The Frail Commander

(Just leaving a zombie here for now. Feel free to feed it.)

The salty sea breeze blew in through the open window, sweeping away the chaotic smells in the bedroom. The sound of rolling waves and the cries of unfamiliar seabirds drifted into the room, waking its owner.

On the soft bed, Su Luo woke from his sleep, his face somewhat pale. Looking at Yixian, who was already dressed and sitting quietly by the bed watching him, he felt a little weary.

Although Yixian was dressed beautifully now, as gorgeous as a lotus emerging from the water, Su Luo was not in the mood at all. He only felt utterly empty, or rather, extremely weak.

It had been some time since he had arrived at the port area through a stroke of outrageous luck.

From the surprise of first arriving at this port area that belonged to him, and the shyness and discomfort of being surrounded every day by ship girls with stunning faces and eye-catching figures, he had gradually become accustomed to this life surrounded by ship girls.

So accustomed that... his body had become terribly weak because of certain indescribable things.

He desperately needed rest!

Of course, to be fair, the ship girls could not take all the blame for the current situation. He had only himself to blame for being too young back then, for being dazzled by the generous bosoms of those ship girl big sisters and handing out so many rings...

When he had first arrived and realized he had so many married ship girls, Su Luo had been quite excited. But very soon, he was no longer excited...

Still, fortunately, every married ship girl had already shared intimate contact with him, their Commander. For the next while, he would probably have some time to recuperate... probably!

Yixian had been the one by his side last night.

As an Eastern Faction ship girl with a gentle and considerate personality, Yixian understood her Commander's physical condition well. She had no intention of doing morning exercises with him, which made Su Luo sigh in relief while also feeling a tiny bit disappointed. Still, considering his body, he decisively set aside that faint disappointment.

Yixian sat by the bed, gazing at Su Luo's face with deep fascination. Her breathing was so soft that she seemed to have forgotten how to breathe. Only after seeing her Commander wake up did she snap out of that entranced state.

Seeing that her Commander was clearly still sleepy, Yixian spoke considerately.

"Commander, if you are still tired, why not sleep a little longer? It is still early!"

Yixian's words drew the attention of the others in the room. The maid team members cleaning their Commander's bedroom slowed their movements as well. Belfast, the head maid, walked slowly to the bedside. Seeing the lingering drowsiness on Su Luo's face, a trace of apology flashed across her own.

"My apologies, Master. We disturbed your rest."

"It is all right, Belfast. I am not especially sleepy. Since I am already awake, I will not sleep any longer!"

Su Luo sat up in bed, and the thin blanket slid from his body, revealing his fairly muscular upper body.

In an instant, every member of the maid team turned her eyes toward Su Luo. Their gazes all carried varying degrees of a different sort of meaning.

Belfast did not look at her Commander with the same peculiar gaze as the other maids, nor did Yixian.

After all, as the Commander's married ship girls, both of them knew every part of him by heart.

Seeing that Su Luo had sat up, Belfast knew that her Commander had no intention of continuing to sleep. She therefore signaled Sirius and Dido, who were standing nearby, to help Su Luo put on the brand-new Commander uniform that had been prepared in advance.

As for why it was a brand-new uniform... the Commander's clothes from last night had honorably retired! After all... not every piece of clothing could withstand a ship girl's tearing.

This had already become routine. Whenever the Commander rested with one of his married ship girls, the maid team would prepare a new uniform for him. To date, no Commander's uniform had ever survived the hands of a married ship girl.

Thinking of this, Belfast subconsciously glanced at Yixian.

Who would have thought that even Yixian, with her gentle and quiet personality, had such a side to her?

Su Luo had no idea what the head maid was thinking. He was in a bit of a predicament now. Since he had rested with a married ship girl last night, he was currently wearing nothing at all. Normally, he would put on some underwear before the maid team arrived, but today, he had gotten up too late...

