Chapter 265: Little Schemes
“Eh?! Little chubby fish, you actually have this kind of idea?”
Hearing that Jinbe actually had the idea of setting out to sea himself, Aoxi also showed some surprise.
“Miss Aoxi, I…”
Jinbe still wanted to explain something, but he was interrupted by Aoxi in an indifferent tone:
“Not bad~”
“As expected of a typical top student, you’ve already planned your future so early.”
Aoxi stood on tiptoe and patted Jinbe’s back to show approval.
But immediately after, not knowing what she thought of, she frowned and said worriedly:
“By the way, won’t it be dangerous for you to go out alone~”
“You’re so weak, what if you get bullied outside?”
“Won’t you get caught by fishmongers as an ornamental fish?”
“Ah! How about having Obei make a little genius phone watch, and when you encounter danger you can’t handle, just call for backup directly?”
“Um, Miss Aoxi…”
Seeing Aoxi lost in self-mutterings, Jinbe wanted to interrupt and say that he should be able to take care of himself… but Aoxi showed no sign of stopping.
“No, if you’re too far away, it would take me some time to rush over, and by then, better safe than sorry~”
After circling around Jinbe several times, Aoxi slapped her palm and finally made a certain decision.
She looked at Jinbe, and after realizing her height wasn’t enough, she manifested her tail, using that slender and well-proportioned tail as support to lift her body to sufficient height before patting Jinbe’s shoulder.
Slap~
“Little chubby, starting today, this great one will personally take charge and give you special training to properly train you.”
“Your strength at least needs to reach Uncle Burufaruto’s level before we can rest assured letting you set out to sea alone…”
“…”
“Miss Aoxi…”
Seeing the other party rubbing her fists and eager to go, Jinbe felt a bit at a loss.
Although Aoxi had never called him by his real name even now, and even the nickname she gave him was a throwaway type, Jinbe still couldn’t suppress the emotion called moved from welling up in his heart…
In daily life, Jinbe always gave the impression of being mature, steady, independent, and self-reliant, but as an orphan who grew up, he still showed obvious awkwardness when facing this kind of pure care he had never contacted before.
In this aspect, he who appeared very clumsy didn’t know what way to use to reciprocate this goodwill.
But fortunately, Aoxi never let others indulge in weak emotions like ‘moved’ for too long.
Only to see that crimson tail extend a bit longer again, lifting her body higher… the 1.4-meter Aoxi adopted an overlooking posture with hands behind her back and said in an old-mannered tone:
“Don’t worry, A-fish. Although you don’t have a tail and can’t practice this seat’s unique skill《Eighteen Styles of the Tail》…”
“But with your talent and diligence, plus this seat’s guidance, even cultivating vulgar martial arts like Fish-Man Karate, in a few years you will surely achieve something, enough for you to get by outside.”
“…”
“Uh, thanks.”
“Also, Miss Aoxi, my real name is actually Jinbe.”
After thinking it over, Jinbe still felt he needed to let Aoxi know his real name.
“Eh~ Real names and such aren’t important.”
“After all, when traveling in Jianghu, one name isn’t enough? You definitely need to have several aliases.”
“When killing and arson, use a fake name; save the real name for when you’re saving the suffering and people want to repay you, got it?”
“Also, if you cause trouble outside in the future, remember to mention your teacher’s name.”
“Ah? Why?”
Ignoring that the other party had already assumed the identity of teacher, facing Aoxi’s strange request, Jinbe was still a bit confused.
To be honest, his idea was to solve problems encountered outside on his own as much as possible, without causing trouble for Aoxi and the others.
“Because if they still dare to act after hearing my name, then I’ll have reason to beat them up hard~”
Aoxi said matter-of-factly.
“…”
“Uh… then, what if I’m the one at fault?”
“Ah? What are you saying?”
“You being at fault isn’t me being at fault, what does that have to do with me beating them up?”
Jinbe: “…”
…
Happy times are always particularly short, and soon the break time ended.
After the fish-man children carefully put away the toys, they stood back in their familiar positions and began following a fish-man under Burufaruto to continue practicing the basics of Fish-Man Karate.
“By the way, where did Uncle Burufaruto go? I haven’t seen him much lately.”
Putting her tail away again, Aoxi walked to Sister La’s side, sat down properly, and then asked.
“He’s been busy lately with reorganizing the fleet.”
“Reorganizing the fleet?”
“Yeah.”
“In that last campaign, we weren’t without losses; in fact, several combat teams suffered serious reductions in personnel, even leaving one island garrison executive position vacant.”
“These understaffed teams need to be temporarily filled from other teams, the vacant island garrison executive needs reselection, and there’s warship repairs and procurement work…”
“In short, it might be hard to see him on the island for a while.”
“Eh~ So fighting a battle is this troublesome.”
Aoxi sighed a bit; just hearing about these things gave him a headache.
“Pre-battle mobilization ability, wartime allocation ability, and post-battle reconstruction ability… although troublesome, these are tests that a qualified armed force must go through.”
“Moreover, our side’s troubles are actually minor; the Navy side is the real trouble, probably their higher-ups are going to be extremely busy for a while.”
…
After waiting a long time with no whim appearing, La stood up, deciding to try her luck elsewhere.
“Eh? Sister La, are you leaving?”
“Yeah, I want to go check out the town.”
“Oh… then, can you bring me back some snacks?”
Aoxi asked tentatively.
“Sure, what do you want?”
“Just bring back a few boxes of Pocky; I remember when we first came to this island, Sister La you bought some for us once, that one is fine.”
“Mm… that one shop.”
Although it was a year ago, the scene back then was still vivid in La’s mind, even the black long-haired clerk miss she remembered clearly.
“Got it.”
And just as La was about to stroll toward the town, Wright, who had been looking for her for a long time, finally spotted her.
“Huff~ Huff~”
“La, Miss La, this is Governor Kaido’s application form.”
He who had come running was now a bit out of breath.
“The Governor seems to plan to host a banquet for one of the Seven Warlords, so he wants to withdraw from the wine cellar, uh… some alcohol.”
“Some?”
La took the application form written by Wright on his behalf, and with just one glance understood Kaido’s little scheme.
Not specifying types, nor quantities… clearly wanting to write a blank check.
“Huff~ Spending all day thinking about this stuff?”
It came, the whim she had waited so long for suddenly appeared.
Under Wright’s careful gaze, light overflowed from La’s fingertip, leaving a line of golden signature on the application form before handing it back and instructing:
“All types of alcohol, including those sent by the World Government before, withdraw one-tenth of each proportionately, rounding up if insufficient.”
“Uh, one-tenth would be…”
“A total of 128 barrels, should be enough for a large banquet withdrawal.”
La, who knew the inventory of all supplies in the warehouse like the back of her hand, easily stated a number.
“Also, this alcohol must only be withdrawn after confirming that Seven Warlord has arrived.”
“When withdrawing later, remember to fill in those vague details, add the date, and then file and archive.”
“…Yes.”
For some reason, today’s La was exceptionally strict.
Hit a block, so saving one chapter to post tomorrow daytime.
