Chapter 400

As the temperature gradually turned cold, the footsteps of Spring Festival also drew ever nearer; it seemed that because the Spring Festival was approaching, the Siren Fleet in the waters around Donghuang also decreased considerably.

This made Qinglong, who had been worried that many commanders would be leaving port because of the Spring Festival, let out a sigh of relief. At that moment she stood by the window gazing out at the boundless sea, as if thinking about something.

At that moment, the office door was knocked. The knocking startled Qinglong, who had been lost in thought, and she instinctively turned her body toward the door and said, "Please come in."

As Qinglong spoke, the office door opened in response, and a girl holding an envelope walked in.

"Director Qinglong, your letter," the girl said to Qinglong.

"Oh? Ke'erke, is this my private letter?" Qinglong asked Ke'erke doubtfully.

"Yes, Director, and it appears to have been sent from the Commander Academy," Ke'erke also said somewhat hesitantly.

"Commander Academy? Our Maritime Affairs Bureau isn't far from the Commander Academy, is there really a need to write a letter?" Qinglong said doubtfully, but she still walked over to Ke'erke's side and took the envelope from her hand.

The moment Qinglong picked up the letter, she saw the signature of the Commander Academy.

"A letter from the Prince of Wales? How mysterious—if there's something, why not just give me a call? At this close distance, is there really a need to write a letter?" Qinglong glanced at the familiar handwriting and muttered slightly.

Ke'erke beside her stuck out her tongue at Qinglong, saying, "Director, I've delivered the letter to you; I'll go attend to my duties now—call me anytime if you need anything."

"Hmm." Qinglong nodded at Ke'erke while opening the envelope.

Ke'erke darted off in a flash; Qinglong watched her retreating back, shook her head with a smile, then pulled out the contents of the envelope—only to find it wasn't the stationery she'd expected, but an invitation.

"An invitation? I haven't heard that the Commander Academy is holding any event—isn't it on vacation right now?" Qinglong looked at the invitation in her hand, muttering doubtfully to herself.

Although she couldn't guess what kind of invitation it was, she thought opening it would tell her, so Qinglong opened it and saw only the following written inside.

"Esteemed Director Qinglong, at the dawn of this new spring, we sincerely invite you to attend the Spring Festival Gala hosted by the Commander Academy; if you have time, please arrive at the banquet hall of the old Reception House of the Commander Academy before 8 p. m. on New Year's Eve."

"Moreover, if you could prepare one or two performances to take the stage, we would be most grateful."

Qinglong looked at the invitation, a faint smile curling the corner of her mouth, and murmured, "These people…"

While Qinglong was opening the invitation, the envoys of the other eight major factions were also opening theirs; upon seeing the content they were first stunned, then they couldn't help but smile.

These invitations were naturally prepared by Qin Ge, because he always felt that directly telling people would seem somewhat impolite.

It would be better to prepare the invitations like this and send them together to those one wishes to invite; that way, even if someone has no time and won't come, it won't be terribly awkward for either side.

After notifying everyone Qin Ge knew personally, the preparations for the Spring Festival Gala proceeded smoothly.

Compared to last year, when I still had to help out, this year's preparations require none of my assistance, because the shipgirls at home have already assigned all the tasks among themselves; I can only slip from upstairs to downstairs for a quick turn, then slip back down to upstairs.

Finally, with nothing else to do, Qin Ge simply slipped into Ling Bo's room and played video games together with a few destroyers.

Day by day passed, and the Spring Festival atmosphere in the academy grew ever stronger. The four sisters of the Anshan class, together with Yixian, Ninghai, and Ping Hai, began their annual work of decorating the academy.

Little red lanterns, big red lanterns, colored lights, spring couplets—these are indispensable. Even the shipgirl envoys of the eight major factions who had nothing to do these days all joined in the Commander Academy's preparations for Donghuang's Spring Festival.

While playing, they also learned about Donghuang's Spring Festival knowledge and customs, which counted as deepening their friendship in the midst of fun.

Finally, the time arrived for New Year's Eve; all guests who had received the invitations came on schedule. Under the welcome of Qin Ge and the Prince of Wales, everyone smiled and cheerfully walked toward the banquet hall.

By the time it was 8 p. m., all the instructors of the Commander Academy had arrived, including the envoys of all eight major factions and the Qinglong of the Maritime Affairs Bureau. Even more unexpectedly, the Donghuang General Command Department also sent personnel; the people they sent to this banquet were precisely Changchun, who had previously gone to the Sakura Empire together with Qin Ge and the others.

Under Biyu's hosting, this Spring Festival gathering officially began. Although Qin Ge had not expected everyone to prepare a program, to his surprise, almost every shipgirl who came had prepared a program.

Even the usually stern Qinglong prepared a flower-arrangement performance. Needless to say, the joint kagura dance performed by Akagi and Kaga left Qin Ge dumbfounded.

In short, this Spring Festival gala was held very successfully. Everyone was also very happy, here they set aside factional interests, set aside their mutual battles, and all that remained was enjoying this moment's joy.

However, with the conclusion of the Spring Festival gala, everything returned to the right track.

Qin Ge led the Royal shipgirls on sorties to carry out missions each day, while Bisimai and Weineituo each led their own groups on missions. After several months of training, Lisailiu also began joining Bisimai and Weineituo's ranks, bringing along the shipgirls she had trained with, together with Saint Zhende, and they all embarked on the journey of undertaking commissioned missions.

After the Lantern Festival passed, the originally quiet Commander Academy once again became lively, as the commanders who had left the academy began to return to school, and Qin Ge's second-year second semester officially kicked off.

Although it was a new semester, not much had changed; Qin Ge still did whatever he needed to do. Because his time was now completely his own, no one would come to demand anything of him, and he did not need constant reminders.

During this period, he also used his free time to finish writing the book on information rights that he had promised the Nine Major Factions. After handing the manuscript over to Dean Prince of Wales, the Prince of Wales quickly had copies made.

Qin Ge then handed them respectively to the envoy shipgirls of the other eight major factions, and as for Donghuang's copy, Prince of Wales personally delivered it to the General Command Department…