If they used that horn on Prince of Wales, then the vanguard roster would certainly include her.
But Hikaru didn't ask for the horn first. He pointed at Repulse. "Repulse, run to the storeroom and bring back three smoke canisters."
Repulse blinked. "Eh?"
Because Hikaru had given special orders, that horn had never been handed over to Leipzig for storage—Bismarck was keeping it on her person.
Not taking the horn, but asking for smoke?
Puzzled, the well-trained maid still dipped in a curtsey. "Yes, my master." She set down the wine bottle and slipped out of the office at a brisk pace.
Hikaru looked to Bismarck, a bit apologetic. "I'm afraid I'll have to break my promise. I did say the horn would go to the MVP after the operation, but…"
Realistically, once this battle ended, the MVP was almost certainly Bismarck—unless someone else went absolutely god-mode in the final clash.
"You never need to apologize to me," Bismarck scolded him gently—softness rarely seen on her face. She stood. "It's all for the base. I'll fetch the horn."
Under the table, Prince of Wales quietly clenched her fist. Was it finally her turn?
Hikaru, though, suddenly remembered something and smiled to himself.
Missouri, curious, rolled onto her stomach on the desk and leaned in. "What're you grinning at?"
"Just a few months ago I was cramming for college entrance exams," Hikaru said, drifting back. "A teacher made me give a little talk—about Glowworm, and her smoke canisters."
Missouri pouted, a touch jealous. "You and little Glowworm sure have a fated bond, huh."
Hikaru chuckled. He really was starting to believe in little strings of fate.
Who'd have thought that the humble smoke canister he'd presented in class would end up a key piece of kit?
Speaking of which—what was Shiraha up to now?
It was Shiraha who'd given him the standard resource card that let him build Glowworm. He'd never forgotten that favor.
But Shiraha had whiffed the Saint Build; that same day Hikaru caused an uproar with that Level-140 admiral nonsense, then got detained, then Yamato came to bail him out, then Masaki escorted him thousands of kilometers away from the school… there'd been no chance to say a proper goodbye.
Life's like that sometimes—you just… stop seeing someone.
Let it not be forever, he hoped. He still owed her.
He shook his head with a smile. Shiraha didn't have the aptitude to become a commander, but her grades were solid. She'd have passed the exams and be a freshman by now.
While Hikaru was wandering down memory lane, Bismarck came back in carrying a purplish-red horn nearly a meter long.
Saint George, Alaska, and Yamato all snapped their eyes to it the instant it appeared,unable to look away, as if the thing were magnetized.
A relic that could directly raise level—if it could crack the wall at 100…
The two stuck at 100 started daydreaming on the spot; even Saint George, hovering in the 90s, stared without blinking.
Compared to Yamato and Alaska, who longed for a way to break the cap, Saint George—who'd been rocketing upward lately and didn't yet grasp how cruel that "bottleneck" really was—cared more about what the horn meant.
When a shipgirl dies, she dissolves back into the black sea; aside from removable gear, this horn might be the first war trophy in history taken from a shipgirl's body.
The significance was staggering—the sort of thing that, once word got out, would draw pilgrims until the base gates were crushed and the perimeter wall stamped flat.
And such a legend just… thunked onto the desk in Bismarck's hand.
She nudged Missouri aside, tossed the horn onto the tabletop. "Here's the horn."
Bismarck acted like it was nothing. Missouri, by contrast, ran her fingers over it, more curious than greedy.
[End of Chapter]
[100 Power Stones = Extra Chapter]
[Check out my Patreon to read 30+ chapters ahead]
[[email protected]/BellAshelia]
[Thanks for your support!]