"Lock up those who surrendered and observe them carefully. If they have truly surrendered, let them join our army. If they are only pretending to surrender, then..." Fiona made a throat-slitting gesture, her killing intent fully revealed.
"Understood!" Gritte nodded and said.
After the civil war ended, what remained was the reconstruction of the country. There were still a pile of national affairs waiting for her to handle, and she had no time to waste here. Even if not for herself, she had to think of the citizens of the Free Iris. They were waiting for Princess Fiona to lead them toward restoring the former glory of the Free Iris!
Essex and Saratoga flew to Atago's side. Although their clothes looked a bit torn and they had sustained some minor injuries, they were not in any life-threatening danger.
"Captain, I defeated that Guard Chijime. How about it? Am I very impressive?" Saratoga said triumphantly.
"The Twin Chijime on my side was also sunk by me. That Twin Chijime was very strong; I had to put in a lot of effort to sink her," Essex said with a grave expression.
"That's great, you are both okay. I was worried you might be in life-threatening danger; I was just about to go look for you!" Atago said with a sigh of relief.
"Captain, you worry too much. Our strength is very high. Mere Five-Star Nightmare Deep Sea are just a piece of cake for us!" Saratoga said, patting her chest.
Essex looked around and noticed that Vicious was missing from the group. She immediately asked Atago: "Atago! Why isn't Vicious here?"
"Yeah, that's right! Where did she go? She wasn't killed by that European Chijime, was she?" Saratoga began to worry. Although she often quarreled with Vicious, she had long regarded Vicious as her good friend and comrade-in-arms. Now that she found Vicious missing, she became anxious immediately.
"Saratoga, don't worry. Vicious is fine, but she saved the injured Saint Eugen and fled from here," Atago comforted Saratoga.
"What? Why would Vicious save that Saint Eugen?" A bewildered Saratoga immediately asked.
"Th-that is because..." Atago found it difficult to speak. Saint Eugen was the top combat power of the Deep Sea Cult. Originally, Illustrious could have sunk Eugen, but she was saved by Vicious halfway through.
Vicious was a Ship Girl that Atago had promoted to be one of the main Ship Girls of the Atlantic Military Police. Now that Vicious had rescued Saint Eugen, a major threat to the Ship Girl faction, this was an inescapable responsibility for her as captain.
"Because of what! Tell me!" Atago's hesitation made Saratoga very anxious.
"Let me explain!" Seeing that Atago found it difficult to speak, Illustrious intended to explain on Atago's behalf.
Atago looked at Illustrious with gratitude; she was worthy of being her girlfriend, truly reliable!
"It happened like this! Vicious..." Illustrious explained the sequence of events to Saratoga and Essex.
After a while, upon learning the whole story, Saratoga and Essex couldn't help but be surprised. They hadn't expected that Vicious was actually the Third Saint.
"Vicious has two souls in one body, that sounds so cool! I wonder if there is my sister's soul inside me too!" Saratoga said excitedly.
Essex delivered a hand chop to Saratoga's head and said: "What's cool about that! If you discovered your own body was out of your control, you wouldn't be saying that then."
"Ah! That hurts! Essex, can't you just talk properly? Are you trying to kill me with that hand chop!" Saratoga clutched her little head and glared at Essex.
"Alright, you two, stop fooling around. If others see you, it will diminish the dignity of our Atlantic Military Police!" Atago said strictly.
"Sorry, Captain!" Essex and Saratoga said in unison. Since Vicious was the Third Saint, if anyone here was the most upset, it had to be Atago. Atago was in a bad mood now, so they couldn't refute her.
Atago came to Fiona and said solemnly: "Princess Fiona, since the attack on the palace has been successful and King Hiddell has been shot to death by you, your becoming Empress is now foolproof. I hope that after you ascend to the throne as Empress, you remember to announce your withdrawal from the Deep Sea Cult and join under our Atlantic Governors Mansion."
"Rest assured! I will do what I promised you," Fiona nodded and said.
"That's great! As long as you join under our Atlantic Governors Mansion, we will have one more force to resist the Deep Sea," Atago became happy. After working for so long, it was finally not in vain.
"This mission is complete, and it is time for us to leave. So, Princess Fiona, hopefully we will meet again by fate," Atago bowed and said.
