Fleet

"..."

William looked at Halsey, not knowing what to say.

To be honest.

Without this woman, Umbrella's Containment Operation would not have gone so smoothly. There would have been no Hive, underground Research Center, and so on.

She was definitely the best "gift" William had ever received.

"Hmm..."

Seeing William remain silent for so long, Halsey pursed her lips and puffed out her cheeks.

She gave him a resentful look, as if expressing her dissatisfaction with her boss.

Seeing this, William tossed the documents onto the table. He gently slipped his left arm around Halsey's waist and brushed aside her bangs with his right hand.

Smiling, he asked, "What's wrong? Are you angry with me?"

"Hmph~"

Halsey turned her head away and said grumpily, "I'm not angry! I'm not even anything to you. I'm just an employee!"

"Heh heh." William found her reaction even more amusing.

He reached out and cupped Halsey's cheeks, making her look him in the eye. "Tell me, what reward do you want?"

Hearing this, Halsey dropped her pretense of anger and blinked at him. "Can it be anything?"

"I'll agree to anything within my ability," William replied seriously.

"Really~? You're the best, Boss~"

Unable to contain her excitement after getting his promise, Halsey rose onto her tiptoes and lightly pecked William on the cheek with her small lips.

Then she released William, turned toward the construction site beneath the glass wall, and muttered softly:

"A reward? What should I ask for? I don't lack money..."

!

William, on the other hand, was nowhere near as calm.

Standing behind Halsey, he involuntarily touched the cheek she had kissed. His eyes went blank as he grinned foolishly.

Having inherited all of William's memories and emotions, he of course knew that his former self had indulged in countless pleasures. Some of those scenes were still exceptionally clear.

But the current him was different.

He took relationships extremely seriously.

Since coming to this world, the woman William had spent the most time with was Halsey. On top of that, there were all their experiences together...

If she asks to be my girlfriend, that would be a pretty good reward, William thought.

As for children, boys or girls? Forget it. One of each. His thoughts had already drifted to married life.

"I've decided~"

Halsey turned around and said with a smile, "From now on, you're not allowed to call me Halsey. You have to call me Catherine. Got it?"

"That's all?" William was a little dumbfounded.

Wait, something seemed wrong with this script.

"Um, are you sure? You've made up your mind?" William asked tentatively.

"Mm-hmm!" Halsey nodded firmly. "I've decided. That's what I want."

"All right."

William sounded a little disappointed. "Then... I'll do as you say, Catherine."

"Mm~" Halsey looked extremely pleased. "Sure enough, this is the best reward~"

"Ah..."

William sighed and walked to the glass wall to look down.

Seeing the five Paris-class heavy frigates under construction, he couldn't help asking:

"By the way, Catherine, are these really just frigates?

They're nearly six hundred meters long—twice the size of the Nimitz-class carriers currently used by the United States."

Hearing this, Halsey returned to her serious expression.

She stood beside William with her arms crossed, gazing down as she said calmly:

"Yes, these are just frigates.

A frigate's primary functions are combat, using its heavy armor to draw fire for the fleet, and providing support, among other things."

"A fleet?" William glanced at Halsey.

"That's right." Halsey nodded slightly and pointed at the five frigates below. "From left to right, their names are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, and Ares."

"Aren't those the Twelve Main Gods from Greek mythology? Wait... you mean..." William seemed to understand.

"That's right."

Halsey poked William in the lower back with her finger and teased, "Looks like my boss really does understand me~"

She continued, "Originally, I hoped to use twelve frigates as the foundation, followed by four Titan-class destroyers, and finally one Olympus-class carrier flagship...

to create a fleet belonging exclusively to Umbrella.

Sigh." She shook her head.

"But Umbrella's annual liquid funds are only around 170 billion.

After deducting essential expenses such as employee salaries, land taxes, rent, and so on, only around 140 billion remains available.

So it's enough to build only five frigates, along with the carrier-based aircraft, transport aircraft, and other equipment they require."

"Mm, that's true." William nodded.

Since the beginning of the year, Umbrella's funds had been continuously transferred in large amounts to Delphi.

The figure of 170 billion sounded substantial, but in reality, it was not enough.

However, Halsey had managed to keep the cost of each frigate to 20 billion, which showed how much effort she had put into it.

After all, a single nuclear-powered carrier in the United States cost 13 billion to build, and construction took five to seven years.

By comparison, the Paris-class frigates offered extremely high value for money.

Halsey paid no attention to what William was thinking and continued:

"Although I don't understand politics very well, I know that the United States won't simply give up.

So Delphi moved a large amount of the company's available funds to barely assemble a small fleet.

Once it reaches low Earth orbit, it will give every country in the world comprehensive suppression.

Not only will it be able to launch surprise attacks on heads of state at any time and from anywhere, it will also be able to intercept any intercontinental missile, rendering their nuclear weapons useless.

Only by making Umbrella the dominant power can we better contain anomalous phenomena."

Halsey was right.

From beginning to end, William had never genuinely considered cooperating with the United Nations, even after the appearance of anomalous Containment Objects and a common enemy for humanity.

Those politicians and capitalists rotten to the core would still value profit above everything else.

The day Umbrella's fleet took off would mark the beginning of its complete break with every country, especially the United States.

Compared with slowly eroding and controlling the various countries with money, William preferred crushing them with overwhelming force.

Besides, with Canada—the world's second-largest country by territory—as its foundation and backing, along with Halsey's research into hydrogen energy,

Umbrella would have more than enough personnel and material support. There would be no worries whatsoever.

However, that was at least a year away.

"Boss."

"Hmm?"

William, lost in thought, asked after hearing Halsey call him, "What is it?"

"My work in Delphi is more or less complete, and construction of Thor's Hammer over at the Hive and in Herendine is progressing as well, so..."

Halsey spoke somewhat bashfully:

"Can I go to Minos Island and personally teach the little Spartans? Those teachers... how should I put it? They're just too low-level! I don't trust them."

"That? No problem." William had no objections.