Chapter 90: An Unexpected Shipgirl Appears

Today the construction hall was surprisingly empty, probably because all the second‑year students had gone out on commission missions, while all the first‑year students except Qin Ge had gone to attend Maryland's martial arts class.

So this relatively quiet construction hall let Qin Ge relax quite a bit, after all, the last time he built Belfast, a few people had crowded behind him.

Although those people standing behind him wouldn't actually affect anything, he still felt some pressure—not the pressure of classroom lessons, but the pressure of envy, jealousy, and resentment.

He casually picked a heavy construction device, took out the supplies and Wisdom Cube from Belfast's side, and placed them in according to the device's requirements. Since he had done this several times before, Qin Ge was quite familiar with it.

After pressing the start button and a brief sound, no time number appeared on the device's display.

This made Qin Ge blink, he turned to the crowd and said, "Um… it looks like this attempt really failed."

"Maybe it's because your previous builds went too smoothly, Commander? Otherwise let's try again," Banrenma comforted Qin Ge.

"No, I'd already prepared for failure, but when it actually failed I finally understood why those commanders love and hate building at the same time…" Qin Ge said to Banrenma with a smile.

"Then Commander, keep going!" Banrenma made a clenched‑fist gesture and said to Qin Ge.

"Hmm!" Qin Ge nodded, then took two more Wisdom Cubes from under his feet and added 1500 units of supplies into the construction device.

After pressing the start button again, a roaring sound burst out instantly, and this time it lasted longer than before.

When the roaring stopped, a time number appeared on the device's screen!

5:15:00!

"5 hours 15 minutes? Why don't I see this number in the Shipgirl Compendium?" Qin Ge turned his head, a bit puzzled, and said to the few shipgirls.

The few shipgirls all shook their heads at the same time, and Nengdai said to Qin Ge, "Basically, any build taking over four hours is a capital ship, so five hours fifteen minutes should be a battleship from heavy construction."

Qin Ge nodded; although he was still doubtful about the time, after all this was the shipgirl he had built. So he took one Rapid Construction Tool from the toolkit and placed it into the device's slot.

When Qin Ge pressed the button, a rumbling roar began. Accompanying this sound, the device's hatch gradually opened, and a blinding golden light flashed out from within.

This golden light was more blinding than the light when he had built Banrenma, Nengdai, and Belfast; in an instant, smoke drifted from the hatch, filling the entire construction hall with haze.

This strange sight left Qin Ge somewhat stunned; in the Shipgirl Compendium's records, he had never heard of such a shipgirl existing.

But just as he was astonished, the hatch was fully open and the smoke began to dissipate as the hatch opened completely.

A woman with long, naturally curled silver‑gray hair appeared before Qin Ge and the others, wearing a red naval uniform, a black‑outer, red‑lined cape on her left arm, and holding a typical naval commander's sword in her hand.

When Qin Ge saw this shipgirl, he exclaimed in surprise, "It's…"

At that moment the woman addressed Qin Ge, "Greetings, Commander. I am Vittorio Veneto, flagship of the Sardinian Empire. Although this question may be somewhat offensive, do you have the confidence to command me?"

In this world, there is a type of shipgirl that is extremely rare, with only one existing per faction, and such shipgirls are usually the flagship of a faction.

For example, the Northern Union's flagship is the Soviet Alliance; the Iron Blood's flagship is Bismarck; the Iris and Vichy Tribunal's flagship is Richelieu; the Sakura Empire's flagship is Nagato; and the one before us, the Sardinian Empire's flagship, is Vittorio Veneto.

These shipgirls were among the first to be born, and after their birth no one could build them again; therefore many people have excluded them from the Shipgirl Compendium.

That's why Qin Ge found the five‑hour‑fifteen‑minute time so unfamiliar earlier; of course, some battleships are also absent from the Compendium for special reasons.

"Huh? Commander, are you having doubts about my question?" Seeing Qin Ge frozen in place, Vittorio Veneto assumed he was questioning her question and doubting her ability, so she asked.

"No, I'm just surprised that you were actually built by me." Qin Ge said, "Besides, please let me introduce myself. I am Qin Ge, and from now on I will be your commander. I believe my ability can bring out your full strength, so I hope you'll guide me in the days ahead."

Facing Qin Ge's modest yet confident tone, Vittorio Veneto smiled, stepped forward, and extended her right hand: "I was meant to be born with a grand design; after that nightmare night I took up the flag, yet I could not secure victory for my comrades… That's not a happy story. So, Commander, I have high hopes for you."

The Qin Ge from another world naturally understood what Vittorio Veneto meant. He smiled and took her outstretched hand, saying, "Don't worry, I'll live up to your expectations."

Vittorio Veneto was named to commemorate the final battle of Italy in the closing stages of World War I, the Battle of Vittorio Veneto; therefore this battleship bears all of Italy's early‑20th‑century glory.

After the Battle of Taranto she officially became the flagship of the Italian Royal Navy, and even with most capital ships damaged she led the fleet in constantly intercepting the Malta route, barely maintaining Italy's naval presence in the Mediterranean by her own strength.

After the Battle of Cape Spartivento, the Allies kept bombing the Naples port area, but Vittorio Veneto remained unscathed as if under divine protection, and even in January 1941 she became the Italian Navy's sole operational battleship.

Just as Vittorio Veneto's own story recounted before us, although she was the Italian Navy's most active battleship without equal, even her strength could not reverse Italy's defeat.

However, since we have met in this world and she has become Qin Ge's shipgirl, Qin Ge will naturally fulfill her expectation and seize the final victory!