"Are you leaving so soon? You helped me so much, and I haven't even had time to properly thank you!" Princess Fiona said gratefully.
"No need. As long as you become Empress, love your people well, and lead them to prosperity, that is the greatest gift of thanks to us," Atago shook her head and said.
"Rest assured! I will. However, I am afraid the Deep Sea Cult will send people to cause trouble," Fiona said worriedly.
"If the Deep Sea Cult sends people to cause trouble, and you cannot handle it, remember to call our Atlantic Military Police. We will come to help you as soon as possible," Atago comforted her.
"With your words, I am relieved." Fiona felt reassured. She tried to persuade Atago to stay: "However, thanks are still necessary, otherwise my conscience will be uneasy! How about you stay today? I will take you to the Fitte Hotel, the largest hotel in Paris, to hold a victory banquet to celebrate our success today."
Upon hearing about the victory banquet, the Ship Girls immediately began to discuss it animatedly.
"A victory banquet, that's great! Captain, hurry and agree to her!" Upon hearing that Fiona was going to hold a victory banquet, Saratoga said excitedly.
"I heard the food at the Paris Fitte Hotel is quite delicious. It looks like we will have a treat today," Essex couldn't help but swallow her saliva.
"Fiona, you said it. Don't feel bad for your wallet then. The food in that Fitte Hotel is expensive. I must eat my fill today." Not taking advantage of a good deal would be foolish; Illustrious was going to take full advantage of Fiona.
"I hope you will go easy on me!" Fiona smiled and said. Being taken advantage of by a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl was an honorable thing.
"You, you... sigh!" Seeing everyone so enthusiastic, Atago felt embarrassed to dampen their spirits: "Then I will trouble you, Fiona."
"Atago, you are too polite. Then it is settled." Seeing Atago agree, Fiona became happy.
"Yay! That's great! The captain agreed." Saratoga jumped up with joy.
...
In the evening, the entire Fitte Hotel was booked by Fiona. Fiona not only invited Illustrious and the others but also invited the subordinates who had contributed to the attack on the Free Iris palace to the victory banquet.
Wearing a purple princess dress, Fiona raised her wine glass at the victory banquet and said: "Thank you all for your great support all along. Without you, I would definitely not have succeeded. Today, everyone eat and drink to your heart's content. Don't be polite with me. Today we must drink until we are drunk!"
As soon as Fiona's words fell, the people around began to discuss animatedly.
"Oh yeah! Then we won't be polite."
"Princess Fiona is dressed so beautifully today! I wonder which lucky fool will have the fortune to marry our Princess Fiona."
"Who are those four beauties next to Princess Fiona! They look so cute and beautiful!"
"You don't even know this? They are the helpers we invited to the Free Iris. Three of them are from the Atlantic Military Police, and the other Silver-Haired Girl is a Free Ship Girl. We were able to win against Saint Eugen of the Deep Sea Cult this time all thanks to them."
"Today I heard that Saint Eugen of the Deep Sea Cult is a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl, so doesn't that mean among those four, there is also a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl?"
"Of course there are Five-Star Legendary Ship Girls! Otherwise, how could we deal with that terrifying Saint Eugen? See that Silver-Haired Girl? The one with the huge chest? She is the legendary Illustrious, who became a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl faster than anyone else. This Illustrious is incredibly powerful; she single-handedly severely wounded Saint Eugen."
Upon hearing that Illustrious had severely wounded Saint Eugen, the crowd couldn't help but gasp. This woman was terrifyingly powerful. To think Princess Fiona could invite such a figure to help—it was truly admirable! The people around them looked at Fiona with admiration. Princess Fiona was so capable; surely she would lead their Free Iris back to its former glory in the future.
Seeing the admiring gazes of those around her, Fiona blushed, feeling a bit embarrassed.
Fiona looked tenderly at Illustrious; the success achieved today was entirely due to Illustrious.
She had learned from Illustrious that Saint Eugen was still a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl. If Illustrious hadn't been present, relying on Atago, a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, would have likely been a suicide mission.
Although it was a pity that Illustrious hadn't managed to kill Saint Eugen, and that Vicious had jumped out midway to stab her and rescue Saint Eugen, this still couldn't diminish the credit due to Illustrious for scaring away the two Saints.
Looking at Illustrious, Fiona made up her mind that she must obtain Illustrious. As long as she had Illustrious, her Free Iris would no longer need to fear the Deep Sea Cult.
