A-kun: Okay, since I didn't have any time on my hands in the last chapter, I'll explain the similarities of the events of a story on Fanfiction.net named: "Azur Lane: The Story."

Okay, I don't really know why I didn't state this so much earlier in the story. I really had only my eyes on the story but I gotta disclose this before we move on.

Yes, most of the starting chapters had come from that story. And I have been told that it's fine to do that as long as I give credit. And I did. Along with other 2 great authors. (Attackingoreos, and FRG4402.)

And here's another thing that can defend me and possibly be beneficial to you all readers who are inspired and want to write.

See that in my highlighted area? Oval and weird-looking arrows? It says there "Creative Commons (CC) Attribution". And I know what you're asking, 'What in the hell does that mean?'

*ahem* According to this website, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/

"This license lets others distribute, remix, adapt, and build upon your work, even commercially, as long as they credit you for the original creation. This is the most accommodating of licenses offered. Recommended for maximum dissemination and use of licensed materials."

So it just means (don't mind the last part it isn't important to the subject) you can get ideas off my work and use it for your own work without repercussions. As long as you promote or credit the person you got that idea from. Like I did in Chapter 2 and the description of my book as I credit PiedpiperofTamlyin. (Please read that book. It's hella good.)

I've done my research and looked into the 'Legal Code' that is super long and just easy to misunderstand. So you don't have to. And I did this purposely for this exact situation. So I came prepared when the time comes. And I'm glad I did take those extra precautions.

But I hope the questions have been answered and let's just cut to the chase of the next chapter! I hope you enjoy!

=================

From the craziness of yesterday's events, a guy or should I say, the only guy in the base wakes up in his office. He woke up much earlier than expected. 6:10 AM.

Then he immediately fixed his bed to be tidy. And he did since he liked cleanliness towards anything, and also, to see if there are any 'foxes' under the blanket.

"No one. Thank god." Caster breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm never going to let myself be a victim of those ploys ever again." He facepalmed as he went into the bathroom.

He came out of the bathroom and he did his usual training regimen. Running, push-ups, and some black coffee.

While he was doing all of this though, he still couldn't remove the image in his mind of him sitting in front of a girls-only crowd. It felt awkward, but he soon realized that he could use his singing to his advantage.

'I can finally help with their morales. I just need to learn more songs though... I wonder where I shall find songs here...' Caster wiped his head with a towel as he's walking back inside the building to the cafeteria.

Then as he changed his clothes and as he went back to the cafeteria, he saw Hornet just woke up and going to the kitchen to cook. She was alone, and about to cook. And 'that's way too much work for one person.' Caster thought.

"Hornet. Good morning." Caster greeted Hornet who didn't know he was nearby. In which she got startled.

"G-good morning too! Jeez, where did you come from?" Hornet said holding her chest and she sighed.

"Somewhere." He answered sarcastically. Something that he would rarely do.

"I only just got here but I'll cook up something for you quick," Hornet said as she took some pans and turned on the burners.

Then out of surprise, Caster went into the kitchen and proposed to help Hornet while cooking. Hornet doesn't want any help but I mean, it's the Commander. So can't possibly refuse without a great reason for it. In which she didn't have.

"Why are you here, Commander? Can you even cook?" Hornet gazed at Caster for a bit before looking away to cut some vegetables.

"I can cook plenty. Survival in the woods taught me that." He smirked as he checks the fire strength of the burner.

"You know, it always seems like you could do anything." Hornet chuckled. "And plus, nice performance yesterday. Until you know, the chaotic scramble happened."

"Why did you guys even plotted that when you could just ask? I wouldn't doubt myself declining the request." Caster asked Hornet as he went to the refrigerator and took some eggs.

"I don't know... Hood is something else when she's scheming something. Plus, the girls were "fawning" over you after your performance."

Then Caster froze at that statement. Not because of him realizing that the girls like him. No, no, no. He's the protagonist so we'll not let him realize that. Instead, he froze because he literally didn't know what "fawning" meant. He may read way too many books, but that one word stumped him.

So with him not realizing the meaning of the said word, in order to not make things awkward and weird, he just nodded along with no idea on what he was implying.

