137: Chapter 137 Drunkenness

"Ah... good evening, Pearl."

"You've lost weight, Commander."

"Erm, that's good, at least I'm much healthier now, right?" Li Ming patted his stomach and said.

The pure white Seraphim hugged him. This time, Li Ming had none of the imposing air he displayed when doting on his own Destroyers, once again becoming the fool completely under the big sister's control.

Seeing his flustered state, the gentle, kind, and intellectual sailing ship lady did not launch another offensive; the current level was sufficient.

"Everyone, please follow me. Gang Yishawa and Royal Fortune have arranged dinner."

Leading a whole nest of Ship Girls, big and small, onto Royal Fortune's pirate ship... or perhaps it should be called an expedition ship now? After all, Royal Fortune's Hurricane Squad and this ship now possessed their own legal documents and exploration permits, and they would no longer engage in privateering.

Saint Martin and Lime were guarding the ship. On normal days, this wouldn't be necessary, but now was the best opportunity to perform in front of the Commander.

Therefore, Gang Yishawa naturally assigned Pearl—who hadn't yet reunited with their Commander due to official duties—along with her two top aides to handle the Commander's reception.

She herself was naturally preparing dinner, while also calling upon the other members of the Hurricane Squad who were still capable of working.

"It's too risky, Commander." Pearl, leading the way at the front (although after the great adventure, being on Royal Fortune's flagship felt almost like home to Li Ming), suddenly uttered this sentence without any context.

"Huh? What's wrong?" Li Ming was taken aback.

"Coming to this continent personally is too dangerous."

Li Ming shook his head and didn't answer her.

By this time, the group had already taken their seats around the large dining table that had been cleared.

Apart from Fujian, Laffey, Ayanami, and Javelin at Plata Port, and Golden Deer handling work at the main port, all the Ship Girls Li Ming had found and the newly accepted girls were here.

"Commander, don't just sit there!" Royal Fortune came out carrying a huge platter of roast chicken, "Come give me a hand!"

"Coming."

Li Ming immediately stood up to help fetch the utensils.

In the kitchen, Royal Fortune winked at Li Ming, "Commander, how's Pearl?"

"She seems to be doing alright, why?"

Royal Fortune nearly choked, "No, Commander, are you really clueless or are you pretending?"

Li Ming shrugged and rinsed the bowls and utensils with water again.

Marie, who had just finished washing her hands, hugged him from behind, "Alright, let's not talk about this... Commander, hurry and go sit down."

"Mhm..."

Li Ming took the bowls and chopsticks out, while Marie turned her head and glared fiercely at her captain comrade, simultaneously dragging Dolphin out from under the table.

"Captain?"

"I know."

Royal Fortune took out her best wine from the liquor cabinet—although her Commander didn't particularly like drinking, he had mentioned in messages that he'd have to learn to drink a bit in the future, otherwise there might be problems.

Naturally, she was overjoyed about this. As the second-in-command of the Hurricane Fleet, how could the Commander not know how to drink?

Knowing how to drink is what makes a good sailor!

Carrying two bottles of wine into the hall, "Commander~ today we drink until we're drunk!"

Li Ming watched her happy expression, swallowed hard, and nodded.

Royal Fortune surveyed the scene. This time, it seemed the household was full of kids?

A total of eight Destroyer kids and one tank kid, theoretically all of whom shouldn't and couldn't drink.

Z23 could be excluded, as she also needed to participate in banquets and such, so she naturally drank.

So that left seven, plus a Commander who wasn't very good at drinking.

Fortunately, there was also juice on the ship, well-preserved.

Gary Adventure rolled out a whole barrel of grape juice from the warehouse—this was actually meant to be fermented into wine, but the fermentation hadn't started yet.

"Alright, alright, everyone dig in quickly!"

Royal Fortune sat opposite Li Ming—after all, the spaces around her Commander were already completely occupied? Everyone had tried their best to squeeze next to him.

Fortunately, Li Ming was clever and had placed A6 and Alert on his left and right beforehand, avoiding the fate of being flanked.

However, it wasn't long before Alert protested:

"Why am I also having juice?"

"It's better for kids to drink juice."

"I'm from the Northern Parliament, I can drink!"

"Even Northern Parliament Ship Girls have their alcohol strictly limited by adults in the port." Royal Fortune thought for a moment, "You can have a little, but not too much."

Although still a bit dissatisfied, Alert accepted.

Li Ming patted her head... the number of little heads needing patting seemed to be increasing.

So many Destroyers, and even sailing ships and a certain aircraft carrier...

He shook his head. Seeing everyone looking at him, he shrank his neck slightly, "Why are you looking at me? Let's eat!"

"Let's eat, let's eat!" Royal Fortune quickly announced, while Anshan had already started eating on her own.

After all this time, A6 had become proficient with chopsticks, and at this moment, her speed with them was surprisingly fast.

The Iris Libre children weren't the type to be rowdy, so the dining table remained relatively quiet.

Royal Fortune always found various reasons for everyone to toast, but Li Ming had a feeling she... not just her, but several of the big sisters' gazes remained fixed on him.

It seemed she just wanted him to keep drinking.

Not refusing her, Li Ming downed several glasses of wine in a row. To be honest, this was the first time he'd drunk this much.

Before, he'd only drunk low-alcohol beer; the strongest was Grand Wusu. As for wine, he'd basically never touched it.

After just a few rounds like this, Li Ming already felt a bit dizzy. But remembering everyone was still at the table, he couldn't very well beg off and had to keep drinking.

Although somewhat worried about his drinking conduct, Li Ming tried his best to stay lucid, right up until he completely lost control.

The gazes of several big sisters seemed to grow a bit more intense, and even the children seemed a bit odd.

Was it an illusion?

Li Ming wasn't sure. He still felt alcohol wasn't a good thing.

"So weak..." Alert smacked her lips, then looked at Li Ming, "Commander?... Commander, are you okay?"

"I... I'm fine." Li Ming felt his consciousness was still relatively clear and answered.

Another glass of wine went down. Li Ming pulled Alert over and hugged her.

"Wah? Commander, what are you doing?"

Alert, who hurriedly swallowed the food in her mouth, complained. Then she realized her Commander had rested his chin on her head and stopped moving.

"Huh...?"

Asleep... asleep?

...