Although Atago had said she would help Free Iris resist the encroachment of the Deep Sea Cult, Fiona couldn't truly rest easy. After all, the Deep Sea Cult had Five-Star Legendary Ship Girls, and Atago was merely a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl; such strength was simply insufficient to block the seven Saints of the Deep Sea Cult.
When the Deep Sea Cult infringed upon national sovereignty, the Atlantic Governors Mansion would provide assistance to its subordinate nations. However, once a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl was involved, as long as the Deep Sea Cult's encroachment wasn't too severe, they would turn a blind eye. Only when the entire country was occupied would the Atlantic Governors Mansion intervene.
Just like this time with Free Iris, the Atlantic Governors Mansion had wanted to send a Legendary Ship Girl, but they only had two Legendary Ship Girls of their own. One of them had to be kept hidden and would only be brought out at critical moments.
In other words, the only Legendary Ship Girls the Atlantic Governors Mansion could field were their own one Legendary Ship Girl plus Atago, the Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl from the Atlantic Military Police. Calculating it this way, although there were three Legendary Ship Girls, at most only two could be deployed.
The Atlantic Governors Mansion would not dispatch a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl to help Fiona. The next time the Deep Sea Cult infringed upon Free Iris's national sovereignty, the Atlantic Governors Mansion would, at most, only send a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl like Atago.
To prevent the Deep Sea Cult from infringing upon Free Iris's national sovereignty again, Fiona needed an absolute security guarantee. She wasn't relying entirely on Atago; Atago could handle Deep Sea Cult members with strength below that of a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl.
But for Deep Sea Cult Saints with strength above a Four-Star Legendary Ship Girl, only a Five-Star Legendary Ship Girl like Illustrious could keep them in check.
To obtain Illustrious, money and power would not be enough to keep her.
It was rumored that Illustrious liked beautiful women, and Fiona, as the most beautiful woman in Free Iris, considered herself well-qualified to make Illustrious fall at her feet.
The victory banquet held today was not just to celebrate the overthrow of Hiddell's puppet regime; Fiona also intended to get the four of them drunk. Once Illustrious and the others were passed out, Fiona could take them back to the Biyun Grand Hotel.
After taking Illustrious to her room, Fiona could make things official with her. By then, she would be Illustrious's person, and she only hoped Illustrious would stay to become her queen; then, her mission would be accomplished.
"Illustrious! You successfully severely wounded Saint Eugen and chased away two Deep Sea Cult Saints. I am truly grateful for your great kindness. Now, I toast you." Fiona raised her glass to toast the Illustrious beside her.
"You are too polite. I was merely seeing an injustice and lending a hand!" Illustrious couldn't help but smile.
The two downed their full glasses. As she drank, Fiona covered her mouth with her left hand, while the sapphire ring on the index finger of her right hand absorbed all the wine.
This sapphire ring was a ship device called a space ring, with an interior space of ten cubic meters.
Fiona wouldn't be foolish enough to actually drink it; she still had to make things official with Illustrious, and she couldn't afford to get drunk.
Next, Fiona kept finding various excuses to toast Illustrious and the others. Every time she drank, she would have the space ring absorb the wine.
After a long time, Illustrious and the others were completely drunk thanks to Fiona.
Fiona called her female guards to carry Illustrious and the others to her car. On the way back to the Biyun Grand Hotel, they kept acting drunkenly inside the car.
"Ah! I want more to drink, I'm not drunk yet!" Saratoga, with a flushed face, leaned on Illustrious's shoulder. Looking at Illustrious's pair of super huge breasts, she said with great dissatisfaction: "Damn it! Why are yours so big, while I'm a flat board!"
Essex's head rested on Illustrious's lap, facing the underside of Illustrious's skirt. The hot air of her breath kept blowing into the underside of Illustrious's skirt, causing Illustrious to feel a constant heat below.
The drunk and hazy Illustrious was constantly being molested by Essex. The strange sensation coming from below didn't make Illustrious feel pain; instead, she felt somewhat comfortable.
As for Atago, she was in the passenger seat. Being dead drunk, she kept harassing Fiona, who was driving, almost causing a car accident several times.
Through some close calls, Fiona finally brought Illustrious back to the Biyun Grand Hotel.
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