Hornet was sure that he knew what she meant and probably Caster knows that the girls like him. In which he doesn't at all... Too bad.

'I guess that Commander is not dense at all.' Hornet thought. 'I keep hearing people saying that he's an airhead. I just spelled that the girls like him loud and clear and he didn't even say a neutral response.'

After a while, with Caster assisting, Hornet got to prepare a stew while Caster made his own breakfast. And it helped with efficiency. He made scrambled eggs with spaghetti.

"Thank you so much for helping, Commander. I can focus on the food for the others now." Hornet thanked Caster. And he just nodded.

"Okay. I'll be getting out to be finally eating..." As he starts walking out of the kitchen until Hornet stops him.

"Commander, do you have some time to talk for a bit?" Hornet's tone became slightly serious.

Caster correctly identifies that Hornet doesn't act like this often.

"Yeah? Is there a problem right now?" Caster turned back around and sat on a chair inside the kitchen.

"Do you have some advice to stand out in a fleet?"

"Huh?" He said perplexed. "Standing out in a fleet?"

This seemed like a pointless discussion... Hornet was a very good aircraft carrier and always contributed to many battles she's participated in.

Then it hit him. Her sisters. Enterprise was a champion and one of a kind. And Yorktown, who had her share of awards and achievements in the 1st Siren War. But Hornet? She got some awards here and there, but not much recognition after that.

"Okay... I'll get this out of the way, but you don't need to prove yourself to me. And to anyone." Caster said looking right at her. "When we win, or we lose, I know that you contributed and tried. And that's all I want. Nothing much else than that."

"Plus, we will have our share of defeats here and there, but for me, that doesn't tilt me one bit. And you should too."

"But Commander, my friends could die if we get defeated." As Hornet stopped doing whatever she was doing.

"Do you think I'll let that happen? Listen, I'll die before any of your friends die."

"My point is, you may be not as decorated or powerful as your sisters or other ship classes. But I rely on you all equally. You're just as important as the next great ship next to you." He stated that made Hornet froze in shock.

She felt a bit better from the advice. And her admiration deepens.

"So, don't beat yourself up." As he stood up from his chair and started to walk to the door. "Enterprise would be sad if she heard this."

=================

After he finally got to eat breakfast which consisted of foods that would be bad for his diet, he walked back to the office and he was greeted by Belfast.

"Master. Good morning. It seems that you have woken up again before me." Belfast bowed down.

Then Caster held Belfast's face and her blood started to stream to her face a little bit.

"There was a hair on your cheek. I don't know how it got there..." Caster said as he removed the hair. "Anyway, anything for me today?"

Belfast got her composure back from that blushing mess earlier.

"Did you eat breakfast yet?" She questioned.

"Yes, I did. I'm just going back to the office."

"I have a mail from the Royal Navy for you." She took out a small envelope and gave it to Caster.

"Oh, mail?" Caster opened the envelope.

This isn't the first time that Caster got mail, in fact, this is his 3rd mail since his arrival. Anti-climatic isn't it? But the 1st and 2nd mails were not for him. It was for the girls. So yes, this the 1st mail for HIM specifically... That was confusing, isn't it?

"The Royal Navy wants you to be at... Langston Palace... 5 hours from now..." Caster repeated what the mail said. "For what though? It didn't specify."

"I don't know either the purpose of the meeting as well, Master. But I would suggest going there now since Langston Palace is far away from the base," said Belfast as she gestured Caster to get in the office.

"Okay. Seems I have no choice..."

=================

"Commander, you're called for a meeting?" asked Enterprise.

"Yeah. From the Royal Navy. I'm about to leave."

"Can I escort you there?" Enterprise asked once more.

"There is plenty of girls joining me. Plus, I don't want my best ship leaving the base."

She slightly blushed at the compliment. "T-thanks."

"Come on. When I'm gone, let Yorktown know and you're the best that this base got."

"Okay, Commander. You can count on me."

Caster took something out from his jacket. A chocolate bar. "Here. You look hungry." He gave the choco bar to Enterprise. He smiled before he walked out the door.

