reported, but still too little compared to what there should be. It was at least a relief when she heard Rossiya's report of moderate resistance in the Arctic. Still far less than there should have been, but not negligible either.
"Oh, great, she's zoned out again."
The comment interrupted Barham's thoughts and earned Naiad a warning look. "Pardon me for having to concern myself with the wellbeing of our fleet and taking a moment to consider all factors."
"Lady Barham, if I may interrupt, I believe it was only because Augusta was asking for your report," Wiesbaden stated, motioning towards the communicator in Barham's grasp.
Just as Augusta changed to asking Baden to make contact, Barham cut in. "Augusta. This is Barham. I was distracted for a moment, my apologies. Dragon, Hunter, Naiad, and I have made contact with Baden's fleet. It looked as if they were just completing a raid on another facility. Weather conditions are still poor but manageable. Has there been any news on Mackensen's fleet?"
A long sigh that didn't even try to hide the frustration behind it. "No. We're still unable to make contact with them and the Panama fortress is currently in the process of a change in watch so we don't have a rescue fleet that can be sent. The new fleet won't be there until tomorrow and then it would still take time to pinpoint where they disappeared. Until then, we have to just hope they can hold out that long or find their way out. …You really haven't seen anything?"
Barham shook her head, even knowing Augusta would be unable to see her. "My sight is limited in what it shows me, the worst case scenario. I don't know if I would see something in a Mirror Sea even if they do find themselves in such a position. Regardless of if it means they are safe or I lack the ability to see events within Mirror Seas, I have yet to see anything. I would like to believe it's a good sign."
"Very well, then. Keep me posted if you do see anything, Barham."
"As you say."
A few steps from the bottom of the stone stairs, the space opened up, Biloxi whistling lowly as she turned a circle to admire the cavern. "There's a whole canal system down here. Do you think the others lead to cities like the one we saw?"
Mackensen shook her head, following the edge of one of the canals in the direction of the underwater city. "Probably production facilities. We can circle back to them if we need to," she said.
"Mackensen is right," Apocrypha agreed. "Our focus needs to be on finding a path to the underwater city. This tunnel looks like the main one and seems like it heads in the right direction. It's probably meant to be used by ships. Carabiniere, Exeter, would you mind scouting ahead for us again? It's too tight for Zuihou's planes."
The pair nodded, stepping onto the water to sail ahead while the rest of the fleet followed at a slower pace, Apocrypha following along on the narrow walkway alongside the canal. A few smaller offshoot tunnels were noted as they went, housing small harbors of inactive Siren ships. Nothing to be concerned with, but something Apocrypha mentally filed away as a potential risk later if accidentally triggered.
Eventually, bluish light was visible at the end of the canal tunnel where it spilled open to the expansive walled city. The fleet was forced to halt their advance, however, by the gate that blocked the entire passageway with no control panel in sight. Mackensen stepped forward and tried to push the gate open, but the massive metal structure refused to move in the least.
Mackensen clicked her tongue, taking a step back from the gate. "Everyone move back. We're not wasting our time finding another way around."
While the group moved back a distance from Mackensen and the gate, Mackensen steadied her riggings, the guns trained on the offending structure and making Apocrypha realize what she was about to do.
"Mackensen! You're going to bring down the entire tunnel on our heads!"
She was certain Mackensen hadn't failed to hear her, but instead was choosing to willfully ignore her. As the cannons fired, filling the tunnel with smoke, Apocrypha raised her hands to cover her ears and squeezed her eyes shut, the shockwave onto the ground forced Apocrypha to lower herself to her knees as scenes flashed through her mind: of the ceiling caving in and crushing them all, or worse, of being separated in a complex filled with yet-active Siren ships to be slowly hunted down one by one.
But when Apocrypha still didn't feel anything and the noise had subsided, she risked opening her eyes, finding the gate had been turned into fragments she wouldn't even dare to call scrap metal. A quick glance behind her showed that the other shipgirls in the fleet were anything but surprised, Zuihou even going so far as to look annoyed at the show of force.
"Are you happy now, Mackensen?" the carrier demanded, a hand on her hip as she walked forward. A shell splashed into the water not too far from her when she crossed the threshold of where the gate had been, making her jump back. "And we've got company. Fantastic."
