Commander's Rounds Volume 1

Entry 35: A Matter of Perspective

The Dragon Empery contingent was one that remained entirely curious to the commander. While they were never really able to contribute a large number of ships, they were still one of Azur Lane's earliest supporters, even doing so with a fair amount of enthusiasm. Their group was one of the smaller ones, so their dorm was really more like a large manor house, and was appointed accordingly.

Because it was more like a house than a dorm or apartment, the commander respected this presentation and tended to only show up when he was invited by one or more of the residents, which was something that happened every now and again, but he did look for those invitations in the mail. Yat Sen had her own perspective on events, which he would ask for, at times. It wasn't hard to get her to offer her opinion, even if she was, to use a word, a "dutiful" sort of woman.

Even though their group was relatively small and didn't have any of the truly heavy ships that other factions brought to the table, the thing they did bring was all of their festivals and celebrations to the entire port and invite everyone to join in. Cooking, fireworks, artistry, and nights that ran so late that they only really ended when the sun rose, every time they organized something it was a powerful reminder to everyone on the base that there was more going on in life than just war before people went back to their duties.

The commander did have duties of his own, especially since there was now a Siren out there who was probably gathering all the forces she could beg, borrow, or steal from under the noses of her comrades because she was done playing other people's games. He had been working hard on drafting fleet organization tables in case the fleet needed to scramble to intercept some kind of attack from the Sirens, and he had only ended up finishing late into the evening. And then in the morning, he'd have to communicate it to everyone out there, which would also be a job and a half.

However, he did remember to go through his non-junk mail before he quit for the evening. While it's true that people sent messages through their phones much of the time, the Royals, Sakura, and others still made an art of doing things in the old way. And one of them was a red envelope which he knew was from Yat Sen.

The reason he knew without having to read the whole letter is that she always wrote anything in two languages- Chinese as well as English, which the commander appreciated as he really couldn't read the first. She had actually invited him to visit the Dragon house the next evening, which is certainly something he would need after making sure that everyone knew what the next set of plans were in case something strange happened. Still, it did seem strange that she was inviting him so suddenly- she usually declared some intention to do so before sending out this kind of invitation.

However, between having to deal with the Sakura, the Royals, and also these, the commander was not someone who didn't know his manners inside and out, so he at least had that going for him.

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The one thing about hanging around the Dragon house is that he always felt a bit underdressed, even when he was in uniform, and yet somehow he was able to get away with it.

It's not like he had all that much time to really prepare, anyway, seeing as he had to make sure that all of his new organizational tables actually got where they needed to go. Considering some of the tables called for some very large fleet deployments, that was extra work not only for him, but also for the various ships he appointed to command the different formations. It was an all-day thing, and he still had to deal with the thought that he was going to eventually have to use them.

These thoughts occupied the commander's mind as he rang the bell at the door of the manor house, as this was front-and-center as far as his job as the commander went.