"Commander, are you ready?" Illustrious greeted Caster.

He and the girls were meeting up on the docks before leaving the base.

"Nervous. But I'm ready." Caster nodded as the other girls are here.

"Commander! You're going to love Langston Palace!" Javelin exclaimed. Running up to Caster. She's excited about the prospect of going back to her home.

"Onii-chan!" Unicorn also ran up to Caster.

'Oh, god...' Caster thought. As he looked in front of him, Hood, Wales, and Belfast.

"How will we go to that palace?" Caster questioned.

"You don't realize it yet, Commander? We're ships." Hood said as she looked at Belfast and nodded at her.

Then Belfast summoned her ship in IRL form. And it was huge.

"Come on. We don't have much time." Wales told Caster as everyone is boarding HMS Belfast.

A-kun: Hold on, Belfast = The sexy Maid.
HMS Belfast = The ship. Good? Okay, back to the story.

He nodded and he went up to the ship. And the girls were already sitting on chairs that suddenly appeared there. And the girls sat there and well, they already started to get some tea.

"That's the Royal Navy for ya..." He chuckled as he went on the front of HMS Belfast... And just sat down as the anchor of the ship was pulled up and the ship started it's the voyage to Royal Navy's soil.

"This is not a bad spot at all..."

=================

At the back of the ship, Unicorn and Javelin, are playing some games on their own, while Illustrious, Wales, and Hood were just there just doing their tea party...

"How was the performance yesterday? Was it satisfactory?" Hood smirked as she brought up the 'performance' yesterday.

"It was fine... But it was only one song..." Illustrious plainly said as Wales was struggling to respond. She tried to hide this with more sipping of her tea.

The mind of Wales is struggling to respond because her mind keeps replaying that performance and she was one of the few girls who just listened and didn't go unresponsive. And even after the performance, super late at night, she kept hearing Caster's song in her head.

And unfortunately, Hood noticed Wales's expression.

"His voice is 'hot' isn't that right?" Hood plainly said which made Wales spit out her tea and Belfast almost drop her tea kettle out of surprise.

"Hood!" Wales shouted.

"Oh, my. Did Wales took a liking with the Commander?" Illustrious put her hands on her lips. She was joking around, but she also wanted to see if Wales would react a certain way.

"N-no!" Wales shook her head.

"Don't lie to ourselves, we all were tantalized by his voice." Hood smiled. As she put her teacup down. Keeping her elegant aura.

Wales wanted to voice her concern again with Hood's boldness but she, and the others, also can't deny Hood's statement. She was right.

Good thing that Caster wasn't there to hear that. Speaking of Caster, how is he doing?

"Brrh..."

=================

Then the HMS Belfast finally was closing on Langston Palace. In the mainland of the Royal Navy. This palace is not just a vacation place for the royal members, it is also a key naval base that was used to ambush any intruder coming by here.

The HMS Belfast's anchor has been dropped on the docks they have finally arrived.

Caster though isn't awake yet. And is being awaken by Belfast.

"Master... Master..." Belfast tugs on Caster to wake him up.

He groaned and yawned. "We here?"

"Yes, Master. Come on." Belfast helps Caster up.

Then Caster and Belfast finally caught up with the Hood, Wales, and others.

"Commander! Where have you been?" Javelin questioned Caster whereabouts earlier in the trip.

"I woke up too early, and I thought it was a good idea to sleep on the front of the boat." Caster explained.

"Commander, you should get your sleep schedules right," Hood commented.

"Eh, whatever. I had nothing else to do but get seasickness when I'm awake."

All of them went off the ship and they greeted by Illustrious 'younger' sister.

A-kun: If I downloaded the game, and I got this girl, this girl would be my first oath.

"Greetings." The girl bowed in front of the Royal Navy's members. Then she saw Caster. "Are you..." She took a step back.

'Huh? Avoiding me?' Caster thought as he wiped his eyes.

"Oh, my dear sister, he isn't the 1st one. Trust me." Illustrious went up at her sister and hugged her.

"Can I have the name, please?" Caster asked the girl who Illustrious was hugging.