Mackensen paid no heed to Zuihou's concerns either, already barking orders at the fleet to create a formation and move forward. Apocrypha was left to stand at the opening of the canal tunnel, watching the fleet engage the Siren vessels that had come pouring out of another gate set into the looming red wall on the city's perimeter. A moment later, she realized that Vercingetorix hadn't joined the fleet, instead standing just outside the tunnel and only firing on what ships or aircraft would slip past and come too close.
"Vercingetorix? Is something wrong?"
The Iris cruiser shook her head, the silver waves of her hair swaying slowly as she did so. "My priority is your safety, not charging headlong into the fray. I will leave that foolishness to the likes of monsters like Mackensen," Vercingetorix stated. "Nor do they appear to need my help. Painted as they are, these Siren vessels make easy targets."
Apocrypha frowned, looking out into the water at the red-white-and-black-painted ships. By comparison to the greys and dark blues of the shipgirls' riggings, and even the rust red of Mackensen's, they stood out starkly against the shimmering blue of the water. "Why would they make their ships such obvious targets?"
Vercingetorix again shook her head, shrugging in answer. "We do not understand the precise motivations of the Sirens. Mimicry, mockery - it is anyone's guess and no Mirror Sea is identical to another."
"So whatever we learn here is useless in others?" Apocrypha asked, her confusion only growing when Vercingetorix smiled. "What? What'd I say?"
Vercingetorix fired a salvo towards approaching ships before answering, the shockwave of the blast barely causing Apocrypha to sway on her feet. "A handful of things remain generally consistent across most Mirror Seas. There may be exceptions at times, but generally speaking, Mirror Seas will fall into one of two categories - testing facilities or production facilities. Regardless of which, they're maintained by a power source. As far as I am aware, disabling the power source is the only way we are able to disable the Mirror Sea, but it is not exactly my area of expertise."
"Hey! Enough chit chat, you two!" Biloxi called back. "We're all clear and the gate's still open, so let's get a move-on!"
Vercingetorix sighed, shrugging and holding out a hand to Apocrypha. "I will carry you. Unfortunately, I would prefer not to give the Sirens the larger target of my ship to target, so you will have to forgive the closeness."
Apocrypha glanced towards the rest of the fleet and the pair of metal beasts that wound around Mackensen, who at the moment was sitting on the back of one to wait. "Couldn't I ride one of those?"
Vercingetorix snorted, grabbing onto Apocrypha's hand and yanking her forward so that she could pick her up and sling her over her shoulder, ignoring the indignant yelp from the Commander.
"A rabid wolf would be a friendlier beast than Mackensen's riggings are. Please refrain from such foolish ideas."
The fleet sailed through the gates, entering a city of towering buildings of stone and metal that matched the colors of the Siren vessels that had poured out from the gate only a brief time before. With a clang, the gates behind them slammed shut, the group turning to look.
"That's probably not a good sign, is it?" Apocrypha asked.
Dunkerque frowned, the first to turn back toward the city's interior. "It would seem our only option is to continue forward into the city," she said.
Carabiniere and Exeter had already moved to start scouting ahead, Biloxi not far behind either. "At least it looks like there's no other Siren ships in here," Biloxi remarked, but a moment later, something moving along a distant canal caught her attention. "...I spoke too soon."
"I can't see anything," Exeter claimed, squinting to try and spot whatever it was that Biloxi had seen. "You're sure you're not jumping at shadows?"
Biloxi sighed, shrugging. "Maybe I am, you're right. I don't see it anymore."
"Let's push forward. We don't have time to linger here and debate," Zuihou urged, a pair of twin flames engulfing the two shuriken she threw, transforming them into two roaring planes that took to the skies to act as the fleet's eyes overhead.
The fleet followed the path of the aircraft slowly, staying close to Zuihou and Vercingetorix at the center of the formation. At the same time Zuihou called a warning for ships sighted by her planes ahead, water splashed not far behind. Mackensen and Dunkerque turned to face the enemy at the rear, watching ships seemingly crawl out of nowhere. While Mackensen remained seated on one of her beasts, she was anything but relaxed, a glare trained on the mass-produced ships that could have sunk them all if it could be weaponized.
"I'm getting real sick of these assholes coming out of nowhere," Mackensen grumbled.
"So are all of us," Zuihou agreed. "So what now. We're surrounded."
