"So there she goes..." Greynar sobbed silently in the room. A burden had been released from him, but it still felt too sudden, like a part of him was left behind.

  Minutes passed as he gathered his thoughts, the overwhelming emotions slowly ebbing away. He wiped the tears from his face, his chest a little lighter, and with renewed energy, he pushed himself to stand again.

  As he gnced around, something strange happened—the chamber seemed to shrink before his eyes, its surroundings warping into something familiar. The vast space compressed into a form simir to the room he had been in earlier. He definitely wasn’t imagining it; the room had truly shrunk.

  "Heh, was the room is an illusion? That’s too strange," he muttered to himself. "The technology around here is too advanced."

  As he made his way to regroup, Murmansk was the first to spot him. She stood in front of a room not too far from where he had been, her gaze catching his brightened expression. A smile tugged at her lips.

  "Did you find anything yet, Commander?" she asked, her tone filled with curiosity.

  "Yeah, on my way here, I found a huge pce," he replied. "Probably all of us need to check it out ter."

  "Good~ Then we also found something, let’s go in!" Murmansk grinned, tugging at his shirt and dragging him inside.

  As they stepped into the room, the rest of the girls were already there, gathered around a rge, illuminated table. The atmosphere was charged with anticipation as they all turned their attention to the Commander.

  "Comrade Commander, come here, I wanted to share something interesting with you," Belorussiya said, presenting something to him. She held out a piece of paper and told him to read it.

  "Blueprint... Ship...? Sounds familiar," the Commander said, thinking aloud. "I remember it being a term used by Command to describe that unexpected ship, Gascogne—the fourth ship of the Richelieu-css, after the Battle of the Basilica."

  "That's right," Kirov nodded. "But I recall seeing that term in some earlier reports from both the Iron Blood and the Royal Navy. Bismarck's aide, Friedrich der Grosse, seems to have adopted that cssification for herself."

  "Friedrich, huh? She’s definitely a mysterious figure, there’s not much solid information about her," Greynar mused.

  "Right after Royal Navy campaign to suppress Bismarck, a mysterious new leader took control from behind the scenes, stabilizing the situation in Iron Blood. The Royal Navy also began pursuing this technology as a countermeasure," Kirov expined before taking the note in her hand. "But here’s what I’ve been thinking, Comrade, what exactly is a blueprint ship supposed to represent?"

  "And what do you suggest?" Greynar asked, intrigued by her question.

  Kirov paused before answering. "The first ships to appear usually had a counterpart of the same name already existing when they were created. However, with advancements in Wisdom Cube technology, the different factions began transitioning to a system where ships and their corresponding mass-produced versions were no longer necessary. It’s been decades since a ship was unched with a completely unique name. Practice has shown that as long as the design exists, even without building the physical ship, the shipgirl can still be born through the Wisdom Cube."

  "...That's an interesting point. Soyuz, Rossiya, and I all fall into this category. We were never given physical forms," Belorussiya added. "And yet, despite that, we've never been referred to as blueprint ships, unlike Friedrich."

  "It sounds like the concept of blueprint ships is almost something out of fantasy. Command has no relevant records on the origin of the term," Greynar mused. "If I had to guess, it might have something to do with how Wisdom Cubes are used."

  "Based on your hypothesis," Kirov continued, "our researchers believe the Wisdom Cube acts as a carrier for some kind of information. The reason ships can be born from it is that our data is already recorded within the Cube. But what if there's not enough information in the Cube to fully give form to a ship? What happens if you edit another reality into the Wisdom Cube?"

  "...You mean that ships with data stored in the Wisdom Cube, born through the usual process, are considered normal ships, while those without prior records but brought to life somehow are considered blueprint ships?" Greynar pondered, piecing the information together.

  Kirov nodded. "Exactly! And if this theory holds, who decides what information gets stored in the Wisdom Cube and what doesn’t? And finally, what really is a blueprint, if not a pn for the future? Whose pn is it? And what were they trying to accomplish with it?"

  'Well, that's to save the future...' Greynar thought to himself, keeping the revetion tucked away. 'But I can't tell you that.'

  Belorussiya ughed softly, "Although all of this is just specution for now, it feels like we're standing on the edge of something deeper. A mystery not only about this pce but about our own essence and existence. Even if the document we recovered only has an incomplete cover, it proves that the Sirens have been aware of the concept of pnned ships for quite some time. This pce is like a treasure trove of information sealed for years, holding countless valuable pieces of intelligence. And this… this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the mystery of the Sirens and the Wisdom Cube."

  "This is what we’ve been searching for all these years," Kirov said, nodding to Belorussiya with a smile. "Information that could finally put an end to this decades-long war against the Sirens. This could turn the tide in our favor. Even the Iron Blood hasn’t uncovered this much intel in the past five years."

  "Although, I do wonder..." Murmansk mused aloud. "Why did they build this facility in the first pce?"

  "Maybe there's something we haven't uncovered yet," Gremyashchy muttered, her tone tinged with suspicion. "You know what they say, don't judge a book by its cover."

  "Let's move from this room, maybe there's a lot of stuff we haven't seen yet!" Gromky suggested with a spark of enthusiasm.