"Formidable. Illustrious-class Carrier. Your name?" Formidable asked back.

"Edrich Caster. The new Commander of Azur Lane. I am happy to be in your presence." He bowed. Then Hood just looked at Caster with a look of curiosity.

'He really doesn't need to be such a gentleman... But I doubt if he's going to let his gentleman habits go...' Hood thought.

The gentleman habits keep surprising everyone. And Formidable is the recent one.

"See?" Illustrious looks at Formidable as she lets go of her hug. Then Formidable looked at her sister and just nodded.

"Come with me, I'll get you to the meeting room in a timely manner." Formidable turned around elegantly and walked to the palace. And they followed closely.

Formidable didn't waste any time and he was immediately led to the dining hall. Where the royal members would well, eat. And it was also used as a meeting room as well.

"This is royalty feels like huh..." Caster said impressed with the size of the dining hall and detail put into it like the rest of the palace.

This also remembered him where he and his platoon toured around Buckingham Palace years ago. As he paid for the expenses of the trip. He was charitable, but it did make a huge dent in his wallet.

"Please, do sit down." As Belfast said as she helped Caster.

"Oh, okay. Thanks." Caster said as he sat down. 'This is the most comfortable chair I sat in years!'

Then he looked to his right, he saw a little girl sitting on one of the chairs. She looks like a Sakura Empire member.

"Good afternoon." The girl looked at Caster on her left.

"Who might you be?" Caster asked. He never saw her before.

"Nagato. Soul of the Sakura Empire's military. I see that you're the 2nd otherworlder right?"

"Uh, yes. My name is Edrich Caster. I do apologize for fighting your comrades." He stood up, faced her, and bowed.

"It's in the past. And after all, you have brought true peace in the Empire afterward. Everyone feels at ease."

"I did?" He said in confusion. But then again, he did make them realize that the Sirens were the true enemies. As he sat back down.

Hood, Wales, Illustrious, Formidable all sat down in the vicinity of the Commander, and Belfast just stood behind Caster as you know, a maid.

"The meeting isn't started yet?" Caster asked confused with the awkward silence in the room.

"Her 'Majesty' isn't here yet," Hood said to Caster who was sitting next to him.

'Majesty? The queen?' He thought.

Then the door on the other side of the room opened. Seeing one person behind it.

"Good afternoon, everyone. It seems that her Majesty couldn't come." The girl said to the people inside the room. She took a gander in the room and immediately detected Caster. Sticking out like a sore thumb.

"Are you the 'miracle' Commander?" The girl pointed at Caster.

"Me?" Caster pointed at himself.

"Yes, you. We would like to thank you for your efforts." The girl thanked Caster.

"It's nothing. And please tell me your name. You haven't introduced yourself." Caster asked her instead.

"My name is Warspite. The personal assistant of her Majesty's Queen Elizabeth. Current record-holder of the longest range hit on a moving object with guns." She said while standing up proud.

"Cool, but I wanna hear about the meeting." Caster scratched his head.

"Alright. Straight to the point, I see." Warspite said before sitting down on her chair.

"Why did our Majesty isn't here?" Hood asks Warspite before the meeting starts.

'Queen? That HAS to be Queen Elizabeth right?' He thought. 'So, that old lady is here?' He thought before he hesitantly raised his hand.

"Question, who is your 'Majesty'?"

"Oh, it's Queen Elizabeth," Warspite answered in a simple manner.

'Should I ask it? Should I ask it?' He said to himself panicking. He can't put his hand down. 'Ah, screw it.'

"Who is she?" Then after Caster said that, it literally felt that everyone's eyes in the room were all fixated on him. Except for Nagato. She couldn't care less.

'Oh, god. Please remind me that I'm on Royal Navy's soil...' He facepalmed but her Royal Navy friends weren't offended in fact, Hood was patting him on the back.

But Warspite though, she wouldn't have ANY of it. She berated Caster and lecturing him about Queen Elizabeth for a good 5 MINUTES. No stopping for her breath at all. Hood and others tried calming Warspite down but to no avail.

"You should know about Queen Elizabeth after this. Get me?" Warspite asked Caster in pure annoyance. And she was standing up from her chair.