"Usually I'd ask myself what Admiral Scheer would do in my place," Mackensen explained, Dunkerque beside her giving a questioning look. "Well, I ask that so I can do literally anything but that. In this case, though, I think it wouldn't be a bad thing to appropriate her 'Shoot everything until the place is razed to the ground' method of problem-solving. All ships -"
"Wait!" Apocrypha ordered, drowning out Mackensen's order to fire. "Mackensen, we can't go through just shooting at anything that matches the colors. We'd probably end up shooting you in the process."
"I can think of someone else who'd blend worse if she were here," Mackensen muttered under her breath. "Fine. What's your brilliant idea? We can't go backwards, we have enemies ahead, and we have no idea where the power source is."
Apocrypha didn't get to answer, cannon fire opening up and being traded for some minutes before dying down again. "Okay, so I've figured something out. Mirror Seas are kinda like escape rooms with bonus features. Scary as shit bonus features, but not my point."
"So what is your point? What the hell is an escape room?" Mackensen asked.
"Not important. I'll get you guys tickets to one when we get out of here. The point is, we can play it smart and work through this without cornering ourselves. Those AA guns tracked the planes, right? Maybe we can fight fire with fire here."
Zuihou blinked, not having thought of that herself. "You might be onto something. And most likely wherever the heaviest defenses are, the power source would be there, too. Well, well, Shikikan, you may be good for something after all."
"And what does that leave the rest of us who don't have things that go vroom-vroom into the sky?" Mackensen said with a hint of sarcastic annoyance. "In case you forgot, Kommandant, we're still surrounded on both sides. It'll be difficult to bear the fruits of this plan's labor if we're overrun and become Siren food."
Apocrypha smiled and returned the favor. "Well, since you seemed so eager to allow such massive explosions to open the gate we encountered earlier, I'm sure it'd be to our benefit if the same explosions suddenly appeared on the Sirens while the planes enact the plan. Just don't cause any buildings to collapse and don't stray too far ahead to prevent friendly fire, and I'll turn a blind eye to any explosions that mysteriously appear near the Sirens."
Mackensen's pouting expression slowly curled itself into a wide grin, and Apocrypha noticed Biloxi's expression changing into a smile as well.
Mackensen turned around to address the fleet.
"All ships, prepare to open fire in both directions. I mean, prepare for spontaneous explosions that just so happen to only happen around the Sirens!"
"I'll handle things up front, Mackensen," Biloxi offered. "I'll be dealing with plenty of those explosions myself!"
"All ships, FIRE!"
The sea lit up from the fire of ship cannons, shells crashing into the water or exploding as they collided with ships and buildings. Torpedoes streaked beneath the water's surface, seeking the metal of ship hulls to rend apart. Smoke rising from burning wreckage choked the air, mingling with the smoke that burst from the muzzles of the ships' guns from the Iron Blood and Siren fleets.
Among the chaos, a lone shipgirl stood her ground as if someone had placed a statue at this very place in the sea. She refused to flinch even when enemy fire struck dangerously close, only responding with fiercer fire of her own that decimated anything that stood in the path of her shells. She reached out a hand as if to grasp one of the enemy ships, mostly obscuring it behind the black-and-red gauntlet until she closed her hand into a fist, her guns firing as she did so and raining shells on the unfortunate ship serving as her target.
"Admiral Scheer! That's the last of them!" a pink-haired destroyer called, sailing toward the flagship.
Scheer lowered her hand from where it stretched out before her, letting it fall back to her side while red eyes scanned the scene of destruction before her without truly seeing it. The carnage had long since ceased to stand separately from one battle to the next or hold any sort of meaning to her, whether it was the remnants of Sirens or her fellow shipgirls. Or perhaps she'd never seen any sort of meaning in it to begin with.
She wasn't allowed further thought on it, interrupted by Z26 once again calling her name as she came close. She cast a brief glance over the destroyer, sighing deeply as her name was called a third time. "Yes, Z26, I heard you. I believe we can all see that there's nothing left to do here."
She turned away, her dark mechanical shark tail drawing a thin line of white behind her. Z26 scrambled to follow, not taking long to catch up so she could sail alongside Scheer.
"Admiral Scheer -"
"Get back in formation, Z26," Scheer ordered sharply.