  "Alright," Kirov said, turning to the Commander. "What about you, Comrade? Did you find anything?"

  The Commander nodded, his expression shifting with focus. "You might want to follow me. I came across a giant room at the end of the corridor, and it could hold something noteworthy. It looked important, like it might not just be an ordinary room."

  "That's decided then," Belorussiya said, gncing at each of the girls. "We’ll head there. Commander, lead the way."

  They exited the room and made their way down the corridor, following Greynar’s lead. As they reached the end, they were greeted by a massive hall. Earlier, after parting ways with the carrier, Greynar had taken a brief peek inside this room, which resembled an auditorium. Now, upon entering through the door, the space opened up dramatically.

  Rows of seats stretched forward, reminiscent of an auditorium, but the most striking feature was the enormous dispy wall at the far end. Where the Gate should have been, there was now a wall composed of countless dispy windows—dozens, if not hundreds, of various sizes, all glowing faintly.

  "First a control room, then a conference room, and now an auditorium. Not too surprising, I suppose," Tallinn muttered, her eyes scanning the room before settling on the massive dispy wall. "Hmmm, these monitors are turned off. Looks like there's no remote or anything to power them up."

  Gromky darted around the room with excitement, Gremyashchy close behind, their curiosity piqued by the sprawling auditorium. The rest of the fleet stood scattered, some at the edges, others in the center, all eyes drawn to the vast, mysterious space they had discovered.

  "This has to be the heart of the facility," Belorussiya observed, her gaze fixed on the dark screens. "But unlike the control room, none of these monitors are on." Her eyes drifted up to the symbol on the central monitor, the same emblem they'd encountered before. "And there's that logo again..." she murmured.

  "Unlike the bright lights before, only the most basic lighting remains here," Tallinn remarked, her voice echoing slightly in the rge, dim space. "All other equipment is offline... This pce feels eerily abandoned."

  She gnced at the rows of darkened monitors, their silence almost oppressive. "Based on the notes we've read, I guess this facility was shut down after they evacuated everyone. It's like a tomb for whatever secrets they left behind."

  "Just looking at this pce makes me think... Soyuz is probably having her meeting in a room just like this right now~" Murmansk joked, with a light tone. "I really hope we get to see her soon~"

  Kirov let out a slight sigh. "Although with the war as fierce as it is now, if frontline personnel like us were to attend a conference, it'd probably be during some medal ceremony," she said, then added with a small smile, "But I do agree with Murmansk."

  "That's true..." Murmansk replied with a sad smile before turning to Gremyashchy. "But Gremy, you’ve been there, right?"

  Gremyashchy nodded. "Well... I've been there once," she admitted. "It was grand, but also incredibly tense. Suddenly becoming the focus of everyone's attention... you have to be extra careful with every word and move you make." She paused, reflecting for a moment before adding with a small chuckle, "Though, compared to me, the Commander over there has way more experience with that kind of pressure."

  "Oh... is that so...?" Murmansk asked, looking at Greynar with curiosity in her eyes.

  Noticing her gaze, Greynar cleared his throat. "Just so you know, as a Commander, I really get beaten up by those stares."

  The cruiser chuckled. "That means everyone is really paying attention to you~"

  "Well, it kind of gives me a sense of pride, to be honest, but it's just a lot of pressure. It’s not really exhausting compared to taking command on the front lines," he expined.

  "Oh, you poor thing. It's part of your job, though, so don’t expect too much sympathy," Tallinn threw him a teasing yet cold remark, but then smiled softly. "It's easy to forget how influential you actually are from the way you talk, but I appreciate how easygoing and approachable you are."

  He shrugged, gncing at the bckened monitor while inspecting the chairs. "Just part of my nature, I guess. It's not like I'm going to change anything except to just be myself."

  'Though in all honesty, it’s all spread through the newspapers since not everyone can afford a radio or cube-powered electronic,' he muttered silently inside his mind. 'All things considered, the humans of this world look like puppets being controlled by those in authority over their economy, especially with the ongoing war.'

  Murmansk hummed happily. "That's pretty impressive~ But I've never heard of the Commander attending a rge conference in the media..."

  Kirov expined, "Most of these meetings are highly confidential military discussions, and it's not advisable for military commanders to stay in the spotlight for too long."

  "And above all," he added with a smirk, "it would be a bit troublesome if I got dragged back and forth. So, I suggested to Command that they keep me busy at the port to excuse myself from any meetings."

  "Ehe~ So, you do have a bit of a devilish side to you," Murmansk giggled.

  "And I don’t pn on changing that side of me," he said with a confident smile, eliciting a few chuckles from the girls.

  "Well said, Comrade. However, I fear we’ve strayed from our earlier conversation," Kirov remarked, gncing at the podium stand. "You're usually the one standing on the podium, right?"

  Greynar slowly nodded his head and approached the podium. "Yes, there is a conference room of simir size at headquarters. The podium in the middle is also designed like this one. I remember there’s a button here to turn it on..." He gnced below him, located the button, and pressed it.

  Nothing happened for a few minutes before, suddenly, everything went dark.

  "Huh...?"

  Then, a blinding light engulfed his vision again.