"Yes, I'll read about it." Caster facepalmed. "I regret everything..." He whispered.

"Okay, shall we proceed?" Nagato suggested. And that question finally calmed Warspite down.

"Okay. I'll let it slide." Warspite said sitting down on her chair. "We're currently planning about the 2nd major assault on the Sirens. And my Majesty wanted you two to be invited to join us." She explained the situation at hand.

Nagato was slightly tilted. It was not that long ago that the Azur Lane fleet won against the Sirens. But another one? But she didn't voice her opinion. She was about to do just that but Caster stepped in.

"And what good does that bring us?" Caster said in his most serious tone yet. As his aura of authority loomed over the whole room.

"We can keep the Sirens down and could cripple them entirely." Warspite reasoned with Caster. Who was shocked with just straight disagreement of Caster.

"No. And I am pretty sure Nagato doesn't agree with the idea too." Caster shook his head. And Warspite and others were shocked.

Nagato just looked on as she doesn't want to be in the middle of a dispute.

"Give me a good reason this instant!" Warspite demanded.

"The purpose of the plan is to 'kick the Sirens while they're down.' Correct?" He laid back on his chair with calmness.

Everyone nodded.

"That's smart on our heads, but a pain to execute." Caster declared. "And if we're going to attack them, that also means that we'll have to go to their territory. And death only awaits us there." He added.

Warspite could only stutter. As he was right. But again, she was taught that the Queen's orders were absolute.

"Besides, I made a promise with the girls after the 1st victory."

"What is that 'promise' perhaps?" Warspite questioned Caster.

"I promised them to give them well-needed rest after the victory. That's why Hood and Wales aren't as stressed anymore. I have ordered everyone in my fleet to sit back and relax." He explained his promise to Warspite and everyone in the room.

Then Warspite found a crack in his argument. "Then what you're doing is irresponsible."

"Oh, please. I know that the Sirens can show up at any moment. I, as a leader, do not let my guard down in the face of adversity showing up at any given moment." Caster stared down Warspite. In which she was just silent.

Nagato was content with Caster's reasoning but Warspite, on the other hand, wasn't. He had a very good point. But disobeying Queen Elizabeth's orders are like a death sentence. And Caster did just that. Disobeyed the commands of royalty.

"I keep my word and my promises. That's all it is. And fighting relentlessly will only bring peril to both sides." Caster said as he stood up from his chair. "Excuse me, ladies." As he walked out of the meeting room.

Everyone in the room was shocked that he just walked out of the meeting room. Everyone thought that he was acting arrogant but he did make a good point that could have saved the Royal Navy and Sakura Empire from impending doom at the hands of the Sirens.

"Who does he think he is!?" Warspite slams her fist on the table. Surprising everyone. "Queen Elizabeth will come for his head."

Hood calmly stood up in defense of Caster. "Warspite, Nagato, and Formidable, you may not know this, but Commander was also a former Commander in his world."

Then Wales also stood up and continued. "An Army Commander to be exact."

"He may know the pains of war better than any of us in the room," Hood said.

Nagato and Warspite were shocked.

"Tell me a reason to believe you," Warspite asked Hood.

"Why would we lie to you?" Hood answered. Then Warspite just went silent.

=================

Outside the meeting room, Caster was on a terrace looking over the ocean and the beautiful garden down below.

Javelin and Unicorn, who were not in the meeting room, heard what they were talking about and the argument. And so, they followed him to the terrace and they were worried sick about him.

"Why, Commander?" Javelin asked as she was slightly sad.

As Unicorn just hugged Caster on the waist.

He kneeled down to the level of Javelin and Unicorn.

"Look, I may look irresponsible right now, but you girls before I arrived were always in constant fear of the Sirens. And I want that worry to be removed off your minds."

"And a leader must take drastic measures to give their comrades comfort even in wartime... Last time I didn't follow that rule, that cost my comrades their lives. They were bombarded with an airstrike in the middle of the night."

"And I will not lose you all." He pats the two on the head before walking away.

Word Count: 4154 Words.

5/3/20
9:40 PM