Scheer kept her eyes narrowed at Z26's back as the destroyer went ahead to join the rest of the vanguard fleet, paying little attention to the battleship that moved to cruise alongside her now instead. The two sailed side-by-side for some time before the battleship finally spoke.
"In a roundabout way, she was asking if you are fine to continue. You could be a little gentler with her, Scheer."
"And if you dislike my manner of handling a fleet under my command, Thüringen, you could have remained with Baden or Eitel," Scheer retorted, glaring at the older battleship in the corner of her eye. A glare that Thüringen didn't hesitate to counter with one of her own.
"Eitel is only temporarily in command of Mackensen's raiding fleet. While I would not have hesitated to work alongside Mackensen herself, Eitel is too hot-headed for my taste to work under. As for Baden, she has more than enough with her. And as for you…" Thüringen trailed off, knowing she'd need to be careful with her next words. Given a prompting look from Scheer, she sighed. "It feels as if the division between Iron Blood's camps has grown deeper after what happened with Bismarck, and I think we all looked to you for stability. We're all worried about you. You've had to shoulder a lot."
Scheer remained silent for a long while before finally shaking her head. "You have no reason to be concerned, any of you. That was my role from the beginning, even before Bismarck took Iron Blood's reins. I am only trying to continue to fulfill my duties."
"It's gotten worse, Scheer," Thüringen argued, trying to match the calm cold of Scheer despite her frustration with the stone wall she was being met with. "Are you on some sort of crusade to get revenge for what happened? Do you think the rest of us don't care about what happened?"
"Gott verdammt! Would you drop it?!" Scheer snapped, glaring fully at the battleship now as her rigging closest to Thüringen snapped at the battleship's. The pair put some distance between each other after Thüringen's rigging snapped back at Scheer's, metallic jaws snapping loudly when they missed by a hair's breadth.
Despite the close call, Thüringen gave one more push. "When was the last time you talked to either of your sisters? Eugen? Tirpitz? Hipper? All I'm saying is that you have people who do not want to see you fall, too. There are those of us who would not hesitate to help you shoulder whatever burden it is you're carrying."
Scheer scoffed, not gracing the offer with any true response. Not that Thüringen had expected her to. The battleship sighed, watching Scheer move ahead as ships came into view ahead. She prepared her own guns, taking aim at the distant figures and swallowing down her concerns. The conversation was far from over, but they had other priorities to take care of for now.
"Primauguet, we've got company ahead and behind," Vauquelin warned, hurrying to catch up to the light cruiser.
Primauguet held up a finger to silence the destroyer, answering her beeping comms device. "What is it, Duilio? Vauquelin already caught onto you tailing us."
"We were not trying to sneak up on you, if that is what you mean to imply," Duilio responded, already sounding tired of having to speak to Primauguet. "Are you also picking up on the unknown ship signal ahead? What do you think?"
Primauguet sighed, considering how much she was willing to risk sharing with Duilio. Had it been Veneto or Littorio, she wouldn't have hesitated to end the conversation without an answer, but Duilio had always come across as the more reasonable and cautious sort. Duilio could be talked to and worked with, or at least she hoped that was the case. But still, she didn't want to owe Sardegna a favor or panic her own fleet. "It's an odd signature. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's too powerful to be a lone ship."
"I'm of the opinion it may be the answer to why we have no targets to nullify," Duilio stated, almost challenging Primauguet to try saying she was wrong, and for a moment Primauguet wondered if she'd made an incorrect assessment of the old battleship's nature. "I have a proposal, if you are willing to hear out an old woman."
"That depends on what exactly this proposal is."
Duilio chuckled. "Suspicious as ever. I'm not surprised. I suspect this may be a humanoid Siren. Why don't we combine our fleets temporarily to investigate this unwelcome guest in our waters? Seeing as we have none of our primary objectives, investigating the cause for that seems like the most reasonable next step, no?"
"On one condition," Primauguet countered. "We each maintain command only of our own fleet. I do not want you interfering with my fleet."
"That is fine by me. I had no intentions of doing so when making the suggestion. Hold your position and I will rendezvous with you within the hour."
