136: Chapter 136 Them

After classes ended in the afternoon, Li Ming declined Instructor Lauren's proposal for further testing on the grounds of having other matters to attend to, and quickly returned to his own quarters to take a bath and change clothes.

Li Ming was very quick in the bath. In less than ten minutes, he had finished washing up and came out to his room to change.

"Commander... is it time to go?" Terrible stretched lazily and climbed out of bed. "You look a bit tired..."

Li Ming shot her a speechless sidelong glance.

He had no idea who it was last night that took off their outerwear and just crawled into his bed, and then didn't sleep peacefully.

If she had been kicking the blankets in her sleep, he could have tolerated it, because he did that too. But the reality was that last night, she had purely and inadvertently been tempting him to make a mistake...

Although matters between a Ship Girl and her Commander probably shouldn't be described as 'making a mistake,' the way she had clung to him yesterday had indeed nearly kept him up all night.

"Hurry up and get out of bed. Dunkerque will be looking for us soon." Li Ming sighed helplessly, threw on his coat, and went to the bedside to drag her off the bed.

Terrible pursed her lips from an angle Li Ming couldn't see.

The one trait of being a block of dead wood remained as unshakeable as ever.

A6 lifted her head and glanced at them with her usual vacant, unfocused gaze, then turned back to continue playing her game.

"A6... you come too. We're going to Gang Yishawa's place today."

A6 put down the game console and got down from her equipment.

Terrible threw off the covers and climbed out of bed. No wonder Li Ming hadn't slept well yesterday. She had indeed taken off her outerwear, but for some unknown reason, she hadn't changed into pajamas. Instead, she had worn the bodysuit she had on under her coat and crawled into the covers.

And she hadn't taken a bath.

Li Ming immediately averted his gaze. Considering they had been delayed a bit yesterday because they were stopped by some hooligans on the road, Li Ming took the Tang sword hanging on the wall rack between the two other cold weapons.

It was forged when Royal Fortune came looking for him. Like the other han sword, it was actually more of a somewhat powerful decorative piece.

"Kano, we won't be back for dinner tonight. Can you manage on your own?"

"Going out to eat without me?" came a protest from Kano's room.

"Family dinner," Li Ming said expressionlessly.

"Ahem, ahem... have fun!"

Heading downstairs with Z23, who had also changed her clothes again, they found Alert and Anshan. The six of them made their way to the school gate.

"Terrible, you rascal, you actually snuck ahead..."

Under the curious gaze of the gatekeeper Ship Girl, Li Ming found himself surrounded by a large group of Destroyers.

Vicious, Indomitable, Intrepid, Triomphant.

Forbin, Lemaire.

That's right, not a single one missing.

Only now, he was somewhat at a loss.

He only had two hands, but there were six Destroyers looking at him with eager eyes.

Intrepid was fine, being an older child like Z23, but the others...

"...Everyone!"

He pulled the hilt of the Tang sword tucked at his waist to the back to avoid poking them.

Then he first picked up Vicious-chan.

A little girl with pure white hair tied up in a bun, dressed entirely in white—she was the blade of the church.

But in reality, she was just a lazy homebody.

The moment she latched onto Li Ming's neck, she seemed to instantly go limp, refusing to come down no matter what.

Her blue-grey eyes shimmered with white crosses. She was truly adorable.

"Stupid Commander, looking for you was exhausting..."

"My fault... I won't leave again, I promise. So can you come down for a bit?"

"No."

"Uh-huh... Anshan, sorry to trouble you."

Anshan shrugged, pulled Vicious off, and only then did Li Ming pick up Triomphant.

"You've all suffered!" The gentle and kind young knight-princess was lifted high by her Commander.

"Sniff... Commander..." Although she felt like crying, she still restrained her emotions. Her true duty was that of a knight, not the princess she appeared to be, so naturally she couldn't trouble her lord.

Rubbing her golden hair against his chest, she released herself from Li Ming's embrace and pushed him towards Indomitable.

Li Ming He then embraced the equally young knight princess.， The loyal and earnest little guy froze instantly.. But Li Ming took a moment to organize his thoughts..

"Sorry about that, running away with my tail between my legs before."

"Co-Commander, what are you saying?!" The earnest and easily fooled little one was startled. "I... I believe you had your own difficulties..."

"Then I can only thank you for your trust... Thank you."

"No need to thank me..."

Blushing, she nuzzled against Li Ming's chest for a moment, but ultimately her sense of shame prevailed. She broke free from his embrace and hid next to Vicious and Terrible.

Anshan placed Alert and A6 over there as well. Perfect, all the little ones gathered together.

Alert protested? That wasn't important, okay.

Li Ming looked towards Intrepid. The older knight quietly retreated behind Forbin and Lemaire, pushing the sisters in front of Li Ming.

"Ah, Commander!" The diligent, earnest Apprentice Knight and the passionate, upright Apprentice Knight were both embraced by Li Ming at once. The golden-haired older sister and the black-haired younger sister instantly flushed.

He didn't give them a chance to renew their vows of loyalty, because that was completely unnecessary. Instead, he vigorously ruffled their hair.

It wasn't until the older sister, Forbin, escaped that Li Ming finally stopped.

Finally, he hugged Intrepid.

The slightly older young knight, yet she was the perfect embodiment of knightly virtues.

Humility, honesty, compassion, valor, justice, sacrifice, honor, loyalty.

But for Li Ming, none of that was important. What mattered most was that she was still a shy child.

Dunkerque and Strasbourg, not far away, seemed to be in good spirits. But seeing that the time was about right, they leisurely walked over, giving Intrepid her last moments.

Wrapping his arms around Intrepid's waist, he lifted her up. Her height wasn't really that much greater than the others, so naturally, her Commander could easily handle her.

"Commander! Put me down now..."

Although shy, she didn't struggle. She only verbally reminded him, "Everyone's watching! The gatekeeper is watching too!..."

It wasn't until Li Ming felt a bit tired that he finally put her down. And at that moment, Dunkerque had finished counting heads.

"Commander, these three are..."

"That's right. The tall one is Anshan, the short ones are Alert and A6."

"Commander! I told you not to treat me like a child... Mmmph..."

Alert's protest was suppressed by Anshan with a head-pat. A6 just quietly observed Dunkerque and Strasbourg for a moment, then turned her gaze back to Li Ming.

"Ahem... we're heading to the port," Li Ming said. "Dunkerque, I'll have to ride on your rigging."

"At your service, Commander～"

...