Chapter 21: Naval Curry

In the end, Nengdai still, under Banrenma's pulling, did not go to Qin Ge's room to slash him, but the two shipgirls also gained a clear understanding of their commander's emotional intelligence.

So when Qin Ge finished cramming knowledge at noon and called them to eat, that carefree demeanor made them confirm that their commander really wasn't very smart in some aspects.

Arriving at the cafeteria, Yixian continued to smile while standing by the console, but unlike in the morning, at noon they needed to order food.

"Good afternoon, Commander Qin Ge, it seems you've already summoned your own shipgirls, and indeed there are two of them." Yixian said in surprise. Although I had already heard from Fushun that this Commander Qin Ge was not simple, I never expected that he would, on his first Big Build today, produce two Super Rare Shipgirls.

"Oh, let me introduce you: this is the Sakura Empire's Nengdai, and this is the Royal's Banrenma." Qin Ge said with a smile to Yixian.

"Hmm, I see. Hehe, since today is the first time you've built shipgirls, as a senior I can't shortchange you, so today I'll treat you to lunch." Yixian said with a smile.

"Ah, there's no need for that," Qin Ge said, feeling a bit embarrassed.

"It's nothing, please have a seat. As for Commander Qin Ge, will you just have whatever?" Yixian said with a smile.

"Hmm." Qin Ge nodded, then followed Yixian as she turned to cook for them, and the three of Qin Ge also sat at a nearby table.

Facing his two shipgirls, Qin Ge smiled and said, "This afternoon I'll go to the Dean to ask about ship equipment; once I've equipped you two with ship equipment, we can do some practical training."

"Hmm, thank you, Commander." Banrenma immediately excitedly said to Qin Ge, because for the two of them, only her combat power is incomplete, as she still lacks two fighter squadrons, so Qin Ge's going to the Dean is mainly for her.

"What's there to thank for, since I'm your commander and you're my shipgirl, I must take responsibility for you." Qin Ge said with a smile.

Banrenma glanced at the usually calm Nengdai, turned her head to Qin Ge and said, "The commander's words are sometimes truly moving, but sometimes..."

"What's wrong?" Qin Ge asked, puzzled.

Just as Qin Ge was puzzledly asking Banrenma, Nengdai turned her head to him and said, "Do you usually like to tease girls, Commander?"

"???" Qin Ge instantly had a black question mark over his head: "Tease girls? How could that be possible? I've lived this long, and aside from today shaking your hands, I've probably never touched a girl otherwise, so I don't really understand what you're saying, Nengdai."

After hearing Qin Ge's explanation, Nengdai seemed to understand something and asked him, "Then Commander, what do you think our relationship with you is now?"

"Comrades-in-arms!" Qin Ge blurted out, "We'll face war and death together in the future—what else could we be if not comrades-in-arms?"

Nengdai immediately understood Qin Ge's previous behavior; his nature doesn't make a strong gender distinction between shipgirls, but because they share the same ideals, he naturally regards his shipgirls as future comrades-in-arms. That's also why he previously asked those unrestrained questions.

Meanwhile, Banrenma also seemed to understand something, and couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief: after all this, it turned out the commander was desperately trying to understand her, while she had been using ordinary methods to try to understand Qin Ge, leading to this misunderstanding. But one fact cannot be denied: Qin Ge's intelligence in some aspect is indeed very low.

With the misunderstanding cleared up, Banrenma happily chatted with Qin Ge again, and this time she became the one asking questions while Qin Ge became the one answering.

"Commander, what do you usually like to do?"

"Aside from physical training, I just read books."

"Physical training?"

"Exactly, I currently have to insist on running five kilometers every morning and evening, so that after gaining a strong physique, I can always be battle-ready."

"Then Commander, when did you start learning about our shipgirls?"

"This is relatively short, or rather it started just two days ago, so compared to the professionalism expected of a commander, I lag far behind others; I also know little about shipgirls now, aside from some basic tactical theory, everything is still being learned."

"I see, then Commander, do you feel you can catch up with others' progress before the school term starts?"

"Probably yes, there's still about a week's time, enough for me to roughly read some books about you shipgirls, as well as basic combat and tactics-related material."

Thus they went back and forth with questions and answers until Yixian brought their food, at which point they stopped.

However, what intrigued Qin Ge was that the two shipgirls' meals were completely different from his; in front of them was a plate with something like a yellow chick-shaped rice ball, and beside the rice ball was something resembling curry sauce, so Qin Ge immediately recalled something he'd seen in a book this morning and asked Yixian, "Is this, naval curry?"

Yixian smiled and nodded, "That's right."

Qin Ge curiously looked at the naval curry on the table and said, "I read that eating this gives shipgirls an increase in proficiency; I don't know if that's true or not."

"Of course it's true." Yixian smiled and said, "Although shipgirls can also eat ordinary human food, after eating that it only maintains ordinary consumption, just like humans. But food like this naval curry is specially made for shipgirls; after eating it they not only maintain ordinary consumption but also gain some proficiency increase."

"However, I don't know the specific principle, but all shipgirls who have eaten it say their proficiency has increased to some extent. Moreover, especially those with lower proficiency gain more, while after becoming highly proficient the effect isn't as noticeable."

Qin Ge looked at the naval curry before him, listened to Yixian's explanation, and suddenly felt that this naval curry was like the experience packs his friends had told him about. If we translate shipgirls' proficiency into game levels, and breakthroughs into rank upgrades, then everything becomes easy to understand.

Thus Qin Ge turned to ask Yixian, "Yixian, may I ask how much one serving of this naval curry costs?"

Yixian gave a slight smile, "It's not expensive; one serving only needs 100 units of supplies or 50 units of special oil."

Qin Ge's first reaction was that it wasn't expensive, but he immediately thought of something: not every student is as wealthy as him after building. Therefore, for an ordinary commander, this naval curry would be a luxury, so he immediately understood why Yixian earlier said this meal was on her and he didn't need to pay.