The line immediately went dead after the statement, Primauguet unable to help but roll her eyes in exasperation. It was doubtful that Duilio had meant the statement as an order, but it left a foul taste in her mouth nonetheless. Although it was more tolerable than the lechery she was accustomed to from Littorio, so she would have to accept it as the lesser evil by comparison.
She called the fleet to a halt, narrowing her eyes when La Galissonnière took the opportunity to approach. "Whatever you are about to say, take a moment to think twice about how you say it. I have no patience for your games today."
"Wow. Okay. Rude," the other light cruiser complained, looking mock offended. "Just wanted to know why we're stopping. Who pissed in your coffee this morning, Prima?"
"Do not call me that," Primauguet warned, taking a step toward her. "And do not question my orders. We are meeting up with the Sardegnian fleet to investigate a foreign signal further ahead, which you would have noticed if you were not more interested in being a pain in everyone's ass."
"Again - that's rude," La Galissonnière complained. "Oh, let me guess. You and Jean Bart had a little lovers spat? Am I right?"
"Where do you come up with this sort of garbage? Get out of my sight before I decide to use you for target practice to pass the time," Primauguet demanded, turning away to face the direction of the strange ship signal
Just who are you out there…? she wondered. She tried a few times to open a line of communication with the ship, but received no response no matter the channel she reached out through. She was starting to regret allowing Joffre to travel to Azur Lane's New York base and being left with no aircraft to scout out the situation. She'd have to hope that Sardegna had assigned one or both of their carriers to their operation task force.
It was just over an hour later that Primauguet heard Vauquelin call that the Sardegnian fleet had arrived. All the while, the mystery signal hadn't moved an inch. The small Vichya fleet parted to let her through, and soon she found herself face-to-face with the Sardegnian flagship. The pair sized each other up, silently challenging one another to show any weakness and back down first.
Finally, Duilio looked away, in the direction of the lone ship signal they would be seeking. "Seeing as these are more Vichya's waters than Sardegna's, you may lead the way, Primauguet. If you would care to."
Primauguet threw one last glare at Duilio before she turned away, making a beeline toward the distant signal. "No more standing around. Let's go."
The Vichya ships were quick to fall into formation with Primauguet, Duilio bringing the Sardegnians close behind. A yawn to her right made her look over at Impero, the carrier's expression some strange mixture of boredom, annoyance, and tiredness. "Do you have some complaint, Impero?"
"Mm… Are you sure she's not going to drag us into a fight?" Impero asked. "It feels like she's looking for one."
Duilio sighed. "It is no easy task to guess what Primauguet is trying to do at any time. If your concern is that we will get forced into a losing fight, though, allow me to assure you that she has no say in what our fleet does. I will give the order to withdraw if it looks to be necessary, but I do want an answer as to who or what has destroyed the facilities here, and entered our waters under our noses in order to do so."
Impero seemed to accept that answer for the time being, and a few moments later she had launched a small contingent of reconnaissance planes to scout ahead for the two fleets. She reported a few more damaged Siren facilities spotted from the air, but still no signs of the aggressors themselves.
"We're entering the Iberian Crown's waters now," Primauguet warned over the comms. "Everyone needs to be on high alert. We do not want to get trapped between them and the Sirens if we can help it. Impero, have your planes spotted anything yet? We should almost be on top of that signal."
"No," Impero answered, shaking her head although Primauguet couldn't see her. A moment later, she suddenly took that answer back. "Wait! There's something- Ugh! Enemy ahead! They just took out my planes!"
Another moment later, Primauguet was brought up short by a shell splashing into the water only a few yards ahead of her, the rest of the fleet bunching up closely and trying to spot their attacker. More shells splashed into the water at the approach of the Sardegnian fleet, but it was becoming apparent that whoever was firing on them intended to miss their marks. "Who the hell is there? Show yourself!" Primauguet challenged, reaching for the sword at her hip.
"Making demands while intruding in someone else's home, are we?" a feminine voice asked. Shortly after, a white-haired woman came into view. The sunlight glinting off of the polished platinum and gold of her armor and riggings was blinding, making it difficult to focus on her for too long before having to look away.
"Who are you?" Primauguet demanded, taking a step forward and quickly finding the other ship's guns trained on her, although the shipgirl herself was unmoving.
