Chapter 478: Diplomacy and Balance

Rest time is always brief; Qin Ge and the shipgirls spend most of their time on the sea surface, either fighting or resting.

As the Iron Blood shipgirls' training level rose quickly, battles no longer took as long as before to finish. Basically, each battle didn't last long at the start, and with Peter Strasse's time lock, all enemies in the sea area couldn't move.

Using this time, the Iron Blood Fleet could destroy a large portion of the enemies, so battles became increasingly smooth.

"Welcome back, another splendid battle." Qin Ge smiled and said to everyone who had just finished the battle.

"Now I feel the fleets in the level‑4 sea area are becoming less and less challenging, Commander. When will we go to a more dangerous sea area?" Peter Strasse said, "Only a more dangerous sea area can demonstrate our fleet's current overall strength."

Qin Ge said helplessly, "We've only been at Sun Moon Island for less than a year, so applying for a rotation change is impossible."

"Even though our strength is rising quickly, others' strength still can't keep up. Although they are gradually moving toward the level‑4 sea area now, if we were to go to the Front Line at this time, it would still be too early."

"Although I don't know if this suggestion will upset you, I feel our presence now far surpasses that of an ordinary commander, and even compared to some weaker factions it's no problem."

"The path of the strong is always lonely. I know the Commander means well for the Grand Fleet's commanders, but their steps have seriously hindered our development." Peter Strasse said.

Qin Ge chuckled, "How could I not know?"

"Then why do you still choose this?" Peter Strasse said strangely.

"Prince Ou Gen smiled and said, 'Peter, don't always focus only on time and efficiency; sometimes human thoughts are the most complex.'"

"What do you mean?" Peter Strasse asked.

"Bisimai said in a low voice, 'Even you can see our fleet's development speed is too fast; wouldn't other factions notice? Moreover, our port area still has personnel from other factions attached, who report our situation to them every day.'"

"As of now, our fleet already has three Awakened Shipgirls, and five more are undergoing Awakening. Besides the original Monarch and Banrenma, Ou Gen, Nengdai, and Ling Bo have begun Awakening; we can foresee that the number of Awakened Shipgirls in our port will keep growing."

"It's even possible to surpass the combined total of the Nine Major Factions. Do you think that, under such pressure, if we chose to develop alone, the Nine Major Factions would cooperate with us?"

"But we haven't harmed the Nine Major Factions' interests, and we are also pioneers in fighting the Sirens—why can't we cooperate together?" Z23 beside them asked.

Qin Ge chuckled, "Because they can't guarantee it—just like humans, although we're all humans, we've given rise to different beliefs and different thoughts; why can't shipgirls do the same?"

"So after having the Grand Fleet, it means we will stand together with human commanders; our purpose is to fight the Sirens, and this is still a choice that lets all sides calm down."

"But isn't the Commander human? The Commander can represent human commanders." Z23 said.

Qin Ge laughed and sat down; Ou Gen Prince beside him answered Z23's question: "It's simple—because the Commander is not a human of this world, so he cannot represent the will of humanity in this world."

"Besides us knowing the Commander is an otherworldly person, Donghuang's Yixian also knows this. Although Yixian hasn't told the other factions yet, we can't count on her keeping it secret."

"So complicated." Z23 said.

"Hehe, this is balance." Prince Ou Gen said, "Although our development speed has become slower, we have earned the reputation of the Nine Major Factions, so we have no worries behind us."

"If we developed alone, without the Nine Major Factions backing us and without humanity providing supplies, where would our oil come from? Where would our supplies come from?"

"War and diplomacy aren't that simple—even if our strength surpassed the Nine Major Factions' total, without supplies and support, how long could we hold out? Would we end up relying on the Sirens in the end?"

"Well, that won't happen." Z23 exclaimed in surprise.

"There's no such thing as will or won't; when the time comes to make a choice, each faction will prioritize its own gains and losses." Prince Ou Gen said.

"I have a question." Weixi said to Qin Ge.

Qin Ge nodded, "Go ahead, I'm listening."

"If that's the case, we can also develop within this framework. The last batch of shipgirls we summoned have basically reached full break, so why is the Commander reluctant to summon the next batch?"

Qin Ge chuckled, "Actually our fleet's strength is already nearing saturation; the level‑4 sea area we face is only this big, and if we summoned more people, they would occupy more resources."

"So I want to temporarily keep the fleet at this number, and after we switch to a larger battlefield, we'll summon the next batch of shipgirls."

"Moreover, we now have a reserve of ship drill data, so even newly summoned shipgirls can reach full break in a short time and keep up with our pace."

"There won't be a repeat of the past, where they needed long training or had to follow us timidly into battle."

"So that's the Commander's idea; I've been saying it's almost been a year and the Commander still hasn't summoned shipgirls." Weixi said.

Qin Ge chuckled, "Actually I hope you undergo a qualitative change; then even with a relatively small fleet we could still look down on all rivals."

"What the Commander said is right; when our strength reaches this fully trained level, the most important thing is to undergo Awakening, and only after Awakening will we give birth to greater combat power."

"As for whether the fleet's size is big or small, don't worry—we temporarily don't need that many shipgirls." Bisimai said.

"Hmm, we'll discuss that later; we will head to more dangerous regions, to larger sea areas, and when that time comes our building scale will need to expand—but that's for the future, not now."

"Our main purpose now is to continuously raise our training level, to undergo Awakening as much as possible, and along the way gather the resources needed by the rear bases." Qin Ge smiled.

"So everyone, go rest now; there will be another battle later."

"Yes!"