Chapter 277: An Interesting Talk

'It still happened.'

On top of the repair sector's hangar, Shiro stood straight as he witnessed the "dissolve" of Azur Lane's two integral forces, the KMS and IJN fleets. The two factions—now called Iron Blood and Sakura Empire, respectively—recalled every single unit of theirs from the Azur Lane base before their leaders announced the dissolution of their cooperation.

In the end, the remaining KANSENs on the base were less than 1250. Many factions still stayed at Azur Lane, but the two factions made up the majority of their numbers simply because of their involvement with history—which resulted in their huge numbers as KANSENs.

Suddenly—

"Huh."

Shiro's eyes met with one of the befuddled ship girls not far from it. He could immediately judge that she saw through his stealth. The little girl held a small unicorn stuffed toy, tightly hugging it as to show her tension. Beside her were ship girls belonging to the Royal Navy (HMS).

Acting as if he did not notice it, he mumbled:

"Nothing much would change despite my intervention. It would only end in... their destruction."

Knowing that some KANSENs did not wish for it to happen, he would like to avoid such an end. Moreover, their memories with him were not a mere joke. Even now, he could recall all of them bravely standing off against the leviathans. Only, their circumstances pushed them to this point.

"However... armed intervention could solve this problem."

With that in mind, Shiro decided on his first course of action.

*****

The person in Unicorn's sight instantly turned into wisps of gray fog, startling her. The next moment, she saw the aforementioned person laying his back against the garden's wall.

Immediately, the queen's guards picked it up.

Shiing-!

The rays of sunlight split apart on the red blade's tip as Warspite pointed it at him.

Meanwhile, Belfast swiftly armed herself with the sharp daggers beneath her skirt. Ensuring that her queen would not suffer any harm, she kept an eye on him.

Under the large robe, Shiro's eyes glinted as he reminisced over the old days.

"You... are that person from before... Nimitz."

"Greetings." He responded. "Looks like everyone is feeling gloomy right now."

"That can't be helped. The sparks of war have been drawn over our peaceful times once more."

Each of the faction leaders already saw it coming. There was no helping it since the end of their war signifies a lull period where everyone is wary of each other. More than a hundred years had already passed since the last world war, yet their scars remain. With a new weapon—KANSEN—and the lack of laws to regulate such strong beings contributed to this matter.

"It is as you say, your highness."

Shiro did a courteous bow toward Queen Elizabeth (HMS). After doing so, he unraveled the reason behind his appearance.

"Are you interested in a way to contain this war?"

Queen Elizabeth gestured to the two ship girls before they slightly lowered their offensive stances.

"Pray tell."

Receiving her affirmation, he began explaining.

"Armed intervention. Whenever a clash arises, I shall appear and forcibly stop it."

For a moment, she was silent. Nobody present in the garden could believe that this mysterious KANSEN could stop a war in this way.

"That won't work. Even if you are stronger than the rest of us, you could not handle dozens of them alone!"

Shiro listened to Warspite's honest comment and replied:

"You are right. One can't hope to end a war all by themselves. Unless—"

He disappeared right in front of them and tapped Warspite's shoulder. His fair hand was exposed, showcasing a portion of his godly charm.

"—You are strong enough." He said. "All I'm asking is for your cooperation."

Moments after, he disappeared. It also then did they recover from that unexpected encounter.

"How did she..?"

"...She is strong. Very much so." Warspite commented.

"Just like her, I see. What shall we do, your highness?"

Belfast turned her gaze to her queen.

"...For now, let us talk with them."

She pertained to their great ally, the Eagle Union. As the leader, she could not easily decide on the matters that could affect them as a whole. However...

'I wanted to believe it.'

Truly, not all wish for destruction.

*****

Click-!

The doorknob was twisted before a figure revealed himself beyond the door.

"It still happened..."

The Commander let out a tired sigh. He could barely catch on to rest with everything that happened today. The absence of two major Azur Lane fleets left many things in trouble. They are fine with their supplies, but their logistics and repair crew were drastically reduced. Meaning, their manpower had been hit greatly.

"It surely is a tiring role. Y'know, dealing with sudden rebellions and such. I can sympathize."

"Who?!"

Instinctively, he pulled out his handgun and pointed it toward his chair. When it spun, it revealed a silhouette draped in a large robe. The lower half of his face could be seen as he let out a smile.

"How is your life, shikikan?"

"You... Nimitz?" He asked.

"Everyone seems to be getting my identity correct nowadays."

He nodded as he spoke, all the while reading a leather notebook that acted as Shikikan's diary.

'Damn. This feels complex.'

Turns out, reading the diary entries of your younger self could be very embarrassing. Even his close calls with certain ship girls had been written down here. It shows how much of a 'harem protagonist' was he back then. If his wives saw it, he did not know how to handle it.

"Why do you seem interested in my... diary?!"

Shikikan barely held the urge to shoot at it. God knows how many embarrassing things he had placed on it.

"This is... interesting." Shiro remarked. "I'm surprised at how you aren't locked by someone yet. As expected of..."

"...What do you need? You presented yourself right inside my office. You must have a reason."

Shikikan shifted the topic to drive away his embarrassment.

"Right. There happens to be an armed intervention that I will be doing when the war starts. In short, I will brute force the two sides to stop fighting. Sounds good?"

"...Eh?" He let out a stupefied voice. "What did you just say?"

What he received in turn was Shiro's laughter. After a while, he stopped.

"This is fun."