Chapter 85: Secretary Ship Magdeburg

"This is…"

Seeing the silver pattern on the back of his right hand shining under the sun, Lin Lan quickly pulled his hand back into the shadows.

Without the sunlight, the silver glow on the pattern gradually faded, and he felt a warm current slowly moving through his body.

At this moment, he felt extraordinarily clear-headed, and there was no sign of the fatigue that should follow intense exercise.

"With my years of experience with RPG games, I always feel like this thing is related to the so-called 'Hero.'"

"But for now, this seems… like a good development trend, right?"

Lin Lan stroked the pattern on the back of his right hand with his left hand, his mind continuously reflecting on past memories.

Speaking of which, in those settings, heroes often have the physical qualities for a harem.

Could it be that he's benefiting from this too?

After thinking it over, Lin Lan decided not to delve deeper into the issue.

No matter if this pattern will have other functions in the future.

For now, it was not only harmless but also seemed to improve his physical condition.

When he encounters higher-level Sirens in the future, all questions should be answered.

Moreover, even if this really was a hero's mark, Lin Lan wasn't interested in being a hero or demon lord.

Whether it's a hero, demon lord, or any other nonsense, it's an era of heavy artillery and powerful aircraft carriers now.

No matter how powerful the demon lord or hero is, can they withstand a wave of 457 heavy shoes or a round of thunderstorm clearing?

And even the grand leader of the demon army was defeated by Akashi, a low-ranking Shōkaku's part-time witch, with a single spell.

Pragmatically, it's more important to reunite with his wives as soon as possible and not worry about such trivial matters.

Lin Lan covered the two exhausted silver-haired girls with the blanket.

He put on his white uniform, freshened up, and walked out of the room.

As soon as he went downstairs and reached the office door on the second floor, he saw a lively girl with black long hair, red eyes, wearing a black cropped top and super-short shorts.

Magdeburg?

Lin Lan was surprised to see her. It seemed he hadn't seen this Iron Blood light cruiser yesterday.

"Commander, surprised to see me? Didn't expect it, right? I'm your secretary ship for today!"

The girl saw Lin Lan coming down the stairs, took large steps forward, and cheerfully threw herself into Lin Lan's arms.

"Magdeburg, what are you doing here? Didn't you come to have dinner with us yesterday?"

Feeling the energetic girl rubbing against his chest, Lin Lan asked in surprise.

"Hehe, I went out with Weser to scout the Siren movements in the nearby sea area. We only came back at night."

"However, Commander, you made me wait for quite a while this morning. Sleeping in isn't a good habit."

Lin Lan stroked the girl's forehead and, hearing this, coughed awkwardly.

"But, Commander, why do you smell like roses? I feel like I've smelled this familiar scent somewhere before…"

Magdeburg, rubbing against Lin Lan's chest, suddenly noticed the unusual fragrance on him and looked up at his face with suspicion.

"Probably just some perfume Akashi left in my dormitory. Let's talk about it in the office."

Although Lin Lan tried to appear calm, he was alarmed inside.

Magdeburg could detect Emden's scent on him?

This was quite outrageous.

"Ah, Commander, I'll go downstairs and bring breakfast for you. You wait in the office, okay!"

Hearing Magdeburg's words, Lin Lan smiled and waved goodbye to the energetic girl, showing an expression of having narrowly escaped a disaster.

After all, he had an instinctive aversion to letting others know about such matters, something he hadn't gotten used to yet.

But the next second, Magdeburg's voice came from downstairs:

"By the way, I'll bring Emden's portion up later, so you don't have to worry about it!"

???

Lin Lan's expression froze.

So he didn't manage to hide it at all?

That cheeky girl.

He helplessly took out his key, unlocked the door, and entered the office.

The office was a spacious, neatly arranged room that looked like a study.

It had a desk, bookshelves, sofa, coffee table—everything was in place.

No wonder it was the result of Akashi's team's labor.

Lin Lan walked to the window behind the desk, opened it, and let the refreshing sea breeze into the room.

Then he sat down in the leather chair in front of the desk and saw a notebook on it.

"Current resource statistics for the port?"

Lin Lan looked at the text on the notebook and curiously opened it.

"Oil: 21,000 barrels, manjuu: 32, various ammunition in abundance, food…"

Flipping through the notebook, Lin Lan got a detailed understanding of the current port situation.

Seeing the cute cat paw at the end of the report, he realized that these detailed statistics were made by the little shrewd merchant.

Having Akashi around really solved a lot of logistical problems for him.

Before long, footsteps were heard from outside the office.

"Commander, breakfast is here, and since it's almost noon, I brought lunch as well!"

The black-haired, straight-haired light cruiser girl entered, carrying two bags of food.

Since it was nearly noon, and both breakfast and lunch were packed together, Lin Lan could get used to this way of eating.

He and Magdeburg sat side by side on the sofa, taking the food out of the bags. The girl suddenly leaned over and whispered in his ear:

"Commander, I really didn't expect you to be so amazing when you were young, even Emden…"

Lin Lan put down the lunchbox and gave Magdeburg a look.

"What, do you want to try it too?"

"Well, I do care about the Commander's health. But if you really want to… it's not impossible."

The easygoing Magdeburg smiled as she patted Lin Lan's shoulder, showing she was serious.

Even though Lin Lan could still continue fighting, he had just taken Emden earlier that morning.

The girl hadn't even left the room yet. It would be a mental hurdle for him to bring another one back so soon.

Maybe I'll need to get used to this slowly.

Magdeburg brought a hearty lunch, and soon, Lin Lan and Magdeburg had finished all the food.

"By the way, Commander, you didn't try to grope me at all? When I was your secretary ship, you were never this proper," Magdeburg remarked as she started to clean up the coffee table.

She seemed quite surprised that Lin Lan had remained properly seated on the sofa throughout, without the usual tendency to touch her like before.

She said in astonishment.

Lin Lan gave the sharp-tongued girl a look and then playfully slapped her soft and perfectly shaped backside, a result of her frequent exercise.

"Eek?! C-Commander, what are you doing?!"

Magdeburg was caught off guard and got a full slap.

The athletic red-eyed girl with black long hair straightened up with a jolt, her well-toned body reacting as if shocked. 

She covered the tingling area with her hands and looked at Lin Lan with a flushed face and indignation.

"You said I was always improper, so don't blame me."

Lin Lan calmly met her gaze.

After all, he had committed so many misdeeds before; suddenly being proper felt quite unnatural. 

It was better to act as usual when the moment came.

Since things had always been this way before, it didn't matter.

Eventually, Magdeburg shook her small fist in frustration:

"Fine, since you're the Commander, I'll let you off this time."

_______

20+ advanced chapters on patreon.com/SenatusTheta

_______

If any of you noticed an error, please point it out in comments!