"I am the one tasked with guarding these waters. As for my name, that is not of sufficient consequence to share with you," the knight answered, clearly not fazed by being alone and facing down some dozen ships. "These waters are the territory of the Iberian Crown. You have the option to leave now, or I will see to it that I either escort you out with force or make your graves here on the seabed. The choice is yours."
"You little -!"
"Primauguet, stop for a second," Duilio interrupted, not taking her eyes off of the unidentified ship. "She is the one whose signal we have been pursuing."
"That's impossible," Primauguet argued. "No shipgirl would have a signal like that."
"I know. We do not have enough information to risk combat with her even if we have greater numbers," Duilio pressed. "Live today so that you can fight tomorrow."
"I see that one of you has the sense to understand when you're outmatched," the stranger remarked. "I will ask once more: leave these waters."
Primauguet huffed, failing to find fault in Duilio's logic but increasingly frustrated with being forced to turn back by only a lone ship. "Fine. But one question: Are you the one who laid waste to the Siren facilities in these waters?"
"Yes."
"Alone?"
"Yes."
La Galissonnière whistled lowly. "Prima, I don't think we wanna mess around with this girl. Who the hell takes on even a small Siren facility alone and lives to tell the tale? Let alone multiple in one go. We'll be small fry to her."
Primauguet ground her teeth, glaring at the ever-calm knight who still stood there to wait for whatever decision was made.
She was skeptical of the shipgirl's claims, but the combination of the odd (and lone) radar signal and the wrecks of nearby Siren facilities were too much of a coincidence, and calling the previous bluff was too dangerous on the chance it was true.
"Dammit… Everyone, fall back," she reluctantly said. "I will have to ask Jean Bart how she wants to proceed with the Crown in light of this."
"When does the Crown intend to take action to assist others in return for the help you have increasingly asked for?"
The pale blonde woman sitting in the ornate chair at the head of the table moved to answer, but was interrupted by the loud beeping of an incoming call. "Pardon me for a moment," she requested, picking up the communicator as she stood, stepping out of the room to answer the call. "I am in a meeting. What is it?"
"Apologies, Your Majesty, but I believe the matter is urgent," the voice on the other end explained.
"Has something happened, Cervantes?"
"In a sense. A joint fleet from the Vichya Dominion and Sardegna Empire attempted to enter our waters. From what I gathered, it seems they were undergoing an operation to eliminate Siren bases within El Mediterráneo," Cervantes explained. "I was able to make them turn back this time, but the Vichya flagship doesn't seem the type to allow that to happen a second time."
"It seems as if Azur Lane is making their move to counter the Sirens, then."
"Vichya and Sardegna both belong to the Crimson Axis," Cervantes replied. "I wouldn't presume that this means Azur Lane as a proper alliance is making moves, only that the fleets in these waters are starting to look for a fight."
"Regardless, it is a sign that they are no longer trying to act as lone wolves. It means that they may be willing to have a proper discussion with us."
"So what will you do?"
"What I was given the throne in order to do. I will reach out to Azur Lane's leadership and ask that they open diplomatic talks with me. But enough of political talk. Have there been any issues after your refit?"
Silence hung on the other end of the line for a moment, but eventually Cervantes answered, "No. Everything is in proper working order, Your Majesty. Although, well…"
"Yes?"
"I understand that my previous failure is the cause of valuable resources being wasted on me, but… I heard them say that the signal they followed to find me seemed to be a Siren's, not a shipgirl's. I have my concerns that perhaps there is no place left for me. If the signal is that of a Siren, can it still be called a shipgirl?"
"You are still a shipgirl. You are still 'Miguel de Cervantes,'" the Queen reassured. "If someone dares to argue otherwise, they would have to have the spine to claim that I, too, am a Siren, and by extension that the whole of the Crown is culpable of collusion with the enemy."
Cervantes sighed. "Perhaps, but nonetheless, you cannot argue against the point that fundamentally you and I are not the same as the others."
"That will not be the case forever. I will have to fill you in on those details later, though. Is there anything else you need to report?"
"No, Your Majesty. That is everything."
"Thank you. I will be returning to my meeting with Iron Blood and Northern Parliament's representatives now. Please stay safe."
She closed the line, returning to the meeting room and taking her seat again as if nothing had happened, but Gruziya wasted no time waiting to pry.
"Has something happened, Comrade Reina?"
"Nothing of concern," Reina stated. "Now then, where were we?"