Thus, Su Luo found himself in a deadlock. Should he throw off the blanket and let Dido and Sirius dress him? Or should he ask the maid team to leave first and dress himself?

Considering the actual situation, Su Luo felt somewhat embarrassed. Combined with the utterly undisguised stares from the maid team around him, he leaned toward the second option, but...

"Ah... how could this happen... Master really is going to abandon poor Dido..."

Before Su Luo could voice his refusal, he merely reached out and held down the blanket to stop Dido from pulling it away. Noticing Su Luo's action, Dido began muttering in front of him with a dejected expression.

Hearing Dido's muttering, Su Luo's mouth twitched.

That was exactly the problem! As a commander who cared deeply for his ship girls, Su Luo knew Dido's personality very well.

If Su Luo rejected Dido today, he did not even dare imagine how devastated she would become given her personality.

"How could that be, Dido? How could I ever abandon you?"

Dido, who had lowered her head, looked up at Su Luo after hearing his words. Her face was filled with questioning.

"Really, Master? Master really will not abandon me, right? Can Dido trust Master? I can trust you, right? Ah... Dido will be satisfied as long as Master does not deceive me..."

Dido's relentless questioning made Su Luo sigh inwardly. He knew there was no getting past this hurdle today!

When Dido tried once more to lift the blanket, Su Luo closed his eyes and let her pull it away.

The moment the blanket was pulled back, Dido's cheeks flushed slightly upon seeing what had been hidden beneath it. But before she could say anything, Sirius, who had been waiting nearby and had seen the same thing Dido had, spoke to Su Luo, whose eyes were tightly shut in obvious embarrassment.

"Please hold your head high, wear a radiant smile, and shine upon this world to your heart's content! My proud... Master!"

With that, Sirius worked with Dido, and the two began dressing Su Luo.

Belfast and Yixian stood to the side watching them. Both wore silent smiles, especially as they watched Su Luo's expression, which looked resistant but was not truly resistant at all.

The other members of the maid team also watched Dido and Sirius with obvious envy on their faces.

Once Su Luo was dressed, he endured the awkwardness and ignored the maids' stares. After having breakfast delivered by the maid team with Yixian, he left the bedroom together with her.

The maid team did not accompany Su Luo. Even Sirius, Su Luo's personal guard maid, was stopped by Belfast. They had other things to attend to.

Su Luo was heading to the office. Yixian only walked with him for part of the way before leaving, intending to return to her dormitory and prepare some nourishing medicinal cuisine for her beloved Commander.

When Su Luo arrived outside the office, he saw Warspite already standing at the entrance in guard mode. He knew that his secretary ship had entered work mode. He winked at Warspite as she greeted him, then pushed open the door and entered the office.

Entering the office, Su Luo looked toward the desk on one side. The enormous desk was piled high with documents, and his petite secretary ship sat behind it, completely hidden by the stacks of paperwork.

Only when Su Luo walked closer did he finally see the secretary ship behind the mountain of documents: Queen Elizabeth.

"Damn it, you actually made me wait this long!"

Seeing Su Luo arrive, Queen Elizabeth showed him no mercy as she complained.

Before Su Luo arrived, she had already processed some of the documents, or rather, completed some preliminary sorting. There was not actually that much that truly required attention. The reason there were so many documents... was entirely because of Su Luo.

Queen Elizabeth pointed at a stack of letter-like items beside her and complained to Su Luo irritably.

"These are all invitations for you. The Eastern Faction ship girls are inviting you to play chess and drink tea, Northern Union ship girls are inviting you to drink, Iron Blood ship girls are inviting you to pray together at church, and that Princess Lala from Delubik Star is once again asking whether she can move her laboratory into the office... Of course, those are not the most important part. The most important thing is..."

At that point, Shibai's fair little face flushed red with both embarrassment and anger!

Through gritted teeth, she said to Su Luo,

"Taiho of Heavy Sakura wants to know why you, as her producer, still have not CAST HER ON THE COUCH!"